Benefit concert for victims of the floods

Now that clean-up and reconstruction operations are well underway in the capital Prague local entrepreneurs have been thinking of ways to help raise money for the victims of the floods. One interesting up-coming event is a benefit concert to be held at a Prague bowling bar this Friday - the benefit is being put together by organisers from prague.tv, - no, not a local television station in spite of the name - an English-language web site created by two Americans and an Englishman based in the Czech capital. Their site acts as an information board with community service in mind, and certainly helped English-speakers last week to keep in touch and find information throughout the confusion of the floods. Earlier, I spoke to one of prague.tv's founders Todd Benson and asked him not only how he and his colleagues had weathered the floods, but also what they had planned for Friday's benefit:

"We were fortunate for the first couple days, basically we weren't so affected by the flooding, eventually we lost power so we weren't able to update so much , but the first thing we did was we went out and took a bunch of pictures and put up a flood gallery just so people could get an idea what exactly was going on... Then we basically started updating information, and putting it so that people would know which areas were evacuated, kind of just an update what metros were closed, etc."

Okay, tell me some details about the evening you've got planned, what will people be able to see and do?

"Well, actually it should be a very fun-filled evening: a local band Beefart, which I guess they call themselves kind of a funky Balkotexan rock fusion band, if you will, they're kind of doing their final gig in Prague, basically their bass player is leaving so they're doing a gig. We've got an interesting experimental group called the Zip Orchestra that'll be playing, there's also DJ Robin Hood, who will play. There will be free food, prizes can be won from various local restaurants, bars, and services industry. Everybody's kind of giving prizes that can be won. There should be a very interesting prize at 11 o'clock, but I won't tell you what it is! We're asking for a hundred crowns at the door and you'll get a raffle ticket, all the proceeds go to Charita, then they will be passed on to people in need. The fun basically begins from eight onwards. The first band will play at nine."

Will the other things also be in effect, like the bowling?

"Yes of course, in fact we encourage bowling during the concert."

Well, sounds like fun, especially since the proceeds from Friday's concert will go to the Czech charity known as Charita for them to distribute. So, if you are based in Prague don't pass up this chance to see bands with names like Zip Orchestra or Beefart while knocking down nine-pins. If you do plan on attending then listen carefully - the concert takes place Friday August 23rd at 8 pm at the Kingpin Bowling Bar in Prague 6- that's right by the Hradcanska metro station - the subway of course isn't running so a number of trams should get you there including the 1, 8, 25, and 26. Entrance fee is a mere 100 crowns, all that going to charity, and if you'd like more information you can always visit www.prague.tv.