A True NOLA moment.
Yesterday I finally got some laundry done. Then I went out to help out the Arabi Wrecking Krewe. They were at Dr. Michael White's yesterday. He lives by the London Street Canal. Probably about 4 to 6 blocks from the break. Give or take. He had, I would guess about 7-9 Feet of water. It was to the top of a door sill. I only peeked into one room of the house, it was mostly cleaned out, but it was catostophic. That is the only way I can think to describe it. There are no words really. Pictures do not do it justice. There isn't much more I can say about it. My job for the day was to help try to salvage some of his CDs. His personal collection as well as CDs he uses in classes and of course his own. He has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Yesterday we probably saved about 300. We made a dent in the pile. He had originally told them to throw it all out. I found probably 10 or 15 so far, still sealed in plastic, in perfect condition. I don't know where they had been in the house, they must have floated or something. It was amazing. I was told at one point "see that pile of paper there, there is handwritten music by Louis Armstrong in there, and we can't save it" He has so much musical history at his house, so many clarinets, just this history. Gone. We could hear them driving 30 foot pilings yesterday into the break, so at least they were working on the canal. Its something. I am going back to day to try to save some more CDs.
Last night I went to "A Joyful Noise" benefit. It was to help the children of New Orleans. I am not sure who the first dude was that played, but the rest were Shannon McNally (who sounds like Stevie Nicks) Fred LeBlanc, George Porter Jr. and then Anders Osborne. Fred was his usually crazy self even though it was just him and his guitar. He did play "The Avenue" I love that song. George Porter Jr. had June Yamagushi, Russell Batiste Jr, Mark Mullins and one other guy playing keyboards, then when Anders came out it was Stanton Moore on drums, George Porter Jr. on bass, Mark and the same guy on keyboards. But random people kept popping up. Like at one point during George's set, both Russell and Fred were on drums (2 sets were on stage) they were tossing drum sticks back and forth, then it was Russell and Stanton. Theresa Anderson came out and sang a few songs, then it was Russell on keyboards for awhile, then Fred and Stanton on drums. By that time Fred was pretty much drunk. He had at one point made me chug half his beer for him, maybe it was punishiment since I said I was looking forward to the 28th because Bonerama was opening for them??? It was a truely amazing musical night in New Orleans. At least for me it was. I went from an extreme low yesterday to an extreme high last night. It was amazing.
Yesterday I finally got some laundry done. Then I went out to help out the Arabi Wrecking Krewe. They were at Dr. Michael White's yesterday. He lives by the London Street Canal. Probably about 4 to 6 blocks from the break. Give or take. He had, I would guess about 7-9 Feet of water. It was to the top of a door sill. I only peeked into one room of the house, it was mostly cleaned out, but it was catostophic. That is the only way I can think to describe it. There are no words really. Pictures do not do it justice. There isn't much more I can say about it. My job for the day was to help try to salvage some of his CDs. His personal collection as well as CDs he uses in classes and of course his own. He has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Yesterday we probably saved about 300. We made a dent in the pile. He had originally told them to throw it all out. I found probably 10 or 15 so far, still sealed in plastic, in perfect condition. I don't know where they had been in the house, they must have floated or something. It was amazing. I was told at one point "see that pile of paper there, there is handwritten music by Louis Armstrong in there, and we can't save it" He has so much musical history at his house, so many clarinets, just this history. Gone. We could hear them driving 30 foot pilings yesterday into the break, so at least they were working on the canal. Its something. I am going back to day to try to save some more CDs.
Last night I went to "A Joyful Noise" benefit. It was to help the children of New Orleans. I am not sure who the first dude was that played, but the rest were Shannon McNally (who sounds like Stevie Nicks) Fred LeBlanc, George Porter Jr. and then Anders Osborne. Fred was his usually crazy self even though it was just him and his guitar. He did play "The Avenue" I love that song. George Porter Jr. had June Yamagushi, Russell Batiste Jr, Mark Mullins and one other guy playing keyboards, then when Anders came out it was Stanton Moore on drums, George Porter Jr. on bass, Mark and the same guy on keyboards. But random people kept popping up. Like at one point during George's set, both Russell and Fred were on drums (2 sets were on stage) they were tossing drum sticks back and forth, then it was Russell and Stanton. Theresa Anderson came out and sang a few songs, then it was Russell on keyboards for awhile, then Fred and Stanton on drums. By that time Fred was pretty much drunk. He had at one point made me chug half his beer for him, maybe it was punishiment since I said I was looking forward to the 28th because Bonerama was opening for them??? It was a truely amazing musical night in New Orleans. At least for me it was. I went from an extreme low yesterday to an extreme high last night. It was amazing.
2 Comments:
What an amazing day! I bet you were physically and emotionally exhausted when your head hit the pillow last night. Good luck with saving more CD's today. Sad about all the historical items. Thanks for describing last night - I was for some reason thinking all night about the benefit & all of the artists playing.
-Janice
I'm glad you got to go help out, I'm sure it was incredibly emotional and rewarding. Good for you!
The benefit must have been amazing! What a great variety of musicians, pulling togehter and sharing the stage...so very NOLA....
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