An exclusive Web extra from Annie Leibovitz�s April-issue photo shoot with Twilight�s leading man.
Sing us a song, piano man�let�s start with �Happy Birthday.� New Orleans�s Preservation Hall�where Annie Leibovitz shot young Robert Pattinson, shown tickling the ol� 88 with the world-famous Preservation Hall band�celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Situated in the French Quarter, the music venue is one of the country�s most hallowed: it was founded in 1961 for the purpose of preserving New Orleans�style jazz, and indigenous American music. On his first-ever visit to the Quarter, Pattinson jammed with the house band and thoroughly held his own�his celebrity perhaps subsumed by that of the musicians, whose legendary status awed everyone on set. �When we first started, none of us knew that Robert really does play piano,� says Ben Jaffe, the tuba player (center, above), the band�s director, and the son of the venue�s founders. �But when he got up there, he started ticking out these notes, and it was obvious he wasn�t just tinkling�he really knew how to play.� Though the musicians were expecting the actor to just pose, Pattinson gamely jammed along with their tunes. After finishing a song, he leaned over to Jaffe �and said, �That�s the first time I�ve played with a group of guys like that,�� Jaffe recalls. Not a shabby gig�especially with Jaffe�s homemade red beans and rice waiting as reward.
On the landmark birthday, Jaffe says he and the rest of the band are humbled: �It�s really momentous for us to reach this moment in our history, considering everything New Orleans has been through in the last five years,� he says. �It�s really a testament to the strength of the people of this city.� Preservation Hall endured a several-month hiatus post-Katrina and reopened in May 2006, structure miraculously intact. We say miraculously, because the hall�s charm is that it looks as though it might collapse at any moment�it�s one big happy jalopy of a 350-year-old structure, with all the glorious paint-peel-y, rusty-hinged patina of a Clementine Hunter painting. It strains at the seams with ambiance. And we hope, lack of air conditioning and all, that it never changes.
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