Blogger Style Throwdown: Jazz Busker under 3500L (vs. Ryan Darragh)

January 11th, 2009 at 05:43pm Express Zenovka

Before I talk about Jazz, y’all might be wondering what a busker is. Buskers are street performers.

Now, about Jazz. There’s no easy way to define what Jazz is but that’s what makes this a fun theme for the throwdown. From swing to bebop to jazz fusion *shudders*, there’s no easy way to define jazz. And there definitely is no easy way to peg someone as a jazz peformer. That’s why Ryan Darragh, our resident editor in chief, and I decided to each put down 3500L to start our own jazz ensemble.

Express Zenovka - Life in E Flat

Every morning, I head down to the pier with my bass under my arm and a small tape deck. As the sun starts to poke out over the horizon and business owners flip their signs to open, I begin to sing and play, crooning along and improvising as I go. Its not the same song every day, but the song of the day. Sometimes some of the local boys come by and jump in, jazzing it up with their horns and guitars. Other days I play alone, till sunset and shops and close in.

It wasn’t always this way though. People think I cover the band, but back in the day, life was the band. Touring, playing, every day. We were good, and people loved us. The record companies even more. Soul, rhythm and blues, they made sure we lived it and breathed it. Till the money stopped rolling in.

We’d let it get to our heads. We were at the top of the world, but they pulled the rug out from underneath us. Some of the boys just packed their bags and went home. Others moved into new genres, adopting and adapting. Me, though? I’d forgotten why I played in the first place. I tried to keep the band alive all by myself, and when it didn’t work I boozed my money away.

I tore my life apart for the band. Drove my wife away, sold all my possessions trying to make it work. I wandered deeper into the south, playing any gig I could. Then one morning I found the pier. All I had left was a bus ticket and clothes on my back, but I knew I’d had it all wrong and needed to fix that right here.

It wasn’t about the fame or the money. It wasn’t about the band. It was about the music. I bartered my bus ticket for some cash, and got myself a tiny amp. All I could afford was a lefty guitar that nobody wanted, so I learned to play again upside down.^[0] Everyday I came out and played, and now I’m a fixture on the pier. Folks bring their children to me for music lessons so we all play our hearts out. It’s the good life now, and I’m glad to be living it.

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{ Kari } - Rude Boy hat (150L)
Negko Designs -Creon - AC - death,crowning (666L for a pack with 8 skins + 2 shapes)
(Miriel) - Realistic Eyes - Earth (0L)
ROLE Optic - GLASSES Jerry (black) (50L, free gift currently)
Meriken Co. - FREE jacket (0L, from KMADD City)
Cecile - Shirt (Cream) (0L)
Armidi Limited - Basic Suspenders [Black] (150L)
Aoharu Boutique - Silk Flower Shirt - Red (180L)
Gibson - Les Paul Classic (0L)
(Beerbaum)- Guitar Jazz Lefthand - Classic (1250)
Meriken Co. - FREE pants(dark green) (0L, from KMADD City)
[Random] - Male Pinstriped (1L, from GNUbie)
Gibson - Les Paul Junior Amplifier Box (0L)
(Shiny Things) Murphys - green (325L)
JCS - Sebastian - Red (350L)
Total: 3,122L

^[0]The guitar actually comes with lefty animations, I just didn’t use them.

Ryan Darragh - “We’ll take a boat to the land of dreams…”

His day started early.  It always did. He didn’t mind, and anyway he had to get an early start if he wanted to get to the French Quarter by the time tourists were up and about.  Even so, he usually found a few minutes after breakfast to sit on the stoop of his grandmother’s double shotgun and let the morning flow through him.  These were perfect, calm, crystalline moments, and they fed something in him that even his grandmother’s calas didn’t satisfy.  Then it was time to grab his stuff and get moving.

He had grown up in the Ninth Ward and was no stranger to hard work, but music had started to pull at his soul early on.  His grandfather, who had always been a tough, unsentimental old guy, surprised him mightily on his eighth birthday by pressing several folded bills into his fist and whispering, “You go out now, and get yourself a t-bone. You need to be playin’.”  He had found himself a more than decent trombone, started playing, and discovered that the music was both his source and his expression.

Whenever he played for tips in the Quarter, he liked to stake out the corner opposite Preservation Hall, if somebody else hadn’t beaten him to it that morning.  It reminded him of his grandfather, who always talked about the jazz greats who played the bars and clubs in the Tremé “back in the day.”  In fact, the old man used to say that, although he officially put no stock in such things, he had once gone to the tomb of Marie Laveau with a small handful of coins and asked her to do what she could to let him see a family member playing at Preservation one day.  He was confident that the voodoo queen would for certain do him this small favor.  It was only a matter of time…that, and certain family members applying themselves.

After his day in the Quarter, which if the tips were good might just include a quick midday poor-boy at Johnny’s (but not, he tended to agree with Ignatius, a Lucky Dog), he liked to stop at Café Du Monde for beignets and café au lait, made of course with good chicory coffee.  He didn’t always have the money—beignets weren’t expensive, but still a luxury, after all—but no matter what he loved the bustle of the place when it was busy and the amazing quiet when it was, mysteriously, not.  Either way, it was impossible to feel lonely there.

In the end, his grandfather had been right.  Although the day had been an ordinary one, tonight was special.  Tonight he was playing his first set at Preservation Hall.  Not a solo gig, he was just in the band, but still his grandmother was proud, and his grandfather would be too.  And it was another opportunity to make and share music, and that was life itself.

His day went late.  It always did.  He didn’t mind, and anyway he had one last stop to make before going home to grandmother and bed.  It was just a streetcar ride away to St. Vincent de Paul No. 1.

His grandfather couldn’t be there at Preservation Hall, so he wanted to play a little while just for him, so he would be sure to know that neither Marie nor his grandson had let him down.

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The heart and soul of New Orleans’ music come from her streets.

Going back to the days of ragtime and the foundations of jazz, music emanated from the local bars and dance halls, and spilled out into the streets with the beginnings of the brass band tradition.  Our trombonist may only be an avatar, but he’s part of a long line of musicians going back generations, and a musical legacy that’s still being passed on to many brilliant young players today.

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews was one of his inspirations.  He began playing in brass bands by the age of four and was leading his own band at six.  Now in his early 20s, he leads the amazing jazz-funk-rock band Orleans Avenue.  Another inspiration was Shamarr Allen, who began his professional career in his teens, playing on the streets of the French Quarter with the late Tuba Fats.  Look for their music at the Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans.  Spend some money in Orleans Parish–they need it!  — Sean Clancy

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Special thanks to Sean for contributing to this article, and for being in the band!  You can catch Sean’s DJ gigs at 10:00 a.m. SLT, every other Sunday (alternating with Raven Skall) at the Blarney Stone Irish Bar in Dublin.  Join inworld group Clancy’s Clan to receive updates!

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Shiloh Jun - “Kamal” skin (braids, shaved) by shiloh Jun (1200L)
Shiloh Jun - “Busta 1″ hair by shiloh Jun (1L0:)
Shiloh Jun - brown eyes by shiloh June (0L; included with skin)
CMFF - “Crow” male shape by Fade Dana (250:)
Dutch Touch - RIK Tank (Olive) by Iki Ikarus (85L)
Dutch Touch - Jeans Torned by Iki Ikarus (75L)

Dutch Touch - Jeans by Iki Ikarus (135L)
Juju’s Closet - Austin Jacket by Juwan Lane (200L)
Kalnins - Road Blazers by Maris Kanto (500L)
ARGRACE - Groovy sunglasses by Rika Oyen (250L)
K@E - K@E Trombone by Emily Freund (500L)

Total: 3,385L

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The Throwdown series is partially sponsored by Hathor Models. Men’s Second Style greatly appreciates their support!

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