Treme Tales

by Erin Z. Bass Featuring as many as 75 musicians, HBO's new show from the creators of "The Wire," called "Treme" after the New Orleans neighborhood, premieres April 11 at 9 p.m. But making the building excitement of the premiere bittersweet is the death of Emmy Award-winning TV writer David Mills, who passed away March 30 in New Orleans. Mills was producing "Treme" along with David Simon and was present a few days before he died at the Tennessee Williams Festival's "The Making of Treme" panel. Mills sat second from the left inside the Royal Sonesta's Grand Ballroom, with writer Tom Piazza on his left and David Simon, Co-Creator Eric Overmyer and writer and journalist Lolis Eric Elie to his right. As described in the festival program, the "Treme" panel will educate the audience about "the challenges this great city presents to the writers and actors on the show, and how it inspires and engages the stories narrated within." Without giving too much away, the producers and writers did discuss the central plot, a mystery conceived by Elie, who was born in New Orleans and wrote the award-winning documentary "Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans." "Treme" begins three months after