VOL. 115 | NO. 177 | Friday, October 19, 2001
Concert for New York with a Memphis touch
Concert for New York has a Memphis touch
By MARY DANDO
The Daily News
Memphis mercantile maestro Paul Tudor Jones is about to pull
off one of his greatest feats.
Saturday, some of the greatest rock stars in the world are
coming together in Madison Square Garden for the Concert for New York City to
be broadcast live on VH1 from 6 p.m.
Featured artists include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Eric
Clapton, The Who, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, Sheryl Crow, Melissa
Etheridge, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Macy Gray, The Goo Goo Dolls, Marc
Anthony, Jay-Z, Destinys Child and David Bowie.
Hosts for the concert include Jim Carrey, John Cusack, David
Spade, Leonardo Di Caprio, Meg Ryan, Michael J. Fox, Denis Leary, Billy
Crystal, Harrison Ford, Julia Stiles and the cast of Saturday Night Live.
All the proceeds of the concert will go directly to the
Robin Hood Relief Fund to meet the immediate and long-term needs of victims of
the Sept. 11 attack.
In particular Robin Hood will help lower-income New Yorkers
affected by the tragedy and is also supporting the Twin Towers Fund to aid the
families of police, fire and rescue workers who lost their lives.
Little did I know
that when I started Robin Hood in 1987 that we would one day be raising funds
for maybe the most terrible tragedy that has ever befallen our continental
shores in almost 200 years, Jones said.
A graduate of the class of 1972 at Memphis University School
and the son of former Daily News publisher John Paul Jones, commodities trader
Jones is best known as a wunderkind of Wall Street.
In 1987 Jones recruited two fellow brokers, Glenn Dubin and
Peter Borish and started the Robin Hood Foundation, which true to its
tongue-in-cheek name has persuaded the rich to give generously to the poor of
New York for the past 13 years.
The idea of having a Concert for New York City came
originally from VH1, which decided using Robin Hood as the beneficiary would
ensure the speediest and most efficient disbursal of the funds to those who
needed them most, said Anna Byng, Robin Hood associate director of
communications.
Jones sees the Concert for New York City as a way to help
heal the wounds of Sept. 11.
Robin Hoods core business is helping people in poverty, and
what prompted the board to set up a separate relief fund is so many of them
work on Wall Street and all of them lost close personal friends and fellow
brokers in the attack, Jones said.
It afflicted every firm on Wall Street. Everyone had some
office or knew someone or was doing business with someone so it was something
that our board felt very strongly about.
Additionally, the collateral infrastructure demands as a
result of this attack on social safety net since Sept. 11 exploded because of
all the indirect victims, he said.
Indirect victims would be people out of jobs such as the 70
percent of drivers in New York who make their business going to and from the
airport, he said.
This is the kind of thing Robin Hood is designed for to
spring into action to help those folks, he said.
Jones wants his fellow Memphians to know exclusively that
the finale is going to be Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney singing Let It Be
and then McCartney will end the concert with a solo performance of Yesterday.
This is going to be both poignant and beautiful, he said.
Since it began, the Robin Hood Foundation has been known for
its activist approach that goes well beyond writing large checks.
The list of board members is like a Whos Who in the world
of celebrity including Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Sawyer, Harvey Weinstein of
Miramax Films and Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and chief operating
officer of The News Corp. Ltd. The board also includes Marian Wright Edelman, president
of the Childrens Defense Fund, and Maurice Chessa, director Bedford
Stuyvestant I Have a Dream program.
A former board member was John F. Kennedy Jr. who was one of
the guests at Jones wedding in Memphis.
With a board of mainly financial gurus Robin Hood is known
as a risk taking, investment foundation. What makes it unique is the board
members absorb all the operating funds and staffing costs themselves, and 100
percent of the proceeds from the concert will go directly to those who need it.
Some of the audience at the Concert for New York City will
be as star-studded as the performers. Tickets start at $2,000 each and they can
be obtained at Ticketmaster.
Gold tickets are $5,000 each and platinum tickets are
$10,000 each, which includes an exclusive reception in the VIP lounge with
visits by the performers.
The tickets are tax-deductible. Ron Dabney of Robin Hood
said there are still some $5,000 and $10,000 tickets left and can be obtained
by calling (212) 227-6601. Donations can be sent to the Robin Hood Relief Fund,
Robin Hood Foundation, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 18th floor, New York, New
York 10036. Information can be gained and contributions made at www.robinhood.org.