Northampton Arts Council Executive Director Bob Cilman will be the first to admit that, when it came to selecting a theme for the 22nd installment of his organization’s annual “Transperformance” benefit concert, he didn’t look too far for inspiration.

“I was in a restaurant with our board chair, her husband and my wife, and we were amazed at how many good groups could be represented with a food theme,” he recalls. “We even got the waiter involved, as he kept coming back to our table with more ideas.”

From that fateful, fruitful discussion comes Transperformance 22: Food Groups—wherein local notables including The Winterpills, Fancy Trash and Rusty Belle give a tip of the cap to international acts with food-related monikers like Cake, Meat Puppets and The Cranberries—all in the name of good fun for a good cause (Transperformance proceeds benefit arts enrichment in local schools and the ArtsEZ spring grant program).

“I chose Eminem because he and I came up together in the late ’90s underground hip-hop scene,” notes Mark “Vesuveo” Guglielmo of his planned performance. “Em and I did a song together in 1998, in fact, and I’ve always respected how he stayed true to his art despite superstardom.”

“We used to play ‘I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night’ in the very early years, so I am looking forward to bringing that back and diving into more of the Electric Prunes catalog,” reports The Donut Kings’ Rikk Degres. Desgres went on to add that the Aug. 28 Transperformance show (occurring once again at Look Park in Florence) is proving particularly interesting for his band because the Donut Kings are actually in the midst of an instrumental overhaul that they don’t plan to officially debut until their Paper City gig Oct. 5.

“Basically, our guitarist, Bob Haberern, switched from guitar to a Chapman stick—a 10-string instrument with one big neck and no body,” he explains. “I also switched from bass to tenor guitar, which gives a very unique sound. Nate [Crowell] still plays drums, but we’ve also added Mike Jekot, who plays both guitar and bass on a really cool double neck.”

Advance tickets for Transperformance 22 are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for children 12 and under. To purchase or acquire additional information, kindly point your browser to northamptonartscouncil.org.

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In other acts of multi-band audio altruism, some two dozen-plus acts, including Lobsterz From Marz, Triple XXX and Scott On Top lend their considerable talents to the Justice For Amanda concert—slated for Maximum Capacity this Sunday, Aug. 26. As previously reported, Amanda Lynn Plasse was found murdered in her Chicopee apartment on the very same day last year. She was 20 years old, and the case remains unsolved.

The cost is $20 per adult, $10 for children age 12 and younger and, in addition to raising awareness of Plasse’s plight and bolstering the coffers for a reward for information leading to an arrest, the benefit seeks to raise funds for art supplies and other upgrades for local Chicopee schools. Tickets can be purchased directly at Maximum Capacity and Brass Tap.

For more information, email sinbadvett@charter.net.

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Last but not least, seasoned six-stringer Pete Polis checked in to report that his band, Johnny Sixgun, is locked and loaded to rock the Pleasantview Golf Center (joannasbanquets.com) Saturday, Aug. 25.

“We were lucky enough to play outdoors at the Enfield Fourth of July Celebration last year, and had such a good time we were hoping we might be asked back,” Polis says of the show, which has grown into a multi-band affair they call the Somers Summer Music Festival. “When that didn’t happen, we decided to take matters into our own hands and throw a couple of our friends [classic rockers Equinox and Body Shot] into the mix for good measure.”

Additional music festival amenities include an indoor arcade, golf, ice cream and a full bar.

Tickets are $10 (children 12 and under free) and doors open at 3 p.m. for this rain-or-shine event.

Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.