It's always nice when folks from here go on to bigger things without cutting ties to the old hometown. Consider two Triangle expatriates who move in vastly different circles, theatrical singer/actress Lauren Kennedy and rock bassist Robert Kearns.
Like her fellow Triangle-to-New-York transplant Tift Merritt (who also gets back down this way pretty regularly), Kennedy had some of her earliest performance training at North Carolina Theatre camps. She's giving back by performing at a Monday night benefit for NCT. For details, see this interview in Friday's paper.
Meanwhile, Kearns plays in the venerable Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd nowadays. But before the group's current tour got underway, he came back to Raleigh to play at the Mike Gardner benefit show earlier this month. The show was a great help to Gardner, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease but does not have health insurance.
"It was amazing, and raised a lot of money for Mike," Kearns said in a recent interview. "I heard they raised about $17,000 after expenses, too. It was a great experience, a lot of love in the room for Michael. I've written a lot of songs over the years with Mike and Phil Gardner. I'd like to get them to come to Nashville to record, although a lot of it is in bits and pieces. I'm always good at starting songs -- that first riff and verse, maybe a chorus -- but I'm terrible at finishing complete songs. I need to make myself sit down and finish 'em."
For more on Kearns' doings with Lynyrd Skynyrd, plus details on the group's Friday night show in Raleigh, see the interview in Friday's paper.
