New Orleans puts the fun in funerals

On February 12, John Brunious, the trumpeter and band leader for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, passed away.

As a newcomer to the region, I was introduced to the legendary New Orleans band via this incredible video by Clint Maedgen (via Cajun Boy, as I'm sure he'll point out if I don't link him) which converted me to instant fan of Clint and the band.

I think you'd have to be a robot for that to not touch you in some way.

So I'm bummed that I never got to see Mr. Brunious lead the band. But I did get to see some of the royal sendoff New Orleans gave him at his jazz funeral on Saturday.

No one I asked was able to accompany me, so I wavered about going, but I knew I'd regret missing it.  I hit near-eternal traffic en route to New Orleans, where I had plenty of time to contemplate the naming process of this bus line.

(Hmmm... "ho" + "-tard" = perfect term for the contestants and "prize" on Rock of Love II.)

I finally arrived more than an hour after the memorial began and hustled into the French Quarter. The procession was easy to find. It may not look like much on these video clips, but it felt like a lot. This is the way to go. Just being part of it for those last few songs made me love New Orleans. I didn't know the departed at all, but I was overwhelmed with feeling choked up. It was more of a "this is amazing" farklempt. Like when you're at a wedding and might not even be that attached to the people getting married but you still choke up like clockwork.

After the procession concluded at Preservation Hall, those who should go in went in and the rest dispersed. It was a sunny spring-like afternoon, and I was ready to see where the day would lead. My eye was caught by the bar across the street with its front all open to the sidewalk, called Boondock Saint. Some film aficionados know The Boondock Saints as an awesomely bad movie starring Sean Patrick Flanery and Willem Dafoe, others know it as just a truly bad movie. But either way, I had to go in because once upon a time, I interviewed SPF for Naked Man Magazine, so I had to pay tribute.

The TV above the bar was showing the special edition of The Boondock Saints, Elvis was singing "Suspicious Minds" on the jukebox (one of my favorite songs of his), followed by the Stones song I just had on my blog a week ago, "Dead Flowers." With my plastic cup of Abita, and the sunny open-air show of passerby, I couldn't think of a better Saturday afternoon scenario. (How difficult/expensive would it be to move here...?) But it was ripe for trouble: friendly guys to the right of me, one of whom was in town for the Monster Truck Jam, a rowdy mom and her brood to the left, and shots were being bought all around. They were Jaeger shots, which I can't abide, however I would not refuse a free shot of Jameson's.   

Pretty soon the bartender was regaling us with a tale involving a friend slipping on a large amount of warming lube that someone had spilled on the floor as a trap, and soon after, she was wielding the bar's peacemaker, a Louisville slugger.

She was from my home state but didn't share my enthusiasm on this point, and only seemed interested in arguing about whether my hometown was considered Central Jersey or not: "Central Jersey is right smack in the middle of Jersey." "Okay..." She had me there.

By the time I got out of there around 4pm to get some delicious food in my belly before I became ineligible to drive home, everyone was about as shablitzed as Elvis was in the following video, or well on their way. And that's how it goes in New Orleans.

Comments

[amy]

awesomeness. i totally want a jazz funeral full of elvis impersonators! thanks for the vids, they got me choked up all over again

[vl100butch]

Girl, we are going to make a honorary coonass out of you yet!!!

You didn't do the essential thing after drinking though, you need to go to Cafe Du Monde at Jackson Square and have beginets and coffee before heading home...

I saw the Clint Madigan video and it's a good one, it's a shame you never saw Preservation Hall with Sweet Emma Barrett (per Harry Connick, Jr.---she was MEAN, she could only play with one hand after her stroke, but she only let me play on a tiny bit of the keyboard) and the Humphrey brothers on trumpet and clarinet.

[vl100butch]

One other thing, I never looked at the name Hotard like you did....of course when you know a couple of branches of the family, ya look a things a bit differently!!!

[the cajun boy]

i wouldn't point that out if you didn't recognize! i would just flog you with a rabid squirrel the next time i saw you.

[cokane]

Amy, great idea!Thanks for posting that bulletin about John B, I wouldn't have had that amazing experience without you.

Butch, I have devoured those beignets, but I really have to watch my girlish figure so they are a no no for now.

&

Oops, just kidding, Hotard family!

Cajun, I knew it!

[austin]

boondock saints... bad?

[Big Daddy]

For some reason I was picturing The Boomtown Rats instead of the Boondock Saints.

[Therese]

Amazing. That's what it's all about. Not the drunk, "show us your tits" yelling jerks on Bourbon Street.

[amy]

cajun wouldn't know who Clint was if it wasn't for me. Y'all all need to recognize!!! i kid.

[Maine Man]

I wish you could get jazz funerals everywhere. They really make much more sense than the regular ones.

[Kitty]

Wow...I spent a year as the assistant to the agent/manager of PHJB when I worked at ICM. They were a great bunch of guys, always super friendly to me (so many clients were not).

[Kitty]

Wow...I spent a year as the assistant to the agent/manager of PHJB when I worked at ICM. They were a great bunch of guys, always super friendly to me (so many clients were not).

[Fish]

I was sad about Mr. Brunious' funeral as well.

If you enjoy Clint's singing make sure you check out The New Orleans Bingo Show one of his other bands, and by far my favorite. They play the Spanish Moon in BR quite a bit. But if you want the best possible show check them out at Le Chat Noir in Nola.

[Fish]

I mean to say I was sad about his passing, his funeral I'm sure was joyous.