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Let you know the next time you're down in Buffalo. We could get together to play some tunes.
Thanks Marcello, I appreciate it. I really like what I do and I like my job. We have very high standards here which is a pleasure. I've worked in a lot of hospitals and some have been pretty rough. These jobs are pretty rare so leaving it will be a loss. I'm hoping I can stay out of the ER...14 years of travelling was enough.
And yeah I should visit sometime this year and see what it's like. The more I think about it the more it seems like the place.
Asheville used to have everything you're looking for, with a chill southern mountain town vibe and climate, a thriving, high quality and diverse music scene, ample culture, restaurants and breweries, and the people there love their town. How it is now, after the devastating storm, I don't know. But it is the south and full of resilient and sturdy people - it'll bounce back. How long that'll take is anybody's guess - you can ask Mike K, he lives there.
being south of Manhattan is bad for my health, the doctor told me. Full Yankee.
I get it - north of Baltimore except for short visits June/August is out for me, a card-carrying resident of Skynyrd Nation 😁
haha we can meet on the Pennsylvania border or something.
I'll join you both on the PA border, if you'll have me. I'm a card carrying member of both Paul's Yankee Nation & Scot's Skynyrd Nation (great guitar players in that band, by the way--and those early albums are worth listening to again, with your gypsy jazz ears, if you haven't heard them in a while). When I was a kid growing up in the DC area (wink to Buco), I moved to Virginia to live with my dad for a spell. The kids there teased me for my northern accent & called me Yankee. Then I moved back to my mom's in Maryland, where the kids teased me for my "newly acquired southern accent" & called me Reb. Sometimes there's just no pleasing people. But there I go, hijacking another thread. Back to the original post subject: Asheville used to be all that Scot said it was, and then Helene hit. All the gigs went away in the aftermath of the storm. Most of them are back now but the pay is down. And some of the veterans on the scene have fled. The remaining veterans of the scene (like me) are hanging on to the steady gigs but I wouldn't want to be trying to break into the scene here now with the area in such a shaky state. Hopefully things will improve in the year(s) to come.
New Orleans has always been a great music town both historically and contemporarily. While that is fueled by a lot of tourism, the birthplace of jazz and its continuing musical evolution have been a Mecca for musicians all over the world. Where do you think the modern version of the brass band phenomena originated starting with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band? This is the town that’s nurtured Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino, Jon Batiste and Trombone Shorty. Many famous world musicians have come and grabbed New Orleans-based musicians for touring gigs because our evolving music culture, and even our schools and education system in general emphasizes music. It’s not uncommon to hear a child walking down the street practicing a brass instrument or drum on his/her way home.
Because of the connection with traditional jazz, there are a number of Gypsy Jazz players here who call New Orleans home. Russell Welch, Leo Ford, Raphaël Bas all play regularly. Our band—Bayou Manouche—hosts a regular monthly Monday night jam at a local dive bar.
All that said, musicians here like anywhere work hard for a living. But, there are so many venues and two full ramp-up entertainment seasons in fall and in spring that offer so many events, culminating in the French Quarter festival and New Orleans Jazz in Heritage Festival at the end of spring.
Nonetheless, New Orleans is an ephemeral enity. There is no doubt that the warming climate and subsiding disappearing Delta and intensity of hurricanes have made this an adventurous place to live. It will be here for our lifetime, but not much more.
Of note to you, Paul, New Orleans has a thriving healthcare industry with major universities and hospitals centered here. Also, there are a few places on earth—Paris comes to mind—who’s architecture is still so alluring and resilient. Yes, it can be hot in the summertime, but that didn’t stop Degas from living here for a year and producing wonderful work in between the time he headed for the Fairgrounds race track for entertainment.
I was born and raised in New Orleans. I lived for 20 years in the San Francisco Bay area in Berkeley and Oakland, two of the most interesting and beautiful places to be. I returned to New Orleans in 1999 and have been here ever since. I stopped playing guitar for 10 years when I moved here and became an avid kayak fisherman. I picked up the guitar again 10 years ago with the intention of devoting myself to manouche music. Even when I was just starting, I always was able to find other musicians interested in this music. I think that will always be the case.
Come down and visit in March between St. Patrick’s Day and the beginning of the French Quarter festival. It’s a beautiful time of year, and you may never leave.
That was a lovely write up. Do you know Zach Serleth from Baltimore? I think he's down there most of the time.
It sounds like paradise in many ways. For me, I freak out in hot weather. Hard to say that when it's going to be 10f tonight in Maine but I couldn't tolerate Baltimore in the summer. I think it's my loss though. Musically and otherwise it seems ideal.
I LOVE NOLA as well, one of my favorite places to visit (though if you want the French architecture and less of that smell, Quebec City is what you're looking for). I'm with you on the hot weather, I don't miss Baltimore summers one bit. You've had some I think fantastic suggestions. There are great and more affordable cities all over, and since you like the seasons as much as I do (I'll take 10F over 100F any day), you'll just have to take a road trip! Let me know if you stop in Rochester, I'll introduce you to the city!