Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

With most of New Orleans pumped dry and businesses beginning to clean up after Hurricane Katrina, one of the city's musical gems has decided to come back home ... for one day, anyway.

Last month, organizers announced that they would move the seventh-annual Voodoo Music Experience to Memphis' Tom Lee Park (see "Voodoo Music Experience Relocates From New Orleans To Memphis"). Now organizers say that they will split the festival into two parts, with the first night's show (October 29) taking place in New Orleans, and the second (October 30) in Memphis. The concert will be the first full-scale, large entertainment event within city limits since the disastrous hurricane and subsequent flood hit the city on August 29.

According to a message posted on the show's official Web site, the shows will be focused on "Two cities united with a common goal: to celebrate and renew the city of New Orleans. As a sign of support and rebirth as New Orleans begins to rebuild, this observance of music will bring together the diversity of culture that serves as the foundation for both cities."

The invitation-only New Orleans show at Riverview Park will celebrate the efforts of those who've worked on the cleanup and recovery efforts in the city for the past six weeks. Previous ticket holders will be welcomed to the New Orleans show, along with police, firefighters, National Guard, military and others who've worked on restoring the city.

"In the course of the past few weeks, the outpouring of support from not only the music industry, but from people from all walks of life, who want to come together to celebrate New Orleans has been tremendous," festival producer Stephen Rehage said in a statement. "The ability to move forward in two cities — with so much music history — is overwhelming to everyone involved with this year's event. We want to thank all the artists who have shown their support by honoring their commitment to this historic event. We all look forward to making this weekend one to remember."

The festival was originally scheduled to take place over Halloween weekend in New Orleans' City Park. When Katrina hit, organizers moved the entire show to Memphis, but they had a change of heart when community leaders in New Orleans approached them about moving the show back for a day as a tribute to the relief workers. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the New Orleans Restoration Fund as well as Mercy Corps, Habitat for Humanity and other local organizations working to restore the city's famed cultural heritage.

The New Orleans bill will feature Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Digable Planets, the Bravery, New York Dolls, LCD Soundsystem, the Secret Machines, H.I.M., Sevendust, VHS or Beta, the Rebirth Brass Band and more than 20 other acts.

The Memphis show will take place at AutoZone Park and feature Cake, the North Mississippi Allstars, the Decemberists, New York Dolls, Better Than Ezra, VHS or Beta, Sevendust, Cowboy Mouth, H.I.M., World Leader Pretend and the Giraffes.

Memphis will also host a series of free downtown concerts beginning on October 27 and continuing through the weekend; lineups for those shows have not yet been announced. In addition, such New Orleans legends as Dr. John and the Neville Brothers will play special New Orleans-themed concerts on the city's Beale Street.

To find out what you can do to help provide relief to victims of Katrina, head to think MTV's hurricane relief page.

• Nine Inch Nails
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Digable Planets
• The Bravery
• The New York Dolls

Digable Planets' Ladybug Mecca (file)
Photo: Nu Paradigm

To set the record straight, it wasn't oversized egos that broke up Digable Planets. But it certainly was high-school behavior.

"You know how you have your girlfriend when you're in high school and you break up?" asked Ladybug Mecca, the group's lone female member. "Then five years later you run into each other and it's all good? That's why we broke up, just growing."

After a 10-year hiatus, the Planets, who recorded 1993's Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) and the following year's Blowout Comb, have reunited to record a third, still-untitled album. They toured Europe in February, recently played Los Angeles' sizable El Rey theater to adoring fans and are gearing up for a jaunt through the States later this year.

Before that party gets started, though, Ladybug is dropping her solo debut, Trip the Light Fantastic, on June 7.

After winning a Grammy Award for "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," the Planets mutually agreed to split. Butterfly released Bright Black under the moniker Cherrywine in 2003; Doodlebug became Cee Knowledge, releasing 2002's Space Is the Place; and Ladybug worked on her own solo effort.

Signing with the ill-fated, now-defunct Red Ant label, she wound up taking a few years to escape her recording contract. Since then, she's had four children and found another indie home, Nu-Paradigm Entertainment, through which she's releasing her eclectic Fantastic.

"There wasn't a conscious effort to be eclectic," Ladybug said. "My album is just a representation of me. My parents are Brazilian. My mother was a Brazilian jazz singer and my father was a jazz musician. So I always wanted to incorporate those samba rhythms."

Fantastic runs the gamut of styles, including samba, hip-hop, jazz and rock, and the wordsmith Ladybug both raps and sings. With just one guest appearance, by soul guitarist Martin Luther, she hopes her fans will enjoy her pure expression.

"I'll be doing one-offs and a college tour this fall," she said. "We just had a show in Los Angeles and it was just like riding a bike."

• Digable Planets

She's solo like dat, he's solo like dat.

Even though the Grammy-winning rap group Digable Planets has been defunct for over five years, the individual members are finally beginning to resurface with their own respective solo projects and albums.

Former Planets frontman Ishmael -- who previously used the rap handle of "Butterfly" -- has just put the final mixing touches on a new solo album, "Ishmael Since 1999," which he recorded with co-producer Marcel Sanders in several studios in San Francisco and New York City.

"Ishmael Since 1999" is due out in June, while the as-yet-to-be-decided first single is tentatively scheduled to be released to radio in April. In the meantime, Lady Mecca, formerly known as Planets MC "Ladybug," is still at work on her solo record, which she also hopes will be ready for a summer release.

• Digable Planets

There's new life for two members of Digable Planets, the hip-hop trio that hit big in the early '90s with the jazz-influenced track, "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," from its 1993 debut album, "Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)."

• Digable Planets