Future Islands Sell 'Letterman' Memorabilia To Raise Money For Baltimore
By Ed Biggs in Music / Festivals on 10 May 2015
The Baltimore-based group are selling items from their infamous 'Letterman' performance last year to raise money for the beleaguered city.
Who could forget that legendary performance by Future Islands on ‘Letterman’ early last year, with the singer who was so ridiculously committed to his performance that it was actually moving? Well, the band is now auctioning a number of mementoes from that appearance in the name of raising money for Baltimore.
Future Islands, who hail from the embattled Maryland city that has been engulfed by rioting and violence this last fortnight, placed some items on eBay to raise funds for the Fund For Rebuilding Baltimore, according to Billboard.
Future Islands are raising money by selling memorabilia from their famous 'Letterman' performance
Fans could buy the cue cards used on the show, the Converse high-top shoes that the famously unchained singer Samuel T. Herring was wearing, and an art print for the 2011 album On The Water signed by the band and the sleeve’s designer Elena Johnston.
At the time of writing, the bid stood at $1,725, and the eBay listing stated that Future Islands themselves were prepared to match the winning bid dollar for dollar up to a maximum of $5,000. Concerning the shoes, it reads “[Herring] laced them up and wore them for the first time for that performance. They are leather Converse high tops, size 11. He is currently still wearing these shoes, and when the auction is over, they will be packed up and shipped off.”
About the charity in question, an initiative by the Baltimore Community Foundation, the listing said it had “a long history of working with neighborhood leaders and community organizations to strengthen neighborhoods, and have always relied on the commitment and the ideas of neighborhood residents to guide this work. The Fund for Rebuilding Baltimore will follow these same principles.”
Future Islands performed their song ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’ from their latest album Singles on March 3rd 2014. Within days, the performance of Herring's loose-limbed, improvised dancing and very, very impassioned singing had racked up millions of views, and helped the band become one of the unexpected success stories of the year.
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