I love New Orleans. Yes, it's dirty, dangerous, and I think I already need new shocks on my car because of the roads, but I love it. It's the only place I have been where people embrace being silly and letting go. I'm sure it goes too far in many incidents, but with the company I keep, that is just not the case. For example, last weekend, a group of us went to go see the Soul Rebels, a brass band with a hip hop flare to them. By the end of the evening, the ENTIRE dance floor was doing the electric slide. And it was awesome! I highly doubt I will ever see this in San Francisco!
Last weekend was the French Quarter Festival, a three day free event taking place spattered about the quarter, celebrating Lousiana music, food, and culture. The diversity and quality of music represented was stellar! Here, too, having fun topped any sort of 'cool factor', as 9 and 10 year olds went up on stage with traditional brass bands, singing their hearts out into the microphone (good voices, too!), and dancing on stage with their second line fancy umbrellas. As they are up on stage, there are people, black and white, infant to elderly, boogying their hearts out. Front and center was a woman in her 70's, dressed nicely with a beautiful hat, dancing her booty off! People watching was prime, and people, including me, of course, were having a blast.
Prior to last weekend, I took off for a week on a road trip, and can honestly say it was one of the best trips I have EVER taken in my life. And you know I have taken a lot of trips! I left early Monday morning, with a destination plan of Nashville, TN, about an 8 hour drive. My mom called while I was in central Alabama, so I pulled over to chat with her. She reminded me that there was a lot of Civil Rights history in Birmingham. It was about 3:00, and I thought I could get to the Civil Rights Institute in time to check it out before it closed.I looked in my guide book and found pages and pages of interesting things to do in Birmingham, only, everything was closed on Mondays. I made the decision to stay in Birmingham for the night instead of Nashville, which meant I had time on my hands. It just so happened that where I had pulled over was three miles from a state park, so I ventured in and ended up going hiking for several miles in the foothills, with rivers and wildflowers, winds rustling through the trees- it was absolutely gorgeous, and so very different than the swampy south.
Turns out, after I checked in to my hotel, that one of the top 5 restaurants in the USA is, coincidentally enough, in Birmingham, Alabama. I figured it could only be a fraction of the cost of a fancy restaurant in San Francisco, so I went in search of it. Luck was not on my side, however, as this, too, was closed on Mondays.
I woke early Tuesday morning, fully intending on going to the museum, and heading to Nashville, but on my walk to the museum, I happened across the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, so I stepped inside. There was a very well dressed man holding a clarinet, speaking to an English couple, so I tagged along. Turns out, this man was Frank Adams, a musician who played with the greats, including Duke Ellington. The museum was about the size of my apartment in San Francisco, but Frank, or 'Doc' as he is known, was a wealth of information and history. Yes, he had wonderfully told stories about Duke and Ella Fitzgerald, but the real gift was his stories about growing up black in the segregated south. He had such a way with words and universal understanding of the human spirit, with all of it's self-consiousness and conviction, that he had us all glued to every word. In and out of stories, when it was appropriate, he would share music with us on his clarinet, or sing a little bit. I spent two unintended hours listening to his stories, and another 20 minutes talking with a man who has been recording the stories for the museum. Apparantly his stories are different every time- I would go back to listen to him again and again.
I finally made it to the Civil RIghts Institute in the early afternoon, after walking through the park dedicated to the historic riots that took place there. THe institute is dedicated to teaching about human rights interests, using the Civil Rights Movement as it's historic backdrop, but also to engage people in continuing the stuggle for more current issues. Again, I spent an unsuspecting 3 hours in the museum, and then some time in their resource room, where they have been collecting oral histories of people during that time period. You can access these oral histories on their website: http://www.bcri.org/index.html I highly recommend it!
By the time I left the museum, it was almost dinner time, so I did finally eat at Highlands Bar and Grill. It was every bit as delicious as I had hoped! FInally, I was off to Nashville......until it got dark suddenly, and there was sheet lightning and hail, and even tornado warnings. I was very happy to watch the light show from the inside of my motel in the middle of nowhere, northern Alabama, than in my car!
Finally, Wednesday, I got to Nashville! But I was so high from my experience in Birmingham, I almost didn't care. It was strange to be back in neat little neighborhoods with Starbucks on the corner after a month in the rickety, old south, and for the first time since February, I was COLD!Like mittens and a jacket cold! I went directly to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is a high quality museum that surprised me in many ways. FIrst of all, I didn't think I liked country- and that's partly true- but when I learned that this is the genre that gave the start to people like Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Gillian Welsch, I had a much broader understanding of it. THey even had an entire showcase dedicated to Ray Charles- in the Country music hall of fame! What was also very interesting was alligning music to historical events, like the dustbowl, and especially the civil rights era in the 50's and 60's.
I didn't bother to spend the night in Nashville, and headed straight to Memphis, where I was fortunate to stay with a good friend's family. Still high from Birmingham, I didn't have the same fear of missing out that I usually encounter when traveling. But I was taken to Beale street for a while, and listened to some music at the original BB kings, which is nothing like it's chain sisters in other cities. Next day, I headed to the Memphis Civil RIghts museum, which is housed in the motel where Dr Martin Luther King, JR was shot and killed. Though there was nothing special going on, it also turned out that I was at this museum on the anniversary of his shooting. THe museum was good, but not as thorough as Birmingham's- it's most intense draw being the location.
Sure enough, right downtown the Smithsonian Rock N' Soul museum was calling my name. I thought I would be sick of it by now- truth be told, I generally have a "one museum, half hour limit" attention span. But I'm drawn to social history, and obciously music, so there ya go. Another fantastic experience this was, as it weaved in the country music, and the civil rights era I had been 'studying'.
Originally, I had planned on taking the Natchez Trace back home, but was inspired to take the 'blues route' which everyone talked about, but no one could tell me about, other than it existed. SO off I went, stopping an hour later in the teeny tiny town of CLarksdale, MS, the actual Crossroads. I was told to stop here- that it was great- but no one told me why, or where to go or what to do. So I parked and knocked on the door of a small flower shop, where I was directed to the Delta Blues Museum (to which I laughed), which was closed, and to Morgan Freeman's restaurant and juke joint. I was also directed to "this crazy plantation about three miles out of town- you should check it out- they turned the sharecropper shacks into bed and breakfast hotel rooms". How could I NOT stay in a place like this?? I got myself a room in the cotton gin, adjacent to a storage room of rusty farm equipment, and took myself out for a night on the town (all two and a half blocks of it). Next morning, museum attended, finally with a blues route map on hand, I went south on highway 61, roughly following the bend of the Mississippi River, and stopped to see a couple of Juke Joints out in the middle of nowhere. I would love to come back with some friends to actually get out and enjoy the music (let me know if any of you get a hankerin'!)- especially to Poor Monkey Joe's, which is about a mile and a half down a dirt road, with absolutely NOTHING around it.
At this point of the trip, nothing going as planned and everything perfect because of it, I was smiling non stop. The thought that I wasn't done yet was amazing to me, I had experienced sooo much. I stopped quickly in Natchez, MS, an absolutely beautiful antebellum town perched on the bluffs of the Mississippi, and then headed directly to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. It was cold, and pouring down rain, so I didn't get to go on a boat in the Atchafalaya Basin, but it was perfect nonetheless. This is traditional Acadiana, here, and Saturday morning I went to the Zydeco brunch. I am not so much a fan of Zydeco, but culturally, it was fascinating. More people were smooshed into this restaurant than I though feasibly possible- and EVERYBODY was dancing- all ages, black and white, fancy dressed, cowboy hats, high heels, bare feet- everything- and everyone dancing together. It was a little much before coffee, but still amazing.
Because of the rain, I ended up at more museums!! After a couple hours at Avery Island, where there is a crazy jungle garden complete with a buddha AND alligators, as well as the Tabasco factory, I went to the African American and Acadian museums. Very interesting to learn about the Cajun and Creole cultures, and explained some things to me that I had been confused about.
After two nights in the beautiful bed and breakfast (a bayou teche, if you ever want to go!), where owner Mary Lyn took me out to see nesting snowy egrets and blue herons, I was on my way back 'home' to New Orleans. It was the best field trip I have ever been on, and makes me very excited to explore more of the south.
And now, back in New Orleans, I have been adding to my resume of fun and funny experiences- I got a very part time job at a wonderful wine store, and get to meet really nice people, drink wine, and listen to fantastic music, sometimes live, and get PAID for it! Last night, I assisted a photographer at a wedding in a southern mansion (where everyone was in fancy clothes, but most were missing all of their teeth- very strange), today, I have a gig doing a trial run of a scavenger hunt through the French Quarter for a company in San Francisco. For Jazz Fest, I'll be working the promotional tent for nola.com, and I think also pouring mango daquiris. It all makes me laugh, but I am meeting good people and having fun, and right now- that's what is making me happy.
Miss you all, and want your stories!
