Rock superstar Bruce Springsteen, whose songs celebrate the working man, will join Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers and other local musicians Dec. 2 at Heinz Hall in a benefit concert for victims of the Sept. 17 flood.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Local rock musician Joe Grushecky, right, with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, talks about "Flood Aid." Click photo for larger image.

The concert, presented by Allegheny County and dubbed "Flood Aid," was announced at a news conference yesterday by county Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who said the hope is to raise between $200,000 and $250,000 to aid in flood recovery efforts.

The proceeds from the sale of 2,500 tickets at prices of $150, $100 and $75 will be donated to the Salvation Army, which will earmark them for local flood victims. Throughout the county, 10,000 residences, 1,100 businesses, 400 public buildings and 10 volunteer fire departments were damaged when the heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan swept through the area.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert go on sale Tuesday at the Heinz Hall box office, Downtown, on the Web at www.pittsburghsymphony.org or by phone at 412-392-4900. Attendees are being asked also to bring nonperishable foods to support the recovery efforts.

In addition to Springsteen, who will play with Grushecky and the Houserockers, others on the bill thus far include B.E. Taylor, Rick Witkowski, Bill Deasy, Rob James, Jill West and Blues Attack, and Grushecky's son, Johnny Grushecky.

"I'm sure I'll get some phone calls when I get home and more people will sign up," said Grushecky, the veteran Pittsburgh musician who earlier this month asked Springsteen, his longtime friend, if he could lend a hand for the relief effort.

Grushecky said he knew after seeing the damage the flood had done in Carnegie that he had to do something.

He had gone to Carnegie because his band stores its equipment there. It was spared, but he was awestruck by what he saw.

"I've never seen anything like it, the devastation," he recalled yesterday. "People were walking around and it was the middle of the day but you could hear a pin drop.

"I felt we had to do something to help out."

Grushecky got together with Larry Kuzmanko, director of special events for the county, and they worked on getting local acts to stage a benefit.

Springsteen played Nov. 7 with Grushecky and the Houserockers at the legendary Stone Pony club in Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen's hometown. It was the fifth year in a row they had played together at the annual "Light of Day" concert benefitting the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association's ALS research programs.

Afterward, Grushecky said, he described for Springsteen "how devastated everything was in these lower economic, working-class towns, that a lot of people has lost everything, that businesses had been destroyed. And he said, 'I'll do whatever it takes to help you.'

"It was pretty much that simple."

Helping Pittsburghers in need is nothing new for Springsteen, who's been doing it since 1985 when he gave $10,000 to the Rainbow Kitchen and appealed to his concert audience to help the Homestead agency, too. Rainbow Kitchen officials said that started a tradition of Springsteen using his venues to raise money and awareness about hunger.

Springsteen's generosity continued in 1992, when he was in town for another show and gave another $10,000 to the Rainbow Kitchen, and in 1993 when, out of the blue and with no show here, "The Boss" gave another $10,000 to fight hunger in the Pittsburgh region.

In 2000, concert tickets donated by Springsteen's management drew $3,550 for the Homestead charity.

And in August 2003, during a concert at PNC Park, Springsteen's last appearance here, a record total of $15,318 was raised for the Rainbow Kitchen.

Additionally, Springsteen has a humorous connection here. Former Mayor Sophie Masloff once mangled his name as "Bruce Bedspring."