Sometimes these streets are closely interweaved with posh routes like fancy St Charles Avenue uptown, where perfectly maintained antebellum mansions sit on manicured lawns protected by tall, sturdy, alarmed fences and private security. The 9th Ward has been enshrined in legend by rappers like Master P and Mystikal, doing shout-outs to their hood, and movies like Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law, which captures its dilapidated, seedy,
melancholy charm in lingering black and white camera shots. David Lynch used this part of town in Wild at Heart, too. The influx of bars, vintage stores and coffee shops is making the area safer, but it’s still dangerous, and many natives would never set foot here after dark. This attitude may or may not be tinged by racism. But almost everyone I talked to has been mugged, often at gunpoint, or knows someone who has. A brief glance at the NOPD’s website reveals frightening statistics. Yet many seem to take pride in living dangerously, wearing assaults on their sleeve like a badge of honor and constantly trading horror stories. Say “I’m from Brooklyn, I ain’t scared” when the locals warn you, and they’ll laugh in your face. When it comes to crime statistics, Brooklyn’s a country cousin to New Orleans.
The reigning king and queen of 9th Ward cool for almost 10 years have been Mr. Quintron – organist, mad inventor and producer – and his wife Miss Pussycat – seamstress, puppeteer and maracas player. The two of them own a big house in the sketchier part of town, where they live, create, record and run a club called The Spellcaster Lodge. That is, when they’re not touring the world with their raunchy, danceable organ nightclub music and psychedelic puppet show. Inspired by a painting, Miss Pussycat came here on a whim in the early nineties. She moved into a place with a stage, started booking shows – something she’d never done before – and quickly found herself the proprietor of the Pussycat Caverns club. Quintron was running the Milk of Burgundy, a similar club in Chicago, when he played a gig at the Pussycat Caverns, fell in love with Miss Pussycat and New Orleans and decided to move. The dynamic duo and New Orleans are a perfect fit. Quintron and Miss Pussycat are preserving and building on New Orleans traditions like the love of costumes and the art of the party. Quintron’s music mirrors the city’s seedy, offkilter, colourful charm.
Mysterious flyers and urgent whispers will lead you to the Spellcaster Lodge. A red light and a cluster of locked-up, often decked-out bicycles are sure signs there’s a party going on. You enter through a little alleyway. First you reach an Alice in Wonderland garden. Walk through it awestruck, then head in to the nautical bar, dance floor and performance space. Go through a trap door in the back stage room to get upstairs. Climb the ladder and you find yourself in Mr. Quintron’s and Miss Pussycat’s bedroom. We sat down in the kitchen for a chat over a little moonshine.
So how insane is it to run a club at your own house?
Miss Pussycat: It’s kind of crazy. What we do is completely illegal. We’ve sound-proofed the whole house and built a stage. So we take this seriously, but we don’t have a liquor license or an entertainment license.
Quintron: The police get paid off in their own special way. We always have a guard on the front porch watching for cops. There’s a switch that alerts the bartender and door person to shut down. If the cops come in, we’re just having a party with live bands from Montreal and hundreds of people. So technically we’re doing nothing illegal.
What did you envision when you started the Spellcaster?
Quintron: A beautiful, magical world for people to come to. An environment of utter happiness. Mixing up the music, so someone who would never go see a noise band is going to anyway when they come to see, say, Ernie-K-Doe. And tons of people on the guest list. Then you’re guaranteed to have a sold out night. Throwing a party is an art. I put so much effort into it, because in NO there’s always a party, so you have to have the best one, otherwise nobody will come.
Miss Pussycat: We want bands to have a better time and make more money than they could anywhere else. The bands usually stay with us and I love having houseguests. We cook for out-of-town guests.
Quintron: When you go on tour in Europe, you get direct access to the culture through the food. So we try to serve New Orleans-style food here – gumbo and po’boys and stuff.
