Music is believed to have many healing qualities. Aaron Danielson and John Hoover knew this when they decided to organize a benefit show for their colleague and friend Charity Gallagher. Gallagher was recently diagnosed with thymic carcinoma, a rare type of cancer that attacks a small organ behind the breastbone. It’s a difficult disease to diagnose and treat.

When Gallagher needed to undergo chemotherapy, but didn’t have insurance to help the cost, Danielson, who co-founded Sublunary Management with Gallagher, says a benefit show was the obvious answer.

“I’ve been doing shows in Iowa for four years — it’s what I do,” Danielson says. “When she got sick, I decided to get DJs together who were willing to play at a reduced price. I had the connections to do it, so I did it.”

Hoover says a lot of Sublunary Management’s shows have a goodwill spin to them.

“We’ve been doing shows since April 2000, and a lot of them have had a charity theme,” Hoover says. “When one of our friends that helps out with this ends up with cancer, well, her name is Charity.”

Headlining the acts on Saturday will be Houston natives arQer & Realtime, showcasing their spinning skills within the drum ‘n’ bass genre.

Warming the stage up for them will be a number of local and regional DJs including Kernel Scurry, Sonar and Skrink from a Skrog.

This will be the second show done in Gallagher’s honor, the first being a performance in Cedar Rapids. Zach Smith, sophomore in computer science, does promotional work for these shows and says that severe storms the night of the party kept attendance low.

“It was a good time, but a lot of people were scared off from the storms,” Smith says.

However, Danielson and Hoover say that Des Moines was their first choice for the location of the benefit and look forward to some changes in the show.

“There are good lights and good sound at the Vaudeville Mews,” Hoover says. “It’s a good venue for local music.”

Danielson says in addition to the ideal venue, the lineup should be exciting for partygoers.

“This time, we have a first appearance by some DJs that have never been here before, like arQer & Realtime,” Danielson says.

The friends hope their musical assortment will help heal Gallagher, but it doesn’t stop there. Smith says the Sublunary crew tries to ensure that all attending are enjoying themselves.

“Their crew has been really active,” Smith says. “They always put forth the extra effort, make sure that everyone always has a good time.”