K and I were at Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-In-law Louge last night to watch Obama’s acceptence speech. A good crowd showed up. Packed house and people were liking what they heard. Always a bit weird to listing to “national” political discussions in light of our very local realities of the past several years.
While I’m sure many people across the country can listen to the civics class rhetoric and still have their emotions moved, it is much harder not to be cynical having been on the receiving end of “reinventing government” and out-sourcing of public services to the private sector. Say what you will about the “magic of the market” and the efficiencies gained by “outsourcing” critical government services, but Haliburton, The Shaw Group, and other corporate disaster raiders made a killing while failing New Orleans — after the failure of the Corps of Engineers.
Add to that Gustav lurking just outside the gulf and you have a very odd evening.
Tonight, RGB will be playing a Katrina Anniversary party at Finn McCools in Mid-City. I suspect the vibe will be a bit edgy.
I have discovered that the best part of having really creative and interesting friends is that they allow you to do really cool and interesting things that you otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to do.
For instance, our friend Ian wrote this fantastic book A Season of Night
(side note: If you have ever wondered why people came back to New Orleans after the Federal Flood or what those first months were like, please get a copy of this book and read it. This isn’t an academic analysis or a polemic. Ian has captured the uncertainty, the fear, the surreal existence, the hope, and the humor of that time that seems now to be slipping into history. Buy it. Read it. You need to know this story. Trust me).
ok, so as I was saying, Ian wrote this great book — which means he has book signings. And being Ian, he has them at these great places. And luckily for me, he has invited RGB to play at some of them. We played at Finn McCool’s not too long ago. And on Sunday, we played at his reading and book signing at Pal’s.
Which leads me to the point of this post. Which is really that because of Ian and his book, I got this cool photo. There are pictures of us playing. But somehow, this one is so much cooler than those. I don’t think I’ve ever seen our gear in a better setting.
I know, not much of a payoff for reading a blog posting. Sorry about that.
My sister, Linda, and her business partner Chris have been putting out fantastic food on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for over a decade. It has been great to watch from afar as Steamers Shellfish To Go has developed into a local institution in the beach community. They have worked tremendously hard and put in the time to build a great business.
Steamers Shellfish To Go (www.steamersshellfishtogo.com; entrees from $12) in Corolla is a local legend for good reason. Their steamer pots (like clambakes to go) are perfect for a beach picnic.
As K will tell you, I have a thing for books. Old books, new books, classics, geeky stuff, doesn’t matter.
But when you live in a house with no shelves, it can became an issue. When first laying out the plans for the renovation of this house back in 2003, I knew I wanted shelves in the living room and I also knew I didn’t want the standard ye olde book shelves with molding.
It took a few years but last week Michael came and made the dream a reality. These pictures don’t really do them justice and they still need to get a coat of paint but man do they look great! Can’t wait to fill ‘em full of books and then sit back on the couch and contemplate which one I’m going to read next!
