6 bands to play suicide prevention benefit concert in Ida

Suzanne Nolan Wisler, The Monroe News
·3 min read

IDA – Benny Capaul is fighting against suicide.

On Saturday, he's combining all his affiliations and holding a benefit concert in Ida. Capaul has been a funeral professional at Ida’s Capaul Funeral Home for more than a decade. He’s also in the band The Boy Detective. And, for the last five years, he’s been a board member of Six Feet Over, a Detroit-based nonprofit that aids families of suicide victims with funds, support and resources. Six Feet Over also works to take the stigma out of suicide prevention.

Capaul
Capaul

Its online store has the slogan, “We make suicide prevention look cool.”

“It’s an amazing nonprofit,” Capaul said. "We’ve all either dealt with suicide ourselves in our own families or know someone who has dealt with this. It really impacts the whole community.”

At 6 p.m. Oct. 7, Capaul is hosting a benefit concert for Six Feet Over at Fireman’s Pavilion at Ida Fireman’s Park, 3016 Lewis Ave.

“This is my first time hosting this event in Ida,” Capaul said.

Ida funeral professional Benny Capaul is a member of the punk band The Boy Detective. The band and five others will play Oct. 7 in Ida at a benefit for Six Feet Over, which aids families of suicide victims.
Ida funeral professional Benny Capaul is a member of the punk band The Boy Detective. The band and five others will play Oct. 7 in Ida at a benefit for Six Feet Over, which aids families of suicide victims.

Ida’s Carl’s Hideaway will sell tacos and refreshments. Six bands will play; two have local members:

  • The Boy Detective is a ska-punk band that features Capaul as lead singer and another member from Dundee.

  • SlantFace is a Petersburg-based acoustic emo group.

  • Lameass Dads is a Toledo-based pop-punk band.

  • Candor is a Midwest pop-punk band from the Ann Arbor area.

  • Geranium Red is a rock band from the Ann Arbor area.

  • Claire Kay is an acoustic band from Ann Arbor.

Tickets are $10 each. All proceeds will benefit Six Feet Over.

“We hope to raise as much as Monroe County is willing to give,” Capaul said. “We help families all through Michigan, from Monroe County to the U.P. We also are helping families in Kansas."

Six Feet Over was started in 2012 by Kate Hardy of Livonia, a survivor of nine suicide deaths among family and friends. Her organization seeks out less-obvious places to promote suicide prevention, like community festivals, pride events and bars. The organization reaches out to those who wouldn’t seek out mental health information on their own. Six Feet Over encourages people to openly ask questions and talk about mental health and suicide.

“You should be able to do so without judgment from others or fear of being labeled dangerous, crazy, unlovable, a burden, ignorant or weird,” the organization’s website said.

Six Feet Over has offered programs in this area.

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“It’s done education in the Monroe County area and is partnering with Gabby’s Grief Center,” Capaul said. “Monroe County needs better education on grief and healing, especially when it comes to trauma like suicide. We need more support and education for families and the community."

Capaul is a fourth-generation funeral director and a graduate of Wayne State University’s Mortuary Science School. He is a board member of Gabby’s Grief Center and has spoken about grief at St. Mary Catholic Central Center High School and Ida Schools. He’s a member of the Michigan Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.

For more information, visit Sixfeetover.org or Sixftover on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: 6 bands to play at suicide prevention benefit concert in Ida