All photos courtesy of http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/treme/news/302847 & http://kirkhamilton.com/2010/04/13/treme-do-you-know-what-it-means/
All Saints Day...November 1, 2006...14 months later...Pay respects to the dead!
Season Two opens with a young boy and his trumpet. What initially sounds like scales turns out to be "When the Saints Go Marching In" and it prompts his mother to yell "take it down the street for a while, you're working my last nerve!"
Brocato's reopened, other businesses are slow! Frenchmen Street is still musicians row! Crime is WAY up, more murders unaccounted for. Folks are still protesting and marching for a better New Orleans...and letting it all hang out on Mardi Gras Day!
New York, New York...a helluva town!
Janette works as a line cook for an arrogant, hot-tempered chef and she now shares an apartment with two other chefs in Carroll Gardens/Gowanus, Brooklyn. And from the looks of things, her troubles from NOLA have followed her all the way to The Big Apple. Jacques, her former sous chef, is brought in for a traffic stop because he didn't have his papers. She's robbed on Thanksgiving Day by a one night stand. And back in NOLA, while Davis picks up Janette's mail, he discovers that her home is in the process of being robbed! Celebrated food writer Alan Richman writes a scathing review about The Big Easy's food and culture, doubting that it was ever any good to begin with! Just as Janette decides to quit her oppressive job, Richman just happens to be dining at her restaurant that night and she decides to throw a sazerac in his face--BRILLIANT! Janette, now a pop culture legend on the Internet, lands a job at La Bernardin, but she ultimately leaves and finds her true creative passion at David Chang's experimental restaurant, which caters to other chefs!
Delmond Lambreaux plays alongside The Christian Scott Quintet in NYC. After Delmond's performance, some of NYs "elitists" rips both Preservation Hall and Dixieland jazz (calling it "minstrel"). "Nola's in everything we play," Delmond says along with a few brilliant expletives! Now he's back home in NOLA for Thanksgiving and he sees his father, Albert, living and working out of a van. Moe, the bar owner, soon returns throwing Albert completely off. Albert leaves the bar and continues to work on his house and waits for government assistance from programs like Road Home and insurance money, a "whopping" $495, to help fix his home. Albert's is one of 90,000 applications for the Road Home grant assistance program and ultimately, his application is denied because the deed was in his wife's name, who died in 2003 (long BEFORE Hurricane Katrina!) As he does odd jobs around NOLA for extra cash, such as putting the finishing plaster touches on other homes, it's more than obvious that Albert "Big Chief" Lambreaux feels nothing like a "chief" given his circumstances. He's surrounded by family and friends on Thanksgiving Day and yet he's completely miserable. Delmond cannot bear to see his father so unhappy.
Delmond returns to New York to perform with his band and discovers a whole new world of cyberspace (Facebook, Myspace, iTunes) that hasn't been tapped into to promote his new jazz album. After a heated argument between Delmond and his manager, as he insists that jazz will not sell regardless of promotion, Delmond immediately fires him. "300 years of music, from Bach to Stravinsky is standard repertoire, but Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and Louis are obsolete," Delmond says to his girlfriend while listening to "Tom Cat Blues." While she insists that this music is dated, Delmond argues that it was popular in its day and wants to explore what made it so popular. During Mardi Gras, when Delmond hears Quincy Jones' Killer Joe playing along with chants of "Shallow Water Oh Mama" from the Mardi Gras Indians, that's what inspires him to ultimately record a modern jazz record combined with the Afro-Native American culture of New Orleans. But in order do make this happen, he needs the help of his father, Albert "Big Chief" Lambreaux. (Check out Donald Harrison's classic hybrid album Indian Blues!)
A local NOLA filmmaker wants to do a film about Albert and the Mardi Gras Indians, but he's stubborn to the core and immediately refuses. While Albert stays in Houston with his daughter Davina, he soon heads to NYC to help Delmond finish his suit for Mardi Gras. But we soon learn that Delmond was actually sewing for Albert's suit, in hopes that he would walk the parade with his fellow Guardians of the Flame. Albert not only walks proudly in his beautiful white feathers, but he soon finds, let's say some "spiritual" inspiration with the filmmaker...in Delmond's hotel room: "I told you I was the prettiest!"
Her footage not only captures the making of this seminal record with legends like Donald Harrison, Jr., Dr. John, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts and Ron Carter, who gets a few "pointers" from "Big Chief" Albert, but she takes both Delmond and Albert to the Brooklyn Museum to look at the African head pieces on display, capturing the lineage of the Afro-Native American culture of New Orleans.
Sofia misses her father, Tulane professor Creighton Burnette, who in Season One committed suicide by jumping off of a gulf coast ferry. Almost immediately, Sofia continued her dad's legacy with shocking socio-political commentary on YouTube. But in addition, this barely 16 year-old is staying out all night at bars and drinking with older men. Sofia and Toni were once inseparable and now they're completely at odds with one another. Her one "healthy" outlet is YouTube, as she gives "voice to her father" through shock value. When one of her high school teachers, Mr. Wayman, committed suicide, a fellow teacher approaches Sofia and to console her. She never knew the full truth on how her father died, so that prompted her to retrace his steps that day on the ferry and learn the horrible truth on what really happened to him. And it only makes matters for her much worse. Davis finds her drunk with some older guy at a bar on Mardi Gras night and he thankfully takes her back to his home and calls a beyond worried Toni. And soon after, she gets arrested for carrying drugs and drinking in a stolen car with older guys. Sofia and Toni finally talk about Creighton's suicide: "Why didn't I see it coming?" Toni yells and cries in the street. They soon hug, but it's going to take a long time for Toni and Sofia to ever feel like a family again.
Davis is still working at WKOZ! Inspired by playing bounce music nonstop! Still hilarious, he does a rush clean of his messy apartment for fiddler Annie, his new girlfriend, as she returns from tour. Annie's a much stronger, in demand player this season as she performs with everyone from Shawn Colvin to John Boutte. At the "Trial by Water" exhibit where Annie plays, she discovers that there's a photo of how her junky ex Sonny saved a baby on the roof during Katrina. Annie struggles to write her first song and when she does, her friend Harley points out that it sounds a lot like a Bob Dylan song. But Annie soon finds inspiration listening to other musicians create and perform their songs and she eventually writes a beautiful song and finds the courage to share it in front of folks on Frenchmen Street. While they were walking home soon after their performance, Harley was robbed and shot to death in front of Annie.
Aunt Mimi joins Davis at a local NOLA bounce show with none other than Big Freedia ! And Aunt Mimi feels right at home! Davis begs his Aunt Mimi to front him the $5,000 so he can start his own record label. Aunt Mimi even lures in rapper/producer Mannie Fresh to contribute a track on Davis's music sampler. But when his new frontman, Lil Calliope (Ace B.) steals the spotlight from Davis, has Davis lost his shot at becoming the infamous musician that he was destined to be?
Ladonna, who still works at her bar, considers live music to liven things up for business has been slow. While closing up the bar one late night, two teens badly attack and rape her. "Does she carry any type of insurance?" is the first thing that the nurse asks as she's carried into the ER. Her husband is furious, but Ladonna chooses to not tell him about her being raped. To see her take STD and pregnancy prevention drugs is heartbreaking. She's now become paranoid and drinks excessively. Ladonna soon meets with the detective again to ID the man who raped and assaulted her--the man that they ultimately arrested. But the DA soon blurts out Ladonna's secret of being raped in front of her husband. He wants her to sell the bar and although she doesn't want to, Ladonna, understandably, cannot move past what happened to her.
Antoine and Desiree want a house: "Get a job job" Desiree says to Antoine. Antoine has regular gigs now, but one performance inspires him to start his own band: Antoine Baptiste and his Soul Apostles. Johnny Taylor, Solomon Burke, old school! "Music that don't get played no more...but people wished that they did b/c you can shake yo ass to it!"
Desiree gets Antoine an interview at her school for the Assistant Bandleader position. When Antoine arrives at the school of "unruly Bebe's Kids," he hops right back in the cab and takes off! But Desiree reschedules his appointment and he gets the job. Most of the kids don't even have instruments. To see the students jump at the sound of thunder, thinking that another Katrina lurks around the corner, is especially humbling. Antoine teaches the children about the history of jazz and how it was born in New Orleans by listening to innovators like Louis Armstrong. They watch the musicians at Mardi Gras to learn. As Antoine tells Desiree that he wishes his sons played instruments, he begins to pour his energy into the classroom, particularly into the young boy with the trumpet who opened the new season.
By day, Antoine's an assistant bandleader, but by night, he's a "working" musician!!As he rehearses with his newly formed band, Antoine's honesty and humor is so effortless that you forget he's playing a character! But reality settles in as one of his musicians is accidentally murdered. The emotional eulogy from his sister, the second line that sends him "home," and all of the musicians raising their instruments in the air as they put the casket in the carriage transcends the show and feels like an actual funeral service, making it almost difficult to watch.
Developer Nelson Hidalgo arrives from Dallas, TX. He sees "gold" in New Orleans and his opportunistic greed shines through as he "wants to be made a king." He gets haulers to help do his dirty work...cheap labor! He even has city officials in his back pocket (literally) who help him further in his goals to buy up New Orleans. As he worms in his way into the town, he ultimately convinces folks to sell their homes. Regardless if they sell or not, the acquisition already seems to be a done deal.
Some of this season's featured musicians: John Boutte, Hot 8 Brass Band, Big Freedia, Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, Manny Fresh, Rebirth Brass Band, Juvenile, Ron Carter, Christian Scott, Dr. John, Donald Harrison, Jr., Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, and many more!
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