With an eye and ear toward the untraditional and genre-less, “New Orleans: The Underground Guide” compiles all the great music and art ignored by other N.O. guidebooks. Along with many thrift stores, record stores, DJ nights, etc., the book also contains a glossary describing hundreds of the city’s bands, rappers and DJs. PLUS many beautiful photos, essays, and informative interviews with the like…s of author Andrei Codrescu and rapper Juvenile.

The author gave Public Enemy leader Chuck D a tour of New Orleans, and Chuck wrote this blurb on his behalf:

“Michael Patrick Welch is a true community light. In the twisted, fragmented aftermath of post-Katrina New Orleans, this man was a day full of knowledge and wisdom, overstanding the connection into the soul of what was really taking place. From the schools, politics and the streets, we were getting such a clear positive thought on what happened, but also on what we could do to better it all. I ushered my artists along that day and it was inspiring to see them lend a voice and a hand, just as we in Public Enemy had served the New Orleans area for many years. We were of course thankful for Michael’s gateway into the reality that was going down.” — Chuck D