"in the event Treme decides not to Treme itself, it will wholly get it wrong. Completely. They’ve written themselves into our recovery. Period."

Will HBO's Treme ultimately cover its own presence in New Orleans as the tv timeline and the real world timeline collide?

Jean-Paul Villere lays out the strange possibility of "Davis potentially watching Davis then watching Davis."

It's an interesting conundrum, the documentarian's dilemma.  And it's one that gets even weirder as you ponder how Treme touches on the LSU/VA Footprint.  Here are some photos of the shoot in the LSU Footprint from a few weeks ago that never made it onto the blog:

As you can see, the filming required use of some of the now-vacant property in the LSU Footprint - contradicting what the location manager contact told me (that only the streets would be used).  The filming actually required messing up some of the lots that had been fully cleared:

It gets interesting when talking LSU/VA because the greater hospitals controversy - not just the geographic setting as stage - seems to be working itself into the show.  This past Sunday, for example, the show's viewers saw a developer talking briefly about a map...which turns out to be the LSU/VA hospitals area.

And recent scenes this season, set in 2007, were actually shot in late 2010 in the VA footprint...including a shot near Outer Banks Bar that I watched as it was filmed, (and documented here).

So, at some point in later episodes, if the LSU/VA footprint/Charity theme continues...will viewers ultimately see the show depicting its own crew filming earlier episodes of the show in the crumbling VA or LSU footprints as residents attempt to move out?  And if the LSU Footprint is still largely vacant at that future date (which would be no surprise to many of us), will the show's crew return there to shoot/recreate such a scene?  The possible convergences of film, reality, and time are almost too much to handle all at once.

As Villere puts it: "Treme must Treme itself. Why? Because the whole point of the show is to tell New Orleans’ story post Katrina, and whether you want to admit it or not the diurnal tedium of our lives will forever be impacted by the concept and execution of this show paralleling and in effect documenting the fabric of our culture."

More on filming in UMC Footprint

According to the locations contact, filming that begins tonight at 5 p.m. in the UMC Footprint is for HBO's Treme.

The contact also said that proper permits are in hand and that the streets alone will be used for shooting.

HBO's Treme Filming Inside the Footprint Tomorrow

I happened upon crews hauling in debris and placing it above Outer Banks in the razed lots that used to be thick with occupied houses.  Allen Boudreaux at Boudreaux's Tires, which is still operating between Tulane and Banks, tipped me off.

It's just surrealism layered upon surrealism.

Here's a shot of the debris that was moved in - there were no houses or buildings left along this portion of what used to be Palmyra between S. Rocheblave and S. Tonti as of yesterday.

James, a fixture in the neighborhood, watched from the door of Outer Banks as crews pushed dirt onto the roadway that was recently torn out.

The bar is still open.

Across the street, a few people looked on, including a man in shades and a blue scarf who, like several of the contractor staff on hand, remained silent when I asked where the debris came from.

While I'm glad that the show will have a chance to capture the reality of the devastation that's been wrought, I also think it's a little eerie.  People like Deborah Brown-Cassine, from what I can tell, still live in what will presumably be the backdrop for the shot.

Additionally, I hope that none of the developing parties or contractors are making any money off the filming.  If they are, they should immediately disgorge any profits for the benefit of those being displaced.  Or for house moving in the LSU Footprint - where there was more "real" debris being produced today after yet another demolition: