Not sure what it was tonight that made me think of living in New Orleans for a hot second oh so long ago. New Orleans has it's untellable stories as well as the hazy memories and the epic tales, one of which is my expierence with the following-
On a visit there pre-living in the city I had the luck of being taken to Ernie-K-Doe's Mother In Law Lounge. This was in 1999 or 2000 just a few years before K-Doe's death in 2001. The bar, from my understanding was run by K-Doe and his wife, who's name I believe is Queenie. All I knew about Ernie-K-Doe was that he had the hit "Mother In Law" that was popular, a #1 chart buster in fact, in the 1960's. I had no idea what to expect at this spot except that he may be there playing music.
A bunch of us rode our bikes there. The outside looked like not much but had this epic mural of K-Doe, his wife, Quintron and his wife Miss Pussycat painted on the side. We totally lucked out that night and K-Doe himself was there playing music with a back up band of three other gentleman. This is one of my all time favorite pictures that I have captured in my life- sorts timeless no?
In 2002 I moved to NOLA for a short 4 month stint that spanned not only Christmas but New Years and Mardi Gras. By this time K-Doe had passed away. However, I was at one of the most bizarre parities I will ever attend, for Mardi Gras of course, at the Spellcaster Lounge (home of Quintron and Miss Pussycat). To set the scene, Queenie, K-Doe's widow, an elderly African-American woman, was bartending in full white face in a tight Elvis Presley costume with a huge pompadour. The party was in full effect with the most mixed crowd of people I have ever been around- really, all walks of life. All. There was a ton of bands playing and it must of been close to 4 or 5am when I had the awesome experience of seeing a bangin' basement performance of downsouth bounce king DJ Jubilee. It was insane, and let me tell you, he did not hold back with it his old school hit "Do The Jubilee All". There is nothing like a proper New Orleans party, in a basement, to make a girl want to keep living.
On a visit there pre-living in the city I had the luck of being taken to Ernie-K-Doe's Mother In Law Lounge. This was in 1999 or 2000 just a few years before K-Doe's death in 2001. The bar, from my understanding was run by K-Doe and his wife, who's name I believe is Queenie. All I knew about Ernie-K-Doe was that he had the hit "Mother In Law" that was popular, a #1 chart buster in fact, in the 1960's. I had no idea what to expect at this spot except that he may be there playing music.
A bunch of us rode our bikes there. The outside looked like not much but had this epic mural of K-Doe, his wife, Quintron and his wife Miss Pussycat painted on the side. We totally lucked out that night and K-Doe himself was there playing music with a back up band of three other gentleman. This is one of my all time favorite pictures that I have captured in my life- sorts timeless no?
In 2002 I moved to NOLA for a short 4 month stint that spanned not only Christmas but New Years and Mardi Gras. By this time K-Doe had passed away. However, I was at one of the most bizarre parities I will ever attend, for Mardi Gras of course, at the Spellcaster Lounge (home of Quintron and Miss Pussycat). To set the scene, Queenie, K-Doe's widow, an elderly African-American woman, was bartending in full white face in a tight Elvis Presley costume with a huge pompadour. The party was in full effect with the most mixed crowd of people I have ever been around- really, all walks of life. All. There was a ton of bands playing and it must of been close to 4 or 5am when I had the awesome experience of seeing a bangin' basement performance of downsouth bounce king DJ Jubilee. It was insane, and let me tell you, he did not hold back with it his old school hit "Do The Jubilee All". There is nothing like a proper New Orleans party, in a basement, to make a girl want to keep living.
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