Katrina Anniversary Concert Thursday, August 24, 2006 Crobar Nightclub Written by Wendy R. Williams Photographed by Mary Blanco

On Thursday, August 24, 2006 Moveon.org hosted a party at Crobar in New York City to celebrate the publication of “It Takes a Nation,” a book that tells the story about how after the Katrina flooded New Orleans, the political action group moveon.org organized a housing drive that provided housing for thirty thousand Katrina evacuees in the homes of everyday people. The book was edited by Laura Dawn of moveon.org; Laura is also the vocalist with Moby. All proceeds from the concert benefited Acorn.

Julia Stiles and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of The Roots

It was a night for celebration and commemoration. Crobar was packed. Moby and The Roots performed and Rosie Perez, Julia Stiles and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of The Roots read excerpts from the book. An emotional Perez told the crowd that she was there to be sure that Katrina never happened again. Laura Dawn had organized the evening and was frantically running around doing what you do when you are in charge, stopping only to join Moby on the stage and fire up the crowd with her singing. And later in the evening, the new Democratic Senatorial candidate from Connecticut, Ned Lamont, spoke to the crowd. It was a night of commemoration but also one of celebration, celebration of the incredible kindness of ordinary people who became present day Good Sammaritans in the face of an unspeakable disaster.

Laura Dawn, MoveOn.org Organizer and Moby Vocalist


L-R: Ben Brandzel and Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org

Here is a quote from the party’s press release: “ HurricaneHousing.org paired over 30,000 evacuees with MoveOn members willing to open their homes; "It Takes a Nation" presents an oral history, candid, first-person accounts of twenty-nine of these evacuees during the first two weeks following Hurricane Katrina as well as stunning photographs to chronicle their stories.”

To view “It Takes a Nation” in pdf format, please visit: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1979 (cover) and http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1978 (book interior).

Rosie Perez

Moby and his band

Crobar Nightclub is located at 530 West 28th Street (btw 10th and 11th Ave) in New York City.