A Book for New Orleans - "Blues for a Butterfly"

In spring 2004, music journalist Sibylle Zerr traveled to New Orleans as representative of the Muddy's Blues and Jazz Club, Weinheim, Germany. The city on the Mississippi and its inhabitants inspired her to record her experiences in book form. The result: an anthology of stories, “Blues for a Butterfly", the proceeds of which will support efforts to rebuild New Orleans. One year after Katrina, the city is a long way from a return to normalcy.

In her book, Sibylle Zerr encounters musicians like Allen Toussaint, Irvin Mayfield and Larry Garner. With her stories and interviews, she conveys the zest of life and the all-present symbols of death in the passionate city on the Mississippi. “Blues for a Butterfly" is entertaining travel literature and reveals new facets of New Orleans, mirroring the soul of this extraordinary city.

One year after the hurricane, tourists have re-conquered the French Quarter. A different picture confronts the visitors of the Ninth ward downriver, which remains in a state of complete destruction. Many are still living in emergency accommodations; the next hurricane season has already begun. Half of the revenues from the sale of “Blues for a Butterfly" will be donated to organizations dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans: the “New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, the residential construction program “Habitat for Humanity" supported by Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, and the aid program of the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau.

Sibylle Zerr, “Blues fuer einen Schmetterling"
Begegnungen in New Orleans
Language: German
168 pages, hardcover, 14,8 X 21 cm
15 stories, an epilogue, 52 photos
BoD, Norderstedt, August 2006, ISBN 3-8334-5289-7
24,80 Euro