Online Rock Library Has Ambitious Goals

[Jahfin]

From the Boston Herald:
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNe ... icleid=856

By Linda Laban

The things kids think of, huh? Take Anne Fitzpatrick. On a trip to the library with her mother at the tender age of 8, Anne inquired when they might go to the music library.

Her mother advised the youngster there was no such thing, but Anne was convinced there just had to be a music library somewhere in Boston.

“I thought she just didn't know,” recalled Fitzpatrick, now 31. “When I came to realize there were no libraries or collections about music, I thought, well, that's crazy. That would be something I would love to do with my life.”

Years later, after gaining a degree in English and working in sales and for nonprofit organizations, the Boston-born-and-bred Fitzpatrick still found the idea enticing.

“I'm a great appreciator of music and I love to read about it. Obviously, I could read articles,” she said, “but there was no place where I could have the music and the reviews, the history of the music and the information about the artist - the whole culture.”

So five years ago, Fitzpatrick began to shape the Web-based Rock & Roll Library on her home computer. Her mission was to “build the world's largest music information archive while integrating the use of popular music in education,” she said proudly.

These days, Fitzpatrick holds the title of executive director of this nonprofit organization. She works from an Allston office space where 25 regular employees, mostly volunteers and interns, keepvery busy, given that the library will eventually include ethnic, religious and other music from around the world.

Still, the project remains in the seminal stage, with little more than a prototype accessible to surfers at www.rocklibrary.com. Along with scholarly biographies and discographies, surfers will be able to access such areas as performance, relevant books and movies and, more unusually, links to charities an artist supports.

“In the past 50 years the amount of notoriety and resources that have been generated by popular music artists is staggering,” Fitzpatrick said. “From world hunger to the environment to political prisoners, many charities greatly benefited by the support of artists. I believe that feeds into the richness of the legacy that is being created by popular music.”

That also reiterates the ancient role of music as a community resource, as opposed to its current role of celebrity-ridden profit machine. To that end, a large part of Fitzpatrick's time is spent promoting music education and the use of popular music in education. That has gained her the support of many local political figures, as well as some corporate sponsors who donate services.

Such big-name artists as Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge and Billy Bragg have stepped up to the plate, too, and many local musicians, including Lamont and Waltham, have lent their support by playing benefit concerts, one of which is Friday night.

With no charge to access the library (visitors are encouraged to sign up for membership) and no paid advertisements, finances are a big concern, especially as the goal is to have a visitors center, a physical library that would include a performance space from which live Webcasts could be seen around the world.

“We are at a critical stage,” Fitzpatrick said. “Whether it's individuals who sign up on our Web site and make a tax-deductible donation, or corporations coming forward with sponsorship, or a philanthropist in the Boston community, we need that funding.”

She believes the Rock & Roll Library and her life's mission are more than worthy of such backing.

“The human experience is that in every society that developed in any place in the world, people created music,” she said. “There's something inherent in the relationship people have with music. It's absolutely worth celebrating and preserving.”

(Local pop rockers Waltham headline the next Rock & Roll Library benefit, along with Seemless and We're All Gonna Die, on Friday, 9 p.m., at Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston. $10. 617-254-7380.)