JazzFest, Part 3: Rock'n'Bowl

The official name is Mid-City Lanes. In Mid-City. Go figure.

Saturday night we ended up walking down Bourbon street, basically so I said I did. I don't much care for it, definitely NOT my scene, and that's not where the music was. But now I can say I did it. And I just did.

But BEFORE that, THAT was the fun! (Bon temps!) Mid-City Lanes used to have a downstairs as well as an upstairs. Katrina changed that, so you walk in, and there's the stairway up, and a $20.00 cover. Turned out to be the best twenty bucks of the trip.

We arrived absurdly early, especially for New Orleans. A bit before 9. The music was supposed to start at 8:30. This being New Orleans, nobody was too concerned about that! The band was soundchecking. While we waited we had an ample bowl of red beans and rice, and an Abita (which tastes MUCH better local!).

There were three bands on tap for the evening: Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, Bonerama (a brass funk band from New Orleans made up of five trombones and a tuba!), and another local, Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias. In order of desire to see them, it was Bonerama (I mean, c'mon!), Kermit, and the Wild Magnolias. When we learned the first band was Bo Dollis, I've got to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Basically because I was already wiped out from the day of travel and sun, and I knew I wasn't going to last long.

I couldn't be more wrong.

Bo Dollis started, and the room just started jumping! He's a "Big Chief" Mardi Gras indian, with a big headdress and everything! They ended their set with TWO chiefs on stage, full feathers and all - what a sight! And the music was phenomenal! And the band was . . . interesting. The lead guitarist was older and looked a bit like the japanese cop on Barney Miller. The keyboard player, once we settled the argument over whether it was a he or she, looked a bit like Chick Corea in the 70's. (It was a he.) And they had bass, drums, and a guy playing the bass drum. Just the bass drum. Like they do in Brazillian samba schools, actually. (Did I mention I played for a year in a Brazillian percussion group? But I digress . . .)

But this is the Rock'n'BOWL - so we bowled a couple of games! They had a couple of big screens over the alleys so you could see the band. And what a crummy bowling alley it was! Every ball had chips and divots in it. The ball return had no lid. The lanes were so greasy (how greasy were they?), they were so greasy your fingers were black after the first frame. And, honestly, our lane was slanted to the right. That's the only thing that can explain where my ball kept going. Really! (But I won.)

After the games, back up to the floor. Not really a dance floor. Really, it was a very small bowling alley, with a little stage at one end. There ended up being a couple of hundred people there, very close together. Which made Fred Astaire that much more annoying.

There's an etiquitte about these kinds of places, I think: When there's that many people, you can dance if you want to (you HAD to move, the music was so good!), but you only get so much real estate to move in. Not so with Gene Kelly.

Here's this geeky white guy (sorry, but it's relevant!) and his wife SWING dancing around the "dance" floor! He looked like he worked for Cisco Systems, or maybe HP or something. No pocket protector, but, hey, he WAS out on the town, after all! Swing dancing is great IF (1) you have some control over your body, and (2) it's SWING MUSIC! So Michael Jackson kept running into me, and everybody around him. So did Ginger Rogers, but nobody seemed to mind THAT. There was another couple swing dancing in the back of the house, but they actually KNEW what they were doing! Eventually, I just moved to the other side of the room.

So Bo Dollis finishes, and now Kermit comes up. He had been hanging out at the bar knocking a few back. Well, that meant that I wouldn't see Bonerama, 'cause I was already yawning (I'm such a lightweight!). Kermit is a New Orleans institution, sort of the cultural heir of Louis Armstrong (especially once he started singing). And I'm sure he's normally really good. But his sound SUCKED! Keyboard was WAY too hot, bass was o.k., and little or no guitar. And trumpet whenever Kermit remembered to play into the mic. (That wasn't such a big deal, the room was so small you could hear the trumpet - the vocals were lost a lot, though.) I could tell I was only going to be able to take it for a while.

And then Nureyev pulled his bride over to MY side of the room and started up again! Swing your partner BAM!! Sorry! Little spin SMACK!! Oops giggle giggle . . . I was out of there!

And I walk out the door and there's an ambulance there. Hmm. Seems a Dutch fellow was dancing when his blood pressure dropped. Off he goes. The police officer commented, "They're supposed to be big partiers, I thought!"

Ah, the Rock'n'Bowl! A cultural institution! Seriously, if you get to NOLA, go there! You'll have a great time!

Adieu!