What is real and what is an illusion
Most of us live in New Orleans because the lines between the waking and dreaming world are blurred by the fact that a continuous looping soundtrack is being played in the background of our life. We take this as normal here. And maybe too normal, so that we forget how special it is. Read Evan Christopher’s rants about the state of musicians (and music) in New Orleans today. Some of it ain’t pretty, let me just say.
So last night, Tatjana and I went out to hear some live music prompted by a cursory read of an article that OffBeat had written about Hurray for Riff Raff. The article said they did a fab cover of My Sweet Lord by George Harrison, and when I went to go listen to it on YouTube, I ended up posting here. It is a great cover. And when I went to go buy it on iTunes, it was instead offered for free. (Evan would blanch at the thought, and I even thought, why free? I am willing to pay?)
Then I noticed that Hurray for Riff Raff was playing this Thursday night (last night) at One Eyed Jacks with another band that I had only faintly heard of, Alabama Shakes. So last night, we got a babysitter and went to hear some live music. We arrived to hear Tumbleweeds get down with some boy picking and grinning beats that segued into Hurray for Riff Raff. Lo and behold, they hail from New Orleans, yet another progeny of the vast musical riches of this city.
The place was packed with a cornucopia of ages and walks of life, who had mostly come to see the headlining band, Alabama Shakes. This morning I went again to iTunes to buy their hit HOLD ON, because it resonates with a lot I have been living through, and I found the song for free, yes for free on iTunes. Again, why free?
While this is mildly disturbing to me, a patron of music, what happened last night has nothing to do with Tumbleweeds, Hurray for Riff Raff or Alabama Shakes but what happened in between.
Right before the first act came on, as we were walking from our parked car to One Eyed, we heard a marching band (read: not unusual in this city) and then we saw them, majorettes and high school marching band marching through the Quarter tailed by a block and a half long group of business men marching and staring at us on the sidewalk.
We stood there as these tourists eyed us suspiciously. Wait, I’m not a tourist, I thought to myself and instead of eyeing them back suspiciously I smiled and continued on my way to One Eyed.
Horrors.
I realized we had been witnessing a fake parade. The latest in the Cultural Extraction of a real New Orleans spontaneous event scripted, packaged and delivered to the mighty tourists of New Orleans and misnamed authentic.
Of all the things that were so great about last night, I woke haunted and unable to shake the vision of the fake parade.
January 20th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
The fake parades are both horrifying and multiplying, I keep coming across flocks of self-conscious conventioneers sheepishly waving handkerchiefs still stiff from the packaging. The part of me that wants bands, particularly Brass and Trad Jazz bands to have more gigs struggles with the part of me that wants to shout “Go Back to Ohio!”
January 21st, 2012 at 9:58 am
Not to name names S – there was already tension before but I think we have now jumped the shark with what is real and what is not. Our biggest tradition of brass bands in the street is under assault from mercantilism but then again so is everything else about our lifestyle.