On March 21st, starting at 8:30pm at the Elbo Room in San Francisco, the organization CAUSE (CC's Acoustic Underground Showcase, see more at www.CAUSE-music.com ) will feature an array of acoustic artists displaying their talent and compassion for One World Beat causes. Mokai, Shelley Doty, Mia and Jonah, Kid Beyond, and Jason Miller will all be performing in a club-restaurant which serves up a wide variety of music--from jazz to hip-hop, and rock to Afro-Cuban--in the heart of the famous Mission District.

March marks the one-year anniversary of CC's Acoustic Underground Showcase (CAUSE) at the Elbo Room, and they have invited some of the area's most-loved underground artists to celebrate. Shelley Doty played one of their first shows there last year. She returns to the series with the band she calls her "X-tet". Also performing will be Kid Beyond, aka Andrew Chaikin, a vocalist, throat singer and beatboxer, who won the "Best Beatboxer" category in the SF Weekly's "Best of SF 2004". Other CAUSE veterans Mokai, and Mia and Jonah will perform, each with Seth Ford-Young on upright bass. Jason Miller will be celebrating the release of his latest CD, "114 Echo Ave".

Mokai, with a smokin' guitar and rapid-fire rhythms, has played in venues as diverse as North Beach Jazz Fest, Reggae on the River, Earthdance World Music Fest, and the Humboldt Folklife Fest. His CD, "Unearthed" (2003), contains songs which have won him a "Best Song" award from the West Coast Songwriters Association, and one--"World Without War"-- which has been called "the peace movement's new anthem".

Shelley Doty, with her "cranked-up emotions, edgy energy, and swinging jazz guitar rhythms", has been called a "guitar goddess" and a "future legend". She is a singer, songwriter, musical director, script-writer, and co-creator of an animated film project called Strange Frame. Shelley is both a solo artist and versatile lead guitarist, playing and recording with many other artists and also with her former band, Jambay, who released three CDs together. Her latest solo release, "Over the Line", is on her own self-created label, Howlin'.

Mia and Jonah make music which has been described as "somewhere between the poetry of Dylan, the American sound of Woody Guthrie, and the unbridled, passionate voice of Bjork, Edith Piaf, and Nina Hagen". Shine l, their debut CD, features original tunes of hope, honesty, powerful emotions, and human connection. For them, "love is all", and it really rocks!

Kid Beyond is a one-man band, his live performances an intricate multi-layered combination of soulful lyrics, beatboxing, and vocal instrumentation, creating a fusion of funky fusion of hip-hop, techno-flavored, alt-pop. He has shared the stage with James Brown, LL Cool J, the Neville Brothers, Ray Charles, Run DMC, Crosby Stills and Nash, and even former President Bill Clinton! His performances have rocked audiences from Carnegie Hall to Bangkok's hottest nightclub, Song Sueng.

Jason Miller is a songwriter and musical performer who blends traditional American folk sounds with ethnic influences--traces of klezmer, hints of Brazilian--and plays a wide variety of instruments, from mandolin and violin to percussion and guitar. He has released two CDs of his own music--"Not Afraid of Dying" and "114 Echo Ave"--and one called "Citrus", from his years in Chicago with a band by the same name. Jason has played at many festivals, and in venues throughout the Bay area and on the road. An avid sailor and aviator, he also teaches flying, and has recently joined a klezmer band called The Yiddiots.

This event raises money for important causes while presenting an eclectic mix of acoustic music on the third Monday of each month. In March, CAUSE will be plugging into One World Beat and its designated charities--Liberation Through Education and Outside the Dream--to help underprivileged children get an education to shape their futures, as part of the OWB 2005 international music festival. Music making a difference...let's all give that some "Elbo Room"!