By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Debbie De Steno never met Cat Lambert face to face. They were Facebook friends who shared an interest in the local music scene.
Then Cat was off social media, and Steno learned just a few days after they’d last been in contact that Lambert had been beaten to death by her husband.
De Steno and others on the music scene wanted to do something. So De Steno pulled a benefit together at the Alehouse in the Woodland Mall.
Music Against Domestic Violence was born with the proceeds going to help Lambert’s family.
De Steno decided to make the benefit an annual affair. So this Saturday (April 21) the fourth benefit will be held at the Alehouse from noon to midnight. The proceeds now benefit The Cocoon Shelter.
The benefit is also to raise awareness about domestic violence, an issue people hesitate to talk about. For De Steno seeing the movie “The Burning Bed” was her first exposure to the physical and emotional realities of domestic abuse.
The benefit will include a raffle and 50/50 drawing with kids karaoke from noon to 2 p.m. The kids will turn the mic over to a lineup of local bands.
Starting with Bliss at 2, each band will play about a 90-minute set.
Other bands in order of appearance will be: Blue Ticks; 16-year-old guitar phenom Brad Tober and the Outsiders; BG high rockers Mindless Matters; Midnight Moses; and closers, AmpWagon.
The first year De Steno played with the band Second Wynd, but she finds it too much to run the show and also be part of it.
Still her love of music is at the heart of the event. As a kid growing up in New Jersey she picked up the guitar her older sister abandoned. She dreamed of being the next Pat Benatar. She’s been playing music ever since.
Just picking up her guitar and picking a few notes helps her recharge. Music takes you away from everyday troubles, she said. “It gives you hope.”
And that’s why it so fitting as a way to raise money so “The Cocoon can get resources to help people.”
