I had a fantastic weekend. Best in a while. Friday night, we had a packed house concert in Louisiana and some craic that evening. Great company, wine and grappa. Yeah, it was fun! But Saturday took the cake.

My friend Jamie, a long-time New Orleans resident, invited me on a personal tour of New Orleans. So we drove down there with her friend Margaret, who publishes a blog called Beyond Katrina, that tells about what happened and how the city is recovering. We met up with Jason, a N.O. street and Ren faire performer, and Helen, a cello player living and working in the returning N.O. music scene. It was great getting to know the city a wee bit better.

We drove throughout the downtown and uptown areas of New Orleans. The city is still rebuilding over two years after Hurricane Katrina wrecked devastation on the city. Parts of the city are still in pieces. Marks on buildings stand as reminders of the dead and the attempts to return. We saw the Musicians Village, started by Habitat for Humanity, offering homes to supplanted musicians. We saw debris still littering the city.

Admittedly, it's not all in pieces. Many of the older parts of town we're barely touched and are thriving once again. The city is fighting to return, but it is still a reminder of the fragility of civilization. This can and Does happen all over the world. And while I don't think we can really worry about what *could* happen, I do believe it is important to help those in need. So it was great seeing where some of those dollars for The Circle, Ren Fest Podcast compilation, went. And there's still a lot to do. But people like Helen were excited about the growing music scene. New musicians are showing up and there's a lot of work available, as well as lots of opportunity for growth. It's rather exciting.

Well, our tour took us to a wide variety of places around the city. We ate at The Joint, tasted some amazing Loire Valley wines at Baccanal, had blood-orange-and-basil martinis at Lili's, listened to Spanish guitarist by John Lawrence, and finished up the evening with an orgasmic dinner at Besh's.

Course, best of all, was the company--Jamie, Margaret, Jason, Helen, were all fantastic, as were the people I met around town. Great, friendly people. I've been looking for a place to move for a while, and I think there's a big possibility that New Orleans might be my next residence.