Thunder Dome
If you have ever attended a Saints home game, you have probably heard the contagious sounds of traditional New Orleans jazz music echoing through the stratosphere of the Superdome.
Recognized as a local favorite, the Storyville Jazz Band has been roaming the Dome for more than 30 years, entertaining Saints fans from the terrace seats to the ground level and club suites.
Although the founder Bruce Hirstius, 96, retired about three years ago, the eight-member band continues the tradition, marching into their 38th season with the Saints.
"Originally, my two uncles started the band, but they have retired," noted Stacey Hirstius, a long-standing member and snare drummer in the Storyville Jazz Band. "They started as a jazz band marching in the parades as a walking brass band and backing up different dance teams in the late 1960s. Then, in 1987, we got the opportunity to play in the Dome."
Although both Donald and Bruce Hirstius had formed the band, Saints fans particularly remember Bruce leading the band with his pocket trumpet and unique "jiggy" style of dance. "Everyone knows Bruce. People may not know the name of the band but they remember Bruce," said Gregg Paretti, a saxophone and clarinet player who started with the Storyville Jazz Band in ninth grade. "He is a funny guy who loves to play music. He instilled in us the tradition and history of jazz."
When Paretti left the band in 1985 to join the military, Bruce would often call him when they needed a clarinet player. "I played two Saints games when I was on break from the Air Force," Parettti, who returned to the band full-time in 2010, added. Through the years, only a handful of the original band members, including Hirstius and Paretti, have stayed together.
"Originally, we had six members, including myself," Chris Bonura said, the co-manager and tuba player for the Storyville Jazz Band since his senior year at Grace King High School. "Now we have eight band members. We added another trumpet player and brought in someone new to replace the original trombone player, Alex Holmes."
Even so, to this day, fans of all ages are mesmerized by the upbeat sounds of this heartland jazz and brass band when they play at all Saints home games, pregame events, and other local gigs including weddings, birthday parties, and conventions.
Old-timers and New Orleans-natives include Stacey Hirstius, Bonura, and Paretti, who also co-manages the band, as well as Gary Gueldner, who has been playing trumpet with the band since high school. Some of the more recent additions are bass drummer Dane Schlindler (2017), trumpeter Mark Levron (2021), and trombonist Jimmy Brinkman (2021), all of whom were born and raised in the New Orleans area. Only one band member who joined last year, trombone player Greg Hicks, was the only one not born in New Orleans.
"The songs get the people excited and dancing," Bonura observed. "Last year, we played one hour outside the Dome before the game. We would second line through the crowd until our on-screen performance playing 'When the Saints Go Marching In' for the pregame pep rally."
Following this performance, the Storyville Jazz Band usually heads up to the terrace level to begin their stroll around the Superdome. "We make it halfway around the Dome before the end of the first quarter," Hirstius said. "We don't get to see much of the game, but we keep everyone moving."
By the third quarter, the band has reached the Club level, which includes the private suites, pumping up the party with 30 to 60 second spots of each song. Tunes including "I'm Walkin'," "Bourbon Street Blues," and "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" ring out through the concourse, prompting those fans to sing and get out of their seats.
"I would say we walk more than 10,000 steps at each game," Bonura noted. "We are making it around the Superdome at least two or three times. The Club and Terrace levels are hit the most. We get full coverage and entertain the people from the top to the bottom."
Besides spreading their Dixieland jazz fervor to Saints fans in the Dome, the Storyville Jazz Band has traveled with the team to London in 1990 and to Japan in 1993 to play their same repertoire. "We were like the house band on the sidelines at Wembley Stadium in London," Bonura said. "In Japan, when we walked around the stadium, they actually stopped watching the game, turned around in their seats to watch us."
Other previous gigs included various Saints activities such as the Fan Day Crawfish Boil at Saints Camp on Airline Highway and the annual preseason fun run. They also played as the background band for the ESPN Gameday Broadcast outside Jackson Brewery during the Super Bowl XLVII (42) and numerous other pregame broadcasts. According to Hirstius and Bonura, the Storyville Jazz Band has set their sights on showcasing their talents at the upcoming Super Bowl in New Orleans. "It is on our bucket list to be able to play at the next Super Bowl scheduled in 2025," Bonura confessed.
In the meantime, the Storyville Jazz Band is looking forward to kicking off the Saints season with their jazz vibe no matter if the Saints win or lose. "The good thing is if the Saints are winning, the crowd wants us to play," Bonura said. "And when the team is losing, they want us to play even more."
