New Orleans - Mardi Gras
Anyone been before? What MUST see things should I check out?
The radio station I play on (nsbradio.co.uk) is doing a breaks night there so I’m heading down to play 
First international gig ftw!
I was there last weekend. We stayed in the French Quarter pretty much the whole time. If you want history/voodoo/ghost stuff check out Bloody Mary tours. She does the only night time grave yard tours. Bourbon street was loud and obnoxious with tons and tons of drunk idiots, not really my scene, but to each his own.
Café Du Monde at 800 Decatur St for Beignets and Cafe Au lait in the morning is pretty good.
We ate lunch one day at Fiorella’s Cafe at 45 French Market Pl and they had some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life.
Another decent lunch or dinner spot is Napoleon House Bar and Cafe at 500 Chartres St. The Pimm’s cup was a pretty good drink. It was supposedly built as a house for Napoleon when they thought he may be exiled to New Orleans.
Lafitte’s Black Smith Shop and bar at 941 Bourbon St is a cool bar, maybe the oldest in america. Someone told me Robert Smith loved it so much one time when he was in town he played at the piano for several hours.
We didn’t do much for clubs so I can’t help you there.
A street with that name sounds so promising!! 
I lived there for many years depending on how long your going to be in town there are varying degrees of stuff to do. If only for the weekend I would suggest sticking to the Quarter. There is really so much to see during Mardi Gras it get’s very hectic.There are so many people and they will close down entire streets for the parades and these parades can stretch for miles. Figure out what parades are running that day and plan around it. The Edimion Parade for example runs up Canal then turns a right heading towards uptown on St. Charles. This literally cuts thru the main road dividing the Quarter and CBD. If your hotel happens to be uptown or in the CBD you could have to walk around the parade route just to get into the Quarter, I have had to do this and you will get arrested for running across a parade route.
Learn to walk don’t take a cab, If you MUST take a cab call United Cab there the only company that has flat fares. Every other cab company jacks there prices up during Madi Gras, Decadence, Essence Fest, etc…
Try to stay within the quarter New Orleans while not say Compton is still dangerous at night more so outside the quarter most idiots know not to mess with people inside the quarter. During Mardi Gras isn’t too bad as there are cops literally everywhere. But pickpockets do run rampant. I would stay out of the Marigny it is a neighborhood that begins east of Esplanade it’s nice area too look at but still not where I would walk thru at night plus theres very little over there besides some restaurants.
Where are you playing? If you wanna check out some clubs the big straight club is & (pronounced Ampersand) It’s in the CBD right next to the quarter and the Superdome which is a fairly safe area also that’s where most of the hotels are located. Other than that you have the Gay clubs which during Mardi Gras they cater to the straight crowd as well as the gay crowd. The Pub which is located on the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann usually pulls in some high profile DJs. Oz which is located directly across the street has become the more hip night club and I think this year they have Tracy Young spinning friday night. Also if your around on the monday following the clubs usually have some great “Lundi Gras” parties.
As for some touristy stuff to do Photo posted some of the great stuff to do. I would check out St. Louis Cathedral, goto Canal and take a picture with the giant statue Ignatius J. Reilly, it’s on the edge of the quarter on canal street it’s one of the weirdest statues I have ever seen. It depicts the main character from A Confederacy of Dunces, which if you want a great read pick that book up.
Hope this helps if you have any direct questions let me know. Other than that have fun check out the parades and bring down the house 
I know what it means to miss New Orleans, I now live in Los Angeles, but & - “ampersand” is the dance music club, Tipitinas is the classic New Orleans venue uptown, and I would highly recommend trying to see a Galatic Show! They always play a Monday at Midnight into Tuesday at 7 am show. Galatic is the biggest best band in the city and have a great groove. Frenchmen street is where it’s at, fuck Burbon Street. Magazine Street is also lots of fun a little more Yuppie than Frenchmen if you want to pickup a woman aged 21-35 Magazine Street is the place check out the bull dog or balcony bar.
If you are foodie check out my yelp reviews http://migueladobe.yelp.com the food is the best part of the city, but for every great restaurant their are five shitty places, and to be honest Mardi Gras is more about the drink than the food. Drink 2 mad dogs and get shitty.
Elizabeth’s Restaurant
601 Gallier St
New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 944-9272
Category: Southern
6/30/2009
Very good southern food. The fried chicken is great, the sides are really good, the brunch is great, and even the burgers are good. Better than jacquimo’s and Willie Maye’s. I do not give many places five stars but this place is legit.
Willie Mae’s Scotch House
2401 Saint Ann Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504) 822-9503
6/30/2009
Best fried chicken ever, but the wait and staff is unorganized. On my first visit they lost the list and we ended up getting take out after over an hour. They NEED TO HIRE A HOSTESS. Always a long wait, but the chicken is so bomb.
I checked offbeat.com here are some things you might want to check out
Feb 18(Fri)
Blue Nile Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers New Orleans Marigny/Bywater Jazz, Contemp. 11:00pm
Feb 19
(Sat)
One Eyed Jacks 101 Runners feat. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and War Chief Juan of the Golden Commanches, 3 pc. Spicy New Orleans French Quarter Funk 9:00pm
Feb 20
(Sun)
Howlin Wolf (The Den) Hot 8 Brass Band New Orleans CBD/Warehouse Brass Band 9:00pm
Feb 20
(Sun)
Maple Leaf Bar Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington New Orleans Carrollton Blues 10:00
This is all funk and Cash Money is no longer really in NOLA but their work from the 90’s and 2000’s will be classics for life, and I will play these tracks forever…
Awesome stuff - I am DEFO into the food, so will be reading your link^^ thanks alot.
Anyone interested in a night of breakbeats, swing by the Bayou Park Bar on Monday night, 9/10 pm - dawn. I beleive my set is 2:00 - 3:30 AM. gtfi.
Thanks for all your tips, what a resourceful thread! Really glad I asked
There’s a bunch of stuff going on the whole weekend.. If you’re gonna be there as early as Friday, you can catch ill.gates spin at Ampersand. I’m definitely gonna be there, I caught his last show in New Orleans about a year ago and it was seriously awesome. He has an awesome breaks / dubstep / midtempo-type feel to his sets.
That will be pretty tight but the real deal is on Saturday. Ghostland Observatory, Green Velvet, Mannie Fresh, High Rankin, Sigma, Original Sin, and a bunch of others are playing at the Contemporary Arts Center which is a pretty big warehouse where they’ve been throwing big parties lately (seen folks like Deadmau5, Pretty Lights, etc there).
http://www.wantickets.com/Events/ShowEvent.aspx?eventId=83614
that’s the link for tickets to the Ghostland show. can’t wait! Also, I hadn’t heard of NSBRadio or the show you’re playing there.. I don’t have anything planned for Monday or Tuesday so I might actually come check it out. The guys playing are gonna stick to nu-skool breaks all night right? If so, I’d definitely be down to come get funky
Damn, just have to post in here.
(For Sheer Awesomeness)
Nice one, unfortunately I won’t be there until Sunday morning (cheap flights, working Friday in Canada, etc)
Do come out, and please do come and introduce yourself, we’ll have a beer 
Yeah, expect the crew to rinse out the nuskool breaks, I am sure some guys will drop some dubstep, who knows - even tho it’s a breaksy night it’s always good to mix it up.
I’m around until Friday that week - open to pollute my liver.
here’s the station: http://www.nsbradio.co.uk Hopefully we’ll see ya there
I’m actually traveling to NOLA next week as well; will be getting in Tuesday morning and staying through the following Monday. I’ll be on a panel with other electronic musician/DJs Kumquat and the Evolution Control Committee that Thursday, 3/10/11, at noon in the Ritz Carleton Hotel. Our topic is “The DJ in Electronic Dance Music,” and we will be doing an experimental performance using Ableton Live and the VidiMasher that TradeMark Gunderson of the Evolution Control Committee invented. Not your ordinary rave or anything but if you’re not too hungover at noon on Thursday it should be well worth checking out!
And it would be great to meet up with other djtechtools types out there! We’ll definitely be interested in checking out some events there, though to be honest my favorite thing in NOLA is live jazz-oriented music, particularly at what used to be the Spotted Cat and DBA on Frenchmen. Is there much going on Thurs-Sunday in NOLA or will you all be too busy recovering from Mardi Gras hangovers to party? 
More info about the conference here http://www.cmstudies.org/?page=2011_conf_schedule
Bump … OK so now that mardi gras is over, what else is going on in NOLA? I plan to spend a fair bit of time on frenchmen street this weekend but wondering if there’s any electronic events that are not to be missed…
I’ll be at this, first rounds on me. [/B]
Louisiana Dubstep & Below C Level present…
PRESSURE
This month’s Pressure is dedicated to the mighty Black Swan, a DJ and
friend who has been an integral part of the electronic dance community
for many years. As a dnb DJ, Black Swan brought the ruckus, and as a
dubstep DJ she founded Louisiana Dubstep to push a fresh sound and
build what is now a thriving local dubstep scene. However, recently
Black Swan began suffering from a medical condition that causes its
own ruckus, in the form of fainting, dizziness and other things. There
is no way of predicting whether symptoms will resolve completely over
time or continue indefinitely, but Louisiana’s “Queen of Dubstep” is
improving with treatment and expects to return when she is back to
full speed. In the meantime, we hope the music community will come
together to help one of our own! A portion of the proceeds will go
toward helping to ease the financial burden of her medical expenses.
Please join us in wishing Black Swan a full and speedy recovery!
Saturday March 12, 2011
Dragon’s Den
435 Esplanade Ave
New Orleans, LA
$10 | 18+ | 10 pm
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Sound provided by the Social Service
http://www.socialservicenola.com/
Area 1 w/ Louisiana Dubstep
Innerlign (Airtight Imprint, Heavyweight) NOLA/Austin, TX
Hellabent (UGT Sickism) Mobile, AL
Gris Gris (Below C Level) NOLA
Unicorn Fukr (Louisiana Dubstep) NOLA
Rus (Louisiana Dubstep) NOLA
Shanook (Louisiana Dubstep) NOLA
R.Monic (Louisiana Dubstep) Baton Rouge
Area 2 w/ Below C Level (7 Year Anniversary)
Greenleaf (Below C Level) NOLA
Beebe (Below C Level) NOLA
Simian (Below C Level) NOLA
Third Sequence (Bassbin Safari) NOLA
Resin (Bassbin Safari, Louisiana DNB) NOLA
__________________
thanks! we’re totally there … we’ll be the old guys, I’ll be the one with dreads
i will be in N.O. for a bach party this weekend - will see if i can talk the others into headin over.