Archive for the ‘About Town’ Category

The temps have been all over the map these past weeks, but overnight it was damp and the temps shot up, so I headed out before sunrise to see if I could capture some of the season’s last fog:

For just a few weeks in spring, these pink magnolias are everywhere. Despite being about a third of the summer magnolia blooms they’re even more impressive in their way- with no leaves to hide amongst, they really pop.

I was floored by the coverage of the last few weeks.

First off, I won’t even get into all the Manning worship because, annoying as it was, maybe it actually played in our favor:

The Colts won’t say this and Colts apologists won’t admit it, but I’m convinced the Colts believed their own pregame hype; that they were gifted this game. The arrogance started at the top of the organization with president Bill Polian blowing off media day and former coach Tony Dungy saying the Colts would win easily and all of that cocky chatter and behavior filtered all the way down to the bottom.

“I can’t say I saw this coming,” center Jeff Saturday said of the 31-17 loss.

Then he later added: “We had the team to beat.”

See what I mean. They had the team to beat? How?

Manning was caught up in such lunacy as well. Manning heard and believed too much of the talk that he would be anointed the greatest quarterback of all time if he won.
—
Then Manning said this when asked what the Saints defense did to slow the Indianapolis defense down.

“Their offense staying on the field kept us off the field,” Manning said.

It was a subtle shot at the Indianapolis defense. Subtle throwage under the busage, to me. In reality Manning did at times look greatly confused.

-Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com

But the Mannings are a real fixture here in the city- their clan’s stature as a whole took a hit here when Archie Manning said there wasn’t a single shred of himself that wished the Saints well. Okay, I get it- your boy’s playing, and you’re loyal to him. But add it to Peyton and his coach stalking off the field without shaking hands and it all seems very petty, affected, and spoiled.

Then again maybe it’s a part of an unforgiving culture that’s so much different from New Orleans that I just can’t comprehend it. Even when the Saints lost to one of the worst teams in the country thousands of fans met them at the airport to support them. Even if they’d lost the Superbowl 56-0 we would’ve been out there to welcome them back . The parade would’ve been a madhouse no matter what.

11 people met the Colts when they got back to Indiana. Eleven? Seriously? That’s… unconscionable, really. They played their hearts out, and did a hell of a job all season. Their fans clearly adored them before- they spent a crazy amount of time on the Saints’ fan boards talking trash about how weak we were… and then they just disappeared with nothing to say, and certainly no congratulations on offer.

Maybe it’s just because we’re used to losing- as a people we’re good at it. We know how to be gracious in defeat after years of practice and we know that sometimes it really is the thought that matters and the effort that counts.

Words cannot express how amazing this was. It was freezing, nobody cared. It was mobbed, everybody was thrilled. It was phenominally loud, noone expected anything different.

Cars waited for three hours in traffic to get into and out of the city-crowd estimates were 800,000+, pretty amazing when the metro population is around 300k. School bands from all over the state had learned to play Saints anthems and the players themselves were having a fantastic time.

When it was all over the Saints disembarked at Mardi Gras World and disbursed to all points. Drew Brees actually headed to a local dive that’s right around the corner from my office. Sigh. If only we’d known. He hopped behind the bar and took over, ultimately teaching the crowd his chant:

Is he just the nicest, most down to earth guy ever?

Bless you boys. It’s a great time to be in Nola!

New Orleans has been all Saints, all the time for weeks now. It didn’t matter that looking at ESPN or SI just told us how outmatched we were, and the question wasn’t whether we’d win, but only how much we’d lose by.

Spirits remained high anyway. A parade was scheduled for the Tuesday afterward and we were going to show up and have a great time, regardless. The boys fought hard and we loved ‘em no matter what.

Still, it would be nice, wouldn’t it?

So when I saw this prayer candle I had to pick it up (click to read the full text):

I showed it around, everybody got a kick out of it, and I forgot it.

For our viewing party we’d booked a lane at the Rock n’ Bowl, packed up far too much food and headed out to watch the game with several hundred of our compatriots. We were at a bar, ready to steady our nerves or drown our sorrows as needed and (very inexpertly) roll a bowling ball when we just had to look away. At the last minute I tossed the candle into the bag as a joke. There was no way they’d let us fire it up at the lane, but it’d be a laugh anyway.

And things were tense. We’d fought our way back to being only one point behind- 16 Saints/17 Colts. But going into the 4th Quarter things were kinda quiet at the rowdy RnB. With only six minutes left to go, a chick at the next table asked if we might light the candle. People had been coming over to look at it there amongst the Popeye’s chicken boxes and say how funny it was…while still stroking it hopefully. “Sure,” I said, “Can’t hurt, and if they come tell us no we can just put it out.” A lighter was immediately produced and it flared to life:

And everything changed. Just like that. Less than minute after it was lit Shockey got his touchdown, and it was allll over. Things were so crazed that I somehow thought the play being reviewed was the original touchdown, not the 2 point conversion. Momentum was on our side, and when Tracey Porter caught that interception and ran it all the way it was bedlam.

Here’s a highlight reel of the game- skip to 3:40 for what I’m talking about. How funny that of the entire highlight film almost half is footage from the last few minutes of the game:

(By the way, Shockey’s face when they replayed it? The man’s a beast. A glorious, primal, asskicking beast. He’s a treat to watch for sure, and I was wearing my “Hey Shockey Way” tee. )

Now, do I think it’s all thanks to the candle? No, of course not.

But then again it couldn’t have hurt, right?

(oops. I just realized this never got moved out of drafts. Publishing now, though late. Mea Culpea.)

Last week Charlie and I lucked into seats at the Prytania Theater for the big Saints-Vikings game. This was huge. It was the first time the game was being shown at a movie theater in New Orleans and we just happened to show up to watch a movie the night they put the announcement up.

The Prytania is the last single screen, independently owned theater in New Orleans. It rocks. The owner’s always around, wearing his crazy ties and keeping his eye on everything. The balcony is small but cool, and an old organ still sits up front, beside the screen.

They’d decided to open the theater up for a viewing of the big game on the huge screen- for free. They were under the impression that as long as they didn’t charge they weren’t violating any rules, but since then the NFL has stomped on them, which is utterly ridiculous. They’ve hit them with a cease-and- decist order among other things and things aren’t looking good for a repeat for the Superbowl.

At any rate the Prytania hadn’t ever taken as much abuse as it got that night with stomping feet, screaming and running around. The Who Dats shook the walls.

And when they won? forget it.

At that point it was decided we should head down the the French Quarter and see what it was like. Not surprisingly, it was like this:

This place is going to be insane for the next two weeks. More insane, I mean. Come for a visit if you can- the real party’s gonna be here, not in Miami, and surely not in Indy.

I just don’t know about Mardi Gras this year; it seems so…well, so small next to the Superbowl.

Think about it: we have Carnival every year, but this is our first Superbowl in 43 years. To call things ‘a bit crazy here right now’ might be the understatement of the century. Add to that next week’s election where no matter who wins their last name will NOT be Nagin? Forget it. Might as well leave an Out-of-Office message for the entire city, telling people we’ll be back…oh, say around French Quarter Fest.

Today’s insanity was the Buddy D parade. Buddy was a legendary sportscaster in the city, as long suffering a fan as ever there was, and he once said that if the Saints made it to the Superbowl he’d dance in the streets in a dress. Buddy died in 2005, but his memory lives on and so today, one week before the big game we held a parade. Several thousand people showed up in the cold, almost all of the men in drag, everybody thrilled.

More photo & video at the T-P here, including a great shot of the crowd- it really was massive.

Schools are closing the Monday after the game, on the assumption that the parents aren’t going to be mobile, one way or the other. A judge has postponed a trial because he can’t seat a jury due to Saintsmania (his word- apparently now an official legal term?). Of course, win or lose, we’ll have a post-game parade, too, not to mention who-knows-how-many impromptu parades over the week.

Okay, so we’re a little…um…overly enthusiastic. But tell the truth… don’t you wish you were here?

The Roosevelt Hotel in the CBD was one of too many oldline establishments that had lost its luster, closing entirely in 2005. But after the Waldorf-Astoria gave it a $145 million makeover she reopened to great fanfare a few months ago, bringing back many of the old traditions like extravagant holiday decorations:

The hotel is still best known for its connection to Huey “Kingfish” Long who kept rooms on the 12th floor for the many nights he was in town, coming so often that he had Airline Highway built so he could make the 80 mile trip from Baton Rouge to New Orleans in an hour. For ten years he traveled back and forth, making sure there was a Ramos Gin Fizz waiting at the end for him as he met with the power brokers in town.

Seymour Weiss, the Kingfish’s friend and confidante, started out working in the barber shop, where he could pick up information from the city’s rich and powerful and pass it along; but with Long’s protection the lowly barber rose through the ranks, becoming the principle owner of the hotel in only 8 years. Despite his humble beginnings and dubious contacts Weiss was a great success as owner, even if he did have to serve 16 months in the Federal pen for tax evasion linked to his dealings with Long.

Their Sazerac bar is gorgeous and famous in its own right- not to mentioned packed with locals and tourists alike:

The whole place was packed, actually, not just the bar, with people soaking up the atmosphere, and the employees were as kind and gracious as can be. I’m looking forward to heading back after the craziness of the holidays has passed and having another go at the place.

It’s been several years since we’ve gone, so this was the year. Everybody was staying home instead of travelling for the holidays, and we’ve decided to go in for a bunch of local traditions, like bonfires on the levee.

To stay true to the tradition, we would have had to do it on Christmas Eve, but Oak Alley Plantation’s fundraiser and whoop-de-doo is a few weeks before, full of music, amazing food, and the opportunity to walk the grounds without tons of tour groups all over the place.

It was damn cold that night, but we were glad to be able to have it at all after heavy rains the day before. Unfortunately, the pyre got dampened and took awhile to really get going, but it was lovely. Carols and music around the fire with Hot Cocoa to look forward to afterward. What could be more festive?