The sound of dulcimers, guitars and keyboards will emanate from the Greek Theatre on Saturday. Starting at noon, 14 local bands will perform to support the O’Brien House, a halfway house in Baton Rouge for alcohol and drug recovery. April is alcohol awareness month, and the O’Brien House will celebrate it by educating the community on underage drinking. “It’s an alcohol awareness event,” said Ronni Glasper, development director. “In between sets, we’re going to talk about the facts of underage drinking and why it is such a huge public health issue.” Cohen and the Ghost, A Soup Named Stew and Big Blue Marble are among the bands that will play. There will also be a youth art exhibit created by children in the Millennium Kids Club, a part of the O’Brien House’s community outreach program. The exhibit is titled “Through My Eyes” and reflects how the children view substance abuse. “It’s how they see the effects of drugs and alcohol in their world,” said Development Director Ronni Glasper. Katherine Martin has been the executive director at the O’Brien House for 13 years and is a recovering alcoholic of 25 years. “In college, you’re expected to party, but when drinking starts to interfere with your responsibilities, it crosses from partying to a problem,” she said. “When I was in college, I was a party animal, and it got more frequent and problematic until I had to seek help. Martin said the culture of southern Louisiana is especially conducive to heavy drinking. “The national figures are that 10 percent of the population is in need of substance abuse services,” she said. “In Louisiana it is probably a little more than that.” The O’Brien House aids around 250 Baton Rouge residents a year. Adults that need to get their life on track can stay at the house for up to six months and receive addiction recovery services. The concert is free and open to the community, but the O’Brien House will accept donations. “It will help pay for some of our prevention programs,” Martin said. This is not the first time the O’Brien House has hosted a benefit concert. Originally called 12 Bands for 12 Steps, the event has been held twice before in different locations. The event was the brainchild of Billy Calloway, drummer for Field Day and former member of Zenbilly. He was inspired by an article in The Advocate that contained poems by recovering alcoholics and drug addicts at the O’Brien House. The poem writing was a part of a service learning project by the University English department, which is sponsoring Saturday’s concert. The project was started by instructor Tania Nyman who teaches poetry and composition. She extended her usual poetry instruction to clients at the O’Brien House who struggle with addiction. He wrote several songs from the poems and performed a show at the Manship Theatre three years ago. The experience motivated him to create an annual event. Since then, 12 Bands for 12 Steps has expanded to 14 bands. “A lot of people came forward and were willing to play for free,” Calloway said. Calloway also said he hopes the event will bring the local music scene to the attention of the community. “I’m trying to get some sort of connection with LSU and greater Baton Rouge because it seems like they’re two separate communities sometimes,” he said. But ultimately the goal of the event is to educate people about alcoholism. “We want to show people that you can have fun and listen to music without drugs or alcohol,” Martin said.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]