Treme

I'm now on C.O.D. with every one of our suppliers.

We're gonna have to suspend operations.

That's satire. That's good.

But you have a chance to raise some serious questions.

I do?

Your publisher wants this book desperately,

because of the storm. This is an opportunity.

I'll finish the damn novel.

That's a real fine horn.

I'm putting together a good group,

greeting folks as they're coming into town.

We were able to get a trailer for you, sir.

Y'all want me to put my gang

In one fema trailer?

Get the hell out of this bar.

The centerpiece of the krewe du vieux parade

Is a giant papier mache replica of our illustrious mayor.

- This is over the top. - Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

I'm supposed to watch you get high all day

And then say no when people want me on real gigs

Because you're worried it might ruin what we're doing on the street?

You arrested him for running a red light?

No, for the warrant.

The affidavit from your citation book...

There'd be a carbon of it.

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 beaurocratic incompetence,

of southern laziness,

of any effectual 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 Dufosset.

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.

Now once I'm set up in there, you call the T.V. station,

- Let 'em know. - Police too?

The reporters first and then the police.

Hmm.

Look at this.

What'd I tell you?

Some of the best-constructed buildings in the city.

Hmm.

A little bit of mold and dust.

But otherwise...

You sure your mama's all right with this, ronnie?

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.

You can call me if you need something to eat, chief.

Mmm-hmm.

"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...

"its 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 sack cloth 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. Uh, 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.

Oh.

One, two,

Uh uh uh.

Cha-ching!

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 1,000.

Dude, second pressing. I've never sold 1,000 of anything.

Well, you've moved 720 through us already.

What?

Holy shit.

2500 dollars?

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 s.B.A. 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? - Oh.

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 hospitals too. 'cause 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.