NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A burial service for a New Orleans music icon known simply as “Uncle Lionel” had to be postponed Friday when a violent thunderstorm flooded the cemetery where he will be laid to rest.
But the foul weather didn’t stop hundreds of fans, friends and neighbors from packing a theater for Lionel Batiste’s funeral, turning what could have been a somber ceremony into a fittingly raucous celebration of his life.
The audience at the Mahalia Jackson Theater danced in the aisles and gave standing ovations to a procession of musicians paying tribute to Batiste. Some waved white handkerchiefs and umbrellas they brought for a “second-line” walking parade that followed the service.
“We gathered for a funeral, but we’re going to scratch the word ‘funeral’ and call it a celebration,” said Batiste’s sister-in-law, Ruth LaFrance.
Batiste, a vocalist, bass drummer and assistant leader of the Treme Brass Band, died July 8 at age 81.
A fixture of the city’s brass band scene for decades, Batiste was easily recognized by his rail-thin-frame, dapper clothes and the trademark watch he wore around his hand instead of his wrist. His appearance on the HBO series “Treme” introduced him — and his band’s music — to a national audience.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Batiste was a “drum major for freedom” who became a symbol of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina when he returned home after the 2005 storm and resumed his musical career.
“When life brought him the worst that it could bring, he gave back the best that he could give, which was joy and beauty and dignity and grace,” Landrieu said. “And when everybody else was trying to find a way to save the world, Uncle Lionel said, ‘I’m just going to do what I do, and I’m going to be the best that I can be.'”
Deacon Rudolph Rayfield, who led the ceremony, said the childhood lessons he learned from Batiste went far beyond how to second-line. Rayfield said Batiste taught him and many other boys how to be men.
“Uncle Lionel said what he meant, meant what he said,” Rayfield said. “We have a lot to be grateful for what this man has done for us.”
Like many audience members, Deborah Williams knew Batiste from growing up in the city’s Treme neighborhood, home to many of the city’s best-known musicians.
“He tried to keep you in line, run you off the streets. He looked after you,” said Williams, 59.
Dave Regier, a New Orleans native who moved back to the city 15 years ago, described the funeral as a “once in a lifetime” experience and marveled at the racially diverse crowd.
“We’re all family,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are. Just look around.”
