And now New Orleans musicians will have one:
- She rode to the lounge in a pink limousine, cradling the box that held her husband's ashes. Inside the bar, under a ceiling of paper stars, she placed the box on a table that would serve as a shrine: There were candles, ceramic angels and an album cover showing the Ink Spots, the fabled quartet he had toured with for 20 years. Overseeing the tableau was a pink-suited mannequin arranged on a rattan throne draped with Christmas tinsel.
Here at the Ernie K-Doe Mother-in-Law Lounge lie the ashes of vocalist Lloyd Washington, who was 83 when he died of cancer in June. His shrine, a tribute by friends and fans, is a makeshift response to a sad and familiar problem: How to bury with dignity the artists who have enriched the musical legacy of this city but not themselves.
Like Washington, many of New Orleans' musicians never have seen a royalty check. Some are buried in a paupers' cemetery that is pocked with trash and crumbling, homemade tombstones.
Washington's widow, Hazel, wouldn't hear of such a thing. She'd sooner cast his ashes to the wind — and might have if friends hadn't talked her out of it. So, Hazel brought his ashes to the shrine, then went home to grieve and await some sort of resolution.
It came in the form of Paul Barbarin, heir to a large family tomb and part of a New Orleans musical dynasty.
In a room at the Mother-in-Law lounge, with a bust of rumba-boogie pianist Professor Longhair nearby, Barbarin recently signed documents to grant use of his family's tomb to local musicians — rich or poor — who register to be buried there.
The Barbarins' musical roots in New Orleans date to the 1800s, when patriarch Isidore Barbarin played alto-horn and mellophone in the Excelsior Brass Band. Paul Barbarin, 73, is named after an uncle who died while leading a brass band in a Mardi Gras parade. More recently, his nephew — jazz trombonist Lucien Barbarin — has worked with Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr.
....Six of the eighteen vaults in the 20-foot-high Barbarin family tomb will be reserved for musicians, Florence said. Most crypts here are built above ground because the water table is so high. And with space at a premium, they often are reused. By law and tradition, a casket can be reopened a year and a day after interment. The remains may be removed and placed in a bag, which goes in a common area inside the tomb. This makes room for a new coffin.
Article comments
1 - Ernie Dunn
That is a great post. Thanks for putting that up. Makes me want to go to New Orleans this November actually.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Ernie! I thought it was interesting news and there's always something special about New Orleans: they don't seem to do anything the same way as everyone else.