I'm in New Orleans right now. Mardi Gras. The birthplace of street music, the city that invented the second line, the place where the revolution was always danced as much as it was marched.

And what do I find? The people chanting "ICE in our drinks, not in our streets" during Carnival. THAT'S the spirit! Even while they're celebrating, they're RESISTING.

You think Mardi Gras is just beads and booze? Nah, man. It's always been political. The Mardi Gras Indians — Black communities creating their own royalty when they were shut out of the white krewes. The second lines — turning funerals into celebrations of LIFE. The street performances — music that belongs to EVERYONE, not just the people who can afford a ticket.

THE ROCK STREET JOURNAL GOES SOUTH

This is why The Rock Street Journal just added New Orleans to our feed. The Lens, WWOZ, OffBeat, Antigravity — the voices of the underground South are now part of our network.

Because the revolution isn't just in New York. It's EVERYWHERE.

When I started playing in Washington Square Park back in '68, I knew the streets were the only stage that mattered. Turns out that lesson came from HERE — from Congo Square, where enslaved people gathered on Sundays to keep their music ALIVE. That spirit traveled up the Mississippi, through the blues, through jazz, through rock and roll, all the way to a hippie with a guitar on MacDougal Street.

THE FIGHT IS THE SAME

ICE raids during Carnival. Federal agents at Mardi Gras. They're trying to turn a celebration into a checkpoint.

But the people aren't having it. "ICE in our drinks, not in our streets." That's not just a chant — that's a POLICY POSITION. That's the people telling the government: You don't belong here. WE do.

Same fight we had in the '60s. Same fight we're having now. Different city, same enemy: anyone who thinks they can control where people gather, who they love, what they smoke, and what they sing.

FROM WASHINGTON SQUARE TO CONGO SQUARE

The streets belong to the PEOPLE. Always have. Always will.

New Orleans knows this. New York knows this. And now The Rock Street Journal is connecting those dots — building a network of underground voices, city by city, until we've got the whole country covered.

Welcome to the revolution, NOLA. We've been waiting for you.

See also: Washington Square — from Congo Square to Washington Square. We Nominated a Pig — the Yippies at the 1968 convention. They Legalized It — who benefits when the fight is won. The Nurses — holding the picket line in New York. The Rock Street Journal Is Back — the mission statement.

— David Peel, Editor New Orleans, Mardi Gras 2026