living not so big and not so easy

if you're the 1person who checks up on my blog from time to time then you already know i've left lovely liberal washington, dc for supposed warmer climates in the big easy; new orleans, la. first, i admit i'm sorry i had to leave dc before the history-making inauguration of mr. obama, though from the sounds of things back in the capital the local washingtonians are already well annoyed+frustrated with the thousands upon thousands of out-of-towners; foreign license plates cluttering intersections and making wrong turns down one way streets. secondly, the entire northern hemisphere is experiencing an unruly winter cold and mid-30degrees fahrenheit was not at all what i was hoping for in the deep south. so i got myself an apartment with plenty more space than i need in uptown, new orleans that been staying plenty cold night+day. forced to buy a space heater to keep warm (something i thought i had left back in dc), it moves from room to room with me, whether i'm sitting in my fold-up-camping-chair in the living room or sleeping on my air mattress in the bedroom. i'll eventually get some real furniture, i swear. uptown is actually west of the french quarter+downtown nola, but it's called uptown because it's the highest point of the city - only 10feet below sea level instead of the 28feet below where downtown sits. i'm roughly 2blocks away from audubon park (named after the artist) which, among other things (including a tea house) holds a few football pitches and audubon zoo meaning i'm occasionally woken by the monkeys or elephants or both during what i can only assume must be feeding time, and can occasionally see the giraffes towering over the zoo fences on the walk to the pitch later in the morning. anyway, the move has cost me well more than i was originally expecting so it's good that i'm easily entertained by the cheap and the free. i keep myself busy with my football, my sketches (using a couple stacked empty boxes as a makeshift desk/end table/foot rest), and a seldom trip to neighbourhood bar: cooter brown's (love that name) for fresh oyster's and 400+ worldly beers to choose from. soon as i can i'll be buying a new scanner to post sketches and some new canvas to paint. and there will always be my photography. i'm excited to get out and take pictures of my new surroundings, sorry that i haven't taken the time yet, though in my defense i have been busy getting life in order. admittedly i really need to go back into my past of photos and get them properly archived on flickr, and certainly some here too. it'll happen. the job here in nola leaves me with more free time to focus on my art so i'm excited to get to producing. there are plans to eventually even have some new short fiction, some of which are already in progress. since my return to new orleans i've confirmed my thoughts about my abilities to avoid the guns and find the jazz once here to explore on my own. i had been told, and it seems to be holding true, that there is a great art community within the city. 1exhibition that i read about in the local paper but was only able to experienced a little piece of was called prospect.1. the project was the largest gathering of international contemporary art ever gathered in the united states. it opened in november 08 and closed this weekend. 1installation was found in the lower 9th ward, a section of new orleans devastated by hurricane katrina, where houses that were abandoned after the disaster were turned into massive pieces of art. while i never got there myself, here are photos of that project and many others that were a part of this huge exhibit. i've also been introduced to local band the zydepunks. the name speaks for itself. i've linked to their myspace page because i like the offered music selection, but they describe themselves as "new orleans cajun irish breton klezmer slavic zydeco" on their website. then these guys led me to balkan beat box, an interesting sound from nyc. between their site+myspace you can listen to plenty tunes. i can't talk music without giving bigups to 3canal as they present joy+fire which is launching tonight in t+t in preparation for carnival. wish i could be a part, of course. i definitely wanna experience a t+t carnival with 3canal someday, but this year i'll be celebrating carnival with new orleans mardi gras. i'm honestly not at all interested in a million people pushing me through their river of piss, shit+vomit so i plan to avoid the quarter, but i certainly plan to walk the 10blocks to st. charles to watch a parade or 2. nevertheless, i already know mardi gras never hold a candle to carnival in t+t. that said, here's 3canal's latest: boom up history. it is, of course, a real hot tune! talk soon.