February 6, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, February 6.
What will you be doing this Sunday evening at about 5:30? I’m gonna guess you’ll be watching the SUPER BOWL! You and 120 million other Americans. Advertisers sure hope you’re watching. After all, it will cost them at least 8 million dollars for a 30-second commercial. I enjoy some of the ads, but I honestly don’t think any of them have ever motivated me to actually buy anything. When it comes to the game I usually root for the underdog. Hard to do that this year, though. The Eagles were in the big game just a couple of years ago, and the Chiefs, of course, are making a habit of it.
About 70,000 people will get to see the game in person - in the New Orleans Superdome. The Big Easy has hosted the Super Bowl 11 times (tied for the lead with Miami). It’s been a memorable year so far for NOLA, beginning with the tragic terrorist attack on Bourbon Street early New Year’s Day. Three weeks later there was 8 inches of snow in the French Quarter - the most in over 100 years. Three weeks later it’s the Super Bowl. And three weeks after that - Mardi Gras. About 1.5 million will show up for that party.
New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit, but I would never go there around a big event. I usually go in the summer, when people want to avoid the heat and humidity. I grew up in Houston, so that just feels like home to me. I love the history there, the food, and, of course, the music. There’s a lot of great music towns in America - Memphis, Chicago, New York. But in New Orleans you don’t even have to buy a ticket, there’s music on every corner. There’s even a public concert, of sorts, at funerals.
The traditional “jazz funeral” includes a slow song for the solemn walk from the church to the cemetery. That song is usually “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” It was first published in 1940, but it has an oral history dating back to slave churches before the Civil War. The mourners and the band take a slow tempo on their way to the graveyard. But on the way back, the music turns upbeat and lively, and usually features “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The group that marches (and dances) behind the family is called the “second line,” and anybody can join. I’ve had the privilege and the pleasure of being a “second-liner” on a couple of memorable occasions. I didn’t know the deceased, I just came for the music. And in New Orleans... that’s just fine!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
