New Orleans

First off I don't hate the Colts.. And, they don't deserve not to win.. I just think the Saints need to win..more..

New Orleans has been in party mode ever since beating the Vikings..in the dome at the NFC Championship with a field goal in overtime...and it makes me so happy to see the fans still dancing on cars..all over New Orleans..

After Katrina, the Superdome was used for refuge and was so damaged that the team was forced to play all its home games on the road...every single one..

Houses were destroyed; streets were flooded for weeks; some were without power for nearly a month. I remember driving to New Orleans months after Katrina. As we crossed the border, the blue tarps on the roofs started to show up, trees were still all over the place, and houses were still in shambles.

I can still picture a two-story house..broken literally..in half..you could see the clothes in an upstairs room..still hanging in the closet..neatly hung..the closet door was hanging cockeyed..but, the stairs were missing..so there was no way..for that person to get to their clothes...

I remember the re-opening of the Superdome... a Monday Night Football affair against the Falcons..I don't remember a louder stadium..and I was just watching on TV.

I sat in the living room..and, when they revealed the banner, 'our home. our team. be a saint'..with just a sea of black and gold fans..surrounding the dome..I cried..and cried.. the rest of the game..I was so proud..and so homesick..and my heart literally..ached..

Because this is what New Orleans is to me (with a little help from my friends..)...

1. The hats in Fleur de Paris, a shop on Royal Street, they are frivolous and ridiculous..and absolutely perfect.

2. The beads of sweat on the face of the conductor on the St. Charles streetcar...

3. Mardi Gras..the beads, but only the ones you catch, thrown by an actual masker on a float. The ones that hit the ground don't count unless they bounced off your hand or arm first.

4. Tipitina's..just great music... I have heard Cowboy Mouth and Better than Ezra there...Also the Frenchmen Street..a cluster of 10 or 12 small bars and clubs featuring usually a Neville or a Marsalis..

5. Jazz Fest, where people happily stand in long lines in the blazing sun for a chance to eat crawfish bread, white boudin sausage and alligator gumbo..while listening to some of the best music..in the world..

5. Standing at the foot of Ursulines Avenue and watching a huge oceangoing ship slide by above the level of your head.

6. Along the promenade where the river passes Jackson Square , tourists still fall for one of the oldest New Orleans scams. A friendly fellow proposes that for a dollar he can tell you where you got them shoes. When you accept the bet, he says, "You got them shoes on your feet on ( insert whatever street you are on)!" He keeps the dollar.

7. It has the only airport named for a jazz trumpeter, the indelible Louis Armstrong.

8. Thursday night at Donna's on Rampart Street..the fastest, wildest piano player you've ever heard...plays... It's simply amazing how fast his fingers move... when he gets going...his feet literally come up off the floor...

9. On a foggy night the moon grows fat and full.. and hangs in the sky above the big old river... it pours light on the water and makes a magical brown glitter...

10. Where else can one find..Piety Street one block over from Desire Street... And, it is not a long walk at all.


Its the the parade of street artists and performers around Jackson Square..the hurricanes and dueling pianos at Pat O’Brien’s.. dinner at Antoine’s or Brennan’s...a jazz brunch at Court of Two Sisters..listening to jazz or blues until your eyelids are heavy.. Café du Monde's warm beignets blanketed with powdered sugar..while sitting on the patio..the treasures you find at the French Market...the muffuletta at central grocery..the carriage rides where you hear the most spellbinding stories..or simply just a jazz band playing in front of the St. Louis Cathedral..

Maybe the Saints don't need a win..but, New Orleans deserves it.

Who Dat.