Clarinet, piano and sax waft out my open door, melodies flowing like clear water over river rock, high and low up and down tinkling, trilling, tumbling one moment, then a slow and steady sizzle the next, spritzing in my head all the day long….. Continue reading Jazz At 9 a.m.
Photo by Infrogmation Varmint Someone stole Uncle Lionel’s bass drum. It was resting in the courtyard of a bar on Frenchman Street next to a palmetto palm under the moonlight . Uncle Lionel was inside slaking his thirst with a cold draft Dixie bought with tips from anonymous tourists and devoted locals. The word went out in the humid New Orleans night, wafting from bar to bar on the notes of wailing saxophones and indignant trumpets. Someone stole Uncle Lionel’s bass drum. The news hit the streets and ran on a second line of lightening, traveling on the dancing feet … Continue reading RIP Uncle Lionel
I waited by the gate where we’d planned to meet, leaning against the metal barricade hot in the sun as sweaty arms and legs brushed by to get closer to the stage. Robert Cray was jamming, sweat dripping down his face while his mouth worked, chewing on lyrics like he was eating barbeque with a kick, fingers picking that guitar clean, leaving bare bones where meat used to be. I saw you coming, walking fast like you had somewhere to be, eyes focused on the roped off area behind the stage, guarded by a big man in red with shifty … Continue reading Hanging With the Cool
Toots skas my eyes open, the dog digs in the freshly laid mulch , Cardinals twerp, twerp, twerp: The birdfeeder is empty! Two flies play tic tac toe on my elbow. Shoo! Hit rewind, it’s a new day Continue reading Morning Meditation
The outsiders blew into town drivin just a little too fast in their fancy foreign car laughin at our roadside yard sales and our little café, Lita’s Chicken Shack, where you can get a blue plate special of turnip greens, sweet potatoes, cornbread, your choice of three meats, sweet tea and a slice of Lita’s caramel cake every Friday of your life for $5.95. They stopped and nosed around the 45’s and the LP’s thinkin we wouldn’t know a “vintage” Blues record if it hit us in the face but, truth is, we’re the ones been singin that tune since … Continue reading 2 Worlds
