Home » This Just In: TREME Wraps Filming Final Season

This Just In: TREME Wraps Filming Final Season

by Jef Dinsmore
2 comments 501 views

Try Max Now
Spotted_Cat

I ran across an article on a website I thought I’d share; it is on a site for a magazine about Louisiana’s music and culture called Offbeat. It appears that Consulting Editor John Swenson was present as HBO’s TREME wrapped up filming on location in New Orleans. Here is a brief article written 02.13 of what transpired. It is a scene shot on Frenchman Street of yet another musical moment that has infused the series since episode one.

 

 

 

[box]It was a raw and misty late afternoon in February during Mardi Gras. Spotlights illuminated the gloaming Marigny shadows with a surreal, almost funereal light. David Simon and Eric Overmyer huddled inside a doorway across the street from the Spotted Cat, watching Davis Rogan do a run-through of “Godzilla vs. M.L.K.” before Steve Zahn as Davis McAlary would sing it for the shoot. The music rattled across Frenchmen Street as crew members directed extras and music director Blake Leyh checked levels on headphones at the production station in the alley next door to the club. It was to be the last club music shoot in the HBO series Treme’s extraordinary three years documenting the music and culture of New Orleans.

Bittersweet?

“That’s the word,” said Overmyer. “Every day as we approach the end of shooting we say goodbye to other members of the cast and crew who’ve completed their assignments.”

Rogan took a break and joined Leyh and I in the side doorway of d.b.a. at the circular Red Bull table where I was watching the proceedings.We joked about Davis getting married next month and ruminated on which local musician received the biggest boost from Treme’s run. John Boutte was the consensus pick but it was a difficult choice because so many local musicians were cast into new relief by the international exposure the series has given them. They left and I said to a woman who’d joined us, “I think Davis has gotten the biggest boost. He was able to quit his teaching job and now works full-time as a musician.”

Treme_partialcastShe responded, as so many locals who’ve followed Treme as if it was a story told by relatives about their daily lives have, with a plot suggestion.

“They should do a story about these guys coming into town and making a TV show about all of us,” she said.

She walked off and everyone took their places. I was waiting for the call “action” when I saw OffBeat art director Elsa Hahne walk by and chased after her. A stern assistant told us to keep walking as we passed by Simon and Overmyer, who called out to me. I returned a few minutes later and apologized for not stopping to talk.

“Oh, it was just that the camera was panning on these two guys conspiring across the street and you walked by,” said Overmyer.

Just like that, the shot was over and another of Treme’s final moments was complete. The show’s dexterity in weaving stories of real New Orleans musicians into the storyline alongside actors playing New Orleans musicians is so intricate that I couldn’t even tell you who the players in the band were without spoiling a near-Shakespearean plot point.

There was much laughing and handshaking going on inside the Spotted Cat as the crew broke down the set and Simon and Rogan enjoyed a final Treme moment together.

“It was a great coincidence, you walking by then,” said Simon. “Your  review of The Once and Future DJ in OffBeat introduced me to Davis. I read it and said, ‘Who is this guy?’ So I get the album and the first song I hear on it is ‘Godzilla vs. M.L.K.’ That’s how it started and now we’re here at the end listening to ‘Godzilla vs. M.L.K.’again.” – John Swenson[/box]

Treme-Done-NOLA

The piece captured the moment nicely. Now we wait for the shortened final season of TREME. No Season Four premiere has been announced. Of course, if filming has just concluded it will take time to do some post-production & marketing work before it airs.

 

Try Max Now

Related Posts

2 comments

Cian Gaffney February 18, 2013 - 3:08 pm

Thanks for this, I’m really looking forward to seeing everything finally wrap up. Although knowing Simon, just as with The Wire, the coup de grace will be that everything just continues as normal; people and situations change, but society remains.

Reply
Jef Dinsmore February 20, 2013 - 8:36 pm

Yes, that is exactly how it will end. And only the appreciative fans will understand that must be the way it plays out when that ending comes.

Reply

Leave a Comment


Adblock Detected

Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker extension from your browsers for our website.