A Week of New Orleans Love

New Orleans is all-consuming. I have no apologies about my lack of posts this past week (it has taken me until today, Wednesday to finish this post) and can only hope to mentally wade through the events of the past days to relate what life is like for me when I come to the tropical mecca of music and mojo.

Sunday Oct. 28 - The Tourmobile rolls into New Orleans at 5:30am, three hours after leaving a brief but fun gig in Lake Charles, LA. Provided at least two of us aren't tired, driving overnight is oftentimes more efficient than during the day because there is much less traffic. Combined with our excitement about heading to NOLA, nothing stood in our way of screaming across the dark bayou-night, cutting through the salty thick air of the gulf shore fog. Five months is a long time to be away from New Orleans and I felt overwhelmed as we first glimpsed the dull-yellow beacon lights dotting the massive Crescent City Connection through the haze (a bridge spanning the wide Mississippi, connecting NOLA with the West Bank, where William Burroughs spent his later years). We crash immediately upon arrival at my old apartment, where kindred souls still reside, and spend the rest of Sunday resting and catching up with our most anticipated acquaintances. At night we see the first of much music we would absorb over the course of the week. The famed Maple Leaf club became somewhat of our musical second-home in NOLA, and I caught up with my always entertaining friend and funky mentor Russell Batiste (Funky Meters, Vida Blue). Russell had just come back from a run on the East Coast with George Porter Jr. (who I’ve also had the incredibly fortunate chance to play with) and Page McConnell of Phish who is reuniting with his band next year. Phish is my favorite band, and in a later post I’ll discuss why their reunion is very bittersweet for us...

Monday- We walk around Uptown sweating, putting up posters and promoting the shows scheduled for later in the week. Our efforts serve a dual purpose for me, as I try to reacquaint my senses with the fragrant tropical paradise that is the average Uptown avenue. Blue, purple, pink, white, red, yellow and any combination of bright colors line the streets and neutral grounds of New Orleans in the form of flowers, jungle greenery, and other plants which are not readily identified by us non-botanists. Parrots, lizards, FROGS (!) and alien insect populate these lush areas. Most impressive of all the life overtaking New Orleans are the trees: magical, old, knowledgeable trees who disregard human affairs and even our ultimately futile attempt to populate a city several feet below sea-level. Despite my utter distraction by this environment, so different from the arid Arizona/Texas moonscapes we've been traveling previously, we get good promo work done and word begins to spread about the shows on Thursday and Saturday. Again we see live music at The Leaf for the night, this time the NOLA funk staple Papa Grows Funk. For/Sure Productions is hiring PGF to play Mountainside Mardi Gras next August (an update on FSP in my next post) and as always, the band was more than happy to meet the rest of the Frogs and have a drink until the wee hours with us.

Tuesday: Jack, our record label manager, put Tell Me True on-sale in The Mushroom, a locally run record shop (very hip) in our ongoing effort to take care of all the little things that really make bands successful in the long run. Tuesday was spent booking gigs and firming up our November-January stay in Colorado. We have some very exciting shows coming up for Winter, including Nov. 4th at the sublime Fox Theater in Boulder, several live-radio broadcasts, and a new album to start work on.

Wednesday: Resting for the next day’s show in New Orleans involves mimosas and barefoot frisbee in Audubon Park, named such for the colorful birds of all hues who flit about every tree in the vast park.

Thursday: An early gig on Tulane’s campus,12pm early to be precise: earlier than Frogs have played since jamming a tail-gate on Vanderbilt’s campus four years ago. Playing at Tulane is an interesting animal. Those students who choose to go to school in New Orleans solely to party will largely ignore music and walk coldly by an on-campus concert on their way to the frat house for some warm keg-beer. Those who come for the potentially rich cultural experience (which ironically includes drinking anyway), will not only watch but appreciate a gem of musicality happening on campus... Thursday night, the band went to The Maple Leaf (shocking!) and saw members of Galactic sitting in with Ivan Neville, Russell Batiste and George Porter Jr.

Friday: Woke up to a beautiful sunny day, not unlike those listed above and below and promptly decided to try and play a pick-up gig. While at happy hour, sitting outside that classy Tulane campus bar “The Boot”, I mentioned to a gentleman who was hauling large quantities of liquor that we’d be happy to play at whatever function he was obviously stocking up for. “Of course”, he replied, and we proceeded to jam the Sig Ep fraternity parent get-together for exactly the price of as many beers as we could drink. Our payment properly adjusted our collective mindset for what we were to experience next. Sauntering over to campus after packing it up, we decided to meander toward the Funky Meters concert taking place. While walking near the gates behind the stage, Ivan Neville questioned as to why I was on the wrong side of the fence and quickly got 3 backstage passes thrown our way. As star-struck as I probably should have been talking to Art Neville backstage, my calling as musician and vocation as promoter forces me to be as reserved as I can around such funk-gods as this. Mark (drums, FGF) and Portwood (guitar/vox) each made their rounds, chatting with the Neville, Porter, or Batiste of their choice as I consulted Ivan on some things we are doing right and wrong with regard to Mountainside Mardi Gras. Insightful Wisdom from the Masters. The band crashes early: no more to be done on such an evening, and work to do tomorrow.

Saturday: Coffee on the trip down to WWOZ (90.7 FM) for an interview about the night’s show. WWOZ is the flagship radio station of New Orleans music and culture. Commercial free, community-funded and accessible to every demographic imaginable, WWOZ is like no other conventional radio station in the country. To obtain a promotional spot we had to take the dire steps of a) driving to the French Quarter broadcast station (next to the bustling french market) and b) calling upstairs to the on-duty DJ, who was more than happy to let us on air to talk about Frogs Gone Fishin' opening for Rebirth Brass Band at the Howlin’ Wolf, all despite the fact that it was a Latin-music format on-air at the time. During our down time between the radio spot and sound check, we put down a hip-hop track with members of my former group, The Keep Movin' Project. The track has a very heavy groove and you can listen to it here, under "Keep it Movin". We recorded the tune in under four hours with producer and beat-maker Felix Miles and rapper Ben Brubaker. The show at the Howlin' Wolf that night was an hour of pure energy and a great crowd (as usual, before Rebirth Brass Band plays). The benefit concert was for a great cause (the Peace Corps.) and a fantastic way to wrap up our stay in the Big Easy.

Sunday we said our goodbyes to the proud city that I love so much. Our time there convinced the band that living in New Orleans from Mardi Gras to JazzFest next year (March-April) should be our plan of action. I cannot wait to go back.

Last night we played a short set for a crowd of rowdy debate watchers and politicos at the official Tennessee Democratic Party's after-party. It felt great to openly endorse Obama on stage and play songs like "We the People", songs I've written over the past 8 years of political corruption and an unhappy population waiting for change. I really think that change is coming and places like New Orleans will be better for it.