New Orleans Adult Entertainment: Michael Jackson’s memorial and New Orleans second lines
July 8, 2009
Whether or not they were sponsored by reformers, bands socialized young followers into the ways of both the musician and urban life. Barney Bigardee noted that “my first interest in music” came from “watching the brass bands.” On Saturday parades “we would try to follow the band as far as our folks would let us … for four blocks or so.” The second line of nonplaying marchers was already a black New Orleans tradition, a marching adaption of the field holler and the ring shout, and it gained new prominence when jazz bands came to lead the children, prostitutes, gamblers, and novice musicians. The bands, like earlier marching groups, bonded these diverse groups in the second line, which shared a traditional powerlessness in urban society and provided the musicians with a community of admirers that literally followed their careers.
See the full article from “Examiner.com”
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