MUSIC OR NOISE?

The following letters are in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “Cracking Down on Frenchmen Street Begins Anew”.

Complaining about music on Frenchmen Street is like going to a steak house and complaining that they have steak, or going to a destination known around the world for great seafood and complaining about the lack of chicken on the menu. It doesn’t make any sense.

I dream of being on Frenchmen Street—it’s the place I go in my mind when I find Northeast Georgia repressive. If I had the money, I would buy a place on Frenchmen Street because of the music.

The last time we were there we stayed at the Frenchmen Hotel with a room right next to Mojito’s courtyard. It was wonderful to feel the energy and hear the music. We did need to sleep of course—so, I brought a clock with a white noise sound machine. Problem solved.

So, two suggestions: If you live in the Quarter and don’t want to hear the music, I would be happy to house sit for you, or trade out my home in North Georgia for the opportunity to hear what you are complaining about. Or, the city could issue white noise machines and earplugs to those that don’t realize the blessings that surround them!

—J. Scott Fugate, Gainesville, GA

Keep it up New Orleans. Keep trying to turn the blessing of a city you have into Des Moines. Katrina almost took it all, and this is how you treasure it? I literally travel the globe for a living, and I can tell you that New Orleans is the most special place America still has to offer the world. And you seem bound and determined to strip it of the very things that make it great: Silence the clubs. Ban the street musicians. Disallow youth to play or tap dance in the Quarter. Stifle the Indians. What next? Paint all the houses in the Quarter a nice, warm beige?

I am presently a New Yorker and can tell you (from having witnessed the transformation of the Village, SoHo and even Brooklyn) that you are going down a bland, lifeless path to homogeny. Yes, the firemen need to sleep (again as a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, nobody’s more of a fan of firemen than me), but what I suspect is happening is that the fire department issue is being used by, as Jan Ramsey said, a few privileged and moneyed citizens with buddies at City Hall. I’ve seen it before. You find an angle that is unassailable, like the fire department or a nearby school, and use that to establish a beachhead from where you can promote your own selfish personal agenda. Anyone who disagrees gets labeled as a child-hater, etc. From there you are free to eliminate just about anything that you see fit.

Before you tell me to mind my own business, I should tell you that my wife and I just bought a place on Bourbon, about two blocks from Frenchmen. I could have chosen anywhere in the world to go: Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, but I chose New Orleans, the only city I know that hasn’t been turned into an endless wave of strip malls and Starbucks. I sincerely hope that she is still herself when we finally settle in. Otherwise, we could’ve simply moved to Connecticut.

—Rodney Howard, New York, NY

EVERYONE LOSES

The following is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “Let’s Just Shut Frenchmen Street Down”.

It was my band that got shut down at Mojito’s last week. While the customers sitting 15 feet in front of the band thought the music to be at a “comfortable” level, the New Orleans police officer felt we were too loud. There was no decibel meter used. During our set up this cop paced in and out, like a tiger in waiting. I can’t help but believe that it was his sole intent to shut us down, even before we played the first note. Furthermore, he was unnecessarily curt and rude, marching in shouting “Pack it up, you’re done!” Bewildered, we asked him why, to which he screamed at us, “I’m not going to explain it again, pack it up, you’re done!” We were never offered a reasonable explanation—I am presuming he thought us too loud, nor were we offered the option to continue at a lower volume. He was extremely nasty, and we did not want to cause trouble for the owner or ourselves. We complied—and all of the customers walked out.

My band mates and I are typical of many New Orleans musicians in that we work very hard for very little. We choose to live and play in New Orleans because it feeds our soul(s) and because we love this city! The question is: does this city love us in return?

I do believe that this is the voice of a well-funded minority who want to change the complexion of the city for their own personal benefit. “Clean it up… Sterilize it… Disney-fy it!” Take away the “grit and soul” of this city, you diminish its allure. Ask any visitor why they choose New Orleans as their destination. Repeatedly, you will hear, “the music and the food”.

It seems musician’s voices won’t be heard until they are silent! Maybe it’s time for a long over-due musicians strike! We didn’t ask for this war… we just want to play on. One thing is certain, kill the music, everyone loses.

—Andre Bouvier, New Orleans, LA

FOCUS ON QUALITY

This is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “None of Us Can Hear Anymore”.

While it’s true that brass bands can get quite loud, I think much of the blame lies with the old rock ‘n’ roll maxim that louder equals better. It sounds really cool to talk about the Who, for instance, breaking all sorts of decibel level records—but I wonder what the answer would be if you ask Pete Townsend if he’d rather hold those records or have his hearing back. We have grown into a culture that thinks in order to feel music we must be pummeled by it.

I would like to see more venues and bands buck the trend of louder and louder shows, and instead focus on quality. Distributed sound systems can deliver killer sound all over a venue without having to use brute force from the stage as in the earlier days. Smaller amplifiers can be used to get that “cranked to 11” sound without killing small animals in the process. I really think the folks putting on the shows have to take the lead here and show the public that they can deliver the goods while still being responsible.

—Christopher Kemp, Decatur, GA

TORN APART

It’s been one year since that incredible earthquake March 11, 2011.

Thank you so much for the help from the people of New Orleans. We are very glad we were able to become a bridge for jazz friendship, connecting Katrina kids, New Orleans people and Tsunami kids.

Japan’s leading English paper, The Japan Times, had an article, “Torn apart by disaster, bound by Jazz” on March 8. I’d really like to see the young post-Katrina players perform together with the Kesennuma kids in joint concerts held in Sendai and New Orleans. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful world?

—Yoshio and Keiko Toyama, Tokyo, Japan