As some of you may recall, I recently had a trip to New Orleans . As a lover of jazz, blues and cajun/zydeco, this has been on my wishlist for years, and I was not disappointed (thanks for the research, ejaydee). I can see why Ray Davies chose to live there (until getting shot, and health problems, drove him back into the arms of the NHS). My yen to visit was piqued by the TV series ‘Treme’ (from The Wire’s David Simon, on Sky this Spring – highly recommended). Given the eclectic tastes of most spillers, N’Awlins is a music lovers heaven. Music oozes out of every pore. Buskers, bars, clubs & parades mean you are almost always in earshot of some aural pleasure or other (tho’ like everywhere else, some buskers are clearly trainees). And it’s ‘all the day, and all of the night’, as Ray would say. If that wasn’t enough, the place itself is such a treat. This is a US city where walking never died out as a mode of transport, and when your feet are tired there’s the streetcars and – for tourists – the mule carriages and Mississippi steamboats. Katrina remains an ongoing and shocking scar on the American dream. The population has halved, whole districts have been pulled down as health hazards and left as wasteland. Black families who had lived there for decades have seen their land revert to the city, if they couldn’t prove title. Others have had to downsize as the insurance and Government aid wouldn’t pay to rebuild what they had. But on the surface the place has been resuscitated, the French Quarter and Garden District are as gorgeous as ever, the joint is jumpin’, and the food to die for, despite BP’s best efforts (don’t miss catfish; bread pudding). We had a whale of a time there, and can’t recommend it highly enough. I’ve spliced together a few musical moments off my camera, to give a little taster. If you’ve not been, add it to your list.
We were there for haloween, which as you can imagine is a big thing in Voodoo city. And the Saints were playing the Steelers. And there was an amazing annual 3 day music festival in City Park, which sadly I didn’t make. The Irish community had a parade. And the sun shone. ‘Party atmosphere’ just doesn’t do it justice. And at the end of the trip, you can take some of it home, via a credit card binge at the top record store, Louisiana Music Factory…
*SIGH!*
I’d bloody love to go back again, and take the girls.
Mardi Gras ’93 was the second of my two trips there, yet I can bring back sights, smells and sounds to mind so vividly, it’s like it was yesterday.
Thanks for posting, ghe.
I’ve spent my entire adult life in the US and have never been to NO even though it was my adolescent dream in the UK to live there. I drove through once en-route to Jamaica but that’s as close as I’ve been, but I’ve been there in spirit throughout my life, my earliest musical idol was Louis and that was back in the ’40′s. Much of my music collection has it’s roots there. Thank you for the beautifully produced video, really clean images and sound and tastefully edited, do you do this for a living? Can we expect part 2?
GF, you are too kind. My moviemaking is the product of iMovie, which makes editing video almost as easy as word processing. As for part 2, you really wouldn’t want to see crass home movie of other people’s holidays, so I’ll spare you the footage of me climbing Dunns River Falls, swimming with manta rays, snorkelling in Cozumel, and visiting tropical gardens in Key West
In my experience, retirement is the second best time in life to fulfil adolescent dreams. So get yourself down there. How’s the ankle? Time for a road trip…ragtop down (check), reggae in the CD player (check), NOLA in the satnav (check), aviators on (check), straw hat pulled on tight (check), six pack in the coolbox (check), baby beside me at the wheel (check), roll ‘em…
Ssssshhhhhh! Don’t tell everyone how easy it is…I’ll be out of a job!!!
Ace vid GHE. Seems you were busy, so won’t get too miffed that you didn’t stop by while you were in the neighborhood.
GHE: iMovie might make the editing easy but getting clean, steady images and clean sound is what stands out. You’re wrong about part two, I would love to see Dunns river falls, Cozumel and manta rays again; long time no see.
The ankle’s tolerable but not up to much walking any more, the roadtrip sounds great, I’ll see you in my dreams.
I really enjoyed that, GHE! Nicely shot, and wonderful music everywhere. I’ve never been to New Orleans. Never been farther south than Virginia. (Well, I’ve been to Venezuela…)
Have you seen Down by Law? He shot it in NO, but I think he tried to find out of the way, unexpected places. It’s really beautiful…
@ steen – thanks for the tip about Down by law. Looks good from the trailer, so for fifteen bucks I’ve Amazoned a collection of JJ movies that includes Permanent Vacation and Stranger than Paradise, as well as DBL.
And I prescribe the same road trip for you and yours, as I did for GF!
I’ll try to make it one day, GHE, I’ll try!
As for the JJ movies… Please watch Down BY Law first. I love Stranger than Paradise, but it’s not a huge crowd pleaser (although it made his career, it really did!). It’s like downtown New York with a different angle, in the same way that DBL is about New Orleans. BUt you have to be in the right mood, and not expecting a hollywood blockbuster. And Permanent Vacation was his thesis film at NYU. THere are a lot of things I really like about it, but it doesn’t hold a candle to some of his later films. (I”d be very very glad to own that collection though, I think that’s a WONDERFUL deal, and I’m off to look into it myself.) If you like Down By Law, you might try to find Mystery Train (which is the same kind of treatment of Memphis) and which stars Joe Strummer! Or Dead Man, or Ghost Dog. Anyway…I love Stranger than Paradise, but you have to be comfortable with low production values. Sorry to go on and on, I just really love Jim Jarmusch.
@steen- I see the US Amazon site doesn’t have the collection I ordered
For me it was a no brainer, cos the three film collection (called JJ Collection Vol 1) was two quid cheaper than DBL on it’s own. But it’s region 2, so no good if I get it for you and send over.
Hi Steen, to get the youtubes to work, replace video with youtube inbetween the brackets. smiley face.
d’oh!
I totally enjoyed that! I’ve never been to NO either. Keep saying that i’m get to Mardi Gras one of these days before i die. I’ts going to have to be sometime in the late autumn / winter, hot weather and i don’t get along.
Here’s my favorite cimematic NO street scene -
Thanks amy – I’d clean forgotten that clip! But I did visit the cemetery!
that was brilliant GHE, it looks like an amazing place……one day…one day….