Friday, March 27, 2009

Time to say goodbye




It's time to say goodbye and I forgot how much I hate these last days of holidays where you think that you can do so much but at the end your head is already at the airport.

The whole night we had heavy thunderstorms and the bad weather conditions and due to this I entered earlier to the airport from where I write a first summary of these holidays.

It was one of my dreams to travel from Chicago to New Orleans only to listen to music and to increase my knowledge about these music styles. I am happy that I finally did it and I know now that it was worth dreaming of it!! During these two weeks I got a lot of new ideas for new trips, I learned a lot and I discovered how unsatisfying my knowledge in American history is. Nevertheless I enjoyed these great places mainly in Chicago, Memphis, the Delta and finally in New Orleans, my interest in Country remains limited (except Country rock like Neil Young, Greatful Dead, Eagles, Poco, ...). 

I have to do some parts again in the upcoming years - especially with the Delta and New Orleans I am not done! This town is large and I didn't see too much. Only today I realized that in Frenchmen Street - outside the French quarter there are additional clubs, mainly jazz-oriented. Prominent names are performing there ... not in the last days but generally, I didn't do a riverboat tour, I have to see the NEW Jazz Museum (opening only in 2010), I didn't investigate further on Voodoo, Mardi Gras and I still insist on my dinner on the balcony .... The task here should be to escape the mainstream of NO and to find the 'real town'.

So, my plane to Chicago where I get my connection to Istanbul! These holidays are over, there are so many impressions I still have to sort, check some details, a lot to do (selecting photos, listening to the new music and films I will bring with me, summarizing the details I didn't mention in the blog). This will keep me busy the next weekends. 

This was my first blog and I hope you liked it. I am still unexperienced in it but I hope that it was despite the long texts and the few photos entertaining. If you are interested in following on of the next trips just let me know and I will inform you in time!

Bye and see you all soon.

Guenter

Thursday, March 26, 2009

.... a day to discover the BIG EASY



For the last day I planned relaxed sightseeing and to feel the atmosphere of this town. To be honest: I failed partly as the weather was filled with rain, heavy thunderstorms (some flood warnings are still active) but in between always some sunny moments. The visit of the Jazz Museum was on top not possible as the museum is closed for renovation until 2010. Sad, but reality.

Nevertheless this town has a lot of atmosphere - outside the center nice villas, everywhere trees, alleys, parks, nice museums (e.g. the visit of the sculpture garden of the Art Museum is very recommendable) cool people - this town deserves the nickname 'Big Easy' (by the way, I still didn't see this movie ...). And similar to Nashville I get the feeling that everyone is related in tourism and of course music. I have a long chat with Smoky Greenwell who sells during the day tourist stuff but at night he plays harmonica, sax and sings together with his 'BLUES GNUS' excellent Blues music. A sympathical guy and his latest CD really recommendable!

It continues raining and that brings of course Hurricane Kathrina closer - today you do not anything which relates to this terrible flood which came two years ago. When you compare fotos of the past and the flood with the actual situation then the changes are getting more obvious. For example I was wondering why the Hard Rock Cafe in NO doesn't have any 'landmark' as it is usual - it had!!! unfortunately the 10 meters guitar didn't survive Kathrina.

Evening: Vieux Carre - what else. Business as usual: loud music everywhere and too many drunk people. The whole French quarter is a big party area, they do not need Mardi Gras to do party! 

For my understanding again too much pop and Rock and not enough traditional stuff. Of course one place with Cajun/Zydeco (washboard & accordion in the lead!), the one or other Blues place but Jazz is not that widespread.  Beside the yesterday described places I spent today most of the evening in PRETZEL - a somehow german!!! Jazzclub. The big surprise there was the fact that the musicians there are all around 30 years old and the public is young despite the traditional music. The girls and guys really try to develop the traditional music - you can see a mixture of New Orleans Jazz, Dixieland and also Swing elements (e.g.: the traditional banjo is replaced by three!!! acoustic guitars - wow what a new and different sound). When you see that you feel that this music is not at his end. The spirit of Louis and the others will continue!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Old N'awlins




The first stop today is the Oak Alley Plantation on half way to New Orleans. I learned today that south of Baton Rouge the climate is not good enough for cotton anymore but the perfect condition for sugar cane plantation - therefore around the Mississippi we can find everywhere sugar plantations like that. Especially the around 300 year old oak trees from the river to the house make this plantation special. By the way: these premises have been part of movies several times, e.g: rendezvous with a vampire. 

In the afternoon I arrived finally in New Orleans and especially downtown, the French Quarter, is like I expected it and far larger than Nashville or Memphis. When you are interested in Jazz every corner reminds you of  music: the Basin Street station (basin street blues), Bourbon street (parade), Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and of course the live music in most of the clubs around Bourbon street!! A real heaven for music lovers! You stroll around, find a nice place, rush in, have a drink and listen and then continue to the next place.... Nevertheless there are two topics which are really disturbing: first the growing sex club scene - in my three year old guide they are explaining these establishments only at the beginning, now I feel that almost 30-40% of all places are somehow linked to Hustler & Co. As a guy explained today it looks more and more like Amsterdam - how sad. The second disturbing topic is that only few clubs are really playing 'New Orleans Jazz' - I found three! Most of the bars are trying to be attractive with mainstream pop and rock and sometimes you can also find Blues ...

There was a third disturbing topic today but not linked to music. When you are in N'awlins then you have to eat Jambalaya or any other Cajun stuff on the balcony of one of the many restaurants - despite the fact that all of them had empty tables I got always the explanation that there are reservations and I can have my dinner downstairs inside and not on the balcony. So I didn't have dinner and I decided that a lonely traveller (Jumbo didn't count) has a hard life - the conclusion is simple: next time THE SWEETHEART has to join - agreed?

At last I found the perfect place for traditional New Orleans music: the Perservation Hall. Founded in 1961 to keep the old traditions alive the place is simple (you stand or sit at the ground or on one of the few benches, no drinks, ..) and no renovation since the opening is disturbing the atmosphere. These guys at the stage (today played Carl Leblanc & The essential NO Jazz Band) have so much fun are so experienced in this music and you feel the power in the audience. Simply great! Maybe I will go there tomorrow again to finalize these holidays in a proper way (maybe you can open the link then you can see a small documentation of the place and the music which is played there - have fun).

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

From Jackson to Baton Rouge




For the whole day 'landscape' is in focus! I drove first from Jackson westwards to Vicksburg! This town is the birth place of Willie Dixon - you remember maybe: this bass player was the 'mastermind' of Chess Records (Chicago). Unfortunately almost no traces of Willie to be found. The town was a battleground during the Civil War 1863 and the National Military Park dominates the scene. The rest? A lovely small town, an excellent cafe and many, many casinos at the Mississippi (it seems that in Mississippi and in Lousiana there are different laws which allow to run big casinos). 

Another Quiz question: who bottled the first Coca Cola?? After invention of this soda-drink it was offered in so called soda-fountains, today we would say bars. No one had the idea to bottle this drink. The first person who did that was Mr. Biedenharn  from Vicksburg who run a Candy company and as everyone liked that drink he bottled it (starting from 1894) and sold it in the whole delta. The famous bottle we know today was invented only later. Before that everyone was allowed to put the drink in his own bottles ....

After this town I am heading south and the landscape varies very much: woods, fields, bright colours & clouds are changing and of course lovely small towns cultivated for more than 100 years and completely different than the northern towns (e.g. Port Gibson, Natchez). 

After I crossed the border to Lousiana - the last state I am going during this trip - the big old plantations are starting, with these well known big oak trees and the atmosphere of the 18th century. One of them is Myrtles Plantation, a place build in 1796 and it is said that it has been the scene of many murders. You can stay overnight in the house but it sounds dangerous :-) I met a young couple planning to do so - if they survived? Who knows, I wanted to continue ...

Finally I reached Baton Rouge which was recommended to me as THE hidden blues place. I mean this is the home town of the famous blues guitarist Larry Garner (the Austrian readers of this blog might know that Chris '2m Blues' Dozzler played for several years with Larry). This makes me suspicious but the more I search via internet, via discussions with several people, I couldn't find a proper place on a Tuesday where blues is played!!! It's only a weekend-town of Blues! Sad, it's the second evening without live music.

It's interesting that similar to Jackson the whole town looks completely dead after 8pm - the major shops are closed, no city center with life, .... . Where are all the people??

DELTA FEVER




Last morning in Memphis. The question is: Graceland yes or no?? I know that a lot of people will hate me but I decided for NO, I do not want to see the living place of Elvis Presley and his planes and his garden and all the gold and glitter around, fighting with thousands of tourists in long lanes waiting to see the holy place ... I am not in the mood for all that (I saw in souvenir shops nail files and ashtrays with the picture of 'the King' - thats enough). 

I am in the mood for the Delta!! Before I leave I have to see another famous place of the world's history to Lorraine Motel - in front of this Motel Martin Luther King has been shot to death on April 4, 1968 and this assassination led to nationwide riots in more than 100 cities.

The rest of the day was deep south with long highways - mainly Highway 61, cotton fields everywhere and from time to time the first swamps, mangroves and beautiful surroundings. In the middle of this landscape few small places where all the blues musicians lived, grew up and a lot of 'blues related places'... like: Coahoma (birth place of Ike Turner!), Clarksdale (brilliant Delta Blues Museum and Crossroads Monument) and the Ground Zero Blues Club which offers also at lunch time nice bluesy atmosphere. The highlight was Indianola, where BeeBee King grew up and made his first musical experiences. The BB King Museum is the best museum (and I saw a lot) on this trip!!! The life and the development are shown there so easy understandable in connection with the former apartheid system and how all that developed within the next 40 years ... brilliant!!! Worth to make a detour!!!!

Another detour I did was unfortunately not worth the way: I went the evening to Jackson for some live blues experience but first I arrived late, then it took me one hour to find the place (my fault - I missed the maps) and finally I found out that this monday the club is closed! How sad - the first evening without LIVE music! Whatsoever, I am so tired that I immediately slept deeply, getting ready for the next day!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Praise GOD and some record companies ...



Sunday - the day to praise the lord. That's the reason why we put on our best clothes and we are almost looking serious, isn't it (OK, I hear some voices crying that a shave would make sense ... but girls: WE are on holidays, isn't it?). 

And what did we do first? We went to church - to be precisely to the Full Gospel Tabernacle Chruch where Bishop Al Green was celebrating one of his routine services .... simply breathtaking. When you come from a roman-catholic experience such a gospel service is somehow strange, interesting and most of all entertaining. I never heard in a church people so often crying Amen and applauding to the music, the words of the bishop. It was more a party for God and Jesus where everyone was dancing (they have also employed staff with fans and tissues to cool down the exhausted dancing -mainly- women) and in the middle a very charismatic Al Green who is pushing his crowd forward. If you remember the church scene of the Blues Brothers film - with  James Brown as priest - reality is somehow similar :-)

The most interesting thing on this 'show' is Al Green. I do not know if you remember that name but Al was in the 70's one of the best selling soul singers in the world (I read somewhere that he is still the 10th best musician in the USA (his hit everyone knows is 'Let's stay together'). In 1976 he decided to run a church and this is now for more than 30 years his profession. Beside that he still releases CDs and performs on stages. But today the church was his stage! The foto in the middle shows Al Green - unfortunately the quality is not that good (to shoot photos in a church is not really allowed ... but I didn't want to hide this photo).

After these two hours of Gospel music experience my heart burns for Soul. You know that soul is a further developed mixture of Country & Gospel and here in Memphis we have THE record label who is - beside Motown - the company who developed most of the Soul stars in the world: STAX records. A well organized and informative small museum with a fine shop - at least I found a missing Isaac Hayes CD there.

The next step was another record company which is the most important label for Rock&Roll music: SUN records. Not only Elvis Presley was discovered there - by the owner of the company, the famous Sam Phillips - when he recorded on his own cost a single for his mother, but also hit sellers of the late 50's and 60's like Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Johnny Cash and Rufus Thomas produced there their first hits. Nowadays the premises are more museum but from time to time also actual stars are still producing songs in this studio, e.g. U2 and Paul McCartney.

The last stop of today completed the roundtrip in musical history and summarized. The Museum of Rock & Soul (!) showed additional film material and memorabilia of this period of time where R&R made his first steps and prepared the ground for today's music industry!

Now I am sitting at the computer with an overflow of information, impressions and I am tired of too much music today ... on Beale Street I had my dinner and listened shortly to some bands (inside the clubs, outside in the park) - business as usual there: a lot of people, a lot of beer and a lot of Blues.



  

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Nutbush City Limits


Solution of our Quiz question:
Ike & Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits
Winner: Ozgun !!!!!