Perri the Hobo's Jazz Funeral

On Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 3:00pm, a jazz funeral was given for French Quarter clown, Perri the Hobo. Organized by Checkers the Clown, the procession began at Jackson Square with about 25 people showing up to honor the controversial clown who performed in New Orleans for 20 years. 

At the head of the procession, Checkers, dressed in black and wearing a red clown nose, carried the cremated remains of Perri the Hobo in the black box that was sent to him from Boston. Perri the Hobo was found dead of a drug overdose on March 24th in his Boston-area apartment. In his other hand, Checkers held a ceremonial umbrella. Following behind were Tuba Fats, David & Roselyn, and other jazz musicians playing tunes such as "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" and "I'll Fly Away." 

Tourists joined in the procession, which grew to over 60 people. Artist Nancy Davis held a sign featuring her photo of Perri the Hobo blowing balloons for children in Jackson Square. The sign was passed around to different people throughout the police-escorted march, which traveled down Royal, making its way to Bourbon Street and back to Jackson Square. It was a warm, slightly humid, sunny day. Times-Picayune roving reporter Keith O'Brien took notes, while photographer Kathy Anderson snapped away. Times Picayune columnist and celebrity stalker Chris Rose attended with his children, all wearing balloon hats. Also spotted in the parade were Joe "Mr. Massage" Zahavi videotaping with his new digital video camera, songstress TJ Powell, and Peter "The Glassharper" Bennett. 

Returning to Jackson Square, Checkers held court in front of the Pontalba apartments. The crowd made a circle around him. "Today we're here to celebrate a street performer who has performed in New Orleans since 1982. His name was Perri the Hobo. I was his student. I learned from Perri from 1989 to 1991 when I broke out on my own," Checkers announced. 

He then pulled an Italian tourist from the crowd and did the kind of schtick Perri was known for. After a few jokes, he gave her a balloon animal and sent her back into the crowd. Checkers continued, "We all know that Perri had his bad times. He got into a little bit of trouble. A lot of you people heard the rumors that he got busted with 17 pounds of pot. That's not true. He only had three twenty-dollar bags of marijuana." Checkers produces three baggies filled with fake marijuana leaves and tosses them to people in the crowd. "That'll be twenty bucks… Everybody said that he had 17 pounds of marijuana and that his chicken was full of cocaine. I don't know where this story came from. There was never any cocaine in the chicken, I swear." Checkers, wearing a stiff fake chicken dangling from his waist, pulls off a small piece of tape from the chicken's mouth and white powder spills to the ground.

Checkers goes up to a woman in the crowd and instructs her to hold the neck of the chicken, which she does. "Now choke him. Oh, noo. Most people used a rubber chicken. Perri always said that he liked a nice hard cock. He'd always get the woman to choke the chicken. And then every once in a while he would spank the chicken, leaving the cocaine to go all over the place. After he got busted, he gave up pot… Yeah, right. He also gave up cocaine…. Yeah, right. Now, Perri sits with us here (looking at the black box on the ground). So if we could all have a nice quiet silent moment in memory of Perri. And remember him in your own way. For those of you that didn't know him, he was a kind-hearted person who deserved your respect at this moment. If we could just have a moment of silence." 

After about 10 seconds of silence, Checkers wrapped up the show. "That's enough Perri. Like I said, I'd like to thank all you guys for coming out here today. I know the band passed around a hat. The reason why they did that, is that I have paid for all the expenses that has been done. I had Perri cremated and had him brought back from Boston where he died." A man's voice in the crowd asks, "Where is Perri right now?" "Perri is sitting right here," Checkers replies pointing to the box. "He is?" says the man. "This is Perri right here. So I'm going to do one last thing for Perri. Put the hat down one last time. And as Perri would say, reach into your hearts and your wallets, pull out 5 or even 10 dollars, and give me the rest. Ya'll have a good time. Remember Perri. Thank you very much for coming out." The audience, who found the ceremonial clown oddly amusing, dispersed quickly. And that was the jazz funeral of New Orleans' most mystifying and controversial clown, Perri the Hobo.

--Rick Delaup