More than 150 people attended a benefit concert, helping to raise nearly $1000 for the Thomas Farr Memorial Scholarship.

Thomas Farr, a general business student died in a car accident in July 2003.

Natural State, in part with Rusty Productions, staged the concert at Café Brasil on Oct. 18.

Farr played bass guitar as an original member of the group Natural State, a Latin / hip-hop-influenced funk band.

“I wanted to use my resources to do something beneficial for Thomas and his family,” music business junior Heather O’Brien, co-founder of Rusty Productions and the band’s manager, said. “I think he would be proud we had a benefit concert in his name.”

Ricardo Merediz, guitar player and original band member of Natural State, saw the benefit as “another way to keep Thomas’ name alive,” and an opportunity for people to “celebrate his life.”

“I didn’t know Thomas Farr personally, but I came to the show because I felt it was an important cause,” alumna Jill Tucker, A’03, said. “And I’ve really enjoyed the music.”

Claire Kuehn, assistant director of Stewardship and donor relations at Loyola University New Orleans said family and friends have raised almost $30,000, an amount well over the minimum of $10,000 required to start an endowed scholarship fund.

“The purpose of this scholarship is to promote excellence in the field of finance by offering incentives to talented students,” Kuehn said.

Natural State performed “Gone too Farr,” a song for which Farr wrote the bass line. It is traditionally played at every show as the first song compiled by the group.

English writing sophomore Stu Raper performed three songs solo on guitar in dedication to the memory of Thomas, her close personal friend.

Raper played Sublime’s “Ball and Chain” because he said the song reflected the pain he and others went through after Farr’s death.

The Movement, a reggae-inspired group, also performed at the benefit.

Members of the band knew Farr and recited a poem in his memory before Natural State took the stage.

Even though the concert was open to the public, it was attended in large part by Loyola students.

“[My wife] and I are very touched by the continuing outpouring of support and love from the university,” said Thomas’s

The scholarship will be awarded in the fall of 2003, Kuehn said.