New Orleans hosts "pay it forward" and hurricane sandy fests

Irwin Mayfield: NOLA Pay it Forward fest

By Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

 Irvin Mayfield, Ivan Neville, Amanda Shaw, Stephanie Jordann and James Andrews are slated to perform at a Nov. 20 concert at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The NOLA Pay It Forward Concert roster, announced Nov. 9 by Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office, also features Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Mia Borders, Khris Royal, Sasha Masakowski, the Stooges Brass Band, and the Wild Magnolias with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. Additional performers will be announced.

Ivan Neville is part of a Nov. 20 concert at the Mahalia Jackson Theater to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Ted Jackson / Times-Picayune archive Money raised with the concert will go to the NOLA Pay it Forward Fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF). The fund was established in May 2011 to assist victims of the Mississippi River flooding. Proceeds from the Nov. 20 concert will be used to support

non-profit organizations assisting in hurricane relief and recovery efforts. “We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for people affected by this storm,” Landrieu said in a statement. "New Orleans has been there, we remember the generosity of others, and we want to pay it forward to those who are recovering.”

Tickets are $50 plus service charges through Ticketmaster (1.800.745.3000 or online at ticketmaster.com). On every ticket sold, Ticketmaster will donate $3.90 of its service fee to the NOLA Pay it Forward Fund.

Those interested in donating to the fund can go online to gnof.org/donors/give-now or contact Allie Betts, manager of donor relations at GNOF, at 504.598.4663 or allie@gnof.org.

The Nov. 20 concert will be Ivan Neville's second Sandy benefit. On Nov. 5, his band DumpstaPhunk headlined a benefit at the Highline Ballroom in New York City featuring such special guests as Bela Fleck, Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, Amy Helm of the Levon Helm Band, Eric Krasno of Soulive and a DJ set by the Roots' Questlove.

The New Orleans concert is one of numerous local initiatives to aid the victims of Sandy.

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Eric Lindell: Hurricane Sandy Fest

By Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

On Tuesday, Nov. 20, New Orleans hosts two separate benefit concerts for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. Both feature local performers. One presents them in a sit-down setting for a $50 ticket price. The other, less formal event offers a $20 ticket in a standing-room-only environment.

The NOLA Pay It Forward concert at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts features Irvin Mayfield, Amanda Shaw, Ivan Neville, Stephanie Jordan, James Andrews, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Mia Borders, Khris Royal, Sasha Masakowski and more. Tickets are $50 plus service charges through Ticketmaster. The NOLA Pay it Forward Fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF), established in May 2011 to assist victims of the Mississippi River flooding, will funnel proceeds to the Sandy relief effort.

A simultaneous, but unrelated, benefit concert Tuesday at the Howlin’ Wolf in the Warehouse District features a slightly different mix of music for a less expensive price. It will occupy the venue’s main stage and the smaller stage in its adjacent venue, the Den. Eric Lindell, Camile Baudoin & the Living Rumors, Susan Cowsill & Russ Broussard, the Hot 8 Brass Band and Johnny Dilks & the Highway Kind are each slated to perform a 45-minute set on the main stage, starting at 8 p.m. Narcissy, the Tangle and MADA will be on the secondary stage.

Tickets are $20 at the door. Admission also includes food – while it lasts – from Atchafalaya Restaurant, Martinique Bistro, Jacques-Imos, Le Petite Grocery and Boucherie. There is also a silent auction and a raffle. Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief Fun and other New Jersey/New York area non-profits.

That two benefit concerts for the same cause were scheduled on the same night was coincidental, said Monique Pyle, who is producing the Howlin’ Wolf benefit in conjunction with the local non-profit Positive Vibrations Foundation. She said the event had been planned, but not promoted widely, prior to the city’s Nov. 9 announcement about the Mahalia Jackson Theater show.

“I’m not trying to compete with them at all,” said Pyle, a New York/New Jersey native who now lives in New Orleans. “We can hit one group, and they can hit a different group. We’re both doing a good thing. Maybe together we can raise a lot of money.”

The two benefits, in addition to Preservation Hall's retooled "Renew Orleans" campaign, are indicative of how closely residents of the New Orleans area identify with the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

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