Day 9-April 17^th

Sherman and David Jeffersen (Jeff) @ FQF

@ House of Blues

Glorious weather today.

Pat picked us up at 11:30 for lunch. We drove over to Gentilly to the original Fiorellas. There is still a Fiorellas on Decatur, but it is no longer operated by this famous New Orleans family. www.fiorellas.com Fiorellas is recognised for some of the best-fried chicken in New Orleans. So that is what the three of us ordered. Three pieces of delectable fried chicken with a side of mashed potato and gravy and smothered green beans. It is not yet noon when we get our meal and already a line is gathering to order. A true neighbour diner that is popular, and rightly so for the food is finger-lickin’ good. Pat and Bob lived not far from the diner pre-Hurricane Katrina. We took a short drive to there old home (now a vacant block). Pat said it is hard to recognise the old neighbourhood as so many homes and business are not the same. We drove over a small bridge and Pat told us this was the spot she and Bob swam to after their home was flooded with nine feet of water. The bridge was their home for two days. Sobering recollections indeed. I can’t imagine what they and so many other thousands of New Orleanians went through.

Back home by 1:30 and time to blog and chat with the neighbours. Scott is heading home later today and so he is soaking in the New Orleans sun while he can. He and Cherie come from Delaware where the temperature is a chilly 2 degrees Celsius today.

Another neighbour from across the street just delivered a big old slice of King Cake share.

Another afternoon nap for me before we head out to have dinner with Stew and Carol at Mona’s. Mona’s is on Frenchman Street and close on by is the Louisiana Music Factory. I picked up two C. D’s: Old Crow Medicine Shows. 50 Years of Blond on Blonde, a live recording of Bob Dylan’s 1966 iconic album and Ray Wylie Hubbard’s Tell the Devil..I’m Getting There as Fast as I Can

After dinner, we strolled through the artists market. So much good stuff to buy but so hard to get it home.

Around 9:15 we headed back to the apartment to await the arrival of Paul Murphy who is coming in on the train for an overnight stay before leaving again on the train tomorrow at 9 AM. Paul arrived around 9:45 and dumped his bag. He will spend the night with us on the couch. To be In New Orleans for such a short time is not ideal. We decided to go back over to Frenchman so he could experience a little this city has to offer. John Lisi and Delta Funk are setting up at Café Negril. Paul and I both have on the same Howlin’ Wolf t-shirt. John Lisi was pretty taken with that and took a photo of us. The crowd is still thin, so he pointed around to the crowd who were mostly locals and then to Paul and I and said we were Aussies and would probably make more noise than everyone else in the room. I told him that he had several fans back home and he was very chuffed indeed. He sang a Howlin’ Wolf song just for us.

We stayed for an hour and Paul was impressed with the quality of the band.