A French Quarter moment is an experience that is wild, bizarre, unique, random, special- you name it. You might see a midget dressed as Dorothy being chased by a midget dressed as the Wicked Witch zoom down the street on scooters. A cowboy walking a Shetland pony on a dog leash. An elderly couple drunkenly stumbling through the park on a Tuesday afternoon, and the lady hurling in a wastebasket after shouting "You are such a tweaker Earl!!!" at her man. Those are just a few of my French Quarter memories that will haunt me til I succumb to the Alzheimer's. A new scene entered my archives yesterday, and it just keeps getting better!
During the FQ Fest, part of the fun is wandering around and stumbling across random magic from the many musicians. On Royal Street (not on a stage- just holding court outside the A&P) we stopped to dance for a bit to the songs pumping from an incredible group. I was drawn at first not just by the tunes- but by the cute guitarist. Then the vocalist started working the crowd and I was in hysterics- this chick is a money machine. Since it wasn't officially part of the fest, there wasn't a sign with the bands name. I then noticed that the old man playing the washtub harp had painted "The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band" across it. I figured that since they didn't really look like they belonged together- that it was a jam band formed for the fest season. Though their sound was definitely tight, I chalked that up to talent.
As they were between tunes, this random old man in overalls wandered up to the singer. They spoke briefly and she handed him the microphone. I could not wait to get a load of this hehe- rambling old black man, with a bushy white beard, and zombie eyes- looking as drunk as I've ever seen- and they were letting him broadcast. He started wailing a tune about some horrible woman who had done him wrong and I was hypnotized. I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing- was he really a hobo? Or was he a plant in the audience? Almost any other place I would think it was a set up- but in New Orleans you can't readily tell. It is not uncommon to find talent like that wandering aimlessly here. The faces on the band didn't give it away either. What started as pleasant amusement quickly became total shock hehe! They didn't seem to know what the dude was doing, but impressed nonetheless. He ended his tune, the crowd went nuts- and he drifted off down the road. Their show was pure fun! But the story hardly stops there!
This morning when I began looking for any information about the acts that I had seen- I found this website: www.lostwandering.com and I was blown away by what I read. First off- the home page of the site boasted a flyer for the group in French. Huh? Apparently the group was formed by that tub player in 1979 for a trip to New Orleans. They have been charming street audiences around the world from New Orleans to Paris, Stockholm, Berlin and many other places. You totally owe it to yourselves to read up on them- and definitely buy their CDs! I totally feel like I am in on a wonderful secret for seeing them!
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
Post a Comment