In the 9/17/09 edition of OffBeat’s Weekly Beat e-newsletter, I recommended a combination of music and Mardi Gras:
“Last week’s Weekly Beat poll showed that 49% of our readers think that the best use for the Municipal Auditorium is for a National Jazz Museum with a performance venue; 33% said we should restore the auditorium to its former glory as a Mardi Gras venue.

So here’s an idea: let’s get all the Mardi Gras krewes to move their events back to Municipal Auditorium. Fees from the krewes could be pumped back into supporting a National Jazz Museum. Mardi Gras is integral–like music–to New Orleans culture and affects it in so many ways, both positively and negatively.

We know the positives: it brings lots of people to the city to experience our party; Mardi Gras, in some ways ties in all the fantastic artistic culture we have here (musical, artistic, literary, theatrical); it creates a sense of community; it’s our “Mother of All Parties” (and we know how much we love to party in New Orleans!).

But on the other hand, the caliber of many Mardi Gras visitors leaves a lot to be desired (and they don’t spend nearly as much money in town as visitors for the festivals do); it costs the city a lot of money to support the event (unlike the music festivals); the event itself has become less about New Orleanians partying than college kids getting drunk and stupid on Bourbon Street); and finally, wealthy people who use their money to support the arts don’t do that as much in New Orleans–their money is spent for Mardi Gras. In other cities, there’s a lot more contribution to the arts from people who have the disposable income to give back to their community. Mardi Gras eats up a lot of that support.

Tying music and the arts and Mardi Gras together is a natural combination. Both Mardi Gras and the arts people could cooperate to sustain New Orleans as a cultural mecca, and particularly as an internationally-known and (city) acknowledged music and arts center. I hope the city folk who have issued a request for proposal from developers to revamp the auditorium keep this in mind as the end-game for the Municipal Auditorium.”

Today’s Times-Pic had a front-page piece on the rehab of the Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park proposed by developer Stewart Juneau. In the T-P piece, the paper alluded to the fact that Juneau and New Orleans Jazz Orchestra founder Irvin Mayfield are staunch Ray Nagin supporters. This may be the case, but I think the piece spun the proposed development as sort of Nagin political boondoggle, which is unfortunate. You know, Nagin is a political lame duck. Yes, Juneau supported him (he’s doing business in the city, DUH!), but I cannot help but think that this idea is just what we’ve needed for a long time, Nagin supporter or not. From my POV, if this development comes to fruition, it will revivify Armstrong Park and be a real asset for the New Orleans music community.