New Orleans Rising
(Part One)

In this special two-part report, Playback explores how the Gulf Coast musical community is coping one year after Hurricane Katrina and how the power of music is helping to heal the soul of the region.

By Jin Moon

In a horrific sweep of violent wind and rain, Hurricane Katrina swiftly struck the city of New Orleans, turning the Big Easy into the site of the nation's worst-ever natural disaster. Other surrounding states along the Gulf Coast like Mississippi were also left damaged and reeling from Katrina's mighty blow. The intense flooding pushed many residents out of their homes and musicians out of their venues. And in the past year since Katrina totaled the Gulf Coast, the good will of the nation came together to combat the disaster. Playback recently talked with some ASCAP members, licensees and friends to hear how they are coping in the long process of rebuilding their lives a year after Katrina.

LOUIS "SATCHMO" ARMSTRONG
SUMMER JAZZ CAMP

The Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp has been helping young musicians develop their craft and business smarts since 1995, but this past year has been particularly challenging for the camp. The program, usually five weeks of intense music and music education study with participants aged 10 to 20 years old shrank to a two-week program.

Many of its regular students couldn't return this year because they had moved away. Many sponsors also had to bail on the camp due to their own hardships this year, including the Orleans Parris Public Schools, which provided the camp's food, and Entergy, the energy company of New Orleans, which was the camp's sole "corporate" sponsor.

To help enable attendance, the camp, which usually has 40% of their students pay a small tuition, let all of participants in for free and accepted many new students. "Many of our students had to drive a pretty long distance to come to camp," said camp director Jackie Harris, "but because parents see the importance of having their children involved in an arts education program and also because we provide a quality service, they drove that distance to make sure their kids were able to participate in the program."

With its facility under renovation from flood damage and the devastation that its usual campus, Southern University of New Orleans, experienced, the jazz camp turned to other local colleges like Loyola University of New Orleans and the University of New Orleans.

In fact, the jazz camp hosted its culminating concert at the University of New Orleans in its performing arts center. "Our activity was the first activity to be hosted in that facility since Katrina so it was very special to us and the university as well," said Harris.

But none of this could have happened without a little help from the camp's friends. "The two organizations that have really been committed to the camp and has really stuck with us have been the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation of New York and ASCAP," said Harris. "They have returned year after year to support us."

The camp has also received some Hurricane Relief grants from people like Wynton Marsalis and organizations like the Higher Ground Relief Fund, but for the most part, the jazz camp is still struggling to get back on its feet. "We're having a hard time identifying funding," said Harris. "It's really hard here in New Orleans because people now don't have the money to participate in these fundraisers. We've never had any Fortune 500 companies…It's not easy."

As New Orleans continues to rebuild and recover from Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp will also hopefully continue to brighten the lives of its students. "The kids who are participating in this program are really committed young people and really interested in playing music either as a vocation or as a hobby," said Harris. "Exposing them to these other areas of the industry allows them other opportunities for employment as they work their way through college and they get a look at other aspects of the industry. So those who aren't interested in becoming professional musicians can really look to work in the music industry in management or in music production."

"It's going to take the help of all concerned citizens and organizations," said Harris. "We need help to continue to provide services to parents and to children and to adults. These people have gone through a whole lot of devastation. That kind of thing leaves scars. We're trying to keep these things current for people who are interested in helping, who are concerned and who want to know what's going on. We need help."

ASCAP LICENSEES: THE BLUE NILE & ROTOLO'S PIZZERIA

Many Crescent City venues have steadily been returning with live music, but there is one wellknown Frenchman Street club that still hasn't opened its doors yet – The Blue Nile.

"Frenchman Street is the music street in New Orleans with music club after music club," said Jesse Paige. "Without the Blue Nile there, it's like a big hole on Frenchman street. Everyone's been begging us to get it back open."

"The beautiful thing about the Blue Nile before the storm was that it was a venue where you could see big name acts in an intimate setting," Paige said. "The Blue Nile was the only club that got hit directly with the tornadic activity. The tornado destroyed my condo. It destroyed the kitchen. It tore apart the second floor and knocked the windows out."

"The worst part was that it shook the building so hard that it made one of the walls move 18 inches," he added. "We put in a temporary wall to support it, and we got through Mardi Gras and JazzFest just so we could pay the bills for all the time we were going to be closed."

A year later, the Blue Nile was still sorting out its insurance issues until just recently when they received bank funding to rebuild the club, which was hit hard by a tornado during Hurricane Katrina. Now the challenge is to find a construction company that's not too backed up with work. During this stressful year, Paige and two friends, Mike Paille and Will Samuels, decided to open a small restaurant and live music venue called Rotolo's Pizzeria on the other side of the French Quarter on Decatur Street, named after the damaged restaurant that used to be upstairs from the Blue Nile.

"Out of the storm, this place is born," said Paige. "There's some good that came out of it. Now we have a full restaurant and music venue on the other side of the Quarter."

Since it opened in late 2005, Rotolo's Pizzeria has been featuring live bands on weekends and feeding locals and tourists. "We've put smaller acts that we used to carry in the upstairs over here so we can keep the musicians employed, keep the same general vibe that we had over there in a different location and still keep moving forward until we get the Blue Nile up and running."

"There are two things that really encompass New Orleans, and that's music and food and we have it both," said Paige. "That's what brings people together. The ideas and concepts that we began in Blue Nile that were destroyed in the storm have continued over at Rotolo's."

The New Orleans community has really come together in the past year, brought closer by the storm. "New Orleans has become a much tighter musical family," said Paige. "Everybody's happy to see each other again. Everybody is glad to jump up there and play and say I'm back and feel like it's home again."

As the city struggles to get back on its feet, musicians are finding it tough to find a gig while residents are finding themselves without homes. "The beautiful thing about New Orleans before was that it was an artist's heaven," said Paige. "You could live on a very small income. Now, with all these construction workers and out-of-towners coming in to help build the city, it creates a situation where there isn't as much housing."

Despite the hardships, New Orleans and its natives have a resilient spirit. "Right now is a time where everyone in New Orleans is repositioning themselves, whether it's mentally or physically," said Paige. "We're getting ready for a rebirth of the city."

With the rebirth, Paige predicts that a new perspective will arise from the ruins of the old city. "I think what you're going to see out of the city is a lot of young, fresh ideas that still have their roots in the old history and tradition of New Orleans, but in a new way because you have to adapt to the situation," he said. "I think you're gonna see the birth of a lot of new fantastic music with a hint of the old New Orleans in it."

MUSICPRO & HURRICANE KATRINA

Countless musicians were hit hard with the destruction imposed by Hurricane Katrina. In the first 60 days, MusicPro Insurance, which was created in 2000 by ASCAP and Sterling and Sterling, paid music professionals affected by Katrina over $100,000 for their instrument and equipment losses. Playback talked with some MusicPro ASCAP members whose musical careers were salvaged by MusicPro Insurance. Here is just one story among many.

TERRY BREWSTER

"Right before the hurricane, I had finally decided to give up my music career full time and to just do it for fun in New Orleans," said Terry Brewster, a guitarist whose house and musical equipment was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. "I had been living in New Orleans for 10 years. I just figured if I couldn't have a music career like I wanted, at least I would have fun living in the city I love."

Brewster was at his girlfriend's house about 25 miles away from his home in New Orleans. "I was on the second floor, and there was actually no flood waters on 3rd and St. Charles where my house was," he said. "So I assumed that none of my gear was damaged. I didn't get back to my house until about three weeks later."

Unbeknownst to him, Brewster's house was actually flooded from the inside due to a small hole in his roof. "I went by my apartment and on the outside it looked perfect like there was nothing wrong," he recounted. "But when I got in, there was apparently a small hole in the roof that filled up the attic with water… Once the attic filled, the sheet rock ceiling just rained down on everything I owned in the entire apartment."

He found his gear had severe water damage. "All the guitars were warped, and the amps were soaked," he said. "The wood on the cabinets were warped and the pedals were completely covered in water. I called MusicPro and told them. MusicPro paid me within 10 days. I was on the phone with them less than 15 minutes, and it was no problem. It was unbelievable."

As Brewster received insurance money for his gear, he also decided to give music one more chance. "I told you I had totally given up my music career," he said. "I decided to take one final stab at a music career. I resigned at the law firm I was working at, and I'm up here in New York right now playing with the best band I've ever been in. It may not work out, and I may be back in New Orleans in a year back at a law firm but I hope not." Check out Terry Brewster's band at www.cobralilymusic.com.

PART TWO: The Louisiana Music Factory and the
ASCAP Employees for Relief Fund


TOP