Treme

It’s the neighborhood near The French Quarter in New Orleans, where my great ancestors used to live, and it’s also now a TV show. HBO has just introduced Treme for its Sunday night line up. I’ve been looking forward to seeing it and tuned into the premier. Here’s a little background about the Treme area first, as well as a map.

I was happy to read Hank Stuever’s review in the Washington Post. Sounds like he survived going to college in New Orleans and left with an appreciation for the city but not fully accounted for as this new show demonstrates.  Just like New Orleans, the show is gritty but has a soul, maybe even grits served with jambalaya, as you could say if describing with food. (Jambalaya already has rice in it — so something is a little off if served as an accompaniment.) This is why I say, as a New Orleans native and now that I’m away, I have a love affair with my hometown but I’d never want to live there again. I love to visit. I miss my family, the food, the music and some aspects of the way of life — these are the things that stay in your soul and seek you out, but nonetheless, something is off and you know it when you get away.

The show portrays individuals living in a remarkable but down-trodden town making a comeback post Katrina. The characters remind me of the non-fictional book I read, Nine Lives by Dan Baum. Parts of Stuever’s account, says it well:

Though the storm overtly occupies every character and layer of “Treme” (“How’s your house?” is the common refrain), Simon and company immediately busy themselves with the far more nuanced task of dispelling and revising the cliches of “New Orleans” and illuminating the ways in which they complement and devalue the actual New Orleans…

Note, “How’s your house,” is very similar to, “How’s ya mom an d’em,” which is a typical phrase used by locals, essentially meaning, “What’s up” or “How’s it going,” where the emphasis is on family, but “How’s your house,” has a much deeper meaning having to do with rebuilding. No were else in the country can this type of interchange be compared.

It’s fascinating to watch “Treme” skirt both the drunk’s indifference and the intellectual’s arrogance. What results in the first three episodes is a much fuller celebration of place and soul….Telling the real story of New Orleans (and “New Orleans”) means opening a series of doors that lead to the city’s racist nature and its other dividing lines. It will, at this rate, undo innumerable mediocre New Orleans-based movies and TV shows that only served gumbo and bad accents with dime-store voodoo mysteries.

After the first episode that was a little slow, I’m yearning for something different, finally.

PS: I just read this another interesting background story behind Treme and it’s creators, one being a former Washington Post writer and co-creator of The Wire, another HBO series, set in Baltimore. Granted there are some similarities. There are many posts I’ve written about New Orleans (that love affair thing), so check the sidebar category for more real “gumbo,” if you’re interested.

Gotta do a little authentic New Orleans music after this post to Kick-Start the weekend. Here’s Dr. John playing Iko, Iko to a Bo Diddley rhythm: