It’s never too early to start thinking about the weekend. This Saturday (September 29), Tipitina’s will host the first annual Rhythm and Blues 5K Run at 5 p.m. Immediately following the inaugural race, a party and benefit concert will take place at the Uptown music venue. Each event carries with it a specific social aim: the race, to provide marching shoes to needy New Orleans-area high school bands; and the concert, to renovate and preserve the late Professor Longhair’s Terpsichore Street home. Registration for the race is currently open on the New Orleans Track Club’s website, and VIP and general admission tickets to the benefit concert are for sale on Tipitina’s.
Proceeds from the Fesstoration benefit concert will assist in the renovation of Professor Longhair's family home.
During the race local high school bands (playing instruments donated by the Tipitina’s Foundation) will line the course, which begins and ends at the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Napoleon. Tipitina’s will host a post-race party for participants on the neutral ground outside of the club. Tipitina’s is also encouraging individual participants and groups to dress in costumes of famous musicians and bands. Aside from food, drink and refreshments, prizes await for the most creative contestant.
Following the race, the Tipitina’s Foundation in conjunction with the United Way and Project Homecoming will host a benefit concert featuring the Tipitina’s All-Stars led by recent Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement Award Winner George Porter Jr. Expect sit-ins from fellow stalwarts Dr. John, Ellis Marsalis, Jon Cleary and Ed Volker. The Tipitina’s Internship Program (T.I.P.), led by saxophonist Donald Harrison, will open the show.
Proceeds from the event go toward restoring the home where Professor Longhair — ne Henry Roeland Byrd — spent his nights while not on stage at the famed defunct juice bar-turned-nightclub. The Foundation plans to accomodate Longhair’s daughter and grandson (a musician himself) on the property. There are also plans to turn the commercial space below the home’s residential quarters into a Longhair-themed memorabilia exhibit.
