CrossRoads Blog

I don’t know about you, but when I think of New Orleans there many words and phrases that come to mind; The Big Easy, ‘The Crescent City, Jazz, Blues, The French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Hurricanes (the drink and sadly the Katrina type too), Mardi Gras, Voodoo, Low Down and Funky, Beignets (K no like – she says they are just Indian Fry Bread Donuts), The Garden District, Beads, etc. etc. So in that vein, I have a couple more to add: Apple Pie, Charred Oysters, Peanut Butter Burgers, Mardi Gras Indian Walking Pots, and Lateefah Wright Clay. These were the new discoveries for us during our few days in ‘Nawlins’.

Our accommodations were decent enough, and we got a screaming deal. We stayed at the Prince Conti located in the Quarter about a block off Bourbon. Let me say there is a reason for our ‘screaming deal’ and why Hotels are extremely reasonable in the City and Quarter this time of year – because it is freaking HOT. And by hot I mean HOT AND HUMID. We did many runs while here, which were great by the way (we zigged and zagged throughout the Garden District, we did a couple of runs up and down about every street in the French Quarter, we ran on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi, etc), but I cannot ever recall being that sweaty. You can’t imagine how sopped our clothes were after the runs. We would hang them in the bathroom, and still days later they were wet. Anyway, it was warm and humid, or as the locals may say (putting a positive spin) just plain old “warm and sultry”.

Now on to the important items like food, drink, and music, I mean we are talking New Orleans here. The food, the food, the food…. That piece begins with GW Fins. Outstanding is all I have to say. Without question I think Kimberly’s Scallops were the best I have ever tasted. I know they can be hit or miss based on just a few seconds of time on the grill/pan, but these were amazingly good. My fish was also easily one of the better meals I have ever had. We could not have been happier with the meal until the desert came. When you think of the best deserts I bet Apple Pie would be fairly low down the list. Well, without question, this was the best desert I have ever eaten. Unbelievable, almost worthy of the trip to New Orleans itself. Truly not an exaggeration, this thing was incredible! That chef cut a deal with the devil (along with a some lard and cheddar cheese in the crust that you could not taste). Do not miss this restaurant each and every time you hit the city.

Next food commentary is the Oysters at the Acme Oyster House. Man-o-man life is just good when you get to sit down and do a few dozen. Had I not insisted to Kimberly she make sure I stop at 3 dozen, I think we may still be sitting at that table. And by the way, I normally just do the raw (and I did a couple dozen this time of course), but I also tried the char grilled. Wowzer! Just get the sauce and parmesan they serve it with on the size, dip just a small corner of the oyster into the sauce, then into the parmesan – heaven, true taste bud heaven!

Okay for the final food comments; (does it seem like I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about food? Well, it is one of ‘life’s true pleasures’. Anyway, with all the seafood and such we had been enjoying we decided on a burger one night. But not any burger, we wanted the best around. The folks at Tripadvisor (a great source for feedback from real people) really seemed to like a place called Yo Mama’s. In particular, many suggested their Peanut Butter Burger. I couldn’t do the PB Burger, but really did enjoy my choice, Kimberly took the PB plunge and enjoyed it as well. Odd but good were her words. Though, the PB burger normally comes with bacon and she passed on that – I happen to think that is what likely made it a favorite with the sweet and salty. Speaking of passing on the bacon, Kimberly also suggests passing on the Beignets (Bin-Yahs). Now sitting down to a Beignet and coffee at Café Du Monde is a New Orleans tradition. Being Ms K’s first NO trip, I had to take her. From my side, what’s not to love about a powdery sugary doughnut? From Kimberly’s perspective, it’s just a mini greasy Indian Fry Bread. I think that will not get her invited to the Louisiana Woman’s Auxiliary Ball.

As for drinks and music – we of course played tourist. The hurricanes on the Patio at Pat’s was a must, a real Absinthe (now that they are legal) at the Old Absinthe House was a given, and of course more than our share of other assorted libations up and down Bourbon. We hit the Blues joints and could several good acts. You have to love that you can just bar hop 20 feet and catch another live act. Man the music scene in this city is as good as it gets. They have more live artists on a Tuesday night in the off season that we have all month. Of course our favorite seems to always be the Funky Pirate, where we were treated to a couple of really enjoyable sets by house band Big Al Carson.

New Orleans is about the arts in just about every way, not just music. The local artist representation is real strong, and you can walk the Quarter and other districts and really get a huge flavor for all the offerings. What I love about it, is what I love about N.O., it’s all unique. No same-old-same-old in this town. And that goes for the potters. We found a couple that just blew us away. One is Lateefah Wright who does very ‘New Orleans vibe’ pieces. She is doing a lot of what I guess you would call dolls in addition to other unique items. She has a lot of pieces at a place in the Garden District called Poets Gallery on Magazine street. It’s a very cool place to check out if you get there. Another we liked was an artist co-op place down south of Jackson Square called Dutch Alley. They have a ton of cool art but I was most attracted (and had to pick one up) the pieces by local potter Joy Gauss. Her pieces are very ‘local’. Her designs include the Mardi Gras Indians (I got a Walking Pot), and some Bone Gangs pieces as well. Some interesting stories behind these two groups, you should check it out. Last “New Orleans Vibe” purchase was a very scary, but quite unique ‘Poison Ring’ for the Mrs. Ummm, it is a coincidence that I just got some extra life insurance a couple months back right??

All in all it was an excellent visit to the Big Easy even with the heat. Of course never enough time to get even close to doing it all. But as always, it’s a great way to leave the US for a few days without really leaving the US.

Pictures, including a ‘city night walk’ HERE

Seems like if it gets more than a few months or so we get the need for what we call a “RCB Fix” – a need to see the Robert Cray band live. The fix was well due when the Tucson show was to roll around. Between no new albums recently, our travels having been more grandparent oriented than groupie driven, we just hadn’t seen the band in quite some time. This would also be the first time to see the band without Kevin and Karl. We also knew seeing there is an album due we were going to get a few new tracks previewed. So while the (perhaps best said…) disappointment with the personnel changes still lingered, we were pretty excited to see the show and catch up with our buddy, the man myth and legend, Mr. Jim Pugh.

It was a great night and a really good show. We did get to have a nice dinner and hang with Jim before the show. He really is a great guy and we always enjoy his company – I think it’s half the reason we enjoy seeing the guys live. Anyway, seeing I did a semi review for the show on the fan site, I’ll just finish by copying and pasting that here following.

RCB YAHOO CLUB POST I DID

As for the new tracks and the new lineup, I’ll be brief. I, like I am sure a few others here on the site, have still not really grown accustom to the idea of the RCB without Kevin and Karl. Maybe a little corny but it just seemed like the Band was `family’, and now it’s …. well…. changed.

Quick thoughts on the lineup. On the positive, Richard seemed engaged and I enjoyed his playing. His mix seemed right, and some of the old cuts even seemed a little more genuine for lack of a better term. Though he, like it seemed the rest of the guys, kind of “night at the officed” Bad Influence. I think that one needs to step away from the set list for bit. His tempo and groove was especially nice on the new tracks.

The other positive, we are obviously going to get a new Disk any week now is my guess. There were 3 new tracks, maybe 4 but I think 1 is a remix which may or may not be on the album?? And by the way, all were a treat!

Now for the not so positive. The drum mix was awful. I really tried not to be biased, but the freakin’ bass was WAY TOO LOUD (T get your man on that okay?). Every foot stroke on several tracks was like `oh yeah here I am forget about any of the other instruments’… With Robert’s vocals under-mixed, it made for a couple of quite, how to say…., less enjoyable than could be versions. Okay enough of that.

Sadly, as time has passed I have I am sure forgotten several things I would have mentioned. But best I can recall:

1. Our Last Time – A little bit of `day at the office’ but still a great track and a better opening choice than other could have been

2. Poor Johnny – Nice… what can I say, feels near the same as I have heard live now I think all shows since release.

3. (NEW) Chicken in the Kitchen? – Great old vibe as others have suggested. The Strat is there, some real, real nice Organ vibe from Mr. Jim. Overall an old school backyard bbq fun done wrong Blues track.

4. Right Next Door (BOM)

5. 12 Year Old Boy – not near as `energetic’ as several version I recall. Seemed more subtle on purpose.

6. Bad Influence

7. One in the Middle – Nice as most always, though I still long for the time where we got extended solo versions from Robert and Jim.

8. (NEW) Love 2009 (assumed name as I think this is what Robert said) – It’s good, could be real good hard to tell Live from Studio of course, but for sure a track that seemed to say RCB circa SPP. I which I had written down more, I know I had some comments at the time. I guess it will require another show soon.

9. Back Door Slam – my first thought here when I heard the first few beats was somehow this seems wrong. Funny I think Kimberly thought the same as we looked at each other smiling as we shook our heads. Now having said that, wow, a real nice version. Tony got after it on this one doing right by our man Kevin. Though no `mouthing of the words’ which of course is much missed.

10. (NEW) You’re the Reason I Can’t Fail (assume name of track is some such) – freaking sweet! Man it’s so nice to have another new track like this. It’s why RCB has always stood out. Now of course with caveats that I only heard it once, I of course have been beyond jonesing for new material, etc. etc. it is at least a notch above `Lotta Lovin’ quality. Mature lyrics, presented as only RC can, sweet Strat (that actually speaks again on this one), perfect organ and bass accompaniment, etc. This had the feel (again 1 listen) of one of the most
musically articulate “Man Love’s His Woman” material. Can’t wait to hear it again.

11. Smoking Gun – yep (in a Hank from `King of the Hill’ tone)

Encores

1. (NEW-REMIX??) Keep Me Rockin’ (assumed name) – I am sorry, I am sure, at least I think, I have heard this, though without lyrics to do a net search and seeing I forgot them a couple days after we were gone anyway, I just can’t be sure. So it could be a remix, that may or may not be on the album, or it could be a new track. If new, it for sure would be the most `old school-up tempo-bop and rock type tune the guys have ever done. Fun for sure, and I want to hear them do it again as it came as such a surprise, but I am not sure anything groundbreaking here.

2. Time Makes Two – Man-o-man this is still worth whatever it takes to get to an RCB show. It just is something special to be exposed to. Still to my ears the best track over the last several albums. Damn near trance inducing.

A real, real enjoyable night. Nice to hear some new tracks, and can’t wait for more that will soon be on the disk we have and the live shows we see. And lastly, did we mention we love that guy up there on the Hammond…

Luckily this year we were not traveling during the now world famous Mr. and Mrs. Lucky’s “ 103rd Annual Chili Festival” (also known as the great party our friends Dan and Debbie Creed throw every year around Saint Patrick’s Day). We missed it last year as we were playing Grandma and Grandpa in Oklahoma so we were really looking forward to diggin’ into that Green (among other) Chili, hanging with good friends, listening to the guys jam, and letting the hair down a little.

As expected, a most excellent night was had. Mr. and Mrs. Lucky know how o throw a party! More food and drink than could be finished in 5 nights, outstanding live Music (oh yeah, Dan and his band Blooster and the Mighty Mighty Hot Wings are one of the best local Blues acts around), and good friends. We got the beads hanging and are already looking forward to the 104th Annual get together! (FYI: my chili tally for the night - downed 3 bowls of Green and 1 Red).

I can’t wait to retire… Travel the world with my amazing and lovely woman, experience cultures, hike the world’s great trails, and see the best artists perform live music in the best venues. Can somebody share a spare $3M or so? I promise my retirement needs are getting less and less everyday.

Speaking of traditions (a previous post), I think going to a live Robert Cray Band is now past a ‘tradition’ phase and moved more into the ‘life’s givens’ realm. More like birthday’s, holiday’s and anniversary’s, always have been and always will be. We must surely qualify as 40 something year old groupies by now, as with the recent show here last evening we are fast approaching having seen the Band some 50 times now. I think we are also into about 10 states, 25 cites and even more venues. Can you say we dig that RCB vibe!

Another great night, another great show — not sure how else to say it. While the set list was very familiar (a little bit of a bummer considering the amazing musical catalouge this band has) the shows are always, always a great way to spend an evening. We even had another chance to hang out with Mr. Jim (Jim Pugh) the amazingly talented piano and keyboard player for the band. Jim is a great guy, and it’s way cool to spend some time with him whenever we get a chance.

The backup band was Guitar Shorty (and he even gets the post picture with the Mrs.). Shorty put on a great set, and I really liked one track he did from an upcoming album which I will be sure to pick up. We wanted to follow the guys down to Tucson for the next night - for that matter it would have been nice to see them in Vegas the night before, or head out to the Doheny Beach Festival they were playing at on Saturday (we have been to all of these venues), but alas more important things to attend to (Yes, can yo believe it - more important than an RCB show??) - Stephanie and Tim’s Wedding (which is a whole other Blog…)

Seems like Kimberly and I have this growing list of ‘mini-traditions’. Attending the Glendale Blues & Jazz Festival is now one of them. I think this is about the 4th or 5th year we have gone, and the event gets better and bigger every year. It’s great because it’s fairly close – just down in old town Glendale, it’s free, and you can hang out all day. I really also like the fact that ‘my city’ puts on an event like this – in particular supporting Blues artists.

This year was much like last. We headed over fairly early in the day and spent some time walking around the booths and tracking down one of those stuffed pretzels (not as good as last year sadly). I also grabbed some Honey Bear BBQ (always good) before we settled in a great sitting spot at the main amphitheater. We setup our chairs, got in chill mode and watched some enjoyable Blues acts throughout the day and into the night.

This year featured Tommy Castro and his band. We really enjoy Tommy live and this was the second time in the last year we have been able to catch him. We saw him over at Rhythm Room late last year and had gotten a nice picture of him and Kimberly. We brought that picture along with us to the show and afterward got him to sign it. Kimberly when getting Tommy to sign it got him to turn a little red cheeked – a funny story we will leave off the Blog . A nice treat was also getting a chance to see and hear another favorite of our Rusty Zinn. Actually Rusty was playing guitar for the Mark Hummel Band. Mark is a great harp player, and most of the show was all his tracks. Not that we didn’t enjoy the set, but man was I hoping they would have done some Rusty tunes (in particular from his ‘The Chill’ album). We did sit for the local band Sistah Blue and it was nice, they are breaking up so seeing one of their last shows together was cool.

The weather was perfect, the company great and the Blues Live… again, does it get any better?

Pictured to the side: Taj Mahal, Koko Taylor, Kimberly and Kandy Kane, Eric Johnson

A couple weeks back as they say… the Blues Came to Town. Saturday night we headed up to Flagstaff. Along the way on the couple hour drive up I-17 we got caught in one of the worst rain storms I have seen in our 14 years in Arizona. The good news was that even though the show was outside and it rained most of the night, we had seats up front and under cover. the nights can get cold up there, but a great night of music made it all good. An old timer opened up the show and got the groove going, followed by a decent set by Taj Mahal. Taj was touring as a 3 piece band and his set was a little short, but always great to see him. The show finished with “our” (I can say that now after 40 shows or so) Robert Cray Band. The RCB set was, as always too short, but excellent. They even did a couple of old Blues Classics including Killing Floor that we had never seen them perform.

After the Flagstaff show we hustled it back to Phoenix as the next day was the all day long Scottsdale Blues Festival. We had VIP admittance which along with food in a special tent, better restrooms, t-shirts, two bottles of wine, etc - also meant we could get into the show 1/2 hour early - guaranteeing we could be first and weasel our blanket down front and center with the best seats - which we of course did. The rub meant that we had little sleep time we got back from Flag and got up early to get our space at the Festival.

The show has some excellent acts, including local legend Big Pete and the Rhythm Room Allstars (Bob C is a great guy), Kandy Kane (who put on a great set and Kimberly is pictured with above), Blues Traveler, Taj Mahal again, Koko Taylor and the Robert Cray Band. Of course we wanted to see the RCB again, but the treat was a chance to see Koko after 20 years since last show, and knowing she doesn’t have a whole lot of shows left.

What a great day of music, sun, vino, food and time with each other. It was sure draining out there from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm in the sun, but I can not imagine a better way to spend a Sunday - spoiled and diggin’ it.

It was one of those nights. I needed to hear This Band and This Song. If you ever wonder why Kimberly and I are so passionate about the Robert Cray Band’s music, click the image and get that vibe tonight. If that groove and those solo’s don’t get your hairs on end… well, maybe you should stick to getting your tunes from MTV

Added several new Robert Cray Band Videos - check em’ out here. I’m planning on getting the rest of the RCB pages complete (or at least updated) soon, but the videos are about done.

Here is one of the new ones. I’ve been diggin’ (and relating) to our friend Jim Pugh’s message right now and hoping it’s my next week anthem.

MY LAST REGRET

All those that know us, know we are HUGE Robert Cray Band fans (yep ‘fan is for sure short for ‘fanatic’ here), hence the pages we have dedicated to the band here on our website. But we are also HUGE fans of Mr. O.V. Wright - the greatest Deep Soul Singer that ever blessed song. Man, when you are in the mood for that soulful vibe on your player, there is none better.

Anyway, MySpace seems to be more and more a venue for musicians and artists to share their stuff. Heck, even long since passed artists have pages with pictures, music, info etc. So not too long ago I did a search for Mr Overton Vertis and to my sadness there was no page giving props to the legend. So, I just had to set one up - which I did HERE. So if you are a MySpace user, come on and join the friends and fans

Kimberly and I got a chance to get to a Tommy Castro show recently at the Rhythm Room here in Phoenix. We had seen Tommy a couple of times, and not knocking his studio work, but Live is a whole better vibe with Tommy. Tommy has a new band, in fact I’m not sure any of the old group remained. A real nice treat was that he had a great horn section with him – the guys from the new album ‘Painkiller’.

The show featured Painkiller, with live versions of at least 4 or 5 tracks. Seeing the CD is just out, we really hadn’t even heard any of it. Gotta’ say… it was quite the treat. Not only was the live show excellent, but the studio version tracks really hold up too. Tommy may still be a “live band”, but I think he really has put together a great disk. In particular a couple of tracks stood out for me: “I’m Not Broken” and “Big Sister’s Radio”. The later just a great old school vibe with Tommy’s guitar channeling Chuck Berry. ‘I’m Not Broken’ has a groove and lyrics that just about any man who has went through a tough stretch here and there can relate to – no doubt an out loud sing-along track. Some really nice other songs on the disk as well; the title track ‘Painkiller’ is classic Castro with an up tempo rock-groove-blues approach. ‘Lonesome And Then Some’ is kind of swampy, Philly Soul, Blues mix that provides the sway, and ‘A Good Fool’ has some great guitar licks featuring both Tommy and Coco Montoya.

Overall an excellent night of music and friends (Dan and Debbie were there too!). You should pick up the new CD, a great mix of Blues, Old School Soul, excellent (Stax/Muscle Shoals) horns, and Tommy.

Of course the Ms. had to weasel in for a picture. The cheesy smile makes me wonder where Tommy’s other hand is?

A couple of months back Kimberly and I got to see our old friends and favorite band (The Robert Cray Band) again for three shows. The first two nights they were the opening act for Eric Clapton. We headed up to Vegas and caught the show at the MGM Garden arena, then the next night headed back home for the show here in town at US Air Arena. The band had the next day off and then we headed down to Tucson to catch them for a RCB only show. The Tucson show was the best, as not only was it my birthday, but it was just the RCB so we got a full set, versus the Vegas and Phoenix nights where they did (way too short) 6 track opening act sets.

What was at first a huge issue turned out really cool in the end. Because two of the shows were with Clapton, we were really struggling to find decent seats (we already had second row for Tucson for the RCB only show). Long story, but I had tried to get seats for Phoenix and Vegas when they first went on sale. I was on Ticketmaster the first few seconds and the best seats were way back and unacceptable - we have gotten spoiled over the years for concert seat location (in particular with the RCB). So I didn’t get those and just figured I would go with scalped as the show got closer. Well as it did, there was near nothing available scalped. The best tickets were $700-800 and they were not even decent seats! So, right up until a few days before the show we were getting desperate for good seats.

It finally got bad enough that I figured I would bug our buddy (and of course the amazing Keyboard player in the RCB) Jim Pugh to see if he had a promoter connection that may have some decent seats that I could buy. Well, Jim had better than that – he not only hooked us up with excellent (and free) seats for the shows, we got back stages passes too. Jimmy’s the man, and we appreciated it big time!

As I mentioned the shows were great, with of course the RCB only show the best. I enjoyed the Clapton sets, in particular the slide playing of Derek Trucks (man has he got a future). Kimberly not so much a Clapton fan, she passed on the Phoenix show and Mike II joined me there. On the guys day off between Phoenix and Tucson we got to hang out with Jim and Bob White and catch a spring training A’s game (Jim is a big fan) here in town. We also went over to Malee’s for some good Thai food with Jim and Kevin (Hayes our friend and the RCB drummer). A great few days of music, family friends – not too bad a birthday present….