The past few weeks I have kept myself occupied with planning, reading, reflecting, tire and oil changes and listening to a lot of jazz music. Now the time has finally come – tomorrow night we begin this excursion through the south. All of us on the trip have been assigned jobs – because we are taking my car, I was in charge of making sure it’s in good condition to drive across the country and back. Daniel is in charge of making CD’s (yes, I still use CD’s) and he’s sleeping all day tomorrow to take the first leg of the drive. I’m putting Rachel in charge of the snacks and since Laura is our host once we make it to the south she’s off the hook. Our original plan was to stay in a hotel on Bourbon Street – but we collectively decided to spend our money elsewhere and stay just outside of the French Quarter. We have some concrete plans for once we get there but I’ll write more about once we’ve arrived. I’m giddy with anticipation – so much so that I’m listening to Henry Allen as I write this blog entry and am unsure of the amount of sleep I will get tonight.
In addition to the logistics of car safety, packing and planning – this past week I read “Groove Interrupted” by Keith Spera. Spera captures both the elation and the heartbreak of post-Katrina New Orleans through the stories of some of the city’s best musicians. Aaron Neville returns to New Orleans for the first time after Hurricane Katrina to bury his wife. Fats Domino improbably rambles around Manhattan to promote a post-Katrina tribute CD. Alex Chilton lives anonymously in a battered cottage in the Treme neighborhood. Platinum-selling rapper Mystikal rekindles his career after six years in prison. Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard struggles to translate Katrina into music. The spotlight also shines on Allen Toussaint, Pete Fountain, Gatemouth Brown, the Rebirth Jazz Band, Phil Anselmo, Juvenile, Jeremy Davenport and the 2006 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (which just happened this past weekend in NOLA). I felt really inspired by a lot Alex Ross while reading this book and listened to these artists each time they were introduced. I was surprised at how many I had heard before not knowing who they were.
Although my research questions have been changed due to my change in travel plans – there is one question I am still very interested in pursuing and that is how has the history of New Orleans influenced the soundscape of the city? Further – How has the culture, both historically and in present day, influenced the music scene? And finally, what have been the major contributions to shaping the cultural soundscape of the city? This series of questions was inspired by a quote from Alex Ross’ The Rest is Noise “Articulating the connection between music and the outer world remains devilishly difficult. Musical meaning is vague, mutable and, in the end, deeply personal. Still, even if history can never tell us exactly what music means, music can tell us something about history.” (Ross)
Hurricane Katrina was a pivotal moment in the history of New Orleans. The lives of loved ones were lost, homes, occupations – all gone. Everyone in the city was affected. Musicians used music to cope – whether it was to remember the tragedy, to provide hope or to simply escape – the reality is that hurricane Katrina provided an interesting opportunity for the musicians of New Orleans to report out in such a unique and intimate way.
I once took a creative writing class and one of the assignments required that I write a creative piece based off of a picture that was chosen for me. I ended up with a photo revealing the unimaginable devastation of hurricane Katrina. I knew the only way I would be able to write something out of this photo was to go and read real stories of Katrina survivors. I spent hours reading newspaper articles, and excerpts from books. Reading Groove Interrupted exposited a lot of the same devastation but this time, through the lens of music. In a city that’s foundation is built on music, what better way to rebuild it than with music itself?
The more I read about this place, the more magical it has become in mind. I am grateful for de Botton’s humbling words in The Art of Travel. There is a part of me that doesn’t even want to go to New Orleans because I’m afraid of being disappointed by what I find there – that it’ll just be a tourist trap or that it will be so far from what I’ve read about. Thankfully that part is really small and that the season of anticipation is coming to a close. Next time I update this blog, I hope to be saturated in the rich culture of New Orleans. Laissez les bons temps rouler! (or “let the good times roll” in french)