Well, it’s official. Our two-term mayor, Marc Morial failed to persuade the public to extend his chances for a third term, and the field is wide open for new contenders for His (or Her) Mayorship. At press time, the forerunners in the race were Councilmen Troy Carter and Jim Singleton, State Rep. Paulette Irons and Police Chief Richard Pennington.

As regular readers of my column know, I am a strong proponent of local and state government’s support of musicians and music businesses. Government’s role in promoting, developing and nurturing our most precious economic and cultural resource has been sadly lacking. MetroVision, part of the local New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, is working on a plan to develop the industry. It’s good that the local news media has recognized the fact that the music industry should be developed. But MetroVision has done this before, several times, in fact. Community leaders can only recommend what should be done, and how to implement effective plans. What we lack is leadership in the government sector to actually make things happen.

We believe the next mayor must take the first step in making the music industry predominant in economic development in his or her administration. To further the agenda of the music community in New Orleans, and to draw attention to the fact that music is one of the most important components of our economy, OffBeat will host a Mayoral Candidate’s Forum on Music & Economic Development at Loyola University’s Nunemaker Hall on Monday, January 14, 2002, from 6 to 9 p.m. All major candidates will be invited to attend and will be provided with a list of issues which we expect them to address if they are elected. An audience mic will be provided for Q&A. The forum will be co-sponsored by the Loyola Music Business Program.

One of the biggest roadblocks we face is that patronage and corruption has dominated local politics. I’m weary of people getting into political positions (elected, appointed or otherwise) to further their own goals, promote their own agendas, and to line their pockets and the pockets of their cronies. I’m weary of seeing jobs that should have gone to local music businesses being funneled to “friends” of the current Music & Entertainment Commission, or in some cases, into the Music Commissions themselves. That is just not acceptable. We need to get rid of the conflicts of interest that seem to pervade the city’s effectiveness in achieving certain goals. This will ultimately make the city better for our music community in terms of jobs, pay scale, ability to work, and quality of life.

While the Morial administration can take some credit for attracting the very successful Essence Festival in New Orleans (credit must also certainly be given to Festival Productions, also the producers of the Jazz Fest, for this event), there are other problems with the Commission’s leadership.

Jackie Harris, the current director of the Music & Entertainment Commission, has been criticized by many in the local music community for taking advantage of her position by giving jobs to a certain few musicians and for soliciting (and taking) work that could have gone to her constituency. If this is true, Harris should certainly step away from her current position and should be ashamed that she took advantage of her position to get jobs for own company (Jackie Harris & Associates). This is a blatant conflict of interest, and, in our opinion, a serious ethical breach of conduct.

It’s just not acceptable for a public official—who, remember we pay with our tax dollars—to use their office to set up their own business while they’re (supposedly) serving our interests. This happened with Eric Cager, Harris’s predecessor, who formed the educational Music Business Institute/Cutting Edge Conference during his tenure as head of the city’s Music Commission, then went on to make the conference private (as a private non-profit) when he left public service, along with a hefty chunk of funding from public sources.

The only ones who can stop this abuse of power are us, the people. We should not tolerate it. When we will get a qualified head of the Music Commission who has the music community’s interest at heart? We must demand it from our political leaders. We must demand that they take music—and our interests—seriously.

Another problem is that music is not taken seriously by the local business community. How many bankers and venture capitalists know anything about royalties or ASCAP or BMI? How many people in New Orleans think that we have no recording studios here?

Music is not given the spotlight it should have in promoting New Orleans. Did you know that Austin, Texas promotes itself as the “Live Music Capital of the World”? Give me a break!! That’s really laughable. But you know, if you create good hype and use it well, it works. We need to get a serious promotional campaign on a citywide level to promote New Orleans as the Music Capital of the World. Period.

Finally, the Louisiana Music Commission has a very visible project of which it can be proud. It appears as if Commission is putting together a viable deal to attract the Grammy® Hall of Fame to New Orleans on a site next to the New Orleans Hilton Hotel. The Grammy® Hall of Fame, which has been in the works for about ten years now, has been looking for a home. The fact of the matter is, the prize will go to the city that puts up the site and the dough. (That’s how the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ended up in Cleveland). The state has committed money; now the City of New Orleans will need to commit. In our opinion, the Grammy® Hall of Fame will certainly enhance New Orleans’ attraction as a music city, (maybe we should call it an Authentic Music City), but before we commit the money, we should require that the facility contain a portion that’s dedicated to New Orleans and Louisiana musicians, with certain square footage allocated for the money to become available. Let’s face it, the Grammys® aren’t exactly dedicated to the preservation of authentic music culture.

Some Definite Changes—The Best of The Beat Awards

This year’s OffBeat’s Best of The Beat Awards show will be January 25, 2002 at a new location, Generations Hall at 310 Howard Avenue. The venue is larger and this year, for the first time, tickets will be available for sale to the public for $35. Proceeds from the event will benefit the WWOZ Building Fund. As anyone knows who’s attended the Best of The Beat, it’s a great party, and this one should be the best one ever, with lots of music (seven bands plus!), great food from over a dozen of New Orleans’ best restaurants and some surprise guests. Already committed for this year’s show are Rosie Ledet, Papa Grows Funk and Eddie Bo.

The online voting for Best of The Beat winners will be up in early January. Don’t miss your opportunity to vote for the best music and musicians in New Orleans!

News of Note

The Satchmo SummerFest, a French Quarter Festivals, Inc. event, has been named a Pinnacle Awards winner by the International Festivals and Events Association in the following categories: Best T-Shirt Design: Gold Award. Best Poster Design: Bronze Award. The illustration gracing the poster and t-shirt was designed by local artist Richard Thomas. The second-annual Satchmo SummerFest will be held August 2-4, 2002 at the Old U.S. Mint and will feature more memorable tributes to the “International Ambassador of Jazz” here in the birthplace of jazz.

Vernel Bagneris’ wonderful play “One Mo’ Time” will open in New York in March…finally on Broadway! The musical had about a five-year run in New Orleans, and a few years off-Broadway, starring many of our favorite New Orleans singers and musicians…so it’s great news that it will be resurrected…

Earl King has been in and out of hospitals recently, but we hear he’s performing at a benefit for the Faulkner House on December 7, at the auditorium at NOCCA, from 7 to 9 p.m. Also performing will be Davell Crawford, Alex Chilton and Chris Thomas King.

Chris Thomas King, who lately appeared in the Coen Brothers’ movie, O Brother Where Art Thou, has been tapped by Martin Scorcese to appear his upcoming production, The Blues. To make things even sweeter, King has been asked to play, not one, but two characters.

The first of these roles is that of Blind Willie Johnson, the seminal gospel/blues artist and one of the greatest bottleneck slide guitarists of all time. The second is Skip James, who has influenced everyone from a young Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton (who recorded James’ “I’m So Glad” on the first Cream album) and was among the earliest Delta bluesmen ever to record.

Scorcese is executive-producing the six-part series that is expected to air on PBS sometime in 2003. Each one of the six episodes in The Blues will be shot under the guidance of a different director. Some of the names attached to the project thus far have been Spike Lee (Mo’ Better Blues and Do The Right Thing), Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club and Paris, Texas) and Taylor Hackford (Officer and a Gentleman and Chuck Berry – Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll).