WITH LOVE IN MY HEART
I wanted to thank you [Jan Ramsey] and all the folks working with you at OffBeat for years of press and pictures of my playing in Cowboy Mouth and solo. I appreciated every article and mention we and I ever got from you. It was especially cool to be on the cover of the first Mardi Gras issue post-flood.
Don’t know if you heard but I left the Mouth back in November. So many things changed for us all after the flood and for me. Recent business changes made it obvious that it was time to move on with my life. While we weren’t the most musical group we had fun and gave fun to folks for over 15 years and it was a good ride. Wanted to leave with love in my heart for what it was, everything else is business.
Through it all OffBeat was there and more then fair in it’s coverage of the band and I thank you.
Shelly and I are living in San Pedro, Belize for a few months trying to recharge, renew and decompress from New Orleans and 15 years of touring with Buckaroo Piehole. Our lease is up in June and we are coming back to look for work and to rebuild our home in New Orleans. I hid on the tour bus for 15 months after the flood so I’m a little behind the grieving and moving on curve, but I’m catching up.
Accentuate the positive.
—Paul Sanchez, New Orleans, LA
HISTORIC MOMENT
I just got home from attending your wonderful gathering, the OffBeat Music Business Awards. I always enjoy the event not only because of the fun party that it is, but also because I feel so good when surrounded by such an atmosphere of appreciation for all of the hard working folks in the business of music in Louisiana.
While it is fresh in my mind (which is a mind that is withered by Katrina), I want to comment that during your presentation of the Heartbeat awards to all of those organizations who have come to the aid of local musicians, I felt like it was such an historic moment. Seeing all of those incredibly generous and dedicated people was so inspiring. I don’t think ever before has a group of people gathered on a stage for the exact purpose they all did. They helped and are still helping people recover from this horrible and unprecedented natural disaster.
People have high (and I feel unrealistic) expectations of our politicians and governments, but the real strength of our community and country is its people. And to me, that is where our strength should emanate from. We can’t look to an “entity” to solve our problems. But we can certainly look to ourselves and to our people. Seeing those folks up on the stage tonight was very inspiring. And seeing everyone get their business awards, and musical awards, and to realize that they were able to survive in their business and bands after the storm was amazing.
I totally agree that we should have live music in the Louis Armstrong International Airport. I feel ashamed that we don’t and that we didn’t before the storm. As much as New Orleans is loved for its music, it is actually hard to experience live music. We should make certain that no visitor to the city ever leaves without tapping their foot to the sounds of real live musicians. I think that the city should fund the expense, as it is the same as money spent on any other tourist-centered expenditure.
Looking out across the room, I knew that there had been so much suffering and loss among everyone, but you wouldn’t guess it tonight. I love our music community, and our music business community, and OffBeat magazine.
—Connie Zimmermann, Kenner, LA
OUTDONE
Congratulations guys on an out of sight Best of the Beat. You’ve truly outdone yourselves. Can’t wait to see Fess at next year’s event! Thanks for having us play and for everything you do.
—Mark Mullins, Bonerama, New Orleans, LA
KEEP NEW ORLEANS ROCKING
As a collector of New Orleans music for more than 35 years and a former Metairie resident, I was very interested to see the article, “Some New Orleans Music Retailers Rocking.” Unfortunately Jeff Hannusch’s glaring omissions left me feeling let down. Good Rockin’ New Orleans on Pere Antoine Alley, behind St. Louis Cathedral, would be a must stop for anyone looking for New Orleans music. The shop’s proprietors Tom Stagg and Kathy Sebastian are among the most knowledgeable people in the city when it comes to New Orleans music. Then there is George Buck’s GHB Records in the French Market above the Palm Court Café, which is a treasure trove of GHB, Jazzology and related label recordings. I also recently learned that there is a new shop, Jazzin’ on the River, in the Riverwalk, specializing in New Orleans jazz, which I want to visit on my next trip down. I appreciate your continuing commitment to the support of New Orleans music. However, publishing less than complete information which would increase that support seems not to meet your usual high standards. Let’s all help keep New Orleans rocking.
—Frank Goldberg, Glastonbury, CT
As Mr. Goldberg points out, both Tom Stagg and Kathy Sebastian are indeed some of the most knowledgeable music people in New Orleans and operate a very fine music store. Although George Buck’s GHB Records is located in New Orleans, his CDs are sold exclusively through mail order. That aside, Hannusch’s story never purported to be a complete list of New Orleans’ music retail outlets; it was a snapshot of life in record retail after Tower, and tried to present a representative picture.—Ed.
SAVING NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS
First of all, thank you for having awards [the Heartbeat Award] for the organizations that have worked so hard to help New Orleans Musicians.
I am writing to you because we have had calls from folks wondering why the Jazz Foundation of America was not included in the list of organizations that were saving New Orleans musicians.
We do things pretty quietly, but we were the first to set up a housing fund, getting hundreds into new apartments, paying one month’s rent and security deposits and old mortgages, saving hundreds of musicians from homelessness and foreclosure. We are the ones who first employed the New Orleans musicians paying for gigs at schools and shelters, which we have grown into a one million dollar employment program which has put over 600 musicians back to work in eight states in the very towns they were displaced to, allowing them to bring New Orleans music to the rest of the country and keep their music going, even if all else was lost.
The awards sound great. Bless you all for acknowledging all the great organizations that work so hard.
—Wendy Oxenhorn, Jazz Foundation of America, New York, NY
For our Heartbeat Award, we focused on the organizations that were local or who had strong local ties that were up and running in the first six months.
We thank and value all the organizations that helped musicians, whether with money to help with living expenses, or with replacement instruments, or with assistance setting up gigs and tours. The assistance that came from the rest of the world to New Orleans in the city’s time of need was remarkable and encouraging, but it would take almost an entire magazine to recognize them all.—Ed
Published March 2007, OffBeat Louisiana Music & Culture Magazine, Volume 20, No. 3.
