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New Orleans. 2008.

I saw Fred Ratke's face looking back at me from walls all over New Orleans last Fall. Also known as "The Grey Ghost," Ratke is an anti-graffiti crusader, who paints over pieces all over the city. This sticker is one of the many retaliatory caricatures I found.

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Purchased in New Orleans. October 2008.

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Streetcars, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

This is clearly more of a Barbecue trip. I'd probably just fly down to DC to meet Guy and we'd head out from there.

North Carolina:
Again, we'd see my aunt and hunt down some pork.

South Carolina:
Guy mentioned a cool vibe in Charleston and perhaps a visit to some of the coastal islands. I'm less familiar with the region, but it sounds interesting to me. Particularly those island populated by the Gulla.

Memphis:
I've heard so much about Tennessee's barbecue that this is a must as far as I'm concerned. Barbecue and blues, no question.

New Orleans:
As I've mentioned, I've been wanting to return to New Orleans for a while now and this would be a good opportunity. Unfortunately, I wouldn't want to make plans to go there at the end of august until the exact last minute, so that would have to be decided on the fly.

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IMG_1544, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

I got this pint glass for free as a happy hour special at The Bulldog, a great beer bar on Magazine Street in New Orleans. I stopped in there quite few times during my New Orleans trip in 2004.

On the back of the glass is a list of information for tourists visiting. Note the second one listed:

"If the levee breaks, everyone will die. No one seems worried about this problem either."

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Streetcars, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Let's not forget that tonight is also Mardi Gras. I will be going out to celebrate after I do my citizenly duty, when I get back to Brooklyn.

Sadly, this image is the most 'New Orleans' photo I could track down today. Clearly, I need to make a trip back there. I've been wanting to visit again for some time. We'll see when I manage to fit it into the schedule - and the budget.
::c::

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IMG_2528, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

dba, Frenchman Street, New Orleans. 2005.

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IMG_7928, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

dba, Frenchman Street, New Orleans, 2004.

I've been going to dba in New York for years. When I found out they had a sister bar in New Orleans, I had to check it out the next time I went there.

The space is much bigger than the New York location, taking up two storefronts. The photo above is of on half of the space. To the right, there's a door to the other room which has a stage up for performances and the other side of the double bar.

The beer selection is exactly what I'd expect from dba: very extensive, and inclusive of many local beers. They get creative with the beer too. This is where I had my first "Dirty Ho," a beer cocktail mixing about 75% Hoegarden with a Framboise lambic. It's a pretty fantastic concoction, adding the fruit flavor of the lambic livens up the hoegarden, which in turn cuts the excess sweetness of the lambic.

The Frenchman Street strip of bars and restaurants sits just a few blocks outside the French Quarter, but is thankfully worlds away from the contrived excess of Bourbon Street. On my first trip to New Orleans, a friend who lived out there at the time took us to a couple of bars on Frenchman. It took me a couple trips before I could figure out how to get back there. It's a much more local scene so it totally bypasses the bead-throwing and nonsense found down the road. The strip runs about two or three blocks and it's full of music. Nearly every bar had some performance listed.

The last time I was at dba New Orleans, was two years ago. Tammi and I caught the Tony Dagradi Organ Trio performing with one of the Marsalis brothers on drums.

d.b.a.
618 Frenchman Street,
New Orleans, LA. 70116
504.942.3731

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[Updated 4.29.07. Added more info for The Bar List]

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IMG_2499, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Magazine Street, New Orleans, 2004

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Crescent Box Water Meter, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

I noticed these the last time I went to New Orleans in the spring of 2005. I love the design. Apparently they were so popular that they kept getting stolen. No one knew where they were disappearing to until after September 11th. Once the airport rules changed, the authorities found them over and over again in tourist's luggage. I decided to go the legit way by shooting this picture. Tammi also bought a plastic cast of one for me as a souvenir from one of those cool little shop on Magazine Street.

I haven't yet made it back to NOLA since the storm, but I hope to in the next year or so.

Continue reading "Photo of the Day: Crescent Box Water Meter" »

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