getting off bourbon street…
Well, I’m already in Puno… but it seems quiet so might allow me to catch up a little bit. There will be a little more New Orleans when I get home. There are a couple more half-written posts but I need good internet to look up links for them and I am finding the internet a little elusive in Peru… but I have already made a friend and there are a few stories to tell so stay tuned…
First, though, I am finally going to finish this post for New Orleans that I keep adding to at random moments.
So, we are not sitting beside the highest navigatable lake in world and keeping our fingers crossed we won’t succumb to altitude sickness… we are in New Orleans searching for some decent jazz…
After my two nights on Bourbon Street, I decided it was time to get off the tourist route and check out Frenchmen Street, which was supposed to feature the jazz clubs that used to exist on Bourbon Street before Larry Flynt and college students on spring break took over.
I am known for being a bit intrepid – and know the best way to get to know a city is to walk it! And that way – if you can’t find a taxi – at least you know your way home in the dark 🙂 Of course you should start navigating your way through an unfamiliar city in the light.
Due to my Friday night revels – and 5am bedtime – I needed a nap pre-dinner. I can sleep through practically anything but naps don’t present the opportunity for really deep sleep so shortly into my nap I heard a riotous soundtrack on the street. I wondered what was going on – but I was too exhausted to jump up immediately and find out.
And it ended up I had plenty of time. For the second time in two days I hit the streets of New Orleans and discovered an unexpected parade!
It’s still not entirely clear the occasion but it has something to do with the Italian immigrants to New Orleans. Mostly it just seemed like an excuse for a parade – and corollary partying 🙂 No worries I would be walking the street alone! 😉
Luckily the processional was on the street outside my hotel marching in the direction of Frenchmen Street. So the best plan of action seemed to be to follow the parade route. And I got some extra entertainment to accompany my walk 😉
I am quite famous for the speed at which I move, even through crowds, so it didn’t take me too many blocks to get in front of the parade so I could cross over to Decatur Street, my original plan. Decatur runs parallel to the Mississippi and is full of tourist delights. Including “authentic” cuisine.
I decided to try one of them out as I had to have some classic Louisiana cuisine as part of my cultural experience. I also thought I should have a “Hurricane”. Just because… My server was wonderful so when she informed me they made great Hurricanes and crawfish étouffé my order was settled. The Hurricane was too sweet for me but I had my first crawfish! And a signature local dish. Apparently in Louisiana, cayenne is as ubiquitous as pepper 🙂
The charming server gave me a rundown of the history of Frenchmen Street and gave me directions from the restaurant. So, within minutes, I had ducked into my first jazz club (Maison). The band was very good but the jazz was traditional so I stayed for a set and then moved on.
I had read my guidebook by then and went in search of The Spotted Cat. The band at The Spotted Cat was very talented. And I’d learned to order Ariba beer. There was decent local beer in New Orleans – you just needed to make the right inquiries. So I was ready to settle in for the night…
But New Orleans wins hands down for the most ladies rooms out of service in one weekend! Not sure what girls get up to in New Orleans… We got to directed to the men’s but it was gross – and meant there was only one tiny, sticky bathroom for the entire bar.
So I listened to a set and escaped across the street to Snug Harbor – and a clean, functioning bathroom 🙂 At first I was standing in a long line but it was late on Saturday night and I hadn’t had to stand in a line to get into a bar in New Orleans yet so I could afford to be patient. Once inside, though, it got confusing. When you are alone you naturally eavesdrop so I gathered everyone was lined up to go into a show and the cover was $25 so it was a commitment. I had already ordered a drink before this was all clear so watched the show on the TV monitor and overheard some interesting bar conversations…
But my goal was to see live jazz… so off we headed to see if the fourth time was a charm… and it was! This time I just paid the cover. It was a whole $10 🙂 But I figured maybe my $10 would score me a better show.
And my instincts were spot on 🙂 The club was called dba. Not jazz this time but roots music with a touch of soul and a definite southern vibe. The bar itself was impressive but I was there to hear music so headed for the stage. The band on stage was excellent but they kept talking about Andrew – in a way that suggested he was a bit of a demi-god to the New Orleans music scene.
So I knew I was waiting for Andrew just like everyone else… except they knew what to expect. I was already pretty close to the stage but just before Andrew came on some girl directly in front just went into free fall. Apparently she had a posse and they scooped her before she hit the floor and no one had to call the paramedics. But they had to carry her off to a bench – or a bed – and it opened up a large gap on the dance floor right in front of the band. A dark-haired girl and I looked at each other and mutually agreed that it would be acceptable for us to step into the empty space.
I still had no idea who Andrew was but I had a front row seat to his show – and he seemed to have a lot of fans! It ended up being an unforgettable night, ending on the kind of high that only comes from being willing to live a little and take some calculated risks.
It ended up that it was the dark-haired girl’s birthday, a couple of days before mine, so we had an impromptu mutual celebration. And her friends had ordered mini cupcakes! They offered me one. I loved the music and Andrew was promoting a new CD so I went to buy one on the break and got a second mini cupcake! And because I was so close to the stage, it was easy at the end to meet Andrew and congratulate him on a fantastic show. Supporting young talent is one of my things…
It’s a great CD. Here is the link to him…
I am especially into the song “Beautiful Girl”… it’s on my regular music rotation and every time I hear it that whole night comes back to me. The wonderful power of music…
In the end, I couldn’t get a taxi… so had to walk all the way home from Frenchmen Street. But I knew my way… the only hard part was actually going directly to the hotel and not stopping in the bars I heard along the way to listen to more music…
Make sure you get off Bourbon Street… you won’t be disappointed… and maybe you too will have a magical night full of serendipity …
life on planetm 
is this your first time? ;)
It took a few days to realize this is what I would be asked most often. The place is teeming with virgins. I haven’t wandered into some creepy harem in Abu Dhabi… I am in Austin, Texas for my inaugural South by Southwest. Or I was when I wrote this…
Newbies pronounce and write all these letters. Once you are in the know, it’s SXSW in print and South By in speech. I had planned to put more effort into tracking my experience on the blog as it unfolded but my life philosophy is to make sure that I get the full experience even if I forget a few details by the time I get to documenting it. And SXSW is very expensive so I was focused on getting my money’s worth 🙂
As anyone who reads this blog knows, I have been working every minute until I stepped onto the flight to Austin so I was totally unprepared for my SXSW experience. I delusionally thought I would be able to figure out a plan once I arrived. But then I went to the registration desk to secure my Platinum Badge and was presented with a cloth bag so heavy I had ridges in the shoulder for the first four days from carrying it around – and the music information wasn’t even ready yet!
As if all the official SXSW options weren’t enough to immobilize me, I’d also signed up for RSVPster to RSVP to parties with minimal effort required. I’d managed to comb through about 130 emails before I left home and noted events by day but new emails and event reminders continued to pour into my in box every day so I quickly just gave up any hope for an optimized plan.
SWSW is a live human experiment in big data. Every hour you have tons of options. Not everything will be great but there will be enough great events that you are always missing something no matter what you choose.
It is easier if you have a focus. There are three separate conferences – interactive, film and music. Of course, I love it all and these ten days were some of the most delightful and stimulating of my life.
There is talk that SWSW has lost its way and is too corporate. There is definitely a lot of branding and sponsorship going down – but that’s just the way of the world. If you are clever, you just take the free stuff and ignore all the marketing. Corporations only win if you let them 🙂
I definitely wish that I had lost my virginity in the 90s, back before the geeks made the internet easy to use and the world wasn’t inundated by 24/7 marketing. But I’ve always made my own choices based on careful analysis so it’s all background noise to me. And if ridiculous levels of marketing means an open bar, I’m OK with that 😉
Losing my virginity was a thrilling, mind blowing adventure… details to come…
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artsy stuff, social commentary, travel stories
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