Trying to track all of the random shows and parties connected to Art Basel can be exhausting — so here's one damned good reason to get away from them all for one night. The Skinny Dip, at Kitchen 305, is a multiband celebration of life whose proceeds benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation and the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation. The event is the brainchild of local singer/songwriter Shawn Snyder, who, sadly, lost his mother a year ago to the disease. Melanoma is the cancer "nobody seems to want to talk about, despite having the fastest-growing incidence rate of all cancers," Snyder says. "It's stuck with a black ribbon, a starkness that speaks on multiple levels." The sad irony is that although in its advanced stages it can be one of the most unpredictable and aggressive cancers, it's one of the easiest cancers to detect. It's also one of the most common in sun-worshiping locales like South Florida.
To honor his mother and to help raise awareness of the disease, Snyder has rounded up some of his local musical friends at one of the new venues most supportive of local live music. Snyder himself performs, and fans of acts like the Counting Crows will find much to love in his introspective jangle pop. Other standouts include bluesmen Big Poppa E and Uncle Scotchy, the piano/hip-hop crossover of the Big Bounce, and the jammy Latin funk of Lanzallamas Monofonica. The U-School Testostertones, Shauna Sweeney, Michael Shivers, and Arboles Libres also perform, and the music goes until 11 p.m. A VIP afterparty continues afterward, featuring a fashion show at 1 a.m., and a raffle and silent auction go throughout the night, giving away goodies like spa treatments and airline vouchers.
