"In my 22 years as a judge," "I have often felt obligated, out of love and loyalty to New Orleans, to defend my city from those outsiders who like to speak ill about it." "Too many are quick to describe this city as a bastion of corruption, of bureaucratic incompetence, of Southern laziness, of ineffectual policing and systemic dysfunction within our legal system." "No, I try to argue, the city is not that bad." "Our reputation is grossly overblown." "Yet here I sit with evidence indicating that the Orleans Parish Prison had custody of a young man for six months, and during that same period, denied this simple fact." "Your Honor, records necessary to indicate whether or not..." "I know, I know." "They were underwater or the jail was flooded." "That will be your line of argument." "No doubt you will lean hard on it, Miss Dufossat." "But knowing that this young man has been lost in the system, that many of our public figures would rather he stay lost than to admit the obvious - that there were fundamental problems with how our jail inmates were handled during the storm and its aftermath..." "I cannot put into words the embarrassment I feel for us all." "Ma'am, allow me to apologize to you and your family on behalf of Orleans Parish and the State of Louisiana." "My sincerest regret for what we have put your family through." "Now, the Criminal Sheriff of Orleans Parish and the Louisiana State Department of Corrections have 72 hours to produce this young man, or be held in contempt of this court." "That's it." "We're recessed." "All rise." "George, that wasn't here last time." "Don't let that stop us." "Now once I'm set up in there, you call the TV station, let 'em know." "Police too?" " The reporters first and then the police." " OK." " Look at this." " What'd I tell you?" "Some of the best-constructed buildings in the city." "A little bit of mold and dust." "But otherwise..." "You sure your mama's all right with this?" "No, she don't mind." "As a matter of fact, she's hoping we'll get 'em reopened so she can come on back home." "What else you gonna need, Chief?" "I'm gonna need a new bolt lock on that door." "You got it." "Call me if you need something to eat, Chief." "My niece left that." ""Times are not good here."" "Sound familiar?" "1880, remember." ""The city is crumbling into ashes." ""It has been buried under a lava flood of taxes" ""and frauds and maladministrations."" "Well..." "The more things change..." ""lts condition is so bad" ""that when I write about it, nobody will believe I'm telling the truth."" "And here's the kicker." ""But it is better to live here" ""in sackcloth and ashes" ""than it is to own the whole state of Ohio."" "Some of you are doubtless from Ohio." "You know what he's talking about." "Lafcadio Hearn was not the first man to fall in love with New Orleans." "Certainly he wasn't the last." "Its frauds and farces... represent some of America's worst excesses and affronts." "But... day by day, year by year," "New Orleans also conjures moments of artistic clarity and urban transcendence that are the best that Americans as a people can hope for." "That is if we who bear witness to them are not too jaded, too spent and too stupid to recognize them for what they are." "All right, all right." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Thank you, world travelers." " Basin Street?" " Yeah, that'll work." "On you, Jack." " One, two..." " Excuse me, sir." "Who are you playing for today?" "Ma'am?" "Is there someone special flying in?" "Are you from New Orleans, ma'am?" "Yes, all my life." "Well, ma'am, I believe we are here for you." "One, two..." "Tell it, Jack." "Another 60 units for you, bro." "I said we'd take a whole box." "And a whole box I shall deliver as soon as I get my next thousand." "Dude, second pressing." "I've never sold a thousand of anything." "Well, you've moved 720 through us already." "What?" "Holy shit." " $2500?" " Yeah." "When your next shipment drops, you should come in and sign a few copies." "Yeah." "Hey, how about an in-store performance, me and my band?" "That too." " Thanks, man." " Have a good day." "Well, I might take your walk-in cooler, depending upon the dimensions." "And the silverware, the flatware and the tablecloths I can definitely use." "Spoken like a man getting ready to open yet another restaurant." "It's a bad habit." "So how are you feeling?" "You all right?" "To be honest, the stress was making my hair fall out." "I just want to catch my breath." "You gonna stay here in New Orleans?" "Believe it or not, my SBA loan check finally came through." "Too little, too late for the restaurant, but I bought a trailer with a two-burner, grill, smoker." "No shit." "Do the guerrilla-chef thing for a while." "No overhead, no reservations, no fucking mortgage." "Just pull up to whatever nightclub or bar will have me for the weekend, cook my ass off." "I'm a pirate on the high seas." "You can't keep a good cook down." "My only mistake was not running for mayor!" "'Cause, you know, the city council isn't much of a platform to really move records." " Here you go." " Thanks, Davis." "Sit." " Where?" " I don't know." "So... so how do I follow this up?" "See, you have a chance to focus on a few key issues." "Nagin, Mitch, they're not talking about the real issues." "Real... real issues." "That..." "The notion of a smaller New Orleans, a smaller footprint." "Charity Hospital is still closed." "They put up fences around the projects." "Whole neighborhoods are being written off." "Nagin's talking about "chocolate city", but he's not pressing the feds to bring anybody home, no one is." " Definitely not." " And why won't the feds move?" "Because..." "Because... if New Orleans gets whiter, the state slides from purple to red." "So we write a song about the smaller footprint." "The culture of New Orleans, that's what's at risk." "If they knock out the infrastructure that sustains the culture, then it's gone forever." "Infrastructure." "Exactly." "Sustain... sustaining culture." "Man, you could hide a dead hooker in here and no one would know." "Infrastructure." "So... nothing really rhymes with "infrastructure."" "A bill a man... as promised." "What the fuck is this?" "It's what's called a check made out in your name." "Take it to your bank and cash it, baby." "My bank?" "Fuck I look like, Thurston Howell or some shit?" "You need to be paying us like musicians, man." "Cash money." "Look, this is how the clinic is doing this here, so calm the fuck down." " With a share for Danny." " What, now?" " That's bullshit." " Danny didn't show, man." " He took ill." " He did?" "But if it wasn't for his name, we wouldn't even have gotten this gig, all right?" "Last time a motherfucker tried to hand me a bank check, 1988." "There's a break in the fence over there." " You the one who called?" " I am." "Going live in 30." " Information, how may I help you?" " New Orleans Police Department?" " Emergency or not?" " Not an emergency, I guess." "When you get other buskers to contribute you've really done something." " That's true." " How are you?" "I'm good." "I was just thinking, I might know some boys who need a fiddle player." "Really?" " Just holler at me later on." " All right." "I will." "Thanks so much." "Thanks." "Thank you." " What's up?" " Nothing." "It don't make sense for the government to shut down 5,000 housing units, most of it undamaged by the storm, when people can't get home." "Are you hoping to be arrested?" " I expect to be." " Here they come!" "It's either that, or I expect them to reopen the Calliope." "Now if y'all will excuse me?" "Get that." " You gotta get these cameras gone." " Officer, what..." "If I ask you again, you're gonna take a charge, understand?" " Yes, sir." " Get me a wide shot." " You got that?" " All of it." "Are we rolling?" "Sir?" "Sir, these buildings are closed." "You can't be here." "Now would you step out, please?" "Need a place to stay." "Somewhere else, not here." "No need to yell through the door." "Sir, you need to vacate these apartments now." "So how about you grab whatever you need to take and let's go?" "I'm not leaving." "You know you're trespassing and we'll lock you up?" "This unit belongs to Pearline Cross." "I'm not trespassing." "I'm here with her permission." "This unit don't belong to Pearline Cross." "It belongs to the Housing Authority of New Orleans." "We need you to step outside." "What's your name, sir?" "Big Chief Albert Lambreaux," " Guardians of the Flame." "...Calliope projects, and the NOPD have just arrived on scene..." "Dr. Lee to neuro consult." "Dr. Lee, please report to neurology for a consult." "Dr. Johnson to radiology." "Piece of shit." "Pine Leaf Boys out of Lafayette." "Wilson Savoy, the accordion player, he's a buddy of mine." "The Pine Leaf Boys." "Cajun band, gettin' ready for a three-week Canadian tour." "You could be a Pine Leaf Girl for a few weeks." "You interested?" "Cajun violin?" "I..." "You're right." "You'll probably suck." "They probably won't hire you." "Or not." "What have you got to lose, anyway?" "A three-week tour, huh?" "I gotta talk to Sonny." "I figured." "Albert?" " Police ain't give you no hassle?" " No." "They just let us come straight up in here." "If they ain't locked you up yet, maybe they don't intend to." "No." "They waiting' for the right time." "Maybe they hoping those TV people will go away first." "Where you want me to set this up, Chief?" "Right here under the window." "Shit, if I'm going to be here a while," "I better figure out something new to say to them TV crews." "Man, you was all over the news last night." "This morning, too." "Shit, maybe we can really turn up the heat on these politicians, huh?" "Looky here, Chief!" "You gotta see this one here." "Well, who the fuck is that?" "I don't know, but somebody else got balls too." "Damn, Chief, see what you started?" "Three weeks in Canada?" "In support of their album." "They sell big in Québec." "Cajuns like to play with other Cajuns." "I know, I'm surprised to even be getting the audition." "You know Harley from Frenchmen Street?" "I think he talked me up with some friends of his in the band." "What am I gonna do without you for three weeks?" " Sonny?" " If you want to do it, you should do it." "I'll wait for you to come home." "What else am I gonna say?" " Batiste." " Troy, my man." " Where you coming from?" " From the Portland Jazz Fest." "Yeah, you know, this ain't no jazz festival or even a club, but, you know, pays the bills, bro." " One of them clinic gigs, huh?" " Yeah." " A bill a man." "But hey, it's work." " Hell, yeah." "Plus people need to hear y'all coming through this airport, for real." "Yeah." "Y'all want to blow something, man?" " No, James, you ain't got to do that, bro." " Yeah, let's do something." " Let's do something." " Yeah, all right." " Y'all follow me on this, huh?" " All right, all right." "Over here." "We ain't got to split this nine ways?" "No, baby, we ain't splitting shit." "Come on now." "We'll follow you, bro." "OK." "Yeah!" "Welcome to New Orleans, y'all!" " Hey!" " Lovely!" "Yeah!" "Police were drawn to this housing project because a Mardi Gras Indian chief cut through this fence behind me and occupied a unit over there." "Now this Indian chief says he will not leave until these apartments are reopened." " Earlier today, Albert Lambreaux..." " There you go." "A chief with one of the downtown Indian tribes, had this to say." "What sense does it make for the government" " to be sitting on all this housing..." " Yes, sir." "When so many people can't get home?" " That's right." "I need somebody to explain that to me." "And now others have taken up the protest as well, with squatters setting up in two other buildings..." " That's what I'm talking about." "...here at the BW Cooper project, and others, cutting a hole through the fence of the St. Bernard complex and occupying two units over there." "Oh, no." "Cray?" "Creighton?" "You're working on the novel." "That's great." "What are you doing out here?" "What's wrong with the study?" "Have you eaten yet?" "You wanna go out for a bite?" "Toni!" "Chief Lambreaux?" "Hell, no!" "We won't go!" "Let 'em know, Big Chief!" "Let 'em know!" "Chief Lambreaux, you mind if I come in and talk?" "If you can find it in yourself not to lock me up," "I can find it in myself to welcome you to my home." "You have my word." "Let's go, Chief!" "Chief's on that fiyo!" "Kind of a half-assed stand-off, if you ask me." "My people come and go as they please." "We're not looking to start anything here with y'all." "You look disappointed." "I'm Sergeant Maurice Thompson, Community Relations Division." "Community Relations?" "That's nice." "How can I help you, Sergeant?" "The mayor's office and Council President Thomas sent me here to say they want to resolve this without any real conflict." "Well, that's easily done." "Open the projects." "Federal government's got control of these projects." " You know this." " Yeah, they keep saying." "It don't make no sense that nobody in New Orleans is fighting the feds on this one." "What does that tell you?" "If people wanted the housing projects to reopen..." "I mean if voters wanted it, you'd see the politicians falling all over each other to demand it." "But the people who vote in this town, black and white both, they've been awfully quiet on this thing so far, don't you think?" "If you want to spend another night here to drive your point home, we ain't gonna bother you." "But come tomorrow afternoon, we're gonna have to treat this as a criminal trespass." "And you and anyone here with you is going to jail." "Well, thank you for your visit, Sergeant." "And come again." "Dr. Koch to the ER." "Paging Dr. Wasserman." "Hi." "Coffee." "Set it down." "Oh, you got some pages done." " They're shit." " Can I read?" "Why would you want to read it if I just told you they were shit?" "What the fuck am I doing here anyway?" "I don't even know." "Maybe you want to leave this alone until after Mardi Gras." " Will I be 20 years younger after Mardi Gras?" " What?" "Toni, just let me do my work, will you, please?" "I made your favorite." "Crab bisque." "You are sweet." "This is my neighbor Souleymane." " Chef Janette." " How are you, Chef?" " Nice to meet you." " Nice to meet you." "This is your new kitchen!" "Yeah." "No staff, no silverware." "Just me and my propane." "I'm gonna be at Bacchanal this weekend." "I could use a hand, if you want an adventure." "Very kind of you to offer, but I'm working the grill at Bayona." " Oh, Jacques, that's great." " Yeah." "Oh, I knew you'd get snapped up." "Well, it won't be the same." "They'll probably pay you more than I could afford." " You'll be making what you're worth." " But not the same." "Yeah." "Here's a copy of the order signed by Judge Gatling." "Well, your timing's pretty good anyway." "The state just completed this a few weeks back." "Every Orleans Parish prisoner currently housed outside the parish." "Photographs and fingerprints." " Every one?" " 527 total." "We need to look at every face." "I need you to fill out this form indicating that you won't disclose any confidential information except as a means of locating Mr. Brooks." "You can tell the sheriff his ass is fully covered." "Hope you find him, ma'am." "I truly mean that." "Thank you, Deputy." "Let's do this." "Let's get it done." "One-nine." "Ten-four." "Ten-four." "Two-fifty." "We have..." "Davis McAlary." "Judge Williams." "I am indeed." "Summoned to lunch by a New Orleans judge." " I'm a fan." "I hope you'll sign that for me." " No problem." "You've been having fun the last few weeks, Davis." "That business of Greased Palm Sunday." "Of course, not everyone thinks of the election as a joke." "I don't think it's a joke." "How long have you lived in New Orleans?" "You've sold some CDs." "Now, don't you think it's time to stand down, let the people of District C focus on the serious choice they have to make?" "Oh, it's on me." "Trout Baquet, a side of red beans and a Budweiser." "The gumbo for me, with iced tea." "Wait, Judge, I'm confused." "Why exactly are you buying me lunch?" "Because, Davis, it's a horse race in District C, and you're siphoning votes from the candidate that our organization is supporting." "Whose poll shows that?" "Jeez." "What?" "4.3%?" "Most of which comes at the expense of our man." "Which is who?" "Your little musicale can mean the difference between him being in the runoff or not." "So I am here to offer you something." "A bribe?" "Sweet!" "You know what that is?" " A business card." " No, Davis." "That is a "get out of jail free" card." "Next time you find yourself in trouble, and you being a musician, we know there's always a next time, you call Judge Williams." "That's my cell number on the back." "Wait, so you're saying... if I quit the city council race..." "Then you have a new friend." "Do we have a deal?" "Yes." "What's up, y'all?" "Thanks for giving me a shot, guys." "No problem." "Harley there said you're pretty good at that country stuff." "So let's jam." "He's being kind." "Well, Cedric's my number-one call when it comes to Pine Leaf gigs, but from time to time he's out with Eddie Poullard and we need a sub." "And being a girl ain't gonna hurt nothing." "Well, I hope I can do it justice." "Well, how about we try Homage A Poullard?" "All right, let's do it." "I think I'm missing the one." " I'm sorry." " It's a little tricky." "I'll show you where to come in." "Watch." "I'm sorry, guys." "I'm playing terrible." "It's not about the notes." "It's about the feeling of the music." "I know I can play better than this." "I'm just guessing now, but... you have trouble in your heart?" "Yeah, a little bit." "Well, why don't you get it together and we'll hear you another time?" "Yeah." "Don't worry about it." "Don't even worry about it." "This can't be all of them." "If Daymo was in custody, his photo would be here under any name in any parish." "We would have seen his photo." "So where is he, then?" "Are they hiding him from us?" "No, they don't want a judge to hold them in contempt." "Then what?" "If he'd been released..." "He would have come home." "He would have called Mama." "Deputy, is there a master list of OPP inmates who died in custody since Katrina?" "I can get it." "Might take me a little time, but I can get it for you." "Please." "We deserve a home!" "They getting ready to do something." "Y'all fellas got to leave." " Nobody leaving." " We got what we came here for." "It's time for me to do that jail walk and drive the point home." "No need for all y'all to go with me now." "Just go home." "Keep sewing." "Mardi Gras won't wait." "And be there with my bail money tomorrow." "All right?" "We deserve a home!" "Apparently, the original protester, Albert Lambreaux..." "Y'all weren't doing nothing wrong." "Go back in!" "Fuck the police!" "It's time to end this!" "Will you vacate or do we have to take the door down?" "It's unlocked." "Will you step outside?" "No, sir, I will not." "Down on your knees, hands on your head." "You're under arrest." "On your knees, hands on your head." "You're under arrest." "I won't kneel down." "You want to handcuff me?" "Go ahead." "Motherfucker, you don't decide how you go to jail." "We decide how you go to jail." "On your fucking knees." " Oh, yeah." " Fuck that Injun shit." "Stop resisting!" "Stop resisting!" "Stay down!" "Stay down!" "He won't be here under his own name." "I've checked with DMORT every week since the storm." "So how we gonna know, then?" "He might be a John Doe or under a different name." "I don't know." "You ready to do this?" "That's my cousin's name." "Jerome Cherry." "And he ain't dead." "I seen him over Christmas." "LaDonna, has Daymo ever used your cousin's name?" "What?" "What if Daymo said he was Jerome Cherry?" "Why would he do that?" "Maybe he thought taking another name would get him released, like Keevon White did to him." "Your cousin Jerome has never been in trouble with the law, I bet." "Boy was damn near raised in a church." "You see?" "Daymo got locked up because there was a bench warrant on David Maurice Brooks." "After he lost his wristband, maybe he gave himself another name, one with no criminal record." "That says, "Family notified." "Body unclaimed."" "What family?" "Who'd they notify?" "I don't understand what the fuck's going on." "They got my brother's body somewhere under somebody else's name?" "We can't know for sure." "We'll drive over to DMORT tomorrow." "In St. Gabriel?" "No, they moved it to Carville, 70 miles west of us." "LaDonna?" "We're gonna have to look at this body." "Coming." "Hold on." "I cooked for you." "Stuffed mirlitons, spinach salad and a bottle of Malbec." "You went by the restaurant, huh?" "Why didn't you tell me?" "What is there to say?" "Janette, I'm sorry." "Yeah, no more free meals at the bar." "I'm sorry for you, darlin'." "Christ." "Oh, yeah, still no electric down here, no drywall, nobody doing any work on it at all." "I guess I should be embarrassed, living like this." "I'm not company, Janette." "I'm your friend." "With benefits." "With or without." "Come on." "We can eat upstairs." "Creighton Bernette here, still in New Orleans, which is still where you left it." "I'm sorry if I'm making a pest of myself here." "I would hate to exacerbate any growing sense of "Katrina fatigue" in the country at large." "Perhaps you've experienced this "Katrina fatigue"" "if you watch TV or read your hometown paper." "I mean, it was fun for a while being outraged at the national response." "And the pictures from the Dome and the Convention Center were shocking." "Anderson Cooper was here." "Katie Couric too." "But now we're on our own." "And here's the thing." "For a while, I thought we could rely on our sense of ourselves, on the fact that we were, regardless of race, class or color," "New Orleanians first and last." "But there's an election coming, right?" "And no way a shared sense of purpose is gonna survive a New Orleans election." "Right?" "Now there are people openly delighted with the fact that thousands of exiles, most of them black, won't be able to vote." "Meanwhile our incumbent mayor, sensing this, talks crudely about New Orleans remaining a "chocolate city."" "Meanwhile, a bunch of idiot planners are busy running around putting green dots on maps deciding which neighborhoods they think ought to go back to cypress swampland." "And, oh yeah, while no one was looking, they just laid off every single schoolteacher in Orleans Parish because no one's plans apparently included the public school system." "So, America, if you're feeling guilty for your Katrina fatigue," "I'm here to put things into perspective." "It's not all about you." "Really." "Because down here in the city of misrule, we are, always... our own worst enemy." "He's good." "He's better than me." "What?" "Well, he's better than you today." "That much is true." "I did the best I could." "Even if I didn't, I can't do that." " What's that?" " Dad's new rant." "He put it up last night." "Kinda harsh." "Last night?" "Up late?" "How'd you do?" "You get any pages?" "Yeah." "Yeah, some." "Book coming along?" "Yeah." "I'm going to Carville." "I'll be back this evening." " All these trucks got bodies?" " Yes, ma'am." "Jerome Cherry's body has been here since September?" "No, not here." "St. Gabriel and then here." "You need to be with me." "I know." "OK, OK." "It's OK." "This is David Maurice Brooks." "And you've had him here under the wrong name for nearly five months." "He was brought from the Galvez Parish coroner and this is the name on the death certificate." " May I see the death certificate?" " Sure." ""Cause of death - cerebral hemorrhage." ""Manner of death - accident." ""Fall from top bunk."" "Tell me something." "How is it that a young man can be sent to a distant parish, die in custody, be autopsied, and lay in a morgue for months without anyone figuring out who he is?" "I didn't even know it was this bad." " Hey, boo." " Hey." " How you doin'?" " I'm OK." "He wasn't in much pain." "No, doesn't seem so." "I got something for you, though." "Come on." "Daddy would want you to have it." "That's the last horn your daddy played." "That's supposed to be in the family." "This your boy?" "Lamar." "Maybe you gonna play some horn, huh?" "You gonna second-line back, right?" "Your father would be spinnin' if I did anything else today." "OK." "So, have you specified a funeral home?" "LaDonna?" "I know a funeral home that..." "I ain't doin' this now." "I know how you feel, but..." "Daymo been here five months." "He could be here another few days, right?" "Ain't no thing you keep him a little longer." "Ma'am?" "I am not bringing this news home to my family during Carnival." "My mama just got out the damn emergency room." "The rest of her family coming in from Baton Rouge to be with her." "No." "I'm not doing it." "Come Wednesday, I'll handle all this." "I'll deal with the funeral parlor, with everything I have to deal with." "But right now, no." "That's 12 and 6, 18." "Two shrimp." "Two shrimp." "Sarah?" "And two is your change." "Your name?" " Ethan." " Ethan." "Thanks." "Order in." "Lamb shanks, gazpacho." "That makes three lamb shanks, two gazpacho all day." "OK, sweetbreads and a bisque." " Ronda?" " We are caught up." "You are rocking it, my lady." "Not gonna ditch me and go sit in with the band, are you?" "Not a chance." "Hey, Dominique." " Any problems?" " We've had a quiet day." "Well, thanks for staying, honey." " OK." "You OK?" " Yeah." "Just tired." " LaDonna." " Hey, Ma." "I thought you was in Baton Rouge." "No, I been at the bar all day." " All right, I'm gonna go." " Thanks, honey." " See you later, Miss Brooks." " All right, dear." "I don't need to be baby-sitted." "Did you talk to the lawyer?" "Did they find Daymo?" "No, they didn't." "Well, what happens now?" "When I find out, I'll let you know, Ma."