Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Leonard 'Snap' Fleming - "The Human Jukebox"
Sometimes when you go through New Orleans, you come across something so genuine and simply touching, that you have to just stand back, say "damn!" and count your blessings for being here.
Boo and I were hangin' out by the Mississippi one day on the levee and Leonard - or Snap, as the security people refer to him - stopped by to ask if he could sing a song. Hey I'm always game for something interesting, even if it doesnt include talent, but when Leonard began telling his story and broke into song, it all emerged as a positive. He sang Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and several other artists with his unassuming, soulful voice and we determined we'd have to come back and record him before it got too cold and we missed him - maybe forever - 'cause people on the street sometimes disappear.
Well, a few weeks later we made it back and recorded a couple of songs but the wind messed up the sound on 90% of the recordings, including an original song he'd written and sung to us. So the clip isnt too long but it gives just a feel of the soul this man, who's been singing on the streets since he came to New Orleans 40 years ago, loves to express to the lucky levee listeners crossing his path. So here he is singing "Come Home For Christmas":
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I'm thinking (snap) that Leonard (snap) would so appreciate the things (snap) that you have to say about him.(snap) I know that I deeply appreciate Leonard and his effort and determination to spread a little of that NOLA love around...actually, make that A LOT of NOLA love...a whole lot!!
# posted by 
: 8:08 PM
: 8:08 PM
Great comment! You definitely (snap) have caught the (snap) fever. It's almost as contagious as (snap) "N'Awlins Disease"!!
Great comment! You definitely (snap) have caught the (snap) fever. It's almost as contagious as (snap) "N'Awlins Disease"!!
Oh that N'Awlins disease! That sickness that is so insidious, so permeating yet asymptomatic until one leaves NOLA, whether by forced exile or by some momentary lapse of reason.
Afflicted people will find themselves suddenly in the grips of the illness and all the associated symptoms. Feeling like a fish out of water, an emptiness in the heart and soul, a desperate longing for the smell of Bourbon Street, and a overhwhelming desire to hear somebody...anybody...say "Where Y'at?"
Of course, the only known cure for the disease is the prompt return to NOLA, upon which all symptoms disappear and one lives healthy and oh so happy for the rest of his/her days (as long as ya stay put in NOLA)
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Afflicted people will find themselves suddenly in the grips of the illness and all the associated symptoms. Feeling like a fish out of water, an emptiness in the heart and soul, a desperate longing for the smell of Bourbon Street, and a overhwhelming desire to hear somebody...anybody...say "Where Y'at?"
Of course, the only known cure for the disease is the prompt return to NOLA, upon which all symptoms disappear and one lives healthy and oh so happy for the rest of his/her days (as long as ya stay put in NOLA)
# posted by : 1:46 AM
: 1:46 AM<< Home
