A true story..
The citizens of Storyville/ New Orleans were pretty sure: the young German guy that recently moved into the apartment above the Funky Butt at Congo Square had to be crazy. At least he had no fear. Not only that the volume level of the endless nightly concerts was unbearable, everybody in Storyville knew that the floor above the club was haunted by ghosts of musicians who just seemed to vanish as the result of a witch doctor’s voodoo curse. It is even said that the ghost of Rock Hudson, who used to hang out at the Funky Butt, was seen wandering the streets around house nr. 714.

Instead of following the footsteps of his father, who hit the jackpot in the condom machine business in the 60’s, Dirk Hess decided to pack up his old Gibson and headed out towards New Orleans. Back then he didn’t yet know that in this ghetto-club he soon would need to decline the advances of Dr. John’s vocal arranger, Davell Crawford. Meanwhile he appeared more than once with the Dukes of Dixieland, who already recorded with Louis Amstrong, on the legendary Steamboat Natchez, jammed with Ervyn Charles, the former bassman of Fats Domino, met the 90 year old and sometimes (at least when his wife was talking to him) half- deaf banjo player Narvin Kimball and was invited to learn the secrets of second line by Richard Payne, who Dr. John referred to as the secret inventor of “funk bass”.

Hess was holed up in a crawl space over the Funky Butt, which was a music club converted out of a bordelo at the French Quarter on the border of Storyville. Money was tight and rent was cheap – thanks to the loud music, to the heavy drinkers, to the easy women and last but not least, to the fact that the locals considered the house to be haunted. The nights were not intended for sleeping. Moreover, during the day Hess went to the nearby popular local musicians hangout Preservation Hall where he was taught the “ins and outs” of New Orleans music. The old guys soon started to like the young guitar scholar and respected his courage and will.

He toured Florida, Texas and Mississippi and one night at the motel check in, instead of his original visa, he handed in a sample visa form along with his passport. The receptionist registered him as John Q Public and from there on everybody just called him John Q.

It was Francis, the English barkeeper at Fritzel´s that came in one morning and said “Look John, post from home!” At a little record store in the quarter, Francis had discovered the album of a German band he hadn’t yet known. The guys were called “Mardi Gras.bb” and their debut “Alligatorsoup” served a swamp groove made in Germany that couldn’t be more original if it would have been made right in the swamps of the Mississippi.

On June 29th 2003, the mailman delivered a cryptic message in the mailbox of the Frankfurt based Hazelwood Studios. “I’ll soon be back in Germany. Must talk to you. Greetings from Crescent City, Dirk” John Q, Rampartstreet 714, New Orleans, LA, USA. A couple of months later, Dirk rang the door bell at the Frankfurt based Mardi Gras.bb label. The guys at Hazelwood Vinyl Plastics were so fascinated by this amazing story that they immediately decided to dare to record some test tracks. Hess said he would need about a year to form a band and gather songs and would then get back to us.

Of course we had forgotten about this weird guy with the ragged guitar but in fall of 2004, he stood in front of our door – this time with a full band and a suitcase full of songs. “In reply to your letter of June 29th” was recorded in 3 (rainy) days in December 2004.