Hey There,
I'm headed to New Orleans next week - just wondering if there is anything mando or bluegrass related down there.
Thanks,
Kirk
Portland, OR
Hey There,
I'm headed to New Orleans next week - just wondering if there is anything mando or bluegrass related down there.
Thanks,
Kirk
Portland, OR
I wouldn't know as of now, my visits have been short since I left, but when I grew up there it wasn't really a popular genre - that should be different now.
New Orleans has such a strong musical tradition that most likely you'll hear jazz, funk, rock, blues, Cajun, Zydeco, and maybe Bluegrass.
BUT
Make sure you go to Mandina's. It's on Canal St. and it's one of those places the locals eat, not for tourists.
New Orleans casts a pretty wide net musically. I wouldn't say it is a major bluegrass town, but there are plenty or eclectic bands that would incorporate mandolin, such as Honey Island Swamp Band. They are a southern rock band but feature mandolin on some of their songs. If you keep your ears open you could surely bump into some mandos.
I visit NOLA yearly and must say that I don't hear much bluegrass down there. Every other genre that David mentions, however.
Visited a couple of instrument shops this past April and the mandolin pickin's were mighty slim as well.
However . . . if you get a chance to take in the Shotgun Jazz Band, jump on it. You can often find them at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen St. It's kind of like if Janis Joplin played trumpet and fronted a trad jazz combo.
"The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
--Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."
Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos
HiHo Lounge advertises a Monday 8 p.m. "bluegrass pickin' party."
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Hit up the Rock N Bowl on Thursday night for Live Zydeco Dancing and bowling. The folks that go there know how to dance and it's a great time.
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
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That is exciting, New Orleans is pretty great if I do say so myself. Been here for 30 years.
That being said, I will say, other than myself and two other people I randomly have met, I have not seen much local mandolin playing.There are some jams / things you would be welcome at if you want to play and bring more Mandolin to the city:
- Hi-Ho Lounge has a bluegrass picking party on Monday nights. I have never been (we usually do red beans on Monday Nights) but that could be good. http://hiholounge.net/music-calendar/
- Irish House does a weekly Monday Night Irish Jam that is good. http://www.theirishhouseneworleans.com/new-page/
- There is an Old Time Jam on the Bridge almost weekly. https://www.facebook.com/groups/361173407292659/
- There tend to be weekly square dances as well, that often have pretty good music. https://www.facebook.com/nolasquaredance/
- There is a Thursday Night Scottish Session that I go to weekly, that is always happy to have new people around.
Oh and Rock N Bowl is back up and running in a new location. http://www.rocknbowl.com/ and they do zydeco every Thursday and Sunday.
For Music, I would check out Frenchman St in general. Lots of great local Jazz going on there. Depending on your interest and time frame, there are tons of other New Orleans type things you should do. Shoot me a PM or give me some other ideas of interest and I'd be happy to try and put together a list for you.
Oh New Orleans, how I love the....
See if you can catch Beth Patterson. Mostly bouzouki.
I have a sightly offbeat story about mandolin playing in New Orleans that may ( or may not ) interest you. My first trip of three to N.O., strolling the various streets I figured it would just be fantastic to play along with the zydeco pouring onto the streets. I just love the simplicity of it, the raw chord changes, and the out of the world pounding rhythms. On the second visit I took a mandolin and made my way down Bourbon St, figuring I could just sit in front of any old place and play along. I mean, 99% of the people walking along are oblivious and I didn't think I'd stick out or anybody would give the slightest care that I was sitting on the sidewalk with my back to the front of bar, madly picking mandolin.
And this was correct. BUT, there was a serious problem: I couldn't hear myself! I sort of went... duhhhh a few times, and after a half hour I put the poor mando back in its case feeling pretty silly.
On the third visit, I took an electric mando, a pocket amp, a pair of headphones, a mic, and a tiny mixer. Plus a very small folding fisherman's stool. I figured all this out at home before I left. And it worked like a million bucks! I sat in front of place after place. Played for something like three hours, playing and watching people and zydeco-throbbing in place. Every once in a while I had to stand up and dance some. I went back and did it the next night. One of the finest mandolin outings of my whole strange, amateur musician life. This would also work with a fiddle.
More than one way to swim in the river of New Orleans music!
Thanks everyone,
It's sort of what I figured...not a bluegrass town. I grew up in N.O. but left in '86.
I'll definitely check out some of the suggestions - just wanted to see if there was some unknown (to me) pocket of bluegrass down there.
Thanks again,
Kirk
+1 on the Frenchman Street recommendation.
I grew up in Louisiana. We love to go back and visit NO. Whatever the Big Easy lacks in bluegrass, it more than makes up for in food and the blues/zydeco/Cajun music styles. If you have an appetite for good food and good music, you've chosen the right place!
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