Band sponsors building of 9th Ward home
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ The rock group Widespread Panic, Thursday's closing act of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, had more than musical entertainment to give this city and its residents.
The band arrived in New Orleans early Wednesday to visit the Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood where it is sponsoring the building of a house for a family who lost their home to Hurricane Katrina.
The Lower 9th Ward was one of the poorest and hardest-hit neighborhoods when the storm struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005, and it has been one of the slowest to recover. But to John Bell, lead singer and guitarist for Widespread Panic, it is a place of great hope.
"This is a place where I believe hope is not lost," said Bell, who visited the Lower 9th Ward back in November with his family before revisiting it Wednesday. "It's a real place in New Orleans with real people, people who have lost some or all of their family and their homes but are sticking it out."
That spirit is precisely why Bell and his Widespread Panic bandmates have agreed to give $150,000 to sponsor the building of a house for a Katrina victim through Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, Bell said.
Make It Right is one of two rebuilding efforts in the Lower 9th Ward Pitt is affiliated with in which homes are being built with environmentally sustainable materials. Make It Right organizers say they couldn't be more grateful for the generosity.
"To have the musicians interested, with music being such an important part of New Orleans culture, is very special," said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for Make It Right. "The generosity across the board has been very gratifying."
Widespread Panic began helping Make It Right back in January by offering downloads of its new single, "Walk on the Flood," in exchange for a donation to the rebuilding effort. The band raised about $4,000, which was given to Make It Right along with the $150,000.
"It will go toward a tankless water heater, a solar panel, whatever is needed," Bell said.
Though the title may imply it, "Walk on the Flood" is not a song specifically about Katrina, Bell said. It was written the day of the Virginia Tech shootings last April.
"It's not specific to one news incident or human or natural disaster, but it is kind of inclusive of events like that," Bell said.
Referring to a line from the song — "These are the pictures we've painted together" — Bell said he hopes the song helps to dispel the notion that "if you're watching something happen on TV, it's someone else's problem and you're not involved."
Bell said New Orleans is a valuable American city that is also special to him personally. He said Widespread Panic, which has been together 22 years, has performed in New Orleans and at Jazz Fest many times. He said New Orleans is where he met his wife, Laura, after a concert at Tipitina's in 1990. The couple honeymooned here after their marriage in 1992, he said.
