Frenchmen Theatre moves forward without Karl Denson, and other Frenchmen Street notes
Patrons enter the Frenchmen Theatre, also called the Festival Hall Theatre, through an entrance that leads down a hallway along the side of Bamboula's, at 514 Frenchmen Street. (Photo by Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on October 17, 2014
Rounding up recent developments along the ever-evolving, increasingly crowded Frenchmen Street entertainment district. ... Operators of the Frenchmen Theatre, the multi-use space behind Bamboula's in the 500 block of Frenchmen, had hoped to boost the venue's profile as a live music destination with two free Halloween weekend concerts featuring jam-band saxophonist Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. But this week, Denson backed out after receiving a better offer: to fill in for ailing Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys during a tour of New Zealand and Australia.
Denson's last-minute cancellation didn't sit well with the theatre's Vaughn Mordenti. The club had already spent money to advertise what would have been Tiny Universe's Frenchmen Street debut, including a full-page ad in OffBeat magazine.
In Denson's place, Mordenti has booked a local double bill for the Frenchmen Theatre on Oct. 31: Spyboy at 9:30 p.m., followed by the Pentones around midnight. Admission is free. No replacement show is as of yet scheduled for Nov. 1.
Since opening this spring, the Frenchmen Theatre has presented live music only sporadically. The space has also billed itself as Festival Hall Theatre when hosting theatrical shows, comedy shows, murder-mysteries and corporate and private events.
Along with Bamboula's, the Frenchmen/Festival Hall Theatre occupies the former home of Laborde Printing Company. The building, which included a residence on its second floor, dates to at least the 1870s. Like the Maison next door, it was once used as a stable for mules.
It had been vacant for years when developers Joseph Ascani and Guy Olano III, looking to expand their entertainment empire to Frenchmen Street, secured a long-term lease from building owner Andre Laborde. Ascani and Olano own numerous businesses in the French Quarter and beyond, including Fiorella's, Last Call Sports Bar & Grill, Temptations and the Dock bars in Slidell and Pensacola, Fla.
Mordenti says he spent a couple of months pondering the dilapidated Laborde space, with its blackened floors, leaky roof and crumbling walls, before sketching out two separate venues within the same building.
Bamboula's is a combination bar/music club that also serves food. Mostly local bands play on a modest stage in the corner. The building's original tile floor was restored, as was the pressed tin that lines the ceiling and a column; a team of a half-dozen craftsman with wire brushes spent two months cleaning the ceiling tin.
The larger, rear space, the Theatre, is accessed via a separate Frenchmen Street entrance and a hallway that runs along Bamboula's left side. It can accommodate around 500 people for a standing-room-only concert, less when tables and chairs are in place.
The room was built to Mordenti's specifications. The ceilings and walls are soundproofed. The stage is especially sturdy, framed by 4" x 4" and 2" x 6" planks. Layers of plywood, soundproofing material and sand prevent sound waves, especially bass, from escaping, and ensure the stage doesn't bounce. "I could put 50 people up there jumping up and down, and it won't budge," Mordenti said.
Additionally, the stage's cypress-board face is concave, so patrons can't lean up against it; a raised lip is intended to discourage the setting of drinks on the stage.
A separate circuit powers the stage, to isolate performances from electrical problems that may crop up elsewhere. Mordenti spent hours adjusting the sound board to the room's acoustics, so as to minimize feedback and distortion.
Upstairs, the former Laborde residence was converted into a green room for musicians, as well as a party room that accesses a newly constructed balcony overlooking Frenchmen Street.
"The object was to make this place right," Mordenti said. "This went above and beyond what I ever expected."
Mordenti is another colorful addition to Frenchmen Street's cast of characters. He first came to New Orleans in 1971. That same year, he was the production manager for the infamously chaotic Celebration of Life music festival near McCrea, in rural southwest Louisiana. For years, he spent most of his time on the road, traveling with various productions. In the latter part of his career, he worked with traveling Bollywood productions that originated in India's film capital.
Along the way he obtained leases on eight Bourbon Street balconies and built a private business renting them for members-only parties via BourbonBalcony.com.
After retiring from the road, he wanted to run a venue of his own, and got his chance thanks to Olano's and Ascani's latest project.
"I want to do it all right here," says Mordenti, who, proudly, does not have a title. "I'm the guy who hangs out. I pretty much live in here."
He books most of the nighttime shows; the late-afternoon Bamboula's bookings are handled by John Saavedra, a guitarist in gypsy jazz ensemble the New Orleans Swinging Gypsies.
Given the operators' resumes, the Bamboula's/Frenchmen Theatre project "had a reputation of being a 'Bourbon Street venue,'" Saavedra said. "That's something we're trying to change. We're becoming a legitimate part of Frenchmen Street."
***
Before the end of the year, Bamboula's should have a new neighbor immediately to its right, at 520 Frenchmen St. A new, three-story structure, erected on what was the parking lot of Laborde Printing Company, is nearing completion.
The as-yet-to-be-named project reportedly will feature a restaurant/bar with table seating and a small stage on the ground floor; a rear courtyard; a second floor to accommodate overflow from the first-floor restaurant and to host private functions; and three apartments on the third floor. The brick structure was designed to look like a historic New Orleans building, with balconies and Spanish cedar millwork on the doors.
The Blue Nile sits to the new club's right. In addition to Bamboula's, that block also boasts Maison, the Praline Connection restaurant and the Three Muses restaurant/bar.
The three partners in the venture are C.J. Minor and Guy Paternostro of C&G Construction and former 2nd District assessor Claude Mauberret. Minor and his partners, who will use an outside operator to actually run the club, originally wanted to open in 2013. Construction was delayed, he's said, due in large part to permitting issues, especially with the city's Historic District Landmarks Commission.
This spring, they still held out hope that they would be in business this summer. They now hope to open in the coming weeks.
***
In the months since the owners of Maison acquired the Dragon's Den, they have overseen an extensive renovation of the two-story club at 435 Esplanade Ave., just around the corner from the foot of Frenchmen Street.
The main second-floor space has been opened up, and the stage moved against the front wall. The courtyard has been revitalized, and bathrooms totally rebuilt.
And the proprietors of Three Muses are now in charge of the Dragon's Den menu.
Music writer Keith Spera can be reached at [email protected] or 504.826.3470. Follow him on Twitter @KeithSpera.http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2014/10/frenchmen_theatre_looks_ahead.html#i...
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