Writer documenting life in New Orleans 9th Ward. I'm eating 500 po boys at 500 different restaurants, gas stations, corner stores and cafes in New Orleans
The 2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line parade marked the beginning of the fresh second line season. Hearts were a bit heavy as this is the first season we will experience without the singular Pableaux Johnson who was felled by a heart attack in January of this year.
Here were our favorite photos from the Valley shoot.
2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line
2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line
2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line
2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line
2025 Valley of Silent Men Social and Pleasure Second Line
If you were in New Orleans in the late 70s you were living in a Baby Doll desert. By my count we had less than five ladies masking and the tradition was in danger of becoming extinct. In the ensuing 45-plus years we’ve seen dozens if not hundreds of women embrace the custom, form their own Doll Houses, and take to the streets to shimmy, shake, and show out.
Bennie Pete Birthday Celebration at New Orleans Jazz Museum
Jazz historian Dr. Michael White on Bennie Pete:
“For over 20 years one of the most popular and visible funk-style brass bands in community parades and funerals has been the Hot 8 Brass Band. In 1996 sousaphone player Bennie Pete was instrumental in merging two former Fortier High School student groups, the High Steppers and the Looney Tunes Brass Bands, to form the Hot 8. The players grew up together and maintain strong, family-like bonds and regular membership. Most of them were born between 1975 and ’87 in a generation that grew up hearing mainly modern-style brass bands in community functions.”
I would hesitate to say how many times I’ve seen Hot 8 play live. In the neighborhood of 200 times I reckon.
Bennie Pete passed away in September of 2021. The Treme neighborhood funerary second line that honored him saw thousands of people take to the streets in waves of joy. That’s how we grieve in New Orleans.
Tomorrow, July 10th, 2025 at 6pm, Hot 8 Brass Band will perform a ‘heavenly birthday’ celebration for the big man. Hope to see y’all come out.
Bennie Pete Birthday Celebration at New Orleans Jazz Museum
Thursday, July 10, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM New Orleans Jazz Museum 400 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA
The 2025 Scene Boosters Marching Club Second Line saw a few thousand people march through the historic Central City neighborhood of New Orleans 3rd Ward. This is what we saw:
2025 Money Wasters Social and Pleasure Second Line
It was 106° this past Sunday when we rolled with Money Wasters Social and Pleasure. Summer is three weeks away. This is what we saw on our stroll across the blast furnace blacktop into the deepest heart of the Treme.
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
We had a lively ramble through the streets of New Orleans 7th Ward yesterday afternoon to celebrate mothers both here and dearly departed. The Original Big 7 second line is one of the best of the 40+ that the social and pleasure clubs put on across the greatest city in North America.
This is what we saw:
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
2025 Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Second Line in New Orleans
It’s the second installment of New Orleans Street Fashion; our new weekly segment devoted to covering the chic and fashionable people we spot on the streets of the best city in the US.
