Barry Manilow ’08 – 5 Days to go!
Hello, From New Orleans!!
The smiling gentleman beside me up there is local New Orleans musician Spencer Bohren. More on that in a moment.
When you think New Orleans, you think music. Mrs. That Dan Guy and I watched several features on N.O., before we left Calgary. One in particular that was fantastic: “New Orleans – Music In Exile”. The show profiled the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the local musician community, and how so many had to relocate to keep performing, or adapt how they lived and worked locally here, until cleanup and restoration efforts allowed some sort of return to normal. Bands like The Iguanas, Marcia Ball, Cyril Neville - and of course the legendary Dr. John.
We’ve tried to catch some local live music almost every day so far. Well, and consume as much of this amazing Creole/Cajun food as possible…
Yesterday, as part of the National Society Of Newspaper Columnists conference I am here attending, part of our scheduled program included a performance by Spencer Bohren ( www.spencerbohren.com ). A proponent of the blues, his slide guitar work in particular was something you just had to hear. Among the many original pieces, we heard haunting versions of “Ode To Billy Jo”, and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.
The song we heard about in advance was the same title of the album we picked up afterwards, “The Long Black Line”, which refers to the marks left on homes, after the flood waters receded. I think there may have been a noticeable stampede to the CD table after that one. Go visit his website, and consider at least picking up that recording. Amazing.
After the show, MTDG and I joined California humour columnist George Waters (check out George’s Wa Blog: http://www.thewablog.com/ ) in a trek to Café Du Monde, for the New Orleans visitor’s requisite café au lait, and beignets. Beignets are essentially powdered donuts, better described as donuts that have surrendered to an avalanche of powdered sugar. The single rule for enjoying them is: do not wear a black shirt. I, as you might have already guessed, was wearing a brand-new, souvenir T-shirt, in a glaring shade of black. I looked afterwards as if I had tried unsuccessfully to disassemble a home-made bomb…
Chow for now!
2 comments:
It is good to get powdered sugar on your shirt at Cafe du Monde. That means you were laughing while the beignet was in your mouth and your breath made a powdered sugar cannon blast. It means you were enjoying yourselves which makes me happy. I have two recommendations if you have more time in the city. One, you MUST check out the music scene on Frenchmen Street in the Fauberg Mariny. That is where locals go. Also try and make it to the restaurant Cochon in the Warehouse District. I went there in April and it was SO good. It is casual attire. When you get back home, download Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation show on New Orleans from i-tunes. It is about the post Katrina restaurant scene in New Orleans and one of the featured chefs is Donald Link from Cochon. That show was the closest video of what it was truly like to be in New Orleans when we didn't know if the city would live or not. (like the beginning of this year to tell the truth.) The recovery has truly taken hold now and IF the levees hold and mother nature keeps the killer hurricanes going elsewhere, the city will rebound stronger.(Big "ifs" I know.) But those dark days will always be a part of who we are. New Orleans NEVER forgets any part of its long history. It is who we are.
I'll make sure to check out that i-tunes link.
Yesterday was our eye-opener, after spending most of this visit in The French Quarter. When we come back next time, we won't have the full-time activites of a conference to hold us back from getting further afield...
Post a Comment