{"id":2013,"date":"2019-08-23T02:36:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T02:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lowlifejournalism.com\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2026-05-12T19:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T19:48:39","slug":"washboard-chaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/?p=2013","title":{"rendered":"Washboard Chaz on tip jar thieves, the Abbey, and the incubation of trad jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI remember one time right after Katrina we were playing across the street at the Spotted Cat. And this guy came in and grabbed the tip jar\u2026\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

– “Washboard” Chaz Leary (Musician)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

[Photo Courtesy of Washboard Chaz.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

WC:<\/strong> … I got here in December 2000. And I sat in right around mid-December at Snug Harbor With the Phister Sisters. That was my introduction to playing on Frenchmen Street. Caf\u00e9 Brasil was still happening with Ad\u00e9. The Spotted Cat had just opened up. This place [d.b.a] had just opened up the year before, in \u201899. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then it was still kind of\u2014it was scary, you know? Raymond Myles\u2019 body had just been dumped out [in October, 1998], right out there in front of Caf\u00e9 Brasil. I used to feel wary about it at night. 

I remember one time right after Katrina we were playing across the street at the Spotted Cat. Like I was saying, it was kind of rough and tumble after the storm. And this guy came in and grabbed the tip jar and took off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The door guy starts throwing bottles of beer at him and then takes off after him. And right then, this cop on a horse comes up and says \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d and we\u2019re like, \u201cThat guy stole the tip jar!\u201d and he takes off after him\u2014cloppity cloppity clop<\/em> down the street\u2014and the guy turns around and sees the horse, he\u2019s like \u201cAHHH!\u201d Throws all the money in the air and keeps running. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually the cop got him. It was like the mounties, you know? Very impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then believe it or not, this guy came back like twenty minutes later and said, \u201cHey man, I picked up all your money.\u201d And put it in the bucket! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that was one of the many stories. There was also the time Stevie Wonder was onstage at d.b.a, and the time Tom Jones was at the Apple Barrel singing R\u2019n\u2019B songs til 5 in the morning. Buyin\u2019 everybody drinks and stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a nice little scene for friends and neighbors and locals. Saw a couple taxis, but it was just private car parking. And now, nothing but Ubers just sitting there in the middle of the street. Now I usually I get out of here as fast as possible. Maybe hang at the bar a little bit. Sometimes I go see a couple friends of mine up and down the street, but it\u2019s just jam-packed with tourists. I like to get back to Markey\u2019s. To the neighborhood bars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Lots of the traditional-style bands\u2014like the Cottonmouth Kings, the Jazz Vipers, and the Hot Club of New Orleans\u2014formed on The Square [Jackson Square] when we were playing with Tuba Fats, John Rodli, Joe Braun, Robert Snow… And we kind of incubated that scene, believe it or not, at The Abbey. And then we brought it down here to Frenchmen.

I mean, it was so bizarre! We\u2019d be at the Abbey, playing in the corner, and it\u2019d be regular … you know, Abbey people. Back in 2000, 2001. And they dug it! Every now and then, you\u2019d see a tourist come by and say, \u201cOh, what\u2019s all of that?\u201d They\u2019d look in and say \u201cI don\u2019t know, what do you think honey?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then they\u2019d come in and have a great time! They\u2019d be buying drinks, asking each other \u201cWanna get tattoos?\u201d and having a great ol\u2019 time. And then at 2 o\u2019clock, 2:30 the strippers would come dance on the bar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n



<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI remember one time right after Katrina we were playing across the street at the Spotted Cat. And this guy came in and grabbed the tip jar\u2026\u201d – “Washboard” Chaz Leary (Musician) [Photo Courtesy of Washboard Chaz.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,4,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-interviews","category-interviews","category-longform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2013"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2827,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions\/2827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}