NEPA bands play benefit show for Planned Parenthood at The Other Side in Wilkes-Barre on March 3
As the Donald Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress work to make good on their promise to defund Planned Parenthood, Northeastern Pennsylvania bands are gathering at The Other Side in Wilkes-Barre this Friday, March 3 at 8 p.m. to raise money for the nonprofit that provides reproductive health services for women all over the country and the world.
Newfoundland hardcore punk band Maniac will join Wilkes-Barre-based bands Spur (dream punk), Worn (hardcore), and Far Away Places (shoegaze) for the benefit show, which will cost $10 at the door. Spur, who just held a release show for their new split EP release with Jake Clarke of Superheaven at The Other Side (119 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre) last week, will be playing an acoustic set that night.
There will also be a bake sale and raffles for gift baskets from local businesses, along with baskets of merchandise donated by Kingston punk/shoegaze band Title Fight. Raffles tickets are 5 for $5. All proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood, which turned 100 years old last year.
One in five American women has chosen Planned Parenthood for low cost or free health care at least once in her life, according to plannedparenthood.org. With nearly 650 health centers nationwide, PP is the largest single provider of reproductive health services in the United States, also offering sex education and information to millions in addition to its advocacy work. Though it provides contraception and preventive primary care that includes cervical and breast cancer screenings, Republican lawmakers and pro-life activists have focused on the organization’s abortion services despite that, by law, federal funding cannot be used for abortions.
These four bands will join thousands of others who have held benefit concerts for Planned Parenthood over the years, including Wilkes-Barre’s own An Albatross, who reunited for a sold-out show with the Dead Milkmen last month to protest Trump’s inauguration and donate to PP.
