We've posted lots of pictures from New Orleans but not a lot of stories. Having recently found internet for a few days, we're going to give you some of "the rest of the story".
First evening in New Orleans... We're sitting, using WiFi at a restaurant when a woman, S, asks us if we have a place to stay. We didn't and she offered. She gave us use of the basement at her house, told us of her adventures in Iceland and gave us a copy of The Last American Man. She also introduced us to her neighbor, L. As it turns out L was friends with The E's (whose house we would stay at off an on for our entire NOLA stay. And the E's, of course, knew B&C (with the 6 dogs), who were the other folks we would stay with for days at a time. That's how quickly the coolest people in the coolest city can take you in if you need a helping hand. We're sure a cute pony, puppy and carefree smiles don't hurt our chances of being welcomed... but we have just been so inspired this trip to come back and spread the same open, welcoming attitude that we've been met with.
Our first night in downtown, in the French Quarter was an experience. Frenchman Street was crawling with people, the bars pumping with the sound of jazz-influenced, funky, soulful jams. Aside from the usual rock instrumentation, there were saxophones and trumpets leading almost every band. Outdoors, the quintessential New Orleans sound of brass bands playing on the street corners echoed 3 or 4 blocks in either direction... Century-old marching bass and snare drum beats, trombones whaling, trumpets soaring, crowds dancing. We stood near one and for a change, most folks weren't ogling us. We (at least the human component of our troupe) listened with the biggest grins in the world, feeling like we had finally made it. Meadow and Olive took in the sounds with mild interest, "More of the same human shenanigans, just louder..."
There was an alleyway/parking lot walled off just for creatives. Sculptors, painters, metalworkers, photographers and wood carvers... even a few filmmakers had booths. Hannah got to peruse the tables and talk with many interesting artists.
Before our ears tired of good music, our eyes began to droop so we put our feelers out for somewhere to camp and a guy, W, volunteered his back yard, a mile away. Turns out he was a very talented fiddle player. W's band mates were also there that night. Banjo, guitar, fiddle - they played and sang old time tunes for us (another nice reversal of roles).
In fact, W was one of 6 or 7 talented fiddle players we met in the span of about 3 days. M, a girl whose contact we also got that first night in the Quarter, fiddles with these guys... http://www.balconyplayers.com The bass player and drummer from that group were there a few days later, on the night we went to visit her. Her roommate, MI, plays beautiful Cajun fiddle. We also met A, a fellow traveler and fiddler, at their Cajun jam night.
Then there was a guy who lived at a communal house where there were no fewer than 3 great fiddlers. One of them, K, played styles from Eastern Europe (Ukraine) where he was born and raised. All of these folks knew each other, all played eastern European-influenced fiddle, all of them busked on the streets, and all of them were going to a show the following night at the Allways Lounge.
We went with them and saw an incredible trio play Balkan, Romany and Klezmer music; Upright Bass, Fiddle and a world renowned Cymbalum player. Unfortunately the night was cut a bit short because Harvey got food poisoning. Thank goodness we had a contact just a few blocks away. We stayed at GM's house that evening; a contact we had made way back in Ocean Springs.
We also stayed with a guy, N, whose contact we had made even further back... Remember the Rural Academy horse-drawn theater troupe whose show we opened up for in Brevard, NC? It was quite a reunion after five months and 700 miles. N and his roommates had a beautiful house surrounded by gardens; they even cooked meals for the whole neighborhood a few times per month.
Right after leaving N's house, we were buying meat for Olive at Circle Grocery, when an interesting guy about our age walked up to us carrying a camera, asking if he could take our portrait. KT had just moved to New Orleans, and was living just around the corner with a bunch of cool guys. We went back and though we didn't stay that night we did make friends with everyone there. We made plans with KT and another photographer there, LN, to shoot a short live performance/music video of one of our current favorites; a song we call "Wayfarer's Reply".
Fully 4 weeks later we finally got back up with them and did a few shoots; one at City Park, and one by the E's house in Gentilly. We should have that video posted here sometime soon.
More stories to come...
- FCF
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