Nearly five years ago, filmmaker Michael Murphy had lunch with Curtis Doucette after learning of his plans to restore New Orleans’ iconic Dew Drop Inn, which suffered years of decline following Hurricane Katrina.
Murphy and his producing partner, Cilista Eberle, figured a film about the rebirth of a lounge and hotel that attracted legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Little Richard and a whole host of other talented musicians would be of interest to everyone. That notion, however, would encounter a major stumbling block.
“As it turned out, there were no performances of any kind that existed on film,” Murphy remembered. “Not even photographs. Nothing. If there had been, Katrina wiped it out. So essentially, there were no assets. So, we said to ourselves, this film about the grand reopening of the Dew Drop Inn with all these great performances could no longer be what we had planned.”…