Everyone’s favorite record store, which recently moved to fine new digs at the gateway to the Frenchmen Street Cultural District, recently started a campaign to purchase equipment for their much-lauded in-store performance series. Details are here.
I have been attending these in-store performances since the business opened decades ago. Shameless self promotion: numerous stories about the music in the early years are featured in my book, Up Front and Center: New Orleans Music at the End of the 20th Century.
But enough about me. Performing at the “Factory” is part of the development of many of New Orleans finest musicians. Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews played there numerous times before he was even a teenager.
Even though it’s clearly no longer critical for the internationally known artist (he sat in for a few songs with Prince at the Essence Festival) to appear on the tiny stage at this point in his career, he returns every year at Jazz Fest time. Those sets bring in hundreds of fans and expose the store to many new customers.
During Jazz Fest, the store borrowed a state of the art system, which they want to buy. I saw a bunch of sets this year and can attest to the pristineness of the sound and the sophistication of the software. The soundman was walking around with an iPad checking levels!
So, if you support local music, help support this store, which has done so much for the music community in New Orleans. The link is at the top.
