The Big Uneasy - Fears Grow for Ghost City's Musicians

‘Big Easy' – the New Orleans every visitor remembers - might never recover from the double blow of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That's the view of NOrMAL Appeal co-founder John Coops, who's in regular contact with people returning to the city. He believes that only donations by private citizens can resurrect the music that makes the city unique.

The NOrMAL Appeal was formed to aid musicians who lost their livelihood after the hurricane floods. On December 4th the Lincoln Drill Hall hosts a three-band 'Festival for New Orleans' benefit concert. Although tickets are selling well, the appeal organisers fear some people may think the situation is back to normal already in New Orleans when the evidence suggests that is far from true.

Saxophonist Rebecca Barry agreed to be the appeal's eyes and ears in the devastated city when she returned this week. Her first reports show the scale of the problems musicians are facing, says John, who first spoke with Rebecca while she was an evacuee in Alabama.

Rebecca Barry in happier times

The saxophonist used to play seven or eight gigs a week worth up to a thousand dollars before the floods. Just one job a week is pulling her back to the city she loves.  "We've got to get the rhythm back,” she says. "I decided to go back because if we don't, without music, there's nothing left for New Orleans. To get tourism back you've got to get the music back. You used to have live original music all over this city, not just in the French Quarter. There's nowhere else like it in America."

Rebecca says a few other musicians are beginning to return, but life in the city is far from normal: "I've been back a couple of times before to visit with a permit. It looked like Paris occupied by the Nazis with the ruins and the uniforms everywhere. Three weeks ago I couldn't find a single gas station open and the one grocery I found closed at 4.00pm. The shortage of property now means rents are twice what they were three months ago, and that's going to be a giant problem.”

Authorities claim the city is one third restored but that means, say some observers, that it is still two thirds destroyed. It may not be the physical destruction that kills the music business, though. Says Rebecca: "One big problem here is the curfew. This used to be a city where music went on all night. Now everything's got to go dark at 2.00am and it's just not the same."

Rebecca's career was getting critical acclaim with the release of her latest album ‘Rebecca Barry and the Headhunters', but she is finding life hard this week. She reports: “It is pretty shocking here. I used to walk down Frenchman Street and know half the people I saw. Only a few musicians are here and a handful of locals. You can recognise the locals by their glass-eyed tearful daze.

Rebecca Barry and the Headhunters album available at www.bigeasystore.com

“There is an opinion now that everyone from New Orleans is suffering from a mental illness and I truly believe it. I couldn't sleep last night so we talked about what could be done to help New Orleans musicians. The most important thing would be to help them find and pay for housing. Then there should be therapy for coping with this tragedy. Most of us have been unable to accept the fact that we need help.”

Rebecca says the NOrMAL Appeal aim of helping get music back into the city is exactly how she feels. She says: “I just want to see the music come back. There is no city like this. The musicians here all know and love each other. It is our duty to develop young musicians. When I was a kid learning how to play, I was always able to sit-in, and always encouraged. I fear the elders who established this town may not return due to their circumstances. Many of them lost everything; I don't even know what to say to them. Most of them talk about losing photos and videos. My mentor, Victor Atkins lost everything. He is 42 with young children. He was most upset about losing family photos and videotapes of him playing with Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard and Frank Morgan. He is the one who introduced me to the Headhunters, who recently recorded with me. I don't know what to say to even console him.

“Nobody mentions the houses they lost. They mention their personal things which money cannot replace. How do you fix that?”

While colleagues in the NOrMAL Appeal take a more optimistic stance, John Coops believes that the only hope for the future of New Orleans music totally depends on privately financed action directly targeted at the needs of musicians. He points out that Katrina's floodwaters wiped out the city's Charity and University hospitals. Both are shut down indefinitely. The hurricane waters have retreated, but their legacy is the stench of mildew, with domestic mould counts close to three times higher than the level considered ‘normal'. He says: “US federal aid might help rebuild the hotels, the hospitals and the physical infrastructure, but the musicians needs can only be met outside the mainstream aid system. They need instruments, homes and an audience.

“There are fundraising groups like ours in Russia, France and even Japan. They know that everyone who ever visited New Orleans or anyone who listens to the music thinks it's important to rescue and restore it. New Orleans is a cultural icon across the world. If everybody who could afford it gave the equivalent of ten dollars, then there is a chance of succeeding. If we fail, New Orleans won't be the Big Easy ever again.”