Tipitina's Shakopee connection

Selfie by Stan Rolfsrud

The only thing left of the juice bar at this location is the banana in the logo. The upstairs radio station is gone too.

They used to lower a microphone through a hole in the floor to pick up some of the music downstairs. We
don't know if the peephole in the door is a leftover from the gambling house or the brothel.

A few blocks away, right at the corner of Napoleon and Tchoupitoulas Street in Uptown New Orleans, stands a one hundred year old yellow wooden building that has served as a gambling house, gymnasium and brothel. In 1977, local music enthusiasts opened Tipitina's there. The rest is history… which now takes up a half dozen paragraphs in Wikipedia.

We were just across the street getting groceries at Rouse's yesterday, so we stopped by to inquire about the possibility of getting inside for a look-see into this world-famous venue. It holds 1,000 music lovers a night -- sometimes all night. The box office opens at 10 a.m. daily, the web site says.
It was 10:30 in the morning and the intimidating big black door with the peephole in it said to ring a door bell if you were interested in buying tickets. We weren't sure we wanted any tickets, but we sure wanted to look inside, so the timid Norwegian screwed up his courage and tapped the doorbell lightly once, so as not to disturb or offend too much. Nothing. Kathleen then stepped up and pressed it again. Harder. Longer. The Norwegian cringed and prepared to bolt.
But soon we heard a loud metallic click, then the big black door swung open, revealing an unlikely-looking white chap in a stocking cap, beard and layered sweatshirts.
We explained our interest in Tipitina's as best we could. He said that all the weekend's shows had been sold out. It was to be a big three-night reunion of The Radiators.
(Don't know who The Radiators are? Follow this link. and turn your speakers up.)
The Radiators have been around for 33 years, same bunch of musicians. Turns out, they've got a huge following in Minneapolis and, of all things, have played a dozen times at Turtle's Bar and Grill in Shakopee, where Stan and Kathleen go get their pizza pie on special Saturday nights.

Stan with Josh, The Radiator's Road Manager -- who also
opened the door for us at Tipitina's

When the white guy in the stocking cap found out we were from Shakopee, he lit up. He's Josh, the road manager of The Radiators, and he asked us if we knew Bryan Turtle. Yes, we do, of course. He's been in business in Shakopee for 25 years. Josh said he'd give us a tour of Tipitina's, but he didn't have the keys in his pocket. He suggested we return on a future Sunday evening for a 5:30 set by some lesser-known performers. He was too kind to suggest that would be a good way for a couple of senior citizens to experience this unique venue, but we got the idea anyway and have made plans to get there early to get good seats.
Josh asked us to greet Bryan for him, so we did, and immediately got this note back from the enterprising Shakopee businessman:

Stan,
Great to hear from you! Yes, Josh was the road manager for a band called "The Radiators" that played at Turtle's about a dozen times from 2001-2012. They are having reunion shows in New Orleans this weekend. It would be a great show to see, but sold out I'm sure.

Enjoy New Orleans. Minnesota stinks this year! I'm heading to Jamaica for a couple weeks on 1/31. Thank goodness!
Bryan