Finding Our Folks

Telling N�Orleans Story in Brass Band Music

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Hot 8 Brass Band plays the kind of music that moves feet, body and soul. Founder of the group Benny Pete says it’s music that “makes you remember, makes you hold on, gives you hope and lets you heal.”

A Frozen Katrina

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The country had a few days to prepare for Hurricane Katrina, and failed. It has more than three months to prepare for this frozen Katrina, and there will be no excuse this time…. A frozen Katrina will be measured in hypothermia cases and malnutrition or unfilled prescriptions if the poor are forced to spend grocery or medicine money on fuel.

lobstercrackers social aid & pleasure club

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Well, the eighth annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival, on a tiny island in Down East Maine, was an unqualified success -- a presentation of the beauty and intensity of New Orleans music within a larger context of its social and political implications.

Members� murders incite Hot 8 Brass Band to soldier on

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

“We’ve always helped each other, always talked about what we would do if the worst happened to any of us,” Pete said. “Continuing on is a commitment we made when the guys died. They’d want us to keep on going."

Through the storms

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

When the band - one of the most popular in New Orleans, behind a revitalized sound that connects traditional brass with funk and hip-hop - takes the stage in the Museum of Fine Arts' Calderwood Courtyard on Wednesday, the timbre of its horns and the rumble of its drums will bear witness to fresh struggle and pain.

NEW ORLEANS-CULTURE, CRISIS, & COMMUNITY

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

From New Orleans, saxophonist and Mardi Gras Indian chief Donald Harrison; the Hot 8 Brass Band; a second-line parade; movies; panels; jazz clinic; and more.

Hot 8 at Summer of Jazz in Glenwood Springs

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

"If jazz were a food, it would be like a jazz gumbo," said front man Bennie "Big Peter" Pete.
He was laughing from somewhere at a gig in Nebraska. He went on to call Hot 8's mix of rap, reggae and marching band beats "feel good music." The point here isn't perfection. It's bigger than that.

After giving away $85 million in Katrina relief, FEMA gives it back

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

“Millions of dollars in diverted hurricane relief supplies are finally going to be sent back to Louisiana for distribution,” United Press International reports.

“FEMA gave away $85 million worth of hurricane relief supplies as federal surplus even though non-profit agencies were still seeking the aid for resettled victims of Katrina. Now at least a portion will be returned to the intended recipients ….

“‘Today we can report that we have been notified that some of the surplus property has been located in Texas and will be coming to the state of Louisiana for distribution by Unity [of Greater] New Orleans,’ said Paul Rainwater, the executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.”

A MARCH ON THE MAYORS

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

On June 20th the Finding Our Folk Tour and the Katrina RitaVille Express will join forces with the Right to the City Alliance of Miami in the People’s State of the City Summit.

Mayors won’t be the only ones discussing the state of the city during the U.S. Conference of Mayors, June 20th – June 24th. Hundreds of neighborhood activists and anti-gentrification advocates from cities across the country are organizing a counter-conference: the Right to the City March on the Mayors. “Corporate globalization is leading city mayors to favor private interests over the public’s - a majority of residents,” said Sushma Sheth of the Miami Workers Center, a founding member of RTTC.

Rocking With The Hot 8

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Hot 8 Brass Band will be featured in the Eighth Annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival at the Stonington Opera House July 25-27. During the festival, Hot 8 will conducting a clinic; perform a concert; and lead a traditional Second-Line parade down Stonington’s Main Street.