Returning to his hometown always was a dream for Jimmy McCarstle. But the entrepreneur expected that return would be in retirement, not in the middle of a lively career in music and events production.

Now, with his New Orleans home and business in damp disarray, McCarstle has brought The Music Foundation Inc. to neat, new office space on Main Street.

&uot;It’s called office on the quick,&uot; he quipped, gesturing to the equipment, boxes and papers still waiting for their proper places in the office. &uot;I’d always said I wouldn’t mind moving back to Natchez as long as I could sustain myself.&uot;

He has not returned his business to full speed; that may be a few weeks away.

His land-based telephone will not be installed for several weeks because workers are in emergency areas. The Natchez-based cell phone did not work well. He went back to his New Orleans cell phone and has to search for places where it will operate.

So much for small problems, he said. He is happy to have office equipment and to be in a place where he can dream of new things to do and plan one of his favorite events of the year &045; the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race, which he has staged for the past 19 years. &uot;I’m proud to have brought it to the level it is now,&uot; he said.

The Internet and cell phones allow him to continue his business in Natchez, which takes his attention from coast to coast. &uot;I deal with the East Coast and the West Coast and all the areas in between; so I work from 9 in the morning to 9 at night,&uot; he said.

He has seen the devastation that is the city he had come to call home on six trips there since Hurricane Katrina. &uot;I’m thankful that I don’t have to change my career,&uot; he said, referring to many people who lost everything.

The three-story house where he lived, with his business occupying one floor, is uptown in the Carrollton area. It is moisture-logged even though it missed the flooding that came within feet of his neighborhood.

&uot;All the underneath part of my house is soaking in toxic gumbo,&uot; he said. &uot;The total devastation of New Orleans is so clear. It will be a long, long time before it gets back up to speed.&uot;

In his work in band management, special events and corporate events, among other music-related work, McCarstle has hobnobbed with big-name artists and handled their tours and recordings.

The career started early in his childhood, when music became important to him, he said. Then during his early adult years, he worked for WQNZ radio in Natchez and became interested in promoting records.

Following some years of working for management and production companies, he struck out on his own in about 1987. One of his most interesting jobs was producing the Revlon Walk-Run for Women, a fundraiser for breast and ovarian cancer. &uot;It was a walk and run from Times Square in New York City to Central Park,&uot; he said. &uot;I became an expert on Times Square and Central Park productions. That opened some doors,&uot; he said.

Now that he is in Natchez, ideas are dancing in his brain &045; perhaps a new festival for downtown Natchez to raise money to resurrect the old Ritz Theater; maybe summer workshops for children not only in music but in other arts.

He sees opportunities for Natchez to grow, especially as an entertainment venue. He would like to be a part of that, he said.

Meanwhile, he looks toward the balloon race in Natchez, where for the first time a band he promotes will be featured. &uot;I didn’t promote them for this. The folks who choose the music for the balloon festival heard them and liked them,&uot; McCarstle said.

They are Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, a New Orleans band for which he is administrator. He is excited about their future.

So, as New Orleans goes into the slow and painful reconstruction period, McCarstle will keep his eye on it, and, as much as he loves his hometown, much of his heart will remain in the Crescent City, where he has been involved in the famous annual jazz fest and was one of the founders of the Voodoo Music Festival.

Still, his considerable talents and experience are ripe for Natchez picking. And, as New Orleans revives, &uot;I want to find a way to tie Natchez into the jazz fest at New Orleans and Memphis,&uot; he said.