Christmas in New Orleans

Oh Little Town Of New Orleans...


My Christmas dinner was downtown... at one of the hotels on Canal Street. A group from the churches met for a very fancy buffet.


After that we went to the Roosevelt Hotel, famous for its decorated lobby, which runs through the middle of a city block.


The most interesting thing in it was this clock... well, the clock is actually below the pendulum...


Here is a side view:


The pendulum goes in circles, pushed by a spring wound finger... it's not an 'escapement' per se, since nothing ticks... it just rotates.


And for those who can squint... and are really interested:


A New Orleans Style Christmas!

Christmas Eve on the Mississippi

One thing I've learned, in Louisiana things are done differently! Come on along as I'm shown a different side of Christmas....



Up the Mississippi River from New Orleans are the "River Parishes," home of Cajun Culture.


My friend Russell, who lives in St. Charles Parish, agreed to show me how the residents celebrate Christmas Eve. It was a rainy drive... part of a record breaking rainy December.


It seems that Papa Noel lives deep in the bayou... making toys for children. On Christmas Eve he gets in his bateau and, pulled by eight aligators, navigates the interlocking canals and passageways along the river.


But often it is foggy on Christmas Eve, so the locals build bonfires to help guide the bateau. This one had a sign "Cajun Fireplace"


There are quite a few of them built... and, if the weather breaks, they will be lit just after dark.


It's a family tradition, with certain families owning rights to build the fires.



Sometimes folks get creative...



And this one, built by the fire department (!!) is beautiful!




Russell and I drove back downstream and got some lunch, and it was still raining.
But when I got back to Community Church for the Christmas Eve service, the rain had ended.


Joyeux Noel, y'all!

For anyone interested...

Things will be busy for me in the next few weeks:

Dec 20 at 11 AM -- Preach: North Shore Unitarian Universalist, Lacombe, LA
Dec 20 at 6 PM -- Labyrinth Service, First UU Church of New Orleans
Dec 24 at 6 PM -- Christmas Eve Readings & Carols: Community Church UU
Dec 27 at 10:30 AM Preach: "Sweatpants Sunday" at FUUNO
January 3 at 10:30 Participant: "Jazz Funeral For The Old Year" FUUNO (joint service)

Then I get a bit of a break.
-Charlie

Celebration In The Oaks - part 2

Five Pictures of Cowboy Mouth.


You've seen me post on these folks before! Cowboy Mouth played at the reception, and gave a wild performance!

They do their own music usually... this time they changed some lyrics to add the phrase "ten-and-oh" to a chorus, and "the saints will win the Superbowl" to a verse. The crowd loved that, and if they could scream even louder, they did.

At one point a guy asked for "Some BRUCE!"... Fred made him give an additional donation of $200 to the parks before he played one tune... I think it was Born To Run.


I think JP's younger brother was invited up to play some drums...


The lead guitar, John Thomas..


And everybody loves Fred..


The crowd was in tuxes, and suits and basically well dressed.


This is Charlie, reporting from the Botanical Gardens!

Celebration In The Oaks - part 1

ME AND....... Mister Bingle. We got a groovy thing...

...Goin' on

Mister Bingle, the snowman with the ice cream cone hat is a fixture here in New Orleans! Just saying his name has brought tears to the eyes of locals...


The occasion was a fundraiser reception at the Botanical Gardens...


It was a rather formal affair, but also it was raining! So it looked rather like a Monet painting. These fellows were serving Gumbo:


Each year City Park is filled with lights, mostly hung from the big oak trees. "Celebration in the Oaks" it's called. Pre-K it was a drive-through affair, with lines of cars waiting to go along the roads. Now it seems to be a walk-through thing. This was the preview party, for society types, patrons and the like. I didn't mind spending the money, I'm only here one year.

The place really did have an other-worldly quality to it. Fortunately, my new camera is back from the repair shop, and taking (somewhat grainy) pictures in the dark!


One musical sculpture was a walk-through "Musical Light Harp"... laser beams, when broken, made tones... so one played it rather like a Theramin...



"White Bird, In a Golden Cage,
On a Winter's Day,
In the Rain!"


But the white bird, just sits in her cage, Alone! (It's a Beautiful Day)


Free liquor,
Free food,
Free deserts!

And later, free Cowboy Mouth....

Oh yeah, Robert likes Mr. Bingle too!

Pre-Thanksgiving

I heard you saying "Why I wonder if Charlie had a Pre-Thanksgiving party?"

Have no fear!
The crowd assembled...


Hey, I wanted leftovers!!!


Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, Dressing, creamed onions (without any cream-- olive oil and red wine!), Butternut Squash, Mushroom-onion Quiche, Spinach Quiche (which didn't get used) and various desserts!

I hope your Thanksgiving is so wonderful!

Lake Town Festival- Kenner

Greetings from the Lake Town Festival...


Here was the lineup...


Robert and I went to Kenner, the other end of the New Orleans area, to another music festival, like Gretna, but smaller-- only one stage.

Still, two of our favorite bands were there (but that comes later)
Start with the food...

So many choices!


We settled on the combo platter

and then we were hungry for some music:

The Chee Weez

This group had on the same outfits at Gretna... but back then the Saints were only 2-0... now they are what? 7-0?



The band is a cover band... doing mostly 70's stuff... Neil Diamond, Journey... that sort of thing. The lead singer is most of the show...


But the rest of the band plays pretty good cover material!

They tired me out... and then...

Cowboy Mouth

This was my third time seeing them...

They are a quartet, doing original rock-n-roll.


The leader is a man named Fred... who sings and plays the drums.


But the lead guitarist, John Thomas is also colorful.


The whole group is energetic


And Fred gets the crowd involved, singing along, yelling, jumping...




Makes me want to use some special effects...


That was enough excitement for one night.
We didn't stay for Eddie Money.