Tom Piazza Quotes:

At one point, early on, some public figures even asked whether it 'made sense' to rebuild New Orleans. Would you let your own mother die because it didn't make financial sense to spend the money to treat her, or because you were too busy to spend the time to heal her sick spirit?

Topics: Mother, New Orleans, Sick

The past in New Orleans cohabits with the present to an extent not even approximated in any other North American city.

source: - Tom Piazza (2015). “Why New Orleans Matters”, p.9, HarperCollins

Topics: Past, Cities, New Orleans

Go with what is. Use what happens.

source: - Tom Piazza (2009). “Why New Orleans Matters”, p.14, Harper Collins

Topics: Use

New Orleans is a city of elegance, beauty, and refinement.

Topics: Cities, New Orleans, Elegance

A portrait of the young Charlie Parker with a degree of vivid detail never before approached. . . [Kansas City Lightning is] a deft, virtuosic panorama of early jazz. . . This is a mind-opening, and mind-filling, book.

Topics: Book, Cities, Kansas City, Panorama, City Lights

Mac Rebennack, better known as Dr. John, once told me that when a brass band plays at a small club back up in one of the neighborhoods, it’s as if the audience—dancing, singing to the refrains, laughing—is part of the band.

source: - Tom Piazza (2009). “Why New Orleans Matters”, p.25, Harper Collins

Topics: Brass Bands, Play, Dancing

In New Orleans the funerals remind us that Life is bigger than any individual life, and it will roll on, and for the short time that your individual life joins the big stream of Life, cut some decent steps, for God’s sake.

Topics: Cutting, New Orleans, Funeral