NOLA Montage / March Meeting 2017

Eating by the Mississippi. What a big ass river. Apparently the longest in the world after the Nile! 

French style homes? (Near hotel.)

The French Quarter. Sufficiently smelly to remind oneself of home. 

Weirdos throwing plastic beaded necklaces on the unsuspecting and/or participating crowds. 

The Preservation Hall. It's listed highly on TripAdvisor for Jazz performances in NOLA. Lines are 50 minutes long, and I can't say I was really bothered by the performance. There's gotta be something wrong if a supposedly good jazz band plays "Saints Go Marching In"! That said, the rendition of Louis Armstrong's "It's a wonderful world" was awesome. Some part of me still somehow remembered all the lyrics and I really enjoyed the romantic tone of the saxophone in the cosy atmosphere of the hall. 

Now this was fantastic. (At the 21st Amendment, on Ibervile street in the French quarter) I haven't heard the blues in a long long time since Saloni got me listening to Bollywood music again. Well this was just good. The guy played some Robert Cray, a version of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry", and many other awesome songs. I've always loved my blues/jazz with the guitar, primarily, so this band with a guitar lead was just great for me. Especially when you have a good blues player who loves to tease you with solos. I feel like the blues, and especially good jazz are like Quantum Mechanics in action: there's a final destination, a final train you know you have to get on to, but you can do that via multiple paths and they all interfere, hopefully constructively to make harmony. And it's all about the tease. You almost reach the final destination, and you pull out. Play some more solo on your favorite scale, maybe go into an associated lydian mode just for additional tease, and then when you finally return to the basic riff, it's like an eruption of joy. And this guy was just amazing. Fuck me what I just wrote sounds like a porno. 

Python on Tree in Swamp. 

The tour of the swamp is such a nice experience here. Many of these houses got destroyed in the Katrina storm. Also, lots of Confederate flags, lol. Paraj and I could definitely sense a bit of coldness? from the tour guides as well. I guess this is as old-fashioned as the country can get! I think I get along with Trump supporters better. I had a great time joking with some on the flight back about how the North American Dog should be set as the most privileged birth in the Hindu cycle of re-birth/reincarnation. They just fucking melted and started telling me all their dog stories. 

The swamps are definitely beautiful/cool. 

More Swamps.

Hoods. It was fun going around town seeing these neighborhoods. 

Some of my friends also stayed longer and went to the plantations. I think this is an opportunity missed to see a really important/sad part of US history. The guys who went were totally shell-shocked by the violence and cruelty of the plantation owners.