Next Best Thing: Indie Music Charity Concert Series

Chris Bro, a DJ and stay-at-home dad, wants to make sure you’re not treading water, at least as far as music goes. 

"There's nothing wrong with Led Zeppelin, I listen to them all the time," he said. "You just have to expand your horizons."

That’s why Bro has created the Next Charity Concert Series, a showcase of up-and-coming local bands and singer-songwriters, which will take place at in Pleasantville the second Friday of every month, beginning on June 10. The upcoming show features Derek James from Brooklyn, who plays rock, rockabilly and swing, and Stephen Wright-Mark, from New York City, who plays alternative music, powerpop and rock.

Thanks to the sponsorship of area businesses, all of the money from the $10 admissions fee will benefit Gilda’s Club of Westchester, a cancer support organization named after the comedian Gilda Radner, and the Greyston Foundation, a Yonkers-based non-profit organization that helps low-income communities through social enterprise.

“I’m looking to do good through live music,” said Bro, a Rye Brook resident.

Bro, who has been a DJ in cities around the country and now has a radio show on 107.1 the Peak on Wednesday nights, chose those charities because they help people directly on a local level.

Gilda’s Club, for example, isn’t dedicated to funding research to find a cure for cancer but to helping people with the day-to-day issues cancer patients have to deal with.

“There’s a lot more going on when you get cancer. They can help find a nanny on Thursday afternoon when you have a doctor’s appointment,” he said.

The Greyston Foundation uses entrepreneurship to provide jobs and other services to low-income people. The Greyston Bakery in Yonkers is a for-profit business that provides jobs to “hard to employ” people, such as people who have been in jail. It also bakes all the brownies for Ben & Jerry’s.

Local businesses sponsoring the concert series include Grape d’Vine restaurant in Tappan, Q Restaurant in Port Chester, in Pleasantville, and Comb Vodka, a Port Chester small business that makes vodka distilled from honey.

Bro also recently created a website called All Things Next which was initially focused on sharing new music but has expanded to include movie and book reviews and recipes.

“Next is a nice little spot for like-minded individuals to get together,” Bro said. “Now we’re about finding your new favorite everything.”

The first Next Charity Concert is on Friday, June 10, at Paulie’s in Pleasantville. Doors open at 7 p.m., music begins at 8:30 p.m., bands should start at around 9:15 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door, which goes to charity. Drink specials. For more info, click here.