Robert Mugge, the acclaimedmusic documentarian camerain any direction and therewould be something ti responsiblefor films suchas Deep Blues, Sun Ra:A worth shooting.You could go up to anybodyand they a story to tell." a) Joyful Noise, and Hellhound'son My Tiail: TheAfierlife would have v) ?1 of RobertJohnsaz,is visiting his mother at a retirement Mugge alsotracked the Iguanas- 216615-166[ l'i community in SilverSpring, Maryland, after editing band that mixesAmerican R&B with varioussryles of his latest frIrr^,New OrleansMusicin Exile, a feature- Latin music - 16{u51in, Gxas. The band still seemed documentaryabout the post-Katrinadiaspora of shell-shockedas they showedthe filmmaker imagesof A q length -v Fl CrescenrCiry musicians. wreckedhomes and ruined instrumentson their com- d. a'1 "I'm overworked,"Mugge moans."I'm completely puters.Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers,who was (t) F ^c brain-dead."Although he wasliving in Jackson'Missis- alsoin Austin, spokefor the African-Americancommu- l+t d. sippi,when hurricaneKatrina madelandfall on August niry sayingthat the 7th, 8th, and 9th wardsmust be li 29th, Mugget life wasinterrupted by the storm.This rebuilt and the cdlture preserved.Certainly they were A visit to seehis mother is about the closesthet cometo impoverishedareas, but without them therewould be Indians, and so much of the culture that v U) RScRin the pastseven months. His job asfilmmaker-' no Mardi Gras tr in-residencefor MississippiPublic Television didnt work definesBourbon Street would just vanish.As Neville out asplanned, and Muggewas planning a moveto Del- says,"That's the roux in the gumbo." v) d. ' ta StateUniversiry in Cleveland,Mississippi, where he'd "Therekthis placewhere Jan Ramsey[of New pole z (J beentapped by MuscleShoals producer and former Elvis Orleans' Of Beat magazine)points to a telephone .2 4..) sideman Norbert Putnam to create the school's fJ bo A bo 6rst department of music film production- "Everything was supposed to be confirmed a v on September lst," Mugge says. "Then Katrina ! u r\ ti hit and flattened severalofthe casinosthat U \J money into the statet education system." >. pump Under the circumstances, Delta State was reluc- rant to commit to creatingany new positions' UI |J d. g, 6]\ and Mugge found himself adrift. D li "Thatt when I started looking for a silver F d d. lining," Mugge says. "If you can call it that." He IJJ had a'1 went to Starz Entertainment group, which IL o- f- funded previous projects, and pitched his plan - -.{ = U to make a documentary about how New Or- J leans musicians were responding to the tragedy lt in the Gulf. Starz was interested, but Mugge would have to wait for funding. "I the idea of doing the film kept pushing Music documentarian Robert Mugge with Big Chief "because at the time no- right away," he says, Monk Boudreaux L body really knew how long the musicians would be gone. It could have been a week, a month' or a year. and starts talking about how it's a famous telephone (u the shock. I wanted to show the pole becauseeverybody used to hang flyers from their I wanted to capture desolation." clubs on it," Mugge says, relating one memorable scene Following a two-day shoot at the Voodoo Music Fes- from his film. "The flyers could get inches thick before tival in Memphis, the funding came through to shoot someone took them down. After months of nothing, O in Lafayette, Austin, Houston, and New Orleans. The Jan says that posters are starting to show up again. oi final film features concert footage and interviews with It's a wonderful symbol of the nature of this commu- - a sprout coming up from dirt. Since itt Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Eddie Bo, Beaten Path, Cyril nity like N as Neville, the Iguanas, the Rebirth JazzBand,Jon Cleary, impossible to capture the magnitude of the disaster Theresa Anderson, Cowboy Mouth, and others. a filmmaker, you have to look for these small, resonant "I remember being up in the helicopter," Mugge says images that suggest the larger situation." of filming in New Orleans. "I told my cameraman that Mugge, who likens New Orleans to a dead body im- even thorlgh we're up here with this camera, nobody mediately after the spirit has departed, is hopeful that will ever seewhat we're seeing. You have to be able to the cradle of American music will return to its former N see the horizon, all the blue ftarp-covered] roofs. And glory, but he's also doubtful. I became aware of all of these bare areaswhere houses "I have all the same questions that the artists I've ! used to be." interviewed have," he says.E Mugge was with revered junker-style pianist Eddie Bo when he went back into his ruined club for the first New Orleans Music in Exile time. He was with Irma Thomas when she finally went Cinema Paradiso back into her club. Both artists handled the shock with Thursday,March23rd amazingcalm as they pored through the rubble of their p.m.,tickets ruined lives. 7:30 $10 with "I'm glad I focusedjust on music and the musi- To be followed by a questionand answersession cians," Mugge says. "But you could have turned the the filmmaker