The Hard Back Cafe boasted a full house as Darren Flowers and Joel Vaughn performed on Jan. 28. The crowd had to overflow into Hastings to watch the two bands perform for the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association (A.A.R.D.A). The audience was offered free samples of coffee while they enjoyed the concert.

Ricky Mariscal, a senior mass communication major, helped organize the show for the A.A.R.D.A.

“January is ‘Coffee Month’ and Hastings wanted to have a celeb barista show with a few local artists, so this is what we put together,” Mariscal said.

Flowers chose to perform on behalf of the charity due to the recent emails he has received about the cause. His aunt was also recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Each band played an hour worth of songs and shared stories about life experiences that have influenced their lyrics or why they chose the songs for this particular event. Flowers was accompanied by Jody Atchley, Stephanie Brackett and Skip Chisum on bass guitar.

The artists mingled with the audience after the show and spoke with a few audience members affected by autoimmune disorders.

“I thought the turn out was good,” Flowers said. “It was about what I expected, and if anything, we at least raised awareness for the cause.”