Wow. I can’t believe that our can-do crew is nearing the end of our third day in NOLA! What an amazing few days it has been. I had forgotten how delicious this city is in every sense of the word – chargrilled oysters at Acme Oyster House, artfully decaying buildings drenched in every imaginable color and those sweet Louisiana horns tickling your ears under the lights on Decatur Street.
Of course last night we had an opportunity to add our own flavor to the mix when we checked out a reception for Berklee’s first New Orleans Alumni Chapter at the original Tipitinas uptown. This wonderful event was hosted by our own Karen Bell from Alumni Affairs and featured the musical talents of the funkiest bunch of 13 year old players this side of the Mississippi. We were proud to learn that the kids are a product of City Music National’s, Tipitinas program. It was also fun to learn that director, Jonathan Demme is a huge supporter of the program. He even stopped by to listen to a song or two. But I have to say that my favorite part of the night was when Mike and Jeri took the stage for a Berk alum/Tipitina monster jam. Jeri sassed us all with her flute stylings while Mike seriously smoked on his tenor sax solos. Fan-tastic.
It’s no wonder that we hit the job site in high spirits this morning. Our crew had the opportunity to put the finishing touches on a different house, a couple of streets down from our day 1 location in the upper ninth ward. Our mission was to landscape the entire front yard. Not that bad of a task in a learning sense – remove concrete and debris from the front yard, evenly cover the entire yard with sand, lay sod (patches of grass) over the sand and finally cover the underside of the house with – you guessed it – sand. Oh, and the sand pile? ENORMOUS. Close to 5 ft tall in some places. Needless to say we did a whole lotta’ shoveling, wheelbarrowing and flattening said sand with our feet. But when all was said and done we had a beautiful front yard and a beautiful blue home nearly ready for inspection. Not bad at all. Can’t wait to see what Thursday has in store for us. More soon…
- Return to NOLA - May 13, 2015
- Salty Sweet: Wednesday – Thursday - May 15, 2010
- NOLA Evening Day 2 – Day 3 - May 13, 2010
Maria DeMaio
Keep up the good work Laurie & soak it all in. You and the rest of the team are in my thoughts!
Maybe when you get back you can come over and landscape my yard??? ; )
Barbara Thomas
Hi everyone!
I am thinking of you all every day in NOLA and wish I was working along side of you! I hope that you are taking it all in and getting a true sense of NOLA. Have you all met my dear friend Rene Penny yet? I hope that you will reach out to him before you leave if you can!
I love you all! See you when you get back to Berklee!
Love,
Barbara Thomas
lmcfarlane
Thanks Ms. D! Will gladly landscape for beignets. Vats of them.
lmcfarlane
Hey Barb! Roya and I did see Rene and it was amazing. More on that soon!