Day of Interesting Information

Music is a large part of New Orleans’s culture and history.  While walking around aimlessly I have heard many different genres of music.  While walking around New Orleans with some of my classmates, on our break last night, we heard jazz, rock n’ roll, classical and heavy metal music.  Today we were taken on a music tour with a very knowledgeable gentleman named Milton.  Milton was also our tour guide yesterday when we went to the cemetery.  We began our tour at Reservation Hall where we learned that musicians still play 3 times daily.  There are no seats located in the hall, besides a wooden bench for VIPs, and no air conditioning.  He also took us to a corner bar where Harry Connick Jr. grew up and learned how to play music.  Milton played us a song that was sung by Harry Connick Jr. that was in the movie “When Harry Met Sally.”  While on Bourbon Street we listened to King Louie, opera music, and Mahalia Jackson.  We learned about the history of jazz music and we were about to see statues of Louie Armstrong and Charles “Buddy” Bolden.  Milton taught the class about jazz funerals and the importance of keeping the original tradition alive.  We learned about the importance of jazz music and how it combines many different genres of music.  I feel the music speaks to people only if they allow it to.  A person has to be open-minded and want to hear and feel the music.  For me the music I have heard in New Orleans helps me understand the culture of the city and of the people who live here.  During the tour Milton took us to where he was raised which was in the Treme area of New Orleans, he referred to the area as the 7th ward if I remember correctly.  The Treme was full of smaller connected houses some new and some run down.  It was across the street from the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park which is also connected to the Louie Armstrong Park.  The most interesting thing about Treme was the area seems like a tight community were music plays a large part in their lives.  When going into a local photo shop, the pictures showed prominently festivities they participate in.  It was a small shop but had a lot of character to it.   

Milton the tour guide

Reservation Hall

The park where the statues of Louie Armstrong and Charles "Buddy" Bolden are located

Another view on Reservation Hall

The plaque under Charles Buddy Bolden's statue 

Charles "Buddy" Bolden: his statue has three heads due to his mental illness: Schizophrenia 

Louie Armstrong statue

Bar where Harry Connick Jr. learned to play music 

Later in the afternoon we were given the opportunity to go on a tour at the Pharmacy Museum.  It is hard to pinpoint a favorite part of the tour because the gentleman doing it was very educational, funny, and was very entertaining.  Learning about the history of physicians in the area was pretty alarming.  I found it fascinating that a person could declare himself a doctor and begin a practice without any formal training.  New Orleans was also the first place to have a licensing process put into effect in 1816 which consisted of a 3 hour oral exam.  It was also interesting to hear that people believed that illness was just there.  The mayor would have the soldiers shot cannons across the swamp area to disperse the illness in the air every hour.  A pharmacist created soda fountains was also an interesting tidbit to know.  Upstairs in the museum, there was historical obstetrics setup from where the pharmacist used to also practice obstetrics and dental procedures.  It was interesting to know that a pharmacist could do so many different jobs without any guidance or formal education.