David Simon and HBO's Treme—a chronicle of the musicians and other residents of New Orleans struggling to rebuild their homes and lives after Hurricane Katrina—could never hope to meet the bar set by their previous Baltimore-based series, The Wire. But it has done something that its predecessor couldn't: For all its somberness and hardship, it [...]

Human tragedy is not at the forefront of The Big Uneasy, Harry Shearer's examination of what happened in New Orleans in August 2005. Shearer, the actor, voiceover artist, musician—he has plenty of other jobs too—says at the outset of his film that it is not a hurricane story. The flooding of New Orleans was a [...]

Harry Shearer is a mockumentarian, not a documentarian. But the constant depiction of Hurricane Katrina of a natural disaster finally set him off last year after half a decade of trying to promote the idea that the 2005 flooding of New Orleans had deeper roots than a weather event. Spinal Tap fans know Shearer best [...]

The British filmmaker Jake Scott (yep, son of Ridley) might not be a household name, but you probably came across his videos on MTV during the '90s—he's shot promos for Radiohead, U2, The Cranberries, and others. Welcome to the Rileys, a skewed family drama starring James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo, and Kristen Stewart, is Scott’s second feature film. [...]

There are a number of Louisiana musicians appearing  this evening through next Wednesday—Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas are at Glen Echo tonight; trumpeter Christian Scott is at Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis tonight; and the Rebirth Brass Band are at the State Theater next Wednesday. But the most exciting Bayou State concert may be on [...]

Whenever I tell folks I like New Orleans brass bands, I gotta convince them that the groups are funky like old-school DC go-go combos, not sedate like old-fashioned Dixieland troupes.  That is the case with Mama Digdown's Brass Band, who are appearing at the Surf Club Thursday night (conflict of interest note—I told them about [...]

Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (DEJF) Executive producer Charlie Fishman and managing director Sunny Sumter have announced the 2009 lineup for the DEJF.
As previously announced, the theme for this year is "The Musical Heritage of New Orleans," and the headliner as such is trumpeter Terence Blanchard — who will be performing his 2007 piece A [...]

"When I die, gimme six crap-shootin' pall-bearers / Chorus girls, sing me a song / Put a red-hot jazz band at the top of my head / Hallelujah as we roll along."

The question of how to dispose of my mortal remains has weighed on me of late. Raised Baptist and Episcopalian by turns—with a [...]