A Somewhat Deflating 15 Dollar Friday

The night of the Saint's game came. 

It was the piss poor excuse for why I hadn't gone out and played the night before, when it had been an unseasonably warm 63 degrees and the webcam was showing several bewildered looking people clad in Buffalo Bills shirts. If those shirts didn't give them away as being tourists, that status was driven home by the amount of interest they were showing in things that have long ago merged with, and melted into the background, to anyone who has lived here for any length of time.

Just as many residents of the Quarter walk past me night after night, without really seeing or hearing me, as if I might just be a street light; green if I'm playing "Imagine," red if "People Are Strange," or yellow if one of my Grateful Dead songs, but going unnoticed by someone on foot, whom the light isn't meant for; there are other things visible in the webcam shot that when seen being gawked at by someone in a Buffalo Bills shirt, immediately paints that person as a tourist, merely because their attention was drawn to it. Standing bemusedly a few feet from the human statue who poses on the corner of Dumaine and Bourbon Streets watching it do nothing for more than a few seconds, during which the now obvious tourists become so transfixed that they too become frozen in time; as if they have never seen anything like it in their lives, is a good example.

A little girl holds the hand of a murderer

 

The reason I hadn't gone out the night before was so I would be well rested and ready to show up at the Girod Street spot under the stairwell where I had played dozens of times before, for fans on their way into the dome and then, later, on their way out.

But, that was back in the drinking days; when it was a ritual of mine to take whatever I made off the people on the way in and take it to the Rouses Market right down the street from the stadium -the big one that has a large variety of beer. 

While the game was going on and everyone was glued to their seats, I would watch it on one of Rouses TVs, while drinking a Paulaner bock beer, usually. That is one of the cool things about New Orleans, being able to drink in public. I always feared that if some other cities passed similar laws, then New Orleans would lose its uniqueness in that regard. Kind of like when Atlantic City allowed casinos so that people no longer had to fly to Vegas to gamble.

It still is an interesting racket, the gambling in Vegas, and how they almost have a monopoly on it. Now it is split between Atlantic City, Biloxi Mississipi and Vegas.

So, when I wound up not making it to the game in time to play, it might have been a good thing, depending upon how strong the muscle memory would have been for me to run to Rouses for a high quality beer during the game.

Plus, the home team lost something like 30 to zero, and that meant that people would have been leaving early; and not really in a tipping mood.

But, the Buffalo people seemed to be.

Jacob and I played for what probably amounted to 2 and a half hours, and there was somehow 63 bucks in a combination of the basket and my back pocket, where I immediately stuff bills larger than ones.

But, even as I sit here it is Saturday evening. I got a flat tire on the bike, but it hadn't deflated until it was home. I found the little piece of wire and pulled it out and patched it; and now I go to push the bike to the Shell to pump up the tire, using one of the 15 bucks that I made last night, playing for almost 2 hours, for a somewhat sparse crowd. What worked against me the most, though was that the bar had its outdoor speakers playing some pretty crappy music that I wasn't even up to trying to play along with.

I drank a couple beers and, once again, they contributed to me wanting to knock off earlier than I had to. Plus, the temperature had dipped into the mid 40's and, instead of putting my sweatshirt on and continuing, I just left. The batteries on my amp were getting low, I think. Even though I tested it a while ago and it played OK for about 10 minutes. I guess I will pick up another set of 8 of them from the Dollar Store, or maybe go to the Family Dollar to see if their "alkaline" batteries are comparable in price and last at least the same 3 hours that I've been getting out of the Dollar General brand ones....