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In New Orleans, we\\u2019re big on tradition.\\xa0We believe that doing things the same way they\\u2019ve been done for generations keeps us connected to our history and maintains the grandness of the city that our forebears created.

But there\\u2019s a difference between tradition and habit. That difference can be knowledge.\\xa0

For example, in the 1950\\u2019s if you, your parents, and grandparents all smoked cigarettes, you might have called yourselves \\u201ca traditional tobacco family.\\u201d\\xa0Now that we know smoking is the cause of seriously life-limiting medical conditions, you\\u2019d be more apt to describe that family as having a bad smoking habit.

Which brings us to Mardi Gras. Wait, what?\\xa0If you\\u2019ve lived in New Orleans for any time and you go to Mardi Gras parades, you\\u2019ve probably caught or thrown hundreds, if not thousands, of Mardi Gras beads.\\xa0Mostly manufactured in China, these plastic beads are allegedly made from unregulated petroleum products and reportedly contain unhealthful levels of lead, arsenic, and other chemicals you don\\u2019t want your kids anywhere near.

Are Mardi Gras Beads as bad for you as cigarettes?!

We put that question to Brett Davis. And we\'re betting you can guess the answer. Brett is Director of an organization called Grounds Krewe. Grounds Krewe\\u2019s mission is to make New Orleans events\\xa0 sustainable by diminishing waste and instituting recycling wherever possible. When it comes to Mardi Gras, Grounds Krewe\\u2019s aim is to get us to replace plastic beads - and other toxic throws - with sustainable throws that are local, healthful, and as affordable as the ubiquitous, Chinese, plastic beads.

Now let\\u2019s move on to another mainstay of the New Orleans economy in which there\\u2019s a blurred line between tradition and habit: the music business.

The traditional way the music business is structured in New Orleans tends to financially benefit purveyors of alcohol more than the creators and performers of music.\\xa0That\\u2019s because we have a very robust live music culture that\\u2019s centered mostly in bars.\\xa0Unlike other music-centric cities - like Nashville and Austin - we don\\u2019t have a similarly robust allied music economy.

If you\\u2019re a New Orleanian and you want a high-level career as a music business attorney, agent, manager, song writer or recording artist, you\\u2019re in the same position locals in other businesses were in till recently. That is, you have to leave New Orleans.\\xa0Think about that for a moment. You live in a city people come to specifically to hear music. But to be truly successful in the music business you have to leave.

This tradition has been going on for some time.\\xa0Louis Armstrong left New Orleans to make it. So did Lil Wayne. Winton Marsalis. Jon Batiste. Evan Christopher. Harry Connick Jr. Davell Crawford. Nicholas Payton. No Limit Records left. Cash Money Records left. Daniel Lanois, Lenny Kravitz, Trent Reznor, and Ray Davies from The Kinks all moved their music operations here, then left.

You could argue that Winton Marsalis had to leave here for his prestigious job as Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Jon Batiste had to leave here to be music director on The Tonight Show. But that\\u2019s the whole point. We\\u2019re the birthplace of jazz but we don\\u2019t have a jazz institute. And we don\\u2019t have the infrastructure a national TV show needs to originate from here.

At what point do we go from regarding this talent-emigration as a tradition, to calling it a habit - and do something about breaking it?

Best-selling songwriter Jim McCormick knows as much as anybody about finding an answer to this question.\\xa0Jim is a New Orleans native who left. He went to Nashville for 15 years. Then he came back.

Jim has written a string of hit songs for artists like Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Kelly Clarkson, Brantley Gilbert, and many more. He\'s been nominated for a Grammy 5 times. He\\u2019s had 3 songs hit number one on the Billboard country chart. And he\\u2019s done much of that while living in Orleans parish.

It\\u2019s easy to keep doing things the way we\\u2019ve always done them.\\xa0It feels good to label ourselves as the home of Mardi Gras, because Mardi Gras is amazing - if it doesn\\u2019t bring a smile to your face probably nothing will.\\xa0And we\\u2019re justifiably proud of New Orleans being a place where you can hear enormously talented musicians all around town, every night.\\xa0

None of this has to stop. But it can change. What\\u2019s already good can be better. And what are now just hopes, dreams and visions can become reality.

We can have a healthy Mardi Gras that\\u2019s safe for everybody. And we can have a robust music business that makes money for musicians and everybody else in the chain of music marketing.

But none of that is going to magically just happen. For things to change it takes people like Brett and Jim, giving us the benefit of their knowledge, experience, and passion for the city of New Orleans.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at\\xa0NOLA Pizza\\xa0in the\\xa0NOLA Brewing Taproom. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworeans.com.

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