The Coachella Valley is home to numerous charity shows, like the Concert for Autism, Barry Manilow’s A Gift of Love concerts, and many others. One of the newer benefit concerts is entering its second year of rockin’ while raising funds for the Desert Cancer Foundation.
Mid-Autumn is a benefit concert organized by local photographer and professor Ken Larmon (whose work you’ve seen in the Independent), and will take place at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 3, at Coachella Valley Brewing Co. in Thousand Palms. A donation of $15 is required at the door. (Full disclosure: I am performing at the event.)
In March 2024, Larmon’s wife, Malinda Liu, passed away after a long battle with cancer. Through her treatment, the Desert Cancer Foundation helped pay her co-pays and premiums. Larmon turned toward his love of live music to give back to the foundation, and keep Malinda’s memory alive, by hosting the first Mid-Autumn event at Little Street Music Hall in September 2024.
“I teach at the Indio campus for College of the Desert, and Little Street Music Hall (was) right down the block,” Larmon said during a recent phone interview. “I was there getting coffee one day, and asked Josiah (Gonzalez, owner of Little Street Music Hall) if he’d be willing to host it, and he said yes. We had The Hellions, Lazuli Bones, The Ill Eagles and Cálmala; Danny Lloyd from Cálmala also works at College of the Desert.”
Larmon credits Angel Lua of The Hellions, another College of the Desert teacher, for helping him realize that a benefit concert was possible.
“Malinda’s cancer came back in 2019, and I didn’t know how long it was going to be,” Larmon said. “I asked Angel, since Desert Cancer Foundation was helping us out, what he thought about doing a benefit concert for Desert Cancer Foundation after Malinda passes, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, me and The Hellions would certainly be down to do that.’ That’s what got me into doing a concert for them.”
The inaugural Mid-Autumn raised more than $1,400.
“What Desert Cancer Foundation does is they pay for premiums and co-pays,” Larmon said. “Just for my wife’s situation, Malinda’s co-pays were about $300 a month; (individual) co-pays, depending on the treatment, could be anywhere from $20 to $500. Just going by premiums, the $1,400 would help out one family for a good four or five months.”
Members of the Desert Cancer Foundation board and staff were heavily involved with the event.
“When I decided to do the charity concert, I reached out to Mark (Scheibach), who is the executive director of Desert Cancer Foundation,” Larmon said. “I talked to him and let him know what I was doing, and they said, ‘That’s awesome; we’d be down to support that.’ Last year, he came out for the first couple bands, and they had Desert Cancer Foundation banners up throughout the venue. This year, Cindy (Orantes, event operations specialist) from Desert Cancer Foundation is actually going to help run the door, so that’ll be awesome.”
The local music scene is filled with great bands made up of good people who will drop everything to play a local charity event. “We’re lucky out here,” Ken Larmon said. “We’ve got a lot of good-people bands.”
Larmon attends numerous local shows, buys band merch and takes photos for just about any musician who’ll ask. He’s an integral part of the local music community who’s helped many local musicians, myself included. At Mid-Autumn, musicians get a chance to give back to Larmon by supporting the Desert Cancer Foundation.
This year’s Mid-Autumn will be hosted at Coachella Valley Brewing Co., and feature performances from Giselle Woo and the Night Owls, Salton City Surf Club, Ju!ian and the Band, The Royal Chicano Underground, St. Camino, Yovés, MOLK., Desert Moons, June and the Tax Evaders, and Nick Galvan.
“The first year, I wanted all bands that Malinda also liked, and there was only one band that couldn’t do it, and I got them this year,” Larmon said. “I got Giselle Woo and the Night Owls headlining this year, and they’re one of Malinda’s favorite bands. I’m stoked to have them, and then I just reached out to people in the scene who I know, whose bands I like and enjoy. Luckily, they all said yes—and then some people like St. Camino reached out to me.”
Thankfully, the local music scene is filled with great bands made up of good people who will drop everything to play a local charity event.
“We’re lucky out here,” Larmon said. “We’ve got a lot of good-people bands.”
Larmon is dreaming big for the future of Mid-Autumn, but for now, he’s treating the benefit concert as a yearly expression of gratitude to the Desert Cancer Foundation.
“Right now, this is just going to be my yearly thank you, for everything they did for Malinda and me,” he said. “If it becomes something more in the future, that would be awesome. I’d love to get it to a place like the Concert for Autism—but I have another 16 years to get there.”
Mid-Autumn will take place at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 3, at Coachella Valley Brewing Co., at 30640 Gunther St., in Thousand Palms. A $15 donation is required at the door. For more information, visit desertcancerfoundation.org/events.
