BP New Orleans Response

Ok I have to admit that this pet peeve of mine has been sticking in my craw for sometime (since Katrina) so this may sound a little bitter but I am not a hater. I just don't get it.  Monday's announcement of Sunday's Gulf Benefit was no surprise.  I had overheard a couple of conversations Sunday nights from different people in the music business about a planned fundraiser for the Gulf of Mexico and once again I ask the same question.  Why hold a fund raiser where the funds are most desperately needed?  It is almost as if they held Live Aied in Africa or allowed only poor people to buy the "We are the World" single  After Katrina I evacutated, among other places, to Valparaiso Indiana, a stone's throw from Chicago to visit my sister and my evacuated parents.  I will never forget how excited I was to hear that Pearl Jam was going to do a show at the House of Blues in Chicago to benefit hurricane Katrina and the tickets were going for $1000 a piece.  Now that is a benefit.  Maybe $100,000 was raised in one night in one of the richest cities in America for us.  I must admit I tried every contact I had to get a ticket seeing as I was one of those displaced victims of the Corps of Engineers debacle and I was disappointed when I was shut out but I understood that they probably didn't need to give me a ticket when they could sell one for $1,000 and provide that much more relief.  I heard about benefits in New York and other places but for some reason the real plethora of Hurricane Katrina relief benefits were held in New Orleans.  
      Is it just me or does that just not make sense.  Isn't the idea to draw money into our struggling community from areas of the country that are well off and unaffected.  What good does holding a fundraiser here do for us?  The musicians won't get paid and the ticket holders will predominately come from the same place that has been affected by the tragedy.  I understand that this is a deep-south gulf coast issue but still wouldn't it be better to get a bunch of national acts to donate their services and pay a bunch of local acts to play somewhere that has the ability to have a financial impact on our community rather than to get our citizens to pony up another $50 to hear the musicians who just played French Quarter fest and Jazz Fest.  I just don't get it. 
   That being said, thank you  John Legend and Lenny Kravitz and all of you who are dedicating your time free of charge to help the Gulf Coast.  If you need me I will be in Gulf Shores at another festival that  has pledged to donate the proceeds to the recovery of the Gulf of Mexico.  Unfortunately I don't think there will actually be any proceeds seeing as it is the first time the festival has been held.  Peace,
                                                                                                                          Lee