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Salem En Masse: Rock for HAWC settles into new venue, bigger blueprint

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Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.


It took a bit of shuffling around before the annual Rock for HAWC benefit and women’s safety awareness show could find a new home for 2017. Fortunately, event organizer and Radio Compass frontwoman Angela Lee isn’t one to give up easily.

This year’s Rock for HAWC will take place Friday (December 8) at Smokin’ Betty’s BBQ and Bar to raise money for Healing Abuse, Working for Change, a North Shore-based domestic violence agency. In previous years the event was held at The Indo in Beverly, and after The Spotlight Tavern in Beverly closed abruptly and Opus subsequently pulled out from hosting the event, the 2017 Rock for HAWC landed at Smokin’ Betty’s, the Salem restaurant and venue that will offer far more space for the show and the cause at hand.

“I’m getting older and while I love playing music, it means so much more to do it in a way that brings people together to celebrate and contribute to the betterment of our community,” Lee writes in email correspondence with Vanyaland. “Preventative measures, resources, education, and awareness are key in reducing and ending this abuse and violence and starting the healing process.”

While the venue is new, other aspects of the benefit, however, remain the same. The show’s bill is stacked with staples of the Massachusetts music scene, featuring Carissa Johnson, Vanessa Silberman, Ladymob, The Devil’s Twins, and Lee’s Radio Compass. Many of the performers appear in Rock for HAWC’s annual calendar, photographed by Joshua Pickering, which carries on the benefit’s tradition of selling calendars as an additional source of funding for HAWC.

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