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Take a moment, and imagine your quintessential "rock-stars": have you conjured a bunch of unshowered guys with crazy hair lounging on amps, talking about girls, and eating 3-day-old pizza? It is refreshing to run across a band that does things a little differently, and this is what makes Braddigan, the band formed by former Dispatch member and Colorado native Brad Corrigan, so exciting. The three-man-band features "Braddigan" on guitar and lead vocals, Puerto Rican Reinaldo deJesus on percussion (primarily congas and bongos), and the Brazilian Tiago Machado (who does in fact, have crazy hair), on bass and assorted string instruments, my personal favorite being the cavaquinho, a Brazilian ukelele. The band's sound reflects its members-imbued with worldly influence and driven to the beat of social change.
A few years ago, socially-minded Braddigan was visiting La Chureca, a trash dump in the capital city of Nicaragua, to "capture the story" of the approximately 1,500 impoverished people living in piles of trash in the third-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Every day, these people stand and wait for trash trucks to complete their rounds, bringing life in the form of discarded scraps of food and broken objects that can be fixed and sold. While in the dump, Brad met Ileana, a 13-year-old girl who lived in La Chureca with her eight brothers and sisters. She had spent the last four years of her life in a child prostitution ring, and like many other inhabitants of the trash dump, was addicted to huffing glue. She and her 14-year-old sister Mercedes, were HIV-positive. However, Brad says, she had a "beautiful smile, lightning coming from her eyes".
Brad was so moved by his encounter with Ileana that he bought her family a house and began providing them with medical aid. He went on to start the nonprofit organization Love Light & Melody, "dedicated to battling the physical, emotional, and spiritual affects of extreme poverty". Tiago says Brad's organization is "about the individuals. They know names, fight for kids case by case". On the days when Brad is not touring the world with his band and raising musical awareness about the Third World, he is in Nicaragua, bringing aid (and music) to the people of La Chureca.
Braddigan's latest album, The Captive, (released independently in October 2007 through Third Surfer Music) is heavily influenced by his experiences in La Chureca. On the disk's driving track, "Ileana," Brad smoothes his lyrics over a haunting background of tambourines, various drums, and guitar: "Blue sky overhead and the black creeping in this is where I'll dig in my heels, this is where I'll make my stand. Little hands little eyes and their feet slowly marching on". Likewise, the melody of "Ketchwa", (sung in the Central American language Ketchwa), evokes a similar feeling, rising like smoke from a trash dump filled with dogs and hungry children. Remaining songs cover everything from Tiago's Brazilian roots in "Valeu Valeu" to Gospel in "Walk On", featuring the soulful solo artist Josh Garrels. "Fist in the Ocean" is flecked with vibes of Paul Simon, and many of the other songs are steeped in reggae and folk. The album ends with two haunting solo pieces, "Mercedita" on guitar, and "On the Mend" featuring piano and voice. - The Cowl - April 10, 2008
By attending AFTERdark, students will have the opportunity to take part in a free concert while gaining information on a new cause.
The event will be held in Braden Auditorium on Feb. 21 at 8:30 p.m. and will run until 10:30 p.m. AFTERdark will showcase a performance by Braddigan, which includes the lead singer of Dispatch, information on a non-profit organization and a speaker.
Braddigan consists of four band members who come from culturally different places to bring their specific sounds together. Braddigan described his band as rock, reggae, acoustic and Latin Caribbean all blended into one.
"Maybe a Ben Harper, and a Paul Simon, a Bob Marley and Jack Johnson blended together," Braddigan said.
With their music, Braddigan tries to send the message to their fans that there is more to life than just trying to be the best and most powerful.
"The greatest life is actually pursuing what you were made to do and fighting for what's in your heart," Braddigan said.
The non-profit organization Brad Corrigan, also known as Braddigan, created is named Love, Light and Melody. It was created due to an impacting visit he took to La Chureca in Nicaragua.
"As we pulled up over the hill, all of a sudden this little shanty, town community pops up and little kids emerged out of the smoke. I saw people who were scavenging through the trash for things they could sell or trade," Braddigan said.
At the event, students will have the opportunity to donate to the organization, but that does not have to mean financially.
"We're going to have a little slide show. There will be postcards where people can take a picture and take the Web Site home with them," Braddigan said.
A speaker, Joe White, will also be showcased at the event. He speaks on a nationwide scale.
According to the AFTERdark Web site, Joe White is one of the countries most compelling and dynamic speakers.
"The whole message of the night will be a message of compassion in the simplest way to state it," Geoff Todd, director of marketing for AFTERdark, said.
The event is free so that no one is limited financially to attend the event.
"We feel like the message is important that we want to share with everybody and not limiting that by people that cannot afford to come," Todd said.
The theme of the night envisions compassion and choice. Students make some of the most important decisions of their life during college.
"I hope that people will be inspired to go 'you know what life is pretty short, and I'm going to think this through. I am going to think about what my dream is and if I should chase that down after school,'" Braddigan said.
For more information on either Braddigan or Love, Light, and Melody students can visit braddigan.com or lovelightandmelody.org - The Daily Vidette - 2/21/08
The Point / March 3, 2004
Braddigan is one of the biggest surprises of the year at The Point. He has grown an audience faster than anyone I've seen in a long while, and I think it has as much to do with his warm stage presence and the connection he makes with his audience as well as the music and message he represents.
-Jesse Lundy, The Point - braddigan.com
Columbia University / February 29, 2005
Braddigan's down-to-earth, grass-roots approach to performance is perhaps unexpected by audiences who know the success that Braddigan's former band, Dispatch, enjoyed, but it is a welcomed surprise and is only made better by his incredible musical ability. Once he picks up his guitar and begins to sing and play, it is clear that years of experience stand behind him. You can't help but be amazed at the crispness and polished nature of the performance, and yet at the same time it seems as though Braddigan makes up the jams as he goes along. Overall, the quality of Braddigan's performances is top-notch, and the way in which he connects with his audience makes the experience unforgettable. A Braddigan concert is one not to be missed.
- braddigan.com
Discography
Braddigan: Take Two (2004 Third Surfer Music, Inc.)
Braddigan: Watchfires (2005 Third Surfer Music, Inc.)
Braddigan: Live at Goucher College (2006 Third Surfer Music, Inc.)
Braddigan: Side of the Road: A Braddigan Concert Documentary (DVD) (2007 Third Surfer Music, Inc.)
Braddigan: The Captive (2007 Third Surfer Music, Inc.)
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Dispatch: Silent Steeples (1996 Bomber Records; 2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Bang Bang (1997 Bomber Records; 2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Four Day Trials (1999 Bomber Records; 2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Who Are We Living For? (2000 Bomber Records; 2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Gut The Van (2001 Bomber Records; 2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Under The Radar (DVD/CD) (2002 Bomber Records/Hollywood Records)
Dispatch: All Points Bulletin (DVD/CD) (2004 Bomber Records/Foundations Records/Universal Records)
Dispatch: Dispatch Zimbabwe (DVD/CD) (2007 Bomber Records)
Photos
Bio
After 8 years on the road with Chad Stokes and Pete Francis as Dispatch, the trio parked the van at the Hatch Shell in Boston where 110,000 fans from across the globe came to bid them farewell. Three years later, Dispatch rolled that van onto the floor at Madison Square Garden for three sold out benefit shows where all proceeds benefit organizations fighting disease, famine and social injustice in Zimbabwe.
Inspired by the international support for Dispatch and a friend’s testimony of the beaches abroad, Braddigan began traveling to Central America in 2004. The pace of life and philosophies he encountered there inspired his debut solo recording, Watchfires (released in 2005), which Eastern Surf Magazine described “as if one day Jack Johnson met Bob Dylan at Marley’s house for a jam session.” He toured nationwide with his friend Reinaldo De Jesus on percussion and continued spending time in Central America.
In 2006, Braddigan began to see another side of life in Central America. In April he met Tiago Machado and took his first ride through the city trash dump in Nicaragua’s capital city, Managua, where he was shocked at what he saw – people. With one foot in the US touring with the trio and one foot getting to know a community of people who live in a trash dump in Nicaragua, 2006 came to an end, and it left a calling on Braddigan’s heart.
In March of 2007, Braddigan founded the 501c3 non-profit organization Love, Light and Melody with the mission to understand and combat the physical, emotional and spiritual effects of extreme poverty in that community. The organization launched with an event called Dia De Luz (Day of Light). Over 500 "gringos" assembled at the gates of the trash dump, and in a seemingly unending line of small groups, they walked in, over and through the trash dump. They met the people of La Chureca where they were — in the trash where they were searching for recyclables, fixables, and food — and invited them to join the group on their walk through the vastness of the dump, to the School of Hope for an art show put on by the kids living there, ultimately ending at a make-shift soccer pitch (dirt, dirt, and dust!) for an epic concert.
The new record from Braddigan, The Captive, continues to invoke the optimistic and care-free mentality of Watchfires while exploring the darker side of life exemplified by his experiences in the trash. In fact, the song “Ileana” directly relates to the experiences that led to Love, Light and Melody’s creation. While Braddigan penned the lyrics from his journals, the Captive is his first truly collaborative musical writing experience since Dispatch. The trio embraced not only their heritages (both Portuguese and Spanish are featured on the record) but also the musical stylings of the cultures they have visited.
Braddigan will continue to keep one foot in his life as a musician, recording and touring with his bandmates, and will find balance with the other foot walking with the people of the trash dump. In his own words, “its never what you do in life, but the heart with which you do it.”
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