In New Orleans, more specifically the historical Treme neighborhood, the same activities are taking place, only this party is of a completely different nature: the people are awaiting the annual parade of The Treme Sidewalk Steppers Social Aide & Pleasure Club. At the corner of N. Robertson and Ursulines, where the parade is due to kick off at 1 p.m., brass band music intermingled with old school R&B and hard core rap is blasted from Joe's Cozy Corner and various shiny sport utility vehicles. Impromptu food vendors hawk their wares, each boasting the best in barbecue, the sweetest of candy apples, the tastiest "yaka-mein" and ice cold bottled beer at the cheapest of prices. Super Bowl XXXII is hours away - and the last thing on the second line followers minds at the moment.
At the center of all this hullabaloo, of course, are the musicians, for they are the life force of these spectacular, mobile block parties. Just as you can't serve up a respectable gumbo without a good roux, you can not have a successful parade unless you've got the best of music.
Enter the ReBirth Brass Band.
Over the heads of several hundred people crowding the tiny intersection you can't help but see, bobbing up and down and gleaming in the radiant sunshine, the huge bell of Philip "Tuba Love" Frazier's sousaphone. The ReBirth Brass Band's founder, leader and low-end specialist has arrived, a signal that the fun is about to begin. "There he is!" shouts one avid parade follower. "That's the man right there - oh yeah, we gonna get down today! Alright Phil!!!"
Indeed: The ReBirth Brass Band, established in 1983, has been the uptown and downtown social aid and pleasure club favorite for nearly 15 years, endlessly supplying the working class people of the SAPCs with funky driving beats that take them on miles-long treks through the various Black neighborhoods of New Orleans. The ReBirth, with very few exceptions, are the centerpiece of the second line parades each and every Sunday from late August through mid-April, the official SAPC season. Though many clubs have more than one band - most notably the New Birth & Li'l Rascals Brass Bands, most organizations book the ReBirth for their occasion months, sometimes a full year, in advance.
"Yeah, they really love us for some reason," says Frazier, somewhat baffled and awed by the attention his band receives every Sunday. "It's like they want to work hard, even if they have the day off from their job. They say, `Phil, I want my feet to be hurting!' So we do our best to move `em the way they like to be moved."
The weekly parades also help the ReBirth stay on the front line of the latest street aesthetic. Riffs from the latest rap hits and spirited, spontaneous chants from the second-liners often evolve into full-blown tunes that have become parade standards. Case in point: "Do Whatcha Wanna" from their record "Feel Like Funkin' It Up" (1989, Rounder). Phil reminisces: "We were doing a parade and this guy, he's a wild man, a neighborhood elder, named Tyrone Miller. Every time we [Frazier & former member Kermit Ruffins] saw this guy on our way to school in the morning or out cruising around, he'd yell out at us, `Do Whatcha Wanna!" and we thought, `Hmm, he's got something there!' So next thing we know, I come up with a bass line out of my head and we got our biggest hit right there, just from this old guy standing on the corner! Now wherever we go, even in Europe and Japan, people are yelling `Do Whatcha Wanna!!!' New Orleans music really has a way of gettin' around the world. Our music starts in the street, but we never know where it's going to end up."
The ReBirth however, is not limited to second line parades when it comes to making people move. For seven years, their standing Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf Bar uptown has been the scene for a wild, often mind boggling, bacchanalia. In a stark contrast to the second lines - which serves to demonstrate the band's broad appeal - this capacity crowd is comprised mostly of students from nearby Tulane and Loyola universities. "Tuesday nights are always poppin' around here. ReBirth racks `em in week after week - hot or cold, rain or shine," states the bar's manager Hank Staples, not just a little amazed.
The band is also a featured artist at nightclubs and music festivals stateside and worldwide, bringing the spirit of Mardi Gras to all corners of the globe including Europe, Japan, and South America. The Montreaux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival felt strongly enough about the group to state in their official program guide: "God, in his great clemency, created the Earth, Louis Armstrong, the Neville Brothers and ReBirth!"
Synonymous with the good time vibe of New Orleans, the ReBirth delivers the raucous, rowdy feeling one would expect from a lost weekend in the Crescent City. It's no wonder then that their latest CD is entitled "We Come To Party" [1997, Shanachie]. But don't be misled: what seems to be perpetually "of the moment" is actually the result of years of dedication and serious thought about what goes into their music.
"When people come to see us play," explains Phil, "they have big expectations. They want to forget about their troubles, their bills, their losses, their pain. That's what we strive for, making folks feel good regardless of what they're going through in their lives. And that's hard work, I'm tellin' ya, to try and please all the people all the time."
The Treme Sidewalk Steppers are ending their parade right where it started. The club members, glorious in their brown and gold suits, fans and accessories, are pumping it hard to make the last few blocks as the ReBirth beats out "Feet Can't Fail Me Now." Judging by the faces in the crowd, which is at least 2000 strong now, the ReBirth has managed to attain their goal of satisfying the hunger of the people starved for a good time, at least until next Sunday.
