Last Call, New Orleans

Well, we’ve officially survived an entire week of “work” in the French Quarter. We left New Orleans this morning, after yet another long night on Bourbon St. (at least for some of us)… The problem (or at least so I’m telling myself) was that we shot Bash and the girls having a “night out on the town,” which obviously could only end with cast and crew getting hurricanes and “huge ass beers” (if you’ve been to Bourbon you know what I mean). Work hard, play hard, anyone? Did make for a looong day of driving to Alabama today though…

The past few days, our summer Gulf Coast weather kicked up to the next level. Walking outside in the morning is like stepping into a sauna; showering begins to seem pointless, and certainly futile. You run for cover inside blessed air-conditioned buildings, only to forget the suffering of moments before and be overwhelmed yet again when you’re finally forced to return to the street. But in a way, the insurmountable heat is comforting. You are left with no choice but to release yourself from petty cares like dry clothes and stable hair– no choice but walk straight past that mirror and revel in your own sweat. It’s the great equalizer, since no one stays fresh or clean for long.

Yesterday morning we headed over to the Upper 9th Ward to participate in a house build with Habitat for Humanity, who are the brawn behind Musicians’ Village, a post-Katrina rebuilding effort begun by Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis to re-house displaced native musicians. The sun was sweltering, but we toughed it out for several hours with the AmeriCorps and Habitat volunteers working on the house. The Village is a work of art in and of itself– each little house painted a different bright color, complete with a front porch and yard (pictures coming soon). All of us came away with the utmost respect for the volunteers working on these houses daily in the ridiculous heat. True, these houses aren’t mansions, but they still take an amazing amount of work to build (especially since they must be as hurricane-proof as possible). And, as one cast member pointed out on our lunch break, the volunteers build these houses without ever necessarily even meeting the final occupants– truly a selfless labor of love.

I spoke with our local producer, Melissa, about her personal experience with Katrina– working in Los Angeles when the storm hit, unable to be with her family as their homes were ruined, and with Joseph about his life growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp, and I started thinking again about the meaning of home.  So much more than simply a building; also a manifestation of your existence, in a way a projection of your life and an anchor for your family. To be displaced from home in such a brutal fashion can only be like tearing at a piece of your soul.  Hopefully, the work Habitat is doing in the 9th Ward is helping to restore some of that loss.

After Musicians’ Village, Joseph spent the evening and night in some New Orleans housing projects.  A far cry from the French Quarter, where drinks are three for one every night and Mardi Gras beads forever hang from lamp posts like Spanish moss. Two sides to every coin, two faces to every city.

We’re now in Montgomery, AL, the birthplace of the American civil rights movement. I think we’re all excited to see the town and explore a little bit of that very moving part of our national history, especially against the background of our current president. Of course its never so simple, but in a sweetly naive way it does seem as though history has come full circle.  More thoughts on that tomorrow…

-Lyzz