Day 27 – April 29^th

On the other hand, you have different fingers. Steven Wright

It has taken me hours to catch up with my blog. I have nothing much planned for today. Recovery from 4 days of music is the priority.

I am meeting Stew and Carol at Three Muses on Frenchman. Stew has a couple of Offbeat magazines that feature Luke Winslow-King on the cover and he hopes to get them autographed.

I went over to the Louisiana Music Factory (also on Frenchman), looking to pick up a couple of CD’s of Mr Sipp. I forgot that there are live in-house performances on during the Jazz fest weekends and when I got there Anders Osborne was about to perform. The store is packed so I have put off looking for the CD’s until next week.

Stew and Carol saw me going into the market on Frenchman and caught up with me. They have two friends with them that came down from Michigan, for Stew’s party.

We had a nice meal at the Lebanese cafe, Mona’s. Truth be known I was craving some lamb, a meat that is not readily available around town.

Stew thought that Luke was due to start playing at 7 however the start time is 8. He got his magazines signed and as the other couple were flying out early the next morning they all left for an early night.

Although I also should have an early night, I decided to go and get a spot at the bar of Three Muses and await the show. Three Muses is one of the smaller restaurant/bars on Frenchman. The stage is tiny and if the band has more than four members someone always ends up playing from the floor.

Luke started on time. He has Roberto Luti (Tuscany) on guitar, a fiddle player and upright bass. I was standing next to a young couple. They introduced them selves as husband and wife and local New Orleans residents. They are both Academics. The guy specializes in the Muslim population of China and more particularly their persecution. He has been to China a number of times for research but has been warned that if he ever went to China again he would be arrested. The young lady, Laura, gave me her Business Card. She is as Assistant Professor at LOYOLA University in the English Department, in the capacity of Director, Modern Slavery Research Project. Both of then are obviously very intelligent. They told me they lived in the Marigny near Iggy’s Bar. They had come to Three Muses for Luke’s performance as they are big fans.

I got to talk to both Roberto and Luke during their first break. Roberto told me that he had lived in New Orleans for a number of years but was kicked out for overstaying his Visa. This is his first trip back to NOLA. Guess where he flew in from? Brisbane! He had just finished playing at the Byron Bay Blues Festival. He told me the name of the band he was with but stupid me forgot to write it down. Also he has a very thick Italian accent.

Luke gave me his contact details. He is trying to get a tour of Australia together for next year, including Byron Bay. He told me he played at the Spotted Mallard in Melbourne not that long ago. I never heard of that tour as I would have went to see him. I really dig his music. WOW members. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get him to our club.

I stayed for all three sets. Finished the night with a nice margarita. So much for an early night. I got back to my crib at 11:30. Peter was out front and he asked me how my night had been. I said, I’m a little pissed’. He showed concern and asked me what I was upset about. I had to explain to him the Johnny Sansone definition of ‘good pissed’ as opposed to ‘bad pissed’ being angry/upset.