Flaky Biscuits performed at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea. Emily Paine Carter, special to So Salem

Music upcoming and music just passed:

* Local musicians aren’t just good with instruments. They’re also good with causes.

No surprise, then, that many GREAT bands are gathering their forces to benefit the family of one-of-their-own: Longtime singer / guitarist Gary Wimmer.

Wife Kim Lafon Wimmer taught at Clearbrook and Green Valley Elementary School until hit by a particularly aggressive case of MS, said friend Jimmy Gladden. “She’s wheelchair-bound, and they had to buy a special van. And Gary became a Realtor not long before the market crash….”

So, said Gladden, musician Jimmy Carroll “worked hard to put this thing together to help them out.” (Friends also held a successful golf benefit at Hanging Rock Golf Club Aug. 18th.)

Both Jimmys sound enthused! You can step in, help out and rock on to this heckuva lineup: The Kings, The Rhythm Doctors, The Left Overs, Tim Shepherd & The Sock Monkeys, The Mad Iguanas, The Elderly Brothers and Truckers’ Delight.

It’s to be Sept. 15 (Sat.), 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Salem Moose Lodge #2573 (East Main St. and Kessler Mill Rd.) is generously donating space, food and money (“Chris Thomas is coordinating things on the Moose end,” said Gladden). There’ll also be a silent auction, a 50/50, a bake sale and face-painting for the kids. Bring a chair but no pets. Advance tickets: Mac&Bob’s and the River Rock, $20. At gate, $25.

Maybe you share a link with the Wimmers: Clearbrook (Kim), Salem High School (Kim, grad), Glenvar High (Gary, grad), Northside High (son Carson, 16). Or you know someone with MS. Or you have a good heart. But just wanting to have a rollickin’ good time with good music is reason a’plenty.

There also will be a benefit Wednesday, Sept. 5, for Kim Wimmer Night at Hollywood’s Restaurant and Bakery at 7770 Williamson Road in Roanoke from 4 p.m. to close. Ten percent of all sales will go towards the fundraiser, noted the Friends of Kim Fundraiser/Benefit Committee.

* On a recent Monday evening fans of other kinds of music filled Mill Mt. Coffee Shop. The “Flaky Biscuits” band was jammin’.

They play an eclectic mix — uh, “preserving” old-time, Celtic, gospel…. “And things that don’t quite fit into a genre,” said Mark Poore. He does the booking and plays clawhammer banjo. Son Luke plays the hammered dulcimer.

Other members: Carolyn Day, mandolin; Jeff Phillips, acoustic guitar; Hannah Robbins, big ol’ upright bass; and Amy Rockhill, fiddle. They all seemed to enjoy each other and the audience.

Gary Whitt came to hear and to banter with his Roanoke College co-worker Mark. Some of us recognized the guitarist from the Farmers’ Market Saturday night jam session two days’ prior (where I counted five clusters of musicians playing throughout the parking lot; cool!).

Find music and videos from that very coffee shop scene: www.flakybiscuits.info/