After the Tsunami that devastated much of southeast Asia last winter, our own webmaster Sumo (aka Tommy Onyx) took it upon himself to find a way to help out and make the best use of his particular skills and interests: the web and music.

What he came up with was MP3relief.org, a music download website in which all of the proceeds go to charity. The stated mission of the project is to:

• Provide our audience with great underground and marquee music.
•Promote awareness of both our donor artists and the humanitarian causes we support.
•Raise as much money as possible for our partner Mercy Corps.

Onyx wanted to differentiate the relief project from others both by creating something that would still provide help to people long after the headlines had moved on to something else and give people a way to "discover great music all while supporting a greater cause."

To make this happen, Onyx teamed up with Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian group, which "helps more than seven million people each year recover from disasters, build stronger communities and find their own solutions to poverty." All net proceeds from the efforts go directly to Mercy Corps and their relief projects around the world.

The current (and continually growing) artist lineup includes musicians from New York to Texas and Los Angeles to Jakarta, Indonesia, while remaining fully rooted in Detroit. The list also runs the gamut from established, Grammy nominated artists to up and comers, all side by side. Onyx offers a special shout out to Royal Oak's own Times Beach Records who generously donated selections from their ENTIRE artist catalogue. This includes: Ethan Daniel Davidson, The Muggs, Gold Cash Gold, Audra Kubat, Mark Dignam, and many more.

Onyx volunteered all the time and resources to make this project happen in order to find a lasting way to help out people in need and check out great music at the same time. Click on www.mp3relief.org to go now.

Also, if you're an artist or represent a record label and are interested in participating in the effort, the donor information page is here.