Monday, May 2. On The Streets Of New Orleans

New Orleans is a wonderful city. It is beautiful. It has life, charm, great people, wonderful food, and the music …

It’s a city with a heart, and a soul. I love cities with character. Where you can walk the streets, and the buildings talk to you. They whisper their stories to you.

New Orleans is such a city.

This afternoon I went for a walk. I’m staying at the Clarion Suites on Canal St, so that’s where I started. Down Canal, left onto Royal, right onto St Peters for a block and then right again onto Chartres.

Continued along Chartres for a little way, as far as Laura’s Candies. I was good, and did not even enter the store. I may do that tomorrow though.

So I doubled back on Chartres, turned right onto Conti, and left onto Decatur. Stopped on Decatur for a bite to eat, then a visit to the New Orleans Cigar Factory, before turning back to my hotel.

Along the way, on Royal, I paused to enjoy a few of the many antiques shops, as well as some of the performances of the street musicians who were out plying their trade, as it were.

: Street Musicians on Royal St, New Orleans

Of course, not all of the musicians play all of the time. The day was very warm and humid, and sometimes one needs to take a bit of a break.

The Monday following the first weekend of jazzfest, there’s traditionally a couple of truly great gigs on in town. At the House of Blues on Decatur St, WWOZ hold their annual Piano Night, and as I passed by the House of Blues, their broadcast van was outside, setting up the evening.

At the other end of town, there’s another benefit, being held at Tipintina’s. This is the “Instruments A Comin’ 2011 Benefit Concert”, from which the proceeds go towards helping school children acquire musical instruments.

Both of these are very worthy causes, and each of them boasts a stellar line-up. Like pretty much everything else related to Jazzfest, choosing which event to attend is a tough call, and it comes down to choosing who to not see.