The brainchild of the original “Bands For Brains” fundraiser for the Brain Injury Association of Maryland returns to help promote this great night of local music for a great cause. Let Riley Granek tell you the tale of her mother’s tragic injury inspiring her to want to bring folks together to help other victims and other families in need after a trauma.
Learn more at www.biamd.org
The discussion centered on promoting Bands for Brains on September 26 and explaining its connection to Riley’s family story and the mission of BIAMD.
Event Details
- Bands for Brains will take place September 26 at Peabody Heights Brewery from 6 to 10 p.m.
- The fundraiser benefits the Brain Injury Association of Maryland and is open to all ages.
- Featured acts include Champ, Medusa Stage, Tongue Scraper, DJ Jason McCloud, and DJ Huge Problem.
- Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door; children under 12 are free.
Origin Story
- Riley created Bands for Brains in high school, first as a virtual fundraiser in 2021 and then as a live senior project.
- The event was inspired by her mother’s traumatic brain injury after an ATV accident in 2015 and her later passing in 2022.
- BIAMD revived the event after a staff member was inspired by Riley’s original work, and Riley is now serving as a spokesperson.
Open Question
- What is the cumulative amount Bands for Brains has raised for BIAMD so far?
- Create and publish a social media post for Baltimore Positive that includes Bands for Brains event details (September 26, Peabody Heights Brewery, 6–10 p.m., ticket prices, bands/acts, website biamd.org) based on the provided press release. (@Nestor Aparicio)
Event Promotion
- Nestor and Riley discussed the upcoming Bands for Brains fundraiser supporting BIAMD.
- The event is scheduled for September 26 at Peabody Heights Brewery from 6 to 10 p.m.
- Admission pricing, all-ages access, and the lineup of bands and DJs were reviewed.
- Listeners were directed to biamd.org for tickets, details, and donations.
Riley Background
- Riley explained that she launched Bands for Brains in 2021 while in high school.
- The first event was virtual during COVID, followed by a live concert for her senior project.
- She shared that the fundraiser was motivated by her mother’s severe traumatic brain injury and long recovery period.
BIAMD Connection
- Riley said BIAMD chose to bring the event back after a staff member was inspired by the original fundraiser.
- She described her current role as a spokesperson rather than the main organizer.
- The conversation emphasized that brain injuries happen in many settings, not only sports.
Riley Career
- Riley said she graduated college with a degree in business and entertainment.
- She is pursuing work in entertainment, with a goal of becoming a music supervisor.
- She also mentioned part-time work at a comedy club and involvement in an independent film.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tassel, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive. We’re into football season around here, and into September, we’re gonna be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour all over town. We’re gonna be starting things at Costas and Dundalk right before kickoff. We’re gonna have these Maryland lottery scratch offs. I have the Raven Kiss Face Bird. Been a pretty lucky batch, at least it was at Koco’s last week as we hung out. Also, our friends at GBMC keeping us healthy around here, as well as Farnan and Dermer. They are the comfort guys. 410 367777. Don’t wait on the HVAC thing. Although it’s going to be in the 90s a little bit here this week. We have winter coming as well. This guest of mine is a veteran. She returns here to talk about something very near and dear to her heart and important to her. The B I A M D and I’ve had the Brain Injury Association of Maryland folks on in lots of ways about concussion and football season as we go into this. This is a big this is right up my alley in my music month. It’s bands for brains. We’re talking about music. It’s a Peabody Heights brewery, one of my favorite breweries in town because, and I hope they still have it there. They had a Rush pinball machine at the Peabody Heights Brewery. I still hope it’s there over 30th Street, right there near Hopkins. It’s an all ages show, and back on to promote this, and it feels like I had you on like a year ago or two years ago. It feels like your mom’s accident was five years ago, and it’s been a lot longer than that. Riley Granick is here. Her dad Brian is cares for my eyes and makes sure that I see clearly here over at Visionary Eye. And you know, I still think of you as being 12 years old. I’m like, has she gotten out of high school yet? And my wife, I said, I got Brian’s daughter on. She’s doing this the thing for for the B I A M D. And I said, she’s in college. She’s got to be like like a freshman or sophomore now. And then I get you on. It’s like, you damn kids. You’re just growing. All you’re growing up. So you’re like a graduate of college now, right? Yeah,
Riley Granek 1:58
I’m 22. Like you
8
Nestor Aparicio 1:59
can drink.
Riley Granek 2:00
Yep.
Nestor Aparicio 2:01
At this event, if at at at a brewery, it’s a brewery.
Riley Granek 2:04
Yep. All
Nestor Aparicio 2:05
right. Well, welcome back. I mean, I know this comes near and dear to you. You got a heck of a story to tell about your association with this, but it feels like I had you on a minute ago, and it’s been like five or six years. This is a thing. This event that you were a part of, beginning and being a part of, and we’re going to go rock and roll in 26, I guess, right?
Riley Granek 2:24
Yeah, always rock and roll.
Nestor Aparicio 2:27
Well, tell us about the story and about what this event is and how we’re going to get there. I’m in because a there’s beer, you’re there, bands are there, and the Rush Pinball Machine. I hope still there.
8Riley Granek 2:37
Yeah. So I originally created bands for brands back in high school in 2021, I was at Park, and I really wanted to kind of bring people together in a way. It was COVID time still, and I was thinking about. I’m like, hey, maybe I could do a fundraiser concert for the Brain Injury Association because a lot of people were doing like these online concerts, and I had worked with them on a project in eighth grade. And luckily, you know, Park is such a cool place. They were very flexible and down to do it. And I did it as an independent study, and the virtual concert was such a success. The next year for my senior project, it was a no-brainer to do a live show. And no brainer. I
Nestor Aparicio 3:20
like how you did that there. Yeah,
Riley Granek 3:21
when you went to college, but yeah, I mean, it’s really crazy putting together a live event at 18. I really don’t know how I did it, but I pulled it off, even with my mom passing away, like a month and a half before the concert, but and I didn’t really talk about the accident. But my parents-they went to Costa Rica for her 40th birthday in 2015, and she fell off an ATV, and she sustained a very severe traumatic brain injury. She was in a minimally conscious state for six and a half years, and then she passed away in April of 2022. But and I just say,
Nestor Aparicio 4:04
just I don’t want to interrupt. But everybody in my world and everybody in your world, you were a little girl. I know. Yeah, I was 11. Yeah, I mean, you obviously have your experience with that. But everyone who knew your dad or your family or everyone in this community was very, very struck by Jen’s accident, and it stopped my world, everyone’s world around me. Your dad’s worked on my eyes for a long time. It’s just anything I could do to help when I had you on five or six years ago, and it felt like a one-off. It felt like ah, young lady’s trying to do a thing. She’s going to college, wants to honor her mom, and it’s all this COVID crap was happening. You’re one of the COVID kids trapped at home. Your mom’s in this situation that was just unthinkable. And your mom’s incident happened when my wife was fighting for her life. My wife had leukemia at the time, so I was doing a lot of stuff for leukemia and blood cancer and all that. So coming out of it, the fact that. You’re here. I’m here. My wife’s here. The memory of your mom, your dad’s gotten remarried, and and he, I’m one of his patients. My wife’s one of his patients as well. I feel like
Riley Granek 5:09
everybody’s his patient everywhere I go. The
Nestor Aparicio 5:12
feeling about this that it still exists when I got this from Karen Sagal. I appreciate who works at BIAMD, and I have a lot of their doctors on talking about head trauma and concussions, but head trauma is falling in a shower. It’s like being on vacation and being on an ATV. Like it’s not. We’ll see it in football this week.
Riley Granek 5:32
Yeah, you’ll see people on like those scooters in the city. Like people don’t wear helmets anymore. That’s really bad. Freaks me out, Riley.
8Nestor Aparicio 5:41
It freaks me out.
Riley Granek 5:42
Yeah, it’s very serious. I I get crazy about people wearing helmets. My mom wouldn’t have survived without a helmet.
Nestor Aparicio 5:49
Well, Riley’s here. I want to give the date again. It’s 26. So you started this. It worked once. What’s happened the last five or six years? Just fill me in on that because you went to college. This is your event from the beginning, and I’m sure you got a big number of what you’ve raised for BIAMD already, right?
Riley Granek 6:07
Actually, I don’t know. So what happened was, you know, I went to school, wasn’t wasn’t thinking much. I thought Bands for Brains was done, and then I graduate and I get a message from Caitlin Starr, the director of the BIMD, and she’s like, “Hey, we’re actually doing another bands for brains. We have somebody who started working here after you did the event. She was so inspired by what you did, and she’s so into music that she wanted to bring it back, and you know she wanted to talk to you about it. I’m like, oh wow, absolutely! Like it’s an honor that they would bring it back. And yeah, I wanted to be involved however I could. Happy to be a spokesperson for it. I mean, you know, it’s like my baby, and it’s also nice I didn’t have to do the brunt of the work this time, but you know it’s just really cool to have a legacy like that and still being able to help people even when I before I even knew this was going on.
Nestor Aparicio 7:12
I’m going to read the press release here because so Karen likes me. So this is going to be on the 26th. It’s it’s at Peabody Heights Brewer. If you don’t know where that is, right by the Hopkins campus, I hope they still have the Rush Pinball Machine. Champ rock and roll band from Baltimore, Medusa Stage, Tongue Scraper, DJ Jason McCloud, and DJ Huge Problem. So you got five acts, music all night, 15 bucks to get in, 20 bucks at the door, free for kids under 12. That means kids can come too. You can learn more at biamd.org or email them info at biamd.org. I’ll put all of that into the post if you find us at at Baltimore Positive. And you’re going to be a part of this, right? You didn’t pick the bands this year or any of that, right? Like you’re just you’re just you’re just riding along on the coast. You’re like for
Riley Granek 7:58
the ride. I’m the face. All
Nestor Aparicio 8:00
right, that’s cool. That’s cool. Well, what did you learn putting this together the first time that you remember from it, and putting together a fundraiser that now they’ve-I don’t know-they’ve picked up. Music’s always a great idea. Bringing people together to listen to music’s a great idea.
8Riley Granek 8:14
I mean, I’ve been able to put a lot on my resume. Doing like again, doing this at 18 is totally insane, and you know I I worked a little bit in some live event stuff, and just it it really was such a whirlwind. But it has helped it has helped me out a lot. I learned a lot of skills from it. You know, there’s a lot of negotiation and getting bands, and you know sponsors and just bringing everything together, all the moving pieces of a live event, and you know definitely things that are going to help me in my actual job. Raffle
Nestor Aparicio 8:51
tickets, event T-shirts. I’m I’m looking at all of this stuff here. You got to think it all through. Riley Granick is here. Her mom sadly had a brain injury and passed away now four years ago. Her dad worked some eyes out of visionary care, visionary eye. If you’re at Knowings Mills, right off the Stevenson campus, right next to where I had all that fun with the Ravens back in the day. The big event is the 26. It is at Peabody Heights Brewery, right in Baltimore. It’s from six to 10 early. I like the way you did this to get the old farts done at 10 o’clock. That way, I go home and rock my socks off and get out of there 10 o’clock. Six to 10 at Peabody Heights Brewery. It’s all for the B I A M D. That is the Brain Injury Association of Maryland. We’ve done many things for them in the past. And as you watch the Rockham Sockham football guys all try to beat each other up with helmets, keep in mind that concussions happen in all sorts of ways with regular people and the folks at the BIAMD are always there to try to help people, including like your family and the time of trauma and coming forth for people who have. I mean, you know what I learned, Riley. Every time I have one of these doctors on, I do want to say this out loud. The number one concussion thing is falling in showers, falling on ice, or car accidents. Accidents, being in a concussive car situation. I mean, we saw. I’m a baseball fan. We saw Pete Alonso with the the the the fastball off the helmet the other night. Just take care of your brain. It’s the most important thing. If I think we learn anything else here, that that’s important too. So, what are you doing? You got you got like a gig? Are you gonna you gonna do eyes with your dad? You’re not an eye doctor. Yeah, no, no,
Riley Granek 10:20
no, no, no. Actually, both. Well, my brother, he just started college. He wants to be optometrist. My sister’s in college. She also wants to be an optometrist. Not me. I’m the odd one out. I could never do anything medical. No, no, no,
Nestor Aparicio 10:31
no. Ask your old man how squishy I am. Whenever he starts to put his finger toward my eye, and I’m like, dude, out of my face! Don’t do that. He knows. Like I’m really. I could never blood. I I pass out. Trust me, I’m not good. Yeah,
Riley Granek 10:42
I’m actually trying to work in entertainment. I have a degree in business and entertainment. My goal is to become a music supervisor. They’re the people who get the rights and licensing for songs in movies and TV shows, ads, video games, and you know, helping to curate the songs that you hear in media. And I’m trying to get out to New York, but right now I I just work part time at Magui’s. So come down to the comedy club, you’ll see me. And I’m also working on an independent film, so that’s pretty cool. Getting my first film credit.
Nestor Aparicio 11:12
I’m trying to get my comedy career together. How’s it going? Yeah, not well. Yeah, not well. I made you laugh. Riley Granick’s here. Her dad works on my eyes and keeps me clear as well as my as well as my wife. Very very visionary, including his daughter, who has put the vision together for bands for brains. It’s going to happen on September 26 for six till 10 at the Peabody Heights Brewery. If I’m there, I’m calling dibs on the Rush Pinball Machine. You know, it plays Limelight, it plays Passage of the Bangkok, it plays all those songs. I hope they still have it there. It’s the only Rush Pinball Machine I’ve ever seen. So, and John Spurrier, you know Peabody Heights a great little brewery, man. They have big hooting Andy’s over there on Friday nights. I’ve been there, seen some reggae bands. But on the 26 from six till 10, it’s going to be Champ, Medusa Stage, Tongue Scraper, DJ Jason McCloud, and DJ Huge Problem. And I will have a huge problem on my hands if I don’t handle that rush pinball machine on the 26th out there. Riley, appreciation to you. Congratulations on graduation and on inspiring some inspired people about brain injury here. And I’m glad we had a chance to talk about your mom, honor her legacy, as well as talk some rock and roll. And I got to talk about concussions without talking about football. I’ll only be doing that for the next 20 weeks. All right,
Riley Granek 12:22
yeah, for sure. And please, anyone listening, donate if you can’t come. We’d love for you to come, but any small amount counts.
8Nestor Aparicio 12:30
Buy some other people some tickets. Let them go rock their socks off for 15 bucks ahead of time. It’s the 26th of the month. You can learn more@biamd.org. It is bands for brains, the 2026 edition. I am Nestor. We are WNST. AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking. Baltimore, positive. Stay with us.
