Listen to the Radio: Scott Borne on WWOZ
Back in action, bright and early, Scott Borne's weekly radio show runs today from 6-9pm central time, streaming live from New Orleans over at WWOZ.org.
Today's preview from Borne's coming playlist is a current living band from Portland, Oregon called the Blue Cranes. Their newest record Swim is out and available for purchase (do it!) on the Cuneiform label. The song feels like a song. There's a folk root that can't be pulled up, and the string sound helps anchor that, but the saxophones also chisel a drive into the sound. That forward momentum added to the anchor creates a push and pull that is great to listen to, and is damn near pleasant. That's a word often avoided or used passively but I dare say that these sounds feel relentlessly great in the ear canals, and the pleasantness is not to be dissed or avoided.
The consonance blended with a sense of adventure feels also directly connected to the band's hometown. It's a refreshing reminder that despite the internet's "gift" of hyperconnectivity, our music can still be personal to the place it calls home. New York, Amsterdam or Portland, Oregon all have their sounds and the land is an instrument in the process. At least that's the romantic way to look at it.
Listen to the track below, and then check out our continued interview with WWOZ's Scott Borne. Tune in if you're awake!
Please name two things that have changed drastically while you've lived in New Orleans
The answer can be tricky, I was born and raised in Metairie (suburb directly outside of New Orleans, about 10-12 miles from downtown). I spent a lot of time in and around the city, as much time as my license and fake ID would allow. I went to college in Mississippi and after moving back to New Orleans for a couple of years after graduation I moved to Charlotte (2 years) and Austin (5 years), before coming back to New Orleans in 2005, a few months before an event that would change the city profoundly. So if you count my time in the burbs that brings total years to 27 plus a couple of summers during school.
As for drastic changes I would say I've noticed many changes within the city (some for the better and some for the worse). For the sake of answering the question I'll choose alcohol, and Bourbon St.
Alcohol- New Orleans has always been tied to partying and indulging in a long list of vices. Alcohol has always been near the top of that list. The change I have noticed relates to how the city relates to it.This is not an endorsement of drinking or not drinking, simply an observation. Growing up in/near New Orleans alcohol was always incredibly prevalent. First of all the drinking age in LA at the time was 18 when it was even enforced. (It stayed that way til 1996 until federal highway dollars began to be withheld until we fell in line with the rest of the country, ever wonder why the roads were so bad when you got into LA) It also lead to me being in bars from about 16 on, and allowing me to see a ton of music in bars around the city (for which I am grateful). Drinking was also completely unregulated in the city seemingly. For better or for worse I had no idea what a DUI or a sobriety checkpoint or any of those things were til I went away to school. Back then it seemed that driving after being out drinking was almost accepted on some level in New Orleans. While in high school, I had been pulled over by NOPD numerous times in a car with someone behind the wheel who clearly shouldn't have been driving only to have the officer say "get the hell home". Obviously over time people have came to understand the devastation drinking and driving can cause, and the city has taken notice as well. Nowadays the laws are up to 21, checkpoints are pretty common on a given weekend, almost all bars check IDs regardless of how old you are now. Looking back I still cringe a little bit thinking about how lucky I was not to have something horrible happen.
Bourbon Street- Its not that Bourbon St. has changed that much in my lifetime but my relationship to it has. You may hear stories about how back in the day Bourbon St. had great music and classy establishments, unfortunately that was all before my time. As a teenager Bourbon St. was a great place to go get into trouble. Hanging on the street waiting to find a way to score something to drink ,or trying to sneak a peek behind the curtain of any of the numerous strip clubs (you could even buy whippits in the corner store and destroy your brain cells on the curb outside) were perfectly acceptable ways to spend a few hours when you were 14. As I got older I begin to find out about the other great things this city had to offer, one of those things being the ability to go out and see original music in numerous other parts of the city. This would mark the end of time on hanging on Bourbon. Nowadays, I rarely ever end up on bourbon , and when I do I feel a little frustrated. As you watch people stagger up and down the street going from one shitty club to the next getting sloppier by the minute, you can't help but wonder what these people take away from this.What it has come to represent is a street full of bars/t-shirt shops devoted to syphoning money out of the pockets of tourist. While this street is the most recognizable street in the whole city to most out-of-towners, Bourbon St. represents a commercialization of the culture packaged in a 48oz cup full of some sugary shit that will definitely give you a hangover. And yes it has always smelled that bad
Counterpoint...
3 cool times to be on Bourbon
Mardi Gras Morning
When Saints win the Super Bowl
Going to buy Vinyl at Scully'z Records