From Deep Cuts in Medford, to record stores in Seattle and Portland, countless businesses across the country will host Big Thief listening parties tonight (September 3), offering fans the chance to hear the band’s new album Double Infinity before it officially drops Friday. But only one event (that we’re aware of) will flip the party into a fundraiser for the New England Innocence Project.
JD Neinast, creator of indie booking organization Sound Kicks Out, has organized a Double Infinity listening party at Vinyl Index that is open to anyone who donates to the Cambridge-based nonprofit. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the music starts at 7 p.m., and QR codes will be available on-site for quick mobile donations.
Neinast, who’s on Big Thief’s mailing list, says he cooked up the idea when he received an email from the band about fans submitting to win their own listening parties.
“I replied with the idea to make it a fundraising event for local non-profit organizations and got the approval [last] week,” he tells Vanyaland.
The New England Innocence Project, which works to “free innocent people from prison, support individuals and families impacted by long-term incarceration, and fight to end the systemic harms of the criminal legal system in New England,” was a natural fit for the event. Neinast has previously helped spearhead the Activating ARTivism performance and fundraising series, and he was familiar with the nonprofit’s mission from hosting past Activating ARTivism events.
“NEIP is such an important local organization who strives to free wrongly imprisoned individuals,” Neinast adds. “Activating ARTivism supported NEIP and [staff member] Sean Ellis spoke at multiple ARTivism events. I had some Sound Kicks Out shirts made earlier this year that are free with a donation to NEIP. They’re forever close to my heart.”
Going forward, Neinast hopes “build out more shows that are donation-based,” and is currently developing a series for Somerville’s Narrative Book Shop, “where half of the door would go to Narrative and the other half would go to a non-profit org of the artist’s choosing,” he explains.
Check out the flyer for tonight’s event below.