| Two
Years On, New Orleans Musicians Still Blue |
 Musicians
marched a silent “second line" through New Orleans’
French Quarter on Sunday, August 26, to protest the state of New Orleans'
famed music scene nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated
the city.
About 50 musicians carrying trombones, trumpets, guitars, and drums
drew stares from mystified passersby as they strolled along Bourbon
Street without playing a single note.
The
"second line," or procession, was organized to raise awareness
that almost two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city,
the storm is still giving the local music industry the Blues, said
guitarist and musicians union president Deacon
John Moore.
"It ain't easy in the Big Easy anymore," Moore said before
the march began at Louis Armstrong Park. "Musicians are struggling
to survive."
The
situation is dire enough to put in doubt the future of music in New
Orleans, where Jazz began and music-loving tourists contribute heavily
to the economy, he said.
"Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans’ music?"
Moore asked.
New Orleans will mark on Wednesday, August 29, the second anniversary
of Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of the city when it struck on
August 29, 2005. Only about 60 percent of the pre-storm population
of nearly half a million has returned.
The marchers said Katrina so damaged the local economy that musicians
still struggle to find gigs and those they get are often at reduced
prices. Cash-strapped club owners used to pay a guaranteed fee, but
now many offer a cut of the cover charge or just what the players
get in tips, the musicians said.
"I refuse to play for $100," said drummer Tony "Oulaboula"
Bazley, 73. "When I was a kid, I used to make $75, and now it's
2007. It's really bad."
Moore said New Orleans had more than 3,000 musicians before Katrina,
but now there are about 1,800. Many left and have not returned because
they cannot afford to come back, he said. "We're
experiencing a cultural diaspora in New Orleans, because our culture
has been scattered to the four winds," Moore said. He
urged the city and state governments to offer tax breaks and other
incentives to encourage venues to hire more musicians. Music lovers
can help, too, by buying CDs by New Orleans musicians or simply putting
money in the tip jar. "Please
put a tip in the tip jar, because we need it," he said. "Put
your money where your ear is."
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