Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue, St. Claude Avenue, Clouet, Burgundy, Lesseps, North Galvez and Mazant Streets to the west. Bywater is part of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, but is located along the natural levee of the Mississippi River, sparing the area from significant flooding.
Spent a big part of the day walking through The Bywater. Walking in this town is absolutely necessary, otherwise you'll end up looking like Clemenza when he went to the mattresses.
Ended up at Euclid Records. Found some good stuff, including a Dells album that was playing the entire time I was shopping. "Love Is Blue" contains the hit "Oh What A Night," as well as some unlikely covers of Bobby Goldsboro's awful hit "Honey," a Jimmy Webb medley of "Wichita Lineman" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" and Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade Of Pale," and every one of them knocked me out.
Today is the first day of the Fest. Looking forward to the Fairgrounds, but I think today's highlight will be seeing Li'l Band O' Gold's tribute to the late, great Bobby Charles at the House Of Blues Parish later this evening. There will be a very special guest vocalist with the band this evening, Mr. Robert Plant. Needless to say, I'm excited.
TAKE A LISTEN TO THE DELLS.
Thanks for checking in.
9 comments:
Nice! Enjoy festering today..ahhh..walkin thru them gates...That will be a killer tonite, full report required!
Speaking of Bobby Charles, I am still thankful for your Arc Sampler of Bobby Charles songs. It gets played at least once a month.
Really enjoying your posts on NO. We used to go down for a month every year, but unfortunately this finally caused us to deplete our savings and I had to go to work for Wally World instead of taking visits to our home away from home. However, every penny I ever spent in NO was WELL worth it.
Sounds like you're having a great trip, Sal. Good on you! What was that UFO-looking thing, btw?
Never been to NO. After Katrina I thought I had left it too late, but these posts are v. encouraging. Glad you had a good time, maybe some day I'll see you there.... and buy you a drink (?) as a thank you for all the great sounds and words over the years.
Sorry to disagree but I find the Dell's version of "Whiter Shade of Pale" so over the top I almost want to laugh.
Be well and have a great time this weekend!
ROTP(lumber)
Sal -- THANK YOU for a) a reference to a cool-sounding record store in the Big Easy that I'd never heard of and b) helping to ensure that my opinion of The Dells keeps rising. What a song!
I have a crazy album of theirs called "The Dells Sing Dionne Warwicke" [sic] that lends credence to seeing them as a missing link between mid-60s soul orthodoxy and the taking-a-tour-around Mars psychadelic vision of, say, Funkadelic. Check that LP out if you haven't yet, it's wild.
Also, I have a record store you MUST check out. One of my favorites ever: Domino Sound Record Shack:
http://www.cornerstonesproject.org/cornerstones_registry_domino_records.html
Check it! It's walking distance from The Fest.
Hey Sal,
Maybe our friend Buddy Miller will be there with Robert Plant.........
Wow, I don't think I've ever heard a singer invest nonsense lyrics with that much emotion before--an odd combination of wonderful and ludicrous. Makes Robert Plant singing Stairway sound like a poser.
Hope the trip keeps on giving.
Bruce H.
Such voices of great quality. In these days of reality talent shows full of people who cannot hold a note to save their lives, it is interesting to remind ourselves of how good these singers were.
It's not that groups nowadays are manufactured because all of the 'boy' and 'girl' bands of the 60s were manufactured. It seems that a higher price was put on singing ability over presentation. That's the price we pay for technology that can overcome musical inadequacies - you don't need to be in tune (as we'll adjust that on the computer), just look good!!
Post a Comment