My apologies this post is so late, I literally walked in from a FULL day. It's 11:42 CT here so technically I am sticking to my promise of a new post everyday. There is so much to recap as I have been up for 18 hours now so I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.
Last night after our workday we all headed out to an African restaurant. This was another first for me and to my surprise the food was quite good. One of the group members brought an old Berklee friend who as it turns out used to work concerts with me. He told us countless stories of his Katrina experiences and how the only thing he salvaged was two Gibson guitars. After dinner we went to Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar, an old blacksmith shop from the 1700's converted to a bar. We all sat on stools around a grand piano in a dark room that was only lit by a few candles. It was one of the greatest bars I have ever been to. I took some artsy pics that you can now view in today's pics page.
This morning I had breakfast with my new buddy Rob on his balcony and then we headed off to our 3rd day of work. I was able to do work on some flooring, painting and cutting of materials to prep the siding for the house. I have a new found respect for people that work in construction. This is not easy by any stretch. Roya, our group leader also did a phone interview for NPR radio here in New Orleans. We are really getting the word out with our progress here. I was also able to shoot a quick video displaying all the hard work we are doing.
At lunch time I got a call from a big time Video Director/Producer here in NOLA named Jim Gabour. My Vice President at work put me in touch with Jim who has lived here for many years. Jim was gracious enough to pick me up at the hotel, show me more of the area and took me to his home. We drank Bourbon as he told me some hilarious stories about his life experiences. Jim then dropped me off at the "Red Fish Grille" where I attended an Alumni dinner.
On of my closest friends from Berklee, Robin Kinchen, surprised me and showed up at the dinner. It was wonderful catching up with her again as the last we saw each other was in May of 2004 in Los Angeles. Robin, her friend Clove and I walked the city and then I went back to my hotel at about 9:30pm.
Somehow, this day was not packed enough...so I knocked on my buddy Jason's door to do some more exploring. Jason's friend Brian is also here. He drove 10 hours from Florida to help us out. The three of us hit up a Hookah bar, drank some hard cider/beer and listened to this great DJ.
On a side note the group has all been contributing to a Berklee blog that you can view here. Ok, I seriously need to get some rest now so I'll be off. The sandman awaits.
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4 comments:
Hey Matt, sounds like you are putting 2 weeks worth of activity in 1 week - outstanding. The candlelit pictures are very cool - reminds me of something you'd see in Interview with a Vampire. Thanks again for letting us in on your experience via this blog. Oh also, if you run into Oliver Stone, please solve the JFK assassination while you're there.
Hey. I love your construction boots! So, now you're getting a feel for some REAL manual labor. I can finally pull you up to my level, in that respect. Ha ha.
I can't tell you how happy I am for you...and proud. You are making such a difference out there. And while there may be some who feel that no one person can make a change, I think you have definitely proved them wrong.
Get home safe, buddy!
Can someone please get Roger Brown on the horn and make Matt's next job Photo Journalist for The Berklee Press. You can cover all of the Alumni Concerts, Events, and Commencement Weekend. You could have been paid to snap shots of Gloria Estefan. Hey Matt if the Regiswar gig doesn't keep you busy enough maybe you can help out with the website optimization and layout.
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