One of the things I miss is traveling, and tonight I’m thinking about New Orleans – one of my favorite cities. Somehow reality seems different there, and right now it’s nice to daydream about a different reality, different rules.
New Orleans was almost an annual trip for us. For a while I liked to begin and end every visit to NOLA on Tchoupitoulas at Cochon with an oyster and bacon sandwich, something I would be very unlikely to eat anywhere else on earth.
I generally am not a fan of cathedrals or of cops, but in the French Quarter in 2017 it just seemed right:
And listening to music is one of my favorite things to do there. Music is everywhere, and somehow it is always special. Even on Bourbon Street, which otherwise I’d prefer to avoid.
We heard Irvin Mayfield several times at the Irvin Jazz Playhouse in the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon and once, memorably, at St. Louis Cathedral, where the holiday season always featured fabulous free concerts.
I am sad that this week Mayfield pleaded guilty to fraud. I get it that he “diverted” a lot of money, not just to his non-profit projects but to indulgences including a gold-plated trumpet. But I want to forgive him, because somehow his love for music and for New Orleans should make it all okay. If there is any place where the rules should be different, it’s New Orleans.
In this time of COVID, I’m going to keep following the rules. But there is no rule against dreaming.