The Hippodrome

Armed with my laptop, a camera, a tape recorder, and my trusted pops, I have embarked this week on a southern road trip. We’re in New Orleans now, driving to Mobile tomorrow, then all through Mississippi (on country roads) for four days, then ending up in Memphis. We’ve sketched some vague locales we’d like to visit (some blues joints and road food places), but the rest is unplanned. Wherever I can find some internet, I’ll give a report on anything interesting I find.

I haven’t idealized this trip as some vague appropriation of what the “south” is, but rather as an attempt to see a part of the country I’ve never seen. Naturally, undiscovered music will be a primary concern, and I’ll hopefully be able to write some longer pieces about what I find. Even just today in the city, it’s been weird (though unsurprising) to see what seat blues, jazz, and zydeco have taken in the hands of tourism. Bourbon street is a depressing mess of the seediest strip clubs mixed with tired performers doing half-hearted renditions of funk and soul standards. There are still some authentic places and performers here, but I think times have changed, hard.

Sorry I didn’t get any cool field recordings from some mind blowing two fingered blues guitarist on the street, but there’s still alot of ground to cover. A few photos from today’s wanderings, graveyards, garden districting, and street car riding (click for full size):

This entry was posted by Ben Bernstein on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Written By Ben Bernstein. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.