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Right Time, Wrong Place
Season 1, Episode 03

Musically speaking, episode 3 is a toss-up between piano players and Mardi Gras Indians – and the piano players win, by a hair. Even so, the pianists slide into some Indian music now and then. In fact, we're introduced to five icons of New Orleans piano music this time: Dr. John, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Tom McDermott, James Booker, and, by way of Davis McAlary, the late Professor Longhair. We start with Dr. John, aka Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., or Mac to his friends.

The episode's title is taken from what is probably Dr. John's best known tune. ...

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Meet De Boys On The Battlefront
Season 1, Episode 02

In this episode, we get a better idea of the problems facing the main characters and where their battle lines are drawn. Which makes the choice of the song/title of this episode appropriate.

"Meet De Boys On The Battlefront" is a tune first recorded by The Wild Tchopitoulas. It has since been recorded by others, including Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. It refers to the mock battles that Mardi Gras Indians engage in and signs of respect they exchange when they meet on the streets of New Orleans in full regalia. ...

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Do You Know What It Means?
Season 1, Episode 01

The pilot episode introduces us to the ensemble of characters whose lives the series follows. The musicians in that ensemble include the eternally short of money trombonist Antoine Batiste, played by Wendell Pierce; deejay, gadfly and occasional musician Davis McAlary, played by Steve Zahn; deadly serious 'Big Chief' Albert Lambreaux, a Mardi Gras Indian, played by Clarke Peters; the chief's expatriate son, trumpeter Delmond Lambreaux, played by Rob Brown; cynical street musician Sonny, played by Michiel Huisman; and his considerably more talented girlfriend, the classically trained violinist Annie, played by real-life violinist Lucia Micarelli. These characters mix it up with real New Orleans musicians ...

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Another Tremé blog is not too much

Sometimes, too much is just enough. That might be a Mardi Gras motto, but it applies to so many things New Orleans.

It’s been said that Tremé the TV series is a love letter to New Orleans, and to Tremé the neighborhood in particular. True, dat (as they say in the local vernacular). ...

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