Frolic: jazz, books, food

Jazz, Books, Food, and the Writing Life

Blogging from New Orleans, La

30 July 2004

Since I was foolishly watching television during the Kerry speech, I had no idea that Fafblog was providing live commentary on the internet:

He’s talkin about “I know what its like to walk around with an M-16 etc.” I dont get it, is Kerry a big NRA freak or a gun collector or something?

No he was in Vietnam.

Really? Wow. Giblets had no idea. You’d think theyd play that up more.

Posted by Todd at 1:41 pm | No Comments

Having followed the presidential primary through print and internet sources, I heard many of the participants speak for the first time this week. Edwards was good, but perhaps too slick. Having served on several juries, I could pick out the lines he’d no doubt used in countless closing arguments. Gen. Clark gave an unexpectedly strong speech that probably assures a high-ranking position in a Kerry administration.

Kerry himself delivered a solid performance, even if his speech lacked any structure. I appreciated the aggressiveness of his stance, which he delivered without acidity that political attacks often display. Cobbled together like a State of the Union address, however, it hit the right notes without ever finding a rhythm. Only the perfunctory acceptance of the nomination, providing a clear midpoint, gave the speech some structure.

It got the job done, even if it wasn’t a thing of beauty. Of course, Clinton set the standard the first night. I didn’t see Obama. Did he measure up to Bill?

Posted by Todd at 11:13 am | Comments (3)

28 July 2004

Wordcount provides a visual barometer of how frequency individual words are used. Frolic ranks 42,839 out of 86,800, but of ranks second. Follow the link and find out how my and own stack up against the other words in the English language. [Link from Chica again]

Posted by Todd at 8:51 pm | No Comments

In a streetcar revival, New Orleans has reopened the Canal Street line, putting into service shiny new red streetcars to compliment the historic green cars that run along St. Charles. While the two types of streetcars may look the same, those on the new Canal Street line are faster, quieter, and air conditioned.

Yesterday afternoon, according to the Times-Picayune, an SUV was crushed when it pulled in front of a new streetcar. Twelve people, including the SUV driver, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Said a Regional Transit Authority spokesperson, “Sometimes people just aren’t thinking about the streetcars, even though they are bright red.”

Posted by Todd at 9:51 am | Comments (1)

27 July 2004

As I stood beside the sign clearly labeled “Car Stop,” the streetcar rumbled past me as the driver shook his finger “no.” If I can’t get a steetcar to stop for me, I clearly have not even begun to understand this city. In the end, I just walked home in the late-July heat.

Despite being a bright, over-educated young man, I had managed to lock myself out of our apartment early today. Luckily, my wife had an extra set of keys, which is why I found myself in the Central Business District this afternoon. After retrieving the keys, I got distracted by a movie be shot outside her building. No car chases or explosions, just a half dozen people repeatedly sauntering across a plaza at a slower pace than even your average New Orleans resident.

On the walk home down St. Charles, I crossed the window-front shrine Emeril erected to himself. All day long, six flat screens in Emeril’s business office run clips of the boss deep frying dishes and tossing salt into pans. Every time I pass, I look for a luxury auto with custom plates that say “BAM.” So far, I haven’t found it.

Posted by Todd at 6:12 pm | No Comments

Someone wrote in an uneven hand on a garden wall, “THE SAME THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN!”

Posted by Todd at 4:07 pm | No Comments

Moby descended directly from Melville. Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s daddy is French billionaire Pierre Louis-Dreyfus. Isabella Rosselini’s twin sister teaches Italian at Columbia. How do I know this is all true? Because I read it on the internet! [link from Chica]

Posted by Todd at 2:06 pm | Comments (2)

26 July 2004

Ray Nagin is the mayor of New Orleans. According to the Times-Picayune, “The Funky Butt and Donna’s are two of Nagin’s favorite hangouts.”

Posted by Todd at 9:00 pm | No Comments

25 July 2004

A former co-worker of Andrea’s called Saturday. He was in New Orleans for a wedding and wondered if we wanted to meet him for lunch. We’d already eaten but were more than willing to have a drink. His brother, also in town, insisted on eating a mufaletta at Central Grocery in the French Quarter. With only a few counters in the back, Central Grocery doesn’t offer much room to linger over a drink.

The out of towner asked if there were perhaps any bars around Central Grocery. I laughed. Andrea laughed. Bars in the French Quarter? You bet there are.

We found a suitable dark bar around the corner from Central Grocery and ordered a round of bloody marys. They mixed them strong and spicy, tossing in pickled green beans and okra. After catching up and sucking down the drinks, we grabbed an extra round for the road and walked through the the Quarter to the Audobon Aquarium. Andrea and I had decided to undertake at least one tourist activity this weekend, so it worked out well that our unexpected visitors were up for more than drinking. I went to the aquarium anticipating most the albino alligator, enjoyed watching the penguins scarf down smelt, and left impressed by the iridescent jellyfish.

Posted by Todd at 10:41 pm | No Comments

21 July 2004

Responding to a 45% drop in their stock price, Krispy Kreme has introduced a new product to turn that free-fall around: liquid doughnuts! Nothing like a cool glass of sugary glaze and grease on a hot afternoon. With the new product, Krispy Kreme can grab the market share of those who can’t eat a solid doughnut, such as infants, patients recovering from jaw sugery, and the elderly who refuse to wear their dentures. [First seen by Kevin Drum]

Posted by Todd at 1:24 pm | Comments (1)

Other people’s prose:

Dead celebrities and pop icons present a formidable challenge to their home towns: People talk about opening museums or re-creating some part of the past as a living exhibit, erecting a billboard or painting a tribute on the water tower, but the money is never quite there; fans show up for annual pageants or singing and costume contests; and certain obsessed devotees knock on people’s doors and ask to see some scraps of arcana.

Hank Stuever in the Washington Post on Patsy Cline’s hometown of Winchester, Va.

Posted by Todd at 12:05 pm | No Comments

20 July 2004

In New Orleans you can find red beans and rice seven days a week, but you’re supposed to eat them on Mondays. Last night, blogger Ariana French and food writer Pableaux Johnson kindly invited us, two complete strangers, into their kitchen to get the week started with a well seasoned bowl of this traditional dish.

After only a few weeks in New Orleans, I’ve already met more people than I did during my entire year in D.C. And why do you eat red beans and rice on Monday? They say Monday was traditionally wash, and it was a dish that could simmer unattended while you dealt with the dirty laundry.

Posted by Todd at 10:47 pm | Comments (1)

The Republican majority on the National Labor Review Board decided that graduate students at private university have no right to join labor unions. The NLRB, reversing a Clinton-era decision, stated that graduate students are not working when they teach but only completing part of their training.

I once spent an evening with some illegal Mexican immigrants at an apple orchard in Virginia. Perceptively grasping the immigration situation in America, one worker asked, “If we didn’t come here, who would pick you fruit?”

If graduate students no longer worked, who would teach the classes? Who would grade the papers? How would the university function?

Posted by Todd at 3:31 pm | No Comments

19 July 2004

It was a weekend of eating, drinking, and political activity. Although I think the weekend in New Orleans normally starts on Thursday, we eased into city’s social life Friday afternoon with the happy hour at Lucy’s and ended the night at the Bulldog, which boasts enough beer taps to run the entire length of a wall.

Saturday night we foolishly decided to eat at Jacque-Imo’s, where the wait for a table can be several hours on the weekends. We passed the time next door at the Maple Leaf Lounge, which had an odd smell when we entered. After two hours and three beers I no longer noticed the odor. The food at Jacque-Imo’s, believe it not, was well worth the wait.

We left the restaurant just before midnight and still had time to catch Kermit Ruffins at the Blue Nile. Ruffins, a New Orleans fixture, played a mixture of jazz and soul that night. He was stronger when he focused on the jazz, pulling off a red hot rendition of Night in Tunisia. The pop music got the people on the dance floor, though, and they kept dance even when Kermit moved back to swinging jazz. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen anyone dance at a jazz show.

Sunday night, I wound down the weekend with a screening of the new documentary OutFoxed at a MoveOn house party. Nothing terrible shocking in the documentary. Turns out Fox News is not objective. It was good to see so many politically motivated people gathered together. I want to be actively involved in this election, and I’ve volunteered for the Arthur Morrell senate campaign. I got the chance to meet some of Morrell’s other volunteers and the candidate himself at the house party.

Posted by Todd at 7:44 pm | No Comments

14 July 2004

I had a nightmare last night that I was being chased by a hoard of nutria, a South American rodent that has overrun Louisiana. Since I’ve never seen a nutria, in my dream they resembled furry, gray cartoon penguins waddling after me. I swear it was scary at the time.

I also dreamed that I was shipwrecked aboard what can only be described as a floating supermarket. The handful of us who survived were stranded on a small island, but thankfully we had a copious supply of processed food.

Posted by Todd at 3:14 pm | No Comments

13 July 2004

I ran across a “You’re know you’re a New Orleans native if…” list today. Having lived in the Crescent City for a little over a week, I’ve got no illusions that I’m anything more than a non-native transplant. Still, I’m impressed that I already understand a handful of the items on the list.

After a year, I hope to be in the know about everything on that list. At that point, though, someone might add: “You’re know you’re a New Orleans native if you local knowledge wasn’t acquired through a list on the internet.”

Posted by Todd at 6:28 pm | Comments (1)