Stars To Help Katrina Victims

Celebrities Plan Benefit Concerts, Charity Efforts

(AP) 

Jazz will also get into the act. Wynton Marsalis, Bill Cosby, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall will perform the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert for Jazz at Lincoln Center Sept. 17 in New York.

Many stars have also pledged money directly to the Red Cross.

Celine Dion and the partners of her Las Vegas show, "A New Day" — companies Concerts West/AEG Live and Dragone — pledged $1 million.

Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z jointly pledged $1 million. Nicolas Cage, who has a home in New Orleans, also pledged $1 million.

The rappers said they felt responsible to give because many of those most affected are black.

"We are all descendants from each other's families," Diddy said. "When you hear black people say `brothers' and 'sisters,' it's really true. These are all people that I know I'm related to somehow, some way — the human race family."

Cage's publicist, Annett Wolf, said the Oscar-winning actor "wishes to help his neighbors during this most devastating time."

Hilary Duff said she will give $200,000 to the Red Cross and $50,000 to USA Harvest, which is supplying food to shelters. The 17-year-old actress-singer is encouraging fans to bring canned food donations to her concerts.

Some of the most visible work by celebrities will be seen on TV.

NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," to air Friday night on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC, was to include Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Tim McGraw and Aaron Neville.

"That's my hometown, that's my people," Neville said in an interview Friday on MSNBC. "I feel kin to all of them down there and I'm hurting for them."

Also appear on the special: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lindsay Lohan, Mike Myers, Hilary Swank, Claire Danes and John Goodman.

Jerry Lewis said his annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which begins Sunday night (check local listings), would also include appeals for donations to hurricane victims.

Chris Rock, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Diddy, Russell Simmons, Wynton Marsalis and Master P will participate in a telethon Sept. 9 on BET.

Rob Thomas, Green Day, Ludacris, Gretchen Wilson, Usher, Alicia Keys and John Mellencamp are set to appear on a Sept. 10 special that will air on MTV, VH1 and CMT.

"Your first instinct in a situation like this is to say, `Is there something I can do?"' Thomas told the AP.

"New Orleans underwater, it's just insane," he said.