• Superbowl Prediction
• Slowness Persists
• Ferry Out Of Service
• A Talk With Trumpet Guy

As a person who watched more football on TV while in jail than the average man on the street who has a job can only dream of watching; I feel as qualified to make a Superbowl prediction as any of the ESPN talking heads who are set up under tents in a parking lot off Decatur Street.

As one walks along that street and gazes past all of the security personnel who are eying ones guitar case suspiciously; one can see the likes of Jimmy Johnson, Lou Holtz and even Jerry Rice, propped up under bright lights and talking away incessantly about the upcoming game.

Am I Raven Mad?

So, here is my prediction for Sundays big game:

Baltimore Ravens 29
San Francisco 49ers 24

There will be squandered opportunities by both teams in the early going; but Baltimores defense will figure out how to contain the 49ers offense just enough; and Joe Flacco will play like Terry Bradshaw and score just enough.

And the MVP award will go to Ray Lewis; even though his statistics won't justify his selection.

He will cause one fumble by knocking the ball out of the San Francisco quarterbacks hands; but the 49ers will recover it (...this will occur at 11:44 of the second quarter with the ball on the San Francisco 11 yard line).

Personal Cops

Walking down Bourbon Street Wednesday (last) night, I observed that there were enough cops and few enough tourists so that each tourist kind of had her own personal cop; along with a panhandler to cater to her guilt feeling needs.
I got on the ferry that morning with just change in my pocket.

On the other side of the river, a young couple asked me to play them something on my guitar; after giving me a cigarette.

As I was taking the Jasmine out; the lady mentioned Led Zepplin; so I played "Dancing Days" and they gave me the only 3 dollars that I would make that day.

They were on their way to the Amtrack to catch a train bound for Detroit.

They said that my playing was "awesome" and the guy said that it had given him goose bumps.

I went and spent the 3 bucks on 3 beers from Unique Boutique (the Hurricane Lager has a new logo design on the can!!) and just walked around, not seeing any spot which looked promising to play at; and noticing that some spots had become less desirable due to nearby clubs and boutiques having turned the volume of their music up to "super" levels.

Even the jazz band at the Market Cafe had their bandannas removed from the mouths of their saxophone; and the guitarist was getting some sustain from the sheer volume level of his amp.

This made it too noisy to play by Sydneys. I walked around and noticed that the street musicians whom I encountered every 100 yards or so; had mostly given up upon playing and were just asking people for food or money saying "We aren't making anything by playing..."

Ferry Interesting

The ferry is not running now because they are doing some kind of repair on it; we are stranded, Howard and I, on this side of the river.

There have been 4 armed "Homeland Security" officers riding the ferry back and forth this week.

I talked to trumpet guy last night and he said that he is leaving here as soon as he can for Miami.

He said that he made 2,000 dollars the month of December here. He thought that was pretty good but is not doing nearly as well now, in January.....