Uncle Lionel’s Funeral and Second Line

Last Friday, after 2 weeks of daily second lines in his memory, Treme Brass Band‘s bass drummer, Uncle Lionel Batiste, was to be laid to rest. To say it was raining doesn’t begin to cover it. Waiting for a streetcar to take me into town, I stood in the neutral ground wearing a plastic hoodie sack and rubber sandals and gripping an umbrella against water coming from all sides. When no streetcar appeared, I jumped onto a bus and we all stared out the windows at the flooding in the streets. It was pouring when the ride came to its final stop. Bourbon Street was a canal with water coming up over the sidewalks and into the shops’ open doors. By the time I crossed Rampart heading into Armstrong Park, the water was nearly knee high.

Uncle Lionel’s Second Line

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for most New Orleanians. First, there was the good news that quarterback Drew Brees finally signed his contract with the Saints. Even without our coach, now we can go back to believing that we could have the first team to ever play a Super Bowl on their own turf. Geaux Saints! Who Dat!?!

It was raining cats as we made our way to Tuba Fats Square in the Treme, a memorial square dedicated to the preservation of music from the historic Treme neighborhood, the first black suburb in America.  Musicians played in the crowded Candlelight Lounge next door, the home of Uncle Lionel‘s regular Wednesday gig with the Treme Brass Band, as people from all over the city gathered to second line in memory of their favorite Uncle.