Hey ya'all! Freddie Blue here from WWOZ 90.7fm/wwoz.org New Orleans chiming in.I'm taking a couple moments to share some with you all and express my gratitude to Trent for all he did to make VooDoo New Orleans happen. Most of you will never comprehend just how devastated our beloved city is. It cannot be captured on film or described properly, it's so much more than building being destroyed a unique culture and vibe is forever marred and, sadly, much has been washed away forever. Trent single handedly made this unimaginable day [The NOLA Voodoo date] happen.
If I ran into you, I was going to tell you about the last song played on WWOZ. But this way I get to let everyone else in on the secret too. On the Sunday before the storm I was in the studio to make the final preparations and shut the transmitter down. We had been off the air for a couple hours and I wanted to say something. I took Still out of my bag and played The Fragile, I couldn't think of a better song to play. (Keep in mind the station's focus is the Sounds and culture of New Orleans, Jazz, Blues, and roots) and when the song finished and a moment of silence I shut everything down. Our listeners heard the frightful static of the lifeless station. I've since heard back from many asking if that was us, as it was not like anything the had heard before that suddenly drifted out of the silence just before the signal went out. Unusual for WWOZ yes, a sound of New Orleans? Absolutely! Late that night I would be driving the van I got at the last second, frantically driving my friends to a place where we could run and hide. The last vehicle allowed to cross the causeway as the storm torn in, literally running for our lives.
Since the hurricanes, there has been nothing but processing pain and taking baby steps towards building a life that in some ways resembles what used to be. VooDoo was phenomenal, for ten hours New Orleans FELT like New Orleans, a spark of the old magic was present the entire day coming to a stupendous climax with the NIN set, It was like incredible sex and eight months of therapy all spiraled together.
On behalf of myself and everyone that was out on the field on that beautiful day I say thank you very much Trent, words cannot express how much it meant.