Frenchman Street and the French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

This was my second trip to New Orleans in less than a year and as usual, it didn't disappoint. On this particular trip I tried to spend more time in the sophisticated Frenchman Street area of the Quarter because eminent music critic Colin McGuire of PopMatters and The Frederick News-Post fame met me to check out the musical scene. But as is my habit I wandered the whole Quarter and found some of the best music on the sidewalks but we also managed to see well known NOLA personalities like Kermit Ruffin and John Boutté.

This first video was taken on Frenchman Street outside of d.b.a.'s. It is an excellent clip featuring a street brass band of two generations. The man in the white shirt playing trumpet is the father of four of the boys playing although he informed us that they all have different mothers. It is a long clip but watch the whole thing as it gets better as it goes along.

This a clip of John Boutté of Treme fame at d.b.a's. He gave a great performance and was one of the highlights of the trip. He did sing the Treme theme song at the end of the show but the crowd was too thick by then to get a video.

Another street band--this time a drum corp. 

Okay, I included this video even though the visuals aren't very good because it features Kermit Ruffins playing at his home base Vaughn's. The video quality is bad because they have no stage lights in this place and it turns into a dark swamp after about an hour. We talked to Kermit for about 15 minutes before the show which was a thrill.

I included this clip because this is a good example of a Cajun band singing in their traditional French slang dialect.

A nice little jazz combo on Bourbon Street of all places.

Dwayne Dopsie and the Hellraisers are always fun to watch. This clip is interesting because it was taken in the middle of the Red Dress Run for charity which is why there are so many men in the bar in red dresses. In case you were wondering.

Nice funk band upstairs at The Blue Nile on Frenchman Street.

More Dixieland oriented jazz--again on Bourbon Street of all places.

This jazz combo was recorded in the early evening at The Spotted Cat on Frenchman Street. It was a nice club that I had never been to before.

As always I end most days at NOLA with a visit to the Bonoffs--a long time zydeco favorite of mine.