"Me and my Guitar"

Awhile back before I left Alaska I started doing two things I have never done before.I began to paint. My first real recognized talent was my artistic ability. My school teachers noticed this in me early and encouraged it. My family all thought that that would be what I would become. God had other plans. Well this last summer I had time on my hands and I had been thinking for a very longtime of doing this so I went out and bought a starter kit. Franky I have no idea what I'm doing,where(if anywhere) this is going but something happened. Having never held a brush in my hands until then, in the space of about two month I finished 35 paintings. Mostly abstract(that is my skill level for now) I am hoping to take some classes here to actually learn the proper way to paint, combine colors, perspective etc. The other thing I started was writing a book! OK look I realize that none of these are in my history or skill level. I can hardly spell,type or draw a straight line..but here I am. you never know where the creative muse will take you. As with playing guitar when I started It just made me feel good and I felt like it was a good fit. As with many things we start in life many times I believe God gives you a gift and no matter how little of it you consider important doing the task fulfills something inside you. It's later that you discover God had a plan and purpose for this little thing you do that is so fun and fulfilling. Throughout my life as a musician I've experienced some things that when I would relate them to friends,co-workers and the such they told me I should write them down. I am not a writer. I write songs,lyrics, I make things rhyme to a back beat. I can tell a good story. I do have a buddy back in AK who is a good writer and has volunteered to edit...hell I don't even know if I'll ever finish it..but I believe I got a story. I've been a veteran of both the LA music scene and the Alaskan music scene.(something rare in it's own right) Now I hope to make my way into the wonderful world of the NOLA scene. So throughout this blog I may share excerpts from my maybe maybe not book. So here goes one...The yearswas 1971.. "Me and my Guitar"...

"JESUS FREAKED,,,WITH A CAPITAL J"

One day in I was walking down the hallway when I ran into this cute little blond girl. Sonja. I thought she was cute and in short order we started hanging out, going out, and making out. There was something about her that was different though something I couldn't put my finger on. One Friday night she was asking a bunch of her friends to come to a "meeting". This started to irritate me because she wasn't asking ME, finally I asked what was up? "I'm going to a Jesusmumblemumblemumble people meeting....I said "A what?" a " Jessumumble mumble mumble mmm Meeting" A what" .....A Jesusmumblemumblemumble......uh...Meeting. Obviously she was afraid I ridicule her and frankly between the long hair,leather and drugs I wasn't what ,you might say, a good candidate for a deacon at the local Baptist church. Finally I got it out of her clearly...WHERE ARE YOU GOING FRIDAY!!! A Jesus people Meeting....ok ....uh ....cool ...ya want me to go?...Sonja said that would make her "happy"....how ya say no to that?

To say my religious instruction was lacking would be an understatement. We never went to church, I never read the Bible and my impression of religious types was "in the dictionary under twits it says see them." Oddly enough one day I come home from school to find these two short hair guys dressed in black suits,white shirts and black ties sporting named tags saying"elder so and so"...the Mormons had invaded our home...unknown to me at that time my Dad had some Mormonism in his background from his mom's side of the family. So I sit and listen to their sales about Joe Smith and God coming down to a grove of trees and telling everybody else in the church world was WRONG ..I'm listening thinking"I thought I WAS HIGH" but somehow my Dad convinced me to hang out and I actually got talked into getting baptized...go figure...in fact the night I got dunked...some friends came and got me and we went to the University to hear some live music and as fate would have out came the beer.

I remember coming to under a table with my head hurting, hair still damp from being baptized thinking"Uh....

......something didn't stick" the next day I had to go see the "Bishop" A rather stern looking guy with the standard short hair, black suit, white shirt and black tie (I kinda like that look today) He informs that Mormons don't

drink alcohol,coffee,smoke,have sex outside of marriage or take drugs....I'm thinking...'What the hell do you do? cause you just shot down EVERYTHING I REALLY REALLY LIKE!!!....I was especially disappointed about the sex part...that alone was enough to make me run for the door. Needless to say I didn't last long and in fairness to my Dad he was cool when I finally said Sunday mornings weren't working out for me. I think he knew I was far to much like him at that age to be a dyed in the wool church type. Needless to say after that anything that smacked or smelled of church I avoided like the plague.

So when Friday rolled around I went because a) Susie sweet lips asked me to and b) It wasn't a "church" it was a house with long hair hippie types playing the guitar..reasonably cool.

I was totally ill-prepared for what was about to happen. In my home the only time I heard "Jesus Christ" was in reference to me doing something wrong. In fact I almost thought that was my middle name as a youngster was Jesus Christ, because every time my old man wrote up from a nap he'd look at me and say say "Jesus Christ look at the mess you made."

We were met at the door by a guy named Kim who every other word was "praise the lord" or "Thank you Jesus". Totally Odd. We were hustled into a fairly large living room full of all the accouterments of an elderly woman's home, family pictures, doilies, lacy lamp shades. Sitting in the middle in an overstuffed chair was Helen...everyone called her "Granny." Next to her were the "leaders" several guys strumming guitars, a few long hairs and a few who were obviously military. There were a few other odd balls as well. One guy was standing by the obvious leader (a military guy named Mark) holding a Bible the size of a Sunday turkey. He looked like a cross between Elvis Presley and Oral Roberts. He was sporting slicked back black hair with sideburns and was the only guy wearing a tie and loafers. He had an absolutely crazed, pentecostal hellfire and brimstone gleam in his eyes...scary...I immediately didn't like him. We continues to scoot over because the room continued to fill up to the point of kids standing out the front door. I was surrounded by a lot of people going "Praise the Lord," "Hallelujah," "Thank you Jesus!" It was disconcerting and so utterly foreign to me. Let me say that as I took all this in I had noticed something totally out of nature for me. A scene like the one I found myself in would have normally found me out the door as fast as my feet could take me, however, the moment I stepped through that door, and I mean as soon as my foot crossed over into Granny's living room, I felt SOMETHING! Some...........presence, and for the first time in my whole life I was surrounded by odd ball weirdo strangers and felt comfortable, utterly disarmed, and relaxed (even though my knees were practically smacking my forehead).

The service starts and the music kicks in. Rowdy, lots of shouting, hollering, and carrying on. People were "raising their hands" something I never saw and was unsure what it meant. Then someone over my shoulder started rattling off rather loudly in some odd sounding foreign language. The Jesus people later explained that that was "speaking in tongues." Frankly, it seriously shook my tree. As things went on the meeting began to seriously heat up both emotionally and physically (do the math 40, 50 kids crammed sides by side in an old woman's living room you get the drift.......or whiff). At this time the musicians are really cooking...strumming and stomping. Elvis is pacing back and forth behind them like a hungry tiger smelling fresh blood and ready to pounce. The other believers are singing, shouting, speaking in tongues and the whole house seems to rattle shake and hum.

Finally at some point the dam breaks and sure enough Elvis makes a bee line for guess who?....ya ME....

I don't know why but it seems my whole life if there is a nut case within 5 miles of me somehow they show up, start bumming cigarettes, and telling me their life story. Elvis bounds over the heads of a few nervous teenagers and reaches out for what I thought was a hand shake. He grabs me and and next thing I know I'm nose to nose with the guy! Reeking of butch-wax and body odor he shouts about hellfire and damnation while I realize Oral is sporting a lisp...sorta took the wind out of the drama of it all. Meantime I could feel my girlfriend go stiff as soon as she saw this happening. Out of the corner of my eye I see her go from being naturally a bit pail to deathly white. But I was cool. I remember thinking "Naw I ain't gonna hit this guy it would ruin my girlfriends night" I just wish someone had given Elvis some Right Guard and Chick-lets. After he was done with me he moved on down the line and continued to scare hellfire and damnation out of the less intimidating teens seated next to us. I felt my girlfriend breathe a sigh of relief over my reaction to Elvis' strong-arm tactic, or my LACK of reaction rather. Soon afterward the meeting ended. I stood up feeling hot wet and sticky and thought "I need a bong hit and a hamburger." As I'm standing there holding my girlfriend's hand an odd and unexpected thing happened.....suddenly a sense of calm and peace washed over me and in my minds eye I saw all those believers faces. The looks of love and joy. They seemed to glow and I knew I was dealing with something WAY beyond me. As I stood there, eyes closed, I felt a voice. A feeling from deep in some part of me I didn't even know existed... a voice... strong and resilient yet still small and comforting. Something I knew was from inside of me, yet came from some space way beyond me, and I "felt" as much as heard it say "See that joy? Feel their Love? Follow me and I'll give you that and much more." For the first time in my life I became aware that GOD had spoken to me..... unreal.

We finally get outside where some kids hanging around (Granny had a large yard so everybody was mulling around the grass). Sonja is standing there with a very wary and worried look on her face. I watch the musicians pack up and leave while I light up a smoke.... she's still looking at me....I turn around with this big grin and say "Hey that was fun... let's do that again next week!!!!" Little did she or anyone else know I walked away that night with a deep, deep hunger to know who that voice belonged to and how I could fill this void I finally became aware of.

WW2 Museum and Couchon Butcher.

Yesterday we visited the WW2 museum. We saw the Tom Hanks movie. It was amazing. A full surround sound experience. The movie really gave a sense of how huge the conflict was. The special effects were really something. Seats that shook when bombs went off,fake snow that fell during the Battle of the Bulge, they even lowered the front end of a B-17 bomber to give a 3-d effect of the bombing raids over Germany. This is a must see if you ever visit NOLA!! We ate lunch at John Besh's place in the museum. Crew all decked out in period clothes,dishes that reflect the 40's served on tiny butcher blocks with chips served in "tin cans". The food was OK..nothing to get excited about. Still better than what I could get back in AK. We stopped at the Couchon Butcher on our way home. Let me tell you a little about this guy. I first saw them on the Travel Channel's Tony Bourdain's show. These guys do some amazing things with pork and poultry. They cure and smoke all their own salami's and sausages. There are terrines with duck fos grai, tasso ham(we bought some there and used it in our first batch of gumbo..made the dish) I bought Kurobatta bacon. This is the "Kobe"beef version of pork. I bought that,some salami and a slightly smoked,boned chicken that was stuffed with jambalaya. We had that with mashed potatoes,gravy and peas. My in-laws loved it. I've learned that if you buy stock from the store and reduce it by half,add a rue it makes excellent gravy. Gravy is an art and I never knew what a rue was till I married my wife. She has taught me so much. Down in the Quarter is a shop called "Greg's Antiques and Assorted Junk" very cool shop. Greg is a way cool guy. They have an amazing collection of furniture that they purchase from Europe and around the country that they sell at very reasonable prices. The place has a large collection of rugs,nic nac's general cool stuff.. And he supports local artists. He's sitting there sucking on a smoke as we tell him we love his shop and had just moved here. I told him I had dropped in during our August visit. He said he remembered me(more about that later) and said the same thing so many locals have said to us "We need good people here"..we seem to qualify.or at least pass the audition! He asked what we do. When he found out that Allison is a book keeper he offered her a job on the spot saying that after the first of the year he was gonna be looking for a book keeper. Cool huh? He said there were several small businesses that were in need of a book keeper. This could be the start of a decent living for my wife. I saw it as another thing God was preparing. What is so cool is as we were walking away Allison goes"Well I can smoke at work"...we just seem to fit in here. Almost without exception I have found so many of the locals to be wonderful "Salt of the Earth" types..just like the wife and I...There continues to be this thing..I don't recall meeting Greg when I was here yet he remembered me, I seem to stand out from the crowd. As my wife says...I ooze musician. Had a guy swear the other day that he had seen me play somewhere..I haven't played note one here yet. Makes me wonder what will happen when I do. My gear is still in transit from AK. I am getting Yancey to play. It's a New Year and a new life here in NOLA..the adventure continues...s

Small community Big city stuff.

Having spent most my adult life in a small town there are a few comforting things I liked about it . There was a sense of being part of a community that had a welcoming feeling. Back in AK the folks at the local store, bank, etc all knew by my first name. Being the working musician I was there was always someone (several actually) who I would run into asking where my next gig was. My wife Allison used to get tired of going anywhere with me because of this. Someone would come up start a conversation with me asking what was up then when they would walk away she would ask who that was and I'd "I don't know, a fan I guess". It was that sense of belonging that I liked. I lived in Los Angeles for most of the 80's. Moving there to attend the Guitar Institute of Technology. I lived there from 83-91. It was the hardest most difficult time in my life. It was also the most maturing. But I never once had a sense of community there. I was at peace in knowing that was where God wanted me to be at the time, but it was never "home". New Orleans is a community of ruffly 300,00 souls. a mid size city by some standards. Allison and I are odd in this aspect. Most people when they move to a new place will go check out museums, restaurants, churches, local bars. We go check out the grocery stores. In our adventures we have stumbled onto some totally cool things. Driving to a market the other day we came across a little craft fair that was going on. As we were seeking out a farmers market we found this totally cool fish market quite by accident. This is a place the local fisherman literally bring their catch fresh from the sea that day! we noticed a lot of Latinos shopping there(a good sign) there was also a little shop on site that provided hard to find meats. Things like frog legs, turtle meat, rabbit. We found out we could get a suckling pig from them at a really good price Having lived in Seattle for 6 months during the mid 90's you could go to Pikes Market and find any fresh gourmet item from fresh sea food to farmer market locally grown produce, artisan cheeses, salami's and breads all under one roof. Here you have to hunt. Which makes shopping a big adventure. We love the care a small shop will put into their products. Plus every time we turn around there is something cool happening right under our noses. Well today on our menu will be chicken cordon blue with a fennel,celery root salad in a balsamic vinaigrette and steamed sweet corn on the side....Steve

The Sport of Kings,the perfect pastrami and horns.

Football, the gridiron, tossing the pig skin...this city is football nuts! The Saints..you drive around this town and you see "WHO DAT" everywhere!..what that means is a bit lost on me. But for morale reasons I hope this city wins..This will sound a bit odd but Allison and I aren't what you call sports fans. We have this tradition. On Superbowl Sunday we fix gourmet versions of tail gating food and watch rented movies all day. So being surrounded by rabid Saints fans is a bit odd but not uncool..We were shopping the other day and the clerk asked us why we weren't home watching the game?..well we were hungry. Something we have noticed here that is so cool. Every store we go to has an extensive menu of fresh pre-cooked meals. Not the discus ting crap I had to put up with at Safeway. Here you find a wide variety of fresh coked meats,several sides,desserts,salads. It seems some stores cater to people who have little time to cook. Meals ready to cook or warm up with a wide selection of wine. The stuff is killer. Recently we have had truly amazing oriental food. We visited this place around the corner called"The 5 happiness"..the 5 are "health, wealth, virtue, longevity, and a peaceful death". I had forgotten what great sweet and sour was..This place serve some of the best..the chicken was light and crunchy not greasy with large chucks of well cooked veggies, shrimp fried rice to perfection and a home made sweet ans sour sauce to die for.Back home the over priced excuse for this was sauce out of a can tossed on greasy over cooked dry chicken with no veggies. Here even the won ton was full of veggies and BBQ pork..I love this place. My wives mom and sister are in town. So yesterday we went to this place about a mile from the house called "The Parkway Bakery and Tavern" Funky little place with a dirt driveway. Small bar, seating on Sam's club tables and the place was PACKED!. For good reason! We file and stand in line while looking at the menu. Allison and her mom decide to split a full size fresh oyster po-boy, KK my sister-In Law orders a shrimp po-boy. I couldn't make up my mind. I kept checking out everyone sitting and eating. The Beef and gravy looked killer(the patrons were licking fingers and smiling) but I was in the mood for something a bit different. I noticed the special was a Chicago Dog. Having only seen one on the travel channel. I was interested. There was a pizza joint back home that advertised a Chicago dog. I tried it. Sam's club bun and dog and nothing else. One of the joys of moving here in Rouses(a local food store) makes their own dog buns. Like small baguettes. Just the right size, lots of flavor,slightly crunchy on the outside. For years my complaint about hot dogs had been the poor bun. Most stores stock dry,hard tasteless buns that are dry before you open them. I hate them!. So seeing as how I couldn't make up my mind I order the Chicago dog and a pastrami. The food here was served in butcher paper with condiments on the side. We waited a good 45 minutes....well worth the wait!..what come to my table is just what I've seen on tv. Poppy seed bun,smear of deli style mustard, tomato,lettuce,onions, the greenest relish I'd ever seen...I mean like Christmas wrapping green relish topped off with a dash of celery salt..the taste?..couldn't have been any better if I'd been sitting at Wriggly Fields in the Windy City..it was SUBLIME!!! I was a happy man...finally at 54 I had a real dog..shout "Hallelujah!"..then sitting in a wrapper of white butcher paper was my pastrami..I had ordered it dressed. lettuce,tomato,mustard. The first thing I noticed was the aroma..the deep red richness of the paper thin sliced meat..I could tell they took their time making this..I took a bite and once perfection on a bun!..the bun was the perfect combination of soft and crunchy, the pastrami totally floored me..God how can something as simple as a pastrami sandwich make you want to sing!!!looking around me everyone was licking fingers and smiling. Took a bite of Allison's oyster Po-boy..killer as well...deep juicy briny oyster flavor! This place is a mile from my house and they deliver!...guess where I'll be having lunch..my goal is to work thru the whole menu...guys I know this is wordy..just let me say for 20 years I've lived in Alaska..I could only read about stuff like this and wonder..now it's down the street and on my plate...HORNS..in driving around here I've noticed the locals seem to love honking their horns..I mean at stupid times...I've been honked at sitting at a red light,in the parking lot of a store and at the slightest hesitation at a light!Makes me think the drivers here are all assholes..patience is a virtue...few locals seem to embrace! Well on we go in our continued pursuit of the soul of the south..eat well all...Steve

Culinary adventures and the joy of a GPS

Allison and got a Garmin gps as a gift from her dad some time ago. He does this thing called geocaching. Kinda fun,like a high tech version of scavenger hunt. On our trip down here and our adventures around the city it has been invaluable. Although at times it sends us off on a wild goose chase. We have been able to see parts of NOLA that we normally wouldn't. Lots of interesting and beautiful neighborhoods. One thing I've noticed about driving around here is due to the water table the streets are terrible.Full of pot holes and bumps. I thought Fairbanks was bad. We had DIM SUM for the first time today. It was great but because it was our first time we filled up on dumplings and didn't have room left for this really Delicious looking crispy fried duck ans snails. We'll know better next time. We had heard of a farmers market not far for there so we went to check it out. There wasn't much there but down the road we found a fresh sea food market where the fisherman deliver their daily catch to sell. Talk about fresh!. There was also a shop that sells specialty meats.(frog legs,rabbit etc) the guy said he could get us a suckling pig for as little as 4 bucks a pound!..on-line they run as much as 100.00. Next KOBE beef..
I am starting to get ancey to play. It's been awhile and if I spend to much time away from the stage I get cranky. Still I have to wait till my gear gets here from AK. This next week I start looking for a job. Tomorrow folks I may start sharing a little more of the strange set of steps that brought me here. Live well my friends....Steve

Our First Christmas in NOLA

Our first Christmas. Cold this morning..46 but I AIN'T COMPLAINING..46 ABOVE BEATS 46 BELOW!!!!! Allison and I had a total NOLA dinner.A stuffed 3 inch pork loin chop with cornbread,bouidain sausage and oyster dressing. Fresh shrimp louey salad and an unbelievable oyster stew with creamy sause followed by frash italian twist garlic bread. The chop looked and tasted more like ham than a pork chop. God the food here is amazing. Tommorrow we go back to Gretna to the Panda King for DIM SUM!!!That place was so cool. The best oriental food I've had in 10 years..all fresh..they even had a station where you could pick different meats,sauses,veggies and have them stir fry it fresh on the spot....ok 1,056 more resturaunts to go. I've been getting yancy to play,and get a job. Can't do much about a gig till my gear gets here from AK. There is this local mag called "the Gambit"has a listing of clubs that feature live music and the type..there are ALOT of places to play. once I get my feet wet I hope to find a rhythm section that can go in both directions..because I play both the shred classic rock and Jazz. Regardless...I'm finally in a place where I can bloom(I hope)..this town is SO ALIVE. Ya I realize we just got here and there could be the "shoe waiting to drop" but in the face of all I have endured and over come by God's grace there is not much He and I can't handle. I feel like God has been preparing me for this place for 25 years. As this blog continues I will share more how I came to be who I am and what steps led me here. I want to be cautious because some of what I have experienced has been deeply spiritual and not a little bit strange...even to me.yet these events in my life brought me here and God..this mysterious all knowing all seeing power somehow took notice of this punk at 15 and decided He had a plan and purpose for me..at the time all I wanted to do was get high and suck face with as many girls as would let me....so for now..Merry Christmas my friends and may the new year grant you all your hearts desires...Steve

The Joy of Cooking in NOLA

Our new place has a really nice kitchen. Allison and I are total food freaks and we love to cook. I was always into cooking and food but as with so many things when I met my amazing wife she brought out the dormant things that had been waiting for her arrival. My wife has been so influential in my development as a foodie,musician,and now southern gentleman..I am the student, she is the master....so the one thing we have longed for is a gas stove...With a gas stove it seems you can get even quick,controllable heat. Since we moved in I have been able to cook near perfect omelets. Something difficult back home. They come out fluffy, soft, and full of flavor..it seems pans heat up evenly and roasting,broiling has this natural element of fire. Seems every thing here has this "milk and honey" element to it...ya I know I just got here and all this is new..but hey even in my "honey moon" period with Allison...I knew we had something that would last a lifetime..7 years latter I was right...."I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans of Good and not evil, to give you a future and give you a hope"!!!Jeremiah 29:11

Christmas Eve in NOLA

Our first Christmas eve. We made our first pot of Red Beans and rice. Came out killer...I made deep fried alligator..they are right, it did taste like chicken. I liked it. Our first night in our new place we made our first pot of gumbo..I tried making this ounce back in Fairbanks (it sucked) but here it came out great!. The key was a couple of things, fresh sea food...and Taso Ham..we got this at this place called Couchon Butcher..they smoke all their own meats..and they rock...I saw them on an episode of Anthony Bourdain as well as Andrew Zimmern's bizzare world. They do amazing things with pork. So let me tell you about our first home here. Here in NOLA the older homes are called either "Shot Gun" or "Camel Back" affairs. Shot guns are long narrow homes many set up like a duplex. Few have hallways. Most of them require that you walk thru each bed room to get to the back. Camel backs are shot guns that have had a back unit added that is usually an extra story...thus looking like a "Camel Back". Ours is off a quiet tree lined street not far from the tram and kiddy corner to the Fire mans Semitary. We are around the corner from a baseball park where they had a game last weekend and there is a local tavern called the "Yaught Club"...not far is a club that features lives music weekly and free red beans and rice on Mondays and all you can eat oysters(till they run out)on Thursdays..like to gig there at some time. Our place has nice hard wood floors, this funky bathroom with white tile a claw foot bath tub that has a "Psycho/High Anxiety white shower curtain shower. Takes a bit of a step up to get in the shower and it's like bathing in a cocoon....I did it. Our back yard is nice and big, with a large tree and plenty of room the grow stuff....can't wait to grow our own tomatoes,peppers,herbs...maybe even a lemon tree..God how blessed we are to be here. Looking forward to finding a job,putting a band together and finding a gig..next post I'll share how we came to be here....let well,eat well,love long and rock hard...Steve

Diners,Drive Ins and Dives..North Pole Alaska.

Watched Guy Fieri's episode from North Pole, Ak and Fairbanks. In this episode he features 5 places,The Elfs Den, Silver Gulch Brewery, Big Daddy's BBQ,The Cookie Jar and the Pagoda. All of these I know well and have eaten in each for years. I doubt if Guy will ever read this but let me give you a former locals inside to these. The best...the Pagoda...great consistent food the guy knows what he's doing...although today I ate at a buffet next to the Hong Kong Market called the Panda King..7.95..all you can eat the BEST oriental I've had in a decade!...plus they have DIM SUM..every weekend (guess where I'm eating Sunday) I used to play the blues at Big Daddy's..for FBKS it ain't bad..problem...he's the only game in town...Harold if you ever ate at McClard's in Hot Springs Ak ...you would retire early....by the way I've seen Harold shit faced in times past...singing "Wild Thing" with the band (me included)...last time I ate at the Elfs den I almost got sick..Silver Gulch...great food good beer....to bad Guy never checks out just bars...Across the street is a Fairbanks Institution....The Howling Dog Saloon...my all time favorite place to play... a funky dive that every week is packed with fans of rock and roll,where you can see some guy in a suit getting hammered with a biker or a carhart wearing construction worker. Typically Alaskan. What was cool is while he was at the Elfs den he was sitting with my two beautiful daughters..Jessica (who said the food was delicious even though she was about to hurl) and Emily..also I saw an old girl friend from 9th grade Dee...at the Brewery he was having lunch with my buddy Tim and his wife...Tim was a guitar student of mine..frankly most of the folks on there were people I've seen around town....One final story...I grew up in Fairbanks...way back in the 70's the owner of the Santa Claus House has hired a sign painter to pant a big bill board outside the store. It had Santa waving people to come inside and see Santa...it was located right by the highway so every car heading to Delta or the border would see it. The owner of the Santa Claus house had a reputation of being a bit of a tight fisted asshole...Story goes he didn't like how the guy painted Santa and refused to pay the guy...this being the middle of the summer with lots of sunlight...the sign painter pulls up to the sign at 3 am on a weekend climbs up and "customizes" the sign....the next day every motorist driving down the freeway did not see Santa waving them into the store....they saw Santa Claus FLIPPING EVERY ONE OFF...ya you got the middle finger....needless to say the owner coughed up the cash and Santa was returned to his friendly wave....instead of the middle finger salute!!!!!

Shopping in NOLA

My wife Allison and I are total food freaks..our favorite hobby is going food shopping at local cool shops. We love farmers markets, funky ethnic stores, central markets. Since being here we have checked out both the Whole Food stores, Rouses,Roberts,Langenstiens, Deanies fish market and today we went to Gretna to visit the Hong Kong Food Market...we had been seeking a fresh meat market as well as local produce. This place was a total mind blower!!!Listen up folks...I've spent most of my adult live in Fairbanks so going to a market like this one was a life changing event.I mean, striped sea bass, red snapper,mackerel, live cat fish, talapia, sushi grade tuna, beef tenderloin for 9.99 a pound!!! Live lobster 9.99/lb., live blue crab, live dungeoness crab 6.99!!!not to mention things like quail eggs, duck eggs, two yolk turkey eggs. Black skin chicken, rabbit, deer, pig testes, and every type of sauce you can't imagine... mostly oriental stuff but for fish, poultry, pork, beef and all the weird stuff with a price that in unbelievable....we hit pay dirt...
That is what we are finding here, with a little digging there nuggets of coolness everywhere...for a guy like me this truly is a land of milk and honey...strange though I keep seeing so many poor folk...today as we stood in line behind this woman who was buying bread and had three young boys who wanted ice cream. After her card cleared she couldn't afford her kids sweets and had to put them back..I felt so bad, to be so poor that you can't buy ice cream for your kids..I wish there was something I could do.

fresh veggies

THE OKRA MAN....we were pulling out of our driveway Saturday when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this beat up old truck...with this sign painted on the front.."THE OKRA MAN"...we heard this PA anointing..."I GOT ONIONS, I GOT STRAWBERRIES, I GOT SPINACH, I GOT SWEET POTATOES"...we got out and got 10 bucks of fresh veggies...right out my front door!...something new for us....he shows every Saturday and Tuesdays....I love this place...now all I need is a truck going...."I GOT MARLBOROS, I GOT MERLOT, I GOT PIZZA,!!!!"

Driving

Short one, two things..driving in NOLA is weird..never have I lived in a city that when you come to a 4 way street you can't turn left!...you drive half a block till there is a break in the median then take a u-turn...seems we are always taking u-turns to go left!...I've noticed that when we go shopping the people shopping are all very friendly...smiling saying hello...but the employees...seem less than friendly...they don't seem very happy in their work....customer service seems to not be a priority...I feel bad for them...I was standing in line the other day behind this rather large woman, buying food for her family...I used to work for the Alaskan version on Food Stamps...so I know what little they give you to live on...after her food stamps ran out she was 3.47 shy....I just pulled out 4 bucks out of my pocket covered it and said..Momma have a Merry Christmas...the clerk...was flat affect...the woman thanked me profusely...good karma...that is one of the things I have seen here...there are a lot of very poor,uneducated,forgotten people here...pulls on my heart strings...in a country where there in such abundance,and opportunity to learn skills...to many fall between the cracks.

Who I am and how I came to be here.

Welcome to my blog!(A first for me) I have never done this before but I have kept a personal journal for the last 15 years. Here I hope to share my thoughts and insights into my introduction to my new life here in NOLA(for those uninformed that stands for New Orleans LA)There will be a back story to the "strange trip" that led me from Fairbanks Alaska to New Orleans LA. What would posess a man at 54 to move from his home of over 18 years to move to a city where he knows not a single soul? Some would call that gutzy...most would call it utter folly. I call it God's leading. Let me start here to explain,I am a Christian..have been one since I was 15 years old..but this blog(like my music) is for everyone so let me put all of you at ease...I promise this will not be some forum for "ball and chain" religion. Let me make this distinction,I am a Christian,am I religious....not in the least!I am much like the Apostle Peter..a conflict...I love God,am a student of His Word yet daily drop the F bomb,smoke 2 packs of Marlboros a day and have a deep affection for a good bottle of Pinot daily. I have have found my faith to work in the real world when it come to what really counts. Who we love,who loves us and the people we serve. It's really all about Love...so if I can be so bold..at times my faith will play a part of this blog..for those who do not share this..read on anyway..hopefully this will be entertaining...even funny..
They say God's timing is perfect, well I find it...the word excapes me...God's appointment that dispite my wives serious study to get us to her Dad's place as soon as possible..we would arive here in New Orleans on my 54th birthday!...Welcome to the Soul of the South on the Day you were Born!..not to be overly dramatic..but I have learned these things don't happen often but when they do they are significant(my spelling sucks)and bodes of a "higher power" involment in my other wize hum drum normal life...well folks..enough for now,tommorrow we discuss driving,shopping and eating in the Big Easy...and what it's like to be a skinny rock guitar player from Fairbanks Alaska and find himself in the Soul of the South....live well,love long,eat well...and RAWK hard.....Stevie