At its most intimate, music heals our emotional
wounds and inspires us; at its most public, it unites
people across cultural boundaries. But can it rebuild a
city? Renowned music writer John Swenson asks that
question with New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the
Survival of New Orleans, a story about America's most
colorful and troubled city and its indominable will to
survive. Under sea level, repeatedly harangued by fires,
crime, and most devastatingly, by Hurricane Katrina, New
Orleans has the potential to one day become a ''New
Atlantis,'' a lost metropolis under the waves. But this
threat has failed to prevent its stalwart musicians and
artists from living within its limits, singing its
praises and attracting the economic growth needed for
its recovery. New Atlantis records how the city's jazz,
Cajun, R&B, Bourbon Street, second line, brass band,
rock and hip hop musicians are reconfiguring the city's
unique artistic culture, building on its historic
content while reflecting contemporary life in New
Orleans. New Atlantis is a city's tale made up of
citizen's tales.It's the story of Davis Rogan, a
songwriter, bandleader and schoolteacher who has become
an integral part of David Simon's new HBO series Treme
(as compelling a story about New Orleans as The Wire was
about Baltimore). It's the story of trumpeter Irvin
Mayfield, who lost his father in the storm and has since
become an important political and musical force shaping
the future of New Orleans. It's the story of Bo Dollis
Jr., chief of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians, as
he tries to fill the shoes of his ailing father Bo
Dollis, one of the most charismatic figures in Mardi
Gras Indian history. It is also the author's own story;
each musician profiled will be contextualized by
Swenson's three-decades-long coverage of the New Orleans
music scene. |
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