If you want to learn your future, you can get your palm read or some faux gypsy grifter can stare at her tarot cards and spin you a story. You can read the horoscope in the Times-Picayne. Me? I read the obituaries in the Times-Picayune. We will all end up there eventually. Bazooka Joe has …
My heart knows what the wild goose knows and my heart goes where the wild goose goes. We are both going to City Park today. Wanna come? If you have the inclination I have got the time. I used to go to City Park every day but I have gotten out of the routine. I’m …
You don’t need to be from Kentucky to get lucky in New Orleans but it doesn’t hurt. There are more Popeyes and Churches than there are KFCs. To tell the truth, I think the nearest KFC is in the suburbs. The nearest Church’s Fried Chicken is about a ten minute walk from our front door. …
New Orleans is made up of things both visible and invisible. It takes a certain kind of eye to appreciate all the various threads out of which any day in New Orleans is woven. I know. I live here. So does the ghost of Paul Morphy. Paul Morphy knew. He lived here, too. He had …
Poll a random sampling of people who are not Roman Catholic New Orleanians. Who is the patron saint of New Orleans? You don’t have to. I can already tell you the top three answers. They are: 1). Joan of Arc. 2). Joan of Arc. 3). Joan of Arc. It is not Saint Joan of Arc. …
Follow me. Where does the sun go at day’s end? To the other side of the world. A night in New Orleans flows as stately and steady as the Mississippi River. Big Muddy. I bask all night in the star shine on Dumaine Street. What is the moon? Ask lovers old and young. They can …
Like sands in an hourglass, these are the days of our lives. Make the best of it. Grow where you are planted. New Orleans is fertile soil, especially in the part of New Orleans that I like to share with you. If you think I only share the best parts, be not afraid. The worst …
Oh, every day is plump with opportunities. You have to know when to take them. If there aren’t any, you can make them. You can make them or you can break them. I am entranced by this strange, lush dream of a day. Let me tell you what is happening. Good memories are made of …
It is finally here! Tonight is the first night of Mardi Gras. Three parades tonight! It is Twelfth Night in New Orleans. The Phunny Phorty Phellows roll on St. Charles Avenue. The Krewe de Jean d’Arc rolls in the French Quarter, mostly on Chartres Street. There is another one but I never remember what it is. It is new. They used to …
I asked Emily what day it is. She told me it is Tuesday. That’s what it says on the top of the Wall Street Journal, too. Winter in New Orleans. It is too cold to sit outside. I’m not exaggerating. It’s the beginning of January and it is 48 degrees out. That’s Fahrenheit. That doesn’t …
