When we started planning our roadtrip we chose New Orleans (or NOLA as many here call it) as the destination of our first “leg” of the trip. Neither of us has been here before, we heard so much about its unique culture, food, music and natural surroundings, and it seemed like a good starting point to the “deep south” portion of our trip. So it was very exciting to actually arrive in NOLA, at the end of a very long day of driving. It was nearly 10pm by the time we were settled in our hotel. We were so excited about being here, and have heard so much about the nightlife, that we decided to go out and explore. Our hotel is right outside the french quarter, to its northeast. We walked a short few blocks and found a bar with a band playing live jazz music. There were a few more nearby. It was great to hear live music in the middle of the week, late at night. After a while we ran into a band playing live music in the street. There apparently are not enough bars, and they just had to play in the street. Everyone was very loud, the bars with sound systems that blasted music especially loudly, and the street bands with very loud brass instruments and a big drum. Over the next few days we would see (and listen to!) several more bands in various bars and on the street. The music we listened to was very varied. It was mostly traditional Jazz but there was some blues, rock and folk music mixed in.
I love live music. There is a special connection that sometimes gets created between the audience and an artist or a band which is unique to a live performance. Bruce Springsteen put it really well in his beautiful Tenth Avenue Freeze-out introduction, part of this amazing solo unplugged show on Broadway (a show which is worth listening to or watching on Netflix in its entirety). This recording of one particularly wonderful performance of that song, aside from being awesome, demonstrates a lot of what he is talking about. Somehow, the music we heard here in New Orleans mostly lacked that magic. I was a bit confused by that, because technically the musicians were all really good. It is clear that they were all professionals, some of them really experienced, and they knew exactly what they were doing. The music flowed, the bands worked well together, the musicians gave each other space, took the stage and supported each other according to the rules of Jazz. It was almost flawless. But it was hard to miss too. It wasn’t just one band that “didn’t feel it” on a particular evening. It was pretty consistent, across multiple bands in several clubs on different days.
Orit and I tried to wrap our heads around it. Is it that the musicians are just working too much? But we know musicians that go on intensive tours, and those are still magical. Could it be that this is their job, rather than their art? No, that doesn’t sound right. We went to shows of musicians who were upfront about it being a job, and they had it. Could it be that they just perform in the same night club day in and day out, and the routine is just crushing their souls? Not sure. Whatever the case may be, the music was great, but we couldn’t find that live show magic.
In NOLA we also went to a swamp tour. I always wanted to ride in one of those boats with the huge fans in the back that basically float on the surface of the water and are therefore capable of navigating even extremely shallow swamp water. The tour itself is a pretty industrial business - there are 3 or 4 departures daily, each tour is about 2 hours. Every departure consists of tens or maybe even hundreds of people. There are several sizes of boats, from small kayaks, through 8 person boats, through 20 person boats, all the way to very large boats. The people coming to the tour were a very diverse bunch, and most likely not residents of NOLA. Some came enjoy the wildlife, and they tended to go on the smaller boats. Others clearly wanted to continue what many people do in NOLA - drink. The company running the tours was clearly ready to accommodate everyone.
The tour was fun. We had a very talkative local guide. He was an expert at maneuvering his boat at all speeds, and said he was a fisherman in and around the gulf for many years before switching to running those tours. He was great at finding wildlife and pointed out a few bald eagles, which I tried to capture on camera with mixed success. This time we didn’t forget the binoculars and I was able to take a good look at one of the bold eagles through it before passing it on to Orit and others on the boat to enjoy. Our guide was mostly really focused on finding alligators, which after some searching he was able to do. He insisted on doing some gimmicky things, like putting his hands in the water and feeding an alligator from his it. He then held the alligator’s head and kissed him (!). I thought to myself “What if he snatched our guide from the boat?” as I’m sure everyone on the boat did. Aside from the horrific sight of him being eaten by an alligator, how would we get back? We would be stuck in the middle of the swamp. I would have been perfectly fine taking a photo of the gator in the water, without seeing him that close. Why take that risk? I guess i’m getting old…
In the French Quarter we encountered many groups of young women on vacation. Over time we noticed a few more things. Most of them were dressed provocatively, though not all were. We initially though it might have been a group of work colleagues or friends that came for a weekend of fun and games, and perhaps some of them were. Some clearly were bachelorette parties - there would usually be one of them dressed up a little more than the others, and with a badge or a hat that said “bride”. Sometimes they looked totally hung over, sometimes they would all be carrying huge alcoholic drinks. Every time I saw them, it did not look fun. Why do they think that this is a good way to celebrate? Maybe it sounds good on paper, “let’s all go to New Orleans for the weekend and get hammered!”. In practice, nothing about it looked pretty.
There were plenty of other people walking around the French Quarter in various states of drunkenness. NOLA allows people to walk around with alcoholic drinks, and you can get alcohol practically anywhere at any point, day or night. I felt a bit out of place - everyone around was much younger. They were all drinking way more. Everyone was dressed to party. There were the occasional older folks walking around, but they stood out as much as we did.
The food here is very special. Cajun food is a really interesting combination of French, Spanish and American cooking, adapted for the kinds of things you find in the swamps around Louisiana. Trying Beignet, Gumbo, Crawfish and Fried Gator was great. As is appropriate for French inspired food, everything is heavy and uses thick creamy sauces. A lot of stuff is deep fried. What’s not to like?
There is more to say about NOLA, stay tuned.
(previous post here)
(next post here)