Glad you enjoyed the visit, Jed; let's get together and have even more fun next time.

Good music "even outside the Quarter," huh? Actually, almost all of the venues featuring the best and most interesting local music *are* outside the Quarter, which caters so completely to the tourist trade (except of course for O'Flaherty's).

The players in all those French Quarter barrooms are highly skilled, of course -- they put in long hours in front of sometimes-unruly audiences, and if they're not already hardened veterans, they learn pretty quick. But later, when they start writing their own music and fronting their own bands, they normally leave the Quarter and start playing venues uptown and all around the town, like Tipitina's, the Howlin' Wolf, Maple Leaf, etc.

Next time you're in town, I'll have to take you to the amazing one-of-a-kind Rock 'n' Bowl at Mid City Lanes. Also, the late Thursday night jam session at Vaughn's (at its obscure Ninth Ward location) featuring Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers.