Arts & Entertainment
Benefit Show in Ferndale to Support South Oakland Shelter
It's the time of year to think of your fellow man, the spirit of good will and peace and philanthropy should prevail. This weekend sees just one of many notable benefit shows in the area.
What: Benefit Show for South Oakland Shelter with Will Sessions, Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful and Matt Jones & the Reconstruction. Minimum donation $5.
Where: The Loving Touch in Ferndale.
When: Friday, December 14th – Doors @ 9 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This Friday, Ferndalians can come listen to music and contribute to the South Oakland Shelter, a homeless prevention center dedicated to providing shelter and supportive programming to help individuals and families live independently.
Friday night’s music splices some dusty strums of grainy Americana onto the glitzy grooves of funk-fired dancefloor fare. Yes, twangy indie-folk ruminations meet up with exquisite soul rattlers as a consortium of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti-area guitar-groups (Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful and Matt Jones & the Reconstruction) open up for the brass-bolstered Detroit-area jazz-funk fusing and hip-hop hybrid Will Sessions.
Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
I remark upon this line-up not only because, really, you’d be a fool to miss Will Sessions’s elegant rock-funk rousing style - but also because Misty and Matt, the Washtenaw troubadour types, are both on my “Top 12” list of local album releases this year (look for part one on Patch this week).
Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful released their 2nd LP, False Honey, on Halloween this year. Woozy waltzes and toe-tapping folk-rock furrowers under dulcet country-cooed warbles and haunting, heart-wringing lullabies, Misty’s frank and fearless musings are warmed by the wild wiry guitar riffs of Ryan Gimpert – who counts himself amongst the Will Sessions ranks.
Listen: http://mistylyn.bandcamp.com/
But Misty’s other long-time collaborator, that being Matt Jones, is the singer/songwriter behind the half-acoustic / half-electric, half-rocking, half-minimalist-baroque-pop album titled Half Poison, Half Pure. Just as stirring as Misty’s swooning serenades is Jones’ high-arching quaver, cutting just as deep and dark with his poetic ponderings and demon-exorcising revelations over his characteristically spindly finger-picking guitar style and a fitfully graceful growl from cellist Colette Alexander.
Listen: http://mattjones.bandcamp.com/
Music aside… the South Oakland Shelter has, for 25 years, been contributing noble and humane efforts to shelter/equip individuals and families and spread awareness of the prevalence of homelessness—even in an ostensibly wealthy county as Oakland.
Swing by if you can.
