“DIDN’T HAVE IT”
My very first week with Gate back in 1977, he took me to this shack of a shotgun house in the bowels of the 9th Ward in New Orleans. Inside the house the downstairs was turned into a bar and the property owner sold beers and mixed drinks—all without a license of course.
Inside Smokey and his band were laying down a groove like I had never heard before. At some point the audience “shamed” Gate into sitting in by telling [him] he “didn’t have it” anymore. So Gate and our bass player James Singleton got up and played with Smokey and it was amazing. I don’t know who else was in the band—I only remember Smokey’s bass drum. He had like a piece of fur over it and every time he hit it, it wiggled.
At the time, the son of the CIA chief—I forget his name but his dad later drowned, he was CIA chief under Ford and Carter I think—was doing a documentary on Gate and every time we would end up in some authentic place like this he’d be on the pay phone calling his buddies in Washington. And yes, he wore a trenchcoat.
—Joe Sunseri, Stowe, Vermont
GOD BLESS ALLEN
What an incredible privilege it has been to live in the same city with such an involved and connected citizen as Allen Toussaint. You never knew where your paths might cross, but it was always memorable.
Sometimes we would see Mr. Toussaint strolling around the neighborhood art market and he would pause to sit in with the band. Sometimes you could pull right up next to him in his Rolls-Royce at a traffic light on a rainy afternoon and he was cordial enough to roll his window down to exchange greetings. And what a thrill to have him in the audience for your gig!
I remember once being the only other customer in the Louisiana Music Factory when Mr. Toussaint asked Barry Smith to help him pick out a James Booker T-shirt (as if anyone ever saw Allen in a T-shirt)!
A couple of years ago during Jazz Fest a friend of mine was visiting for her birthday. As she perused the contemporary crafts with a few dollar bills pinned to her blouse, Mr. Toussaint approached, asking, “May I?” as he added a sawbuck with a smile.
Once, at a Tipitina’s music clinic he gave for kids, Mr. Toussaint was asked what advice he would give to young musicians. He replied, “I would give the same advice to young musicians as I would to all young people: Learn as much as you can about as many different things as you can.”
Allen Toussaint said that he took inspiration from everything that was around him; we can all find inspiration in that! He was uniquely graceful and brilliant and he gave so much beauty to the world. In many ways Allen Toussaint will never really be gone.
—Derek Huston, New Orleans, Louisiana
I’ve not had reason to write OffBeat for anything, until the news report of Allen Toussaint’s death. He was a friend, and always willing to talk to me about jazz and pop music. God bless him, as God blessed us all for having him with us.
—Jim Loeffler, Worthington, Ohio
DEVOTED TO MUSIC
Loved reading “Same As It Ever Was” in the October issue (Mojo Mouth). I do read newspapers and other papers so I now have read about where many journalists stopped off. I know Ian McNulty came here from Rhode Island and has made his mark on our city. I hear him talking a lot about food these days.
No, New Orleans will never be just another city. Yes, I do like the Saints, but in my volunteer job at The Historic New Orleans Collection, there’s one room devoted to music. So I can show folks from all over the world how much music has meant and means to this great city.
I never talk about sports, but I do tell them about our music, our architecture, Jazz Festival, food and much more. For example, yes, Mardi Gras, different writers who have lived and worked here, and there’s a room with some politics. Such an interesting place, such a beautiful place to volunteer, and to keep learning.
Thank you and everyone at OffBeat for reminders of where we came from, and we must keep on going.
—Carolyn Noah Graetz, New Orleans, Louisiana
