Treme

I've never been to New Orleans, but after watching the first season of Treme, the HBO series created by David Simon, I feel like I have. The series follows the lives of several New Orleans' residents in the months following Hurricane Katrina, but the major character is the city itself, which is a cauldron of American culture.

The Treme is a neighborhood just north of the French Quarter, and was the first community of free blacks in the nation's history. It was ground zero for much of the music that New Orleans birthed, which in turn was the genesis of many uniquely American styles of music, from Dixieland to jazz.

As the series begins, the city is still reeling from the storm. Some of the characters are returning from evacuated exile. Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters) is a "big chief" of an Indian tribe, that is, a club that wears elaborate costumes and dances on Mardi Gras. He is resolute on getting his tribe together and ready for the big day. Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) is a trombone player who lives from gig to gig, dealing with an ex-wife (Khandi Alexander) and a new girlfriend and new baby. Alexander, for her part, is searching for her missing brother, who was arrested just before the storm and lost by the authorities. An attorney (Melissa Leo) is helping her find him.

Leo's husband is John Goodman, a Tulane professor and guardian of New Orleans' traditions. He is angry about the government response, and uses a new thing called YouTube to record angry rants. He is also struggling to finish a book about the 1927 flood.

Other major characters are Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), a DJ and neighborhood gadfly, and his on-again off-again girlfriend, Kim Dickens, who is struggling to keep her restaurant in business after the storm. We also follow the fortunes of street musicians, played by actual musicians Michel Huisman and Lucia Micarelli.

In fact, musicians make up a large percentage of the cast. There are those that most people will recognize, like Elvis Costello, Dr. John, and Steve Earle, but a lot that are legends in the Big Easy but unknown elsewhere, such as Kermit Ruffins and Trombone Shorty. Allen Toussaint, something of the godfather of New Orleans music, makes a few appearances, and does John Boutte, who also sings the theme song.

The arc of the characters is somewhat slow and easy. Aside from the search for Alexander's brother, the struggles are in some way minor but at the same time major. Goodman's struggles with his book, along with his disappointment, lead him to a decision I found incongruous, and may have had more to do with Goodman leaving the show. However, the arc of Dickens' character, who decides to leave the city for New York, had much more resonance for me.

But what shines through most of all is the love of the city by those who live there. I learned all sorts of things, like what a second line is, and the tradition of the Indians (it was a bonding between African-Americans and the Indians, who shared a hatred for the white man), and you will likely get hungry after each episode, seeing all the rich sauces, the gumbo, the beignets, and the po' boys.