Wednesday night, September 19, The Candlelight Lounge, 925 North Robertson, New Orleans, LA
This place never, ever disappoints, especially when a bunch of conventioneers from Detroit are in the house.He
9:00 PM the Candlelight Lounge
The lights are low, a few customers sit at the bar, customers at the small tables nurse their drinks and chat away. For all intents and purposes, this is pretty much what a neighborhood bar would look like anywhere else in America. But this is New Orleans. Before long, music is bound to break out from the jukebox or a bandstand. In the case of the Candlelight Lounge, it will be both.
Benny Smith, Sr., baseball cap tugged tightly over his head, waves to me from the bar. His big mitt is wrapped around a cold bottle of Miller Life. Leader of the Tremé brass band, then he is always here first. I'm always flattered when he remembers me and calls me over to chat.
"We're going to Estonia tomorrow morning," Benny says.
"How did that all come down?"
"We've been playing music festivals there for about 10 years. We got to know lots of people there. We've been invited to play at a wedding," he says in his rapidfire way of talking. By now, I'm not embarrassed when I ask him to repeat something from time to time.
This gives you an idea of the stature of a New Orleans brass band. One midweek night playing in their historic neighborhood in the 7th Ward, a few days later adding pizzazz to a wedding in the next continent.
"What's different about playing in a foreign country?"
"The language is different, but when we play, people act about the same way anywhere."
Which is about to say what will be going on here in about an hour. The regulars from around town, the tourists, and people from this neighborhood in the Tremé will be whooping it up. The crowd gets an added boost from the table full of visitors from Detroit, 10 of the 20,000 members of the AARP that has descended upon New Orleans for a convention this weekend.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
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