My friend Jessica came into town last Friday to have some fun during FQF though Jazz Fest. She said on Friday that she got the feeling that all we did down here was fest it up, drink and enjoy music. I said, well really only during certain times of the year. Like now. We laughed it off. Until last night. She met me out at the Wednesday at the Square, where I have been volunteering. Which is a free concert. Which also has food and drink. Kinda like a festival. We then went to Palm Court to see Craig and Mark Braud.....she then pointed out that yeah, we do kinda do the fest thing all the time here. There is always something to do here in this city, even now. Its such a good feeling.

I can barely function today. My eyes are so heavy and just want to close for several hours. But once again it was so worth it. I will put up some pics in the next few days. There will be a nap this evening before we go to d.b.a. to see Rick play. Since my brain can not form full thoughts, you get bullets again just some highlights

Beautiful sunny weather
Running into the same people at every stage.
When the NOLA "locals" start to recognize you and talk to you.
Helping Barney Floyd win battle of the bands with the rest of the Arabi Wrecking Krewe.
Hurricane Brass Band....they are so much fun.
Meeting wonderful new people.
Wandering all over the quarter.
Watching the Mayoral results come in at Lafitte's
Hearing Lillian Boutte sing.
To walking past a stage and seeing Matt Perrine up there.
Not sipping slowly, but rather sucking down.
Craig really should be mayor, he does know EVERYONE!!!
Seeing Rick and Steve on a random stage.
The crowds, it was so crowded it was wonderful
Seeing the Rads, they sounded so good.
That's all I got for now. I am gonna attempt to wake up a bit since I have to go deal with some $$ here at work. Need to be focused for that!!

Dancing in the rain....we were under severe thunderstorm watch all day yesterday. It decided to rain at the New Orleans Nightcrawlers set....a few of didn't seek shelter and just danced.

To not sipping slowing!!
Craig changed the lyrics to "oh margy" to "oh stacey"
All the yummy yummy food
Listening to Rick sing
drying off from said rain in only like a half hour
listening to good music on Bourbon street instead of the canned music normally pumped out of the businesses
only ONE person out campaigning yesterday.
The Bonerama set. It seemed way to short but maybe cuz I didn't get to pay attention to it so much cuz I was too busy selling cds!!!

handing two cds to Craig for him to sign from my sister and him handing them back like 5 mins later, with all the guys siggies.

No sunburn
Getting voting advice from Michael Mullins. (he is 5-1/2) then later a big hug from him.

The hours are slowly ticking away. I am just 2 hours and 40 minutes away from having another 3 day weekend. And I dont want to work. I so have spring fever. I just want to go lay in the sun and nap. Maybe even clean up a bit around the house and do some laundry. You know the real exciting stuff. However? After tonight? Chaos kicks in for the next 3 weeks and I could not be more excited. French Quarter Fest starts tomorrow, goes all weekend. Next weekend? Jazz Fest. Lots of stuff in between the fests as well. Not to mention the week between Jazz Fest weekends....then I go to NY to see Harry on Broadway....celebrate my mom's birthday.....then I think I will have a few days rest.

Man this is so freakin boring and lame. I apologize. I need to be doing something right now while covering the phones so I don't keep staring at the clock and wishing it would jump to be 3:25 rather than 1:25.

I have been so busy all weekend and now here at work. That is a good thing. Just some highlights while I have about 2 mins. Bullet style. Yeah baby.

Molly's on Thursday was soooo much fun listenin to the Stompers and drinkin and dancin
Megan and I have made it a rule that if you are working on a house for Arabi Wrecking Krewe, don't come hung over. See the first bullet point.
Working on Drea's house on Friday, she is so much fun. It was a girl's day as Andy was there for only a little bit.
Bonerama at French Quarter Tips later that night.
More work on Saturday for Arabi Wrecking Krewe.
A packed d.b.a for John Boutte's set where Leroy was also playing
a yummy brunch at the house yesterday.
a even yummier dinner at some friend's house last night.
getting to finally see Lucien and Mark Braud last night for the first time since the thing. I got big hugs.

I signed up at the encouragement of my friend Megan to help out at the "Wednesday at the Square" events. There is a concert every Wednesday until June 21st. I will hopefully be helping out at the beer sales. That is where I asked to go. Megan and Andy did it last week, and I am joining this week. Free music, free beer and food (for the volunteers) good weather....what more could you ask for???? Except for maybe George Clooney, Matthew M, and Orlando Bloom to fan me with palm fronds.

Now that the Monday from hell is over, I can relax. I spent most of yesterday up in A/R fighting with the stupid computer program. The fact that the computer did not go flying down the stairs is amazing.

So Friday night, Bonerama had another sweet gig at the Maple Leaf. Both Matt Perrine and George Porter Jr. were there, making for a very funky bass section. It pretty much rocked my world.

Then came the wonders of spending almost the entire weekend outside. It was so nice. The weather has been so wonderful the past few days. There has been a nice breeze that has been blowing, the temps are in the mid 70s. There were a few moments of real hotness, but then that breeze kicks back up and cools ya down. Saturday it was working out in Craig's yard, then on Sunday we went to the Strawberry Festival to celebrate Kendra's bday. It was an almost perfect weekend. Which is why I am not suprised about the sucky Monday.

Both yesterday and today have been pretty much the same.....weather wise. Today after I get home from work I am gonna take a nice long walk that may or may not end up at the Plum St. snowball stand. Its my spring time crack. I have a craving for another Strawberry Shortcake cream snowball.

Yesterday we spent the day at Craig Klein's house, inside there was pressure washing, outside was yard work and pond water removal. No one wanted to touch the pool. The difference inside the house from the start of the day to the end of the day was amazing. Just amazing. They will still need a mold inspector to come out, but they are so so so so close to getting the house ready to live back in it. All Kay wants is electricity and she will be back. I spent the day weeding a portion of her garden and she is coming back this week to start planting....her easter lily survived and is in bloom.

After we left, we took a bit of a tour of St. Bernard Parish. There was a line almost 8 blocks long to get supplies at an aid station......the debris piles there are large, who knows when they will be picked up. Not only is everything moldy, but some areas where hit in the oil spill, so its all black. We went to check out two houses. A lady had contacted the Arabi Wrecking Krewe after seeing the piece on EHM and pretty much she hasn't gotten anyone to help her yet. She is a retiree and she is helping out an eldery couple as well, and no one has touched their home yet either. Almost 8 months after the storm.....and their things are just sitting in this moldy waste, and yes covered in oil. We went to the elderly couples house and by some miracle, a tree in the back yard missed the house and the closly spaced shed....really there was maybe 4 ft in between.....there is some roof damage and an entire house to gut. We then went to the ladies house, and I had the hardest time to not cry. Her house was the only house in sight, that had half its roof blown off.....and no one has helped her to cover it. There is spray paint on the sides of the house, snakes. She has snakes and other critters in her house. No one is helping her. AWK may bend the musicians rule to help her and the elderly couple out.

It was very sad and depressing to drive through that area and see how much work there is STILL to be done. A lot of those houses didn't seem like they had been touched yet. Then you think, there is still the 9th ward, there is still Lakeview, there is still Gentilly.....everywhere so much work to be done still. I know the work we are doing with AWK is helping some people, but there are so many other people out there......so many our small group can't help everyone. I guess I just have to accept that we are helping, that we don't sit in our non damaged homes and bitch about the state of the city, that we are actually doing something to help. I wish we could let people know outside of this city that NO the work isn't being done.....that we do need help in a desperate way. That we are 2 months away from the hurricane season and we haven't nearly completed the cleanup from the last one. How many times can you ask them to imagine that this was happening to themselves, their homes and their families????

We still need the help America.....

We (a few members of the Arabi Wrecking Krewe and supporters) met up at Cooter Brown's last night, for some food, a few pitchers of beers and watched Extreme Home Makeovers. Sheik was the first shot of the show!! Then we had to wait until the last 10 or 15 mins of the show to see any more. The work done on the church??? NIIIIIICE. I want that kitchen. ;) We cheered so loudly when they showed Craig, the other people in the bar finally tooked notice of our ragtag bunch. We cheered when they showed Sheik again. When the fridge was tossed, well that was a highlight for me. Did you see what they gave us???? I believe I had mentioned it right after it was filmed, but if you didn't see that wasn't it COOL???? I am very proud and honored to be a part of the Krewe. They rock the casbah.

After the show, we hit the road. We went to go show our support for Craig and a few other musicians known as the Storyville Stompers at their weekly gig at Molly's. They were seriously on FIRE last night. They were all having such a good time....we danced and just had a crazy good time.

Because of this....I am exhausted today. But I don't really care. Remember when I mentioned the whole not sleeping thing cuz it was hot? Yeah...its not the heat. I have been waking up routinely at 2 and at 4 EVERY FREAKIN NIGHT!!! Except last night. It was just 4. I don't get it. I just wake up. So my sleep pattern is like 3 hours, wake up, 2 hours, wake up, 2 hours and up for the day. I am only awake long enough to make a trip to the bathroom or to think "what the HELL??" and then fall back asleep. But the interruped slumber sucks.

Tonight it should be a fun time at the Bonerama gig. A few more folks that I know are gonna be there!! Tomorrow? Its Wrecking time!! Then on Sunday the Strawberry festival!! It should be a productive weekend. Good times. I love the spring time in here in New Orleans. Even now with all the crap going on??? I still love this place.

So yesterday Zoot and RSM both discussed "censorship" on their blogs. I have really NO idea who reads this here blog. Okay I know a few people, my sister, Kristy, Marisa, Lisa, and random smatterings of others. As far as I know...that is all who reads. I don't feel the need to censor what I say, because most of those people know me. And by know me, I mean in my real life. There are things I DON'T blog about, because if I wanted them to know I will tell them in person. Or on the phone or whatever. I obviously don't use any splashy pseudonym, nor do I really change anyone's name. Yeah that could get me in trouble one day I suppose. However if I blog about people in my real life and they don't want their name on here, all they have to do is ask and it will be omitted.

I may be naive when it comes to putting things on the internet. Don't get me wrong, I don't go advertising my address or phone # or anything. But when it comes to trusting people. I think part of that comes from when I first started really getting into the internet. I started posting on a board, it had just been started, it was for an obsession of mine, okay it was for Harry. Anyway...when the board first started it was really a little community. We all got to be friends....not only online but in real life as well. Some of the people I met through that board are now some of my closest friends. Hell, if it wasn't for that community I really don't know where I would have gone when I evacuated out of here in August. I met Dia and Randy through that community. And the people of that community really helped out not just the musicians down here, but myself as well. Now that board isn't nearly the same as it was when it first started several years ago, so I am glad was part of it at the beginning. We all shared a lot of things that we now wouldn't......

I won't really go into politics or religion here, cuz that isn't my thing. I do talk about things I like here, things I am really passionate about. The music down here, the food, things that mean something to ME. It may also mean something to the reader....it may not. In all honesty, I don't care. I write this for me. Yes I do some "advertising" or "getting the word" out on things like where my favorite bands are playing....or the work Arabi Wrecking Krewe is doing....someone out there in cyberspace that I don't know, may read it and care...and that is cool.

When it comes right down to it....it is all about me right? ;) So if you are out there reading this, and I know you, HOLLA!! Say hi every once in awhile...it doesn't hurt. If I don't know you, say hey everyonce in awhile too....this is pretty much what you see is what you get.

I am tired. So freakin tired. We are trying to save $$ at the house and not turn on the AC too much this spring. It was warm yesterday. So frickin warm. It actually wouldn't have been so bad if someone had remembered to shut the curtains in their room when the afternoon sun was shining it it all day.....and it got hot. I slept like CRAP last night, and when I woke up this morning all I thought was its not 6, its 5!!! I think I finally got some good sleep from 2:30-6. So not great but not terrible either. I guess.

I thought maybe I had caught up a bit. Friday night I went the the Leaf, as I always get grief from the sound guy there that I only go the Leaf when Bonerama is playing....so I decided to rectify that. Mullins was playing that night with John Gros, Anders Osborne and Tony Hall. I did not know that until I walked in and saw him. So of course Randy (sound man) thought I was there because of Mark. No. Sorry. ;) Late night that night, a really good day(with AWK) at Tanio's house getting it all cleaned up....well as much as we could anyway. A little bit more to do there.....then I took a nap. Kristen and I headed out for some music at d.b.a Saturday night we only saw John Boutte (with Leroy and Todd Duke), then I got into spring cleaning mode yesterday and cleaned all day!! And I only did my room, my bathroom and the kitchen, laundry and grocery shopping. The dining room and living room need a good dusting....that may happen tonight. I was hoping with all that cleaning and moving, I would just pass out. But nope. Oh well.......I finally stopped moving last night at 7 to watch West Wing and then Surreal Life. Talk about opposite end of the spectrum for TV viewing!!! I am going to attempt to stop yawning at some point today.