As Mardi Gras Rages, New Orleans' Music Scene Struggles to Recover

Ellis Joseph is one of the organizers of the Roots of Music, which is working with 75 to 100 middle school-aged children. For him, it's about more than just the music. "Nine to 14 is the most impressionable age; either the drug dealer's going to get them or we're going to get them."

As for New Orleans, opinions differ as to what needs to happen next. J. Tillman sees the need for a more nuanced approach to financial support. "They need individuals, responsible corporate interests, and government agencies to funnel funds to programs that are working to restore and preserve programs that instill in the people there a pride and to desire to stay and invest in their communities," he says. As a New Orleanian, Craig Klein's concerns are pragmatic. "People need to know that the coast needs to be taken care of," he says. "They need to know that the levees need to be strengthened. I think there's a fraction of people who realize how vulnerable we really are."

Those who have visited agree that it requires constant attention. "Just because you don't see it on the TV anymore doesn't mean that all the problems have gone away," Jim James says. "Far from it. There is still much work to be done." And they need to know the truth, not a sanitized, chamber of commerce version, Hank Shocklee says. "I think the truth is a bigger light than we give it credit for. We equate the truth with what we're not going to get as opposed to the possibility of what we could get. I think if more people know, more people will come."

"It's still broken," Tom Morello says. "And it's clearly a natural disaster that became a man-made disaster."

For Ellis Joseph, what needs to happen next isn't quite so clear.

"I don't know if it's the violence stopping people from coming down here, or if our city and community leaders don't give a fuck about us, but something needs to shake."

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