Freret Street finally gets its horns this fall. The Box Office at La Nuit will host brass bands and traditional New Orleans jazz and blues starting September 5. The show, which will be held from 5 until 8 p.m., will start after vendors at the Freret Market fold up their tables and tents.
That Saturday will herald a new era of music on a street not known for its nightlife. Yvonne Landry, owner of the Box Office, has pushed to get live music on the street since City Council loosened zoning restrictions for new businesses in November 2007. Since being named an Arts and Cultural Overlay District, Freret Street has seen the opening of new restaurants and bars, including a new cocktail lounge, Cure, and the Box Office.
The overlay still restricts bars from being opened past midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends. Landry was unhappy with the midnight curfew because New Orleans is not traditionally an early evening type of town, but the Box Office at La Nuit is connected to Landry’s other venue, La Nuit Comedy Club, a 50-seat comedy theater.
“If it looks like we’re going to do well,” says Landry, “we can move into the theater and stay open until an hour after the latest show, so that may be what we have to do.”
The Box Office’s interior looks like your buddy’s living room. There’s a pool table, a rattling air conditioner, and more worn-out couches and comfy chairs than there are bar stools. But there’s one thing missing here—cigarette smoke—which was a selling point for musicians.
“All the brass bands, they have horns. They need their lungs,” Landry says. “Almost nowhere in New Orleans is smoke-free and we’re completely smoke-free.”
A schedule of acts was announced then retracted as Landry and her booking agent had a falling out, one that led to some speculation about the future of the club. Landry asserts that the Box Office will have live music, though, and the Panorama Jazz Band’s Web site says it will play September 7. “It’s happening,” Landry says. “We’re going to be a music venue.”
