{ Off to the Big Easy }
I’m off to New Orleans tomorrow for the IACP conference and getting more and more excited to revisit my old stomping grounds (I went to Tulane). I probably won’t have time to wander too far from the riverfront on this trip, but still . . . I’m curious to see what’s changed and what remains post-Katrina. One thing I do know, the chefs and other food professionals in New Orleans have been beacons in keeping the city’s spirit alive, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to thank them in person.
In any case, I’ve brought an old article of mine (my first published article, as a matter of fact) out of the archives for the occasion; a piece on the music clubs of the Uptown neighborhood. I was a musician long before I was a writer, and I played guitar in various bands all throughout college at many of the venues profiled in the piece. Sadly, many of these places are gone now–succumbed to competition from chain venues like House of Blues many years before Katrina blew threw. Who knows, though. I have a feeling that on this trip I may discover something entirely new.