Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) will host a concert in Evanston Saturday night that benefits Acrassicauda, an Iraqi heavy metal band currently living in Turkey. This concert will crown the organization’s conference that day, which will advocate communication and understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim youth leading to a more harmonious vision of U.S.-Muslim relations. AID coordinates events such as these particularly near the anniversary of September 11th as an attempt to break down walls between the Muslim and the western world and hopefully curb hostility. more ›

We finally saw the Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary last night and walked away rather stunned. It follows the one and only metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda, from just after Saddam's defeat through 2006 when they are seeking refugee status in Syria. (Currently the band is in Turkey.) more ›