SOTRU - New Orleans: The Big Easy

STATE OF THE RE:UNION
New Orleans: The Big Easy
SOTRU explores and celebrates New Orleans, Louisiana
 
HOST: Al Letson
 
DESCRIPTION: The city of New Orleans is as proud of its traditions as it is steeped in them. But since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city and its residents have been thrust into new relationships with those very traditions they hold so dear. State of the Re:Union visits the Big Easy and explore how the city is negotiating that tension between the old and the new — from race relations to po boys to combating crime — five years after the storm.
 
BILLBOARD (:59)
Incue: "From PRX and NPR"
Outcue: "But first, this news"

NEWS HOLE: 1:00- 6:00
 
Segment A (12:29)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "ahead on State of the Re:Union"
 
A: SILENCE IS VIOLENCE: New Orleans was a dangerous place before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Afterwards, crime spiked— but the storm seems to have changed many NOLA resident’s tolerance for the ongoing violence in their city.  When crime forced its way into the lives of some New Orleans residents in late 2006, they didn’t just mourn their losses. They took action. In this segment, we hear the story of how one bookish ethnomusicologist became the leader of an ongoing fight to stop the violence in New Orleans streets, inspiring thousands of people to march to city hall, and launching an effort to teach teenagers art as an alternative to violent expression.

BREAK: 19:00- 20:00
 
SEGMENT B (18:59)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "P-R-X . O-R-G"
 
A. CULTIVATING A NEW ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT: For a long time before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had been suffering from brain drain. It’s the old story: talented young people graduated from high school, went away to college and never came back. It was a new story, post-Katrina. The Hurricane brought an influx of young, idealistic people—both home grown and from far flung parts of the country-- who were drawn to the city to help with the rebuilding. And many of them are sticking around, making the transition from work with non-profits into starting their own businesses….
B. A CITY OF CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS: For all the excitement about newcomers to the city, the post-Katrina repopulation has inspired anxiety as well: what will their presence mean for a city that historically is majority African American? Not only are there new white hipsters, but New Orleans has seen a massive influx of Latino immigrants in search of day labor jobs, helping to rebuild the city… and that’s inspired tension over jobs with some other ethnic communities. In this piece, host Al Letson explores the complex racial dynamics of the city’s repopulation, and visits one group that’s trying to seize on this as an opportunity to overcome barriers.
 
C. TAKING A NEIGHBORHOOD BACK BY STORY: If you wander around New Orleans rough Central City neighborhood, you’ll see signs that say “hear my I-Witness” story, and then a phone number. Pull out your phone, call the number, and you’ll hear a local resident tell the story of that particular spot , a story that maybe no one else in the world knows, from a jazz funeral that the Free Southern Theater held for itself in 1980, to what happened at this house, during Hurricane Katrina. The idea is that retelling these stories helps form the neighborhood’s collective memory, and will bring new people into the fold.
 
BREAK: 39:00- 40:00

SEGMENT C (18:59)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "This is NPR"
 
A. INDIAN MUSIC:  We begin  this segment’s exploration of New Orleans culture with a brief sound portrait from the Mardi Gras Indians’ annual Super Sunday tradition, introducing us to the Indians and their chants…
 
B. SISSY BOUNCE: Go to a club on a Friday night in New Orleans, and if you hear hip hop, you’ll more likely than not also be hearing Bounce. It’s a super local NOLA style of hip hop, driven by call-and-response repetitive lyrics and a distinctive skittering rhythm that sounds pure New Orleans.  It’s wildly popular in the city, and, thanks to a brand new album from the NOLA-based jam band Galactic, it may soon be making its mark across the country. But outside of its musical innovations, there’s another thing that makes some Bounce distinctive: some of its biggest stars are gay. And out. Very out. So-called “Sissy rappers” are among the hottest Bounce artists, folks like Big Freedia, Sissy Nobby, and Katey Red, a gay, transvestite from the Uptown projects. Open homosexuality and cross-dressing does have a strong history in New Orleans. Drag costume balls have been happening in the city since as early as the 40s. Now, Sissy Rappers pack the clubs.

C. SAVING THE PO BOY: In a city that loves—loves—food,  po boy sandwiches are arguably the culinary icon of the city. The sandwich is as diverse as New Orleans, a culinary crossroads, from the French bread to the fillings ranging from roast beef to fried oysters to southern ham. But Hurricane Katrina introduced a new chapter in the sandwich’s history. Already fighting fast food chains for customers, some mom & pop po boy shops in heavily flooded neighborhoods have had a hard time rebuilding. Because of Katrina closings, traditional bakeries like the father-son run Gendusa Bakery lost a huge portion of their customer base. But the hurricane also inspired the po boy’s champions: a festival and a Po Boy Preservation Society have been established in Katrina’s wake, aimed at educating young New Orleanians about the city’s signature sandwich, to make sure both it—and the families who sell it—survive.

D. DEAR NEW ORLEANS: A “Dear New Orleans” letter from Carol Bebelle, founder of the Ashe Cultural Arts Center.
 
E. “KATRINA FATIGUE” MONOLOGUE/VOX: Al offers some reflections on the degree to which New Orleans is receding from the thoughts of the rest of the U.S., and how his time in the city has changed his perceptions of it. Intermixed with Al’s monologue are the perspectives of a range of New Orleans residents. 

PROGRAM OUT @ 59:00

BROADCAST WINDOW BEGINS 5/4

Note: This program is available through PRX and Content Depot.

This program is available without charge to all public radio stations, and may be aired an unlimited number of times prior to December 31, 2010. The program may be streamed live on station websites but not archived. Excerpting is permitted for promotional purposes only. The State of the Re:Union is produced by Al Letson, and presented by PRX. Major funding for the State of the Re:Union comes from CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Please contact Israel Smith at ismarketing@yahoo.com or 612-377-3256 with questions or to confirm carriage.

STATE OF THE RE:UNION
New Orleans: The Big Easy
SOTRU explores and celebrates New Orleans, Louisiana
 
HOST: Al Letson
 
DESCRIPTION: The city of New Orleans is as proud of its traditions as it is steeped in them. But since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city and its residents have been thrust into new relationships with those very traditions they hold so dear. State of the Re:Union visits the Big Easy and explore how the city is negotiating that tension between the old and the new — from race relations to po boys to combating crime — five years after the storm.
 
BILLBOARD (:59)
Incue: "From PRX and NPR"
Outcue: "But first, this news"

NEWS HOLE: 1:00- 6:00
 
Segment A (12:29)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "ahead on State of the Re:Union"
 
A: SILENCE IS VIOLENCE: New Orleans was a dangerous place before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Afterwards, crime spiked— but the storm seems to have changed many NOLA resident’s tolerance for the ongoing violence in their city.  When crime forced its way into the lives of some New Orleans residents in late 2006, they didn’t just mourn their losses. They took action. In this segment, we hear the story of how one bookish ethnomusicologist became the leader of an ongoing fight to stop the violence in New Orleans streets, inspiring thousands of people to march to city hall, and launching an effort to teach teenagers art as an alternative to violent expression.

BREAK: 19:00- 20:00
 
SEGMENT B (18:59)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "P-R-X . O-R-G"
 
A. CULTIVATING A NEW ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT: For a long time before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had been suffering from brain drain. It’s the old story: talented young people graduated from high school, went away to college and never came back. It was a new story, post-Katrina. The Hurricane brought an influx of young, idealistic people—both home grown and from far flung parts of the country-- who were drawn to the city to help with the rebuilding. And many of them are sticking around, making the transition from work with non-profits into starting their own businesses….
B. A CITY OF CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS: For all the excitement about newcomers to the city, the post-Katrina repopulation has inspired anxiety as well: what will their presence mean for a city that historically is majority African American? Not only are there new white hipsters, but New Orleans has seen a massive influx of Latino immigrants in search of day labor jobs, helping to rebuild the city… and that’s inspired tension over jobs with some other ethnic communities. In this piece, host Al Letson explores the complex racial dynamics of the city’s repopulation, and visits one group that’s trying to seize on this as an opportunity to overcome barriers.
 
C. TAKING A NEIGHBORHOOD BACK BY STORY: If you wander around New Orleans rough Central City neighborhood, you’ll see signs that say “hear my I-Witness” story, and then a phone number. Pull out your phone, call the number, and you’ll hear a local resident tell the story of that particular spot , a story that maybe no one else in the world knows, from a jazz funeral that the Free Southern Theater held for itself in 1980, to what happened at this house, during Hurricane Katrina. The idea is that retelling these stories helps form the neighborhood’s collective memory, and will bring new people into the fold.
 
BREAK: 39:00- 40:00

SEGMENT C (18:59)
Incue: "You're listening to State of the Re:Union"
Outcue: "This is NPR"
 
A. INDIAN MUSIC:  We begin  this segment’s exploration of New Orleans culture with a brief sound portrait from the Mardi Gras Indians’ annual Super Sunday tradition, introducing us to the Indians and their chants…
 
B. SISSY BOUNCE: Go to a club on a Friday night in New Orleans, and if you hear hip hop, you’ll more likely than not also be hearing Bounce. It’s a super local NOLA style of hip hop, driven by call-and-response repetitive lyrics and a distinctive skittering rhythm that sounds pure New Orleans.  It’s wildly popular in the city, and, thanks to a brand new album from the NOLA-based jam band Galactic, it may soon be making its mark across the country. But outside of its musical innovations, there’s another thing that makes some Bounce distinctive: some of its biggest stars are gay. And out. Very out. So-called “Sissy rappers” are among the hottest Bounce artists, folks like Big Freedia, Sissy Nobby, and Katey Red, a gay, transvestite from the Uptown projects. Open homosexuality and cross-dressing does have a strong history in New Orleans. Drag costume balls have been happening in the city since as early as the 40s. Now, Sissy Rappers pack the clubs.

C. SAVING THE PO BOY: In a city that loves—loves—food,  po boy sandwiches are arguably the culinary icon of the city. The sandwich is as diverse as New Orleans, a culinary crossroads, from the French bread to the fillings ranging from roast beef to fried oysters to southern ham. But Hurricane Katrina introduced a new chapter in the sandwich’s history. Already fighting fast food chains for customers, some mom & pop po boy shops in heavily flooded neighborhoods have had a hard time rebuilding. Because of Katrina closings, traditional bakeries like the father-son run Gendusa Bakery lost a huge portion of their customer base. But the hurricane also inspired the po boy’s champions: a festival and a Po Boy Preservation Society have been established in Katrina’s wake, aimed at educating young New Orleanians about the city’s signature sandwich, to make sure both it—and the families who sell it—survive.

D. DEAR NEW ORLEANS: A “Dear New Orleans” letter from Carol Bebelle, founder of the Ashe Cultural Arts Center.
 
E. “KATRINA FATIGUE” MONOLOGUE/VOX: Al offers some reflections on the degree to which New Orleans is receding from the thoughts of the rest of the U.S., and how his time in the city has changed his perceptions of it. Intermixed with Al’s monologue are the perspectives of a range of New Orleans residents. 

PROGRAM OUT @ 59:00

BROADCAST WINDOW BEGINS 5/4

Note: This program is available through PRX and Content Depot.

This program is available without charge to all public radio stations, and may be aired an unlimited number of times prior to December 31, 2010. The program may be streamed live on station websites but not archived. Excerpting is permitted for promotional purposes only. The State of the Re:Union is produced by Al Letson, and presented by PRX. Major funding for the State of the Re:Union comes from CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Please contact Israel Smith at ismarketing@yahoo.com or 612-377-3256 with questions or to confirm carriage.