Rock for Books Library Benefit August 3rd
(FPL Press Release, July 15, 2013)
Budget cuts loom over the Ferndale Public Library’s materials fund and a couple of its staffers weren’t going to keep quiet about it. Jordan Wright, a Youth Services Library Assistant, and Jeff Milo, a circulation specialist, called up some friends who just happen to be in local bands and asked if they were free on Aug. 3rd, say, around 8 p.m for a good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll show to benefit the library.
Rock for Books? The Loving Touch has generously opened its doors for the occasion and the stage is now set, featuring local rock outfits like: Caveman Woodman, The Audionics, Old Empire and Due North, suggesting a $5 donation at the door to assure the shelves stay stacked with the newest titles in books, DVDs and CDs. The bands range from punk to pop, indie to garage-rock, eclectic fusion 
and progressive psychedelia; you’ll hear saxophones with keyboards, dulcimers and triangles with guitars and drums and even see one group brazenly baring loin cloths!
The Ferndale Public Library has organically grown into quite the musical venue since its 2010 renovation, regularly hosting live music like its third annual Summer Concert Series and the monthly First Stop Friday local music showcases. In addition, last spring the library was excited and honored to participate in the Metro Times Blowout as a venue. If the lingering recession’s drag upon property-tax revenue has tightened FPL’s budget options momentarily, then it seems natural, now, that music could help save the day.
Wright and Milo called up the friends FPL has made in the community throughout its three years’ of library concerts, (those with amplifiers, instruments and plenty of songs in their hearts), to come to the Loving Touch and sing-out their support of the library by way of a Benefit Concert, August 3rd at the Loving Touch. “There’s concerts happening every weekend around Ferndale,” Milo said, “but this one carries a special cause.”
Ferndale Public Library will not be reducing service hours, nor staff shifts/wages, but it will suffer a deficit of $80,000 this year while reducing the purchase of books by 20% and movies and music by 15%. The library’s tax revenues have decreased by $300,000 since 2009. Determined not to cut hours or staff, the library is stepping up fundraising efforts to make up for lost property tax revenue. The library hopes you will come and Rock for Books on August 3rd at the Loving Touch!
