I been singing out here in front of the Café DuMonde since ’94, but I didn’t really start singing gospel until after Katrina. Before the storm I was singing mostly secular songs. I loved making the people smile, but honestly I was more worried about the money in the box than the music. Apparently, the NOPD had some issues with that approach, because on August 22nd, 2005, they arrested me up on Bourbon Street and charged me with panhandling. I understand that there’s an eight o’clock curfew for performers on Bourbon, but I don’t know why they had to charge me with panhandling, I’m not a bum. People like what I do.
       I was supposed to only be locked up for a few days, but then when the storm started coming, they weren’t letting anybody see the judge. When the water started coming in, all the officers panicked and locked us down in the cells and told us a bunch of lies and left the building. I was on the second floor, but they had some prisoners who were locked up down below and the water was starting to fill up. Some of the inmates broke free and they went into the gym and got the big goal posts and started banging them against the hydraulic doors. They were banging on those doors for hours until finally we broke the lock. If we didn’t get those guys out, they would have drowned. 

Links
Times Picayune Article 8/07 by Chris Rose

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