They let the good times down

Robert Benziker |

4/3/2008 - 4/4/08

While the media has moved on to other news, the lack of effort and money to rebuild the Crescent City after Hurricane Katrina remains a pressing issue for its residents and former denizens, many of whom have not returned. Among the angry is New Orleans native Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. — better known by his stage name, Dr. John. Speaking with Pasatiempo by phone from the road, he expressed concern that even his grandchildren wouldn't have a chance to see the city restored.

One of the cruel ironies of the August 2005 disaster is that it casts a shadow over a region famous for its grand celebrations and easygoing way of life. And, of course, the city had — and still has — the perfect soundtrack, with some of the best music ever created: jazz, blues, Cajun, zydeco. New Orleans has influenced pretty much every form of music invented or developed in America.

Dr. John has been making music since the 1950s, and his lyrics have always had a dark edge. That element is amplified in his upcoming release, The City That Care Forgot — which, in another cruel irony,  is an old nickname for New Orleans. Despite Dr. John's lyrics, however, his music — and parti-cularly his buoyant, funky piano playing — is never less than jubilant. He brings his show to the Lensic Performance Arts Center on Sunday, April 6.

Pasatiempo: I recently saw you at halftime during the NBA All-Star game, with all of those great New Orleans pianists playing in pairs. What did it mean to you all to be able to perform on that kind of stage?

Dr. John: It felt really cool. Ellis Marsalis was with Harry Connick [Jr.], and it was very appropriate, because it was like his teacher. And then Allen Toussaint was sitting with [Jonathan] Batiste, who was not a student but a guy that's coming up. And I was sitting there with Davell Crawford, who was pretty influential. It's like real good, deep connections, you know? And I felt really good with all that.

Pasa: What was the biggest topic of conversation between you guys backstage?

Dr. John: We had a lot of them. It was cool. ... We're in the middle of a mission against a lot of bad stuff that's happened since the storm. I'm really waging wars with anybody that's been stealing tons of money. I'm upset. A lot of us talked about stuff pretty open, like we used to. A lot of things shattered everybody different kinds of ways. When the community gets hit, everybody reacts different.

Pasa: How is it for the average working musician there these days?

Dr. John: It's way tougher. It wasn't good before, man; it's such a poor city. Since the storm, it's way, way worse. ... It's tough, because they love to play music.

Pasa: What is the media not telling us about how the people of New Orleans are doing?

Dr. John: Oh man, I don't think they're telling anybody anything about any of the truth, even though they say, "Well, the numbers are almost the same of people that's back there." But how many of the actual people that were citizens of the city of New Orleans are back there? You'll never hear that, because nobody actually can tell you that.

Pasa: Do you remember the moment when you knew this piano tradition in New Orleans was something you wanted to be a part of?

Dr. John: Well, I started off as a guitar player, but I just never thought I'd ever get a job as a piano player with all the bad piano players around. There was a million bad piano players — nobody was, you know, famous or anything — that was around there. I was playing guitar, and if I hadn't shot my finger [one of Dr. John's fingers was injured in a gunshot while he was defending a band mate], I think I'd probably continue doing that. So it was important when James Booker got me a gig playing organ, and it was my first steady keyboard gig. I covered recording sessions and stuff, but that was my first steady gig I had. Until you're away from it, you don't ever think of all that; you're just doing what we all did. Traditionally, you just want to play music. That's what most of us got in there to do, and that's all we wanted to do.

Pasa: The New Orleans piano sound is one of the most recognizable sounds out there, but it's not really jazz, blues, or funk. What makes the sound so distinctive?

Dr. John: I think that it's all connected to the Caribbean more than any of this music here. It's got a lot of Cuban, and it's got a lot of other influences. When you consider most of the great Cuban bands that ... came to the United States by New Orleans — a lot of them guys stayed in New Orleans. And that happened before I was born, you know, with other cultures coming in and being a part of it. And that had been happening since New Orleans was a city.

Pasa: New Orleans has developed a unique sound to perfection. With globalization, do you think it's possible for another region to do that?

Dr. John: It's hard to say something like that for me right now. Tell you why: considering people have known for 50-something years that New Orleans would bite the dust, if they didn't — it wasn't even about just refixing the levees, it was a lot of things they could have did. But it was over 50 years of that, and nothing happened in 50 years. And it's a very special place because of the way it was situated, because of its connection to the rest of the Caribbean. That's why a lot of the music was different.

In the middle of all this, it's very hard to say "could this happen again?" It took, like, a long time, I mean, if [jazz came about] sometime before the turn of the last century, considering all of the music that was there in Congo Square and everything, and the blends of stuff that was already there from Africa and other places — basically, the Spanish and French and African — mixed in. And that shifted into a new thing.

You know, it took an awful long time for each of those things to form something else; it took hundreds of years. You've got two diverse cultures there with the Cajun and the Creole — and even though a lot of it intermingles and overlaps, which makes more stuff beautiful, those two cultures have completely different kinds of music to offer. And I think all that's really special.

Pasa: What, to you, would be the surest sign that the city and the region has fully rebounded from the hurricane?

Dr. John: Considering nothing basically has
happened other than what people on their own are doing, to be fully rebounded is impossible at this point, when you rip out the guts of a city and dump the people all over the planet — and I say this very angrily, that there are people that have been dumped in other countries without a passport by our government, and I find that highly illegal. ... Now the local government has upped the property taxes so that those who have a home can't afford to keep it. So much treacherous business is going down in the name of restoring.

Pasa: After Katrina, do you feel more like an
ambassador of the region and the culture when you tour?

Dr. John: Actually, I don't feel anything to do with any word that's connected to politics. I just would like to say what I believe and use my First Amendment rights. You know, I'm very discouraged with every part of the government, from the federals down to the city. There's no part of it that's been caring about people. I find that disgraceful.

Pasa: Thank you for your time.

Dr. John: Sure. Sorry for being so negative.

details

Dr. John

Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St.

7 p.m. Sunday, April 6