Notable Quotable

City Business

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans musician Irvin Mayfield will resign from his post as cultural ambassador for the city of New Orleans at the end of this year, the jazz trumpeter said Tuesday.

Mayfield, who was appointed to the unpaid position in 2003, cited a “lack of commitment” from the city to promote and protect New Orleans' cultural identity as the reason for his departure.

The city could not be reached for immediate comment.

“I’ve done my best,” said Mayfield, the artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. “We took it to the White House and all over the world. But I don’t see the same energy for cultural projects (coming from city government), and maybe it's time for new leadership.”

Remember back when we were going to use Ed Blakely's cranes to tear down City Hall and everything else in Duncan Plaza and build some sort of Millenium Park/Jazz Disneyland type of thing? I wonder if Irvin believed that was actually supposed to happen... and that's why he took the gig in the first place.

Update: City Business revisits this story. It's much less surprising this way.

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans musician Irvin Mayfield, a jazz trumpeter appointed to the unpaid New Orleans cultural ambassador post in 2003, said a statewide “lack of commitment” to promote and protect New Orleans' culture is a problem.

Mayfield said the lack of support made him consider resigning at the end of the year although he hasn't committed to the decision fully yet.

"I have not resigned," Mayfield said. "I am giving thought to what happens next. In asking what I would hope to see for culture in New Orleans would be the same kind of city support that was given to the Inspector General's Office, whereas experts are hired to solve a corruption problem. The same would be great for culture."

Mayfield said he was deeply grateful to the mayor, who has been a strong partner in culture. He said he's worked hard in his post.

“I’ve done my best,” said Mayfield, the artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. “We took it to the White House and all over the world. But I don’t see the same energy for cultural projects ... and maybe it's time for new leadership. I don't see anything wrong with not being a cultural ambassador for the rest of my life."

Also... as we already know, I happen to be one of your more amusingly stupid individuals. See comments for further exploration of this topic.