The Boston music community continues to rally in support of the World Trade Center victims this week: this Friday night the Paradise Rock Club hosts a benefit featuring Rumble-winning pop-rocker Bleu, buzzed-about folk-rocker Meghan Toohey, and the pop band Chauncey. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross.

The gig is just the latest in a series of impromptu benefits that have popped up at clubs around the city as musicians and concertgoers alike look for ways to make a difference. At the legendary Club Passim, where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez once sang, two shows on Monday and Tuesday to benefit the American Red Cross sold out in advance; the Monday-night show alone raised in excess of $7000. Speakers were set up for spillover crowds outside the club, where people lit candles while listening to the cream of the New England folk scene, including Ellis Paul, Chris Smither, Vance Gilbert, Kris Delmhorst, Faith Soloway, Mary Lou Lord, Rose Polenzani, and comedian Jimmy Tingle. Last Friday at the Milky Way Lounge & Lanes in Jamaica Plain, performances by Atlas Soul and DJ Entropy raised $500 for the Red Cross.

" When something like this happens, you feel helpless if you’re not a firefighter or a doctor or a policeman, and the natural instinct is to think, ‘What can I do to help?’ " said Toohey, who also performed at the Monday-night Passim benefit. " Being a musician, you come to realize you harbor a gift of healing through music. You get out there and help people to get out of their houses, to get back to some kind of normalcy. And it’s a way to bring your friends together and celebrate life — how precious your own life is — to go on as a tribute to those who have fallen. "

Bleu, Chauncey, and Toohey play the Paradise Rock Club (969 Comm Ave, in Boston) this Friday, September 21, at 9 p.m. Tickets to the 18-plus show are $9. Call (617) 423-NEXT for tickets.

Issue Date: September 20 - 27, 2001