Village of Love

Published on February 5th, 2020

Nothing like a good old Hallmark date to get the temporal stock of roses to rise like gas prices after a hurricane. Yup, Valentine’s Day is around the corner and the anxiety-inducing event riles up even the most solid of couplings and devastates the psyche of those without. In any scenario, the endgame is to get all your precious cash out of your wallet.

It’s good then, that a more charitable and infinitely more worthwhile arrangement has emerged in the Annual Valentine’s Day Village of Love celebrations benefitting Planned Parenthood. Founded in 1916 as the American Birth Control League, Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides crucial reproductive health care in the United States and across the world, often under siege by anti-abortion campaigners and elected officials who dispute a woman’s right to choose.

For the eighth year, Panache Booking in Los Angeles has partnered with likeminded folks across the U.S. to raise funds for Planned Parenthood in the most “symbolic” day for love. This year, February 14 will also get slayed in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and in Miami with Gramps in Wynwood hosting. All proceeds from the Miami show will go to Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida.

Afrobeta by Juan Vergara

In previous editions, bands and music acts have performed short thematic sets. Bringing the love to stage this time will be some honestly very dreamy Miamians, including synth-pop duo Afrobeta, next-wavers Donzii, indie-pop auteurs Haute Tension, and multilingual plunkers Las Nubes. Ex-Florida sibling rockers The Dewars also play. Venezuelan hip-hop and r&b singer Santa Bandida (a.k.a. Marie Manrique), now based in Miami, rounds out the lineup, with special guests to be announced.

Even if everything is going right romantically at the moment, nothing will tell your date more about you and your convictions than attending this benefit. The music might uplift the feeling, but the proceeds will go into the right hands. Now, more than ever, is the time to act and ensure that Planned Parenthood continues their mission for another hundred years.