going to nola (New Orleans)- seeking music

Subject: going to nola
From: jbailes
Date: 28 Sep 04 - 03:06 PM

, in Alabama--Bill Driscoll and myself-when this kidnapping idea
of the hotel. Philoprogenitiveness, says we, is strong in semi-rural communities therefore, and for other reasons, a kidnapping project ought to do better there than in the radius of newspapers that send reporters out in plain clothes to stir up talk about such things. We knew that Summit couldn't get after us with anything stronger than constables and, maybe, some lackadaisical bloodhounds and a diatribe or two in the Weekly Farmers' Budget. So, it looked good.

We selected for our victim the only child of a prominent citizen named Ebenezer Dorset. The father was respectable and tight, a mortgage fancier and a stern, upright collection-plate passer and forecloser. The kid was a boy of ten, with bas-relief freckles, and hair the colour of the cover of the magazine you buy at the news-stand when you want to catch a train. Bill and me figured that Ebenezer would melt down for a ransom of two thousand dollars to a cent. But wait till I tell you.

About two miles from Summit was a little mountain, covered with a dense cedar brake. On the rear elevation of this mountain was a cave. There we stored provisions.

One evening after sundown, we drove in a buggy past old Dorset's house. The kid was in the street, throwing rocks at a kitten on the opposite fence.

Subject: RE: going to nola
From: jbailes
Date: 28 Sep 04 - 03:13 PM

sorry for the bizarre and stupid mistake posting some copied material from the ransom of red cloud by accident.
    i meant to say that i was thinking about going to new orleans this fall or winter and wondered how to find primitive jazz/folk blues musicans to play barrelhouse piano with. i have a trumpeter i might get to go and a harmonica player as well from my band, Barrelhouse Brawl. advice, contacts, tips would be welcome.

Subject: RE: going to nola
From: PoppaGator
Date: 28 Sep 04 - 04:58 PM

We should be able to figure out a way to have some kind of fun. I'm sure that I'm a primitive enough musician for anyone's purposes! Let me know when you have a better idea of just when you'll be here; we can PM each other in the meantime.

I think I'm the only Mudcatter here in New Orleans, but I might be mistaken. I sometimes read messages from a couple of other individuals who seem to know their way around town -- maybe they used to live here, or they visit frequently.

I hope you'll have a place to stay -- Momma won't 'low no sleepovers except for immediate family, and we hardly have room enough for them. It's been a very "eventful" year with illnesses, reduced income, a new grandbaby -- complications by the carload. We'd be glad to hang out, though, show y'all around town, etc., and probably even feed you some good home cooking.

(By the way: When I read that *first* message of yours, I had some real doubts about responding to you at all -- who in their right mind would want to invite a maniac into their home?)

Finding pianos to play may be a bit of an issue, but nothing we can't deal with. I take it you don't travel with your instrument, unless you have an electric keyboard.

And hey, if anyone else living in the Crescent City reads this, let us *both* know who you are and that you're here.