The NOLADrinks Show – 7-30-18 – La Fée Absinthe and Satchmo Summer Fest

On this edition of The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias we have two great chats. First, we speak with Rebecca Sell and Heather Twichell of French Quarter Festivals, Inc. about their upcoming Satchmo Summerfest honoring Louis Armstrong. We are also joined by New Orleans songbird extraordinaire, Robin Barnes, who will be performing at the festival. Then, we chat with George Rowley, owner of La Fée Absinthe. We talk absinthe and his fascinating journey to make it legal again in Europe (and how that affected the US, as well.)

Pictured above from left – George Rowley of La Fée Absinthe and Bryan Dias of NOLADrinks.

We start things off talking about this week’s show. We also discuss the vibe around town in post-Tales of the Cocktail world as we enter the heart of low season. This touches on next week’s show, that we mention, where we will be covering the Louisiana Restaurant Association Expo taking place this weekend. We talk about the restaurant business in the city a bit and how we’ll dig further into this next week after the expo.

Then, we head on over to the offices of French Quarter Festivals, Inc., which puts on that great event – French Quarter Festival – and, also, this weekend’s Satchmo Summerfest honoring the music and legacy of the great Louis Armstrong.

We visit with Rebecca Sell, communications and marketing manager, and Heather Twichell, food and beverage manager. We are also joined by local New Orleans musician, Robin Barnes, who will be performing this weekend at the fest. We discuss the event, the music line-up, and their ongoing efforts to make the festivals they put on into not only world-class music events, but also world-class food and drink events.

Pictured at left from left – Heather Twichell, Bryan Dias, Robin Barnes, and Rebecca Sell.

Robin discusses her background and music growing up in the city around the gospel tradition found here, as well as the numerous other genres that influence what she does. As we move into “Another Shot with NOLADrinks” with this group (second part, after our chat with George Rowley) we talk about second lines, jazz mass, and aspects of mentorship in which the festival and Robin are engaged here in NOLA.

We then head over to Sylvain (thanks to them for hosting) to chat with George Rowley, owner of La Fée Absinthe. This is another in our series of interviews that took place during Tales of the Cocktail. We discuss his brand and his story. It’s a really interesting chat on how George was instrumental in getting absinthe back into the European market after decades of being illegal.

We cover his background starting out in the alcohol business in the Czech Republic and how that led him to absinthe. We also discuss the “ceremony” involved in serving and consuming the beverage as well as what’s in it.

We continue our conversations with both George as well as Robin, Heather, and Rebecca on our podcast-only segment, “Another Shot with NOLADrinks.” We start off with George where we get deeper into absinthe and his story. We then get back with the gang from Satchmo Summer Fest to round out that chat.

We close the show out with our “Parting Shot” discussing the need to preserve the many jazz landmarks in the city, most of which are not properly protected or restored. Please check out our show from April 12, 2018 where we talk with jazz historian and tour guide, John McCusker, in greater detail about this topic.

On the map that shows the location of Sylvain and the New Orleans Jazz Museum (formerly the Old US Mint and location of Satchmo Summerfest), you can subscribe to, stream, and download The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias podcast…

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan