Residents, employees of local businesses and visitors know Blue Eyes when they see her.

The singer, whose real name is Alicia Renee, usually starts setting up her microphone and amp in front of the Rouses on Royal Street to perform songs by Billie Holiday and the like from 9:30-11:30 a.m. These days Blue Eyes, who gets her moniker from being a Black female with naturally striking ice blue eyes, lugs a large sign with her that signals her socially distanced audience to tip her via CashApp, Venmo, etc. She says that Royal Street residents cheer her on and the police usually wave to her. When COVID restrictions started easing, policemen welcomed her back to the neighborhood. According to Blue Eyes, people who watch her are “usually on the other side of the street, filming with their phones, and tipping with their phones.”

On the morning of Monday, October 5, things went a little differently for the singer, who has also fronted the Shannon Powell Trio. 

“From those morning hours you can see state police driving by smiling, waving,  complimenting me and thanking me! You can even see them tipping me—it’s normal now. They say, ‘Hi, Blue, so happy you are back. I get nothing but love from the police, honestly, but there is one police officer I have seen who’s been rude to other well-respected street performers—performers who are considered street legends.”

Towards the end of her morning set, Blue Eyes was chatting to an attorney about a private gig. As the attorney walked away, she alleges that a police officer approached. (Others told the singer that he had been watching the singer for 20 to 30 minutes prior to approaching.)

“The first thing he says was, ‘Blue, I am so sorry I have very bad news to share with you,’ in a condescending tone, with a smile on his face, immediately preparing because…see he’s not so nice to Black musicians in the French Quarter.”

Blue Eyes says the officer continued speaking. “He said to me, ‘As of October 3 the Mayor has made a move that says no live performances outside in New Orleans and the French Quarter and you’re going to have to go.’ I asked him where can I find more information about this and read about it. He stuttered and stumbled and said, ‘Maybe find it in the newspaper or something.’ I said, ‘Well, with all due respect, if I’m incorrect let me know. You are here to enforce the Mayor’s rules that there is no live music? Correct? You would think there was something you could refer to me to.”

The officer continued, according to Blue Eyes, to say that he was only informing her of the rules. Then things got heated.

As Blue Eyes started calling Lyft and unplugging her mic, she uttered, ” Thank God my rent is paid, I have food in the fridge; thank God for my mother’s advice I have a safety net.” Next, she says, the officer started screaming that he was trying to tell her the new rules that the Mayor had implemented. Tourists were stopping, employees from Rouses started emerging, and people asked the singer if she was okay.

“Maybe this is a psychological moment that took me back to private school. I said to him, ‘With all due respect, let me explain something to you—I speak five languages…je parle français, ich spreche Deutsch, yo hablo español e italiano, and English—in which one do you think I cannot understand you?”

The two went back and forth and eventually a Rouses employee showed the news of the Mayor’s ordinance on their cellphone. The soloist says she knows the police officer was “just doing his job” but feels targeted as a Black woman performing in the Quarter.

“You can easily ask the owners and residents of Royal Street and let them tell you how they feel about me. They never see overcrowding around me, and there is video evidence of my socially distanced audience. I have a lot of love and respect for Tuba Skinny, but I was informed today they performed right here surrounded by hundreds of people in open air and not a peep and here comes a Black lady who wants to sing ‘God Bless a Child’.”

Social justice advocate and co-founder of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and Assistance Foundation (NOMB&AF) Bethany Bultman happened to witness the incident. “By coincidence, I was walking home from getting a flu shot when I witnessed an NOPD officer silencing a singer in the FQ. It’s deeply troubling. How can the city encourage unmasked ‘walking wallets’ to stumble down our sidewalks swigging big ass beers, yet claim one lovely, Black woman singer on Royal Street is a health risk? I fear this type of selective enforcement is just one more nail in the coffin of our culture.”

Renee also claimed that the officer who threatened her has been a problem for some time. Among other musicians, she says, this officer has singled out other Black performers and she says he has been known to harass Black musicians.  Interestingly, Blue Eyes says she located a photo of the officer who threatened her, and that photo was taken by K-Joe, another musician who was arrested by the same officer a little more than a year ago, which caused a public outcry against police enforcement and city agencies concerning treatment of street musicians and performers.

“Unemployment is messed up—they cut that state funding. I should be able to go outside and independently earn my own money without putting anyone at risk with the gift that God gave me without having to turn to the government. There is a beauty in that—spreading love, joy, and music—trying to keep tradition alive and being able to pay bills and keep my dignity and respect. That police officer acknowledged this is my main way of livelihood.”

The NOPD has mostly taken a “hands-off” policy and has not regularly threatened street performers with jail time. Publicly performing music is not illegal, and is covered as a right by the First Amendment as long as the performers are not blocking sidewalks or making it difficult to enter places of business: in other words, not breaking other city laws.

It appears that the agencies responsible for policing and enforcing rules regarding street performers, including NOPD and the Department of Health, need to clarify and make public what their standards and policies are, so that street performers, businesses, and city officials will all be on the same page regarding busking in New Orleans streets.

OffBeat reached out to NOPD 8th District and Aaron Looney, Public Information Officer, responded with the following statement:

“In accordance with the Outdoor Live Entertainment Guidance outlined in the New Orleans Health Department’s Guidelines for COVID-19 Reopening – Phase 3.1, issued on October 1:

• Any party seeking to host a live entertainment performance in the City during Phase Three (3.1) shall be required to obtain a special event permit from the City in order to do so. Applications to permit special event outdoor live entertainment may be submitted by email to [email protected].
• Live entertainment is only permitted on private property, and may not take place on the public right of way. This includes seating for outdoor live entertainment.
• Live entertainment is only permitted in a fully-enclosed outdoor space, such as an interior courtyard.
• Live entertainment may not be projected onto the public right of way.

You can read more about the guidelines under Phase 3.1 of reopening at this link – https://ready.nola.gov/NOLAReady/media/Documents/Coronavirus/NOHD-Phase-3-Guidelines-10-1-20.pdf. In particular, information regarding live performances can be found on Page 15 of this document.”

Looney did not respond to a question about how street performers were supposed to know of the new performance regulations.

This story will be updated if more details become available.

For more information about Blue Eyes, visit https://www.facebook.com/Bluuwise/.