Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 - (Page 55)

seriously. He came running up the street and he said, “Stop! Hold everything! Hold everything!” And he goes up to Papa and he grabs the drum straps and he says, “Give me that! Give me that! Don’t you hit that bass drum, give me that!” Then he put it on and he looked at Papa and he said, “Boy, if you’re waiting for this drum, don’t hold your breath!” That was typical, and it was a good thing Papa didn’t because he would have had many years to hold his breath. Henry Glass, Booker T, hit that drum for many, many a year after that. I think he was in his 90s when he died, the oldest one in the band. That was an object of some humor in the band. Harold used to tell him that if he died during a funeral parade he’d bury him for free. And Booker T would say, “Don’t bother because I’m gonna outlive all of you guys.” That’s the kind of banter you’d hear. We’d often go back to Buster Holmes’ restaurant after gigs, and Clive and Lars remember these experiences. Sometimes we’d have a bite to eat and people would have a beer or some L & J sweet vino, which I don’t know if they make any more, but if they do, they shouldn’t. Terrible stuff. But a lot of the musicians liked it. Then we’d take a little rest — and it was air conditioned, too, when it worked — at Buster’s. Once people were properly restored, they would often start to play again. They’d pull up their instruments and you’d have jam sessions there. It was a small place, so a full brass band with the tubas and the bass drums and trombones and trumpets and saxophones and clarinets got pretty loud in there. But nobody minded, people had a great time, and people would dance in from the streets and the place would be so packed. You could smell the red beans coming in from the kitchen, red beans and the other wonderful things he made: garlic chicken and jambalaya. Buster Holmes was just a fantastic cook. The food, by the way, was definitely part of the experience, the food that came with that culture. It was at Buster Holmes’ restaurant, but also at some of the musicians’ houses. Sometimes we’d go over there and their wives would cook. Billy Pierce, by the way, was a wonderful cook, made a fantastic gumbo. She’d go in the back in the kitchen; she’d say, “Don’t come back here, leave me alone, I’m doing my thing, I’m the kitchen mechanic.” She was a wonderful cook. So the food tradition was very much a part of the jazz tradition. It was another aspect of the New Orleans culture, and I loved it all. Raeburn: Well you’ve done a wonderful job of conveying that reality and that experience in your memoir. If anyone is in the audience who has not read this book yet, it’s GRAUMAN MARKS Summer 2008/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 55 essential. Tulane University used it as their freshman reading project last fall and I think it’s the best choice we’ve had yet, because it really gets to the heart of what New Orleans culture is about and now more than ever we need to be reflecting upon that, because we have to become proactive in making sure that this richness of experience is not lost to this city. I’d like to ask if anyone has a question, feed it to me. Audience: What year did Buster’s close? Sancton: It must have been in the early ’80s, and I think his sons, somebody in the family tried to keep it on, and they tried to go upscale and put white tablecloths and candelabras and stuff like that, and it somehow didn’t have the same panache as it did before. Then Buster’s sold the name. In the first block of Bourbon off Canal there was a Buster Holmes restaurant that was kind of franchised for a while, and really didn’t resemble anything Buster had. The last time I saw Buster — after he retired, he closed the restaurant but he was still cooking occasionally and catering — it was a memorial service for Bill Russell in Preservation Hall, 1992. I was working for Time magazine at the time and I flew in to cover the Republican National Convention and I knew that this event was going to take place, so before I went to the convention in Houston I had a stopover, and I drove in from the airport straight to Preservation Hall for that event, which was very, very moving. Bill Russell’s memorial. There was Buster Holmes, who I didn’t expect to ever see again, quite elderly then but sitting with his white apron on behind a big, huge tub of red beans, and a big platter of garlic chicken. I was really struck by the fact that he could still do it, still wanted to do it, and still did it great. Then I went right back out to the airport and flew off to Houston. 1992, that’s the last time I saw him. Thomas Sancton, Sr., at the Raeburn: Those were the best funeral for George Lewis, 1969. red beans I ever had. Sancton: They were cheap too! 27 cents but if he put the hot sausage in it, it went up to about — Raeburn: Or a ham hock, yeah. You could have a feast for 75 cents. Michael Sartisky: How does one innovate within the traditional jazz format? Sancton: Well, we all learn by copying people, I think. All of us here. Kid Howard had a great effect on Clive when he first arrived and I remember Clive trying to sound very much like Howard at one point in his life. I tried to be a George Lewis clone for years until I realized that there were

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities George Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs & Beyond Katrina The Historic New Orleans Collection After The Flood Faubourg Marigny: The Creole “Suburb” Preserving New Orleans Jazz, One Generation at a Time: Conversation & Music with Tom Sancton Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Architecture Baton Rouge Photographs, 1863-1910 Jazz Notes The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Louisiana Association of Museums Nature of the “Beast” Louisiana State Museum Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

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