New Orleans!

On Friday November 5 we drove from Huntsville, AL to New Orleans, LA.

I am in love with New Orleans.

How could I ever deign to attempt to describe the Crescent City? To me, it’s like another country. A completely vibrant, juicy, spicy, jubilant, musical place. Setting the stage for our magical experience in the Big Easy was the moment when Jason’s dad Tim’s song about New Orleans, “No Mo Do Yakamo” came on our iPod right as we drove into the city. Incredible. Our entire visit was filled with that kind of synchronicity.

We were so thrilled to be there and to see the historic houses, live oak trees, Spanish moss, street cars, people on stoops, colorful signs, and to tune into one of our favorite radio stations, WWOZ. We landed at our friend Chris and Ashley’s house which is near the Maple Leaf, a fabulous club (really, a New Orleans institution) where our show was that night. Chris and Ashley’s house is a lively place full of art and photos of a life filled with music and friends. We were very happy see them.

Jason couldn’t wait to eat some of the local cuisine, and so it wasn’t long before we were thrilling our taste buds with Creole and Cajun flavors.

The show at the Maple Leaf was off the chain. Mad Tea opened for Chris’s band the 101 Runners, a collection of New Orleans musicians who played heart-warming and booty-shaking New Orleans music – a mix of styles as flavorful as gumbo. I was knocked out by the music and ended up on the dance floor with Mardi Gras Indian Wild Man John of the Wild Tchoupitoulas, who was dressed in full regalia and  pumping up the crowd with his theatrical moves. More fun was had when Jason sat in on fiddle. Hot stuff.

(At the show we met Steve Williams, an artist and the promoter for the Rock Art Circus, who was at our show because he had seen us perform at the Heavy Rebel Weekender. He hired us on the spot for the next day. More on that later. )

The evening turned towards morning as we hung out with Chris and Ashley and some of the members of the 101 Runners, listening to the Creeper, WWOZ’s incredible Friday night/Saturday morning DJ. Near the end of the Creeper’s show, Chris called up to request “Itty Bitty Pretty One,” Thurston Harris’s song that Mad Tea had covered that night in our set in tribute to Jason’s dad, who used to sing it. Chris and the Creeper have a 12-year relationship of Chris calling and requesting songs, though they have never met in person. It was 5:08 am (a little after the Creeper’s show had technically ended) when “Itty Bitty Pretty One” came on the air. We all danced and my heart was filled with the spirit of New Orleans.