7:33 pm - Thu, Aug 5, 2010

4 notes

The Real World: Back to New Orleans, Episode 06

“He’s a weird kid, and weird kids freak me out.” - Jemmye

This week’s episode contains footage from the only evening in which I crossed paths with the show’s cast or crew.  It was March 13, 2010 and I was down on Frenchman Street covering the inaugural Foburg Music Festival.  Just as The Revivalists were about to take the stage for their headlining spot at Blue Nile, the roommates stormed into the club followed by a production team fully-equipped with cameras, boom mics and light sticks.  The whole lot of them posted up in the area of the venue that serves as the main thoroughfare to both the bar and the bathroom, and the roomies spent the better part of the first set with their backs to the stage, yelling in the ears of fame-balling strangers as a killer rock show raged behind them.

My interactions with the gang were thankfully sparse and mostly unspectacular: I let a PA know exactly where he could stick his request to “share” my barstool when he was looking to get a better shot, and when Sahar asked me what I was doing when I grabbed a plastic cup from behind the bar and filled it with the remainder of my bottled beer as I headed to d.b.a. to catch Rotary Downs, I let her know I was aware of how long she had been in New Orleans and found it hard to believe she was unfamiliar with the concept of a “geaux cup.”  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so curt with Sahar, but you have to appreciate exactly how ridiculous she looked in that neon green cowboy hat.

The relatively uneventful ordeal was noteworthy for one reason: even though the quick shot of Sahar in the front row of the concert appeared earlier in the episode than the conclusion of pissbrush-gate, Foburg took place nearly two weeks after Ryan called 911 to complain that he got out-sociopathed by Preston.  While this may seem like a minor detail - especially considering this particular piece of creative editing was not exactly used for dramatic effect and I was only able to spot it because I was literally there during filming - it serves as another reminder that there are plenty of invisible hands at work regardless of how “real” a show claims to be.  I also wish MTV would have given The Revivalist a little more press considering they nearly ruined a sick concert by jamming up the whole scene.  I’m not even going to humor the rest of the nonsense that went down this week with a response.

I spied Slice (exterior only), Le Petite Theatre (the venue for the lovely and talented Theresa Andersson’s performance), The Beach on Bourbon (surprise surprise), The New Orleans Mission and Igor’s Buddha Belly. And that bearded man playing trumpet during the Revivalist show was none other than Michael Girardot, virtuostic musical genius and all-around nice guy.  Here’s a diagram: