They’re familiar words to Berklee student Adi Uppal, a professional-music major from New Delhi who’s been covering the song at Boston-area mental health fundraisers. With Cornell’s legacy in mind, Uppal has organized a series of benefit shows for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the largest grassroots mental health organization in the country. Two of the biggest events of the series are scheduled for this month: a 10-artist performance at Time Out Market on Saturday, and a similar showcase at High Street Place on April 25.
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Featured performers this Saturday include area acts Rose Mooney, Zach Hunhoff, Chloe Key, Olivia Cloud, Matching Set, Pragya, MAR!!A, Ella Young, The Sol Project, and Uppal himself. The event is billed as a “suicide prevention festival” – not exactly three words that you expect to see strung together.
“I think it is good to just say that word [suicide] out loud,” says Uppal, “and stop beating around the bush.”
Euphemisms for suicide often replace the term in everyday conversation, sidestepping language that might make other people uncomfortable. Millions of Americans, however, can’t maneuver around prolonged mental, physical, or emotional distress. Per NAMI’s research in 2025, one person dies by suicide approximately every 11 minutes in the United States, and roughly 5.5 percent of US adults in have “serious thoughts about suicide” every year.
Uppal began organizing the shows last year, after a Berklee course titled “Songwriting for Rock and Indie” challenged students to write an original song based on a tune from the 1990s. He picked “Fell On Black Days,” although he says the entirety of “Superunknown” left him feeling “blown away.” Soon Uppal was diving deeper into Cornell’s catalog, seeking out every album by Soundgarden, as well as Cornell’s other projects, Audioslave and Temple Of The Dog.
Chris Cornell performs in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2014.EPA
Uppal connected with the vulnerability and depth of Cornell’s discography, which motivated him to pick up his guitar and mirror those qualities in his own work. The inspiration ended a years-long writing slump for Uppal.
“I started playing a lot more, I started covering a lot of his songs, and I started writing a lot of how I was feeling,” he says. “I’m not a very metaphorical songwriter. I’m very literal, or at least very revealing about how I feel.”
Later that year, Uppal was shocked to learn that a fellow Berklee student had died by suicide. That sudden loss, combined with the feelings and lyrics that Cornell’s music had knocked loose, motivated Uppal to create opportunities to raise awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. This spring’s fundraisers, which have also taken place at the Jungle, the Center for Arts at the Armory, and the Midway Cafe, are the culmination of Uppal emailing over 90 venues about benefit-show opportunities.
Money raised at the events will support NAMI’s many mental health-oriented resources, such as support groups, a suicide helpline, and literature and research about symptoms of different conditions.
Regardless of how much guests decide to chip in, Uppal says the mere gesture can be priceless.
“Even if someone donates $1 – to someone who has depression, it’s not financial help,” he says, “it’s really just knowing that there’s someone out there, a stranger who cares.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to reach NAMI’s 988 Suicide & Crisis lifeline.
GIG GUIDE
Adam Weiner, frontman of Low Cut Connie, gets behind the piano on Friday at Plymouth’s Spire Center for Performing Arts for his “Livin in the USA” tour, which previews his July album of the same name. Also that evening, Nashville art-rap breakout act R.A.P. Ferreira heads to Warehouse XI in Somerville.
This week Roadrunner sprints through appearances from California pop-rock crowd pleasers LANY (Friday), Vancouver-born electronic duo Bob Moses with Los Angeles synth-pop group Cannons (Monday), and jumpy Toronto rock group Good Kid (Thursday).
Lily Allen heads to the Orpheum Theatre Saturday and Sunday. She’s pictured here performing during the 22nd Sziget (Island) Festival on the Shipyard Island, in Northern Budapest, Hungary in 2014. Balazs Mohai
It’s also an unusually busy week for the Orpheum. English pop singer Lily Allen, who delivered her first album in seven years with 2025’s pot-stirring LP, “West End Girl,” headlines the theater Saturday and Sunday. North Carolina folk artist Rhiannon Giddens heads to the Orpheum Thursday, almost a year to the day after the release of her 2025 album with Justin Robinson, “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow.” Giddens’s credentials include co-founding the Carolina Chocolate Drops, being honored with a MacArthur “genius” grant, and winning a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the opera “Omar.”
Two US bands who draw largely from the sounds of Africa hit the stage this Sunday. Boston’s own Club d’Elf, known for layering Moroccan melodies with funk and psychedelia, perform at the Sinclair to celebrate the release of their new album, “Loon and Thrush.” Also that night at City Winery is Toubab Krewe, whose trips to Ivory Coast, Mali, and Guinea have enriched their kaleidoscopic rock.
Londoners Bush promote their 2024 album “I Beat Loneliness” and various alt-rock nuggets from the ’90s at MGM Music Hall at Fenway Sunday. On a more underground note, English post-punk cult favorites the Chameleons find a perfect match with opener (and purveyor of Boston baroque-pop) Lovina Falls at Crystal Ballroom Tuesday.
My final pairing of the week is a selection of up-and-comers from the alternative sphere: Wry jester Wallice at the Sinclair on Monday, and caustic Vermont-born band Sir Chloe at the Center for Arts at the Armory on Wednesday.
NOW SPINNING
Black Nile, “Indigo Garden.” Last year, MASS MoCA launched its own record label with an LP by the Malawian group the Kasambwe Brothers. The label’s second release comes courtesy of Black Nile, the Los Angeles brothers who completed a residency at the North Adams museum in 2025. Their latest record, “Indigo Garden,” is a frothy stream of modern jazz, as propulsive as it is unpredictable.
Los Angeles group Black Nile will release their album “Indigo Garden” via MASS MoCA Records.Hearth PR
BONUS TRACK
Recordville Record Fairs launches another 75-table shopping extravaganza this Saturday at Northampton High School. As a warm-up for Record Store Day, guests can peruse thousands of vinyl records and CDs from vendors across New England at the fair, which runs from 11 a.m-5 p.m. General admission costs $5 (although forking over an additional $5 for early entry allows you to scope out the goods starting at 9 a.m.)
Victoria Wasylak can be reached at victoria.wasylak@globe.com. Follow her on Bluesky at VickiWasylak.bsky.social.
