"God, she is so hot," said one smoker outside of T.T. the Bear’s, commenting on Mary Lou Lord’s half-hour acoustic set. "Even though she’s married with kids and all." Saturday night, Lord and husband Kevin Patey organized "Baked Beans and Rice," a Hurricane Katrina benefit where 26 of Boston’s finest got their punk, folk, and roots ya-yas out for a good cause at T.T.’s, the Middle East, Great Scott, and the Abbey. The event had multi-venue passes, so you could, for example, catch Lord’s set and then head to Great Scott for the Konks and the Ducky Boys. It was a sweet showcase of Boston’s diversity, and of bands who deserve to be loved beyond their respective scenes.

The Middle East line-up was full of punk and garage rock, starting with an early Robby Road Steamer set. As he ended with "I Put a Baby in You," hanging off the rafters at some points, the dudes behind me were drunkenly proclaiming, "They’re like an American Tenacious D!" Strong Boston accents were flying and people were dressed working-class tough and Suicide Girl sexy, with big boots and studded belts. The dirty old men in leather jackets, however, pushed their way up front for the Downbeat Five, and why not? Don’t sleep on this band if you like the Gossip: Jennifer D’Angora spits like a hot Joan Jett and JJ Rassler’s guitar lines are punchy and catchy. The crowd danced madly for the Raging Teens and moshed for Darkbuster’s beer-soaked headlining set. The Tampoffs made nervous jokes about hurricanes and tornados; Patey reminded the crowd that the proceeds were going to Habitat for Humanity and the New Orleans Music Fund.

The folkies at T.T.’s were clad in tighter and brighter clothes, with less black-clad punk plumage and cigarette smoking. The crowd chattered over Drew O’Doherty’s lovely balladry and Kevin So’s soulful folk steez; it was when Lord played that they started to pay attention. She told rambling stories between songs; she explained that the Green Pajamas’ "She’s Still Bewitching Me" is a good song for a woman living in Salem to sing thanks to the recently erected statue of Elizabeth Montgomery in the town center, and she dedicated the song "to Liz."

Over at the Abbey, I found Three Day Threshold chugging through a surging cover of "Folsom Prison Blues." The drums were loud and the audience was having a ball, with the pretty ladies from Through the Keyhole Burlesque cutting a wicked rug on the floor. College students may have been home eating turkey, but the Boston scene was still fighting the holiday-week club doldrums, and for a good cause.

Elisabeth Donnelly can be reached at elisabeth.donnelly@gmail.com