Snow in New Orleans

It's raining again by now but I have a deck covered in ice. For those of you that have never been, this has happened about 3 or 4 times in my lifetime and everybody's flippin their wig. Especially since it was in the 70s two days ago and according to meteorologists, 70's again Saturday.

oh jeez I screwed up cropping that

more (and larger sizes) at my flickr page

A very short tribute to the French

Google Analytics tells me that outside of America I get more visits from France than anywhere else. I have no idea why the Rock&Roll Hoo-Ha What What appeals so disproportionately to you guys, but thank you for giving the world SPACE



and a secondary thanks Ian Staub for exposing me to them on the WESU blog

Satchmo Summerfest wrap-up

Satchmo Summerfest on Sunday (couldn't make Saturday) was an embodiment of everything that makes New Orleans great. Incredible music: Sunday's lineup didn't have the big names Saturday had, but there was always something great on. Don't like one band? Just walk around the corner and you'll find one that'll do just fine. Despite full-on August heat, there was plenty of dancing and especially plenty of old people dancing (always great). Black, white, young, old, abled and disabled all out there enjoying themselves with nothing but good feelings going around. And best of all, it was free! The honest, good kind of free, a great event for the sake of an event. Non-touristy, not too crowded... I knew what to expect since I'd been last year but I forgot just how great it was. I honestly have no complaints.

a few more pictures here, here, here, here, here and here

Peaches Records' quarter location has opened!

edit: this is SLIGHTLY outdated. Though I've been back a few times, the feeling is mostly the same, check it out here

And it kind of sucks. I didn't know about the old Gretna location until this one was underway (and apparently there was a riverwalk location as well? I don't remember seeing one) but this one has nice juicy real estate on Decatur where Tower Records used to be.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt; I don't think they're quite done yet. The upstairs is completely untouched and the listening stations are blank. Not to mention there were construction workers inside. So I suspect the inventory will only be beefed up from here and hopefully it will feel a little less empty.

The inventory they currently have actually isn't that bad. For a mainstream oriented store they have a HUGE and prominent local section that's even subdivided by genre (brass etc.) The rock section was up to date and had most major releases you'd hope to see, but don't expect to find that one album you've been hunting down. The soul/R&B section was especially strong with a lot of older releases displayed prominently. However, I wasn't even able to find an electronic section, much to the dismay of a gay man* hassling an employee looking for Tiesto. I'm not really a tiesto fan but that's not horribly obscure or anything.

Vinyl? Mostly singles, mostly hip-hop. As it is now, this is definitely a CD-oriented store. While I'll buy either medium (vinyl over CD) it's a little disheartening to see a new store open with almost zilch for a medium that's gaining in popularity in favor of the medium people are singing the swan song for.

But really the main flaw was the price. Don't expect to find ANYTHING under $10 and expect to regularly see single disc albums retail for $20. Example: The Shepherd's Dog by Iron and Wine. I have no interest in that album but I can't fathom why it's retailing for that price other than the enourmous rent they must be paying for that spot. Most CDs retail for around $17 and given their good-but-sparse-and-unspectacular selection I found nothing to walk out with.

bottom line: Peaches records offers only a few things over buying CDs at Barnes and Noble: beefier local section, indepenedently owned and French Quarter location. And unfortunately, there are stores in the area that achieve all their draws better.

I hope they do improve but in the shape that I saw them there wasn't much for me to get excited about.

*I mention that he's gay because as I walked back to my car the guy leaned out the window of his sports car and purred something through his thick accent with a horrifying and swarmy "I want that" stare looking straight at me. While Peaches is in no way responsible for this incident it didn't leave me feeling good about the whole experience.

SATCHMO SUMMERFEST

One of the coolest events in New Orleans is this weekend. Totally free in the quarter and with brass bands on multiple stages ALL DAY. Official dates have it starting tomorrow and I have no idea why, but the music is on Saturday and Sunday

Here's the schedule: http://www.satchmosummerfest.com/satchmo_music.html

Looks like Saturday's when all the big acts are playing but I have no doubt that Sunday will be great too. Unfortunately no Trombone Shorty who last year had the event overflowing but so many other big brass names in there