central city

Majestic Mortuary on Oretha Castle Haley Blvd, in Central City. Photo by New Orleans Lady

It's no surprise that the pilot of the HBO series Treme ends with death. Antoine Batiste is, after all, a musician, and has to "play for that money." The ep starts with a second line parade, the joyous, Sunday-afternoon type, and ends with the solemn procession to the cemetery we call the "jazz funeral." In all too many teevee shows and movies about New Orleans, the jazz funeral is a backdrop, a gratuitous prop, but Treme presents this serious and time-honored tradition of New Orleans as it should be, just another part of life (and death) in the city.

(click "Read More" - the rest is after the jump because of spoilers)