Spoon and Sony Playstation Dig in to Help New Orleans

Fresh off the cover of Spin Magazine and Saturday Night Live, Spoon (click photo for NOMRF.org) will be featured at the Sony Playstation NOMRF Benefit at One Eyed Jacks on Oct. 27th after performing at the Sony Playstation Stage at Voodoo Music Experience, with the late night show to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

And NOMRF is looking forward to NOLAFest at Fat Harry's in New Orleans with Ingrid Lucia on Oct. 26th, with part of the drink proceeds to benefit the Fund. It wasn't long after Katrina when the Times Picayune's NOLA.com, having just returned to its building on Poydras, decided to host a party at Fat Harry's Bar and Grill on St. Charles and webcast it to the world, letting folks know that New Orleanians were back home to stay, says entertainment editor Keith Marszalek.

The night took on a whole new meaning shortly after Kermit Ruffins' first set when the N.O.P.D. was forced to shut down St. Charles Avenue due to the 1000+ locals who had come to hear the trumpeter's first set back in New Orleans. This year NOLA and Fat Harry's welcome back the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar, whose return to Uptown is just weeks away. Music will be provided by local vocalist Ingrid Lucia who's amassed an all-star lineup of area musicians ready to swing-out, New Orleans style.

NOMRF and some special guests are glad to be back this weekend, in the city that throws the greatest concerts in the world.

Keep watching for a new Save NOLA Store with merchandise to benefit Global Green, Habitat for Humanity and the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Every contribution and instrument donation has made a difference. We could not do any of this without your continued support.

Streetcars to Roll Soon After NOLA Fest Benefit on Friday

How does the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund love the Times Picayune's NOLA.com? Lots of ways. We love that at Fat Harry's NOLA Fest on Friday you can come hear Ingrid Lucia for FREE just before the streetcars begin to roll down Carrolton again. And we love that part of Friday's bar proceeds will help the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund keep helping musicians.

At this time last year, NOMRF was welcoming Liverpool's Joe Topping who walked across the country in support of our city's music, with the Voodoo Vixens and New Wave Brass Band on hand to welcome him.

At this time two years ago, Voodoo and NOLA Fest were the first-post Katrina signs of music in the city and friends who had made it home or never left called with dispatches from the stage.

For those of us still displaced from New Orleans, NOLA is the first place we look for weather updates to check on family and friends. And in reverse, NOLA lets the Fund post its own updates on Exiled on Main Street.

This year, as our hearts are heavy for the million of evacuees in California, it's time to go home again.