- February
- 13th
- 2010
“Uncle” Lionel Batiste, AKA Mister New Orleans Himself, turned 78 a few days ago. In his honor, family and friends gathered last night at Sweet Lorraine’s jazz club for a birthday celebration. Lionel, a longtime bass drummer and singer for the Tremé Brass Band, was in fine form, sporting his legendary dapper duds and old-school bling, flirting with all the ladies, and getting up on stage to perform with the band and lead the crowd in rousing versions of “When the Saints go Marching in” and “Who Dat” chants….
Lionel has been a fixture for years on the New Orleans scene. Wherever he goes he is known, and if he is not known, he is noticed. He is always decked out in shiny duds and jewelry, carries a walking cane that looks like an old Druid’s wand, and never fails to give a smile. A couple of years ago I spotted him on Easter Sunday wandering the Marigny, and followed him into the Spotted Cat to see if I could take a picture of him. At the time I didn’t know who he was, just thought he was an interesting-looking character spiffed up for Easter. Only much, much later did I realize that he was the legendary “Uncle Lionel”.
As luck would have it, my assistant Federica Valabrega was out with a friend last week at another bar in the neighborhood where the Tremé Band has a standing weekly gig. Lionel, of course, flirted with her and invited her to his big birthday bash at Sweet Lorraine’s. She came back with the news, and then pulled out my copy of Annie Leibovitz’s “American Music” to find a photo of the Tremé boys in there. She’s been talking about going to Lionel’s birthday party all week.
So despite the “winter storm warning”, which in New Orleans means that it’s cold and rainy, we ventured out the 4 or 5 blocks to Sweet Lorraine’s, an unassuming looking place on a rough-looking street in the Tremé. Inside the vibe was warm, friendly, laid-back, and sophisticated. Lorraine’s is the kind of place you could easily set yourself down at, order a whiskey, and while away the afternoon and evening listening to jazz. New Orleans has a lot of places like that.
New Orleans is a small town, and its local celebrities are really just all members of a big family. After Federica and I had been shooting for a bit, one of Lionel’s daughters asked if I could take some pictures of the whole family. I happily obliged, and got some nice photos for them. Annie Leibovitz they ain’t, but it really felt special to be able to take those photos. The longer I work as a photographer, the more I realize the value of pictures like these. Nothing innovative or imaginative about the composition, and “serious” photographers may not be impressed, but for what the true personal value of a photograph is all about, you can’t get anything more valuable than family photos. These are the pictures that hang on walls, on office desks, and on the refrigerator; these are the photos that bring back memories and form a history of who we are, whether we are celebrities or regular people. These are the photos that matter.
My life is long from over, but I wish I had more photos like these of friends and family. Certain chapters of my life are completely without photographs; certain friends I have made along the road of life and never seen again, I have no photographs of them or the time we spent together. Though I still remember those times and those friends vividly, I wish I had had the presence of mind to record just a few simple moments to aid my memories.
Anyway, my great thanks to the Batiste family for asking me to photograph them and for inviting me and Federica to be part of their celebration. Also check out Federica’s site, http://federicavalabrega.wordpress.com/ for more photos. Enjoy.





































































































