There are lots of reasons to visit Kansas City's collectively run Turnsol Books and Coffee – I mean obviously there are books and coffee, but it also has cats, acts as a community center for DIY endeavors. Once a year it hosts a benefit and toy drive for the fine folks at Hope House, enabling that organization to provide victims of domestic violence with shelter and support services. There's lots that I could – and should – write about the event, but…life. So this one will have to be quick.

Deco Auto opened the night. They always seem to. No Christmas song this year (despite having written one for this very occasion last year) which was a bit of a bummer. But someone was wearing a festive red sweatshirt. Pop/rock and power pop and a little punk in there. The new songs were in the middle of the set. The bookends were our favorites. A bit of a subdued performance – no one's glasses flew across the makeshift stage and no one hopped emphatically – but the band didn't rush as they are prone to, and boy do they know how to write a hook.

Good Fortune is a new band that is also an old one. The lineup is mercurial, tilting towards Theseus's Paradox. On this night the act was a sextet, performing with two vocals, guitar, keys, horn, and drums. Changing players and shifting arrangements mean old songs are new. The new ones are new as well. There was a Traveling Willburys-esque easy shuffle to most of the set. Hints of country shone through with train beat drumming. The horn (possibly a Chinese suona) was given a few nice solos. The set ended with "You Ain’t Country If You Ain’t a Commie." That was once a Hellfire Club song. Come to think of it, Good Fortune might have once been Hellfire Club too.

Jocelyn Nixon followed with her acoustic guitar. Her tense strumming was balanced with soothing chucks, leaving some songs witty and raw, others poppy and bright. Many of the latter were pulled from her Creepy Jingles full-band project. Like many of her solo sets, she wasn't exactly solo – Andrew Woody tagged along adding bass. He often went harder than you'd expect for someone providing accompaniment. "I Don't Need a Thing from You" was a treat, keeping the audience engaged.

Then it was Maddie Lai because members of Car Microwave got sick. Lai had a small voice that was soft and breathy, and well-matched to her delicate fingerstyle technique. She sang with eyes closed, sealed in her sincere songs. A ghostly backing track occasionally added extra vocals, hand claps, or a metronomic rhythm. On a new number, she pushed her vocals harder, but she never left the tender indie folk snow globe she inhabits.

It was now 9pm. The donation table was full of dinosaurs and Barbies. A plastic cup brimmed with donated dollars. And there were two more acts to go.

Ben Wendt is probably someone you know. In my mind he manages The Rino in NKC — or at least hosts the open mic — but he’s got strong emcee vibes regardless. He also fronts the indie ensemble Land Lion. Land Lion wasn't playing but many of its members were there, and most of the requests they shouted at Wendt were Land Lion numbers. His songs were about the internet and fascism and life and death – generally the intersection of them all. Solo they were strummed hectically and shouted voraciously, creating the sort of high-energy folk punk that would have ended up on Plan-It X years ago.

Next up were Christmas Anhedonia. Or it should have been. The duo couldn't make it for some reason, so a trio of teachers from the Kansas City School of Rock (dubbed R-Bonus) stepped up. Maybe a sixth band wasn't necessary at all, but Turnsol always fills these shows to the brim. The threesome covered four songs by Eurythmics, The Cranberries, Fleetwood Mac, & 4 Non Blondes. A vocalist from Good Fortune was shamed into joining for one cover, forced to find a harmony on the fly. She, like the primary members of R-Bonus, managed the song admirably. Fun.

So come for the books and coffee. Stay for the inclusive fellowship and cats. But most of all, show up to help those in need. If you'd like to find out more about Hope House or support its mission, visit https://www.hopehouse.net/.