The following images are of part of the Streetcar Art that is being placed throughout town. For a more detailed background and fantastic shots, visit this lovely blog done by Nola and Pete. They have tracked down a few that have been placed. The other night while at Greek Fest I told Pete about the one in Lafayette Square. I had spied it with my little eye from were I was selling merch last week. I didn't go over to investigate it, as by the time I could it was dark, and I honestly forgot. Today he informed me that the musicians on the streetcar were in fact a few of the boys in Bonerama. Ya know I had to go and really check it out! So before the music started tonight I did get a chance to see it. Here are the shots I took!!

This long weekend that we just had, well it was packed full of non-stop fun. It was a great way to kick off the summer. I had a friend come to visit the city, and we just had so much that we had to do and see, and to be seen. Like I said in my last post, we spent most of Thursday dodging rain and storms but managed to have a lovely afternoon that included a few bars, live music and friends. On Friday I went back to work, having enjoyed a half day off. When Sophia was ready to go for the day, I ran to the house, and dropped her off in the Quarter and said "have fun!!" After my day at work I met up with her in the Quarter, introduced her to the wonder of the many daquari shops then we wandered a bit more. We found ourselves in Jackson Square, enjoying the band playing when I happened to notice a familiar looking fellow. It was Terrance Higgins, drummer for Dirty Dozen Brass Band and had at one point sat in with Bonerama. He was showing friends around as well. About that time as well I got a call from Pete, saying he had made it into town and was out at the Greek Fest, so away we went out to the fest. It was a nice relaxing evening there in which I tried my first shot of Ouzo, watche the dancers and listened to the music. Of course food and conversation was had as well. Check out Pete's blog for pictures! We were not done for the evening however, once leaving there, it was time for my weekly check in at the Maple Leaf. Sophia finally got to see my home away from home and hear some music, meet even more people and soak up some of the orange lighting.

After some sleep, we were up and ready to go again on Saturday. This was a HOT and very muggy day. It was my kind of day. First stop of the day was out to Bayou Bogaloo and to see Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road show. It was a short but amazing set. I was glad that Sophia got to see Shamarr play and had a chance to meet him, as he is an amazing musician and person. We then did the tour of the devasted areas, you know the 9th Ward, Lakeview, any part of the city that isn't the Garden District and French Quarter. To me there seemed to be a lot more activity down in the 9th Ward and that made me glad. More businesses are open. We then made it down to Port O Call for some drinks and burgers. We eventually made our way over to d.b.a for a night of John Boutte. It was once again packed for him in there, everyone seems to enjoy John, whether he remembers the words or not. A few of us were reminising about the days when you didn't have to get there so early to make sure you had a seat, while it is GREAT for John, the rest of us were bummed. A bit anyway. When his sets were done, we made the trek around the Quarter to Donna's to take in a few sets by New Orleans Helsinki Connection. It was a small crowd, and it was some really nice music happening. I hadn't been to Donna's in quite a while so it was nice to get back in there.

Sunday we did a tour of the Garden District, more walking in the Quarter so some more shopping could be had then a stop at Palm Court where Lucien was playing. Sophia was tired when we left there so I took her back to my house so she could pack a bit and get some rest. I, knowing I had the next day off decided to head on down to the Maple Leaf for some Sunday fun. Which was had....Yesterday after a mad dash to the airport, a missed flight, Sophia made it home in one piece. While maybe not quite rested, she did have fun!! And so did I. It is always a good time to see the city through a new person's eyes.

Yesterday I took half a day off because I had a friend come into town. It was the first time she had ever visited the city, without her parents (which doesn't count). We made it to Napoleon House and had a little Pimms and a little food. We were then attempting to walk down Royal Street, which turned more into a game of how wet will become in between balconies? The rain just didn't let up. AT.ALL. We did do a little shopping here and there in some of the local shops. We finally made our way to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop for a drink and to hopefully wait out the storm. It did clear up finally, it was such a "chore" to have to just sit there and drink and visit. No really we probably could have stayed there much longer however we had places to go! People to see! We made it back to the car with the mandatory walk down Bourbon and right as the rain started to fall again. We pointed the car into the direction of Frenchmen Street and d.b.a. Paul and Alex put on another lovely couple of sets. There was a little Good Cop/Bad Cop, actually it was really Bad Cop/Bad Cop even though Alex tried to be good. Not many people came out that night, I don't know why? Rain smain. There is awesome music happening! That's okay we still had a BLAST and heard some amazing stuff happening up on the stage. We then headed on over to Palm Court Cafe to hear the last set from Leroy Jones and Katja. So glad to see them back in town! By the time we left there, it was storming pretty good once again. Hopefully today won't be as bad weather wise. After I get off work there will be more adventures to be had. I do believe one of them will include Pete and some Greeks!!

First and foremost a small rant, if you will. I forgot my camera yesterday. I know I should just carry it around with me for access at all times. Usually it is in my purse. I had moved it into a different bag for last Saturday night, and forgot to move it back. Thus there are no pictures, from me anyway, of the great and fantastic evening that occurred last night.

Seriously? The music was out of control. The sound that poured forth from the stage was like magic. There were at times 9 people up on stage. Paul Sanchez (of course), Sonia Tetlow, Mary Lasang, Susan Cowsill, Russ Broussard, John Boutte, Alex McMurray, Glen Andrews and a sax player named Chelsea I belive. Everyone got more than one chance to shine, play their own stuff as well as Paul's. Because that is the way Paul is, he wants to showcase everyone and just play some damn good music. I can't tell you what my favorite moment was because there was so many. Just so many. The crowd was into it, much more than I have seen in the past. People were dancing and singing and living life. If you missed it? Well it is a damn shame. However, there are more opprotunities to check it out for yourself. This weekend as a matter of fact. Paul and the Rolling Road show will be playing tomorrow night at Mandeville Trailhead, they will also be playing at the Bayou Boogaloo on Saturday from 12-12:45. Yes it is a very short set....but it will be 45 mins of glorious music!!

If you haven't caught a Paul Sanchez gig either solo, with a few people sitting in, or with the Rolling Road Show, you are missing one of the true New Orleans experiences. You never know who is going to show up, who is going to play, all you know is the sound produced at one of these gigs just wraps you up in a giant hug. The stories are classics and usually has you laughing your ass off. The songs? Well the songs speak for themselves. The Rolling Road Show usually consists of a few constants, but the rest of the players rotate in and out depending on who is available. See Paul has some of the best musicians in town playing with him. We are talking top notch fantastic musicians. Tonight we will be seeing Sonia Tetlow, Mary LaSang, Alex McMurray, I do believe Paul told me that Glenn Andrews would be there tonight, Shamarr Allen, and I am not sure who else. I am going to guess Susan Cowsill, John Boutte, and heck I don't know who else all I know it will be GOOD! So come on out to the Wednesday in the Square. Dash Rip Rock opens the whole shindig at 5:00 PM, Paul should be hitting the stage at 6:00. It is a free show, there is food, beer and drinks for sale.....enjoy some pics from the last time Paul played there!!

This weekend was a quiet one for me. Shocking and unbelievable for some I know, yet it is true. Friday after work we had a crawfish boil, and that was really the biggest event of the night for me. Unless you include the peeling of the crawfish I brought home to make pasta with an outstanding and exciting time. I wasn't in the mood for going out, and really it was time to spend a Friday night in. So that is what I did. Saturday I was up nice bright and early due to the previous nights inactivity. I had laundry going and a breakfast prepared before 8:30 AM. The rest of my day pretty much consisted of watching lame reality TV, working on this new site and laundry. That is until about 3. Really did you think I would spend all weekend doing nothing? For shame. I did go over and babysit the boys for about an hour, then once their grandmother showed up we all bundled up in the car and headed on over to Ponchatrain Vineyards for a lovely evening of friends, food and really good music by Rick Trolsen. There was a nice group of us over there showing our support and love for Rick. I do admit that I didn't get to enjoy the music as much as I normally would because I was running around after a 4 year old most of the time. He did seem to enjoy himself!! I did make my way down to the Maple Leaf for about an hour that night. I was in fact home and in bed before 1. Several people asked me where I was the night before, so I guess I was missed. Yesterday I barely left my room. I read a bit and watched a few movies. There were a few times when I just couldn't seem to keep my eyes open and would doze off into oblivion. It was a nice restful weekend. Gearing up for a potentially busy week coming up. There are two things I am looking quite forward to, one being Wednesday in the Square. This week I will not be serving beer, but helping sell merchandise. The headliner for that night is Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show. Perfect time to check them out. He won't have a few of the usual Rolling Road Showers with him as they will be in Brazil, however I do know the people he is brining in will bring a nice sound to the mix. The other is I have a friend coming to town for her first ever visit. I am excited to be able to show off the town to a first timer!!

As I had previously mentioned this Jazz Fest was just a bit different for myself. Traditions that had been set in the past, well didn't happen. I did start the first day of Jazz Fest and the last day of the Fest out on my own. What I mean by that is that I made my way to the Fest on my own and for a majority of the days would go to the stages that I wanted to go to, see who I wanted, when I wanted, eat when I wanted and what not. It was nice. I did run into people I did know on those days and did spend time with them as well. The mud factor this year made it a bit more challenging to get around from stage to stage. Some fake crocs bought at the local drugstore made it almost bearable. The rain was pretty miserable on the first weekend. It wasn't so bad at the beginning, it was as it got colder and colder out did we get more miserable. I did try out a few more food dishes this year, and I think climbing up to the top of my favorites is the softshell crawfish poboy. Yes, softshell crawfish. Pretty darn delish. The music was top notch as always. I didn't catch many of the bigger acts, I rarely do. The only one I did in fact was Allison Krause and Robert Plant. The crowds get to much for me at the bigger stages. The only day it was durable was on Thursday. Of course that was the "locals" day. It was one of the best days at the fest. The weather was outstanding and the crowds were lighter. Of course Bonerama and PBS played and both of their sets were amazing. I wasn't all gung-ho with the Burlesque dancers, I do know I wasn't the only one. But it did get people talking about the band. I would rather see it be more about the music myself that got the people talking. Don't get me wrong, people did pay attention to the music and were talking about it, could have been more if it weren't for the dancers. PBS laid it straight out and had the people groovin to the tunes. I didn't make my way up front for either band, again because of the aforementioned crowds. My favorite sets other than my two bands were, Storyville Stompers, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Leroy Jones, and the Bingo Show.

Again it was a lot of running around for me during the Fest. I do feel like I am still in recovery mode. In addition to going to the fest everyday, I was helping out at night shows. My least favorite shows were not because of the music, oh no. The crowds were out of control which were awesome for the bands. I only had to endure being stepped on, drinks poured on me, shoved, slipping on the floor (in front of the owner of the establishment who did nothing to help me get off my ass) (no I wasn't drunk, the floor was so slick from the rain and spilled drinks). I would totally do it all over again however. I love being able to help the bands out and Jazz Fest brings out some of the coolest and best fans that they have. Both new and old, the fans were out in full force. There were a couple of times that as soon as we walked in the venue, people were surrounding the merch table wanting to buy something. I wouldn't even have time to set up anything yet! This happened with BOTH bands. Ya can't help but be happy for the bands when that happens.

All in all it was a pretty successful Jazz Fest. If we weren't enjoying music, it was hanging out with my awesome new and old friends, finding great food, or getting a cold beer.

I did find myself thinking about next year already so it must mean that I am pretty much almost recovered.

So welcome to the new site/blog. I hope you like it. There are still some things I need to try and fix, like the sidebar doesn't seem to move along into the archives. If anyone wants to help me with the last few things that would be great, because I just can't seem to look at things on here anymore. However I wasn't the one who designed this beautiful and fantastic page. No it wasn't me at all but the wonderful Miss Zoot. She did this, oh maybe 2 years ago or more....and well I am just now getting things done with it. I procrastinate like no other person. At least one project of mine has been done!!

Please let me know if there are any other issues that you see. I will get to a nice long Jazz Fest post soon, for now please enjoy a few pics from the second weekend.

One year ago today, my beautiful niece made her way into this world. She has made quite and impact on everyone already. She is smart (knows where your nose is). She is a happy baby. I have only gotten to see Aubrey twice since she has been born, once over the Fourth of July weekend when I finally got to Phoenix. Then again when Aubrey had her first trip to New Orleans (first of MANY!) It was during that trip that I taught her how to blow razberries, something she loves to do even to this day. She has every one wrapped around her little finger and I can't wait to see her again. July can not come fast enough. She will get to make her second trip here to New Orleans.





Man she is looking more and more like her momma everyday!! Happy Birthday Boo!

* National Anthem at the Sugar Bowl
* David Letterman
* Knowing the difference between Debarge and Kool and the Gang
* The Blazer (please tell me it isn't the same one every time)
* Loving Shaun Alexander (oh wait that is me)
* Continuing to create some pretty amazing music
* Putting up with everything

I made it through Jazz Fest. It may not be in one piece. It could be said that I may have killed more than a few brain cells over the past two weeks. I haven't slept much and right now I have been up for 24 hours. I will do my big lowdown on Jazz Fest in a few days, accompanied with some pictures.

Tomorrow I will be out at Wednesday in the Square. I won't be pouring beer this week, but selling some merch for PBS. Come say hi if you are out there!

So I am shooting for Thursday. I will also be putting this post up at my new blog. So look out for it. The site is pretty much ready, I just haven't transferred the old posts from here over to there. I was going to wait until that was all done, but I feel like a good Jazz Fest post at the new site is fitting.

One more item of semi-importance for those of you not Jazz Fested out and are here in town. Bonerama is playing this Friday at the Maple Leaf. You know where to find me.