The quintessential hub of culture, music, cuisine, ecology, history, spirits, social stratification, and the allowance of the good times to roll, NOLA leads the world in many categories, including nicknames:
- The Big Easy
- The Crescent City
- The Birthplace of Jazz
- Mardi Gras City
- The City that Care Forgot
- The Northernmost Caribbean City
- America's Most Interesting City
- Queen City of the Inland Sea
- The Gateway to the Mississippi Valley
- Home of Igors
 |
| Igor at Igors |
My most recent trip to my favorite city on the planet was last week. I saw Ned, I took in some more spirits, and I spent indefensible amounts of time in Igors. Not much changes down there. The multitude of bodily aches I felt as I left town last Thursday included some in my face from smiling and laughing for seven straight days. God, I love that town.
 |
| This monkey could dance |
This was my 17th visit to this fair city and my 10th JazzFest. There was a stretch from 2009 until 2015 when I never got back there. Terrible idea. I am always reminded of how much I love the place, and that I need annual sojourns there for peace-of-mind purposes. Join me in the years ahead, won't you?
The last night I was in town (after Fest and conference were over), Ned got us tickets for a show at Preservation Hall. For the uninformed, I'll let the PresHall website explain:
New Orleans’ Preservation Hall was established in 1961 to honor one of America’s truest art forms – Traditional New Orleans Jazz. Operating as a music venue, a touring band, and a non-profit organization, Preservation Hall continues its mission today as a cornerstone of New Orleans music and culture. Situated in the heart of the French Quarter on St. Peter Street, the Preservation Hall venue presents intimate, acoustic New Orleans Jazz concerts over 350 nights a year featuring ensembles from a current collective of 100+ local master practitioners. On any given night, audiences bear joyful witness to the evolution of this venerable and living tradition.On this night a few Preservation Hall Jazz Band players welcomed some musical guests into the fold for a one-set tribute to the late, great native son Lee Dorsey. I hadn't realized how amazing the dilapidated Hall is, how tiny a venue it is, or that Ned had landed us front-row seats. Close enough that I seriously needed to dodge the trombone (not a euphemism) on many an occasion.
The players were all as fantastic as the backdrop was. Well-known in musical circles but not thoroughly recognized beyond the region, they were each incredibly skilled; full of smiles, jokes, and stage presence; and in love with Lee Dorsey's gumbo-soaked tunes.
Eric "Benny" Bloom: trumpet
Jon Cleary: piano
Jamison Ross: drums
Roland Guerin: bass
Clint Maedgen: saxophone
Ronell Johnson: trombone
Additional guests stepped in for songs here and there, including a be-wigged Angelo Moore of Fishbone who showed up out of nowhere to sing and play sax on "Get Out of My Life Woman." So good.
Other songs (many written by old fave Allen Toussaint, RIP) they played to perfection: "Yes We Can," "Ya Ya," "Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky (From Now On)," "Holy Cow," "Ride Your Pony," "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley," and my all-time favorite... "Working in the Coalmine."
There are concerts that are the perfect length, those that you are ready to exit early, and those that you just hope will keep going on and on. This fell under that final category. I knew I was amid greatness, I was so close I felt like I was trespassing (or should've picked up a tambourine), and I knew it would leave a mark.
"New Orleans ain't a city, it's a scar." -- Old 97's, "504"
This city leaves marks on me inside and out. Seems like a fleur-de-lis tattoo might have to happen.
Pics from the show... that's me in the blue shirt and Jagermeister ballcap looking like a tourist. But with a stellar vantage point.
Posts
55 comments:
Those are epically good seats.
I've been on Lee Dorsey kick lately. Glad you got to witness at such close range. I really want to go back to that town when I don't have a conference, so I can laissez les bon temps roulez without interruption.
i believe rootsy just volunteered to organize a gtb summit in new orleans. awesome, man.
Hold up there Rob - let me try and make it to an obft first to see if you guys can hang with me. Or vice versa. It looks like this may be the year.
I, for one, am excited that Rootsy will make his OBFT debut. Hope it's not one-and-done like some in our midst.
working in a coal mine. i hope you're still going there in ten years, when i'm retired and collecting my pension . . . as i will certainly join you.
very exciting . . . when is the last time we had an obft debut?
tough night for washington sports fans
This post is all kinds of awesome. Have only had three trips to NOLA: 2000 Jazzfest, 2001 Halloween Panic shows, 2006 Jazzfest bachelor party. Kids and life have interfered since.
During my first trip w/ a high school buddy, we went for 5 nights. Was too long for a party trip, and we were hurting by Sunday. Sometime earlier that w/e, we saw a small sign on Bourbon St that the Dirty Dozen Brass Band were playing some tiny joint that Sun night. We had Monday flights back and decided to roll the dice. Best decision of the w/e.
When the DDBB tours, you get 7-8 musicians. But in NOLA, you get 12-15. The stage was packed. The venue only held a couple hundred folks, and the music was fire. At one point, I was in the bathroom, smoking a butt and taking a leak. A dude asked for a smoke. I turned around and it was a dude who had just lit the stage up on an instrument for a few tunes, I blinked and realized the guy looked like he wasn't doing well. His clothes were old and ratty, and he appeared out of it. But he somehow came out to let it rip, another anonymous musical talent in a city filled w/ conflicting images like that.
I may have given him the rest of my pack. Was an all-time favorite show, given the low expectations and the uniquely NOLA vibe of the night. Kudos to Igor for creating new memories in that fine town, as opposed to schmucks like me regurgitating 15 year old memories.
Happy Birthday, Danimal. Hope you and Snoop have a great night tonight.
And I'm bummed I missed TR at the 2000 Fest. Pre-GTB GTB summit failure.
today's my mom's birthday, too. i assume she's planning to hang out with danimal and snoop.
At Dulles en route to ATL and MEX. Rain coming down. I really hope the weather doesn't ruin my plans. I need to remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
Rob - your mom says hello.
Thanks for the well wishes Whit. I hope you two have a merry old time in May-hee-co.
I've said it before but it's worth repeating. We need a GTB NOLA summit.
I've never been to NOLA. A summit would be a good reason to go.
Happy birthday Danimal.
I have survived two trips to NOLA with Whit. My liver has survived...barely. I think a GTB summit would be grand.
The funniest part of a summit there would be getting the list of all the stomach/heartburn/hangover ailments Zman would bring. Tough town for a dude who can't handle green peppers.
Peppers fuck me up. Crazy gas and heartburn.
I've really perfected my gas and heartburn situation though. Lansoprazole before eating and drinking. Alka seltzer before bed and upon waking. Tums on demand for breakthrough acid.
And of course Imodium for the runs.
Way to show some heart on your home court, Rockets. That's a Spurs team w/ no Kawhi. Disgrace.
With 7:36 left in the 4th, Ariza hits a free throw for Houston to make the game 96-72 Spurs. From that point, the Spurs go on to score 18 straight points and now lead 114-72.
The Rockets went 7 minutes and 12 seconds w/o scoring. They scored 2 points in the last 7:36 of the 4th.
Another year of Daryl Money not getting to a conference final, but let's keep fluffing him.
i am assuming there would be a gas amnesty at such a summit.
Vicky (W&M cheerleader '93) has decided to get married in f-ing paradise. Great assemblage of people, including our late great fratre Evan Lloyd's (real) little brother.
I hope the Pacific has no memory because Rob and I are going to be drinking these margaritas all weekend.
The situation, each day, seems to be getting way to eerily similar to Nixon. Except Nixon denied the existence of the tapes. Trump is basically saying they exist and is trying to use them like someone from the mafia would.
'Sure hope these tapes don't come out, if they exist.'
You would think someone would tell him you can pull this shit all day long in business, and I'm sure he did, but as president it doesn't fly.
I'm fairly amazed that some republican senator hasn't decided to turn on Trump and lead a charge against him. It's a calculated risk that could have them as the "savior" of the GOP when the shit finally and, seemingly, inevitably hits the fan.
Also, TR was channeling his inner Stugotz last night. I don't think Morey is as great as the numbers community seems to but he did a good job retooling this Rockets team on the fly, as well as making it fit with D'Antoni.
The blame falls on Harden. It's one thing to be awful (missed shots, turnovers, etc). That shit happens from time to time. He was beyond passive from the get go last night. Passing up shots, making weird forced passes, not actively attempting to get the ball back. Awful isn't a strong enough word for that turd he dropped last night.
We're all crossing our fingers for Cruz, Mark.
Graham. Cross your fingers for Lindsey Graham.
Nobody in the GOP has shown me enough to have any real faith that they have the stones to stand up and sustain a long term fight against Trump and Co.
Not even The Maverick?
Bret? Or Bart?
Cruz. Tom Cruz as Maverick.
So, um, Handmaid's Tale is a wee bit more interesting in the world of Trump. Fell into that rabbit hole on my Acela back to NJ from Boston.
I should ask my wife about getting a Handmaid.
The Maverick is a fucking fraud.
Rob did the "toes/pool" selfie on FB today. Might be time to lock him out of his GTB account.
Handmaids are the cool Mother's Day gift this year.
Have a nice life, Rolando McClain!
Guys, I've been going to Bullets games for 24 years.
That. Was. Amazing.
John Wall is the hero Washington sports needs.
We are winning game 7 in Boston.
it was a picture of a beer by the pool, mark. my feet just happened to be in the way.
Those little things are never in the way of anything.
Fake news, Rob.
Sad!
Sporting KC is the dumbest name in the MLS. By far.
Happy Mother's Day. Most of y'all brothers came from your mothers, as the saying goes.
In other news, TR drove to work yesterday.
http://jalopnik.com/new-jersey-minivan-driver-stops-rush-hour-traffic-to-ma-1795192453
I did nothing wrong.
zin-laws came over for breakfast. I make a mean bacon egg and cheese. Mike finished the sports section and announced that he wants to fight Phil Jackson.
whitney and i have a 4-hour layover in the mexico city airport. that's pretty fun when you're hungover as fuck.
Try the fresh produce.
And the fountain sodas.
hi, gheorghies!
Now that I know that we are all born with a finite amount of energy, I will spend much less time posting and commenting here.
Kelly Olynyk. Playoff hero. Just like we all thought.
DC sports gonna DC sports.
Post a Comment