“Happy Halloween”
We drove over to the Bywater for lunch on Monday. The focaccia sandwiches at Bywater Bakery are ridiculous – wonderfully tasty and huge. We barely managed to finish a turkey, Swiss and pesto between both of us. I really enjoy the feel of this section of New Orleans and here’s an interesting article on the challenges with maintaining that in the face of gentrification and ever changing demographics:
I think the article has some good recommendations on the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood.
After lunch, we attempted to check out the Pompadour hotel on Elysian Fields. We saw it in the Michalopoulus (thought I was finished trying to remember how to spell that for a while) documentary last week and were intrigued. He owns the hotel and has filled each unique room with his original art.
The hotel was all locked up and I suspect one has to be a registered guest to get the entry codes. It does look like a great place if we have adventurous visitors looking for somewhere funky to stay.
We walked from there over to Frenchmen Street to see how things were faring there – it’s been a few years since we spent any time there during the day, having just dropped into Snug Harbor for evening shows. Several joints had live music going in the middle of a Monday afternoon – the blessings of tourist season being with us again – kinda. The Spotted Cat had Jenavieve Cooke and the Winding Boys playing and we decided to give that a shot. This was a typical afternoon Spotted Cat ensemble – some brass, a banjo and a few other players. The lady on the left was very entertaining – a good trombone player and an ace on the xylophone – I haven’t heard anything like her. By the time we left, the club was pretty full with what I’m guessing were almost exclusively tourists.
Diana was busted on returning home. Billy (handyman) was finishing up some repairs and immediately spotted her Spotted Cat roadie with the remains of her mimosa.
Tuesday began with an early walk in the park – relishing the cooler, less humid weather. That was followed by a drive downtown to the Prytania theaters on Canal to watch the “Blue Moon” movie at the $6 Tuesday price.
This is a biopic about Lorenzo Hart (of Rogers and Hart) and focuses on a night in 1943 when he attends the opening night of Oklahoma! A running joke from Hart is the use of the exclamation point in the title – he would be horrified at the mass proliferation of that punctuation these days. Rogers wrote this with Oscar Hammerstein, ending his long running partnership with Hart. Hart (played wonderfully by Ethan Hawke) struggles with his feelings about his career being over, or at least in a rapid decline, and with his feelings for a young Yale student, Elizabeth Weiland.
The movie takes place exclusively in Sardi’s restaurant and I thought Hawke did a masterful job with the fast and dense, and often very funny and clever, dialogue. You really had to listen and remember what was said, as things arose again later.
I met Diana for brunch at Malou (the great new cafe attached to Octavia books) on Wednesday after her run and yoga. The food was just as good as the first time – this time I tried the mushroom melt with butternut squash soup (both very yummy) and Diana had a cobb salad that was very fresh and tasty (I might have helped finish it.)
We returned to pickleball at the Exchange on Thursday. It’s fun and I get frustrated if Diana hits shots around my ankles – I just don’t feel like bending down that low. She decided to compensate by skying her return shots and then laughed when I would take advantage to smash them back at her. Do what I say, not what I do.. And I know that when we’re playing a real game anything is fair. I’ll try harder next time. I preferred doubles when I didn’t have to cover as much ground.
We had a fun time at Gallatoire’s last Halloween and snoozed too late for a reservation this year. That combined with the fact that it’s a Friday and most of the tables have been on standing weekly orders for years. We decided to go the bar next door and watch the scene from there. Usually one can order the same food in there, but there was no service on Halloween. No worries – we had a drink and observed the costumes for a while. Flamingoes and Pink Ladies:
My favourite outfit of the afternoon – little Bo Peep with her “sheepdog:”
I suggested to “sunshiny fairy girl”, Amy, that this would be a good costume for her next year and this is what I got back:
Butterfly fairy girl and rocker Grace, including classic Pacifica fog.
Here’s what the main dining room at Gallatoire’s looked like – what a party:
We were getting hungry and headed over to Patula where we enjoyed those crazy Turkish meatballs and the mushroom toast. Such a great new place.
We did manage to avoid the massive spider web on the way:
And enjoyed these high kicking guys that maybe want to be Rockettes one day?
We arrived home in time to see Augie and family heading out to their street party.
As soon as Diana told me Augie was coming out the door as Peter Pan, I knew tony would be Tinkerbell (such a good sport.) And theater major Britney is such a photographic poser.
Unlike last year, we did get several groups of fun little trick or treaters. They didn’t last too long – all very well as we had limited treat supplies.
A walk down St Charles Avenue kicked off our Saturday. I had a visit to Aidan Gill shortly thereafter for a short back and sides, and then we drove over and parked at Kenny and Kara’s home for Freret Street Fest.
This is a really well done street festival with hundreds of booths and several music stages. I’m good for a small amount of time with that many people trying to move down the street. Hence, I convinced McD to stop in for a drink and snack at Cure (award winning cocktail bar that the guys always make fun of for being to pompous.) I had never been before and found it very welcoming with a really quiet and comfy patio. That was until Anne showed up for a chat and brought in a tiny remaining amount of an outside drink – then I saw how silly and pompous they can be.
We made it down to the Napoleon end of the street and met up with Denny, Kenny, Kara, Nina, Randy, Amy, Brian, and Lisa – the classic festival krewe. The Creole String Beans, who played Anne’s 50th birthday party at the Chickie Wah Wah and feature Derek Huston on saxophone, played a typically fun set:
The piano truck (last seen with Kyle Roussel at Bywater Bakery) made an appearance – this time with Josh Paxton (last seen at the Broadside Spinal Tap event) on board:
Kenny and I made an early exit to relax and enjoy some college football. The girls joined a bit later. Another festival in the book – ‘Tis the Season.
Sunday evening brought a real treat. I received an invite to attend a tribute to Lillian Boutte at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA.)
The Boutte family has a long New Orleans history – all the way back to Napoleon and Jean Lafitte. The musical family was headed by Lillian Boutte until her recent passing. She spent many years working in Germany and launched the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and Assistance Foundation many years ago.
You may have read my previous posts about how much we have enjoyed John Boutte concerts. He did an excellent song last night right after the family was awarded a proclamation from the city of New Orleans:
The organization does amazing work to support aging musicians with health care, hearing and mental health support.
It was encouraging to hear about a new program where elderly musicians will form a band and perform at senior centers. This is sponsored by Humana health and requires reporting on how this reduces loneliness and isolation for both performers and attendees. “Music as Medicine.”
Additionally, Sun Pie Barnes has been nominated to be the new cultural ambassador for the group – they receive donations from 29 or more countries and need someone to spearhead those efforts.
The world class Oscar Rossignoli (Honduran pianist making his home in New Orleans) led his various ensembles through some astoundingly high quality music. The NOMA venue had excellent acoustics, clearly designed for these type of evenings.
Here’s the expanded “International Orchestra” with percussion and trumpet:
That’s the one of a kind Pedro Segura on drums and percussion.
A guest vocalist treated us to a poignant version of her song, “The River:”
Here’s the conclusion of their version of “Caravan:”
How about those percussionist in perfect sync with Oscar and his beautiful piano touch.
They finished up with “Bourbon Street Parade.” It took the ladies in the audience around us about 20 seconds to get up and start parading up and down the aisle. So much fun:
I loved this evening and hope to be able to help the organization in some way.
Here’s a funny picture that Denny shared this week. It’s from 19 years ago and we’re on an airboat for a swamp tour, looking for gators (I’m praying that we are unsuccessful):
Here’s a nice picture of Finn and Holly that I received this week. They look very happy, or maybe they’re just excited about the yummy barbeque that ‘s coming:
Any of you familiar with Tintin? Just saying:
I almost finished “Buckeye” this week and still don’t agree with the rave reviews. It’s a pleasant and somewhat interesting read – and that’s as far as I go. Looking forward to something meatier and more engaging next week. I think I’ve found it – more to come.
I read some very bad news this week. The lovely and hugely talented Marcia Ball has retired from performing due to an ALS diagnosis. We have enjoyed her so much over the years and she is so important to New Orleans piano music. Here she is performing with the Preservation Hall Allstars during Jazzfest last year:
You can see the joy and admiration on the faces of the other band members. And one of my treasured pics:
That was at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas and I believe was during the “Home for the Holidays” Christmas concert.
And now with three of my favourite New Orleans piano players – Oscar (from last night at NOMA), Jon Cleary and John Papa Gros:
I can still hear my Dad snorting with laughter to the Pink Panther cartoon. I heard on the radio this week that a New Orleans resident, Plas Johnson, played that saxophone solo:
Plas performed all of that in just two takes and received a standing ovation from the other orchestra members and Henry Mancini. The list of his other well known contributions is vast.