The group's origins date back to the early 1990's, when New Jersey musician Tim McLoone had a simple idea to put together a few, impromptu holiday concerts with some of his rock 'n roll musician buddies at hospitals and homeless shelters. Ten years later, Holiday Express has grown into a 200+ volunteer army who mobilize practically every waking hour between Thanksgiving and Christmas to create free, festive, musical holiday parties
for the forgotten.

The forgotten are invisible victims of poverty and loss, often lacking family support and segregated from mainstream America. If they are visible, like the homeless, they are more than likely feared, avoided or blamed. As Barbara Maran of St. John's Soup Kitchen in Newark says, "Nobody comes to see us-- nobody!"

But the Holiday Express bubble is in danger of bursting and that's where
ROCK and a HEART PLACE begins. It ís the fall of 2001, and 9/11 has just created a huge hole in the psyche of America. Holiday Express is poised to begin an impossible performing schedule - 50 shows in the 30 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Can they pull it off?

The time and energy demands are daunting enough, but there's even more trouble brewing. Funding is in doubt and tensions are simmering below the surface between the 50 musicians who get all the attention, and the 150 unheralded volunteers who raise the money, book the events, schlep the equipment and do the paperwork.

ROCK and a HEART PLACE brings viewers into the front seats and behind the scenes of a unique volunteer organization as it begins its most challenging year yet. It's a story rich with the drama of people doing good things in the face of life's pressures, an unprecedented schedule of events and the ever-growing sea of human need. And it's about the ability of music to bridge differences and bring joy in the most needed of times.

ROCK and a HEART PLACE Mission and Home