The Saints Go Marching In

In 2008, OHA brought New Orleans' Own Hot 8 Brass Band to Deer Isle, where their playing brought a packed house to shake the Opera House floor -- and then all of downtown Stonington when they lead a traditional "second line" parade down Main Street on Sunday. Check out this great video of that event, to hear the Saints go Marching in Down East Maine!

Now it's a sadness that our own Patriots' performance was not excellent enough to land them in this year's Super Bowl. But since they couldn't manage it, how about those New Orleans' Saints?! For the first time since their founding in 1967, the Saints are in the Super Bowl, facing off against that old New England nemesis, the Indianapolis Colts.

Why write about the Saints on a performance blog? Opera House Arts has a long-standing connection to the music and culture of New Orleans--in fact, in the summer of 2010 we will be bringing one of New Orleans' legendary clarinetists, Dr. Michael White, to the island to be in a two-week residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and a featured artist at our 10th annual jazz festival.

The volunteer producer of our jazz festival, acclaimed arts journalist Larry Blumenfeld, is a passionate expert on New Orleans jazz, and recently sent us this link to a New Orleans'Saints Tribute Songs Playlist, including this video of trumpeter Kermit Ruffins' "A Saints Christmas."

Jazz lives in this year's Super Bowl!