Concert features performances by Corgan, Perry Farrell and others
Smashing Pumpkins founder Billy Corgan, and his partner, fashion designer Chloé Mendel, are giving back to their Highland Park, IL community. The pair are hosting a benefit concert for those affected by the July 4th mass shooting at a parade in the Chicago suburb.
The live-stream, called Together and Together Again – A Benefit for the Highland Park Community Foundation, will be held tonight (Wed, July 27th) at their plant-based tea-house and performance space, Madame Zuzu’s. There will be a performance by Corgan, alongside fellow Chicago resident and Smashing Pumpkins’ drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, Bob Moses, jazz saxophonist Frank Catalano and special guests.
The pair spoke with CBS Mornings about the concert. They share Madame Zuzu’s was closed temporarily due to its location in proximity of the shooting.
“It’s tough because the shooting was literally one block away from where we are right now,” Corgan says. “Our business was closed for a week by the FBI. So during that time, of course, we were so shocked by what had happened and, of course, the damage to our community, not only the carnage that happened, but psychological effects, the mental health effects. Twelve hundred people a day have been going to the local high school seeking mental health care, so we felt that void and we wanted to step in [to fill] that void. And so, kind of to reclaim the space here at Madame Zuzu’s being so close to the incident — as soon as we opened, we started talking about holding a virtual benefit.”
The performance will be live-streamed via The Smashing Pumpkins YouTube Channel where viewers will be able to donate. All proceeds will go to the Highland Park Community Foundation and be directed to its July 4th Highland Park Shooting Response Fund. The concert starts at 9 pm ET.
Additionally, merchandise featuring the art of Gary Baseman will be sold at the event, with proceeds being donated to the same organization.
To help those directly impacted by the mass shooting in Highland Park, the Highland Park Community Foundation established a July 4th Highland Park Shooting Response Fund. All contributions to the Response Fund will go directly to victims and survivors or the organizations that support them.
Corgan has lived in Highland Park for almost two decades, while Mendel has called the city her home for nearly a decade. Highland Park is where the couple raise their two young children and run Madame Zuzu’s, located on the main strip where the recent Highland Park shooting took place.
