I'm back home now after a wonderful USA trip. Here is a taster video of some of the gigs and clinics:
After a great night in Jackson with Scott Johnson, Laura and I spent 4 days in New Orleans and a final night in Lafayette, Lousiana. New Orleans does seem to be almost a different country, as folks elsewhere described it. The narrow streets and low-rise old buildings of the wonderful French Quarter give the town so much atmosphere and individual character, something unfortunately missing in many of America's spread-out, homogenised towns and cities. It's a very special place - a national treasure - and I hope the USA does what is needed to preserve it from future Katrinas.
I had a fun spot with Smokey Greenwell's band at his weekly Blues Jam. Smokey's harp really impressed me, intelligent modern blues harmonica playing at its best (great sax too :). I also did a Suzuki clinic at Lanier's Music Store across the LONG Lake Ponchatrain Causeway in Mandeville. What a warm, happy vibe there is in that shop; thanks to Randy and his staff. Laura and I enjoyed the Mexican meal afterwards with new friends Terry, Harpo and Babs. One of the best things about America is the great Mexican food :)
Thanks also to Todd Green and Harvey Berman for their helpful NOLA suggestions. We didn't get to meet, but I'll be back, so see you next time!
Brendan Power WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
Last Edited by on Jul 01, 2010 3:36 AM
Glad you had a good visit Brendan, and next time I WILL meet you(no more major home remodelling for this man if I can help it!). Also glad you got to spend some time with Smoky. He can weild a mean sax too. Did you play thru his HarpKing? I love that amp. ----------
Crescent City Harmonica Club Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Brendan, I'm not sure what to think of your comments. You had an abbreviated tour of this country and to judge by that, well perhaps it isn't a proper perspective. There is plenty of "atmosphere and character" along with special places. This you will not learn in a few weeks just as one will not learn to play an instrument in a few weeks. And Katrina isn't the only thing we've had to overcome. ;<}
Sure Lip Ripper, I was only in the USA for a month, and mostly the south and west. On the other hand, I visited a range of cities and states for several days each, so was able to get a good overview of what was different and the same about them. Here's a list of the places:
San Francisco/Bay area cities(10 days); Phoenix (3 days); Austin (4 days); Lawrence/Kansas City (5 days); Nashville (4 days); Oxford & Jackson MS (1 day each); New Orleans (4 days); Lafayette LA (1 day).
My main interest was in the live music in each location, in particular featuring good harmonica players. I was lucky to often stay with a well-known harp player, who showed me round and gave me a good insight into their local scene.
So… I've seen a wide range of American cities for a few days at a time, and got insiders' perspectives on the music scenes. Also, as an outsider, sometimes it's easier to get an overview than when you live somewhere, as you can compare it with other places in the same country - and also worldwide. I'm well travelled in many countries outside the USA (unlike many Americans, a big majority of whom don't even own a passport), so that perspective comes into play too.
I like America, the people and the music, so anything I say is with friendly intent. If there is criticism, it's constructive, and referring to the effect on live music.
When I talk about "atmosphere and character" I'm referring to a particular kind of inner city ambience that fosters a vibrant live music culture in an aesthetically pleasing environment.
Though I'm from New Zealand (an even younger country than America), I love the concentrated inner-city atmosphere you get in countries throughout Europe and Asia. The narrow streets of their old towns serve to bottle up and amplify the wonderful ambience of the street life and cafes, through smells, bustle, noise of chatter and street music etc etc. I found that in New Orleans, which has preserved its fabulous heritage of characterful old buildings.
America started with such charming old towns at the hearts of all its cities, but unfortunately many of them seem to have been swept away by "progress". San Francisco and smaller towns like Oxford and Sausalito are pleasing exceptions, but most of the other cities I visited seemed bereft of charm except in isolated pockets. Development seems to have happened without any respect for the past, or an idea to replace the old towns with something appealing on a human scale. Instead there are soulless multi-storey blocks of widely different and often clashing styles, and no real street life. Austin and Nashville have thriving late-night bar areas, but they are on wide streets below a hodge podge of nondescript concrete buildings. They are not aesthetically cohesive or appealing, and wouldn’t be attractive areas to visit during the day.
That has an impact on the music. What seems to have happened in many cases is that the live music happens in widely separated bars or restaurants out in the suburbs, in one building separated from others by big car parks. After 4 days of being spoiled by concentrated street culture and music in New Orleans it was sad to go to Lafayette (“The Home of Cajun Culture”) looking for some good Cajun music. It was there, but the bands were playing in restaurants separated by miles of highway. There was no chance to walk and sample the different musical sounds and flavours as there is in the old towns of Dublin, Galway, or any French town – places which are alive during the day as well as by night.
In the USA, to hear a good band you often have to drive quite long distances to often crass concept bars or restaurants, with massive, garish billboards lining the route. Many of the things advertised are exactly the same everywhere, big national chains selling boringly bland food and everything else. Almost universally, the town planners appear to have little regard for aesthetics; consequently the environment you drive through is often just plain ugly.
It’s sad. How can a musical scene develop, or an old one (like Cajun Music) be fostered, when the venues and the musicians are so isolated? Once that authentic old culture and the low-rise buildings and narrow streets that nourish it by attracting visitors have gone, it’s very difficult to replace, even with the best of intentions.
It’s heartening to see that some efforts to revive the moribund hearts of the cities IS happening. For example, Scott Johnson showed me the efforts that are being made in Jackson to bring the old centre of the city back to life, and you can feel the results: I found Jackson to have a lot of good energy, certainly in the night-time music clubs (I didn’t get a chance to go there in the daytime).
Quirky, colourful, eccentric New Orleans really shone out in this sea of sameness and mediocrity. I hope it is preserved and the Americans who haven’t gone there yet (a majority of the folks I spoke to on my travels) visit and appreciate what they have in their own back yard. It might inspire a revival of old town areas in other cities.
Finally dear Lip Ripper, on what I presume is a barbed reference to the fact I live in the UK and BP (British Petroleum, as the US authorities prefer to enunciate it) is causing a disgusting environmental disaster in the Gulf… well, it’s very easy to fob off your own country’s failings with such disingenuous nationalism. Of course the topic came up frequently while I was there, and I was amazed that so few Americans understood the underlying cause for the oil disaster: your own inadequate regulations.
In other countries with deep offshore drilling, such as Canada and Norway, it is mandatory to drill two relief bores at the same time as the main well. Because the strong oil lobby in the USA has resisted or watered down such regulations, those relief bores are only now being drilled and will (hopefully) alleviate the problem sometime in August. It doesn’t excuse the outrageous recklessness of BP or the other two (US) companies involved (Halliburton and Transocean); they should have been responsible and taken the safety measures themselves with such a risky deep drilling venture. But if the US had the laws in place, the decision wouldn’t have been left up to rapacious multinational companies to make, but forced on them. What a pity they weren’t.
Last Edited by on Jul 02, 2010 5:35 PM
I completely agree with your descriptions of the US. NOLA is certainly a very different and special place. But in much of the country we abandon the old and just build new, and all the character is left to rot.
There are pockets of preservation, but it seems they're always struggling to keep up. In Kansas City, where I live, our downtown was nearly dead for decades, but has been brought back to life, somewhat, in recent years. But in typical US fashion, we tore down the old and built new stuff in its place.
I traveled to Europe about 20 years ago, and it was such an amazing difference. You guys actually reuse stuff! And build it to last, when you do build. We hit the big cities, where everything is so condensed and packed tight. Everything is within reach and you can walk to get anything you need. I can see how that would foster creativity, discussions, friendships.
I live in the 'burbs, and am more outgoing than many people. But I couldn't tell you the name of the people that live next door. Sure, I'll wave at them if we see each other pulling in/out of the driveway as we drive from chain store to chain store to get what we need. Then we hole up in our stick-built tract housing and watch TV.
We have some friends from Boston who visited us a few years back. On the way to our house the husband stopped at a wheat field near here, grabbed a stalk and had it in his mouth when he came to the door. He gave us a 'Howdy pardner', when we greeted him. He truly didn't understand why anyone would live here. And I get that.
I don't think the vast majority of citizens here are pissed at the UK. But there is such a culture of 'we gotta blame somebody', fed by the incessant yammering on the cable news channels, that it may appear that way. They can always find some knucklehead to put on there, just to fill time and stir up controversy, but there's another 300 million folks here that don't see it his way.
I enjoyed the 60 seconds I saw you in Lawrence (SH*T!), the clinic at Big Dudes and the couple hours we saw at Jazz. I had my two boys with me at Jazz, and they even liked it -- especially the funky loop stuff. Nice to meet you and shake your hand as well.
I genuinely hope you enjoyed your visit to the US. ----------
One reason for the reuse and maturity of Cities in Europe and NOLA is the inability to sprawl. NOLA keeps its culture in large part because of the land lock that is imposed by the river, the lake and the gulf.
The part of America Branden didn't get to see is the music that takes place beyond the cities and burbs that is so much a part of the fabric of the USA. When there is not a club or venue to hear and play music close by there are countless jams out in the country on the front porch, back porch, country store and to me that is where the real magic happens and you get to really taste the culture of the real America.
Really enjoyed meeting Brendan & Laura, learning a few more tricks and sharing great Mexican food in the unlikely place Louisiana.
FYI, BP is mostly owned by Americans and Brendan is spot-on regarding the relief wells. Cutting corners almost always costs more somewhere down the line than if you would have done it right in the first place!
Looks like you had a really great trip Brendan, packed with lots of fun musical moments.
Regarding the BP thing.
British Petroleum no longer exists and hasn't for over twenty years. It is actually called BP-Amoco and has been since it's merger in 1987 with Amoco (formerly called Standard Oil Company of Indiana and formed in 1889). It is owned primarily by American shareholders. The blame for this horrendous ecological disaster lays firmly with the policy makers in Washington DC. It's at them that the anger should really be vented. The media reporting as always uses a fall guy for the purposes of propaganda. ----------
Paul "Kingley" Routledge My YouTube Page
Last Edited by on Jul 02, 2010 9:04 AM
I wholeheartedly agree with Brendan's comments, about both the nature of American urban/suburban life and the BP issue. Lip Ripper, it's true that there are many, many special places in this country, and it's hard to get a sense of that from a short trip. But that's exactly the problem. Spend one month in Europe and you'll have a very different impression.
Beltone said "The part of America Branden didn't get to see is the music that takes place beyond the cities and burbs that is so much a part of the fabric of the USA. When there is not a club or venue to hear and play music close by there are countless jams out in the country on the front porch, back porch, country store and to me that is where the real magic happens and you get to really taste the culture of the real America."
Well said. That's a regret from this recent trip, but one I hope to make up for in the future. Along with most people in the rest of the world I have a real love for American roots music; it's good to know it's alive and well out in the country where it was born.
Adam Gussow gave us a taste when he took us to Bentonia, Mississippi for their annual Blues festival. I hope to attend (and hopefully play at!) more such country festivals next time around. Any suggestions gratefully received :)
