New Orleans: Frenchmen Street

Jazz is a genre of music that’s much better live than recorded.  As Ayk pointed out, when is any music not better live, other than heavily auto-tuned pop singers?  Touché.  Be that as it may, there’s nothing more captivating than listening to truly talented jazz performers on stage.  And there’s no place better to find the best jazz acts than our favorite place in New Orleans -- Frenchmen Street.

Maision, our favorite bar.

There’s a part of me that wants to sing praises about this low-key jazz haven only steps away from the French Quarter, but there’s another part of me that dreads outing the city’s best kept secret.  As one Nawlins native put it, “Bourbon Street is where we quarantine the tourists, so they don't [expletive] up the city."  (I’m assuming CNN censored “fuck,” in case you were wondering).

Booty Trove, a 12-man brass band, playing at Maison.

As much as it pains me to admit this as an out-of-towner, it’s true:  most tourists are obnoxious.  And the tourists who visit New Orleans generally want to get shitfaced.  Far be it for me to judge.  If I were in college, I’d giddily roam Bourbon Street with a drink in both hands.  So by all means, get sloshed; just stay on Bourbon Street and keep Frenchmen Street sane for those whose livers can no longer handle excessive drinking.  We come for the jazz, not the hangover.

A bartender wearing the colors of the Egyptian flag to celebrate Mubarak's resignation.

What makes Frenchmen Street so amazing is you can go into any bar and listen to the best performances without having to pay any cover (don’t be a stingy bastard; tip!).  Some bars do charge cover, but most don’t.  Hell, you can wander the street and find an amazing brass band playing on the corner with people dancing in the street.  Anything goes here.

A band playing in the street.

Even white people started dancing.  Though I wouldn't encourage it.

This guy's cheek puffed out like Dizzy Gillespie's.

The sidewalk is filled with artists other than musicians and singers trying to earn a buck.  There are painters and even poets.  We chatted with Tristan, a former music teacher turned street poet.  He didn’t much care for his boss’s teaching method, so he quit.  Now he’s his own boss, using a typewriter to crank out verses for poetry patrons, passersby, or just piss-ass drunk tourists who lost their way from Bourbon Street.  Poems range from 5 to 20 bucks.  Considering our state of employment, we went with the $5 poem.  Scribbling down a few notes, he asked us what we wanted our personalized poem to be about, and we picked – what else – our road trip.  Cherry on top of the best night of the trip: 

Tristan the Street Poet

The best $5 we spent on the trip.  Actually $10.  Ayk tipped him an extra $5 for booze money.