MINNEAPOLIS -- Even after 21 years it seems Twin Cities music heads can't satisfy their appetite for the Cities Sampler.
Just two hours after area Target stores opened for business at 8 a.m. Thursday, all 30,000 copies of the Cities 97 Sampler Volume 21 had been snapped up.
KARE 11 reporter Jeff Olsen reported live from the Edina Target Greatland Thursday morning, where the line for the Sampler began taking shape at 2:45 a.m. By 7 a.m., the line of buyers snaked all the way around to the back of the store.
The result? One hundred percent of the $700,000 dollars in proceeds will go directly to select Minnesota charities.
The Cities 97 Sampler is the longest running radio music or performance compilation for charity in the country. If you didn't stand in line to get one of this year's model, or know someone who did, you can bid on one of the remaining Samplers in the Cities 97 on-line auction.
People lined up by the thousands at the crack of dawn in the hopes of being one of the lucky 35,000 people to land one.
"There is no other place in the country that this happens, it is a phenomenon," Cities 97 Program Director Lauren MacLeash said of the Sampler.
The Sampler CD is like folklore in these parts.
It's one of kind live music performed in its purest form and the only thing that makes it better is what is behind the music.
"That is the most important thing, taking music and combining it will community," MacLeash said.
This CD is the exact opposite of the major record label release because not one person makes a dime.
The only benefactors are Minnesota charities.
"We gave the Minnesota Zoo $25,000 dollars last year for Dream Night, it made that event possible," MacLeash said.
This music gave the entire zoo to kids with disabilities. The entire zoo was closed to everyone but those kids who deserve its every attention.
That is what this music does.
It is why MacLeash calls it her baby.
It is why she is tireless in asking artists to be a part of it.
It is why, last year, she personally emailed Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty with a link to a story KARE 11 did about why the Sampler is more than a music CD, and it's a disc that makes a difference.
"I embedded a link in the email to plea with Rob for a song," MacLeash said.
And Rob, responded, saying:
"I just wanted to tell you that I watched your video on CD Sampler and wanted to tell you congrats on all you do. I'm glad that you want me to be a part of it."
And that, ladies and gents, is how magic happens.
The 21st annual Sampler went on sale Thursday at all Target stores starting at 8 a.m.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
