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Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:33 pm
by David Richoux
I have been seeing trailers and clips from this new TV series on HBO - lots of "Post Katrina" New Orleans Brass Band action is being shown, and it looks like the lives of some musicians are central to the plot. Lots of Sousaphones in action here! Since it is HBO I am sure it will have some "Adult Themes and Language" but that is like real life ;-)

There is more info at http://www.hbo.com/treme/index.html you might need a good internet connection to watch the videos - and there is no indication of an international schedule that I can see... so check your local listings, as they say! I guess it will eventually be available on DVD.

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:08 am
by rocksanddirt
looks like a cool show. if i had enough patience for TV i'd probably enjoy it.

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:09 am
by David Richoux
The nice thing about HBO is no commercial interruptions, and often the quality of the writing and production is as good as it gets. The writer/producers of Treme also did "The Wire" and that was some outstanding TV!

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:05 am
by Søren
Nice!! Thanks for the heads up. There was a lot of the real musicians from N.O. in these trailers. Kermit ruffins, Allen Toussaint, Dr. john and a number of the usual brass band musicians.

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:48 am
by David Richoux
Just watched the first episode - You Must See This! Excellent production, great music and many Sousaphones (more than in any other program I can recall, except for maybe the Rose Parade or some college football game ;-))

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:45 am
by TUbajohn20J
I went to the "Inside Treme" section and found links to many of the bands listed. The treme brass band had a link to their myspace music page and they are GREAT. Listen to the sousaphone on "The Old Rugged Cross". It sounds so smooth. I love a good brass band..

http://www.myspace.com/tremebrassband" target="_blank" target="_blank

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:18 pm
by Homerun
The Rebirth Brass Band was in the first few minutes of the pilot. Its' going to be a great series. I hear there are alot of cameos by famous musicians in the series - Elvis Costello is already in the first two. And I love angry John Goodman lol. Greaaaaaaaat music so far.

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:48 pm
by Dan Schultz
I saw TREME at Preservation Hall just this last Friday... not all of them performed. Just a few of the 'core' members... a sousa, a trumpet, a trombone, a snare, and a bass drummer. They made some very good music for just a five-piece group.

One of the groups I really expected to see during the French Quarter Festival last weekend is OLYMPIA. I ran into the trumpet player for TREME on Jackson Square on Saturday and he simply said that "they all died". I knew the sax-player/leader DID die but figured the group would go on. Guess I figured wrong as there was no mention of OLYMPIA in any of the literature for The French Quarter Festival. An Internet search for OLYMPIA turned up little other that ads for old recordings.

What's the 'poop'? Is the OLYMPIA era over?

Re: Sousaphone Action on HBO! Treme.

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:22 pm
by David Richoux
Here is a very good article on the show from a local insider POV: http://www.offbeat.com/2010/04/01/hbos- ... the-truth/

an interesting bit:
“Any note of music that you hear in this show would be music that you could have heard in that situation,” Leyh continues. That means there is no incidental music composed to dramatically heighten a scene. “The idea that I would write some music that would tell this story better than the music that’s already here—why would I do that?” Music never occurs without a source, whether it’s a car, a stereo, or a band, and if a band appears to be playing on screen, the music viewers hear is the music the band made while the camera was rolling ... “There’s no pantomime,” Leyh says, but the bands don’t play the whole song.
The producers also try to make sure that the performance rights money goes directly to the musicians - not some international corporation!