Green Communities Coalition

3rd Annual Green Communities Coalition Benefit Concert Features Emily Hurd

Support the organization that is working to reduce this area's carbon footprint by attending Hot Music for A Cool City featuring Emily Hurd at 5:00 pm on Sunday, August 16 at Cliffbreakers.  Emily Hurd's soulful bluesy piano & vocal music will be complemented by an hors d'oeuvres buffet (included in ticket price) and cash bar. Opening for Hurd will be local favorites Hagerty-Fierz performing folk and bluegrass. Donation for the concert is $20.  Advance tickets available at JustGoods (201 Seventh Street, Rockford) and The Rock River Times Office (128 N. Church Street, Rockford) Tickets also available at the door. For information call 815.985.1108.

Emily Hurd, a local favorite, has developed a national following and has been described as reminiscent of American classics such as Bonnie Raitt and Carol King. Astonishingly fresh and innovative, she has also been compared to Russian-American piano-pop diva Regina Spektor. Hurd's original songs touch on universal themes of love and loneliness. She has been hailed as the answer to the cookie cutter pop artist. A native of Rockford, Illinois, Hurd has been touring her native midwest and both coasts of the U.S. for years. Well-traveled and well-versed, she has become a coveted national act, performing for loyal followers who revel in her clever rhymes and honest performance style.

Hurd is in the middle of making her 6th record of original music, which will be released in late 2009. She promises it will be "her best yet," backed by a full band and string quartet. Her past discography includes: "A Cache In The Warehouse Floor," 2008, "Love In Flats," 2007, "Barefoot Session," 2006, "Potent One," 2006, "Lines," 2005.

Jim Hagerty (guitar vocals) and Steve Fierz (fiddle, piano) have been writing and performing a unique and original blend of folk and bluegrass in Northern Illinois region for five years. The duo is currently working on a self-titled CD and will be a featured act at this year's On The Waterfront Festival.

On June 11, 2008, Mayor Larry Morrissey signed the U.S. Mayors Conference Agreement on Climate Protection making Rockford the 32nd Illinois city to become a Cool City. Mayor Morrissey worked for 18 months with the Green Communities Coalition to build community support for the Agreement and creating a Green structure within the city's administration to ensure prompt and effective implementation upon signing. The Green Communities Coalition is a non-profit grassroots organization representing over 250 individuals and 40 organizations dedicated to preserving and improving the environment through positive action. They are committed to working with the mayor and the city council on local solutions to global warming and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.