New Orleans "Jazz Funeral for Democracy - Wake for Peace"
http://www.jazzfuneralfordemocracy.com
It was a great event. I was playing trombone with one of the bands. Here's a not too bad wire service account, with my comments in italics, with a few of my favorite pix from the event. Much more at the above link. -- Infrogmation
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - To the tunes of old church spirituals, a jazz funeral rolled through the streets of the French Quarter on Thursday with hundreds of protesters mourning what they call the passing of democracy: a second term for President Bush.
The protest was timed to kick off as Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist administered the oath of office to Bush in Washington. The New Orleans event had the appearance of a lugubrious Mardi Gras ball, a raucous street protest, Halloween freak show and traditional New Orleans jazz funeral rolled into one.
The Hearse
There were two bands, the Treme and "The Constitution Brass Band" which was all of us who were not in the Treme, including members of the Onward, Gentilly, Sycamos, Panorama, New Gloryland, Pair-O-Dice Tumblers, James Andrews, and others.
The crowd, which police said grew to include about 1,500 people, swelled around a horse-drawn hearse with a mock coffin containing copies of the Patriot Act and the U.S. Constitution. Behind the hearse came a second line with dancers and people festooned with capes, masks, signs and anti- war buttons.
A group of women in military uniforms and skeleton masks said they represented America's foreign policy: Death. With them was the "bride of peace" - a woman in a wedding gown whose face was covered in a skeleton mask.
Another woman came as a "wounded dove."
"I'm 55 years old and I've been voting for a very long time and I've never disliked a president as much as I dislike this one," said Adele Elliott, a painter who came dressed in a fluffy white head dress and billowing white dress blotched with red spots.
"I'm a wounded dove - I'm bloody but still alive," she explained. She picked up her peace sign and said: "I'm very, very much against the war, and in particular this war. Why are we there? There's no good reason for it."
Avery Friend, a 13-year-old who came with friends from the outlying town of Covington, wore an anti- war T-shirt that read, "Count All The Dead Children."
"I've seen children my age getting killed and injured and it shocked me," Friend said.
Randall Mitchell, a minister and longtime activist, called American politicians "shameful" for sending so many young troops into combat while keeping their own children out of the war.
"There's only one person in Washington who has a child in Iraq, and that's shameful," Mitchell said, basing his information on Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
crowd across from Jackson Square
observing a moment of silence for the dead
At Jackson Square, the heart of the French Quarter teeming with tourists, the protesters threw ashes of the Patriot Act into the Mississippi River.
"Over the last four years our democracy has gotten sicker and it will get sicker," said Robert Teixeira, a social worker, dressed in black and wearing a skeleton's mask. "This is a jazz funeral - the corpse is American democracy and American democratic ideals."
Constitution Band. I've seen no good ones of me online yet (though many people were snapping pix of me); I'm on the right in the white hat and black coat in this one. Several people phoned me to note that I'm seen in a photo on page A 10 of today (Friday)'s Times-Picayune. I may scan that later.
AP story source on Times-Picayune site
It was a great event. I was playing trombone with one of the bands. Here's a not too bad wire service account, with my comments in italics, with a few of my favorite pix from the event. Much more at the above link. -- Infrogmation
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - To the tunes of old church spirituals, a jazz funeral rolled through the streets of the French Quarter on Thursday with hundreds of protesters mourning what they call the passing of democracy: a second term for President Bush.
The protest was timed to kick off as Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist administered the oath of office to Bush in Washington. The New Orleans event had the appearance of a lugubrious Mardi Gras ball, a raucous street protest, Halloween freak show and traditional New Orleans jazz funeral rolled into one.
The Hearse
There were two bands, the Treme and "The Constitution Brass Band" which was all of us who were not in the Treme, including members of the Onward, Gentilly, Sycamos, Panorama, New Gloryland, Pair-O-Dice Tumblers, James Andrews, and others.
The crowd, which police said grew to include about 1,500 people, swelled around a horse-drawn hearse with a mock coffin containing copies of the Patriot Act and the U.S. Constitution. Behind the hearse came a second line with dancers and people festooned with capes, masks, signs and anti- war buttons.
A group of women in military uniforms and skeleton masks said they represented America's foreign policy: Death. With them was the "bride of peace" - a woman in a wedding gown whose face was covered in a skeleton mask.
Another woman came as a "wounded dove."
"I'm 55 years old and I've been voting for a very long time and I've never disliked a president as much as I dislike this one," said Adele Elliott, a painter who came dressed in a fluffy white head dress and billowing white dress blotched with red spots.
"I'm a wounded dove - I'm bloody but still alive," she explained. She picked up her peace sign and said: "I'm very, very much against the war, and in particular this war. Why are we there? There's no good reason for it."
Avery Friend, a 13-year-old who came with friends from the outlying town of Covington, wore an anti- war T-shirt that read, "Count All The Dead Children."
"I've seen children my age getting killed and injured and it shocked me," Friend said.
Randall Mitchell, a minister and longtime activist, called American politicians "shameful" for sending so many young troops into combat while keeping their own children out of the war.
"There's only one person in Washington who has a child in Iraq, and that's shameful," Mitchell said, basing his information on Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
crowd across from Jackson Square
observing a moment of silence for the dead
At Jackson Square, the heart of the French Quarter teeming with tourists, the protesters threw ashes of the Patriot Act into the Mississippi River.
"Over the last four years our democracy has gotten sicker and it will get sicker," said Robert Teixeira, a social worker, dressed in black and wearing a skeleton's mask. "This is a jazz funeral - the corpse is American democracy and American democratic ideals."
Constitution Band. I've seen no good ones of me online yet (though many people were snapping pix of me); I'm on the right in the white hat and black coat in this one. Several people phoned me to note that I'm seen in a photo on page A 10 of today (Friday)'s Times-Picayune. I may scan that later.
AP story source on Times-Picayune site