After a few years of playing in this band, I finally played a gig where people actually understood what the hell we were laying on them.

The Street Beat Brass Band played a surprise 50th birthday party in Montclair, NJ last night. We started at one home, went out in the snow and had a mini second line parade through the streets of Montclair over towards the people who thought they were having a quiet dinner party.

To their surprise, we brought some good old New Orleans brass band music to warm up the hood and their hearts. The birthday folk have roots in NOLA and several party attendees did too. We partied for a good hour and a half.
They danced and danced.

We ate gumbo, jambalaya and they had boiled a big ass pot of crawfish. I couldn’t…I just couldn’t make myself eat one of them. I don’t think I’m ready.
I just got back from Africa and tried ostrich. Give me a few more months before I allow my taste buds to be shocked once again.

Back to the party…. Most of the gigs we play are in the city and from what I’ve seen, people in the north just don’t get NOLA music. The music is so damn infectious! How can you NOT dance to it? Well, folks up here must be thinking about their 401K, stock portfolio or something. Their dancing gene just doesn’t connect with NOLA. It’s all good. I get my fix when I go to New Orleans or play with this incredible group of musicians. We had a ball last night. I’m glad we made them so happy.