RANTS FROM OBLIVION

Well it's been an incredible journey this past year and its time I put it all in perspective. What's been good what's been bad and on and on. Now that Mardi Gras season is upon us again, I realized that I am now a veteran of YEARS of Mardi Gras, yeah two. But it beats naively admitting, oh this is my first M.G. and the old timers - who've witnessed it for 44 years or 78 years or now in my case 2 consecutive years - tip their heads gleefully and explain patiently what, where, when, and how youshould experience it in order to appreciate it in an intelligent, exuberant, and titillatingly oriented manner.

My first eye-opening moment was when I found out that exposed breast flesh was NOT the cornerstone on which it all is built. That being said, here is a finely exposed set of mammary glands I managed to accidentally capture while taking photos of the magnificent architecture on Bourbon St......

I didnt realize the importance of craziness in New Orleans and how it is woven into the very fabric of people's BEINGS here, but, in time, I've fortunately mananged to incorporate a degree of that into my already manic soul. It's a process folks. Once you realize the cultural importance that New Orleans (NOLA)has and how that is perpetuated thru freedom of all sorts, it becomes a personal mission to continue the tradition and insist that all friends and visitors do the same, because that joy and the ability to take things to the edge is the heartbeat of the vibrant, inherent creativity found here.

I was asked the other day by a friend of mine how did a "mother fuckin carpet baggin' scalawaggin son of a bitch get your ass into Krewe De Vieux your first year in town". Now Krewe De Vieux (KDV), is a parade, and when I arrived last year was to me the coolest of all of the many, many, parades because of its great political satire and their hilarious politically oriented floats. Its the only real parade that marches thru the French Quarter and is the one that kicks off the Mardi Gras season. And I in some very peculiar twist of fate, managed to be asked to join - and join the ONLY ONE that I wanted to!!! Joining parades is a very difficult process and can annually run into the thousands of $$$$ to be a member. KDV is way cooler than that, REALLY. So I got all dressed up - the theme this year was Magical Misery Tour, referring of course to the madness that is the rebuilding process here in NOLA, so I found a Nehru type jacket and my beautiful girlfriend (see pic below with her eyes closed as per usual!) Boo and I decorated it and painted my face traditional MG colors and off I went with beads in hand to then throw them AT PEOPLE, instead of the traditional begging to have beads thrown AT YOU which so many do on the sidewalks and streets of New Orleans. It was freezing!!! The coldest day since last winter!! Here's a link describing the events of the night in interesting detail.
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2008/01/krewe_du_vieux_titilates.html







Work wise 2007 was one of the most interesting I've had in a long time. I arrived Christmas Eve which was depressing enough, but then I found my accommodations had been grossly over-described and were in fact, dangerous, unsafe, and deplorable, so I had to search all of New Orleans for new digs! Not only was I unfamiliar, but NOLA is very confusing during the day to drive and in the rain at night, was a nightmare. Prices because of the holidays were obscene and I was ridiculously lost, confused, and good God, brimming with mixed feelings as to whether I'd done the right thing coming down. It all worked out - I found a room at a Shoney's for the week but when I called up my "contact guy" Monday morning to secure the work I'd been promised until I could get going with the position I'd secured with Habitat for Humanity, his phone number, the phone company's pleasant sounding recording enlightened me with the news that the number had been disconnected. RAGING DOUBT now possessed my mind and I did what any normal man would do - bought some beer and Spam. I perused the Craigs List ads and basically found that no-one was looking for anyone which caused Spam and beer stock to rise dramatically. As it turns out, being a Catholic city, everyone had taken off and when things returned to normal a few days later I found a job, agrred to meet the Boss Man, and he never showed up. Welcome to NOLA, the Land Of Late. I left and placed an ad in Craigs List saying: Have Nailgun, will Travel: Highly skilled woodworker available and was hired 3 hours later working on a great, fun, job in the French Quarter 80 hours a week!! Hey, I was newly separated - what better way to fritter your time away then working compulsively and drinking Crown Royal nightly with my camo-fashioned-Georgia-redneck/cultured-alcoholic-new-best-friend?!?!? Learned about Big Green Eggs and peanut butter pies. Well one good job deserves another and so it went. It continued, as I relished the fact that I was no longer in the freezing north east where the economy which had been petering out, dried up totally. In hustling for work I ran into a guy, Ted S. looking for a project manager/lead carpenter and when I talked w/him and his wife we hit it off immediately, and when I saw he played guitar and we played together, the job was in the bag. I bagan work on designing a house incorporating major NOLA exterior elements and when Ted and i went to an architect friend of mine, something he said inspired a concept for the interior design that is truly unique to that style of home. I cant wait to build it for myself and have parties on the balcony! Well, it was a lot of hard work with Ted, not the kind of higher class jobs I was getting initially when I came to town, but it ended with me being featured, to a certain extent on This Old House which will certainly be a huge feather in my resume's cap as soon as it airs and I get a copy on DVD to distribute. That date has essentially been established as Feb. 16th. The first of the 10 episode show, New Orleans Two Years After, just began airing last Thusday. And now, no longer with Ted, I'm again doing a wonderful woodworking project, a job I've wanted to do for YEARS - true raised panel wainscoting. As it turns out, in the same house I worked on last spring doing a coffered ceiling - another great resume builder. This is all as I search for properties to buy with my partner Ken in order to rehab and flip. The banking industry is making me a little nervous - it's intimidating to think that we'd do all this work and then not be able to find someone to qualify for a mortgage. So I've been purposefully procrastinating until I feel the market is starting to rebound before jumping in w/both feet.