I was in NOLA last week for a software conference and went with a few people on Saturday night to Invalid Link Removed on Bourbon Street. Their house band is Chicken on the Bone, playing a great mix of hits (mostly 50's through 80's). On Sunday night we went back and I started up a conversation with their bass player Robert about how he plays his jazz bass with a thumb pick (I'd never seen that before). A few songs later he pointed in my direction and asked me to play. Why he did this I don't know- he had no idea how well I knew how to play. I accepted without knowing which tune was next, but luckily it was "Brown-eyed Girl". That was followed by "Rebel Yell", which I had never played but listened to plenty of times. I think it went pretty well and one of my friends told me the band seemed to enjoy having me play. They invited me up again on Wednesday night (to close their show, much to my surprise) and despite having a few beers I think I did alright. The band put a few photos of this on their FB page. Robert told me he'll send me a recording of the songs I played. I have a feeling that listening to it completely sober will be cringe-inducing, but playing with them was a lot of fun. I can't wait to go back there. Highly recommended if you're going to New Orleans.
