ADVERTISING MUSIC

This is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “Pick Your?”.—Ed.

Right on about increasing Louisiana tourism by advertising our music!

We play many festivals, performing arts centers, concert series, etc. At every show, we pause at one point and ask the audience, “Who here is from Louisiana?” Then we ask, “Who has been to Louisiana?” Then we say, “Who here, after hearing the music, is going to Louisiana the next chance they get?!” Then we remind them that Louisiana needs people to come on vacation.

If every band playing Louisiana music did this, I think it would help. The music is our own best advertisement.

—Lisa Haley, Lawndale, CA

BEST OF

This is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “Best of—What’s It Good For?” where she questions the value of bogus lists.—Ed.

Great piece (as always) about the bogus “best of” lists. I totally agree—they’re pretty much worthless, especially when it’s an obvious trade for ad dollars.

And thanks for the list of bars and their web sites I was interested to see that Coop’s makes reference to their snarky bartenders right on their site. When we went, we did not realize their snark was a feature. We just thought they were assholes.

—John and Mary Ann Jacobs, Tucson, AZ

FLOWER OF THE ECONOMY

I enjoyed reading “Backtalk with Mayor Mitch Landrieu”. It cleared up some things in my mind about how marketing New Orleans culture is providing revenue for both the private and public sectors. It also gives me concern for the prolonged health and growth of New Orleans music and the risks of the city becoming a parody of itself.

Throughout American history, music has always become popular as the flower of an economy, not as its roots.

For example: Early 1900s: New Orleans was a booming port city and jazz increased in national popularity. 1950s: The car industry took off in Detroit and Motown Records became a national treasure. Late 1970s: The oil research industry exploded in New Orleans and we saw the birth of the Jazz Fest and Tipitina’s. 1990s: The tech boom came to Seattle and grunge became mainstream.

What this demonstrates is that the arts need the support of people who have the incomes from industrial/technical careers to be patrons of the arts.

This is not to say that New Orleans cannot be the first. It is a unique city in every other way so being the first to have culture be both the root and flower of the economy, if it were to happen anywhere, is not an impossibility. But it will have its own set of challenges.

The cultural economy requires incoming tourism to the city, which is obvious but needs mentioning. You cannot have musicians relying on financial support from other musicians and service industry workers alone. If New Orleans cannot have its own technical/industrial base it has to import music lovers to the city 365 days out of the year.

Most importantly, the major hurdle will be long-term health of the quality of the music. The basis for culture is leisure. Period. When people have the time away from economic concerns, culture happens—music is created, recipes are tested, and artists have time to improve. If culture, though, becomes an economic concern there is a danger of uncontrollable feedback that can put cultural growth and vitality in a stranglehold.

I love New Orleans, and having been born there, living there most of my life and also living in several different states I know what a special living and breathing culture we have. Let it grow, let it provide a reason for people to visit, but let’s be careful that it doesn’t become a museum.

—Burke Ingraffia, Fairhope, AL

Much of New Orleans’ leisure time budget is invested in Mardi Gras and thus there’s more of a dearth of dollars available to support arts activities. For example, in Nashville, which one would not think of as a “serious” cultural center, there is a substantial investment in the opera, ballet, symphony and theater. In our opinion, the logical patrons of the arts in the city invest much more into supporting Mardi Gras activities than the overall culture of the city.—Ed.

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

Thanks for including the Mayor’s interview in the June issue, and thanks also for mentioning the festivals piece in Mojo Mouth [blog] today. As the official leisure marketing organizations for the City, the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation [NOTMC] will work with us to promote and foster festivals in the City. This came up at a recent NOTMC meeting and I have since talked with NOTMC NOTMC officials about their role in making this happen. I think you will see a good move forward in this effort.

—Scott Hutcheson, New Orleans, LA

BAD LUCK?

This gentleman and his wife, well prepared to where to eat and whom to see, came to New Orleans all the way from Maryland, and visited music clubs, only to be disappointed by cancellations. Seems that work ethics don’t play a large role with New Orleans musicians. Hopefully I’m in the wrong.

Knowing the musical scene of New Orleans better than anyone else does, I wish a short comment was written.

Because I am preparing a visit to New Orleans later this year and won’t be coming from Maryland, let me repeat the question: Is it a trend? Do I have to face similar cancellations or a patch of bad luck?

—Hans Ewert, Kasbach, Germany

We can’t comment on your luck or lack thereof, but we can assure you that the couple from Maryland did indeed encounter a very unusual patch of cancellations.—Ed.

LOVELY WORDS

Thank you [Sam Levine] so much for the wonderful review of our band Morella & the Wheels Of If’s debut album Shipwrecked. It seems that you really understand our music and your words were lovely.

—Morella & the Wheels of If, New Orleans, LA

TIP’S TIP

Thanks for sending me my first OffBeat update [the Weekly Beat, email newsletter]. Your tip about Tipitina’s releasing some tickets for the Rads next weekend paid off as I got another for Saturday for a friend.

—Michael Doherty, New York, NY