from St. Louis #1 cemetery to Tulane's jazz archives in one day.

I am one pooped tour guide after a very long day of training for the "origins of jazz" tour that will be just one part of the Ken Burns Jazz Event in October.

We started bright & early hopping on the tour bus at the Ritz & headed to Basin St. Station.  There's a great model of how that area of town looked back in the day; Treme, Storyville, etc.  There's also a handy "gumbo" jazz exhibit.  But, of course, we only had a few minutes to enjoy the nice air conditioned building.  So, back out into the heat we go, crossing the street & making our way into St. Louis #1 cemetery...we're really going back to the origins of jazz.  This is a small cemetery, so the visit was brief.  Before I knew it, we were headed to the next destination, we hopped back on the tour bus (god forbid we walk a few blocks) & made our way to Congo Square in Armstrong Park.  Now this was pretty cool, a drummer greeted us from a local tribe & he talked about the history of congo square & jazz rhythms & beats.  Once we finished at congo square, back to the bus & on to the U.S. Mint to check out the jazz archives & old jail cells.  I saw Louis Armstrong's trumpet, up close & personal!!  Of course, yes, I took pictures...they'll be on my facebook page by the end of this week.  And, those old jail cells were way creepy; we walked into the cramped & corroded cells, while grasping for air, it was like a sauna in there!   After that shock to the system, it was time to bus it to the Lower Garden District for lunch at Commander's Palace.  I was amazed that we were getting treated to lunch at such a swanky place during our tour training.  I was already pinching myself about getting the free meal when I guide the tour!  After lunch, we walked off about 10 calories with a very short stroll around one block of the neighborhood before heading BACK to the bus again.  Finally, we made it to Tulane's Hogan jazz archives.   We saw some great old video footage & got a very informative lecture (which we also received as a typed document, so no note-taking needed!).  Although it was really interesting, it was just about 4pm & after schlepping in the heat & eating a massive meal, my eyes were beginning to feel heavy.  Good thing we'd made it to the end & just had to get back to the ritz to retrieve our cars & call it a day.

Us FOC folks have plenty of extra work to do; research, studying, extra trips to tour stops to prep for this tour.  We realized it's also probably a good idea to actually watch the Ken Burns Jazz documentary...but not ALL 10 discs, just the nola relevant ones...like disc 1, "Gumbo".  Fortunately, I am interested in all of this & I want to be able to give more jazz tours in the future.  So, it's all worth it...at least that's what us volunteer tour guides have to remind ourselves when ever the going gets tough.

Well, I am more than ready to pass out.  Another early day tomorrow, training for the "jazz in the quarter" tour.  I believe we'll be hitting preservation hall & we'll have a jazz brunch at Court of Two Sisters (I've never eaten there, so I'm thrilled)!  As I drift off, Louis will be singing me to sleep tonight.