Category Archives: French Quarter

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New Orleans Council moves to create “Cigar Bar” designation

What’s next-“Little Debbie corner stores” or “Jukebox Bars”? This City Council is a joke, but not as much as our new CZO which, without well-funded and embedded neighborhood organizations and longterm advocacy and education is basically Swiss Cheese. Or maybe better described as an alternate universe with jesters and trolls as kings. If each exception to the zoning is allowed to be seriously debated and expanded, this city will lose its gorgeous tout ensemble in a hurry.
Maybe a form-based code system would be more useful to our city with its layers of history and styles- surely any system would be better than this ad hoc b.s.

This story points out how this is playing out in the 2015 City Council:

La Habana lives another day, as New Orleans City Council moves to create 'cigar bar' designation | NOLA.com.

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We’re Still Here Ya Bastards

Roberta is an acclaimed urbanist who has published three previous books on the subject, including most recently The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Her writing has also appeared in the Nation, New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She previously served on the NYC Landmark Preservation Commission and currently sits on the Sustainability Advisory Board for NYC. She splits her time between New York City and New Orleans.

2015 Publication Date- Preorder at your local New Orleans bookstore

2015 Publication Date- Preorder at your local New Orleans bookstore

By the way, my friends were the ones that had the sign with these words up at their place in MidCity; it was not graffiti as termed by the photographer of the original image. Instead it was carefully written on the back of an election sign for Marlin Gusman and situated on the most prominent corner of their building, with the aim to urge neighbors to stay and the powerful to be warned. I got back to town to first clean out my apartment on October 9, 2005, sickened and broken-hearted by what I was seeing on my way in from the airport. When I got to my place (across the street from theirs) I saw their sign and laughed out loud and thought to myself, “Oh we’re going to be okay.”


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Rickie Lee Jones among us

One of the greatest and most consistently valiant musicians working today, Rickie Lee Jones, is living  in New Orleans and recording a new album. As the proud owner of 8 or 9 regularly played RLJ albums and a downtown resident, I am thrilled by this news. She funded it on PledgeMusic and so we have the extra advantage of her online updates which are a marvel of insight and clarity about navigating the complicated and modern world of performance and collaboration. I hope she doesn’t mind me posting one of her updates, but I think it is so very gentle and brave and illuminated by the light of our city, that I thought many of you would also be warmed by it too:
Her words:

Now we enter the last week of John Porter being here in New Orleans. He is a hard working man, and his knowledge and experience are, well, awesome. He’s also a gentleman, and he hugs me a lot.
We changed rooms yesterday and now are bearing down on some details of tracks we’ve chosen. He is a old school guy, that is, he does Everything by Himself, and you would not know what he did, only that things sound better. That has been a bit of a challenge for me, for I am used to, for so long, not only being a part of it, monitoring it, but being in charge of it. I am NOT in charge. I have some veto power, but even then it’s… more of a negotiation than an absolute. That has been a challenge for me as well. I cannot tell if it’s a girl thing, a Rickie thing, or just a wise thing. Or misguided, that I do not say, “hey wait a minute, slow down, let me see what’s going on!”

We are on a rollercoaster of events here and I’d just like to process it with my aesthetic. Slanted, not capital. But that’s not what’s going on this time. And it’s beyond me, why no matter what record I make there is a hurry up aspect to it. I realize now how very ‘princess’ I was making Pirates. My producers going where I wanted, when I wanted, waiting hours for me, working on passages with me, small groups of moments I wanted to get right. And they made sure I did what I envisioned.

Well, in 1982 that record cost $250,000. I don’t have that kind of money as a company or as a person to do that anymore. But I suspect if I did that again, spent that kind of money and time, I would make a very unusual event. And yet, reading about the creation of the universe this morning, I realize that no one can control the creative event. The event, the verb, is a form of I AM, it is a HERE, ICI, now, the manifestation. It moves at the pace it moves at, from one perspective perhaps it takes two years, from another two weeks. Great records have been made in a couple weeks. Those are about catching the spirit of the singer. And budget. Great records have been tedious and long in the waiting. Those are about the expression of the artist, like a flood, upon every aspect of the manifestation. There are places in our lives where our ego cannot only withstand that, but demands it. Other times we are just too humble or worn out to extend our self onto everyone we meet. Or…too wise.

At this point in my life, I know a couple things. And the things are always changing, because you wake up every day, and sometimes the universe is a bit different than the one you went to sleep in. Ever notice that? I do. The couple things I know are that I DO know what I am doing. I have doubt when I am with men who treat me like they are tolerating me, or like they really wish I would be quiet. I work almost exclusively with men, and musicians, and that’s a group that can be extremely critical, dismissive, whatever. For the most part, I have their respect, but add on now my ‘age’ and I get a kind of ‘old darlin’ attitude that’s hard to bare. And then again, I may totally be projecting my own self image onto the face of someone. Okay, that’s doubt, all that is doubt.

The other thing I know is that others have something to offer me. What makes life worthwhile is being in the world full of others, and I know this now. I want to listen more than I want to be listened to. This is my moment to sing, and I will sing to you all that I have heard. Here are my feelings carved through the images and sounds of trains and rivers, how they speak to one another all night long when we who live near them can hear them clearly. The crow and the mockingbird, hard to tell that mockingbird sounds like the crow, the light through my old windows, my determination, my despair, my love of humans.

What I most want is for this music to make people happy, to lift their hearts, and to make me lots and lots of dough, in that order. I believe it is going to be a record I am proud of. I hope that my tiny infrastructure of the four or five of us who work on my career can make it fly. It’s going to take a lot of good will and effort from fans, I think. That’s the kind of thing kids do automatically for their fav group. But we get older, we don’t do that anymore. This is a word-of-mouth kind of business now, and more than ever, fans are going to have to take a second to make sure someone else hears it. If they do, I bet they will like it a lot. One thing for certain, the New Orleans aspect has washed out any affectation. It’s streaming through my own filters, I am not dressing it in the style of. There is no pretense here in the Crescent City. People really are wearing animal masks and dancing with umbrellas. Like Tahiti! We ARE our Music.

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Tennessee Williams is close…

http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/ http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/%5B/caption%5D

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Interview with Bella Blue, Lucky Pierre’s Burlesque Producer – 21st Century Burlesque Magazine

So impressed by this performer and producer. She speaks beautifully about community, artistic expression, performance freedom and corporate invisibility and responsibility in the interview linked below. This brouhaha happened because one of her Blue Book performers reported being fired by a club on Bourbon Street for her weight, which flies in the face of the acceptance of the diversity of women’s bodies that is common in burlesque. Bella Blue was her producer and speaks very carefully and forcefully in the interview about the situation and about the difference in the stories being told by the performer and the club.
Burlesque is an important and historic art form in our city and the renaissance that has happened in the last 15 years is because of dedicated performers/teachers like Bella Blue. Those born as women and those who perform as women are all represented in the clubs that showcase burlesque and drag and together have built a vibrant and supportive community. Very proud of these artists who represent our city so very well.
Exclusive: Interview with Bella Blue, Lucky Pierre's Burlesque Producer – 21st Century Burlesque Magazine.

Dirty Martini responds

Example of the burlesque calendar in New Orleans

If you are really interested, then school yaself

The Lovely GoGo McGregor in CLUE at Allways Lounge photo by Roy Guste

The Lovely GoGo McGregor in CLUE at Allways Lounge photo by Roy Guste

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A Musical Prelude To The Celebration Of Easter

The Bishop Perry Center Presents Six Free Concerts,
Thursdays During Lent, February 19 – March 26, 6 p. m.
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1116 Chartres Street.

Bishop Perry Center’s second annual Musical Prelude to the Celebration of Easter. The artists performing: pianists Dr. E. Quinn Peeper and Michael Harold with tenor Casey Candebat, who placed in the recent Metropolitan Opera regional competition. The pianists will perform some pieces arranged for four hands, as well as performing solo. The popular duo are active in the New Orleans Opera Association, the English Speaking Union, the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society and numerous other cultural organizations of the city. Candebat is receiving rave reviews by critics for such journals as the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco
Chronical, and the Times-Picayune.

The third concert on March 5 will feature the enormously talented trio known as the Honey Truffles, three beautiful blondes who harmonize in the style of the Andrews Sisters and sing both pop, such as “The Boggie Woogie Bugle Boy,” and spiritual music. The fourth concert will star Sarah Jane McMahon, well known opera singer, who will don her torch singer persona for a performance with pianist Jessie Reeks. The fifth concert’s star will be Tom Sancton with his traditional jazz band. And the final concert will feature gospel music led by pianist Lawrence Sieberth with singers Phillip Manuel and Yolanda Robertson. And that last concert will have a surprise finale.

The Bishop Perry Center is an outreach mission for the disadvantaged and cultural center for downtown New Orleans, created by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Center, offers free spiritual, food, clothing, medical, educational, and legal services to all in need, regardless of religious affiliation. The concerts are free. Donations to the Bishop Perry Center are most appreciated.

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French Quarter living at Carnival time

If you’ve made it to the Quarter, you have seen us. We’re the folks who weave around you, moving quickly and usually with our head down (or at least not swiveling from side to side, and usually looking off into the middle distance) and keys or bags in hand. We’ll keep an eye out for anyone who looks confused and offer help (usually turned down by nervous tourists who assume I guess that we must be about to shake them down) but don’t try to slow us down without cause; we’ll growl or may even bite…
We live here.

Balcony versus couryards
You would probably think that it is better to have a balcony than a courtyard, but for the most part, its the other way around. Balconies mean noise travels to your rooms constantly and although it is fun to be viewed when you want to be viewed, it is not fun to be viewed when you just woke up and are just trying to have your coffee in the sunlight.
Also, it is likely that you’ll have short-term neighbors on a balcony next to or across from you who believe that it is necessary to WHOO-HOO throughout the night or to buy cases of beads to throw down at people. Between my mother and I, we have lived in slightly less than a score of places in the last 35 years in the Quarter, and only two or three times have either of us had a balcony apartment. Balcony apartments are also more expensive and mean stairs to climb, often rickety stairs! However, the best of both worlds is a balcony overlooking a courtyard, as long as the neighbors don’t congregate below late at night. That way, you get air flow and no one above you keeping time to music at 3 a.m.
Noise
This leads to a strange irony in the Quarter; most of your regular neighbors are super quiet and you never see them. If you drink to excess, you have a bar to do that near you. If you like to dance or sing, again places near have that. Most of us live in tiny spaces (a result of 18th century buildings cut up in the 19th century into tiny places for immigrants and po folk) and are fine with it, but it does cut back on home visiting. And after all, “let’s just meet at (enter name of new or fun place to eat or drink)” is appealing to just about everyone who visits you.

Vehicles
Traveling in or out of the Quarter during Mardi Gras is tricky and needs some planning. Well, it’s simple really: you need to get rid of your motor vehicle or pay a princely sum to put it in a garage. That’s right, no parking in 2/3 of the Quarter on the last weekend (and parade days before that) and restricted driving. I use a scooter and have it parked against the building (as required, leaving a 3 ft walkway) at the side of the public building next to mine. The workers know me and can alert me if anything happens to it. During Carnival though, it’s best to move it, as I live on one of the well-traveled spots whoo-hooing spots. So, I park it next to the little Red Schoolhouse (a elementary-level school, our last school in the Quarter, where Elvis’ movie King Creole filmed their high school scenes) and hope that no one messes with it. Don’t mess with it.

Food
There are really 2 ways to go here at all times, but especially during Carnival: either plan ahead and stock up on food or have the delivery menus ready; restaurants are mostly no-go as the lines pile up for hours before and after parades. Dozens of places offer take out and almost all of them can deliver too. Most of us are partial to the Nelly Deli (Bourbon), Verti Marte (Royal), Deja Vu (Dauphine), Mona Lisa (Royal), Matassa’s (Dauphine), Chinese food (two on Canal) or pick up at Wink’s (Decatur), Fiorella’s (Decatur), Petit Amelie (Royal), Bennachin (Royal) are some of the usual places we hit.
This year, I am also adding a new tradition of Lundi Gras brunch at Meauxbar. My pal Kristen Essig is their brilliant and capable chef and has put together a fantastic menu. Let’s hope it’s not a zoo.

Drink
Only one way to go during Mardi Gras: have your house stocked beforehand. I use my favorite liquor store in the Quarter at Vieux Carre Wine and Spirits; fantastic place with an amazing selection and. they. deliver.

Music
I feel lucky that I get to live in a place where New Orleanians of every talent (legal and illegal) can try to make a living. Chief among those legal talents are the musicians who populate every block during Carnival. I do find it deflating to see how many young transient white kids with barely the ability to pick a banjo have taken up so many spots. Still, some are these are good and good local musicians can be found on certain corners. The stories about our street musicians would astound most people, from those who lived in a van parked on the street and raised kids in that van for years and years, making a living and sending those kids onward to good lives from it, or others that have been out there daily for years, rain or shine, heat or cold and now have become the gentry (“eyes on the street”) of that block.

However, when a man who thinks he has the ability to sing “doo-wop” (but does not) sets up across from your doorway regularly or someone who only knows 2 or 3 songs and sings them again and again next to your door, you can grow cynical and be seen in your pjs at midnight shouting at those poor misguided souls. For me, it takes going out in the evening with a cocktail in hand and finding one of the good ones and listening and watching the crowd take extreme pleasure in coming across this or these musicians to renew my love of live street music.

Hustle
I am working on a new project that will detail how we get by here with “a job, a gig and a hustle.” People are sharing their stories with me and I am working on adding essays about the sharing economy and illegal economies to it as well. Stay tuned for news on that…So when I say hustle, I mean that thing some of us have to do to make the ends try to meet; it may be an illegal hustle or an informal hustle, but it is visible across the Quarter most days and certainly during MG. It includes someone standing in line on behalf of the Uptown dining crowd at Galatoires, or selling second line parasols right off Bourbon on the hood of a truck (you know its a hustle when no signs announce things are for sale; you need to ask so that the vendor can be sure you are not trying to bust her), or even driving a pedi-cab, which, by the way, is a good idea to take for those of you out way late and trying to cross the Quarter.
It’s amazing to me how many hustles I see in a block or two, and how much I admire the willingness of people here to try it and for all of us to support it.
Still, some of the hustles are dangerous, and so be alert and know that if locals see something bad about to go down, we’ll help if we can and alert law enforcement too (found this weekend every 3-4 blocks of the main drags). Be extra careful and don’t be stupid is the best advice I can give you. Walk into a hotel lobby or into a bar to look at your smart phone and leave the purses and wallets tucked away in your room or in the safe. Stay with crowds and expect that villains are afoot. And don’t throw trash or pee or puke on our steps or doorways please.
All in all, I am glad to be here even at the foulest and loudest time of year. I appreciate the joy and wonder I see as our visitors can’t believe their luck to be here on a sunny and warm February acting out their inner child as part of our public spectacle.
Welcome. Now get out of my way.

Some of my pals visiting me on Fat Tuesday during an earlier French Quarter life of mine..

Some of my pals visiting me on Fat Tuesday during an earlier French Quarter life of mine..