Well, well, well, I finally got to take my first trip to New Orleans recently and it was for Mardi gras! For me this trip was not only a unique experience but to try to understand more about the element of music I work with every night when I’m out on the road. New Orleans is known for their sacred music from down south and its there in the city is where it can be truly understood watching the parades and seeing all the plethora of musicians all over the streets. It is virtually impossible to walk down the streets of that town and not hear music. So I had around 12 hours before we left to go up North to start the tour to see the sites. I think it’s almost necessary for anyone who works in production to visit to heartland of where their music comes from. It can help you develop some cool ideas for media, set design, etc. Here’s what was going on… 
To start, New Orleans is alive and well after the hit from hurricane Katrina. The trip started from Baltimore, Maryland with our archivist Brett who got flown out to me to make the drive down south to check out what all the talk is about. After taking turns at the wheel over some extensive hours we got into a town named Aribi on the outskirts of the city where we were humbly taken in by Bonerama trombonist Craig Klein. So after freshening up after our road trip we headed down to the French quarter of New Orleans to meet up with some friends and check out the parades. Note: There isn’t just one parade that blows through during the day of Mardi gras there are numerous parades on streets all throughout the quarter. So we met up with our people marching in the parade and walked down the street watching excellent musicians play together just having a good time celebrating this festive day. Afterward we got to hang around and have some beers, meet people, and check out the culture that makes New Orleans so great. That’s why a natural disaster couldn’t ruin this city because it’s just not the music but the citizens representing tradition. The citizen and musicians are helping one another out to help rebuild what was lost during the storm. This leads me to the conclusion of the blog… 
Bonerama will be on David Letterman tonight February 11th with Damian Kulash of Ok Go. They will be performing "A Million Ways" from their just released EP "You're Not Alone" The EP is available exclusively on itunes and all proceeds go to help out Sweet Home New Orleans and Al "Carnival Time" Johnson who lost his home in the Lower 9th Ward due to Hurricane Katrina. So after hearing the song on Letterman, go to computer and spend $3.49 and get the 5 songs that will help out some New Orleans musicians! Speaking on which here are a few pics from the show we did with OK Go at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C.
In closing I’d like to say that I am proud to have experienced Mardi gras and be apart of something unique. Now running lights to their music I can associate more with where it all came from and the musical roots the will last forever. Next blog I’ll continue next with our east coast tour and let you all in on how it all went. YEAH YOU RIGHT!
Don’t for get to email me at:
Myspace me at:
http://www.myspace.com/com/squints4
You can read up more about me and check out the portfolio on a slideshow at this URL.
Special thanks to Brent Diggins PR!!! For all your public relations needs check out: http://www.diggspr.com/
