Utah Arts Festival: A taste of New Orleans

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The last time Salt Lake City got this big a piece of New Orleans, we ended up with an NBA franchise.

The Stooges Brass Band, a five-piece horn-and-drum marching band, led a traditional "second line" parade past the City-County Building and down 200 East on Thursday night. It was part of the festivities of the Utah Arts Festival.

A "second line" march is a tradition for New Orleans jazz funerals. The first half of the funeral march is slow, mourning the dead. The second half of the march is celebratory — after all, the deceased is going to heaven — and the music more upbeat, drawing not just the mourners but anybody within earshot who wants to dance.

The Stooges marched and played around Washington Square, stopping a few times along the way. Each time the band stopped, a large circle of festivalgoers gathered to listen, clap and even dance.

Only a couple of dozen people followed the band from site to site, in the New Orleans tradition, as they got to the Festival Stage. There, Mike Farris and the Roseland Revue started a gospel-infused set — and kept the Stooges onstage as their horn section.

The Stooges will lead two more parades on Friday, at 5 and 8 p.m. — the last, ahead of their own concert at 8:30 p.m. on the Amphitheatre Stage.