LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As a nine-year-old boy at the time Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Las Vegas local Sean Hunter remembers things a little differently.
I sat down with him now, 20 years after that historic storm made landfall, to hear his story.
“I don't think I really completely understand it because around that time, these cool shoes called Heelys came out. And I was 9 years old rolling through the airport, and I was seeing people laying on cots by the gates and everything, people laying on the floor. And my dad said I was able to cheer them up, just rolling through there, laughing, having my big smile on,” he said.
At the time, his dad worked at the airport, so he stayed there.
“The only thing I do remember that was really hard was taking a shower, trying to clean up,” he said. “We were in the janitorial closet. He had to splash water on me to wipe me down and everything, because the water was out, power was out… eating Vienna sausages and stuff like that.”
Hunter stayed at the airport for a couple of weeks, riding out Katrina and then Hurricane Rita before getting sent off to Maryland.
When asked for his reflections on that time, Hunter says, “Definitely some sadness. Lot of happiness, because without Katrina, I probably wouldn’t be the musician I am today.”
That’s because when he got to Maryland, he missed his hometown, so he decided to learn how to play an instrument that brought back memories of home.
“I wanted to do something that reminded me of the city, and I was like welp, I see the Louis Armstrong statue every day going to school when I was little, and I was like, let me play the trumpet,” Hunter said.
From there, it was no turning back.
After a year in Maryland, he returned to New Orleans and continued playing the trumpet, eventually joining one of the city’s most famous youth bands, St. Augustine’s Marching 100.
“We had summer band camp. One of the most brutal camps I've ever been through because you're out in the sun, the humidity and you're doing pushups on the pavement, marching. You have to keep your leg up high like this, while playing,” Hunter said.
A couple of years later, it was off to Las Vegas to live with his mom.
“I took my exam May 18, 2012. As soon as I got out, my dad picked me up from St. Aug., took me straight to the airport, got me on a flight to Vegas. The next day, I had to audition for LVA, 8 am,” Hunter said.
For 13 years, Las Vegas has been home, and while his dreams have changed, his passion for music has not.
He currently plays in a band with gigs at the Shag Room inside Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and Easy’s Cocktail Lounge inside ARIA Resort and Casino.
Now, it’s Washington and Withers instead of Bolden and Bechet, slot machines and showgirls instead of beads and beignets, but in his world, the two coexist.
“New Orleans and Vegas, they’re like cousins. Both 24-hour cities, both have party vibes,” he said.
The music is the thing that holds it all together.
“Words can’t really describe it. It’s a feeling.”
It’s a feeling that was born and raised in New Orleans, cultivated in Maryland, and sustained in Las Vegas.
