SadNews: Deacon John's Son Murdered

[rosetree]

The i.d. of a murder victim this afternoon was Deacon John's son.....
When the #@!@#@! will it stop, when will it stop...another drug related death...
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/police_investigate_uptown_shoo.html

[windowman]

oh man, I am just sick after reading about yet another tragedy...this has to stop.

[denideadhead]

A very sad reminder that in NOLA it is not always all good. I did not know him but besides his father Deacon John who many of us know or have seen, his uncle is Charles Moore who has played bass and guitar with the Nevs, the Wild Mags, Russell Batiste and more. My deepest sympathies to the family. Once again the violence has taken one of the loved ones of our extended Jazzfest Family!!!
We need to continue to pressure the powers that be that this has to STOP!!!!

[mightyradgumbo]

Tragic indeed. Pray for a refocus on the crime issue so that this senseless violence comes to an end :(

[jenni]

:(

[Michelino]

That's very sad. Deacon John is supposed to play Thursday night at the opening gala for French Quarter Fest. We send our prayers to him and his family.

It should be noted that no one in New Orleans was killed last night when an attempt to buy beer on the black marker went bad, no one died while trying to get a pack of smokes when the cigarette dealer backed out, no one was murdered while playing the numbers because they walked into a shooting duel between gang members and the lottery machine.

Decriminalizing vices is the only answer. For one thing the illegal drug trade would dry up immediately, capitalism itself would kill it. And with the end of profit, so would go a lot of the allure of the gang and the reason for much of the violence. This is the lesson that our own history teaches us, if we were only to look back to The Roaring 1920s. When selling alcohol became illegal, criminal gangs formed all over America to control the bootleg beer, wine and whiskey trade. Murder rates went up as did deaths related to the consumption of impure or contaminated alcohol (the latter went up four fold in two years.) And with the end of prohibition, the black market and gang related violence went away immediately.

The United States has only 5% of the world's population but 25% of its prison inmates. And 25% of these are sent to Jail for non-violent drug offenses (http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/poor/pp.html). Our prison population has risen by a factor of 5 in the last twenty five years. If incarceration and the burgeoning prison industry were answers, people would feel safer today than they did 1980, but I doubt anyone believes that is true.

Basically, we've already tried the punishment thing as a "solution" for the last generation or so, and it doesn't work. It really is time for a change in methods.

[stynger]

Very sad indeed. It seems to never end.

[Corona]

DAMMIT :( :( :(

[ibjamn]

Oh No!! I used to work with his wife, Mary who is a nurse. This makes me so sad.... :(

[glinda]

Awful. awful. awful. So sad & frustrating.

Mich, what you say makes sense, but can it happen?

[mdfest]

That's very sad. Deacon John is supposed to play Thursday night at the opening gala for French Quarter Fest. We send our prayers to him and his family.

It should be noted that no one in New Orleans was killed last night when an attempt to buy beer on the black marker went bad, no one died while trying to get a pack of smokes when the cigarette dealer backed out, no one was murdered while playing the numbers because they walked into a shooting duel between gang members and the lottery machine.

Decriminalizing vices is the only answer. For one thing the illegal drug trade would dry up immediately, capitalism itself would kill it. And with the end of profit, so would go a lot of the allure of the gang and the reason for much of the violence. This is the lesson that our own history teaches us, if we were only to look back to The Roaring 1920s. When selling alcohol became illegal, criminal gangs formed all over America to control the bootleg beer, wine and whiskey trade. Murder rates went up as did deaths related to the consumption of impure or contaminated alcohol (the latter went up four fold in two years.) And with the end of prohibition, the black market and gang related violence went away immediately.

The United States has only 5% of the world's population but 25% of its prison inmates. And 25% of these are sent to Jail for non-violent drug offenses (http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/poor/pp.html). Our prison population has risen by a factor of 5 in the last twenty five years. If incarceration and the burgeoning prison industry were answers, people would feel safer today than they did 1980, but I doubt anyone believes that is true.

Basically, we've already tried the punishment thing as a "solution" for the last generation or so, and it doesn't work. It really is time for a change in methods.

Some interesting and valid points. The reality is, no party is going to legalize drugs- especially the "harder" drugs. Even if we did- we would just be replacing on party of criminal(dealers) with another to control the flow(politicians). Personally, Id love to see the tax revenue generated by such a legalization. You think they tax cigs high?

The unfortunate fact (based upon the article posted) is one criminal killed another last night. We he not in that hood to purchase drugs, he would be alive today. Im not saying he deserved to die- but if you mess with the bull, you sometimes get the horns. Im sure that opinion wont be popular- so be it.

[mluke66]

Tragic. But you can legalize crack in your town, New Orleans has enough problems.

[jenni]

yes ~ mich I see you point but I am with Mluke ...

It wouldnt matter if you made crack legal ..CRACK would still KILL ...

In relation to some other substances your point my be valid but I think crack needs to jusy GO AWAY. People completely lose their mind and do things like shoot people for no real reason while under the influence of crack .

No way should crack be legal .

this is so damn sad . My heart goes out to the family .......

"""""" sigh """"""""

Knowing this goes on right outside my doorstep is heartbreaking and scarey .

I think what we need is a better system for helping these crack heads get clean ...there are practically no services for the crack head to get clean and when they get arrested they dont get rehab in jail either .

[pokerchick66]

yes ~ mich I see you point but I am with Mluke ...

It wouldnt matter if you made crack legal ..CRACK would still KILL ...

In relation to some other substances your point my be valid but I think crack needs to jusy GO AWAY. People completely lose their mind and do things like shoot people for no real reason while under the influence of crack .

No way should crack be legal .

this is so damn sad . My heart goes out to the family .......

"""""" sigh """"""""

Knowing this goes on right outside my doorstep is heartbreaking and scarey .

I think what we need is a better system for helping these crack heads get clean ...there are practically no services for the crack head to get clean and when they get arrested they dont get rehab in jail either .

Surely someone wasn't suggesting that crack be made legal? Crack IS the devil.

This story is just crushing. It breaks my heart. :(

[mluke66]

A great story today in the Times-Pic on the culture of violence that lives in New Orleans. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1

My God, look at the front page:

N.O. officials plead for help with crime
Riley says recruiting lags for department struggling for the basics

• ABC26: Panel hears crime woes

• Bloodshed draws with outrage, apathy

• Son of famed N.O. musician Deacon John killed | ABC26 report

• Family struggles to make sense of teen's death, captured suspect's crime

• Woman accuses N.O. cop of rape

• Hollygrove shooting victim identified

• Suspect booked in Orleans shooting

• Grand Isle cop cleared of murder

And people are claiming we don't have a crime problem. Something has to change.

[LBIFESTER]

Another tragedy, RIP and condolences to the family. The cycle of violence will pass when folks are given hope and legitmate opportunity, not empty words and crack.
The good y'all do here and in NOLA with the auction, beer tent and volunteer efforts all help that, so keep it up. Fight the good fight. Acts of kindness might never end acts of violence, but they just might stop one or two

[marignygreg]

C'mon guys. The cops think it was a drug deal and they may have some hard evidence to prove it, but do we know for sure?? Would you want to read this about your son the day after he was murdered ? Lets get back to honoring the mans life instead of turning this into a debate about illegal drugs. From what I understand he was a mover in the Electronica scene and started NOIZEFEST which is a mini fest of ambiant noise and electronic music. His gift will be missed in the Marigny/Bywater.

[Frosty]

Plus, there is the problem with the police classifying marijuana as a drug. When they call it "drugs", was it really?

The thing that is really shocking is how many of these murders are occuring in broad daylight.

[jenni]

C'mon guys. The cops think it was a drug deal and they may have some hard evidence to prove it, but do we know for sure?? Would you want to read this about your son the day after he was murdered ? Lets get back to honoring the mans life instead of turning this into a debate about illegal drugs. From what I understand he was a mover in the Electronica scene and started NOIZEFEST which is a mini fest of ambiant noise and electronic music. His gift will be missed in the Marigny/Bywater.

I agree greg . We dont know .

And honestly it would not matter what the reason was ...

The fact is it's just sad . Thats anyones life would be cut short by violence .

:(

[Frosty]

A great story today in the Times-Pic on the culture of violence that lives in New Orleans. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1

My God, look at the front page:

N.O. officials plead for help with crime
Riley says recruiting lags for department struggling for the basics

• ABC26: Panel hears crime woes

• Bloodshed draws with outrage, apathy

• Son of famed N.O. musician Deacon John killed | ABC26 report

• Family struggles to make sense of teen's death, captured suspect's crime

• Woman accuses N.O. cop of rape

• Hollygrove shooting victim identified

• Suspect booked in Orleans shooting

• Grand Isle cop cleared of murder

And people are claiming we don't have a crime problem. Something has to change.


Well, you edited this to leave out the good news including the story about how Bush is killing the plan to provide funding for hurricane protection for the Louisiana coast that the Army Corps has been recommending for 15 years. Rest assured, those funds will be put to good use in Iraq. (Don't everybody cheer at once)

[ScoopJohnD]

[quote=mluke66;53499]A great story today in the Times-Pic on the culture of violence that lives in New Orleans. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1

Read that article, read the resignation, read the hopelessness and ask if you think the people in that article always carried that with them. Or did it fester and become ingrained because maybe they cried out and their cries were dismissed or ignored by other citizens, by officials, by media because it didn't cross THEIR line. It didn't affect THEM, therefore it wasn't a problem. Imagine living in those areas now and hearing for example, officials during Mardi Gras saying things to the effect of, "well there were crimes over the weekend but they occurred away from the areas where tourists were", and imagine hearing that attitude over and over and over again.

ALL crime and injustice erodes the fabric of cities and ALL crime affects EVERYONE. Things can change and must change, but they only will when the indignation and anger and sadness expressed for Deacon John's son tragic murder is matched for ALL the victim's who AREN'T Deacon John's son. That applies for everyone, in every city and town.

[mluke66]

Well, you edited this to leave out the good news including the story about how Bush is killing the plan to provide funding for hurricane protection for the Louisiana coast that the Army Corps has been recommending for 15 years. Rest assured, those funds will be put to good use in Iraq. (Don't everybody cheer at once)


My bad, I wanted only to focus on crime locally.

And Scoop, I could not agree more. Now you know what it is like to be a Mid-City resident when Jazzfest isn't around the corner.

[Mardigrasbaby35]

it's all getting so tiresome and so "routine" that i think those of us who live here are becoming numb to the violence....i've yet to be impressed by one city official - they all talk a lot about how crime is out of control etc etc, but it doesn't seem like anything has been done to curb it......

[pokerchick66]

Well, you edited this to leave out the good news including the story about how Bush is killing the plan to provide funding for hurricane protection for the Louisiana coast that the Army Corps has been recommending for 15 years. Rest assured, those funds will be put to good use in Iraq. (Don't everybody cheer at once)

I agree with Marignygreg, we shouldn't make this thread a debate about illegal drugs or even a political thread, we should honor the man's life.

RIP, Deacon Johnson.

[Zydekitten]

A great story today in the Times-Pic on the culture of violence that lives in New Orleans. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1176271533107970.xml&coll=1

My God, look at the front page:

N.O. officials plead for help with crime
Riley says recruiting lags for department struggling for the basics

• ABC26: Panel hears crime woes

• Bloodshed draws with outrage, apathy

• Son of famed N.O. musician Deacon John killed | ABC26 report

• Family struggles to make sense of teen's death, captured suspect's crime

• Woman accuses N.O. cop of rape

• Hollygrove shooting victim identified

• Suspect booked in Orleans shooting

• Grand Isle cop cleared of murder

And people are claiming we don't have a crime problem. Something has to change.
Well . . . to inject a grain of salt - newspapers are in business to sell papers and they've found that "if it bleeds, it leads" and sells way more papers than puppies, flowers and the fact that the majority of NOLA residents were NOT raped, mugged, shot, or killed yesterday.

That's the main reason I won't watch the local news here - otherwise I'd be convinced that the state was awash in nothing but fires, floods, drunk drivers and murder. It doesn't mean that those sad things don't happen - they do; it doesn't mean that those things aren't a problem - they are. But there is way more positive things that occur on a daily basis that isn't reported . . . 'cause it doesn't get ratings and sell papers.

Fare ye well, Keith Moore - hopefully you can be at peace now.

[bluedog]

so sad & tragic

RIP Deacon Johnson

[Headless Hornman]

Yes, very sad.

Early this morning I pulled out an album of Jazz Fest photos going back to '85, looking for an image for a possible button. Probably the first time that album has been off the shelf in a year. Didn't find what I was looking for, but some photos of Deacon John caught my eye, from two different years in the late '90s. I thought it odd that I included them in the album because I can't remember the last time I've seen him perform and can't even remember what he sounds like. I got a chill a few hours later when I saw this story.

Thoughts and prayers to Deacon Johnson's family.

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

So so sad. In the middle of the day. 3:20PM.....How???
Yes, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Moore family.

[freebo]

From Gambit Weekly:

In Memory of Keith Moore
By Michael Patrick Welch


A pile of various stereo speakers accumulated overnight outside of Sugar Park Tavern in Bywater, presumably in tribute to 43-year-old New Orleans native Keith Moore and his invention, the Jambox Pyramid. Moore died last week. He was known for collecting and painting discarded boomboxes, which he then wired together to form glitching, hissing mountains. The Jambox Pyramid is but one artistic pursuit for which Moore wanted to be known and remembered. He was perhaps the most unique and driven artist I've ever known. Art was all he wanted.

As evidenced by his chosen DJ name, "Deacon Johnson," Keith idolized his famous father, New Orleans musician "Deacon" John Moore. Keith grew up in New Orleans, and moved to New York in 1986 to make a name for himself. He settled into the bohemian scene below Manhattan's East Village in Alphabet City, where he joined an alternative art and political scene, squatting in abandoned buildings in protest of capitalist tyranny. During this time, Moore helped produce a wild concert series in Tompkins Square Park, DJ'd at clubs and completed an excellent unpublished non-fiction novel, Cultural Necrophilia. He also pursued unconventional and confrontational visual art and music.

He finally returned to New Orleans in 2000, produced 2002's Industrial Strength exhibit at Big Top gallery and participated in NOMA's Underexposed photography show. Local photographer Jonathan Traviesa recalls, "Underexposed was mostly like old men's quaint pictures of birds, portraits, things like that. And Keith shows up in full toxic waste gear and a gasmask, with flashing lights and this giant digital image he took of 9/11 chaos."


Artist and musician Keith Moore created the Jambox Pyramid.
In 2004, I met him at a birthday party where, though he hadn't been invited, Keith constructed his own T-shirt booth, blew an airhorn over the bands and commandeered the microphone to announce his upcoming all-girl DJ battle, Ambient Wars 2. Two-dozen attendees at his first Ambient Wars concert had voted Deacon Johnson "New Orleans' King of Ambient Noise," a title he took very seriously.

At Ambient Wars 2 -- wherein local DJ Beatgrrrl was coronated Moore's "Ambient Queen" -- a knee-high pile of computer parts topped with a 10-pound sledgehammer loomed outside the Dragon's Den. Keith's original paintings and humming jamboxes littered the stairway. Every corner of the dark main room was crammed with sculptures, broken electronics, pill bottles, black lights, candles and photos from 9/11. Keith taped giant photos and sheets of foil across the floor and sprinkled shards of broken mirror, so that we all walked around crunching glass. Throughout the DJ battle, he dragged more and more junk art up the stairs, and it became evident how intensely committed Deacon Johnson was to the grand New Orleans tradition of working insanely hard to create a high production value without much hope of traditional reward.

As president of Deathhouse Industrial Enterprises, Keith made his living mostly by painting apartments. In 2005, while rolling paint on a ceiling in Uptown --Êas techno music featuring his own echo-drenched voice boomed from a trashed and painted jambox, itself wired to a sputtering short-wave radio and a wave machine generating an overdriven shhhhhhhhhhh -- Deacon Johnson concocted his brainchild, his legacy -- Noizefest. Noizefest 2005 featured more than 40 DJs and experimental soloists and duos, including Quintron, Ratty Scurvics, PotPie, Rob Cambre and Ray Bong among many others. A last-minute venue debacle limited the crowd to about 25 people, and because Noizefest ended up being free to the public, Charity Hospital didn't receive the $10 ticket fee Moore had hoped to collect and donate. But Noizefest succeeded as a beautiful summit, where more than 40 indescribable Louisiana artists got the chance to meet and play music for and with each other. Keith had engineered an important day for Louisiana music.

In the two years since, Keith struggled with illness. As someone who spoke with him almost daily, I believe he suffered the effects on his mind and body. To drown all that out, he continuously made experimental music, paintings, Jambox Pyramids and dead techno jewelry ("electro bling"). And he curated Noizefest. Keith Moore created, planned, discussed, argued and fought over art every single day.

His father Deacon John shared that he had recently received an Arts Council of New Orleans grant for a fleur de lis sculpture he completed, his final accomplishment.

"I'm deeply saddened by the loss," Deacon John says. "I ask that people keep him in their prayers."

The many of us who worked with him won't let his contributions be forgotten.

A memorial service will be held at Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home (1615 St. Philip St.) at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 21. A Noizefest memorial concert featuring experimental artists will begin at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 6th at 609 Lesseps St. The show will feature Keith Moore's art, jewelry and a documentaryÊMoore made about himself.