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Thread: New Orleans

  1. #1
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    Default New Orleans

    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

  2. #2
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    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.

  3. #3

    Default Re: New Orleans

    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.

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  5. #4
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    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

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  7. #5
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    HiHo Lounge advertises a Monday 8 p.m. "bluegrass pickin' party."
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  9. #6
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    HiHo Lounge advertises a Monday 8 p.m. "bluegrass pickin' party."
    2239 St Claude Ave.

    New Orleans, LA 70117

    Local and very cool, be careful where you park and going to your car late at night!

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    Default Re: New Orleans

    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.
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  11. #8
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Quote Originally Posted by JEStanek View Post
    Hit up the Rock N Bowl on Thursday night for Live Zydeco Dancing and bowling.
    The Rock and Bowl is a pre-Katrina institution!

  12. #9
    Registered User Daniel Vance's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    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:



    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.

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  14. #10
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Oh New Orleans, how I love the....

  15. #11

    Default Re: New Orleans

    See if you can catch Beth Patterson. Mostly bouzouki.

  16. #12

    Default Re: New Orleans

    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!

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  18. #13
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Vance View Post
    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..
    Which is why I have a bizarre style compared to most mandolinists - that's where I grew up, playing mandolin since 1971 or so.

    There were a few players, some pro, mostly amateur, including my uncle. But it was hardly a hotbed of mandolin activity.

  19. #14
    Registered User Daniel Vance's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Quote Originally Posted by renoyd View Post
    See if you can catch Beth Patterson. Mostly bouzouki.
    I believe Beth is on tour in Australia, but she is definitely someone to see if she is playing.

  20. #15
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    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

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  22. #16

    Default Re: New Orleans

    +1 on the Frenchman Street recommendation.

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  24. #17
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: New Orleans

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Co1e View Post
    +1 on the Frenchman Street recommendation.
    That area is the place to hear live bands, near Snug Harbor and the other clubs. Decades ago there was the Dream Palace and Cafe Brazil and such. Not sure of the current names.

  25. #18

    Default Re: New Orleans

    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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