Lament for New Orleans
Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 15:35 A couple of months ago the BBC broadcast a three-part documentary, Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the South.
It went under the radar a bit because it was on BBC2 on Saturday night but I enjoyed it enormously.
The Telegraph gave the series five stars and described the US born but British based comedian as a "wonderfully engaging guide", as indeed he was.
Songs of the South recorded his return to the American South where he was born and raised before moving to Britain in 1997.
Over three programmes he travelled by road guiding viewers "through 150 years of American music".
The first programme took in Tennessee and Kentucky. In the second he visited Alabama and his home state of Georgia, and in the third he drove from Tennessee to Louisiana.
The series concluded with Hunter in New Orleans. Filmed last year it was broadcast a month after the city council voted in favour of a comprehensive smoking ban (I wrote about it here).
There was no mention of smoking bans in the programme but I was struck by a comment Hunter made as he drove into the city in his open top Cadillac:
Another thing about New Orleans. It is one of the remaining cities left - maybe the only one - that still has its own character and has room for characters. It hasn't been homogenised to death. I think it's the most un-America American city in America and America is better for it.
Later, speaking to celebrated musician Dr John, Hunter asked, "What makes New Orleans and New Orleans music what it is?" to which Dr John replied, "[There's] no one way to do anything. Spiritually that opens a lot of doors."
I've never been to New Orleans but it seems to me that by banning smoking (and vaping) in all bars and casinos the council has betrayed that ideal.
Today New Orleans is one step closer to being homogenised and there is one less reason to visit this "most un-America American city".
PS. This post is for New Orleans based musician Juliette Tworsey, a former smoker (now vaper) who was one of the few people to stand up and oppose the ban in her adopted city.
As we know the battle was lost and from tomorrow the ban will be enforced in every bar and casino. Overnight a place described by Joe Jackson as a "free and fun city" will be less free and almost certainly less fun.
I think that's what they call "progress".
See: New Orleans bar owners prepare for the April 22 smoking ban and what it will mean for business
Listen: Reginal D Hunter's Songs of the South (BBC Playlist)
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks Simon.
It's all quite depressing.
Where do we go now? Is there any place left in the "free" world that is not entirely homogenized (homogenised in British-speak..lol) and gentrified beyond recognition?
Maybe I'll end up out in the desert someday. I hear that there are some free spirits out there...cheaper living too. It's getting harder and harder to live a "bohemian-style" life these days.
They may have forced the ban that come into effect tomorrow, but that does not mean it will stand. it is time t o actively campaign against covered smoking bans! The casino and bar owners (over 50 bars) have initiated a lawsuit against the City Council for enacting the ban. That legal action should be joined by active political action.