Who's That Busker?

If you happen to notice an abundance of buskers on the streets this Thursday, you might want to take a moment to listen, and you might want to dig a little deeper into your pockets than usual, for many of these musicians are relatively big name pros raising money for War Child Canada.

The Busking for Change project is the brain child of Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, who hit local streets last October and raised $22,000 which he donated to War Child Canada's Rehabilitation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By doing so, Maida was able to raise enough money to build a new school.

This year, he's asked a few of his friends to help him out. He'll be joined this year by:

• James Black & Rick Jackett of Finger Eleven
• Die Mannequin
• Neverending White Lights
• Tomi Swick
• Chantal Kreviazuk
• Saint Alvia Cartel
• The Skydiggers
• Dave Bidini
• Zack Werner
• Flash Lightnin'
• Lowest of The Low
• Brown Brigade
• The Painted Birds
• The Waking Eyes
• Joshua Bartholomew
• Shiloh
• Jeremy Fisher
• Arkells
• Brian Melo
• Mother Mother
• Suzie McNeil
• Brian Byrne
• Dodger
• Aengus Finnan
• The Apollo Effect
• Hello Beautiful
• Staylefish
• The Artist Life
• Kim Stockwood
• Damhnait Doyle
• The Great Lake Swimmers
• Crash Parallel
• Hunter Valentine
• and then some

You'll be able to hear music from 7 AM to 6 PM at various locations throughout the city including Queen & John, First Canadian Place, Brookfield Place (Bay & Wellington), Union Station, Metro Hall Square, Manulife Centre, Queen & Spadina, Simcoe Park, Princess of Wales Theatre, Cumberland Park, Royal Ontario Museum, Bata Shoe Museum, Yonge & St. Clair and 228 Yonge St.

For more details, or to make an online donation, visit the War Child website.

Photo: War Child.