The Voodoo Hoodoo What You Don't Dare To People

New Orleans has been on my radar for a while and as soon as I knew I'd be going to stay with my friends in Texas I wanted to stop off in Louisiana along the way. The cultural beauty of the French Quarter and the rich musical history of jazz and blues were a big draw, and as a drummer, the fact that the explosion of said music in the 1940s and 50s first developed and subsequently popularized the 'traps' as the collection of tom toms, snare drums, cowbells and cymbals were then called.


I eventually flew down from New York's La Guardia airport six hours late after a massive thunderstorm hit the city and delayed all flights for hours, arriving around 1am after a transfer through Charlotte. The hostel I was staying in, the India House, was a bit of a hippie hang out perfectly suited to eager young travellers and I met a good bunch of people there.


The first day I wandered around the French Quarter and was suitably impressed. The combination of French/Spanish architecture, lovely little shops and of course the tropical weather made for a really interesting experience. As usual I stumbled upon another awesome secondhand bookshop and found a great book by Mickey Hart, drummer with the Grateful Dead, on how the linkages between drumming, spirituality and conciousness are all intertwined. It's a complete and thorough look at rhythm across the world and throughout history; in short, truly inspirational!



Then walking on down Chartres Street I found the Jamie Hayes gallery. The artist was sat at a desk opposite the front doors putting the finishing touches to his latest nineteen screen(!) screenprint. The colorblind artist makes very distinctive, bold designs which draw from New Orleans culture from past and present, as well as designing a very funky range of voodoo dolls and accessories.
After walking through the French market, I had a nice cold beer whilst watching a few old timers play some blues in an outdoor cafe. It seems like there's live music in almost every bar and cafe in this town which makes for a lively atmosphere as the night draws in.

On my way back to the hostel I found the Starling Occult Library on a backstreet corner. Inside, I was immediately struck by the case of live snakes and struck up a conversation with the owner, a nice chap by the name of Jan Spacek. We chatted about snakes and I explored his fascinating shop which is full of voodoo shrines, jars of odds and ends, various animal bones, gris-gris and assorted powders, potions and oils. Then I saw their shrine for the Hurricane Katrina victims, dedicated to preserving the memory of what really went on. I will reproduce the article he wrote in a separate post as it deserves your full attention. Suffice to say I was both shocked and deeply moved by what went unreported and the horrors he and his wife witnessed first-hand.

That evening I went out with some people from the hostel to sample some of the famed New Orleans nightlife over on Frenchman Street. Bourbon Street is the famous one but it was basically the tackiest street in thr world. Forget classy Jazz bars, its all neon-splashed bars, cheap and dirty food and surprisingly lots of 'adult' venues peppered amongst the wall-to-wall drunken tourists. I walked down it once to take some pictures but I can't say I'd want to go back. Frenchman however is where the locals go out and it is crammed with much cooler bars and live music venues and feels much like like the New Orleans I had pictured.


With my little Japanese dancing partner Aki we found an amazing Afrobeat/Latin/Reggae band playing in a bar painted with Marley-inspired murals. They were great and we danced like lunatics until the end of their first set when I went up to thank them for a great performance and chatted briefly to the drummer and the singer, mentioning I too played drums. After a short break, they returned and we readied ourselves to dance again but instead the singer stepped over to me:

"Do you want to play?" he asked.
"What, me? Now?" my slightly inebriated and surprised self replied.
"Yeah man, get up here!" was his response.

I got up there.

"We have a special guest tonight, Jody from England!"

So with the night taking something of a surreal turn I stepped into the hotseat and rocked out some African-inspired reggae jams with the band who were all accomplished musicians. After rocking it for a while I was having so much fun but my attempt to bring in some sizzling drum 'n' bass grooves were thwarted by the drummer whispering in my ear "I'm getting back on now.." Maybe I stole his thunder a little?!



The whole thing had such a dreamlike quality to it and afterwards I couldn't stop laughing from the random nature of events. Much fun was had by all though, it seems in this city of music and good vibes its almost impossible not to have a good time and most everyone you meet is smiling and happy. Damn good times!

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