MAP BENEFIT SHOW BRINGS TOGETHER AMAZING LINEUP OF MUSICIANS FOR A GREAT CAUSE

MusiCares held their 2nd annual Musicians Assistance Program (MAP) benefit show and they once again brought together an amazing lineup of performers honoring James Hetfield, of Metallica. Performing at the gala event was none other that Hetfield and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains, Tom Waits, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Jason Mraz and members of Velvet Revolver, who did a rendition of Pink Floyd’s classic ‘Wish You Were Here.’ The concert benefited the MusiCares MAP Fund, which provides members of the music community access to addiction recovery treatment regardless of their financial situation. Hetfield was honored as the recipient of the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund and his devotion to helping other addicts with the recovery process. We caught up with the legendary Ozzy Osbourne just before the event to talk about how important the MAP fund is for musicians.

James Hetfield, just before being honored echoed Ozzy’s thoughts on the MAP fund, but also acknowledged he gives back for all the recovering addicts that cant afford the best treatment money can buy.

“There’s a lot of musicians that can’t afford treatment for drugs or alcohol addiction and it’s a way of putting back in. It’s common knowledge that musicians use drugs. What other job do you know that you can turn up stoned or drunk and they go ‘Oh, he’s gonna be good today.’ It’s part of the gig you know, but it nearly killed me more than once.”

So after four years of sobriety for Hetfield, Ozzy Osbourne admitted how inspiring it is for him considering alcohol and drugs nearly took his life more than once.

“They do work with musicians that can’t afford the help they need. For me fortunately I had the funds to go and seek help at a rehab facility. MAP lets people know that they’re not alone and you can survive whatever it is and whatever insanity is going on in your head or whatever you think you need to create music. MAP is helping to bust the myth of all the crutches that are needed.”

Metallica are currently in the studio in San Francisco writing material for their next album of all new material, which doesn’t have a release date as of press time. Ozzy is gearing up for his second decade of metals most successful festival, Ozzfest. It was announced recently that Ozzy will be performing on the second stage at selected dates as this summers Ozzfest.