[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sZIwhx5ntM[/youtube]

Last night, Air Traffic Control and the Future of Music Coalition kicked off a musicians’ activism retreat at the Candlelight Lounge with a band that included Sunpie Barnes, James Andrews, Craig Klein and special guest Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, who took over the keyboards for a short set of classic New Orleans R&B. Josh Tillman, formerly the drummer for Fleet Foxes, is a retreat alumnus, and he plays tonight at One Eyed Jacks under the name Father John Misty. “What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name,” he says. “You’ve got to have a name. I never got to choose mine.” Here he is on Late Night with David Letterman performing “Only Son of the Ladiesman” from the album Fear Fun. Har Mar Superstar and Moon Hooch plus the Dropout are also on the bill. Tickets are on sale now.

Thursday night, Air Traffic Control and the Future of Music Coalition present “Dear New Orleans”, a benefit for Sweet Home New Orleans and the Gulf Restoration Network at the Blue Nile with Elvis Perkins, Jeanie Schroder (Devotchka), Justin Poree (Ozomatli), Lateef the Truthspeaker, Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs), Spank Rock, Erin McKeown, Martín Perna (Antibalas, Ocote Soul), and Thao Nguyen (Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) with local artists Sunpie Barnes and Bonerama. Tickets for that are on sale now as well.