Fascinating new info about Louis Armstrong's childhood

[Larry Kart]

http://www.nola.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/12/our_times_the_louis_armstrong.html

[jeffcrom]

Fascinating indeed! The photos of the original 1910 documents and newspaper clippings make me wonder what else there is to be discovered.

[David Ayers]

I quite seriously assumed this thread was about Lance Armstrong. I had to do a double take when I read the link.

[Larry Kart]

I quite seriously assumed this thread was about Lance Armstrong. I had to do a double take when I read the link.

I just changed the topic title.

[paul secor]

The fact that "Armstrong" makes people think of Lance rather than Louis probably says something (nothing positive) about the times we live in.

[Scott Dolan]

I wouldn't say that, Paul. Lance Armstrong was such a recent and relevant actor in our culture that it seems like a perfectly reasonable and honest mistake.

[David Ayers]

The fact that "Armstrong" makes people think of Lance rather than Louis probably says something (nothing positive) about the times we live in.

And if I don't get it what about all the people who *don't* post forty times a week on a jazz bulletin board...

[David Ayers]

And in fairness to me, Larry has posted about Lance before....

[jazzbo]

Interesting article. Louis owes his career in many ways to the Jones family establishing that home and his 1913 arrest!

[umum_cypher]

Interesting article. Louis owes his career in many ways to the Jones family establishing that home and his 1913 arrest!

I see from one of the reproduced newspaper items that Louis was leading a band that included Louis Smith, Richard Williams and James Brown - trumpet-heavy maybe, but there's a line up for you. Richard Cook as 'flag boy' too, before he turned to writing.

[JSngry]

Pops was a banger-in-waiting. Good thing he lived when he did, in a lot of ways.

[gmonahan]

It's always amazing when archives like these pop up, especially about the African-American experience in America. So much of that was lost. Gives me hope that there's more out there somewhere!

gregmo

[John L]

Very interesting. Thanks, Larry.

I guess that if you already look like a "dangerious and suspicious character" at the age of 9, you should stay off the streets of New Orleans.

[jazzbo]

Very interesting. Thanks, Larry.

I guess that if you already look like a "dangerious and suspicious character" at the age of 9, you should stay off the streets of New Orleans.

You can wish you had a choice. . . but Louis probably didn't.

[Brad]

Thanks for posting Larry. What wasn't clear to me (unless I missed it) is who now holds these newly discovered records. They should be put into a safe place to safeguard them against further deterioration.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Brad

[Big Beat Steve]

As for why the original title was mistaken for LANCE A. - easy to explain in my opinion. A topic (ANY topic) about THIS jazz person would have been much more appropriate inside the jazz forum (Artists? Misc. Music? Jazz in Writing?) and not in a multi-topic "non-political" forum outside the actual jazz forum. After all, the minutest trivia of the lives of other jazz personalities are evoked and discussed inside the forum too.

[Larry Kart]

Moved to "Artists."

[Chuck Nessa]

Now we might get a complaint that bikers are artists.

[JSngry]

[Chuck Nessa]

deviant.

[flat5]

I think it likely that Louis would have been a great musician and probably a trumpet player without his experience at the 'Home'.

Why am I alone in this view?