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St. Vincent, Martha Wainwright, Elysian Fields, Joan As Police Woman & guest playing benefit at LPR

St Vincent
St. Vincent at Green Man 2015 (more by Rachel Juarez-Carr)

St. Vincent, Martha Wainwright, Elysian Fields, Joan As Police Woman and a “very special guest” will play a benefit show for drummer Matt Johnson’s son Jasper in NYC on June 28 at Le Poisson Rouge. Matt, not to be confused with The The’s Matt Johnson, has drummed for St. Vincent, Elysian Fields, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, Beth Orton, and more. Here’s Jasper’s story:

The past month has been the most excruciating I have ever known but within it has been Jaspers fight for life. Each day of the first 3 weeks had presented numerous challenges both large and small and he has shown thus far that he is meeting them. He is now physically stable.

Jasper suffered a major seizure the evening of 2/12/16. The severity of which has left him with anoxic brain injury (this is similar to a stroke). The complexity of this condition and the complete unknown aspect of what lies ahead in terms of recovery is what is being faced at this time. Jasper has weathered the ‘neurological storms’ that came upon him as a result of this injury. These were very severe and difficult to bear. Doctors stated that these “storms” could last days, weeks, years or never cease. The absolutely wonderful news is his neurological storms have subsided after less than a month and he has been slowly awakening from this state.

He has begun to move both legs, move his eyes ( visual tracking) and to turn his head. Very positive steps forward. He responds to touch and stimuli and a few times- though not yet consistent-we saw a smile……it was beautiful to see!

Julianne, Jasper’s mom (03/29/16)

You can donate to Jasper’s fund here. Tickets for the show, ranging from $35 to $75, are on sale now.

This follows a benefit show that happened about a month ago at Elysian Fields’ venue The Owl with Duncan Sheik, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Matt Johnson, Sandy Bell & Jeff Lipstein, and more.

No other St. Vincent shows announced at the moment. Watch her video for “Digital Witness”: