BATON ROUGE — On the first Wednesday of every month for the last two years, Louisiana musicians crowd the dining room of a Coursey Boulevard barbeque spot to reminisce about the glory days over pulled pork and brisket.

Some of the musicians that attend the Ole Musician Rocker's Luncheon at Old School BBQ & Smokehouse are classically trained with music degrees. Others, like 73-year-old co-founder Donald "Duck" Miletello, picked it up while playing on the road.

"The knowledge in here, you can't find it in a book," said Miletello, whose band The Falcons was recently inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

At each luncheon, about 30 musicians fill the restaurant to share stories of music. Similar groups meet in New Orleans and Lake Charles, Miletello said.

Miletello and Warren Broussard, 77, said they started the luncheon — originally at George's Restaurant on George O'Neal Road before they outgrew it — as a way to keep the musical history of Baton Rouge and Southern Louisiana alive. They wanted to provide the aging community of musicians a place to connect or reconnect with one another, while sharing their stories with the younger crop of rockers.

"We can come and celebrate each other over a cup of coffee, a cold drink or a hamburger rather than having to go to a funeral home and pay your respects," Miletello said.

Old School BBQ has its own musical history. Owners Alan and Debbie Traylor, musicians in their own right, have hung plaques honoring Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductees throughout the restaurant. They recognize the contributions of luminaries from Elvis Presley and Hank Williams Jr. to Fats Domino and Little Richard.

Debbie Traylor's plaque greets the musicians as they arrive for the luncheon.

As much as the luncheon is about laughing over stories like the time Broussard and his band The Night Owls met Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong, its also a community to help the aging artists. During Miletello's opening remarks, he discussed deceased friends, as well as pointing out colleagues still with them who struggle with cancer or COVID. 

"They mean a lot to me," Broussard said. "We're looking at helping a friend of ours that's got leukemia. We're gonna try to help him the best we can... Any chance that we can, we'll try to do what we can to help them."