March 8, 2009 — part 1.

March 8, 2009, turned out to be a particularly busy day, with 5 photo shoots planned between 11am and 6:30pm, from the French Quarter, to the 9th ward, to uptown, and to the West Bank.

As much as I stayed quite isolated during my first trip to New Orleans a few months earlier, this second visit was an excuse to reconnect with old friends. John Autin, pianist and owner of Rabadash Records, is one of those. The day I went to visit him and his wife Jill, Lindsay Mendez, the youngest recording artist to be signed by the New Orleans-based label, was in the studio with her dad. When John told them about the New Orleans Walls project, they both let me know immediately they'd love for Lindsay to be a part of it.
Two days later, we met in the French Quarter. It had to be a sunny day for the photo I had in mind to work. Lindsay showed up with her mom at 11:00am as planned, wearing a black dress. The sun was out and the photo turned out great (once you see it in the book, you'll understand).



The next stop was in the Upper 9th ward, at the Musicians Village where Little Freddie King lives. I met Freddie years ago when I worked for Orleans Records producer Carlo Ditta. Freddie is as sweet as can be, always has a smile on his face (at least every single time I visited him), but is hard to track down when you live in North Idaho. Since I was in town, I just showed up at his gig, and the next day, I picked him up at his place. Freddie was ready for the photo, all dressed in black, with a chain full of keys hanging down almost to his knees. I had spotted a cemetery wall not far from the Musicians Village, which is where we headed for. The photo shoot took a mere 3 minutes.
When I returned several months later to get his story, Freddie knew exactly what moment of his life he was going to share, and yet it's a story his manager had never heard before.



Day to be continued...

note: in case you haven't read any of the past posts, the pictures shown here are not the ones featured in the New Orleans Walls book.