I found this old record sleeve with its two 45 rpm records amongst the detritus of my studio middens. (Yes, I still have records and a record player, and it occurs to me that some of the people reading this might not be quite sure what a 45 rpm record is. Have you ever tried to explain a vacuum tube to a 21 year old?) I was struck with a pang for a place I've never actually visited, and a second pang for someone I've never actually met. I never got to see New Orleans, and now I never will. The New Orleans of my imagination is now history. What the New Orleans of the future will be is a question mark. Elspeth, who has been to New Orleans several times, unsentimentally pointed out that most of the things the tourists come to see survived Katrina, but when I visist a place, I like to explore the odd corners off the tourist track, work-a-day places, and places where I sometimes don't feel entirely safe. Yes, I like to do the museums and what all, but I want to get a feel for the place beyond the sight-seeing highlights.
The someone I've never met is Kate Ingold of Broken Windows, who has not posted since December 13. Last I heard from her by email was January 17. I hope she and her husband, who recently returned from a stint in Afghanistan, are together having a deliriously good time, maybe in what's left of New Orleans. As you can see by the AP pictures I snagged from the BBC, below, the natives of NOLO displayed their sense of humor in a rather pointed way, and I'd like to think that Kate was there to take it all in, and is writing a killer post right now.
