All On A Mardi Gras Day

I think my first exposure to New Orleans music was through the legendary Funky16Corners music blog. I've always loved soul music and I was grabbing everything Larry was uploading at this blog. After awhile I came to notice a trend. Either the Meters or Allen Toussaint were involved in most of the songs that I gravitated towards. In particular, I couldn't get enough of Lee Dorsey or Eldridge Holmes ("Pop Popcorn Children" is one of my very favorite songs of all time). The more I listened to this music, the deeper I got into the music culture and learning more names and connections. It wasn't long before names like Professor Longhair and Eddie Bo were floating across my stereo.

The second part of my love for New Orleans came from the television show Treme (missing the accent on Tremé). At first, I started watching this because I admired The Wire, and Treme was David Simon's follow up. Watching a fictional story about a city is no way to experience it, of course, and I was very aware there's an element of voyeurism and falsity to the show. Then I started humming brass parts and diving into who all these people depicted were. I got interested in lots of brass bands, got interested in the food I was seeing, got deeper into the cultural connections between musicians, history, cuisine, and the social issues that continue to affect the city.

You can't talk about New Orleans without talking about Katrina, which decimated the city and put the culture through the wringer. Music, cuisine, life just stopped. It took awhile for musicians to return, for tourism to return, and traumatized the residents. Homes were destroyed or flooded beyond repair, erasing family histories and ruining lives. This is a city that is responsible for more American culture than any other and we as a nation failed them in an hour of need. I think about the erosion or flattening of culture in this country a lot, and allowing New Orleans to suffer such a flawed recovery was a mistake we may not come back from.

Despite so much immersion from a distance, I was intimidated about visiting. There's so much history and culture there, it's easy to be an outsider and a poser. I knew it would be impossible to have a genuine experience without the trappings of tourism. I felt too much respect for the people to do that for a long time. I was already someone whose primary source was a television show! But I was still making jambalaya and Sazeracs at home, and frequenting the local New Orleans food truck and then restaurant (shout out to Chef Johnny Schulze). All the while, diving deeper and deeper into the music, learning about Kid Ory and King Oliver, going back to the origins of jazz. Then up to Henry Butler, Galactic, Hot 8, seeing the way old school mixes with new school.

I was never particularly a fan of jazz. The most I got into was Dave Brubeck, but New Orleans jazz is a different thing. Altogether more funky, more carefree, and energetic. Everyone knows Louis Prima and Louis Armstrong, of course, and you could do worse than just spending more time with them, but once you peel back the layer a little bit and explore Kid Ory and King Oliver as well as Professor Longhair, it just gets more and more vibrant. At the moment, I can't stop listening to Longhair (or Fess as the heads call him), with his unique piano style and funky drums.

Finally, last year, my wife surprised me with a birthday trip to the city. It absolutely lived up to its reputation. Spending time on Frenchman Street, absorbing music and art, going to Preservation Hall (twice!), having dinner at Palm Court Jazz Cafe (RIP). We had lots of amazing food, tipped as many musicians as we could, ate Beignets at Cafe du Monde, and tried to absorb as much of the culture as possible when just visiting. It was incredible and I can't wait to go back again.

On this Fat Tuesday, my heart is in New Orleans and I'll be listening to WWOZ every moment I get this week. I encourage you to do the same, as well as look up some of the musicians I've mentioned.