“At first I said, ‘Who knows who this could be?'” Porter says. “But I did a little digging and realized he lives in Baltimore.”

Dolby, who was a pioneering musician best known for his 1982 hit “She Blinded Me With Science,” indeed lives in Fells Point, and is Homewood Professor of the Arts at The Johns Hopkins University and an artistic director of the program in Sound on Film, a joint venture between Hopkins and MICA.

But, in this message, he was simply making an inquiry about Porter’s band, the Psycho Killers.

“Apparently, he was at a show at The 8×10 when we saw one of our posters,” says Porter, who plays bass in the Talking Heads tribute band. “He checked us out on YouTube, said that he’s a huge Talking Heads fan, and that he would love to sing a song with us.”

In fact, Dolby was being a bit modest. While he does consider the Talking Heads a big musical influence, he also has a personal relationship with the band members, as they all came up together during the 1970s. In fact, Dolby and David Byrne have performed together in the past.

A plan came together and Dolby will play a few songs with the Psycho Killers on November 27 at Baltimore Soundstage. At first, the two acts wanted the show to be a secret, but once Dolby heard it was a benefit for Toys for Tots, he encouraged promotion.

“I never thought we’d play a show with him,” Porter says. “He and The Talking Heads are contemporaries, so it’s pretty cool we’re even on his radar. He was so innovative with samples and electronic music. He’s a guy who still has a ton of influence today.”

While the band hasn’t gotten together with Dolby to rehearse yet, the goal is they will collaborate on a few songs on stage.

“When he first reached out, he was naming songs he wanted to play and these were not songs that the average Talking Heads fan would know,” Porter says. “He has a deep knowledge and was pulling out all these rare tracks.”

Local funk band Litz will be opening the show, where attendees are encouraged to bring toys to donate in exchange for a chance to win a pair of free tickets to an upcoming Soundstage show.

“This worked out perfectly because obviously he’s from England, so he’ll be around for Thanksgiving,” Porter says. “And this is one of our favorite shows to play because it gives us a chance to give back to the community.”

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The Charm City-based Talking Heads cover band will be playing a show to benefit Toys for Tots at Baltimore Soundstage on November 28.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty unique show,” says Psycho Killers bassist Ryan Porter. “We play in Baltimore once every few months and Black Friday is a great opportunity to give people who are coming home a chance to see us.”

Toys for Tots, a national organization committed to giving holiday gifts to less-fortunate children, will be collecting unwrapped toys from audience members at the show. As an additional incentive, Baltimore Soundstage has thrown raffle tickets into the mix, giving anyone who donates toys a chance to win. Four winners will receive two tickets to any show of their choice, and one very lucky winner will be given two tickets to every show at the venue in 2015.

“The cool thing about it is it doesn’t even have to be a big donation,” Porter says. “I never realized how much even little toys mean to kids, I bring home little things for my 5-year-old all the time and he freaks out.”

In this truly collaborative effort, the band first reached out to friends at local retailer and performance art troupe Proper Playground Clothing Co., to make this special holiday show unlike any other.

Proper Playground will be on hand to transform the space with special lights and décor, and will also be featuring live performance art like stilt walkers and live painters. Artist Adrienne Price, who designed to flyers to promote the show, will also be there selling her own original artwork.

Although many different players are at work to make this night one to remember, the music itself will be at the forefront of this special event.

“We definitely have some surprises up our sleeves,” Porter says. “We like to mix it up every show and we never play the same setlist twice.”

Porter says that Psycho Killers is excited to be able to give back to the community, especially during this time of year.

“It’s just coming together to be a really special night,” he says. “We’ve done benefit shows in the past, but this is the first time we’ve come up with the idea ourselves.”

Tickets for the all-ages show are $15 and doors open at 8 p.m.

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