Dans la Louisiane

a little Zydeco from Al Berard & the Basin Brothers...



I have been a frequent visitor to New Orleans (at least half a dozen times in the last nine years) for the pure pleasure of it. I have never gone for Mardi Gras, or a Superdome event. I have returned time and again for the city and her people. I return for Magazine street and the neighborhood book sales, Royal Street and the arts and antiques, the Garden District’s December Holiday Home Tours, the Farmer’s Market, Jackson Square and the Mississippi River; and of course the Veux Carre with its music, history and food. So now here I sit in Arizona, depressed that what I had often feared has happened. I feel more distressed than I thought I would. What has struck me the most, is how affected I am by the plight of the people of New Orleans. They are the reason that I continue to return to the Crescent City. They are the sights, sounds, tastes, spirit, flavors, language, music, history—everything that makes this impossible city possible.