RIP Donna's

[jeffcrom]

Depressing news for all of us who love New Orleans music: Donna's has closed its doors for the last time. Donna and Charlie have had enough, for reasons given here. There are now no music clubs on historic North Rampart Street.

Donna's opened sometime in the early 1990s, and I have spent many hours on a barstool there since. It was always a warm, welcoming place - you felt like family when you walked in. And I heard some amazing music there - Tom McDermott, Evan Christopher, Wendell Brunious, Kermit Ruffins, Bob French, Davell Crawford, Henry Butler. Donna's was known for brass band music - I heard the Algiers, Pin Stripe, Chosen Few, Mahogany, Treme, Hot 8, and Hurricane Brass Bands there.

In the early days you had to walk through whatever brass band was playing to get to the rest rooms. You never knew who would show up to sit in - Leroy Jones, Nicholas Payton, David Torkanowsky, Kermit, musicians visiting from Europe. One night Tom McDermott was playing with the young band Loose Marbles when veteran trumpeter Jack Fine came in and sat at the bar. He stayed there all night with his horn on the bar, and whenever he felt like it, he'd pick up the trumpet and join in from his barstool.

There were periods when it seemed like the city was trying to close down the joint on one pretext or another, so Donna was always sensitive to accusations of drug use in her club. I was there when a young man took Kermit Ruffins' song "Light Up" a little too seriously and lit up a joint. Donna, who was not young even then, came over the bar like some kind of action hero and had the guy out the door in seconds.

Donna's husband Charlie manned the kitchen. I still think his barbecue ribs were the best I ever had.

North Rampart Street is back to being a wasteland. I'm very sad today - RIP Donna's.

[papsrus]

That is depressing news Jeff. I'm just home for a second, but I'll check your link as to the reasons for the closing later.

As you know, when I went by in the summer there was a sign on the door that said, "Closed, Gone Fishing." At the time, for whatever reason the sign didn't give the impression of a temporary closing, although I assume it opened again after that for the summer at least. Seems the seed was already planted though.

James

[papsrus]

Jeff, do you know why on earth the city of New Orleans has put a moratorium on issuing new licenses for live music venues? And is that moratorium confined to North Rampart, or is the restriction more widespread? There must be some logic behind it, but on its face this seems like a really bad, bad idea.

I can sympathize with the situation Donna and her husband, Charlie, now find themselves in. Broken down building, uninterested landlord, health issues, the demands of her second job. Sad nonetheless.

[jeffcrom]

Jeff, do you know why on earth the city of New Orleans has put a moratorium on issuing new licenses for live music venues? And is that moratorium confined to North Rampart, or is the restriction more widespread? There must be some logic behind it, but on its face this seems like a really bad, bad idea.

In recent years there's been tension between clubs and neighborhood residents. In New Orleans, everything's mixed together; once you get away from Bourbon Street, clubs and bars, with or without music, are often in residential neighborhoods. Neighborhood residents, often new arrivals, have been fighting new, or even existing, music clubs. The Little Peoples' Place, a neighborhood bar in Treme, had music for years, until that section of Treme started to get gentrified; complaints from newer residents got live music taken out. I don't know all the details - I'm not sure The Little Peoples' Place had the proper license. But in any case, they had provided music to the neighborhood for years. Even now there's a neighborhood organization in Faubourg Marigny, the neighborhood containing Frenchmen Street, that wants to have at least some of the clubs on Frenchmen closed. (For those who haven't been to New Orleans for awhile, Frenchmen Street has become the musical heart of the city.)

I can see being upset at moving into a quiet neighborhood only to have a disco open next door. It's another matter to move into a neighborhood and expect it to change to suit you. I don't know how all of this is going to shake down, but there are plenty of elements in the city who realize that music is the most important resource New Orleans has. It's what keeps guys like me and you visiting and spending money.

[king ubu]

There ought to be laws against gentrification! Happens to my neighbourhood as I type this... one house after another is torn down, all the land- and house-owners are in is a lot of $$$ and they get it... but everything just dies... instead you get new SUVs, 3000-5000$ a month flats and crap like that... don't we love it?

[Teasing the Korean]

You guys scared me for minute. I thought that the Donnas were breaking up.

[Christiern]

Only Ma Donna, but she is taking something for it.

[jeffcrom]

In "talking" to a Facebook friend about New Orleans brass bands and Donna's tonight, I had a realization about why that little bar was so special to me. Not only did I love Donna's - I felt loved there.