Written By: Juanita Camfield (L.A. Nightimer)
Photos By: Ed Hannigan
View all of Ed's L.A.Y.N. photos here.
Sunday November 22nd, 2009 - The Los Angeles Youth Network hosted a sold out concert, LAYN ROCKS presented by Slash and Friends, at The Avalon in Hollywood. The event was hosted by comedian George Lopez and rock headliners Slash and Ozzy Osbourne. The night’s acts featured collaborative performances by Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Billy Idol, Travis Barker, Chester Bennington, Andrew Stockdale, Dave Navarro, and an opening performance by Juke Kartel.
The night was full of surprises, with Slash and Friends rocking out to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and “Tangerine”, Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak”, Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale belted out “Woman”, and “By The Sword” off of Slash’s upcoming album. A surprisingly bad ass performance by Chester Bennington during the Zeppelin song “Good Times, Bad Times”. Billy Idol performed “Out Ta Get Me” and “Rebel Yell”. Bennington also nailed “Slither” along with “Paradise City” performed by Stephen Adler on drums and Duff McKagan on bass! Perry Farrell sang “Mountain Song”, “Sympathy For The Devil”, and an unforgettable version of “Jane Says”. Ozzy Osbourne began his set with “I Don’t Know”, “Iron Man”, “Crazy Train”, and ended the night with an unforgettably sung “Paranoid.”
The Los Angeles Youth Network, LAYN, is a non-profit organization devoted to ending “homelessness one kid at a time”. At one of the three LAYN homes the youths (12-21 years old) that come through are provided with what many take for granted – a place to sleep, food in their stomach, water, medical services and even counseling, as most come from abuse, were neglected, or abandoned. Without LAYN many of these kids would become a part of the frightening reality that, “Nearly 150,000 people live on the streets of Los Angeles” and that out of that large number “Over 10,000 kids sleep on the street in abandoned buildings and under freeways each night.”
It's because of charitable donations made by regular folks like you and I that help the Los Angeles Youth Network provide these kids with “9000 home nights, 13000 meals, 6500+ hours of counseling, 1000 hours of education and tutoring, and 300+ arts and recreation hours” per year. Imagine if no one contributed to these kids and future adults’ lives.
LAYN not only helps youths now, it helps prepare them for the future. Their services provide at risk youths with transitional living programs, vocational and placement services, independent living and job training, that helps to make sure that each kid “successfully completes the permanent transition away from street life to a safe and secure living environment to fully participate in society”. LAYN graduate and fellow guitarist/bass player Jill Avilez, shared why the program is still so important to her. She says, “I was lucky to end up at L.A.Y.N. The program and its supportive staff helped save my life and pull me out of my darkest times. I can wholeheartedly say that if I didn't end up at the Beachwood house I most likely would have committed suicide. They helped me get back into Hollywood High School and influenced me to get better grades and focus more on my arts.
They supported my creative self when almost no one else did and it and gave me the confidence to be the unique individual that I am today. I was guided with the tools to help overcome deep mental and emotional trauma and emancipated the program a high school graduate to go on to a 4 year State University to pursue my artistic ambitions". Jill is one of the fortunate“80% of our youth” who “exit our program to live successfully with their families, in foster or group home placements, or independently.”Jill reminds us that “Not all youth get a chance to explore their own potential and have supporters who genuinely care about their growth and development. And not all youth can find their way to L.A.Y.N., but L.A.Y.N. needs to be there for the ones that do”. Hopefully along with the celebrity rockers that helped host the LAYN ROCKS concert there will also be more attention to keeping kids off the streets and into a home where they are truly cared for by individuals who want to shed light on an otherwise potentially dark road.
