Spreading the New Orleans Spirit

A hibiscus blooms in Lakeview, New Orleans, LA

It's been five days since last we spoke.  I know you've been awake nights wondering what we've been up to.  We've been livin' the New Orleans life, that's what.  We've been making good memories, the kind that can only be made in The City Care Forgot.

We went to the third oldest restaurant in the city last night.  If you're from here, that would be all I would have to say and you would know where I mean.  You may not be from here, though, so I should just come out and say it: we went to Sbisa's.  

There was a band in the dining room playing New Orleans jazz mostly dating from the 20s and 30s, classic stuff; a trumpet, a saxophone, a banjo and a bass.  That bass player could really slap that bass---it was something to see, and to hear.  A girl on the trumpet isn't the novelty you might think it is, but enough people on the street thought that it is that they wandered in to hear the band.  We were there for the music, the food, and the cocktails.  

They are very proud of their speakeasy era cocktails at Sbisa's.  Rightly so.  They're good.  The mint julep and the Moscow Mule come in a metal cup, keeping the beverage extra frosty.  The ice is crushed by hand with a muddler in a shaker.  How's that for bartender talk?

We had a good time.  We met a lot of nice people, which is usually what happens in New Orleans.  People like to talk here.  They like to enjoy life.

A whole bush of flowers in New Orleans, LA

The oldest restaurant in the city is Antoine's.  The second oldest is Tujaque's.  I don't know what the fourth and fifth oldest restaurants are.  I'm guessing Arnaud's and Galatoire's, but I'm not guessing in which order they appear on the list.  It's one or the other. 

Earlier in the day, we were watching pelicans along the lakefront.

A brown pelican in New Orleans, LA

You never know what you'll find in New Orleans, where life is a parade.

Bayou Super Sunday on Orleans Avenue, New Orleans, LA

I'll tell you, life in New Orleans is very different than what life is like in Bishkek, which, according to Wikipedia, is the largest and capital city of the Kyrgyz Republic.  Where?  You probably know it as Kyrgyzstan, if you know it at all.  It's a former Soviet Republic.  It's been independent since the end of the Cold War in 1991.

I know what you're thinking, I just took a left turn into destination unknown.  Let me explain.

In June of 2013, the Stooges Brass Band, headquartered and celebrated in New Orleans, traveled to Bishkek to share a little New Orleans culture with the people of that fair city.  The Stooges were goodwill ambassadors, the way Frau Schmitt and I try to be without leaving our home.  The Stooges Brass Band did us one better---they brought a little New Orleans to the former Soviet Bloc.  Don't believe me?  Here's the proof:


Bring a little New Orleans back with you.  Wherever you're from, your home town will be a bit better off for it.  Be your own goodwill ambassador.  Dance like nobody is watching.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Postscript:

Here's a different kind of brass band video about destination unknown.  I've always liked this one, but I can't quite put my finger on why.  Maybe it's the drums.



There are girls playing trumpets, but it's pure machine made Euro Techno Pop; its the opposite of hand crafted New Orleans Dixieland jazz.  There's gin and tonic, and then there's estrogen and tonic.

À votre santé (again),
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.