Wednesday, July 04, 2007

An Open Letter To New Orleans

You are a mystery worth discovering for so many reasons....yet you keep us guessing because there is far more substance to you than what you'd like to let on. You are not all Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras...

You are young musicians playing trombones on street corners, you are old jazz men wearing white hats sitting on bar stools, you are speak easy pubs where local legends stop in and get invited on stage, you are kids glistening shirtless giving tap performances using buttons stuck to their sneakers because they can't afford tap shoes.

You are gumbo and jumbalaya, sure thing...but you are also twenty foot oyster counters, lobster stuffed ravioli, fried aligator, sugar coated beignets at 2am, po' boy sandwiches for less than 10$ and portions that are good for the soul.

You are tragedy and heartbreak... but you are also resilience and passion and kindness. You are the guy at the end of the bar who has moved 9 times in the past two years, you are the guy in the Vodoo store who admitted to not yet having a kitchen, you are the entire family who was taking our cooking class who was from a parish that was completely destroyed...who was still laughing and still there...

You are about calling people 'Ma'am and Sir', you are about tipping your hat, you are about asking complete stangers you meet on the street 'How y'all doing today?'...

You are where the Saints live and play...on so many levels... and despite all that you've been through in these past couple of years...you are most definetly open for business.