Brad Pitt and Harry Connick Jr. are still toughing it out as both continue getting creative in rebuilding efforts.

By Gayl Murphy

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/1/07 — Long after the floods receded, long after most of the cameras have gone away, a cadre of celebrities including Brad Pitt are taking their hats off to New Orleans…literally. Actor/activist Pitt will be auctioning off the gray ‘newsboy’ cap he’s been wearing of late on so many TV interviews and photo opps, to raise even more money and awareness for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The need is still there, and surprisingly, so are the celebrities. They didn’t disappear when the headlines did as happens with so many disasters.

Also on storm watch, the Big Easy’s favorite homeboy Harry Connick Jr. is all action as the proud papa of The Musician’s Village, a community he and fellow NOLA native star-saxophonist Branford Marsalis conceived.

Other celebs that have had a hand in the recovery effort include; U2 guitarist The Edge, Sean Penn, Dennis Leary, Reggie Bush, Dr. Phil, Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Usher, Jennifer Garner and Cicley Tyson, just to name a few.

The proceeds from Pitt’s ‘cap sale’ and his other efforts are going to the “Make It Right” charity, Pitt, who told AP this week that he put his Hollywood career on hold to do this work, admits he has no second thoughts about using his celebrity to do good.

So far, Make It Right is projected to raise enough money to build 150 “low-income”, environmentally friendly homes over the next two years for those affected by the storm almost 2 and half years ago.

Pitt, whose love the delta city is well documented, says the affected residents have been homeless long enough and “…they’re coming up on their third Christmas. Seeing the frustration firsthand made me want to return the kindness this city has shown me.”

Pitt’s message is simple, in that he’s not just asking for high rollers to pony up, such as big companies and corporations. Brad is telling donors they can also think small, “Adopt a water heater, a solar panel, a tree or a toilet…” and give it to a friend for Christmas.

“Make It Right” debuted at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in September – founded in 2005 by former President Clinton. At which time Pitt committed to match $5 million in contributions, as did philanthropist Steve Bing. And, earlier this month Brad announced 3 of the designs of 13 of the architectural firms he’s commissioned to get the job done.

“The Musicians Village” is 72 single-family homes built by Habitat for Humanity for displaced musicians from both Katrina and Rita. Habitat for Humanity is the baby of former President and Nobel Peace prizewinner Jimmy Carter.

Connick described doing this kind of hands on work as incredibly gratifying, when asked by HollywoodToday how it was all coming along and if the musicians were actually starting to return to the Delta.

“Yeah they’re coming back, but it’s like a Catch-22 because everybody left and a lot of the people that were doing the rebuilding, they left too.” And, Connick adds that those that left didn’t do so because they necessarily wanted to.

“A lot of these musicians have houses that were covered in mold so they don’t know whether to tear them down or rebuild them. They didn’t have flood insurance, but they had hurricane insurance. It’s not the hurricane that destroyed the houses so, it’s very complicated.”

Connick’s The Musician’s Village is located on 8 acres in the Upper 9^th Ward and its centerpiece is the “Ellis Maraslis Center for Music”, dedicated to the education and development of the residents who live nearby.

Because so many musicians, considered to be the lifeblood of the city, were displaced from all genres of music, residents feel the heart beat won’t return till all the musicians do. And Connick also talked to HollywoodToday about their bittersweet return.

“In our world of ‘The Musician’s Village’ they’re coming back. There’s musicians there that I grew up playing with that are legendary and that are now residing in ‘The Musicians Village’. Soon the ‘Ellis Marsalis Center for Music’ is gonna be done and they’ll be teaching there. So, there are some bright spots, but it’s definitely moving slow.”

But all in all, says Connick there is progress, although slower than anyone ever imagined. “We wanted to bring these people back, without the musicians you’re not going to have all that music, so we wanted to make sure that musicians had a place to come and its working. 80% of the houses that we’ve built are occupied by musicians, so it’s pretty cool.”