You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them. –Etta James
San Francisco and New Orleans are often referred to as sister cities and this is most certainly true in my experience. Last week I spent some time in Northern Cali in San Francisco , Alameda , Oakland , Beautiful Chico and pristine Sausalito . The Bay area calls to me often as I feel a spiritual connection to the people, the energy, the music and the landscape of the same. The people I have come across in California are wonderful, diverse, open minded and love New Orleanians. I went there mostly to visit and enjoy the company of good friends but I also managed to get in some time with my favorite New Orleans band “Juice” who had a 2 day run in San Francisco, Friday the 29th at the Boom Boom Room in Downtown S.F. and Sat the 30th in Sausalito at the foot of the Golden gate Bridge.
Leaving home but always taking it with me, I watched the NFC Championship game last Sunday with my friends in Alameda , CA . My girlfriend Celeste is a New Orleans transplant to the Bay Area and was just as excited for the Saints as anyone back home. As we watched the game from the Sofa in California I wondered what everyone was doing back home in New Orleans and a part of me wished I was there in the midst of it all. I received various text messages and pictures of the French Quarter as everyone exploded onto the street when our beloved team won. The emotion and excitement was felt thousands of miles away because New Orleans is a feeling that’s carried wherever you are. After gushing for a while over the Saint’s victory I made plans to head to Oakland to visit with some other friends.
Music is a main topic of conversation of mine and I was excited to meet some kindred spirits who shared my joy for music. As we relaxed at my girlfriend Amanda’s house in Oakland , we listened to some vinyls from the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” and Aretha Franklin and made plans for Jazzfest 2010. One thing I love about Oakland is the diversity of it; just chilling at my friend’s house there was an Asian girl, a Greek man, a girl from Louisiana , A Puerto Rican girl, an Italian Man and me a Nicaraguan New Orleanian. Everyone loved chatting up about the scene back home in New Orleans and I reveled in the fact that I will play tourist guide in April/May when my Oakland people drive cross country to experience our Jazzfest.
The middle of my week from Tuesday thru Friday we drove to beautiful Chico , CA about 3 hours north of San Fran where I had the pleasure of hiking thru exquisite Bidwell Park . The music there could be felt in the natural rhythm of nature all around us. The birds chirping, the Chico creek that runs all thru the city. Bidwell state Park is divided into Lower Bidwell and Upper Bidwell . The lower section runs thru the main part of the city and the Upper section is more on a hiking path full of hills and beautiful rock formations as well as pools of natural water. As we walked on our 2 hour hike, I just marveled at the grandiose miracles of nature and breathed in as much fresh air as possible. This place made me feel revived and now I was ready to head back to the city to funk out to some “JUICE” tunes.
The band was scheduled to be the headlining act at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco a very well known music venue that caters to New Orleans musicians as well as a birthday party in Sausalito . During my year residency in the Bay Area after Hurricane Katrina, the Boom Boom Room provided me with my fix of Crescent City music as many musicians migrated to this area. The scene there was a festive one as the crowd thickened waiting for some New Orleans funk during the set of the first band. It was very comforting to see people in the crowd wearing Saints t-shirts and Jersey ’s. I met a girl in the ladies room who was so excited to talk about anything New Orleans as she had just moved to San Fran from the Uptown area and she was proudly sporting her “Brees” Black and Gold jersey. The Band played from midnite to around 2:30 to a packed house and they sounded awesome. I felt like I had the best of both worlds at my fingertips-Listening to Juice IN San Francisco with good friends around me dancing the night away is pretty close to a perfect evening in my world. The band ended and we walked back to our Hotel, the Kabuki Hotel in Japan Center . Saturday I woke up and went for a walk on Van Ness, grabbed some breakfast and prepared to check out to head with the Band to beautiful Marin County , Sausalito . The gracious folks providing our hotel accommodations are best friends with the band’s Guitar player, Sam Hotchkiss, and the 2nd hotel we stayed at was simply breathtaking. Cavallo Point is a 5 star resort set at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge with a perfect view of the Bay. The Birthday party was to be held at the Presidio Yacht club on the grounds of this place.
The party began right after the Birthday song was sung and candles were blown out. The yacht club was full of friends of the birthday guy from all over the country and all were ready to partay!! The band played all their classic such as “Neighbors”, “ Biggest Lil Shrimp” and a funky funky track titled “Trout”. The party go-ers danced to the point of sweating and a couple of guests accompanied the New Orleans funk band as many of the band’s friends are avid music lovers and were dying for the chance to play with some truly talented musicians. There were also a couple of New Orleans folks there at the party who I also got the chance to meet. The band played the party til about 2:30 a.m. and then an after party ensued in the Band’s suite next door to mine. As for myself, I was exhausted from a whole week of vacationing and called it night around 3 a.m. in preparation for my flight home on Sunday. Thank you to all my California peeps and thank you to Juice for being part of my 9 day vacation. Now on to focus all of our collective energy to the Saints winning the Superbowl!! Who Dat Folks!
“I guess I am rooting a little bit for the Saints as the underdog, partly just because when I think about what’s happened in New Orleans over the last several years and how much that team means to them. You know, I’m pretty sympathetic.”-President Obama
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