Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

Wireless Internet through my cell phone and an AC power outlet in my bus bunk has opened a whole new realm; bunk-puting. It is similar to my office at Rat Sound, just drastically more horizontal and considerably less room to wander around. The only real disadvantage to utilizing a bus bunk as an office is it get pretty claustrophobic if you attempt to have any sort business meeting in there with more than just a few humans.

Arriving in the Big Easy my first order of business is a bag drop at the room and to venture off in search off nourishment. Actually what I was really seeking was some good old home style cajun cooking. Hotel guy hooked me up. After naming off half a dozen restaurants, I asked Marvin where he eats. "Aw hell, I'll bring y'all to the hook up." As if he was going to walk me there and off we go across the street stopping and pointing at black pick up truck. "This is it, you gonna love this" and then with a big smile and the sound of victory in his voice he warmly offers his motto "Marvin is the man, if he can't do it no one can."

Standing next to a pick up truck with food containers piled on the floor and seats, my skepticism vanished when a line formed behind me before I could even finish listening to today's offerings.

The cooking down here is neither known for its beauty nor its healthiness. Down here they will eat anything from alligator to pigeon and just one thing matters; "Does it taste good?" I went with the gumbo and crawfish pasta. As you can see below, the gumbo I got was an exception to the rule and was quite attractive in its visual presentation:

The food was awesome though my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I stuggled a loosing battle and had to leave some of the pasta uneaten. Off to do something new, hey I know, "How about wandering around the city for a change?" Hmmm, what city are we in, aha, a clue:

And not far beyond was I sight I know you all are familiar with:

A shoe in a window sill of course. Some sort of running shoe perhaps? I smile as I imagine the tilted walk that the guy or girl wearing the other one must have right now.

And speaking of sexy shoes, check out these sexy pictures that Nick the Fly took of some gorgeous hardware a few gigs back:

**** Begin Sound Nerd Speak ****

Notice the 4 follow spots on the truss (tree house), the Pods with Synchro Lights, dual PA system, side wrap PA hand and check out all that rigging steel hanging down! And here it is loaded up with humans for show time:

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

So in the strangest of coincidental deja vu's, I once again found myself cruising around the Bourbon street with a bunch of roadies at a late hour in this once more familiar city. As comforting as it was to see The Quarter mainly intact, that was not the case for the surrounding suburbs driving in. Devastation and obliteration out the bus window; seeing "Help" written in by peeling roofing tiles sends shivers of the true desperation and horrors from a year and a half ago. And for mile after mile it looks as if it could have happened last month. The state of disrepair seems odd, whole neighborhoods lifeless and powerless and small signs of life mixed with wasteland. It made me sad. But not so sad that a icy cold Hurricane could not wipe that memory temporarily out of my mind at nightfall and here we can see the local firefighters doing there job by playing with the local fires:

How many cities have you been to where someone somewhere says "Hey, I got an idea, how about y'all take the big fire truck downtown and see if there are any drunk chicks that want to take their picture with you?" "Gee, I dunno Commissioner, can't we just stay in the fire house and watch TV and clean the trucks?" 'Fireman in New Orleans' has just climbed to second best gig next to roadie.

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 5 ****

Today you get to meet none roadies. In case you were wondering why R.A.W. was eight days long, it was so that we had a spare day. Good roadies never travel without spares.

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 5 ****

The not so chipper this morning, owie head,

Dave Rat