There were so many musical choices this weekend with drum circle of spiritual music offered at the New Orleans Healing Center, an A-list of musical acts at the Hogs for a Cause fund-raiser, Congo Square was alive all three days with Latin and African music not to mention the clubs bursting with very musical genre known.  There were not enough hours in the day to take it all in.  It is true New Orleans seem to have music in their blood and it is not unusual to drive down the street and see a young person with a trombone in their hands blowing a few licks as they walk down the road,.  Music is everywhere.  But if you wonder how this musical tradition gets nurtured (in addition to nature) it is through a host of music education programs in the schools and the support of organizations like the Titpitina Foundation which routinely donates instruments to schools.  There is a big fund-raiser concert annual Instruments A’ Coming (which Sully Mansion always donates a few nights at the inn) but this year they held a competition for middle and high school brass bands.  Class Got Brass?  featured 15 brass bands from schools across the area which held their own small parade around Armstrong Park stopping before the viewing stand which featured Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall, Dr. Michael White, Shamar Allen and Trombone Shorty.  The kids were great.  We stood out on Rampart street and cheered all the teams (my personal favorite was St. Mary’s Academy which was all girl, nothing like a fifteen year old girlk tuba player!)  It was awesome and full of the rich musical culture heritage which makes this town so special.  Wish you were here.

It is an interesting experience to live in a community which has so many visitors.  Running an inn we spend considerable time helping people plan their sight-seeing outings, choosing restaurants and generally finding their way around town.  Helping folks find the hidden jewels of New Orleans is one of the things we really enjoy best about inn keeping and quite frankly we do it so often it is easy to forget how overwhelming it i can be to arrive at a new place you have heard so much about and there is so much to see you do not know where to start.  When we travel, one of us (I won’t say who, but it is the same person who writes the blog!) spends days and days pouring over internet information and always, despite the wealth of information on the web, with a good guidebook.  For years our guidebook of choice has been the Lonely Planet.  They seem to have the best information, most interesting lists of places to stay, where to eat, where that fabulous market is off on the side roads, it is our off the beaten path but we want hot shower guidebook of choice.  So you can imagine our delight when Amy Balfour got in touch last week asking to come and visit our inn and spend some time talking to us.  Amy is helping to update the Lonely Planet’s 2013 New Orleans guidebook.  We are thrilled to continue our listing with them and could not wait to show her all the various upgrades we have made to the property.   Nothing is  more affirming than having one’s favorite guide book mention the Sully Mansion as a perfect place to hang your hat when discovering the Crescent City..

The Krewe of Barkus rolled through the French Quarter this weekend.  As we are mid way through the Carnival season, the parades get mre interesting and as this wek wears on, more elaborate.  The first weekend of Mardi Gras is a gentle introduction.  There are a few parades across the metro area but the main attention is with balls and house parties, all of which kick into high gear in the next few days.  The Krewe of Barkus however is in a class by itself, it is a krewe made up of dogs attended by their faithful owners who help the pooches get in their costumes and parade through the French Quarter throwing beads and the occasional dog biscuits.  It was a little colder than usual this year so you saw less dogs in bathing suits but they all seemed to have a fabulous time.  After the parade many retired to the Cosmos bar where there were water bowls and little snacks for all.

There is a distinct rhythm to the city which locals dance to and repeat visitors recognize it.  First there is the gas lit charm of a Creole Christmas which gives way to the excess and neon celebrations of New Years Eve.  After a day of recuperation football Bowl season has arrived with the Sugar Bowl and this year the BSC and it is marked with hundreds of visitors sporting their team colors up and down St. Charles Avenue and all over the French Quarter.  This year as Saints fans our hopes were extended an extra week or two until we got knocked out of the play offs.  Then and only then do we seriously begin to clean our houses, take down all remnants of Christmas and get ready for Mardi Gras.  Most of us decorate slowly over a two or three week span, you want to be ready by the first weekend of parades (they start next week)  but you don’t want the bunting and the masks up too soon.  There is a subtle quickening of the steps, thoughts turn to this years’ costumes and often of checking the supply for the glue gun.  Party invitations start to come in, you hear about different krewes and their throws and friends begin to ask of they can park at our inn (we are a block from St. Charles where all the parades but one pass by).  There is sudden interest in ball gowns we welcome the guests who have been with us the last five Mardi Gras and you swear you will pace yourself this year!  Tomorrow night the first parade rolls through the Quarter (there is even a unique parlance, parades do not march during Mardi Gras they roll) and while I am not making any promises but we hope to update our readers often about all the excitement and visual delights of 2012 Mardi Gras.  Happy Carnival all.

There is so much music in this city on any given day it is difficult to choose.  It is a rainy Tuesday night the day after the BCS college football championship and the morning streets were jammed with visitors making their way back home.  As the tide recedes New Orleans is left to herself with a myriad of choices to delight the ears on a quiet Tuesday evening.  Margie Perez is playing at the St. Alphonsus Church  as part of their series to bring more people into the beautiful local church. Which was  originally built in 1855 by the Redemptorist Fathers to serve the religious and social needs of the Irish Catholic immigrants who began settling an area upriver from the French Quarter known as Lafayette City in the 1840s. It was one of a number of buildings forming a religious complex that once occupied five adjacent city blocks. Often referred to as “Ecclesiastical Square”, the complex included an orphanage, nine school buildings, a gymnasium, three churches, the priests’ residence and gardens, two convents, stables, a laundry and other supporting buildings.  It was where Anne Rice attended when she was growing up in New Orleans.  St. Alphonsus is well-known for its art and architecture. The frescoes and stained glass windows of St. Alphonsus are some of the most beautiful in the nation.

If you want something different, Opera on Tap is back again at the inn on Bourbon Street.  Opera on Tap brings classic opera to the masses by performing classical works at local bars and watering holes.  Bon Operati is playing this evening.  If you want classical Dixie land you can board the Steamboat Natchez for the Dukes of Dixie Land.  If you just need to shake your booty there are four places with brass Bands playing tonight.  Finally if you want to get all the rabble of the football crowds out of your head, Joe Crown is playing jazz piano at Ralph’s on the Park.  All of this on a quiet day in Crescent City.

We are so excited the Sully Mansion is being featured on its first ever home tour!For the first time French Quarter Festivals Inc is sponsoring the Twelve Inns of Christmas Tour and the Sully Mansion is participating.  It is going to be held the first two weekends of the month and features thirteen Bed and Breakfasts throughout the city all decked out in our holiday best!  It is a fabulous way to get visitors inside the many diverse and beautiful homes which serve as B&Bs throughout the city.  In the past we have decorated in all the wonderful decorations our family grew up with.  This year we are trying a themed and hopefully classy approach all in golds and rusts with a Victorian theme.  As soon as my buddies come over and we get everything up we will have photos to share.  The tour this weekend is one of over 100 events over the next month celebrating all that New Orleans has to offer during the holidays, from concerts in the Cathedral to Revillion dinners to bonfires along the River. It is a fabulous time to visit, come join us!

Fall is a wonderful time to get married in New Orleans.  The skies are bright blue, the temperature is perfect and the air is humming with sounds of music and laughter.  We are deep in the bridal season here at the Sully Mansion with one a few weeks ago and another planned for next week.  We love to see the excitement of the bridesmaids as they get ready at the inn and the variety of dresses is always fun.  In our neighborhood you can tell when it is wedding time as the Opera Guild which is a block away is a popular spot for wedding receptions as is the garden of Commander’s palace and the Elms is a three blocks away.  On the 22nd of October we counted six weddings occurring all within a five block radius.  And why not?  The smell of sweet olive is in the air and the humidity is down so everyone’s hair looks perfect.   Such a beautiful sight with all the flower bouquets and polished dance floors.  We love out rituals and a good party so getting married in New Orleans just makes sense.  Look how beautiful our lovely bride and her bridesmaids were, we wish them all the best.

[View with PicLens]

Let’s see what to do this weekend?  There is the Blues and Bar-B–Que Festival for the next three days with two stages, everything from steel national guitar Delta Blues  music to the wailing of Tad Beniot.  Did I mention that there are four different Bar-B-Que vendors, not to mention a multitude of other New Orleans edible treats, arts and beer and the weather is supposed to be sunny skies in the 70’s, or that the festival is free?  Too much music for you?  After all you went and saw Trombone Shorty for free who blew the roof off the park Wednesday night, so maybe something else. Hmm, how about the Latino Carnivale  at the Zoo this weekend with dances and more music and food. Not in the mood?  Well there is the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival along the banks of the Tchefuncte River. This fabulous family-friendly event has old wooden boats on display and demonstrations of boat building techniques a quick and dirty boat building contest, races, food and music as well. Don’t want to drive across the Lake?  O.K. how about hopping the ferry to Gretna and attending the St. Cletus Oyster Festival where you can gorge on oysters cooked every way possible (and possibly see the 2011 Oyster Queen). You could just go a little further down the road from Gretna to Bridge City and attend the Gumbo Festival and eat yourself a big bowl of gumbo and dance to the Cajun Fais do-do they have planned.  Too hot for gumbo and would prefer cold beer in a nice frosted mug?  I count three OcktoberFests going on around town. If that all seems too crowded and festive, what about the first annual Daiquiri Festival this weekend where you pay one price and a little shuttle takes you around to six different frozen daiquiri stores ending up at the Hi-Ho Lounge for a dance party. Too hedonistic?  How about the New Orleans Film Festival which opened on Wednesday and has films playing in six different venues throughout the city accompanied by panels and discussion groups? Don’t want to go out? You could always stay home and garden and wait to watch the Saints on TV on Sunday and if none of that appeals to you- maybe you should go to a less cultural place, like Manhattan or San Francisco.

As a part time blogger I am always interested in what others writing about New Orleans have to say.  Tim McNally has a wonderful one, MyNewOrleans.com.  He wrote today about the exciting resurgence New Orleans is experiencing, all the more miraculous given the destruction of Hurricane Katrina six years ago.  He captures the hope and the challenges in this uniquest of American cities and this particular point in time. I have excerpted a bit of it below for those of you thinking of coming to visit our city to give you a sense of the tremendous civic excitement we are experiencing and encourage you to jump in there with us.

“What this community is now experiencing is nothing short of miraculous. Given our situation before Katrina, and certainly our situation for several years following Katrina, we are now on such a roll that it is absolutely scary. It’s also astounding and gratifying. Brand new in this old town is a can-do attitude built on top of America’s most unique culture.

 Just about every day we are hearing about people who have come here to find something singular, and they find it, just as they had hoped. Then they vow never to leave because they want to experience it for the rest of their lives. What we formerly took for granted was almost lost. We grabbed it and continued to make it even more real, to make it better, and others came to strengthen our grip on our culture.

Finally we are finding the best of who we are, and we like what we see. Of course, there are issues. Too many of our young people are dying on our streets. Too many of our neighbors are unemployed or under-employed. Too many of us have seen too much, and lived through some bad times. Maybe we don’t recognize beauty and opportunity when it appears.

New Orleans is at that moment.. Those who are younger see all the opportunity, see all the beauty, see all the new landscape. Most importantly, people are coming to us and staying. They like what we treasure here. Our music moves them. Our celebrations give them joy. Our cuisine excites them. And they embrace our culture, happy to participate and protect it and happy to revel as one of us in our style.

Here’s a bit of advice to those of you who are not quite on-board with the new New Orleans: keep those views to yourself. Work now to make this place the home you always wanted. We have never seen so much opportunity, and so many helping hands, young and old, ready to preserve New Orleans and make her grander, more delightful to the senses and more satisfying to the soul.

No other community in America has this going on as much as we do. This precious moment can certainly pass, and shame on us if we allow that to happen without achieving something significant and lasting”

Sort of makes you stand up straight and be proud doesn’t it?

The humidity has disappeared, there are no little swirly clouds in the tropical and the sky is Crayola blue.  It is fall in New Orleans one of my favorite times of year!  Fall is the best kept visitors secret in the city as there are many music festivals, all the restaurants are open, the shrimp season is in full swing and there are lots less tourist than in the spring.  Hmm what to do in October?  Art for Arts Sake was last weekend where all the art galleries open at night and there are bands and cocktails on  the street.  Think of it as a six mile long street party up magazine street (a little commerce gets going here in Uptown as many of the fabulous stores are open as well) and from block to block you may hear rhythm and blues band with a lone saxophone wailing a few blocks away and a few storefronts from there is a traditional jazz combo.  All the galleries and most of the stores offer wine and yummy little treats to eat.  This coming weekend is the Swing Dance Festival put on by nolajitterbugs.  Get out your spats, find your twirliest skirt and come on down!