Macy Gray wants to brighten up people’s lives during the dark times of pandemic, protests, and politics.
In a fundraiser for My Good, Macy Gray hosts Halloween Bingo Bash this Saturday, October 24, at 5 p.m. PST via Zoom. The cocktail party starts at 4 p.m. PST, and everyone is invited.
There will be live performances, surprise guests, a costume contest, and many bingo prizes. The emcee for the night will be Demi Weitz, daughter of WME partner Richard Weitz and founder of the Quarantunes.
MyGood.org is a non-profit organization dedicated in supporting families of victims of police brutality as they face many unfortunate challenges after the death of a loved one. The foundation helps families directly impacted by providing emotional and financial support to move forward.
Funds are used to deter the costs of hospital and funeral bills that weigh heavily amongst these families. Also, they provide mental health treatment, legal and financial assistant to those families.
Confirmed guests include comedians Wanda Sykes, Maz Jobrani, actor Page Kennedy, financial expert Suze Orman, a performance by Sheila E., and many more.
To sign up for the bingo and to make a donation to MyGood.org, visit www.mygood.org of the Facebook page. All donations are tax exempt.
LRM Online’s Gig Patta spoke with the singer and host Macy Gray about her special charitable event.
Read the edited transcript interview below.
Gig Patta: Congratulations on organizing this big event, Halloween Bingo Bash. Why did you want to organize an event like this during the times we’re experiencing?
Macy Gray: It’s about putting a smile on everybody’s faces and play some games. With a couple of hours in the day, you’re not worried about everything that’s going on in the world. It’s something to do and let’s play bingo.
It’s going be a good night. I don’t think anybody had a bingo fundraiser yet during this pandemic. We’ll be the first. [Laughs] It’ll be new for everyone. We all need to be relieved from the pressure right now. It’s just my attempt to put a smile on people’s faces right now.
Gig Patta: It does sound a lot, a lot of fun. Now your event is for a good purpose. Could you talk about the fundraiser for mygood.org? Why is that organization so special to you?
Macy Gray: We support the families who’ve lost loved ones to police violence. My heart goes out to them because of myself as a mother. I just feel for the mamas in particular. There’s fathers, sisters, brothers, and kids involved too. As a woman and a mom, I always hear about those stories. I just wanted to help with all this chaos going on this year. Everybody wanted to do something by donating to something, giving, and helping. It can be from to make things better and go vote. This was with myself and two friends and co-founders sharing our greatest desire. This was our little drop in the bucket to make a change and help make things better.
Gig Patta: Can people still support you if they do not go to your bingo bash?
Macy Gray: Absolutely. You can donate anytime at mygood.org. We are also taking in volunteers and get involved. We need a lot of help, and a lot of support to accomplish the things we want to do. Just go to the site mygood.org.
Gig Patta: Besides, the bingo part of your bash, are there other surprises that we should be expecting if we go to your party?
Macy Gray: There are going to be surprise guests. We have this little policy to omit all the names out because it’s a Saturday night–we don’t want to disappoint in case plans change with everything. Then they go to the party for the person they want to see. I don’t want to let anybody down.
We just say surprises, but there is definitely some people do recognize, know, and love. There will be a live performance by me. That’s for sure. [Laughs] We have a house band. We have a comedian doing a standup. There will be some really cool speakers. A couple of other celebrities they’re going to pop in. It’s going to be one of those nights to be crazy, but it’s going to be fun.
Gig Patta: What are some of the songs that you are definitely going to sing this Saturday?
Macy Gray: I don’t know. What do you think?
Gig Patta: Every song of yours is, is my favorite. You could sing all of them, but I know time is limited.
Macy Gray: Actually, what we’re doing tomorrow is figuring out what songs we want to play. The house is doing Halloween theme songs all night. Definitely, show up for that. That’s going to be hilarious. Songs like Psycho Killer from Talking Heads, Thriller, Monster Mash and stuff like that. There will be some songs that aren’t Halloween songs, but we’re going to turn them into Halloween songs. It’s going to be cool.
Gig Patta: It does sound pretty cool. Are you encouraging everyone to dress up? What is going to be your outfit?
Macy Gray: That’s where I am a hypocrite. [Laughs] I’m telling everybody to dress up, but I hate dressing up for Halloween. I’m sitting here arguing with myself because I know how uncomfortable I’ll be if I have to dress up. I dread dressing up for Halloween. I don’t know why. I will have to, because that’s the event I’m having. I don’t even know yet what my costume will be.
Gig Patta: Let me wrap this with one more question. You’re doing a great job of trying to raise awareness of your issues and mental illness awareness. How are you still staying creative and sane during times like this?
Macy Gray: I don’t know. We just made an album coming out next Valentine’s Day. That’s very exciting. Like everybody else, I try to come up with ideas creatively during this time. We’ll see what happens next year, but it’s very difficult. It’s just been a heavy, heavy year. It was hard to really like focus and being creative for me. There’s so much going on in your head that weighing everybody down. I’m getting through it like everybody else.
Gig Patta: That is great to hear. Thank you, Macy, for speaking with me. Wish you well this Saturday and let’s look forward to 2021.
Macy Gray: Thank you.
To sign up for the bingo and to make a donation to MyGood.org, visit www.mygood.org of the Facebook page. All donations are tax exempt.
Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Macy Gray’s Halloween Bingo Bash
