New Orleans musicians, on average, spend lots of time in bars, both playing and drinking. Here, OffBeat serves up a dozen stories, shaken and stirred.

 

Salvatore Geloso, singer-songwriter/guitarist and harmonica player, band leader of Up Up We Go

Bar: Big Daddy’s Bar

In the glass: Whiskey and ginger ale

“My regular haunt is Big Daddy’s at the crossroads of Franklin and Royal. There have been many moments that I have forgotten and have no memory of at all, and others that I wouldn’t dare print in a magazine! Something unforgettable was witnessing a friend get attacked by someone at the bar and all the patrons fighting the attacker off!”

 

Ron Rona, Managing Director at Preservation Hall and performer (a.k.a. Ronnie Numbers) in The New Orleans Bingo! Show

Bar: Molly’s at the Market

In the glass: Jameson

“In many ways, shots of Jameson at Molly’s at the Market were the very shaky foundation of most of my personal and creative relationships since I moved to New Orleans in 1997. Before social networks, Lower Decatur was where you expected to run into your people and we confirmed (and sometimes damaged) our friendships nightly by toasting, tapping and knocking back a few over-poured shots of Irish. The camaraderie of Jameson crossed over into my creative life shortly after; the next thing I knew I was onstage dressed in a tuxedo wearing face paint and over-theatrically sipping the stuff from little ceramic espresso cups. And the crowd went wild. Long story.”

 

Big Queen Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Guardians of the Flame

Bar: Snug Harbor

In the glass: Ginger Ale, 7-Up or Sprite (“I’m usually driving.”)

“My brother, Donald Harrison, Jr., invited my dad, the late Donald Harrison, Sr., up to do a traditional Mardi Gras Indian chant backed by his jazz band. This was before cell phones, but I carried a small camera with me (elementary school teacher and always wanted to be ready). My dad had on a woven Kente cloth shirt I brought him from Ghana, and I always think of him as bridging the divide/gap between NOLA and our ancestral homeland in that moment.”

 

Craig Klein, trombonist in Bonerama

Bar: Spotted Cat

In the glass: NOLA Blonde or Abita Amber (“Equally preferred.”)

“I play at the Spotted Cat every Monday with the Vipers. It’s funky; people are there for the music and the drinks, which they make good ones they tell me. I’m a beer drinker. I should have a NOLA Blonde beer endorsement… We always get really good dancers in the Spotted Cat. One Monday night we had some young ladies in there at about 1:30 a.m. and they were dancing in front of the band as most people do. One of them kept lifting up her dress in front of the band to show the guys and girls her commando style of no underwear. I think she was an exhibitionist…

“I also remember the night when the electricity went out on Frenchmen Street. Since the Vipers are an acoustic band we didn’t have to stop playing and lots of folks turned on their phone’s flashlight app and shined it on the band as we kept on swinging that music.”

 

Scott Billington, producer and musician

Bar: Dorothy’s Medallion Lounge (closed) or Ale

In the glass: Crown Royal (not!) or any India Pale Ale

“My favorite story of drinking at a bar (or, in this case, not drinking) was at Dorothy’s Medallion Lounge on Orleans Avenue in the mid-1980s. I’d gone with my friend Tom Smith to see Johnny Adams and Walter Washington—his group was called the Solar System Band at the time. Walter invited me to sit in on harmonica for a couple of songs. When I got back to my table, the entire surface was covered with drinks, and a wiry 50-year-old woman was waiting with an invitation for me to leave the club to party with her, after complimenting my playing with an unprintable comment to the effect that my blues playing was reminding the club patrons “where they came from.” Had I consumed all that Crown Royal, they would have had to carry me out on a stretcher. I also declined the invitation to what might have been the partying experience of my life. Dorothy’s, which featured two Rubenesque go-go dancers in cages, was smoky and lit with Christmas lights—the kind of all-night New Orleans bar you don’t often find these days.

“Now, we like to go to Ale, around the corner on Oak Street. I almost always order an IPA, they have an ever-changing selection. The fried pickles are excellent, too!”

 

Dave Malone, singer-songwriter and guitarist

Bar: Molly’s at the Market

In the glass: Bloody Mary

“I don’t really hang out in bars anymore. Back in the day my (and Ed Volker’s) favorite bar was Cooter Brown’s… But now I’d probably have to say Molly’s at the Market. It’s owned by my cousins Jim and Alana Monaghan (I’m Irish and French). I love their Bloody Marys. It’s all about the mix and adding olives and pickled green beans or okra.

“Not long ago, I was a guest/celebrity bartender there along with my buddy Papa Mali. It was a really fun night. Problem was, I don’t really know how to make any cocktails. So, no matter what anyone ordered I would make them a Jack and Coke. Oddly enough, not one person complained.”

 

James “Jimbo” Walsh, pianist, guitarist and composer

Bar: Snake and Jake’s

In the glass: Tanqueray and tonic

“We went there for the Christmas Lounge on Christmas Eve after midnight mass for a nightcap. Had such a good time we didn’t leave until 10 a.m. on Christmas Day. A very merry Christmas indeed…”

 

June Yamagishi, guitarist

Bar: Snake & Jake’s

In the glass: Bud Light and Chivas Regal

“I didn’t hang out to drink recently, just stay home and watch crazy Japanese comedy show on YouTube. But I used to hang out every single night at Snake & Jake’s ’til the morning come. Then my old friends wanted to make an original cocktail called the Yamagishi Special! That was some Bacardi, Cointreau and pineapple juice.”

 

Aaron Wilkinson, guitarist, Honey Island Swamp Band

Bar: Robert’s Bar

In the glass: Jack Daniel’s and ginger ale

“Okay, disclaimers: I love way too many bars to have one favorite, and almost every memorable thing that’s happened to me in a bar is unfit to print. That said, when the Saints kicked a field goal in overtime to go to the Super Bowl, I tackled our bassist Sam Price through the wall in celebration. Major damage, but everybody was so hysterical I don’t even think they noticed. And if you’ve been to Robert’s Bar, a hole in the wall would not come as a surprise. It’s a ‘hole in the wall’ kind of place. Especially that night!

“Jack Daniel’s and ginger ale is the drink of champions; that’s what we all drink, like the whole band. That, and tequila—straight, silver, preferably Hornitos or Don Julio. I guess once you hang out long enough you all start to drink the same thing. Plus it’s on the band’s rider so that’s what’s backstage every night.”

 

Spencer Bohren, singer-songwriter and guitarist

Bar: Tipitina’s

In the glass: Dixie beer

“The fact is, I’m not a drinker anymore, but I have a great tale about a meeting at Tipitina’s sometime back in the late 1970s. I don’t remember who was playing that night, but I went to the bar to bring back a round of Dixie beers for my out-of-town guests and found myself standing next to a diminutive man with several large rings on his fingers and a big gold wristwatch. I knew that I should know who this guy was, so I took a chance and said something like, ‘Excuse me, but aren’t you Earl King?’ He looked up at me with a smile on his face and replied, ‘Domino’s my name. Fats Domino.’ Then he bought me the first of two Dixie beers and we talked about a variety of things until my friend came to see what had happened to me. No matter how hard I insisted, she wouldn’t believe the little man I introduced her to was Fats Domino.”

 

Tarriona “Tank” Ball, singer, Tank and the Bangas

Bar: Vaso

In the glass: Rum punch

“It was ladies’ night. The streets were filled with the usual barbaric sounds of drifters and heavy music, but this night was special. This was the first time Tank got drunk! After the show, I wasn’t feeling my performance but my fans and friends were in a celebratory mood, so the drinks were flowing!

I ended up in a friend’s backseat yelling out, ‘Okay, it’s time to come DOWN now… DOWN now…’ It was that night I realized that my limit on rum punches was three cups. No more.”

 

Don Bartholomew, producer

Bar: Spice Bar & Grill

In the glass: Ciroc Apple and Watermelon Pucker

“I guess the most intriguing thing there for me would be that people always notice me off of HBO’s Treme and want to take pictures, and then some actually sing and rap for me, and offer me free drinks…”

 

Stephie Whitesox, punk singer

Bar: The Hi-Ho Lounge

In the glass:

Madras cocktail (vodka, craberry juice, orange juice)

“I used to be not Evel Knievel, but Awful Knawful. Sometimes, I’d get too irate, start kicking the tables. I’m known for getting my plug unplugged, let’s put it like that. They remade the Madras for me. All vodka, with a shot of juice.