Concert to Help "Defend the Coast"

When it comes to worthy causes, coastal restoration is top of mind for students at Tulane and Loyola universities, who are banding together to sponsor a benefit “Concert with a Cause” on Saturday (Nov. 6) in Audubon Park.

All proceeds from the event, which will feature four Louisiana bands, will go to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, says Cassady Adams, concert chair and executive vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government at Tulane.

Tickets are $5 for Tulane and Loyola students and $15 for general admission. Sodexo is providing free jambalaya for the first 500 attendees.

The concert came about as a way to “raise awareness and funds for an organization that does hands-on gulf restoration and oil spill relief work,” Adams says.

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, there were limited volunteer opportunities for students to help out as they did after Hurricane Katrina, she says. “However, the student governments of Tulane and Loyola felt that it was necessary to reach out together to students at both universities and the New Orleans community in support of the ongoing gulf restoration efforts.”

The concert will be held from 3:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the Carrollton Baseball Park in Audubon Park on the riverfront side known as “the Fly.” Buses to the event will leave the intersection of McAlister Drive and Freret Street (in front of the Navy ROTC building) at 3 p.m., make rounds every half hour until 7 p.m. and return students to campus at the conclusion of the concert.

Music kicks off at 4 p.m. with New Grass Country Club and Earphunk. The Soul Rebels play at 5:30 p.m., and the Benjy Davis Project takes the stage at 7 p.m.

“The event is essentially a celebration of Louisiana,” Adams says.