I love New Orleans

This is a cool place.  Did I already say that?  The last few days in this vibrant and crazy city have been fun.  Jonathan and Joe have been the consummate hosts; charming, gregarious and sweet all at once.  Sort of like New Orleans.  My sweet friend Donna and I felt like southern ladies. She's from Tenessee, so it didn't take her long to get back into the drawl.

The musical highlight for me was going to Snug Harbour, an incredibly cool jazz bar owned by Ellis Marsalis, the big daddy of jazz.  Seeing and hearing him and his group of musicians play one night was as close to musical Nirvanna as I've been.  As a musician and jazz lover, I was so excited to be present in this small intimate setting filled with the most incredible energy, musical genius and sure I'll say it; love.  The energy in that room was overwhelming.

Nothing else existed for me for an hour.  Jason Marsalis on the drums was brilliant; a fabulous snugness between the bass player and percussion.  They were swinging the whole time and were a stunning consistent framework for the trombone and sax to improvise over.  I don't have the names currently, but there was an awesome vibe player (I'll have to check the liner notes on the cd I got) who was unbelievable.  Of course, I don't even have words for the piano playing brilliance of Mr. Marsalis.  

It was all over too soon. 

One night, we went to listen to Cajun Zydeco from musician Buckwheat Zydeco.  I have to admit, I'm no aficionada, and it sounded a lot like the blues & rock n roll with a cajun sqeezebox, but it was fun to dance to. The event was held at a The Rock N Bowl - a bowling alley, and the main floor was packed with people while others took turns booking the lanes to bowl.  It was the best place to dance, since the floor was so full of people.  Yes, of course, we did go bowling; are you kidding? Those shoes are great to dance in.  It's fuzzy, but here is a picture of me bowling a strike.

  

The last day at the fairgrounds we saw Santana and the Neville Bros., and watched all the people which was just as fun as listening to the music.  I had to leave early because I wanted to get back to pack, and thought I would just grab a taxi back to the hotel and get a head start.

No go.  After I walked a kilometre, I found the line up to the taxi stand was a km long so I thought I would just keep on walking.  After 3 km, someone told me it would be at least another 8 k and that I should take the street car on Canal Street, 1/2 km up the road.  My feet actually got blisters from the most comfortable flip flops I own.  The streetcar was really cool; like being in the 1930's.  Leather strap/handles hung from the ceiling, the seats were made of wood, the windows opened wide and also had little shades on them you could pull down to keep the sun out.  It was excruciatingly slow, but at least I wasn't walking.  At Jackson Square, I walked another 1/2 km to finally reach the hotel.  (We were in a lovely new once since three days ago.)  Me feet still haven't recovered.  I ended up staying up all night anyway  packing and getting rid of half my shoes (that hurt) and lightening my load, which is STILL too heavy, even though I only have very few clothes, but lots of computer cords, ipod, camera, 3 books and the dreaded hairdryer that I might need one day to dry my underwear or something.  

I'm not a very good gypsy, but I suppose I'll get used to it.  New Orleans and California were a wonderful side journey where I learned a lot and met the most fabulous people.