Music, Art and Fashion

There is music, art and fashion everywhere in New Orleans.

For over 30 years, Snug Harbor has provided the best in live jazz. We enjoyed a performance by Delfeayo Marsalis's Uptown Jazz Orchestra. Aaron and I sat in the balcony. The best part was when the band played themselves off stage and up the stairs. Super intimate venue! So much talent!

According to their website: It's a tight squeeze on Wednesday nights when the Uptown Jazz Orchestra takes the stage at Snug Harbor but director/

co-founder Delfeayo Marsalis doesn't mind. "Whatever you have to do," the trombonist says philosophically. After a consideration, he adds. "Squished up is actually better because you can hear what guys are playing. A lot of time if you're in a situation when you're spread apart you don't really feel the vibration of the music that well."

At Three Muses we enjoyed classical music on piano.

Artwork at Monty's on the Square.

At the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Restaurant art.

Street art at Jackson Square.

Cabildo Museum (right)

St. Louis Cathedral (left)

Skill.

Fashion.

Practically ingenious artwork.

While Aaron was at his conference, I enjoyed visiting side-by-side museums—

The Presbytère and Cabildo

The Presbytère is an architecturally important building in the French Quarter. It stands facing Jackson Square, adjacent to the St. Louis Cathedral. Built in 1791 as a matching structure for the Cabildo, which flanks the cathedral on the other side, it is one of the nation's best examples of formal colonial Spanish architecture. While I was there, the Presbytère featured Mardi Gras and Hurricane Katrina exhibits.

The Cabildo was built under Spanish rule between 1795 and 1799, following the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 that completely destroyed the structure that stood on the property. Designed by Gilberto Guillemard, who also designed the neighboring St. Louis Cathedral and the Presbytère, the Cabildo was the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803, which finalized the United States’ acquisition of the Louisiana Territory and doubled the size of the fledgling nation.

The Cabildo served as the center of New Orleans government until 1853, when it became the headquarters of the Louisiana State Supreme Court, where the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision originated in 1892.

The building was transferred to the Louisiana State Museum in 1908 and has since served to educate the public about Louisiana history. In commemoration of the city’s 300th anniversary, a new exhibition, We Love You, New Orleans!, celebrating people, places, and things that are quintessentially New Orleans.