Treme & Why New Orleans Matters: Writer Tom Piazza

NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW

Author Tom Piazza has written 12 books, many of which feature New Orleans, music, or both. His post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Mattershelped to inspire the HBO show Treme, and the show's co-creator David Simon brought him on as a staff writer largely because of it. Tom received a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey and has also written for numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Oxford American.

I met with Tom at the historic Columns Hotel in New Orleans to talk about his work and the city that has shaped so much of it. Some of the things we discuss in the episode include

• Highlights from the 50th anniversary of Jazz Fest
• How to write about a place like a local
• What not to do when writing music criticism
• Research that went into his album notes for Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues
• How the writing room on Treme worked together to flesh out challenging story points

Sponsor for this Episode nsavides productions – I make videos and tell stories. This is the video I put together to commemorate The Rayo Brothers' performance at Jazz Fest 2018. For part of their set they were joined by Grammy-winning musician Louis Michot from the Lost Bayou Ramblers. This wedding video I shot includes some classic New Orleans elements including Brennan's, where Bananas Foster was invented; the Pontchartrain Hotel, where Tennessee Williams worked on his play Streetcar Named Desire; streetcars; and jazz. More of my videos are here. # Say hello: [e-mail]

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Related Episodes

One of the bands featured in Tremeis Papa Gros Funk. On this episode I interviewed the filmmakers behind Do U Want It, a documentary about the band that focuses on their final performances before their indefinite hiatus.

This episode features an interview with Laura Cayouette, a New Orleanian actress who played Kay, a recurring character on Treme. Laura is often recognized for her role in Django Unchained, where she played the sister of Leonardo DiCaprio's character.

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Related Things

• Tom's site
• Tremeon Amazon Prime
• An Unofficial Guide to Tremeon the Beyond Bourbon St. podcast
• The Columns Hotel
• A blog post I wrote on Martin Scorsese, which includes some discussion on the blues series for which Tom did the liner notes.

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

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Books Mentioned

• An American Dream by Norman Mailer
• City of Refugeby Tom Piazza
• Invisible Manby Ralph Ellison
• La Vita Nuovaby Dante
• The Sound and the Furyby William Faulkner
• Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listenby Tom Piazza
• Why New Orleans Mattersby Tom Piazza

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Musicians Mentioned

• Barbecue Bob
• Bill Monroe
• Bob Dylan
• Bonnie Raitt
• The Carter family
• Diana Krall
• Elvis Costello
• Hank Williams
• Jimmie Rodgers
• John Prine
• Muddy Waters

# Shows Mentioned

• Deadwood
• Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey
• Treme
• The Wire

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