Music activists hope to save New Orleans landmarks

BRETT MARTEL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Sunday, March 31, 2002

NEW ORLEANS -- The Absinthe Bar was once considered the best place on Bourbon Street -- and one of the best places in the world -- to catch live blues.

Patrons drank at a mahogany bar said to be 200 years old, and listened to regular gigs by guitarist Bryan Lee, or the debut of a 13-year-old Kenny Wayne Shepherd. B.B. King, Eric Clapton, James Cotton, Robert Plant, Sting and Johnny Winter were all spotted there, and at least some sat in with the band.

But in 1997, new owners turned the Absinthe Bar into the Mango Bar, a takeout daiquiris shop where drink mixers are stacked like washing machines at a Laundromat and the pastel-colored daiquiris pour into plastic "go-cups."

The site has become a symbol of New Orleans' questionable record protecting its renowned musical heritage.

"For some reason we took everything for granted and didn't try to protect those things," says songwriter Bernie Cyrus, state music commissioner for the past decade. "We can't do that any more."

Music history has been on Cyrus' mind in recent years. He's been trying to persuade the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to build its Grammy Exposition and Hall of Fame here.

Fortunately, he says, past preservation failures haven't been an issue.

Music lovers outside New Orleans "hold us in such high regard they don't even know we have those problems ... and they would be shocked," Cyrus says. "They have a better love of our city than we do."

State help

Cyrus says the hall is a "done deal." Michael Greene, the academy's president, said at a recent city bond commission meeting that he wanted the museum built in New Orleans, but he has yet to confirm that an agreement is final. Officials at the academy did not respond to phone calls for comment.

The state has pledged to pay for most of the effort, with about $9 million in grants and $70 million in bonds. The city has put up $5 million. A downtown parking lot within a block of the Mississippi River is the designated site, and plans call for a Louisiana pavilion featuring the state's wealth of homegrown talent.

Some hope that the public backing for what essentially will be a music museum will translate into more emphasis on New Orleans' own music history.

"I see the political will changing dramatically," Cyrus says.

Saving sites

Last month, the city announced a $100,000 grant to fix up the dilapidated home where trombonist Kid Ory lived during most of his 11 years in New Orleans, where he began his career. The grant came after heavy lobbying by the private, nonprofit Preservation Resource Center, whose mission is to save historic buildings.

Mayor Marc Morial's support of the Ory project seemed to mark a shift. Previously, the mayor had said that the resources the city had for musicians should go to those who are working or studying now, rather than trying to save every old building.

"We have the most successful jazz festival in the world," along with several other music festivals such as the rap and hip-hop Essence Fest, the alternative rock Voodoo Fest and Reggae Rhythms, Morial says. "You can't just look at one problem and ignore all the good things happening."

In announcing the grant for Ory's old house this month, Morial said he hoped it would be only the beginning of efforts to save places where the city's legendary musicians lived and performed.

One New Orleans-bred Grammy winner, the late R&B singer Jessie Hill, died poor and was buried in a public cemetery which the city has little money to maintain. It is overgrown. Many graves aren't marked; many others have makeshift headstones. Hill's is a piece of plywood in the shape of a music note, bearing his name and the title of his hit song, "Ooh Poo Pah Doo."

The home where Louis Armstrong was born and the row of tenements where he grew up have been torn down. There's no plaque to mark them.

The owner of the home of "cornet king" Buddy Bolden threatened to tear it down after part of it was charred by fire a little over a year ago. He wanted government help to save it, which he never got. The home still stands, for now.

Bolden's grave at the old Holt cemetery where Hill was buried has been moved several times and no one is sure where his remains are. But the city did place a large polished stone in the area where he's believed to be.

The Masonic and Oddfellows Hall where Bolden is believed to have made his name still stands, but is an abandoned brick shell.

Jazz historian Jack Stewart, who bought and has maintained the former home of pianist Jelly Roll Morton, says efforts to protect the Oddfellows Hall are paying off, however: It's now a nominated city landmark, and a group of preservationists has it and several neighboring buildings under contract.

Still, there remain "lots of buildings with significant ties to music history in precarious situations all over town," Stewart says.

Stewart is a member of the New Orleans Jazz Commission, which identifies jazz landmarks and tries to save them through fund-raisers or private investors.

"We're hopeful we'll get some aid in financing from various branches of government as well," he said.

More recent musical stars with ties to New Orleans range from Harry Connick Jr. to Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, the Marsalis family, Fats Domino and rapper Master P.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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