Jason Boten will plug his electric guitar into a black Peavey amplifier at 8 p.m. Friday. A loud pop will be heard, and a short burst of microphone feedback will shoot through the air, piercing like a knife. This evening, like so many others that have come before it, might seem like the beginning of “just another rock show,” but tonight something is very different.

For Boten, music has continually been a part of life. In the last 20 years, he has been involved in nearly a dozen bands and been influenced by a wide spectrum of sounds, ranging from The Allman Brothers to Fu Manchu. He recalls that fateful day when his obsession for rock began.

“I was cutting through a field, and in the middle of this field was a record, it was ‘Rock and Roll Over’ by Kiss,” Boten says.

Though this initial encounter may seem almost surreal, another course of events later on in life would prove to be even more powerful for him.

In the spring of this year, Boten became involved with an organization called Team in Training, a marathon group that raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Only a few weeks after joining, his father was diagnosed with leukemia.

For Boten, it became clear that this coincidence meant something more than just another strange course of events in his life — he had to do something.

“This was a no-brainer,” Boten says.

“I thought — what can I do to raise money?”

With his recent experience in the Team in Training program and his even more recent start in a band called Hootis, Boten decided to put on a rock benefit show to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“If you’re going to try and do anything, do what you know,” Boten says. “What I know is rock ‘n’ roll.”

Hootis hadn’t been together for much more than a couple of weeks when this opportunity arose. The drummer of the band had been a long-time friend of Boten, but bassist Sean Petersen and guitarist Tom Hisler had only known Boten for a few weeks when the band was called to duty. Hisler was a neighbor that had just moved into the area and coincidentally played guitar, and Petersen was a friend through a mutual acquaintance.

“This all just kind of fell together,” Boten says. “We’re like a big goofy family. We have a blast.”

Whether one sees all these events as coincidence or some great fate that has been laid out in the name of rock ‘n’ roll, one thing is certain — tonight’s performance is sure to be a show to remember for Boten.