The neighbors shut it down.

Huh?

Dave Hurlbert, who operates the church said: “A petition by a few neighbors was circulated, opposing the performance of live music in the church. And so I am asking for a show of support from our neighbors who welcome the idea of our restoring the building and sharing it with the neighborhood along its original lines: as a place for spiritual fulfillment through acoustic, live music.

“All our music is acoustic, without amplification, and it is not audible outside the church when we close the windows. All our performances end around 10pm – per the neighborhood noise ordinance. As far as being like Bourbon Street: we’re a non-profit foundation, and we ain’t got a bar. People actually come to listen to music. Last week we listened to Andre Bohren play Chopin!”

Without music, New Orleans doesn't exist.

I just don’t get the mentality of neighbors who want to do away with music, in the nation’s most musical city, the birthplace of jazz. It doesn’t seem to me that the acoustic music was causing a major disturbance in the neighborhood. What I have heard however, is that the neighborhood was taking a “pre-emptive” strike before things at the church escalated into a full-blown “problem.”

Problem? Why shouldn’t people be allowed to enjoy music in a neighborhood location if it’s in compliance with city standards? This isn’t even a bar, and it doesn’t serve alcohol.

On the other side of the coin, today I spoke with brothers Huey and Angelo Farrell, who operate Bourbon Heat at 711 Bourbon Street. They renovated the dilapidated former Tricou House (which was a regular music venue for many years), and created a lovely tropical courtyard on the first floor, two bars, and a dance club/music venue/bar on the second floor. Angelo Farrell renovated the building and originally leased it to another Bourbon Street operator who has a reputation on the street for blasting music out of clubs (illegally). The Farrells have parted ways with this operator and are now running the venue themselves.

Angelo Farrell is a contractor whose renovation work has been focused in the Vieux Carre. He’s renovated award-winning buildings in the Quarter. He did run into a political issue with a proposed condo conversion at Royal and Canal Streets, which apparently may have him on the outs with some of the political and neighborhood groups that wield an inordinate amount of power when it comes to business development and operation in the French Quarter .

Be aware: these neighborhood activist groups in the Quarter and city agencies have the wherewithal  to control what happens to both residences and business operations in the French Quarter.

Regarding music at Bourbon Heat: “We decided to only do smooth jazz, no live music, in the courtyard,” Huey Farrell says. “We have a dance crowd upstairs at the moment, and we’d like to add live music soon.”

“We want Bourbon Heat to be different from a lot of the places on Bourbon,” said Angelo Farrell. “People who come to the Quarter sort of expect two things: that great tropical French Quarter courtyard, and a place to dance and let loose. We have both of those in one venue.”

Everything seemingly should work for Bourbon Heat, except that a neighbor who lives two houses down complained, and the bar is working to address noise issues that could potentially have a negative effect on whether or not the bar can remain open. “I own a house that I live in part-time and also rent to friends from Prairieville. It’s literally right next door to the courtyard. I can’t hear any noise in the house,” said Angelo. “The woman who complained lives two houses away and is much closer to other bars on Bourbon.  Yet she complained about our place. Why do these people have so much power? The vast majority of residents in the French Quarter don’t complain. They know that they are living in an area of the city that has a lot of music, tourist activity and associated noise, and they accept it as part of life in the Quarter. Why do a few so-called neighbors have the power to shut down a business when it’s accepted by most as being okay?”

Good question.

Music is not noise. You know the old saying: “If you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen”? I say that if you don’t appreciate living in the French Quarter, with everything that means, including music, tourists, noise, and other inconveniences, then the Vieux Carre should not be your place of residence.

The proposed revisions in the noise ordinance are still pending, and they need to resolved. Not everyone is going to get what they want. The city hired an acoustic expert/consultant who’s making the rounds, talking to all the people involved: clubs, residents, street musicians, musicians, and other interested parties before he makes a recommendation on what acceptable levels of noise should be included into the revised city ordinance.  The city has to find a way to make equitable rules for different areas of the city that have entertainment, or could potentially host entertainment. The city should make them enforceable and then shut down the biggest scofflaws: souvenir and T-shirt shops who blast music onto the street, and operators on Bourbon Street who drown out everyone else on the street with obnoxiously loud music. Get these people out of here. There’s an acceptable level of street and music noise on streets like Bourbon and Frenchmen. It’s part of the ambiance. It shouldn’t be done away with. It should be tolerable to visitors and residents alike. Personally, what I’m perceiving is that a few residents don’t want music, and they’re trying to win a game. It’s a power trip.

Just today I saw a website that’s been organized by the VCPORA, the neighborhood group that says it doesn’t oppose music; it opposes noise. This is also the group that has opposed the development of the Woolworth site on Canal Street. The website looks like it night be valid as it focuses on a lot of health issues pertinent to musicians. It requests that you sign a petition. Both Deacon John and Sue Mobley of Sweet Home New Orleans (the first and third videos on this site) make some good points regarding the preservation of musicians’ hearing, and prohibiting the crazy loud music that blasts from some of the t-shirt shops in the Quarter. But take a look at the second video that really blasts live music in general and specifically says that any music on North Rampart Street would ruin the Quarter. What nonsense! What a sneaky attempt to elicit public support for the VCPORA’s real agenda. Slipping this little video into the mix shows the real hand of the group. Check it out for yourself.

What will come of the ongoing battle to create a good, fair and enforceable noise ordinance? This whole situation has been dragging on way too long; it’s getting worse and the Marigny Opera House incident that started this blog is where it’s heading. It’s almost as though there’s a “noise mafia” of powerful neighborhood groups that are calling the shots on what can and can’t happen with music in the city. And these people aren’t music lovers, apparently; many of them don’t even live here full-time. They call themselves preservationists and lovers of New Orleans, but they look at the French Quarter, the Faubourg Marigny and the Bywater as their own private gated communities. Let’s face it: they have money and power to make things happen in a way in which they call the shots, and they have nothing better to do, or the solutions to solve the problems. I have been told by numerous businesses that Stuart Smith, a wealthy plaintiff attorney who lives (part-time) on St. Philip Street and (part-time) in Miami, has filed lawsuits against several prominent French Quarter businesses because live music is too loud and is apparently not to his liking. His Wikipedia entry says he’s a preservationist. So Mr. Smith, why do you think you should control the city’s music? In the name of preservation? How about proactively getting some of the derelict property owners in the Quarter to repair their properties? Isn’t that what a preservationist usually does? Find a solution to help the problem rather than being a burr under the saddle of the music and entertainment producers in this city.

Once again: You gotta take the bitter with the sweet, the noise with the music. It’s part of choosing to live in an historic, cultural melting pot of urbania where culture is alive, growing, and changing. If you don’t like the music and culture of the city, then move to the suburbs. Or Miami.

I urge the leadership in the city of New Orleans to be brave, step up and strongly declare that we are a music city: any music played anywhere that’s played within city guidelines and proscribed decibel levels trumps some cranky rich neighbor’s complaints, or crazed fears of having a music club open in their neighborhood.

Maps & Atlases

Foburg Festival, now in its third year, will take place Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11, and will again be spread over ten venues in the Marigny and Bywater. Weekend passes valid for any festival event will go on sale later this week for $25.

Other touring bands confirmed include Shayfer James, The Men, Aunt Martha, Black Taxi, and The Pharmacy. Local bands in the lineup include Sun Hotel, Caddywhompus, Rotary Downs, Big History, Brass Bed, Katey Red, Sissy Nobby, Jean-Eric, King Rey, Royal Teeth, and Prom Date.

New to the Foburg Fest this year will be film and comedy components. foburg.film, a partnership with Jon Jackson and Timecode:nola, will show films that include the “Paths of Hate”, a short film from Poland; “The Hunter & The Swan Discuss their Meeting”, a 2011 Sundance Official Selection; and local documentaries “Bury The Hatchet” and “Un Heard Of”. Screenings will be held at Mimi’s in the Marigny, Lost Love Lounge, and a to-be-announced outdoor lot where wireless headphones will be provided.

foburg.comedy will be produced by The New Movement, who curated theHell Yes Fest! comedy festival in November. Comedians slated to perform include Cyrus Coope, Dane Faucheux, Chris Trew, Drew Platt, John F. O’Donnell, Stupid Time Machine, and Karl Hess.

New Orleans always has waves of underground rock scenes, and throughout the 1990s there was a small but fertile scene centered around lower Magazine Street venues the R.C. Bridge Lounge and Abstract Book Shop & Cafe. Un Heard Of is a documentary about that time, by veteran drummer Jody Smith (Dash Rip Rock, The Bad Off, Atomic Thunk) that first played in New Orleans in 2006, but was uploaded to YouTube in two parts just before New Year’s. Made between 2001 and 2003, the documentary features live archival footage and interviews with characters both known and unknown. As the title of the film suggests, much of the dialogue centers around limited audiences and the difficulties of playing rock music in New Orleans. There’s also a lot of talk about drinking.

The first hour focuses on the seminal underground rock bands of the early ’90s—The Black Problem and their later incarnation, Lump, who added funk and modern jazz touches to hardcore a la Minutemen or fIREHOSE, and Nipples of Isis, as well as the Bridge Lounge, Abstract, Warehouse Cafe, and other venues that played host to these bands. Other bands featured include Weedeater, Rigid, Evil Nurse Sheila, Rhudabega, Nut, Burnversion, and more.

The second part, about 45 minutes long, continues the story into the end of the ’90s and the early ’00s, turning its attention to bands like Black Mountain, Hazard County Girls, Suplecs, Morning 40 Federation, Liquidrone, and others.

Although the production qualities of the film are close to the DIY values of its subjects, this is an invaluable document for anyone interested in the history of New Orleans rock, punk, and metal, or the struggle of non-roots musicians in the city, and a treat to be easily available online. For more information on the music, see the links above to our contemporary articles about these bands.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Kim Welsh

The award is one of the hundred or so that will be given out during an afternoon ceremony dubbed the “pre-tel” or pre-telecast, which will stream live online at Grammy Live—the red carpet walk will be at 2 p.m. CST and the pre-tel will start at 3. Rebirth will also perform on the pre-tel, just as Trombone Shorty did last year and Terrance Simien did in 2008.

Later that night during the telecast on CBS, Lil Wayne will be part of a special performance with Chris Brown, Deadmau5, Foo Fighters and David Guetta in honor of the debut of the new Dance/Electronica category. Other performers on the Grammy telecast include Adele, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson, Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood, Brown, Glen Campbell with the Band Perry and Blake Shelton, Coldplay and Rihanna, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Taylor Swift.

So far, the lineup also includes Dispatch, Steve Winwood, Chris Cornell, STS9, Gogol Bordello, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Mac Miller, Flogging Molly, Coheed and Cambria, Paul Oakenfold, G. Love and Special Sauce, Randy Newman, Dr. Dog, Young the Giant, Cage the Elephant, Dawes, the Alabama Shakes, M. Ward, Yelawolf, Switchfoot, Julian Marley, Zeds Dead, Mavis Staples, Shpongle, Gary Clark Jr., Rebelution, Allen Stone, Big Freedia, The Devil Makes Three, Paper Diamond, Futurebirds, Hey Rosetta!, Sleeper Agent, the Lumineers, Archnemesis, Tribal Seeds, Rich Aucoin and Jamie Bergeron with more yet to be announced.

For details, go to the festival website, or see day by day coverage of last year’s festival on OffBeat.com.

All photos by Kim Welsh.

Hurray for the Riff Raff has readied a new album, Look Out Mama, and while the band has a label, Loose Music, to release the album in England, it’s planning to release the album itself in America. To help make that happen, it has started a Kickstarter campaign. Among the premiums for contributing is an album of covers titled My Dearest, Darkest Neighbor. The two tracks on the Kickstarter page—John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Delta Mama Blues”—suggest that it’s a stripped down affair focused on Alynda Lee Segarra’s voice. Here’s “Jealous Guy”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Detroit’s Planet D Nonet are in town tonight and tomorrow night, performing the music of Sun Ra, whose music they recorded on the recent We Travel the Spaceways: the Music of Sun Ra. The group aren’t simply avant-garde fans; they see the connections between big-band conceptualists across the spectrum, including Duke Ellington and and Fletcher Henderson. Here’s a video of the nonet performing “El Is the Sound of Joy,” and a bonus video introducing the group and its concept.

The Planet D Nonet performs tonight at 8 p.m. at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center and Tuesday at 8 and 10 p.m. at Snug Harbor.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Truth Universal, founder of Grassroots!

Grassroots! has been crucial to the underground hip-hop scene in New Orleans. It began in 2002 at a time when Cash Money and No Limit Records‘ mainstream rap dominated New Orleans, and provided not just a space for alternative performances, but a model for the future. “Grassroots! has created a trend of unity and togetherness within New Orleans hip-hop,” says Lyrikill, who has been involved with Grassroots! since its beginning. “Events like Writer’s Block, Soundclash, Uniquity and Certified NOLA are all influenced by the local showcase-themed events that Truth Universal and Grassroots! brought to life ten years ago.”

In the early 2000s, booking concerts was difficult for underground rappers. “It just seemed like we weren’t being taken seriously,” founder Truth Universal wrote via e-mail. “I personally remember letting some talent buyers know I was interested in some concert openings, and it was one excuse after another, or no response at all.”

By hooking up with other like-minded MCs and DJs, such as Raw Poetix, Nabii na Dada, DJ Redd Slick, and DJ E.F. Cuttin and Psychoward, Universal started playing shows at whatever venue would book them. “I was really influenced by an excellent band called Soul Remedy,” Truth Universal says. “They had genuine initiative and an untiring grind ethic. I adapted those things. I was already a part of the Konscious Party collective. I helped Nabii Bastet and the Kuumba Academy camp with that weekly. We did that for a while at the Warehouse on Earhart.

Once he started playing gigs in other cities, though, Truth Universal noticed the weekly and monthly series that had cropped up in places like Los Angeles, Atlanta, or Milwaukee to support their local hip-hop communities. Many even had radio shows, local access TV shows, and publications devoted to local, underground hip-hop. “[New Orleans] had most of those things,” says Truth, “but not really working together. I wanted to do it all, but I thought the best use of energy would be to contribute with the “Grassroots!” showcase series. I had this vision to link a lot of the existing showcases in other cities as a touring circuit.

“I had heard that Neighborhood Gallery on Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. had an auditorium next to its gallery. I went to check it out. It was perfect! I hit it off instantly with Sandra Berry and Joshua Walker, who owned the gallery. We started the next Saturday I think!”

The early days weren’t easy. Needing equipment, Grassroots! would rent a P.A. from the New Orleans Music Exchange. “No one but maybe E.F. [Cuttin] knew how to work that thing. The sound would be horrible until he would mix it.” Several shows stand out as special though. One was an album release party for Euphonetiks, a group of Dillard students that included Lyrikill. “The place was PACKED!” Truth says. “It was like the whole Dillard campus came. [Euphonetiks] had an outstanding set as well.” Other standout shows were the frequent performances by Psychoward, who were consistent contributors to Grassroots!.

One memorable set by a non-local group was from Bay Area duo Zion I. “There were a lot of children in attendance,” Truth Universal remembers. “Most of them had never really been to a hip-hop set like that; it was their first time being exposed to something like that. They absolutely loved it. One of my good friend’s children, who is in high school now, still remembers that.”

Like so much else in the city, Grassroots! struggled to continue after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, Truth would host occasional Grassroots! shows and would hang its banner at his own performances, but momentum didn’t pick back up until late that year, when Willie Noveck and David “BRX” Kubicki (a.k.a. DJ Proppa Bear) took over management of the Dragon’s Den. They were familiar with Grassroots!, and were glad to make the Dragon’s Den the new venue for the series. In February 2007, the second half of Grassroots! life began in its new home, and they’ve been going strong ever since.

In the years since, the work has become easier for Truth Universal, both from his experience and help from Holly Hobbs and DJ Def D, who comes to town each month from Atlanta for the series. What’s still difficult, though, is the struggle to spread a conscious message in hip-hop. “Those artists who make it a point to overtly address social issues are the minority in most places, and that’s the case here. I can still count those artists on one hand. But in addition to that, people who are exposed to adverse conditions, as a lot of us have been here, have a desire to affect change by addressing issues and conditions with their music. The more dire your circumstance it seems that there is a greater opportunity to become more politically astute.”

Here’s to Grassroots! for nurturing that political opportunity.

Grassroots! celebrates its 10-year anniversary Saturday, February 4 at the Dragon’s Den. The show starts after Krewe du Vieux has passed. Tickets are $5. More info.