When I got back to Frenchmen Street from dinner, there was a brass band playing on the little empty park-like space at the corner of Chartres and Frenchmen Street. The band was called the Port of New Orleans Brass Band, and had drawn a good-sized crowd to the intersection, where people were dancing and having a good time. Unfortunately, a police siren sounded on the end of Frenchmen Street nearest the Quarter, and the musicians quit playing and ran for cover, as apparently it is illegal for them to play on Frenchmen Street, just as it now is illegal for them to play on Bourbon at Canal. It’s hard to imagine a dumber course of action than the one that Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration has taken with regards to live music in New Orleans, which, after all, is much of the city’s drawing card as a tourist destination. But presumably the city is continuing the agenda of those who want a quieter, more affluent city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so the city’s war on music (particularly brass bands) continues unabated.
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