A year later, the music business in the town that spawned Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and the Neville Brothers -- among dozens of storied acts -- is struggling to recover from the havoc wreaked by the storm.

Local venues are still staggering back, many clubs have failed to reopen their doors, and the indigenous musical community remains in large part scattered by the four winds, with the diaspora still commuting back into the city for gigs.

The music business has stepped up to provide aid to the players whose lives were thrown into turmoil by Katrina. The Recording Academy's MusiCares Hurricane Relief fund has poured more than $3.5 million into New Orleans, supplying financial assistance to 3,500 storm survivors for instruments, food, clothing, gas, transportation and medication. Music Rising -- a charitable group formed by U2's the Edge, producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar chairman and CEO Henry Juskiewicz, and facilitated by MusiCares -- has supplied instruments and gear to more than 2,000 musicians.

On the ground in New Orleans, homegrown charitable organizations have picked up the ball, and are attempting to address the immediate needs of musicians whose working and living conditions have been blown to smithereens in the hurricane's aftermath.

Jordan Hirsch, administrator of the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, said: "The vast majority of people want to play music in New Orleans, and they're facing a vast number of hurdles. ... If you're gigging two or three nights a week at 50 bucks a night, you can't afford to play in New Orleans right now."

Hirsch added, "Most of the city, in terms of the residential areas, is not back online yet. The biggest issue is housing. There's not an affordable, safe place to live for people who want to come home."

With rents skyrocketing in the aftermath of the storm, the Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund is providing rent subsidies; Hirsch said, "People oftentimes need a few hundred bucks for gas and living expenses."

The group is addressing the situation case by case and has subsidized and relocated such noted local performers as arranger Wardell Quezerque and singer Al "Carnival Time" Johnson. "This is something we'll be pursuing on a much larger scale in the coming months," Hirsch said.

The fund also is supplying money for home repair, with grants supplied to 60; an additional 800 have received emergency grant dollars. "Homeowners are really getting the short end," Hirsch said. "Insurance settlements are hard to come by. ... There are a thousand things keeping homeowners from collecting."

With skilled labor for rebuilding still in short supply in the city, the Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund is turning to its own, according to Hirsch: "There are musicians and Mardi Gras Indians who are licensed contractors. ... We want to employ members of the cultural community to be the agents of rebuilding."

Beyond providing medical aid, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic has established a gig fund that pays players $100 per show; the settings have ranged from performances at this year's diminished Jazz & Heritage Festival to shots in the lobby of the municipal airport.

James Morris, social services program coordinator for the clinic, said: "It's harder to make ends meet now in the city. Musicians need money, but they don't want a handout, so we paid them to play."

Gigs -- whether in the city's high-profile venues or in the neighborhood clubs and bars not totaled by the storm -- have gotten tougher to come by.

Sonny Schneidau, director of tours and talent at House of Blues in New Orleans, notes that such larger venues as the 8,000-seat Lakefront Arena, the 2,700-capacity Saenger Theatre and the 1,700-capacity Orpheum Theater are still closed. Tipitina's, perhaps the city's best-known venue, is open on weekends.

Some agents and managers have been hesitant to route their acts through the city, where tourism is down and basic services are still constricted. At the House of Blues, Schneidau said, "In general we've seen a little bit less traffic show-wise than pre-Katrina. At the same time, we've seen a lot of friends step up and commit to delivering talent."

However, he added, "For the most part, our shows have been well-attended. The New Orleans community has embraced live music coming back. ... Even for the national acts we've done, we've been enthusiastic about the turnout."

House of Blues also has done its charitable part: The venue has mounted 15 benefits headlined by acts ranging from Bonnie Raitt to metal band Underoath.

Smaller venues are still stuttering back into action.

"I was better off than most," said John Blancher, owner of the Rock N' Bowl, the historic Carrollton Avenue bowling alley-cum-venue. "I was on the second floor. There was seven feet of water on the first floor."

Despite a lack of telephones, Web access and gas, Blancher reopened the Rock N' Bowl in November, and is now mounting live music five nights a week. "I've been pretty fortunate," he said. "Of the clubs, the Maple Leaf Bar's the only one doing something similar. ... There's definitely fewer smaller clubs -- a lot of the neighborhood joints weren't able to open."

Lefty Parker, who operates the eclectically booked St. Charles Avenue club the Circle Bar, is running music seven nights a week, though some shows employ DJs.

"We're probably the only one that's doing it every night," Parker said. "A variety of clubs are doing it three nights a week. It's really thinned out. ... A lot of venues won't be able to reopen. They're too damaged. The Dixie Tavern is a shell. Midcity is still a graveyard. The live music scenario in this town is still tenuous."

Music retailing is slowly regaining its footing. Barry Smith, owner of Louisiana Music Factory -- the city's top seller of indigenous music -- noted that Virgin Entertainment closed its local megastore, indie retailer Magic Bus relocated to Austin, Texas, and Odyssey Records & Tapes folded.

Smith said, "Actually we're doing better than I would have thought, but mainly due to lack of competition."

But, he added, "So many of the musicians are still displaced, and we fed on the live music scene. ... We're definitely still seeing the effects."

Most observers agree that many of the performers who fled the city and relocated to such towns as Atlanta, Memphis and Houston in the wake of Katrina have not returned. Ira "Dr. Ike" Padnos -- whose nonprofit group the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau mounts the annual Ponderosa Stomp festival (which moved to Memphis this year) -- said that only 30%-40% are back in town permanently.

"A large swatch are not back," said Padnos, whose group is only now beginning to promote local shows again. "I think it decimated the brass bands."

The Musicians Clinic's Morris believes the musical community "easily lost 70%" of its players.

"One band, they live in Houston during the week, but they commute to New Orleans on Thursdays and play Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Morris said. "It's kinda like, 'I want to come back, but why would I want to, really?' "

The experience of Mike Hurtt may be typical. Hurtt, a music journalist and singer who fronts the rockabilly band the Haunted Hearts, moved to Fernwood, Mich., after Katrina hit. He is now trying to find an apartment in Detroit. He returns to New Orleans once a month to play and to reconnect with the city.

Hurtt said of his hometown, "It's just a really difficult place to live. ... It's gotten better. Sometimes you can be hanging out there and think nothing's even happened. For a few minutes you can forget, but so much of the city reminds you, everywhere you go."

The musicians and industry professionals living in the wreckage of New Orleans will continue to tough it out, Hirsch said of the Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund.

"A lot of the city's musical traditions are about surviving in the face of adverse conditions," Hirsch said. "In the broadest sense, these traditions are capable of survival. They're the soundtrack of survival."

"If New Orleans is good at anything, it's throwing a party, and we can all adapt," the Circle Bar's Parker said. "We can all make it work. ... We believe in the city."

Reuters/Billboard

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