Post by judyb on Sept 25, 2005 12:56:12 GMT -5
ROSE: Cavalry is coming for New Orleans music
Juke joints are part of the city's fabric
Help arrives in many ways these days, and one mission is coming on a train bound for glory: Folk singer and '60s icon Arlo Guthrie has announced a plan to charter the famed City of New Orleans Amtrak rail line to deliver sound gear and musical equipment to the city's ravaged music community.
The journey from Chicago to the Crescent City is intended to help the city's smaller nightclubs and music halls to get back into business and let the good times roll again; the presumption being that many venues have lost their fundamental operating infrastructure due to flooding, looting or just the random disappearance that seems so pervasive in the aftermath of Katrina.
On Dec. 5, the train loaded with lights, cables, soundboards, guitars and amps will embark on a 12-day trek, stopping at small towns and big cities along the way to pick up donations and host benefit concerts, arriving in New Orleans on Dec. 17. A legion of guest stars are expected to join the effort, though a list of prospects is unavailable at this early date.
Of the scores of classic songs written about this beautiful and poetic city, few strike such a wistful and longing chord as the rambling travel epic "The City of New Orleans," written by Steve Goodman but elevated into the public consciousness when Guthrie released it in 1972.
It's not really a song about New Orleans, per se, but about the vastness, isolation and sense of community of the American heartland. And its lyrics and melody have no doubt embedded themselves into the national consciousness as the images of this city's trauma and devastation have played out on TV stations day after day, night after night.
Guthrie's record company was closed Saturday and he was unavailable for comment, but in a statement released on his Web site this week, he said:
"When I think of New Orleans, I think of music. The city of New Orleans is America's first music city. New Orleans is the city that truly began America's contribution to the history of music worldwide. Without it, there'd be no popular music as we know it today.
"When I wonder what they might need in New Orleans to get back on their feet, the stuff that gets ruined under water, I think of all the sound boards, the cables, the lighting, the microphones, the instruments; I think of the stuff you need in the hundreds of little clubs and bars that bring the music to the street - the street that brings the people to the city. And I think of the many thousands of people who depend on those people for their livelihoods.
"I am determined to help restore all of those little places and bring the music back as soon as possible."
Nothing could be better news to a city that has lost its music, its rhythm, its vibe; a city that has virtually lost its way.
Of the vital elements necessary to get this city back on its feet, to help regain its identity, the neighborhood music club business - those dank, smoky, crazy juke joints are certainly at the top of the list.
New Orleans without music is not New Orleans. It's just another place on the map. And that simply won't do.
The day you hear the sound of Kermit Ruffins' trumpet bleeding out of the walls of Vaughn's nightclub in the Bywater and Jumpin' Johnny's Blues Party shaking the walls of the Maple Leaf, that is the day you know we're on our way back.
That's when you can say: "Good night, America, how are you?"
We're just fine.
Chris Rose - Times Picayune
Juke joints are part of the city's fabric
Help arrives in many ways these days, and one mission is coming on a train bound for glory: Folk singer and '60s icon Arlo Guthrie has announced a plan to charter the famed City of New Orleans Amtrak rail line to deliver sound gear and musical equipment to the city's ravaged music community.
The journey from Chicago to the Crescent City is intended to help the city's smaller nightclubs and music halls to get back into business and let the good times roll again; the presumption being that many venues have lost their fundamental operating infrastructure due to flooding, looting or just the random disappearance that seems so pervasive in the aftermath of Katrina.
On Dec. 5, the train loaded with lights, cables, soundboards, guitars and amps will embark on a 12-day trek, stopping at small towns and big cities along the way to pick up donations and host benefit concerts, arriving in New Orleans on Dec. 17. A legion of guest stars are expected to join the effort, though a list of prospects is unavailable at this early date.
Of the scores of classic songs written about this beautiful and poetic city, few strike such a wistful and longing chord as the rambling travel epic "The City of New Orleans," written by Steve Goodman but elevated into the public consciousness when Guthrie released it in 1972.
It's not really a song about New Orleans, per se, but about the vastness, isolation and sense of community of the American heartland. And its lyrics and melody have no doubt embedded themselves into the national consciousness as the images of this city's trauma and devastation have played out on TV stations day after day, night after night.
Guthrie's record company was closed Saturday and he was unavailable for comment, but in a statement released on his Web site this week, he said:
"When I think of New Orleans, I think of music. The city of New Orleans is America's first music city. New Orleans is the city that truly began America's contribution to the history of music worldwide. Without it, there'd be no popular music as we know it today.
"When I wonder what they might need in New Orleans to get back on their feet, the stuff that gets ruined under water, I think of all the sound boards, the cables, the lighting, the microphones, the instruments; I think of the stuff you need in the hundreds of little clubs and bars that bring the music to the street - the street that brings the people to the city. And I think of the many thousands of people who depend on those people for their livelihoods.
"I am determined to help restore all of those little places and bring the music back as soon as possible."
Nothing could be better news to a city that has lost its music, its rhythm, its vibe; a city that has virtually lost its way.
Of the vital elements necessary to get this city back on its feet, to help regain its identity, the neighborhood music club business - those dank, smoky, crazy juke joints are certainly at the top of the list.
New Orleans without music is not New Orleans. It's just another place on the map. And that simply won't do.
The day you hear the sound of Kermit Ruffins' trumpet bleeding out of the walls of Vaughn's nightclub in the Bywater and Jumpin' Johnny's Blues Party shaking the walls of the Maple Leaf, that is the day you know we're on our way back.
That's when you can say: "Good night, America, how are you?"
We're just fine.
Chris Rose - Times Picayune
