This Saturday Nov. 18 from 7-11 p.m., on the lower level of the Randolph Co-op building, Diana Salyer of the Underground Center for the Healing Arts will host a benefit concert to promote awareness of homeopathic medicine and methods of health care.

The featured performers, "Myra Flynn with Spark" and "Hillary and the Party Crashers," are both popular bands with local connections.

Flynn, who grew up in Randolph and now lives in Burlington, sings what she describes as "neo-soul" with her band "Myra Flynn with Spark," which has been together for about a year. The band performs regularly at a number of venues around Vermont, particularly in the Burlington and Montpelier areas.

A 2001 graduate of RUHS, Flynn always sang at the Mud Season Talent show and was active in local theater. She went to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania for two years, majoring in classical music, then landed a recording deal with the Refugee All-Stars label and made a demo album in NYC.

Due to a family health problem, she came home to Vermont and finished her education at Norwich University, graduating with a degree in journalism. She currently works at the Burlington Free Press.

"I really love performing and it’s very therapeutic for me," Flynn said. "It’s great to have moments you can capture where you get your friends and family together to share something you love doing."

Backed by a tight five-piece band of veteran musicians from central Vermont, Flynn performs a mixture of vocal covers and original compositions with funky, urban neo-soul rhythms and torch ballads from the likes of Alicia Keys and Eryka Badu.

The lead singer and namesake of the Party Crashers, Hillary Leicher, is a Randolph resident backed up by local musicians Eric Truran, Andy Leicher, Jay Burstein, and Kristen Higgins. The band, which has been together a little over three years, plays rock ’n roll, reggae, funk, and R & B. They have played a lot locally at the gazebo series in Randolph, at the band shell in Bethel, and at a lot of private parties.

"We try to get people up and dancing and having a good time," Hillary said. "With five different people, we have five different musical backgrounds and we try to do all kinds of music to make each one of us feel satisfied. I think we’ll keep going because we keep finding music that we love and we have a really good time together."

Tickets for this event will be available at the door. Bring your dancing shoes!

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