Winning or losing, preseason games or playoff, for the past 24 years one thing remains constant in the Louisiana Superdome: the exuberant spirit of Bruce Hirstius and the Storyville Jazz Band.
“We start at Gate A welcoming the fans, and then we stroll from portal to portal playing our music and rallying the crowd,” he says.
The gig started in 1981. Hirstius recruited the other band members out of East Jefferson High School, and they’ve been with him ever since. Their repertoire includes such Dixieland standards as “Gin Mill Blues,” “Bourbon Street Parade” and of course “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
“It started as a three-week tryout,” Hirstius says. ”I guess the management likes us.”
At age 82, this self-taught musician continues to blow his trumpet and dance along to the bouncy Dixieland beat. He says fans often tell him they grew up with him as they remember the first Saints games their fathers took them to years ago.
“We’ve had many great moments,” he says. “We traveled with the Saints to London and Japan, but one of the best moments was playing as the fans entered the Dome for the first time after Katrina. That was something special.”
At the beginning of each season, the fans ask Hirstius how he thinks the Saints are going to do. His standard answer is spun in pure Hirstius style: “I don’t tell the coach how to coach, and he don’t tell me how to play,” he says. “It works out just fine.”
Music runs throughout the Hirstius family. His son is local singer and songwriter, Gary Hirstius, who’s played with such artists as Tommy Malone (formerly of the subdudes), Dave Malone (currently with the Radiators), and Theresa Andersson. Bruce even added some licks to Gary’s CD Slightly Out of Focus.
In 2003, at the age of 75, Hirstius started a new business and now does second-lines at wedding banquets and parties. The man shows no signs of slowing down.
“I do it because it’s fun,” he says. “If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t do it. Yeah, I’m gonna be doing this until I can’t walk, and even then the band says they’ll just keep wheeling me around the Dome.”
Shine a Light with Pamela Marquis illuminates the stories of those people who need a little recognition for the many ways they make New Orleans the best place in the world to live.
