Jambalaya Tour Journal

22 April - Soul Food

Today was our big day in Bay St. Louis with a parade, workshops and show for the people of this place of crushed landscape and unbelievable optimism and courage. People moved about camp early in the morning, hanging wet things to dry and enjoying yet another delicious Tiberio breakfast. While we ate we went over logistics for the day. The workshops will start as soon as the parade is over, so we will need to set everything up before going to the parade starting location. The show and workshops will be held in a park outside the old train depot (converted into a hospital since the storm - this will come in very handy later in the day.) There isn't a stage, but there will be a sound system. We'll hang out at the park all day with the show starting after the workshops end. Tiberio will bring lunch to the park.

Mark started working with the band on his Papa Ray song, soon filling the dining area and bleachers with music. Daniel brought out an arrangement of a hymn and the morning passed quickly with work and tunes.

 

The plan is to meet a local Mardi Gras Krewe (the Krewe of Real People) and a fire truck at the school where the parade will start. The bus will go directly to the parade start. The truck and RV with workshop supplies and crew headed to the park early and started setting up. Harry met Miss Mike (the Cultural Affairs Director for Bay St. Louis) at the depot and worked with her on getting out the sound system and chairs. They picked a spot for the show and began creating the stage area. We pulled tables and chairs out of the truck and put the workshop space in the shade of the old live oak trees, and then stowed the truck to define a backstage area.

Then it was time to head to the parade. It was immensely hot, and not seeing any audience near the school, Paul and Eben decided to move the start of the parade a little closer to the depot. The Mardi Gras Krewe, an enthusiastic group clothed in purple and feathers and riding in the back of a truck, were filled in on the plan and joined us down the street. The fire truck went sailing by on its way to the start, so the Krewe called them and let them know where we had gotten to. Even at midday, in the intense heat, there are people gathered on stoops and corners and collected in bits of shade to see the parade go by. We marched to the depot and then, in another transcendent moment of our experiences here, watched as the Krewe got into a circle and started to do their special dance as we played "Second Line." It was an incredible feeling to give voice to this soulful music and feel their perfect connection and response. One tune wasn't enough, so we also played the one about the Saints and they signaled each one of us into the circle as well. We danced and played and celebrated. Eben finally had to get in the center of the circle to get our attention to end the song or we might be playing it still. Once again it felt like home to be here.

It was after the Krewe left that I learned a fact of local life, which is that Mardi Gras beads come in giant burlap bags here, like feed or onions. The Krewe left a bag behind for us, and as the afternoon went on we dug into the sparkling hoard and became progressively more festive.

 

We had an enthusiastic crowd for the workshops. Actually, Joan had an excellent inspiration and renamed them "Playshops." Juggling implements soon littered the grass while Petra, Andrine and Tasche painted faces. The Mask Making playshop, especially appropriate here in Mardi Gras land, was mobbed as usual by adults and kids. Faith sang with Gina and Eben making a sweet back-up band. While the playshops went on, Luke and Candace hung up our banners around the stage area, and Harry tested the sound system. Tiberio arrived with a cool lovely lunch of wraps and apples with peanut butter and cold orange sections. Chairs were set up for the audience and we were ready to start the show. The band snuck away and then paraded in.

 

The show was everything it has been all week, and more. We had very special guests for this performance. The St. Rose de Lima Gospel Choir came and gave soulful witness. As they sang I watched them and thought about how much everyone here has lost and how they are simply singing on in the face of the vast destruction all around them. They asked the band to play along on Saints (having heard from the Krewe that we played it for them) and we happily backed them up. Their leader commented on how he liked the simple reminder of Joan's Snappy the Camera character who carried a sign that said, "Smile." They haven't had a lot to smile about, and they are going for it with this opportunity.

Joey did his mentalist act in which he reads the minds of volunteers to know which cards they selected from a deck. His volunteers, whom he had asked to stand, had looked at their cards as instructed, and were told to remember them. After Joey asked them to sit if he called out their card and then named off three cards in quick succession one of the three volunteers remained standing. When Joey asked her, "Ma'am, what was your card?" she replied, "The, uh, something of hearts." She had forgotten the number of her card, but Joey totally pulled it out of the fire and brought the act to a rousing conclusion. Michael thrilled both us and the audience with the mystery of the translocation of the red square.

We gave actual presents during the show. Jeremiah's guitar teacher had hatched a plan to send a guitar down for a child. Robyn and Karl found an old guitar and a music store in Bellingham donated the labor to repair it. A Port Townsend Sister City volunteer found a recipient for the guitar, and in fact then had to find a second child because Ruby wanted to give a second guitar and will send one from Rhode Island when she gets home. Jeremiah presented his guitar to a small quiet child - who not too many minutes later got up and went to a spot in the park outside the show scene to play with his gift. Ruby had a Certificate Good for One Guitar to give another child.

Nanda inadvertently generated a greatly increased level of excitement in their already full act when Kiyota and Thom actually connected during their martial arts dance and wounded each other significantly. When Kiyota spun around to face the band for a moment, we all tried to believe that the blood appearing on his face was a newly added stage effect for the act. The next time he faced our way, the rapidly spreading volume of red told us differently. He had a visibly deep cut above his eye that was bleeding like crazy. Thom had a large cut on his elbow. Paul and Joey ran for first aid supplies and met the two wounded acrobats behind Nanda's backstage screen when the moment in the act came for them to go off stage for a second. Because of all the acrobatics in the act, they had carefully looked over the ground of the stage area prior to the show, and had especially looked for ant hills so as to avoid any unpleasant encounters. I don't know if it was all the activity on the area from the show, but by the time they were out there, ant hills had appeared and the anti-ant actions added to the airborne quality of the show.

 

It got exciting in the band pit as the late afternoon faded and the gnats rose up.

 

When we reached the end of the show, a surprise announcement was made inviting the audience to dine with us there in the park. Tiberio and Ben had appeared with a glorious four course feast, enough for everyone. While we were doing the show, Tiberio had been seized with the idea of making dinner for the audience as well as us. He explained later that, "We have not yet done enough for these people!" He and Ben went back to camp, cooked up the meal and brought it back and served both audience and Chautauquans.

 

As we were finishing eating and cleaning up, a woman named Mary Kay approached some of us and invited us to come to her trailer and see a documentary she had made of her beloved community in the time right after the storm. She said she had a neighbor who had some Mardi Gras costumes we might be interested in seeing. A small group of us went over, including the particularly costume-obsessed among us (Erin, Robin, Lorraine, Joan, Joannie and myself) as well as David, Barbara, Andrea and Harry. We had grown to a large enough group that Mary Kay asked her neighbor with the costumes if we could view her DVD in his office, at his warehouse and work space, next door to her trailer.

We walked into her neighbor's space to find not just some Mardi Gras costumes, but THE Mardi Gras costumes, the ones the Kings and Queens wear - huge, elaborate, spectacular creations paved with beads and sequins and made entirely by hand. Carter Church, whose name was on a wall full of awards for best costume, has made creations for Carol Channing and costumes for the ultimate festival for most of his life. He kindly let us pour through his sketches, try on the big collar pieces, and look through the fantastic things hanging on racks all around the shop. Robin and Erin offered to enslave themselves to him on the spot. We were overwhelmed by the beauty and creativity he so casually offered, especially seeing it in the midst of chaos and destruction. He was incredibly lucky in that this space only got about a foot of water during the storm. Not so fortunate is the loss of virtually all of his business for the year. He had six orders that were already paid for, and none of the usual 125-150 costumes to make during his busy season. Like everyone we have met, he is simply going on.

Mary Kay's DVD is a haunting portrait of the time after the storm. Her daughter took the pictures that are in it, and it is set to music of reverence and loss and love. After we watched it, she explained that a picture of the sunset in the DVD is from the day after the storm. She and her daughter had gone down to the water's edge, where the waterfront street and all the businesses and homes had been eradicated. She started to cry as she talked about how horrible it was to see, and how she focused on the beauty of the sunset, and how they had to gather that beauty and peace and go on. It was the quintessence of the gifts we have received in such abundance here - the depth of her feelings and the gracious sharing of her love and tenderness for her people and her place, and the resolve and kindness with which she went on. She had participated fully in all the activities of the day today, and told us that she hadn't had that much fun since before the storm.

Harry and Andrea went back, later on, and spent more time with Mary Kay who talked about coming to terms with the complete loss of her home (Carter told us that she found someone else's house on top of hers) and all her family antiques. Looking around her trailer, she allowed that it was not a bad thing to have her material life made more simple. Gina and Oliver went to the home of a woman who was a performer in the heyday of vaudeville and made music for her, eventually coaxing her to sing as well. Other connections around town were made, with visits and sharing taking place all evening.

 

Back at camp for the night, Michelle set up her computer and made an announcement that, "If anyone wants to see pictures of the French Quarter parade they are showing now on the refrigerator." As we had gathered around to view the photos, it made sense to put the computer on the top of the fridge in the dining area so more people could see at once. As I worked on the journal, and Barbara worked on her blog, people snacked and there was music from Doug and Gina and general sweet togetherness.

We had originally planned to do our closing circle in the morning tomorrow, right after breakfast, but after hearing the gospel choir during the show, and after some folks met and spent some time with one of the singers, we were inspired to go to their church tomorrow for mass to hear more. Tiberio announced that breakfast would be at 7 AM and that we would leave for church to be there no later than 8:30. We will fit in the closing circle after church and before we leave for our final show in New Orleans.

An encounter between Joey and the police was a late night event for the day. He was pacing in the street outside the camping area talking with Jenny and Sophie on a cell phone when the police pulled up. He was wearing a turban-like arrangement of a t-shirt on his head, and apparently the police got a call to check out the guy with the unusual head gear.

The Dangerous Joey Pipia          

 

At the beginning of the tour, many of us had felt concern about the triviality of our offerings in the reality of the vast destruction of homes, livelihoods and entire towns. How significant could a little vaudeville show and some music and workshops be in this greater reality? We were thrilled to find that the people we came to serve needed joy as much as they had needed food at one time. As it turns out, we are a well oiled joy machine, and together we cooked up soul food.

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