Cafés and Late Night Dining in the French Quarter

Posted by Benson

The French Quarter is a lively place with something to pique your interest around every corner.  For those of you planning on coming down for the boil, I heartily recommend staying in the quarter.  Along with antiques, fashion, art galleries, quirky shops (and of course bars and clubs); the quarter has a wide range of dining opportunities that range from some of the oldest and finest restaurants in New Orleans to delectable street food.

Today I’m going to give ya’ll a rundown of some of my favorite cafés and late night dining opportunities around the quarter. 

One of my favorite places to grab a cheap bite to eat is Café Maspero.  Maspero is located at 601 Decatur, which puts it right in the middle of the action.  Decatur is a main drag trough the quarter and is the closest street to the river.  Along Decatur you’ll find Jackson Brewery, Jackson Square, Café Du Monde, and the French Market.  North Peters St. actually follows the bends of the river, but it merges into and runs along with Decatur mid-way through the quarter, a few blocks on either side of Jackson Square.

Maspero is at the corner of Decatur and Toulouse, right across the street from Jackson Brewery.  It is conveniently located and has a nice atmosphere.  The food isn’t the best that you’ll find in New Orleans, but then again you can find some of the best food in the world in New Orleans.  The food is decent, the prices are very good, and the portions are generous.  You’ll have the most luck with the sandwiches, especially the muffaletta.  You can get fried seafood, red beans, and jambalaya at Maspero, but you can get those most anywhere in the quarter, and it’ll usually be better elsewhere.

On the down side, Maspero tends to be crowded, especially during the tourist season, and it only takes cash.  If the line at Maspero is long, you can walk in and sit at the bar if you like.  Even so, there are plenty of other great places to eat nearby, such as the Green Goddess.

The seating here is actually in Exchange

The Green Goddess is an awesome place to eat.  It is about three blocks or so away from Maspero, on Bienville midway between Chartres and Royal.  The Green Goddess is actually located at 307 Exchange Place, but by the time Exchange hits Bienville it is little more than an alley.  Although that may sound confusing, the Green Goddess is well worth whatever effort it takes to find it.

The Green Goddess is a relatively new restaurant in the quarter, but it is absolutely fantastic and is a fast-growing favorite.  The menu is deliciously eclectic with dishes such as Brûléed Apple French Toast and Armagnac-Soaked Mission Figs.  The restaurant also features an extensive cheese menu in addition to a wide array of wines and specialty drinks.  The décor is classy, yet funky, and even the plating is spectacular.  The Green Goddess definitely deserves a visit if you are in the city.  The chefs have demonstrated a fresh New Orleanian cunning in the field of culinary creations that you will not easily forget.

For something a little less eclectic than the Green Goddess, and a tad easier on the wallet, a quick step out of the quarter and into the Marigny neighborhood will bring you to a great little place called 13.  It is located on Frenchman street midway between Chartres and Decatur.  It is on the opposite side of the quarter from the Green Goddess, and you’ll have to cross Esplanade to get there, but it is only a short walk from the French Market.  If you are in the area, it is a great place to check out.

13 makes excellent sandwiches and pizzas.  It also has a good selection of tasty vegetarian options, and it is very easy on the wallet.  Weekend brunch is particularly good if breakfast is your thing.  I am especially fond of the tots and gravy, a deliciously simple dish of tater tots, sausage gravy, and scrambled eggs covered in melted cheese.  It’s the kind of cheap, less-than-healthy indulgence that you only allow yourself when eating out for breakfast, or in this case brunch. Tots and gravy at 2 p.m., count me in!  It is a good thing that I don’t live in the city; otherwise I might find myself at 13’s brunch more often than was good for me.

Speaking of cheap, stomach-filling comfort food, if you are out late in the quarter and in need of something to fill up on after too much time spent on Bourbon Street, take a walk (or a stumble) over to Déjà Vu.  Déjà Vu is a block off of Bourbon at the corner of Conti and Dauphine.  It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, much like Bourbon Street.  It offers a range of decent, inexpensive dishes ranging from biscuits and gravy, to steaks and fried seafood platters.  If you are still up for it, Déjà Vu also has a decent little selection of local craft beer on tap.  Hopitoulas by NOLA Brewing Company is a winner.  You can also get a stiffer drink if you are in need of a nightcap or a little wake-up call.

Finally, no discussion of cheap and easy French Quarter eats would be complete without mentioning a staple of New Orleans dining and a personal favorite of Doug’s: the ubiquitous Lucky Dogs stand.  Lucky Dogs have been a staple of late night French Quarter dining for much longer than I have been alive.  The unique, weenie-shaped carts are a familiar sight on the streets of the quarter, and the dogs are good enough to have withstood the test of time.  If you need to slow your roll after one too many hurricanes, grab a snack to perk yourself up after too many hours of hoofing it around the quarter, or enjoy a hassle-free meal while strolling around the river walk, look no further than the nearest Lucky Dogs stand.

New Orleans in March: Festivals

Posted by Benson

In New Orelans, the spring and early summer are always packed with festivals, shows, and events that celebrate many aspects of the local culture.  March is a particularly lively month.  Not only does Mardi Gras typically fall very close to March, but there’s also Saint Patrick’s Day.  New Orleans is an old city with strong Spanish and French influences, and after almost 300 years, it still has a thriving Catholic community.  Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations have a long history in New Orleans, and the popular Saint Patrick’s Day parades are always quick to revive the carnival spirit.

This year, Fat Tuesday is on February 21^st, which is a good deal away from our March 10^th crawfish boil date.  The boil is also a week before Saint Patrick’s Day, so at first it looked like this year the boil was perfectly timed for ya’ll to miss out on any parades.  Luckily, I discovered that the Metairie Road Saint Patrick’s Day Parade rolls on Sunday, March 11^th, the day after the boil.

While traditionally slightly less raucous than most Mardi Gras parades, Saint Patrick’s Day parades are always a fun time and a sight to see.   In addition to beads, traditional parade throws include cabbages, onions, carrots, and especially moonpies!  You can find out more about the Matairie Road parade here.

If you are interested in music, the Foburg Music Festival is a fast-growing staple of the March festival scene.  Foburg is a three day alternative music festival that takes place in various venues in the Marginy neighborhood of New Orleans, just past the French Market in the Quarter.  This year the festival is the same weekend as the crawfish boil.  It kicks off on Friday, March 9^th and goes through Sunday.  Keep an eye on the Foburg website for updates about bands and venues.

Crawfish will not be the only Louisiana seafood that you will have an opportunity to enjoy on Saturday.  This year, the Louisiana Oyster Jubilee is the same day as the crawfish boil!  The Oyster Jubilee is a celebration of Louisiana oysters that takes place in the French Quarter every year.  It is a really fun event with live music, a local chef competition, and the Longest Oyster Po-Boy!    

If you are looking for something a little more refined than parades and street-side events, you are in luck!  The French Quarter Wine Festival is taking place during the entire month of March.  The festival is a series of wine dinners and lectures throughout the month hosted at various wineries in the French Quarter.  The dinners take place on Tuesday and Wednesday every week.  You can visit the festival’s website for details about specific events and to purchase tickets.

The New Orleans Museum of art is also opening its 26^th annual Art in Bloom charity event on Wednesday, March 14^th with a Patron and Preview party.  The event features culinary masterpieces by the finest area restaurants and caterers and a silent auction of unique works of art by the region’s most gifted artists.  Tickets are available on the NOMA website.

Finally, if you are interested in arts and crafts, two very excellent festivals are taking place during the weekend of the crawfish boil: Frisco Fest and the Lagniappe Dulcimer Fete.  Both are multiple day events taking place over the weekend.  The Dulcimer Fete starts on Thursday, March 8^th and Frisco Fest starts on Saturday, March 10^th.  Both events continue through Sunday.

Frisco Fest is a wonderful casual craft fair held on the San Francisco Plantation near New Orleans.  This year’s fest will include more than 100 art and craft booths, a cracklin’ contest (not to be missed), as well as live performances by Geno Delafose and the French Rockin’ Boogie.

The Lagniappe Dulcimer Fete takes place in Port Allen, LA, which is close to Baton Rouge.  Even so, it is only a quick hour drive from New Orleans.  If you are interested in the dulcimer, the Fete is a great opportunity to learn more about this interesting instrument and the music it is closely associated with.  The Fete features nightly concerts, dulcimer classes for all levels of skill, as well as vendors.

Track 12: How They Do it That Way?

Posted by Benson

Victoria Spivey was an interesting character in the world of early jazz and blues artists.  Like many that we have already discussed, Spivey was introduced to music at a young age.  When she was twelve years old she started her musical career by playing the piano in a movie theatre in Houston, Texas.  Spivey was born shortly after the turn of the century, so at twelve years old, playing piano at a movie theater meant playing live music to accompany silent films.

Films with synchronized soundtracks, or “talkies” as they came to be called, were not a practical reality until the audio amplifier tube was perfected and the Vitaphone system was introduced.  This didn’t happen until the late 1920s, and Spivey started her piano playing career back in 1918.  By then, of course, Houston had already become a thriving metropolis and the most populous city in Texas.  Movie houses in such large cities often had organs, musical ensembles, or even large theatre organs that could produce a wide range of sound effects.

Spivey played piano at the Lincoln Theatre, which opened in 1916 and was Houston’s first black owned and operated theatre.  Sadly, the Lincoln theatre doesn’t survive today.  At first, Spivey played to help her family earn money after her father died.  While still in her teens, Spivey began playing in saloons and gambling houses, as well as playing for parties.

 

Balcony at the Lincoln Theatre

In 1926, at the age of twenty, she moved to St. Louis in an effort to start a recording career.  She brought with her two self-composed songs and worked to convince Okeh Records to let her make a recording.  The resulting record, featuring Black Snake Blues and Dirty Woman Blues, was a success that swiftly catapulted Spivey to fame.  She began a lively career, playing with renowned artists such as Louis Armstrong, Louis Russell, and King Oliver.  Spivey was extremely prolific, recording a new record almost monthly in her first two years. 

In 1929 Spivey appeared in the MGM film Hallelujah!.  Hallelujah! was one of the first all-black films by a major studio.  Interestingly, it was also the first talkie film by the acclaimed director King Vidor.  Little more than ten years after Spivey was playing live piano for silent films, she was performing in a film with a synchronized soundtrack!

Spivey is also an interesting figure in the history of blues and jazz because unlike many artists, she was able to remain relatively successful through the decline of the genre.  Spivey expanded her performances to the vaudeville stage, and sang numerous one night stands to maintain her career in music.  Spivey left show business by the 1950’s, but she actually restarted her career in the 1960’s, even opening her own record company, Spivey Records.

“I think one of the best records that I’ve ever been a part of was the record made with Big Joe Williams and Victoria Spivey.  Now that’s a record that I hear from time to time and I don’t mind listening to it.  It amazes me that I was there and had done that.”

Bob Dylan , Rolling Stone Magazine, November 22, 2001

Spivey recorded How They Do it That Way? in 1929.  The story goes that the idea for the song came as Spivey and her husband, Ruben Floyd, sat on their back porch in St. Louis watching a rooster chase a hen.

How They Do it That Way?

Have you ever had a feeling that someone would come out leadin' you?
If you had it's not so bad unless you found that it is all untrue
Take a good girl to keep her man, some can't do it, others can
I'm no chump but I would jump if I could find someone that's not unlike me too
Oh when the river runs, flowers are bloomin' in May
And if you get good business, how do you do it that way?
Streetwalkin' women, they are happy and gay
But I'm never happy, how do you get that way?
I want a man to be near, because he bring good care
But the men don't like me, they don't seem to care
Now they can come and go, to and fro every day
But I can't make 'em like me, how do you do it that way?
Now if you want somethin' good, you mustn't knock on wood
Just get a good man to look up under your hood
And when the rooster and the hen go to the barn to play
Oh the hen has chickens, how do they do it that way?

Get Ready for the Crawfish Boil!

Posted by Benson

Hey everybody, I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season, and I hope the new year is treating you well.  Doug decided to spend the holidays in Paris this year, so needless to say, he's been home jet lagged while the rest of us have been at the office getting things rolling again.  He claims to have taken a great number of pictures, so brace yourselves.


Well, it is that time again!  The 5th annual DGA Family and Friends Crawfish Boil is just around the corner.


We've made up some fine-looking invitations that will be headed out shortly, so keep an eye on your mailbox.  The invitations come with a special gift that you will definitely want to bring with you to the boil.


The crawfish boil will be on

Saturday, March 10th at 1:00 p.m.

The boil will be at the same place as always:

Friends Coastal Restaurant

Madisonville, LA

TUBA SKINNY is performing again LIVE this year.  We also have a special guest performance lined up that you will not want to miss.


The annual crawfish boil has grown into a genuinely spectacular event that I look forward to every year.  The weather is always great, the food is excellent, and the music is fantastic.  It is a perfect excuse to come experience joys of New Orleans and a wonderful opportunity to relax before settling too deeply into the yearly grind.

March and October really are the best times to visit New Orleans, so we heartily encourage our out of town friends to come down for a few days and spend some time in the city.  Not only is the weather the best that you will find throughout the whole year, but all of the best seafood is in season and there is a festival or event around every corner.


Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting articles about local accommodations as well as some of the festivals, shows, and events that are happening around the same time as the boil.  I'll also post some articles about local attractions, and we'll do some reviews of the best local bars and restaurants. 


I hope to see all of you at the boil this year.  We would love to see the boil grow every single year and I can guaranty that you will have an excellent time! 

Track 10: Minor Drag

Posted by Benson

Minor Drag is an instrumental piece originally performed by Thomas “Fats” Waller.  Although Waller’s family was originally from Virginia, they moved to New York before Fats was born.  Fats grew up in Harlem, and later launched his career there under the tutelage of renowned Harlem pianist James P Johnson.

James P Johnson

 

Like Rosetta Howard, Fats grew up in a stridently evangelical household.  His early musical experience came from playing harmonium at his father’s church when he was ten years old.  Fats’s serious introduction to what his father called “music from the Devil’s workshop” was when he started practicing with Johnson.  In 1922, Johnson was asked to take over piano at a club on Fifth Avenue and 135th street called Leroy's.  Johnson couldn't do it on account of having to do a show, so he recommended Fats, which launched his career.  

Like Johnson, Fats was a pioneer of the "stride" style of jazz piano, a unique musical style that helped to transform then-popular ragtime piano into Jazz.  Stride is also significant in that it was a departure from New Orleans jazz that began to shift the staccato of New Orleans-style jazz into a more "swinging" style that grew in popularity throughout the late 1930s and 40s.

Stride piano, or Harlem Stride as it is sometimes called, is an improvisational style with a more swinging, steadier beat than ragtime.  The player’s left hand tends to move or “stride” up and down the keyboard, which is how the style got its name.  Stride itself is somewhat distinct from the Jazz piano style popularized in New Orleans at the same time by folks like Professor Long Hair and Jelly Roll Morton.  The New Orleans pianists tended to have a more rustic or “out of tune” style with a harmony layered above the melody.  Jelly Roll also preferred walking bass lines in sixth as opposed to the stride style in which the left hand bass was more often walked at an octave or tenth.

Minor Drag therefore comes out of a more East Coast than New Orleans sound.  Even so, songs like Minor Drag had a significant impact on the development of Jazz around the country.  Minor Drag first appeared with Ain’t Misbehavin, which Fats recorded for Victor Records in 1929.

Track 5: Delta Bound

Posted by Benson

Delta Bound is easily Doug's favorite track on the CD.  I absolutely love it as well.  I think the song resonates with any Louisianian, but it has a particular resonance for me because I spent all of my college years in the Midwest.

I got my undergrad at The Ohio State University, which is a capital school by the way.  The great thing about OSU is that it's in Columbus, Ohio.  The unfortunate thing about OSU is that it's in Columbus, Ohio.  Ohio is certainly an interesting state, but for a Neworleanian it is a bit cold, and bleak, and grey, and bland.  But if you have to be in Ohio, Columbus is the best place to be.  It's a big city with lots of things going on, plenty of great restaurants, and a vibrant night life.  It isn't New Orleans by any stretch of the imagination, but the transition from New Orleans to Columbus was not as jarring as I had imagined.

After I graduated from OSU, however, I went to grad school at Ball State University in the...lovely...Muncie, Indiana.  Yea, that's the city that was the test case for the Middletown Studies, "middletown" being the "classic," "average," or "typical" American city.  In other words, Muncie was small and bland enough to be the poster child for late 1920s Middle-American identity anxieties.  This is ironic because Delta Bound was being recorded by Rosetta Howard around the struggling New York Blues scene in 1937, the same year Middletown in Transition: A study in Cultural Conflicts was published.  

Delta Bound resonates with me because it reminds me of the feeling of driving home to Louisiana for the holidays.  I used to do the whole 14 hour drive in one day, leaving around 4 or 5 a.m. and getting in after dark.  Every time I'd hit the Louisiana border I'd pull over at the rest stop and bask in the sensations of being home.  I'd feel the weight of the air, run my hands through the grass, and take in the sounds of south Louisiana.  Even though I was just across the border from Mississippi, I always imagined that I could detect a difference as soon as I crossed the state line.  It was a visceral experience that had as much to do with the physical environment as it did with the culture or even with my family.  Simply being in the environment was a deeply fulfilling experience.  When my wife started making the yearly trip with me, I even used to tell her that the clouds in Louisiana were different from clouds anywhere else. 

But as fulfilling as those experiences were, they were rare and special.  Now that I'm back in Louisiana for good, I always feel a contentment with my environment.  But that feeling has become part of everyday life, and so it's hardly remarked until it's missed.  I love Delta Bound because it reminds me what it is like to be away from Louisiana.  It reminds me of the yearning that grows the longer you're away from home.  Hearing it allows me to recapture, if only for an instant, the fulfillment of running my fingers through the grass off I-59.  Although the moment is fleeting, the best part about hearing Delta Bound is that it reminds me I am already home.  

Delta Bound was recorded by Rosetta Howard in 1937-38 while she was playing with the Harlem Hamfats.  Rosetta is a bit of an enigmatic figure, because unlike many of the previous artists we've discussed, Rosetta did not enjoy wide-ranging popularity in her time.  Nevertheless, she has left her mark on the Jazz and Blues tradition, and her music has touched many souls.  

Down on the delta,

Where there is shelter

No helter skelter,

No blues around.

I’m on my way now,

Most any day now,

I’m delta bound.

When night is falling,

My heart is calling

It keeps on calling,

I’m going down.

I’m on my way now,

Most any day now,

I’m delta bound.

Every time I close my eyes,

I seem to see Louisiana.

All the folks there are singing,

In their free and easy manner.

I been a rover,

But, now that over,

Knee deep in clover,

I’ll soon be found.

I’m on my way now ,

Most any day now,

I’m delta bound.

Track 4: Rock Me

Posted by Benson

This week we're taking a look at track 4 on the CD: Rock Me by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.


Erica introduces this song by explaining that Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of her favorites, and it is easy to see why.  Rock Me is a spiritual song about beseeching and thanking the Lord for guiding and protecting you throughout your life.  In typical gospel fashion, it is an evangelical song expressing joy in one's faith and jovial submission to the will of God.  But what is truly interesting about Rock Me is something that may not be readily apparent to modern audiences.


Today, I think we've become well accustomed to the merging of musical traditions, and it doesn't seem strange, new, or unique to hear a devotional song accompanied by music that draws a heavy influence from Jazz and Rock traditions, as Rock Me does so well.  But back in the 1930s when Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recording Rock Me, she was a musical pioneer.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and grew up playing then traditional Gospel music.  A wunderkind by any standards, Rosetta began performing at the age of four, traveling to tent revivals around the South where she accompanied her mother, who both played and preached, on stage.  But in addition to being exposed to Gospel music at such a young age, Rosetta discovered Blues and Jazz, first in the South and later after her family moved to Chicago in the 1920s.  As you know, the Blues traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans and gained a second wind (pun intended) in Chicago in the 20s.


Rosetta played Gospel in public, but in private she was enamored with Jazz, and she began experimenting with incorporating Blues and Jazz rhythms into her Gospel music.  Although Rosetta's mixture of Gospel music with more secular styles tended to shock churchgoers, it enjoyed an explosion of popularity among secular audiences.  Accordingly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe became the first great recording star of Gospel music, and was even known at the time as the "original soul sister."

She broke new ground with her music, and brought the light of the Gospel even in the "darkest" nightclubs and concert halls, delighting her fans and having a lasting influence on the Gospel musical style.


Rock Me

Won't you hear me singing
Hear the words that I'm saying
Wash my soul with water from on high
While the world of love is around me
Evil thoughts do bind me
But Lord, if you leave me,
I will die

You hold me in thou bosom
Till the storms of life is over
Rock me in the cradle of thou love
Only feed me till I want no more
Then you take me to your blessed home above

Make my journey brighter
You make my burden lighter
Help me to do good wherever I can
Oh, let thou presence thrill me
Your love is kindness to me
Then you hold me
Hold me in the hollow of thou hand

You hold me in thou bosom
Till storms of life is over
Rock me in the cradle of thou love
Only feed me till I want no more
Then you take me to your blessed home above