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Then

Now

It’s early May in New Orleans and the temperature is already flirting with 90 degrees. It looks like one more front may give us a brief respite from the dog days of summer. Summertime in New Orleans is a slow paced time of year. Many businesses start to hurt, people don’t eat as much, people don’t go out as much. The college kids have all left town reducing the population by thousands. There won’t be a lot of activity on the streets, most people hibernate in their air conditioned homes. It gets pretty hot and sticky during the summer months.

I like the slower pace, the bars aren’t as crowded and the only long lines you are likely to encounter are at one of the many snowball stands in town. It’s a lazy time in NOLA. This year the locals need it, Sugar Bowl, NCAA National Championship, Mardi Gras, The Final Four, The French Quarter Fest, The Jazz Fest, and a number of smaller venues that I have left out. I personally am pooped and looking forward to the Dog Days. By the time they are over I am sure I will be bored, but that’s fine, in the fall the city will spring back to life and we can do it all over again.

Saturday’s trip to the Jazz Fest was a great time. I started the morning early, parking near a friends house on Ursuline St. The plan was to have a light breakfast and mimosas with some old friends. The mimosas turned into Champagne without orange juice and I wasn’t in the mood to eat at the time. Four glasses of champagne, on an empty stomach, and an hour of delightful conversation later I was ready to head to the Fairgrounds.

I was prepared for the $50 gate priced ticket when a man walking next to me asked if I wanted to purchase a ticket from him for $43 dollars. People were looking at him suspiciously as if he were some kind of ticket hustler, I saw the ticket and knew it was for real. I bought the ticket at $43 thinking thats good for a beer or a Cochon De Lait po-boy. Talking with the man and his wife we exchanged our Katrina story and made small talk. It turns out that we had a common friend someone who used to work with me but now worked at the same place he did. I thought to myself “what a small town”. I would run into the couple later in the SOCO Blues tent and watch Carol Fran. It’s amazing how easy it is to make friends in this town.

So I’m inside the gate for headed for the food, I needed some crawfish bread to wash down the champagne. Before I get get there someone shout Chris, it’s been a long time. Already I connected with someone I know. I had not seen A. since before the storm, we spent a few minutes catching up, she told me they were camped in their usual place near the Acura stage, you know where we always are. I told her I would try to find them a little later. Easier said than done in spite of my efforts I did not see them again that day. It’s easy to lose people out there, I remember some years when I couldn’t even find the people that I rode with.

Got the crawfish bread it soaked up the champagne and I was ready for a beer and some music. Started out at the Fais Do Do stage listening to Jeremy and the Hot Boyz. I had never seen them before, they were pretty good, they have there own little twist to Zydeco music. They are also young I would not be surprised it they get a lot better in the years to come.

Other acts I caught were John Cleary, he put on a great show, Walter Wolfman Washington, and of course Dr. John. Wolfman Washington put on a good show, I had to laugh when he started playing his guitar with his teeth, I remember Wolfman when he had no teeth. The rain was steady at two o’clock, by three it was pouring. I almost missed the first song of Dr. John’s set they started his act a little bit early. Dr. John was good, between the first and second song of his set he proclaimed, “I know yall’s wet” and he was right. The rain didn’t seem to send anyone home early the crowd was still thick. After Dr. J. I headed out thoroughly satisfied that my $43 dollars had been well worth it. Sorry B.J. I just didn’t care to stick around for your show, for the most part I stuck with the local acts.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis conceded the close at large council race. This is a good thing, one of the things that made me choose the other candidate was CWL’s divisive attitude. This city definitely does not need that. Another factor in my support of Stacy Head over CWL was the overwhelming support CWL had from the traditional political machine in this town. While Mitch Landrieu is an improvement over The cable guy Ray Nagin he has been something of a disappointment to me. He certainly is not thinking of new and improved ways to run the city, and he continues the tradition of favoritism when it comes to his political appointments.

Stacy Head does not get a free pass either. At times she comes across as an elitist snob. During her early days on the council she was an immature idiot. I do think she has seasoned a little over the last six years and I do get the impression that she wants to do the right thing when it comes to improving the city. We shall she, you can push the button to elect them but there isn’t a button you can push to make them do what’s right.

In Memory of my dear friend, Joyce Hadley April 26,1925 – April 18, 2012

All I can say is it is about time, this case has gone on long enough. It was May 2006 when the cold cash was found in Jefferson’s freezer. Since then this case has had an obdurate nature. Dollar Bill ranks up there with the crookedest of crooked in this state and that takes some doing. The three judges who heard his latest appeal reached the following conclusion.

From NOLA com

“There was, in this case, an ongoing course of illicit and repugnant conduct by Jefferson — conduct for which he was compensated considerably by those on whose behalf he was acting,” the three judges said in their ruling. “An absurd result would occur if we were to deem Jefferson’s illicit actions as outside the purview of the bribery statute, simply because he was rewarded by periodic payments to his family’s businesses.”

At this time Dollar Bill has been ordered to report to prison on May 4 to begin serving his 13 year sentence. Maybe May 5th would have been better, then everyone could have rolled it into their Cinco De Mayo celebrations.