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MIT's Oct 30 "Bayou Bash" benefit concert to feature top New Orleans musicians
For Immediate Release: October 18, 2005
Contact: Mary Haller
Director of Arts Communication
MIT Office of the Arts
20 Ames St., Rm E15-205
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 253-4006, e-mail haller@media.mit.edu
Cambridge, MA...New Orleans musicians and guests will converge at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) October
28-30 for a series of "Bayou Bash" events to benefit both the victims of Hurricane Katrina and
now-struggling musicians from the vibrant New Orleans music community.
Organized as part of MIT's 2005 Fall Festival, the events have two main goals: to provide a concert venue
for New Orleans' displaced musicians, many of whom have lost both homes and performance spaces; and to raise
funds for Pass Christian, Mississippi's high school music program and another local New Orleans charity to be
named by the MIT Public Service Center.
The highlight of the Festival is a rare coming together of an array of New Orleans musical genres in a
"Bayou Bash" concert, open to the public, on Sunday, October 30 at 7pm.
Performances include the blues and gospel of Marva Wright, Zydeco with Rockin' Dupsie, Jr., traditional
jazz with alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, the Lil Stooges Brass Band, and jazz singer-pianist Davell
Crawford. Special guest performers will be the Wild Magnolias, the culturally unique
"Mardi Gras Indians" who parade through the streets on Mardi Gras day dressed in the
"new suits" (the very fanciful Indian Costumes), led by Big Chief Bo Dollis.
"Most of these band members and performers lost everything they worked their lifetime to accumulate,
including their instruments and equipment," said Barbara Louviere, a visiting MIT Scholar from New
Orleans who spearheaded the "Bayou Bash" events. "Many had lived in the same neighborhoods
but were forced to scatter after Hurricane Katrina," Louviere continued. The reunion concert, she said,
will help these musicians rebuild their lives by giving them the opportunity to get back to work and perform
the music that they love.
Numerous local sponsors have contributed transportation, lodging and other goods and services for these
events, said Louviere. "The support of this project from the MIT community and from the Cambridge community
has been very generous," she said.
Tickets for the Sunday evening concert are $15 ($5 for MIT students, $10 for MIT staff,
faculty and affiliates). They are currently available on-line at at
http://web.mit.edu/fall/tickets
to members of the MIT community. Tickets to the general public go on sale Friday, October 21.
Event: Bayou Bash Concert featuring The Wild Magnolias
Date: Sunday, October 30, 2005
Time: 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
Place: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave.
Description: Gathering of New Orleans musicians including Big Chief Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias,
the famous Mardi Gras Indians, who will perform with other Jazz standouts including: Marva Wright, Davell
Crawford, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr, Bob French and the Lil Stooges Brass Band. Charity event to support the
artists as well as local foundations in the Gulf Coast.
Tickets: $15 ($5 for MIT students; $10 for MIT staff, faculty and affiliates). Online purchases can be
made at http://web.mit.edu/fall/tickets. General
public tickets available starting October 21
Web Site: http://web.mit.edu/fall/
Information: Tom Robinson, 617/253-6777, e-mail trob@mit.edu
or click here.
Press contact: Mary Haller, 617/253-4006, e-mail
haller@media.mit.edu
MIT Sponsors:
. Division of Student Life and your Student Life Fee
. School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
. MIT Music and Theater Arts
. MIT Council for the Arts
. Office of the Arts
. Simmons Hall
. New House
. The MIT Women's League
. SaveTFP
. Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community
. Westgate Residence Hall
Community Partners :
. JetBlue Airways
. The Cambridge Hyatt Hotel
. The Cambridge Royal Sonesta Hotel
. The Leitch Foundation
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