RANTS FROM OBLIVION

Yumm - got a used bread machine at the incredible price of $15. Works ridiculously well.
I started out with white Portuguese bread, graduated to whole wheat and now, after reading the ingredients on some of the good breads at the market, have started adding sunflower seeds, walnuts, and pumpkin seed, etc.
I usually make it b4 I go to bed and good God, sometimes it smells so good in the middle of the night, it forces you, by the nose, to come down that long flight of stairs - ceilings here are 12 feet - and tear into it. It's warm and soft and butter just melts on it in a natural fashion, since it's not toast. Again, YUMM!!

Got up at my normal time (630 am) but went outside first thing to see if my clothes were dry, and noticed for the first time the interesting palette of colorful homes right there in my back yard. I've worked out there on projects for hours and never noticed them like this before. Maybe it's the way the sun came up today...

Rode my bike home from the Quarter the other night and as I was breezing my way down the block by my house in the dim moonlight, I made out something - something calling out my name, tho not in a loud way. And having had a few drinks, I didnt pay a lot of attention to it, but had definitely gotten a sense of it. Well the next day, driving by the same spot, it called my name out loud and clear and right there in broad daylight, I couldnt help but acknowledge the presence:




I dont know who it is but he's definitely a brother. "Doctor Love" is the new nickname facetiously attributed to me by my Aussie "mate" Greg, and "Dr Feelgood" has been part of my persona for what feels to be at least centuries.

A major doubt in terms of moving to New Orleans was the REALLY bad rep it had regarding its own special brand of summerime blues, namely the heat and particularly the humidity. Having endured it for the last few months, it is rather unrelenting, but having worked out in brutally cold northeast winters, it turned out to be more 'annoying' than brutal. I had really grown to detest working outside in the cold - hell I was a beach kid and my blood must have thinned hanging out and working on the beach for all those years. So I kind of just accepted the soupyness of it all and just tried not to think about it too much.
Well, I woke up to go meet my buddy Greg to go check his progress on a couple of gutted brick homes he bought for $40 grand each and when I opened the door I was most happily greeted by a cool breeze, and completely devoid of humidity. FALL IS COMING!! The harbinger, the true harbinger was there blowing softly across my face. Signifyin!
So I'm not kidding myself, summer is still with us but I can feel those cool days just on the horizon.

Here are some pics of my beautiful park just a block away. All kinds of musicians hang out there and Frenchmen St, the jazz/blues/funk center of New Orleans, is on the other side of the park. This day, there was the last in a summer long series of free concerts by the wimmenz of NOLA. All really good too. Incidentally, I found out about a singer who goes back and forth between NYC and NOLA whose name is Ingrid Lucia. Terrific singer who sounds naturally like a young Billie Holiday and is for real. Also I heard a woman on WWOZ Friday coming home from work - Rachelle Ferell (who's actually from Pa.) Oh MY God, what an incredible instrument her voice is. I was literally hoopin it up she was so unbelievable.

I came back to jersey just to jump in the ocean. As I broiled in my beach chair (after 6 days of rain) I took a movie of the ocean just to post it here so that when I get to the point of missing the shore again (there's not really anything to jump into here in NOLA but the "muddy mississipi"), I can just plug into my blog here and listen to the rhythm and view the crashing waves.

I found out from Arlette that when we were kids, we'd go to the beach almost every day as a substitute for air conditioning (which essentially didnt exist then) or malls (which fortunately didnt exist then). So I developed a strong magnetic attraction for water - going to college 8 hours from the shore in the mountains of Virginia my freshman year left me longing for the ocean in much the same way having been in New Orleans has.>