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.

As they say here... Geaux Saints!

GO SAINTS...Monday night football, November 2, 2009.



Welcome to the Superdome.

I was a bit apprehensive about going to the Superdome... it has many memories for many people.
It was the topic of a one-man show I saw this summer
Blanche Survives Katrina In A FEMA Trailer Named Desire
( http://blanchesurviveskatrina.com/ )

Then here in New Orleans I heard a singer who had been raped there. The place has memories, not good memories. Slowly fading memories.

These days it is all cleaned up inside... and actually has been for years. Rev. Jim wanted to take me to a game, and this was our big chance!


Our seats were up there (three rows from the top)


The view wasn't too bad


We could see the big picture of what was happening. On the other hand, the announcements were unintelligible!


Quiet... the game's starting....

Who am I kidding... it was a VERY LOUD GAME.

"Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dere gonna beat dem Saints"
(approximately correct, usually all they say is "Who Dat?")

It turns out the answer was NOT the Atlanta Falcons, who tried, and came within 8 at the end, but no dice!

Saints still undefeated.
Charlie's ears still ringing.
Superdome seen.

All Saints Day in New Orleans

Sunday I preached at First Church UU.

My text was from George Odell:

All our lives we are in need
And others are in need of us



It is traditional to clean graves of your ancestors on All Saints Day. It is a school holiday, though this year it was on a Sunday, so it didn't matter. Big signs advertised vigil masses and other special services.

After the service we went to the grave of the first two ministers of First Church, Rev. Sylvester Larned and Rev. Theodore Clapp.

Nice location... "we have a place on Orange Street"...


Here they are!!


It's been a while... since 1850 or so.


Me, down with the Rev's


Our crowd, from First and Community Churhes...


Next stop, St. Roch Cemetery


Including the room of thanks, where the first photo came from...


A wall of above-ground tombs... the individual spots can be re-used. It takes about 8 months between burials.


Those who got in early have the best location...




Is it time yet?

Gretna Heritage Festival 2009- Sunday

The weather on Sunday was not so good.
Still, the Gretna Heritage Fest is rain-or-shine...


Some of the food offerings were different on Sunday:


But all of the music was different. This group was reggae... playing in high winds and rain:

This guy got the covered market to play in. Good New Orleans music!

These guys had a huge area to play to. We actually messed up, and thought they were a substitute and that we were at the "Main Stage"... where the Guess Who were playing. But this was the "Riverfront Stage". There were no obvious signs to the "Main Stage" which looked identical but which was behind the Ferry Landing. Oh well, no Guess Who for me.

The Chee Weez were good though! Covers, but done very energetically by a solid lead singer.

And then there was a parade!

I think the sousaphone was too loud.


And the reason we came: Better Than Ezra, a New Orleans hometown band.

"All across America, people cheer when we say we are from New Orleans!"

Ok, now my ears are really ringing! Home again...

Gretna Heritage Festival 2009- Friday

A Health Food Moment...

Come along on my adventures at the Gretna Heritage Festival, across the Mississippi from New Orleans... This was Friday.

Lots of choices available:

Folks brought chairs and had a party...

Booths were manned by local charities and local eateries...

These were tempting.

I ended up eating a crawfish pistolet... not bad!


Of course the reason for the Festival was music. My friend Robert and I did see several acts, including:

Anders Osborne:



And Home-town favorite Cowboy Mouth:

I had seen Cowboy Mouth in San Francisco this past spring. In SF they did a song "take me back to New Orleans" which was really wonderful. They didn't do it during the concert, and I hoped they would do it for the encore. Instead they did a fantastic job on "Won't Get Fooled Again" which was an interesting comment on the ever-present topic.

And then, ears ringing, we drove back across the toll bridge to New Orleans.