#StayHome Movie Recommendations – Movies with Great Soundtracks

Like most of the country, we in New Orleans are staying home to help prevent the spread of the corona virus. My industry is shut down. No cameras are rolling. L.A. has no traffic or smog. Hollywood South is also fairly silent. I already miss hearing live music all over the city. Until the festivals and buskers return and the bars reopen, here are some wonderful movies with great soundtracks.

The first time I ever remember noticing a movie’s soundtrack was when I saw George Lucas’ American Graffitti. Still one of my favorites, the movie follows a bunch of friends on their last night before going off to college or war or becoming an adult. The ensemble cast launched the careers of Richard Dreyfuss, Kathleen Quinlan, Mackenzie Phillips, Harrison Ford,

Contamination Con

Twice, I’ve visited the Wizard World Comic Con in New Orleans. Last weekend, I attended Contamination Defcon 4, another “signing convention” (where you buy signed photos from “celebrities” from various movies and TV shows), but this time I was the one doing the signing. Though the whole thing felt sort of foreign to me, I ended up having a wonderful time in St. Louis and got to meet a lot of Midwestern horror and biker movie lovers. I also got to meet a lot of actors including NOLA local Theodus Crane of AMC’s Walking Dead with whom we shared flights. It felt good having another local around.

Galatoire’s

What do you get when you take a fallen politician, a bevy of blingy birthday babes, seersucker suits, a brass band, tables on fire and a second line? Friday lunch at Galatoire’s. Tucked between Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club and the Mango Mango daiquiri and pizza shop on debaucherous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, Galatoire’s was established in 1905 by Jean Galatoire of Pardies, France. Galatoire honored family traditions and recipes that the now-fourth generation carries forward.

a French Quarter apartment hunt

When I was sitting on my couch in L.A. planning to move to New Orleans, I was open to many experiences of this city. I looked at a home in Mid-City, a neighborhood shifting identities in the last few years. I liked the idea of living across the street from City Park, home to an art museum, botanical garden, sculpture garden, a golf course and on and on and one of my favorite places in the city, the Singing Oak (which I call the Bing Bong Tree).