A brass band funeral in Atlanta

[jeffcrom]

Today a contingent from the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra "played home" Ria Pell, the much-beloved Atlanta chef, gay rights activist, and character, who died unexpectedly earlier this week. We played played strictly from the New Orleans brass band repertoire, rather than our usual jazz/funk/klezmer/Afropop music. It was quite an experience and quite a funeral. Here's a picture from the Atlanta Journal/Constitution website:

The heavily bearded grand marshal, just behind the hearse, is Ria's friend and fellow Atlanta chef Jim Stacy. Look carefully at the length of the procession of marchers behind the band - the line extended a good bit further out of the frame of the picture. There were well over a thousand attendees. It was something.