Save Our Music!

Last night the To Be Continued Brass Band, which plays in the first block of Bourbon St, was shut down by the 8th District’s Quality of Life Officer, Roger Jones. Allegedly he was enforcing a city ordinance that states, “It shall be unlawful for any person to perform any street entertainment on the street or sidewalk of Bourbon Street from the uptown side of Canal Street to the downtown side of St. Ann Street between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.”
(Code 1956, § 42-109.1(b), according to the hand-out he presented at the time.

This has caused a public out-cry by locals and inspired a FaceBook page, Don’t Stop the Music. Let New Orleans Street Musicians Play!, by my dear friend, Lisa Palumbo, which reads:

This page has been set up in an effort to support New Orleans Street Musicians and Performers as well as to disperse information on how you can help change the current situation.

As it stands, a curfew of 8PM is being enforced on Bourbon Street, a street known across the world as a place to hear music. Bourbon and Canal has been the long time home corner stage for the To Be Continued Brass Band. The curfew has also been enforced on Frenchmen Street. The corner at Frenchmen and Chartres has been the open market stage for many and varied musicians, including the Young Fellaz Brass Band.

We are also hearing that the curfew has been extended to all areas of the district, which includes the musicians you hear on your romantic after dinner strolls down Royal Street as well as the buskers on Decatur.

This music, these musicians, the sounds in the air at night are part of the fabric of our lives here. We’re the lucky ones who hear that sweet note over our heads as we pass by on foot or on our bikes on our way to our destinations.

The importance of that same music to the tourists who come here cannot be underestimated. While some tourists are here for conventions and find the music by chance, there are many, many others who buy that ticket expressly for the chance to catch what we take for granted.

We cannot take it for granted anymore. Like it or not, we need those tourist dollars, and more importantly, the musicians themselves make their livings on the tips thrown into those boxes or instrument cases.

There’s really nothing more I can add to that eloquent statement except to say I throw my hearty support to this cause. Many in the community are raising their voices in support of the musicians and music that’s such a vital part of New Orleans’ culture. (Check out the FaceBook link above.) For an in-depth report on exactly what happened go to the Best of New Orleans Blog and to hear one local has to say, visit Lord David’s post, Silencing The Voices of the City.

Let your mayor, your police chief, your councilperson know how you feel by contacting them:

Mitch Landrieu’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mitchlandrieu

Police Chief Serpas
NOPDChief@cityofno.com

Quality of Life Officer for 8th District
Ofc. Roger Jones, 8th Dist PD
rjjones@cityofno.com
504-301-7667

Arnie Fielkow/City Council Counsellor at Large
afielkow@cityofno.com
504-658-1060

Jackie Clarkson/City Council Vice President
jbclarkson@cityofno.com
504-658-1070

Kristin Palmer/District C Councilmember
kgpalmer@cityofno.com