Jerome “PopAgee” Johnson
Meet Jerome "PopAgee" (pronounced Papa Gee) Johnson. He’s a New Orleans-born-and-raised jazz aficionado, but you won’t ever find him blowing the sax or strumming the base. In fact, his biggest regret in life is not learning how to play an instrument so that he could make the kind of music that so strongly shaped his childhood in the Big Easy.
Instead, you are more likely to find PopAgee either carting hurricane-sipping tourists to and from Louis Armstrong International Airport or trading correspondence with the Office of the First Lady of the United States. Sound unusual? Perhaps you should book the next available flight to NOLA, an anything-but-ordinary city full of equally extraordinary people.
In addition to running his own limousine service (that explains the tourists), PopAgee is a self-professed "soldier" of jazz music who is spearheading the rehabilitation of the birthplace of the genre: the 400 block of South Rampart Street. Known by locals as "Back o' Town," the area – which was done no favors by Hurricane Katrina – has arguably seen better days, and those days included then-up and comers like Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong making the music that from day one has been a driving force in Johnson's life.
Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong all got their start at the legendary Eagle Saloon on South Rampart Street in the New Orleans neighborhood known by locals as "Back o' Town."
With the help of programs like the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Save America's Treasures (that explains the First Lady, she's the program's honorary chair), PopAgee has been leveraging investment dollars for the revitalization of this historic street since the early 2000s. Located at 401 South Rampart, the Eagle Saloon is what Johnson considers to be step one in returning the block to its former glory as the center of the jazz universe.
"Now look, I am in the tourism industry, and everyone I pick up has two questions: where's the best food and where's the best music?," Johnson said. "In New Orleans, we've got Bourbon Street, Magazine Street, Maple Street and all that, and all of those are wonderful places, but I think we can be greater than that. I think we can be the entertainment capital of the world, and we should start where the music started. We don't do enough for the music industry in New Orleans. We take it for granted because it is always here and we hear it every day. We've got to develop it."
Built in 1875, the Eagle Saloon was the headquarters (and thus the official watering hole) of the famed Eagle Band, which at various times included almost all of the early jazz musicians of the day. It also housed a pawn shop where band leaders recruited talent and musicians sold and later reclaimed their instruments. Through a lease-purchase agreement, Johnson acquired the legendary building in early 2007, and has had his nose to the grindstone ever since trying to develop plans for its rehabilitation – a waiting period he laughingly describes as typical in a city where "the wheels just turn slow."
Despite the obstacles and setbacks, Johnson is optimistic that he'll get the green light in early 2009 to start construction on a reimagined Eagle Saloon, which will feature in its three floors an exact replica of the original saloon, a new jazz museum and public event space. And when the doors finally swing open to his first preserved treasure, Johnson hopes a bounce in energy, excitement and (most importantly) donations for his vision will follow. In the short term, he plans to use the same model to restore the neighboring Iroquois Theatre as well as the Karnofsky Building, which housed New Orleans' first jazz record store and is where Satchmo worked as a boy and received his first horn. Down the road, he envisions South Rampart Street as a mixed-use community for both artists and tourists, complete with affordable housing, restaurants and shopping, performance spaces, recording studios, and even a grand hotel.
"You go to a lot of other cities, and you hear people say 'so and so once stood on this lot' or 'such and such used to be here,'" Johnson said. "Well, these are the actual buildings that are directly linked to the birth of jazz, and they are still here. It would be criminal to lose them because you can't just build back the original sprit that is there now. There is no question about it."
In an ideal world, Johnson's undaunted passion and willingness to follow through would not face major constraints, making his unique vision for "Back o' Town" a (in a phrase he would use) hop, skip and a jump away from reality. Unfortunately, he and other preservation visionaries like him face unrelenting financial obstacles that all too often threaten the very fate of their projects. For this reason, it is imperative that the new administration and Congress continue to generously fund Save America's Treasures, a program that not only provides financial support to pioneers like Johnson, but lends much-needed technical assistance and an instrument for public awareness to the many important projects it supports.
As PopAgee would argue, New Orleans – and every other city with a unique slice of history sitting in its backyard – is worth it.
"You have to grow up here to be able to describe it," Johnson said. "Can you imagine playing by yourself inside and the next thing you hear is an unannounced parade coming down your street with tons of happy people? Growing up, I was literally surrounded by music all the time, just spontaneous celebrations. There's just no other city like that."
Submitted by Anonymous at: September 23, 2009
Well being a niece of "PopAgee", I am very proud of all of his accomplishments. Keep New Orleans Alive