10-10-19 New Orleans Various Events

Here’s a brief overview of some of the other things we did while in New Orleans – lots of good times, lots of great music for sure.  Wedding Procession . Just as we walked out the front of our Hotel this wedding march was passing by. There were several that occurred during our stay.

One lunchtime, our Road Scholar Program included a couple of hours with Doreen Ketchens.

Doreen and her ‘group’ performed for several hours after lunch one day.

Blowing a clarinet on the corner of Royal and St Peter streets for some 32 years as the leader of Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans Band is a far cry from Ketchens’ ambition of being the principal clarinetist in the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. Over the course of a couple of hours, Doreen treated us to some history of Jazz in New Orleans, how the street musicians survive and some insights into the reasons for the traditional music we hear all over the City.

Doreen Ketchens – did a great job of entertaining us and teaching us about Jazz in New Orleans.

It was a foot stomping, hand clapping session so  we purchased one of her CD’s.

One evening, we had a pass to go to Fritzel’s – the oldest operated Jazz Club in New Orleans. We arrived early, which was good given the limited seating, and had a wonderful hour of Dixie Land Jazz. Housed in a 1831 building it is home for some of the city’s best musicians. In addition to regular weekend programs, there are frequent jam sessions in the wee hours of the night.

Tom Fischer on clarinet and Richard Scott on piano entertained us for an hour or so and it was wonderful.

Janeen attended the lecture by Joanne Sealy introducing the writers and authors who have been influenced, and reflected the City. G.Washington Cable and Lafcadio Hearn were outsiders who found a home in the Crescent City, as did Mississippi transplants Wm.Faulkner and T. Williams. Gumbo Ya-Ya by Lyle Saxon has been republished as a treasury of Creole and Cajan sayings. We visited Anne Rice’s writing arie in the Garden District where  she enlarged tales of Yellow Fever and Dysentery and Malaria  that wiped out entire districts and households, leaving the almost dead to cope. Lillian Hellman followed in the steps of Kate Chopin and Truman Capote recorded the eccentrics of the area, perhaps not as concisely as John Kennedy Toole in A Confederacy of Dunces.

On one of our excursion days, we went to the National WWII Museum. We have been in a number of museums both in the USA and in Europe over the last couple of years and this place ranks right up there at the top. The museum focuses on the contribution made by the United States to Allied victor in WWII. Founded in 2000, it was later designated by the U.S. Congress as America’s official National WWII Museum. One of the highlights is a movie narrated by Tom Hanks which covered both the Pacific and European theaters and was very moving.

Higgins Boat – designed and built in New Orleans this boat was critical to all the landings made throughout WWII. This is one of only a few that survived the war.
Lots of airplanes on display in this museum.
The Exhibit is fantastic, aircraft, weaponry, uniforms, personal stories, for both theaters.

There were displays for both areas and well documented with lots of interesting things to look at.

Guns, guns and more guns on display.
1934  comandered Opel Sedan in winter camouflage

 One afternoon, I took off and Janeen went to the New Orleans School of Cooking.

Cooking Class – getting things together.

Over the course of an hour or two they made Gumbo, Shrimp Etouffee  Pralines and Bananas Foster – getting to eat everything at the end of the meal.

Janeen and Chef Harriet  Robin at the Cooking Class.