{"id":641,"date":"2010-04-13T23:23:20","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T04:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatsociety.org\/?p=641"},"modified":"2018-10-30T17:29:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T21:29:46","slug":"treme-a-glossary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/?p=641","title":{"rendered":"Treme: A Glossary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treme<\/em> is about to become your new favorite show.\u00a0 You may not know this yet, but it\u2019s true.\u00a0 HBO has already ordered a second season before the first one has even wrapped.\u00a0 The television-watching intelligentsia have been waiting for David Simon\u2019s return to a regular series\u2014not quite as rabidly as Salinger fans were waiting for him to die, but in a much more urgent, sugar-rush way.\u00a0 This is still TV, after all.\u00a0 Writing must still be an axe to the frozen soul.\u00a0 Television can get by being a pair of safety scissors to the fleshy palm.\u00a0 Not to say that Treme<\/em> isn\u2019t moving, that it doesn\u2019t up the ante of the ensemble drama.\u00a0 Not to say that Treme<\/em> won\u2019t be the pop culture representation of New Orleans that finds accuracy and meaning where dozens of other offerings have failed.\u00a0 Not to insult you, gentle reader, or your savvy.\u00a0 I\u2019m just pointing out that Treme<\/em> is going to be everyone else\u2019s favorite show in two months, so it might as well be yours, too.\u00a0 HBO will advertise it that way subtly.\u00a0 The bloggers will try to outdo each other to announce new leit motifs and strata of meaning.\u00a0 Your friends will start calling each other \u201cbrah\u201d and listening to Rebirth Brass Band albums for awhile.\u00a0 So to help you get out ahead of this juggernaut of Meaningful Television, I\u2019ve compiled a glossary of terms that you will need to know.<\/p>\n


\nBut, first, a little slack has to be given.\u00a0 The critics, the bloggers, your friends, hell, even David Simon himself aren\u2019t to blame for finding New Orleans\u2019 culture an untapped cache of indie cred.\u00a0 This has been happening for decades, ever since the localized, mini-Depression caused by the oil bust and crack epidemic of the 80s cheapened the rents, cheapened the thrills, and finally wrecked most of the Old Money interests.\u00a0 New Orleans has always been a throughway for vagabonds, misfits, soldiers of fortune, and troubadours, but for the past twenty-odd years it has needed to open up to these people in ways it had been uncomfortable doing since the era of mass immigration.\u00a0 Transplants helped the city survive.\u00a0 And as each wave of transplants succeeded, its members found themselves taking the same attitude the reluctant natives had met them with: I was here first, so don\u2019t get too comfortable, shithead.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been adopted, but we have to draw the line somewhere or there just won\u2019t be enough New Orleans to go around.\u00a0 You will see this attitude portrayed in Treme<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Of course, no one ever draws the line, and the transplants have kept coming, have started subsequent generations, have redefined \u201cnative.\u201d\u00a0 The argument runs like a prayer-wheel: is the city being watered down?\u00a0 Are subcultures becoming endangered?\u00a0 Will the history succumb to the developers?\u00a0 There\u2019s a joke amongst the realists.\u00a0 On Good Friday in 1788 a fire almost completely destroyed the city and new buildings had to be erected.\u00a0 Some of the old locals looked around afterward and tutted, \u201cIt just ain\u2019t like it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point every American must care deeply for a place, a town, a city whether he was born there or not, whether he has even been<\/em> there or not.\u00a0 It just so happens that New Orleans\u2014by destiny, by geographic genetics\u2014is a magnet for the imagination.\u00a0 That is what Treme<\/em> is about, modernizing that imagination, revising the perceived history for the rest of the nation.\u00a0 I\u2019m confident that it will help transform a portion of greater America\u2019s understanding of how much damage was done to the city and its inhabitants and of how unique its music and food cultures are.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the show seems to be hellbent on doing this at a breakneck pace.\u00a0 The 80 minute pilot is a crash course in lingo, location, and loyalty even without John Goodman popping up as a one-man mythbuster.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been living here for three years and try to keep tabs on all corners of the city and I barely could keep up.\u00a0 But it felt good to keep up, to be able to analyze what was going on.\u00a0 It\u2019s human nature to enjoy knowledge shared by only a few.\u00a0 So don\u2019t feel bad for just signing up now.\u00a0 Get this information in you so you can take your place in line and laugh when you look over your shoulder at all the late-comers.<\/p>\n

A Treme Watcher\u2019s Glossary of Terms<\/u><\/p>\n

The Storm, The Flood, The Hurricane<\/strong>\u2014all interchangeable with \u201cKatrina\u201d<\/p>\n

OPP<\/strong>\u2014not other people\u2019s problems, but rather the Orleans Parish Prison, referred to recently by a local columnist as \u201cthe state\u2019s largest psychiatric ward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward<\/strong>\u2014an area of the city comprised of various neighborhoods that are similar to each other, more historically relevant than demographically accurate, though African-American citizens from the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth wards can be found to possess a certain pride in their ward that supersedes a pride in the city<\/p>\n

JP<\/strong>\u2014short for Jefferson Parish, the adjoining parish to Orleans, but more commonly referring to a Jefferson Parish Sherriff Deputy; i.e., \u201cI rolled through a stop sign and a JP stopped me.\u00a0 He beat up my black friend but let me go after fondling my wife\u2019s breasts.\u201d\u00a0 HAHA! Get it?\u00a0 Local humor, folks.\u00a0 Is it funny because it\u2019s true? Tune into future episodes of Treme<\/em> to find out.<\/p>\n

Brah<\/strong>\u2014an abbreviated version of \u201cbrother\u201d that is common throughout the entire metro area; related to, but not quite in the same vein as, \u201cBro\u201d<\/p>\n

Frozen Chinese Crawfish<\/strong>\u2014prepackaged crawfish that are considered inferior to local, fresh-caught crawfish due to all the fat breaking down during processing and shipping; nevertheless, almost any crawfish found in a dish in a reasonably priced restaurant will be of this variant<\/p>\n

Not even Monday<\/strong>\u2014Red beans and rice were traditionally served on Mondays because people had time on Sundays to soak the beans; one of countless examples of a practice that started out of necessity being upheld just for the sake of the tradition<\/p>\n

Indian<\/strong>\u2014in what I\u2019m sure was the biggest \u201cwhat the fuck just happened?\u201d moment for most of the viewing audience, Detective Lester Freamon emerged from the darkness of the night smacking a tambourine and wearing Lady Gaga\u2019s version of a Big Bird costume.\u00a0 DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED.\u00a0 This is the attire of a Mardi Gras Indian, a man who belongs to a neighborhood club of important, wise, or just well-connected men who handmake their own Indian costumes and display them on Mardi Gras day in semi-serious game of one-up-man-ship with similar tribes in nearby neighborhoods.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very complicated, unique practice that dates back at least a hundred years, and is extremely important to those who undertake it<\/p>\n

Kermit Ruffins<\/strong>–is a real person.\u00a0 I know, right?<\/p>\n

Elvis Costello<\/strong>\u2014not THE Elvis of course, but rather the John Cusack of indie rock, known for such hits as, well, I can\u2019t think of the names but you\u2019d know them if you heard them.\u00a0 I have no idea why he was in the pilot.\u00a0 He\u2019s British for god\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Budweiser<\/strong>\u2014the official beer of Treme, for some reason.\u00a0 I have yet to see an entire bar full of locals swilling back Budweiser, or been to any festival, crawfish boil, party, or wedding in the area where the predominant choice of beer was an American-style lager, much less Budweiser.<\/p>\n

Female breast to Male buttocks ratio<\/strong>\u2014The traditional American television show that draws from the nudity well in an attempt to be more \u201cgritty\u201d or \u201crealistic\u201d follows the usual 8:1, which is the gold standard.\u00a0 David Simon is what is known as a \u201cgroundbreaking genius,\u201d so he prefers the less familiar 0:3 in his programs.<\/p>\n

Treme<\/em> Trench<\/strong>\u2014a term I devised to describe the large dips that occur when a heavy crane used in the shooting of Treme<\/em> collapses the delicate strata below a the pavement of a city street; some have been known to reach three feet deep and are now part of my daily commute<\/p>\n

So there you have it, kids: a definitive guide to the things you might have missed on your first viewing of an episode of Treme.\u00a0 Read more about it in the Greatsociety forums<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Treme is about to become your new favorite show.\u00a0 You may not know this yet, but it\u2019s true.\u00a0 HBO has already ordered a second season before the first one has even wrapped.\u00a0 The television-watching intelligentsia have been waiting for David …<\/p>\n

Treme: A Glossary<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,65,5],"tags":[70,64,69,71],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cult-culture","category-nola","category-rants","tag-hbo","tag-new-orleans","tag-treme","tag-why-cant-i-see-kim-dickens-ta-tas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}