Recently returned back to home base after a week in NOLA, a trip dedicated to Anne Rice (and a little NIN) tourism around Halloween. The architecture was stunning, the people kind, and I understand now why my friends from NOLA consider Portland boring and sleepy. Genuinely didn’t believe I was in America half the time.
First on the docket (after a day of wandering in random directions to get a mental map of the area and check bourbon street madness off the list once and for all) was a special archives exhibition at Tulane University showcasing Anne’s research archives. Struck up a conversation with some nice people in a coffee shop on campus (their nothing records shirt was reason enough to chat) and met a couple from Portland recreating their 1997 honeymoon. We had an essentially identical itinerary for the week, so the trips were more or less combined when possible. Wonderful new friends who already knew our wedding officiant, the incredible new wave DJ and lore keeper Upabove (Phil). Somehow across the country we had met the one person who could get me into the nigh sold out Decemberists Symphony upon our return- “what providence, what divine intelligence” as Meloy might say.
At Tulane, we got to meet and speak with Christopher Rice, Anne’s son, mainly about Trent Reznor. He was gracious with his time, and even more so at the memorial event later in the week, in which he ventured to personally thank every attendee. Thankfully we could skip that line, having frontloaded our Chris time at Tulane. The main appeal for me, besides the free snacks and tote bag, was access to Anne’s personally annotated bible. While I myself hold two of her personally annotated research books in my own archives back home, the bible is quite frankly the most important book to many, including Anne at significant points in her life and career. I skimmed my favorite passages to see what she may have been interested in, and took note that her annotations in Genesis. An underline on – Eat Freely. A margin note – Food = Death. A possible meditation on vampiric feeding?
A crucial stop on my visit was 4500 Magazine St, the former location of nothing studios. Here Trent Reznor recorded The Fragile, With Teeth, Antichrist Superstar, and hundreds of loose assorted remixes. The underrated Prick record was done there, some Pantera (it is NOLA after all) and a little APC. I try and do a studio visit everywhere I travel, Hall of Justice in Seattle, Paisley Park in Minnesota. They range from the defunct exterior photo (HoJ) to the extravagant bells and whistles tour (Paisley). Nothing Studios was perhaps the most hilarious variant, as it now houses a physical therapists office. I saw old ladies on treadmills in the same room Marilyn Manson was getting up to all manner of heinous shit. (some joke regarding Pantera’s Walk could be made here but I’m too tired to find it)
A visit to Anne’s Mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery resulted in another reunion with our new friends, as well as a few enjoyable encounters with other tourists who wished to stage my wife and I as props in their grave photography- “Look kids, we saw vampires!” I blew out my knee after a day or two of walking, no doubt a side effect of working seven days a week all October, so I picked up a cane at a masquerade shop and hobbled around the tombs with a little more dramatic flair than intended.
The Anne memorial itself was stunning, and once the full film of the event is released on annerice.com I encourage anyone to watch it. The crowd I would describe as…evil Tori Amos concert. The stage a swampy midsummer nights dream. The musical performances were all given weight and context from the speakers and documentary clips presented so you couldn’t not cry the entire time. I didn’t think I’d cry to the Paul Simon arrangement of Bridge Over Troubled Water (Cash version maybe) but they got me. In line I was interviewed by the times picayune to explain “the scene” but was left unquoted in the articles, no doubt because I was way too long winded. A simple “she saved my life” would have been more useful to the man but I couldn’t help myself, and he thankfully found concision elsewhere.
A second viewing of Del Toro’s Frankenstein was next, in glorious 35mm. Much better without the sound issues the Baghdad was having my first go round. Victor’s arc was much more immersive for me now that I was also cane-bound.
Credit to my boy Stu for all his food and drink recommendations across the entire trip- you can see his art in the background of this very website. A trip to The Saint (Best Bar in The World quoth Stu) was a highlight, as the bartender and near every patron seated toasted his name and spoke of him like a legend.
A few more scattered recollections- A visit to Faulkner’s house, a hotel viewing of Cronos and Wonka (I liked the bit where he can’t read), getting matching Vampire the Masquerade tattoos on Frenchman Street. Myself, the Toreador Rose, my Wife the Gangrel wolf…
That’s all for now, back to trying to finish a million records between two jobs and shit xoxo