Thacker Mountain

Hey y'all

Yesterday, I was in Oxford to play their Thacker Mountain radio show. It is recorded in the Off Square Books, which is, off the square, but not by much! Thacker Mountain had litereary readings form authors and musical guests in between, I was excited to be back on the show, which I have been lucky enough to do every season.

Strangley, and I don't know why, but when ever a tape recorder is involved I get butterflies and worms. You know, live is one thing, casue once it's out there and out of your mouth... it just flies away and dissipates like a bubble once it pops. But when you got a tape recorder rolling...well...it's on tape!! So then you go back and listen to all the warts of the performance and that, my friends, is where my hangup is. Jim Dees ( the host) said that we're always our worst critic and that it's terribly difficlut to go back. Frankly, I probably won't for my own sanity. I know it sounded great as many people told me so, so thank God for that!! But still, as I stood up there singing and playing a couple songs by myself to a quiet room, I had to use every Jedi mind trick in the book that I knew to calm my nerves down. "You were nervous?" Jim said incredulously. "You do this all the time! Well, I couldn't tell a thing!" So I guess, my Jedi mind tricks worked yet again! (these are not the nerves you're looking for...)

Anyhow, the highlight for sure was our rockin' rendition of Memphis Minnie's "What's the Matter with the Mill" which I dueted with Duff Dourrogh. Jim Dickinson also got on the piano and yelled "done broke down" in between verses and I could tell the audience was lovin' it. Nothing like a dirty blues song to get blood flow up! uh, no pun intended there.

for your reading pleasure I am going to post the lyrics, This is the version we did on my record:

WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE MILL?
by Memphis Minnie

J: Say Miss O
O: What you say Jimbo?
J: Where are you going?
O: I’m going to the mill to have my corn ground
J: Aww, that mill’s broke down
O: How do you know?
J: I went to get my corn ground
O: What’s the matter with the mill?
J: It done broke down

O : Can’t get no grinding, tell me what’s the matter with the mill

Well, I had a little corn, I put it in a sack
Brought it to the mill and come right back
What's the matter with the mill? (It done broke down)
What's the matter with the mill? (It done broke down)
I can't get no grinding
Tell me what's the matter with the mill

Well, people keep a talking all over town
Tell me that the mill had done broke down
What’s the matter with the mill…

(spoken: Ahw, grind it)

Now listen here folks, I don't want no stuff
You can't bring me my meal, bring me the husks1
What's the matter with the mill…

Well, my papa sat and cried, my brother did, too
They both been to the mill, they can't get nothing to do
What's the matter with the mill…

Now listen here folks, I want you to bear this in mind
If you're going to the mill, you're just losing time
What's the matter with the mill…

Today's the day

I just don't know where the time goes...been trying to figure that out now for the last few years! I guess it's the never ending answer I shall seek for the rest of my days...hmmm...

Anyhow, today is the day my new CD "Now is the Time" is released in and stores near you! Here's a blurb from teh "one-sheet":

Produced by Olga and Jimbo Mathus. Recorded at Delta Recording Service, Clarksdale, Mississippi, Olga’s third album, “Now is the Time”, features performances by Memphis and Oxford, Mississippi’s hot new generation of roots and blues players. The album includes, Jimbo Mathus, Paul Taylor, Jack Yarber, Steve Malcolm, T. Bryan Ledford, Max Williams, Darren Dortin, Will Dawson, Brandon Hughes, and Justin Showah.

We got a lot more news in development, which I will drop a line on soon...in the meantime, find an A/c quick cause we're cooking' down here!!

Radioio.com

Hey Y'all

I'd like to let you know about a free internet radio station that is playing both mine and Jimbo's music quite a bit. It's called radioio.com and you can tune in on your computer at work or home or wherever y'at.

check it out!

reConstruction

I've been in New Orleans again this past week, mostly just supervising repairs/construciton on my mom's house. There are workers crawling around in every nook and cranny of this three story home and popping out of doors and stairwells. There is nowhere to hide! Things are going smoothy enough but it seems like everything just takes so much longer to do...

It's been a little depressing as the city is still mostly vacant and dogged out in most of the neighborhoods. It's something especially notcieable at night, cause there are very few lights if any at all, and the waterlogged buildings and homes just look like empty discarded shells of what once housed someone's home or business. It's pretty creepy.

Jazzfest is around the corner and I have no idea who all is planning to come or how it's going to be. On the one hand I am glad to keep things somewhat normal, but on the other, it will be the most abnormal experience for tourists and visitors--heck, everyone really. I am glad that people will be coming and witnessing first hand what a freaking mess it is because it will keep the situation in the forefront of people's minds when they leave to go back home. But at the same time, where are people going to stay? What are they going to do? Most places close at night, there is no street car, no city park, not a whole lot to pick from and do...

See, Mardi Gras is mostly on one street (St. Charles) or in the Quarter. Jazzfest is all over the city...but the city is not there, just one small part of it.

Video Shoot part II

Yes, part II ! Had another inertesting day of shooting...
This time, it was just Mike, Tom, myself and Kasey at work. We had twenty shots to do and unusual weather to say the least! The morning was filled with smoke form a nearby raging fire by the MS river. Bill Talbot (shack proprietor) said there was some uncertain drama behind it all. Basically, it was not a planned fire and they were unsure if it was set to cover somthing else up like...a body? He said there was a car involved and engulfed in flames and several people. You never know down here in the delta especially where arson runs rampant as does deperate measures.

The first and most important shot of the day was the "train shot". Mike had enlisted Reggie, a local locomotive engineer to drive his locomotive through Hopson, of which he usually does anyhow on certain days, but this time he stopped for the camera. At this point in the day it began to rain. Reggie's wife beagn to explain the dangers of hopping the train, and that I might lose my legs if I don't make it up in time. Well, I had a couple bad visions naturally before "action" was called. I wasn't scared to run next to the train and even reach out for it.. But i had a guitar case in hand, dumb shoes (an ongong problem for me it seems...) and rainy weather, so I was a little unnerved about having to hop the train with all the elements at work.

"Action!". I run along with the train, reaching out, running running....then I hurled the guitar case on board grabbed the rails and jumped up. Lo and behold I made it! The wind picked up and my hair blew with the train and rain and we rolled on through Hopson and finished the shot. Well, okay, we had to do it two more times. And I was still nervous each time about making the jump, but it worked out fine and I kept my legs in tact.

We had several other shots to do this day. Funny enough, the fire stopped for a while so we could breathe again and so did the rain. By the time we did the "mailbox" shots, it was sunny! "Sunblock anyone?" I asked. Us fair skinned people you know...

Mike says that he'lll never be able to shoot another blues video as he used up all the images. Let's see...we have sharecropper shacks, trains, train tracks, cotton, a burnt down movie theater on the "other side of the tracks", a commisary, tractor, plow, plantation, graveyard and indian mound all in the video. Yeah, I think that just about cover the subject!

Fat Tuesday

Ah, another beautiful day! Actually, the last three days have been warm and sunny....perfect parading days!

Sunday had a staggering 5 parades roll, including two of the biggest, Endymion and Baccus. I was on the route starting at 11am and left after 10pm...almost 12 hours of BBQ's, beer and bloodies, I'd say an incredible feat for most. I also caught 3 bags full of loot (would have had 4 had not one bag gone mysteriously missing).

Last night we had two parades roll and a huge crowd. SInce Sunday litterally kicked my ass, I had to be more of a spectator for Lundi Gras. And lord knows I tried to get my butt up this morning for Zulu..and I missed it again! In addition, I did not have a costume this year...my bad, I know...

...there were some great ones out there though, carousing up and down St. Charles and naturally,many were Katrina influenced. There was a family of three who had created rotten refridgerator hats and many wearing "chocolate city" inspried creations. I REALLy dropped the ball on costuming this year....(sigh)...

Rex was long and beautiful. A little excitement too, as one of the tree limbs knocked the top off one of the floats and stopped the parade for a few minutes. No one was hurt and Rex rolled on. I was happy to get a bunch of Rex cups this year and crown beads and enjoyed most of the parade stnading on top of a root of a giant live oak tree, which heightened my viewing pleasure. Next year I will definately get a ladder! Nothing like being up high in bigs crowds to see and have plastic stuff thrown at you. I still marvel at how many people are delighted by throwing plastic or scrambling for it on the ground...young and old alike... it awakens the inner child!


Well, I am a bit sad it's all over now, but it was a good year and obviously very needed for the spiritual well being for the local denziens. Now the only thing left is....how do I fit all this loot in my car??

aMUSEment

hey y'all

posting here from amidst the big weekend with some parade news to report...

first of all , Muses was a blast! i attended the ball this year too, and met many a great muses and became one myself! they had parlament play the party, and there were about 100 people on stage, mostly muses i think, still masked and boogie-ing down with george and crew.

as far as the parade goes, it was beautiful and long, 22 floats! great bands and throws to boot. i got a couple of muses barbie dolls, a muses manicure set, a muses baseball, tons of beads, frisbees, blinky beads, lost of shoe beads, etc. etc. did pretty damn good this year...


the rolling krewe of elvi also rolled in their parade, and i put some beads around the neck of one elvis and he gave me a kiss and his scarf! i told jimbo that i though he should join their krewe and go as a rolling elvi next year...he'd be perfect for that!

chaos was also quite beautiful and somehow, i always get a ton of cups from chaos.

last night for hermes and krewe d'etat, they were throwing glass beads! i actually got entire bags full of 'em! it was thrilling to have the glass beads thrown in the mix and they are quite gorgeous. made in india too! then in morpheus, they had one float full of young soap stars, one i recognized immediately from "all my children", he plays adam chandler, jr. anyhow, i ran up to the float and yelled "i love all my children" and he looked down at me, grabbed my hand and gave me some ABC soap beads. hahaha! i can't believe i met a soap star!

anyhow, today i am trying to de-puff my eyes...looks like the sun in peaking out and it's bloody mary time. kick off is at 11am, which i am already late. we got iris, tucks and superkrewe endymion today...and we're bringing my friend's dog to come and play...

that's all for now!

The Time Has Come...

...the walrus said, to talk of many things
of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings,
and why the sea is boiling hot and wether pigs have wings!

Off to NOLA for Mardis Gras and to play my monthy gig at Dos Jefe's. This is the time every year, where I crawl out from under my big black cloud of winter muck and get back into life, with the celebration of the coming of spring, and the king!
It's some sort of annual thing I go through, but after Fat Tuesday, life goes on, my spirit picks up and I can start cleaning out the crap in my head left there by the ice and cold...

So, I joined a Krewe this year, the Krewe of Muses, which I have been wanting to do for a while now. I won't be able to ride this year, but i will be at the afterparty, which should rock! For those of you who don't know, Muses is the only all female Krewe that parades at night. They roll tomorrow evening up Napoleon, down St. Charles, over Canal and around Poydras.


Check list:

coozie
beer cooler
beer! (must plan ahead as my usual stop has not reopened yet)
plastic bags (for the beads, naturally)
change of clothes (for the Krewe party, naturally)
positive attitude

http://www.myspace.com/olga

Hi y'all

I received some emails regarding hearing sample of my new music. I have not been able to update this site yet, but you can hear 3 complete songs on http://www.myspace.com/olga to whet your audible appetite! Please sign up as a friend whilst there...

Happy valentines Day!

Video shoot

I finally fiured out what makes celebs like J Lo et. al. look so good, like they have washboard abs....it's all about the lighting, baby!

We shot a video for "Now is the Time" in Clarksdale. MS this past weekend. At the helm, was Michael McCarthy, AKA Guerilla Monster, who had a whole crew of cameras and lights and reflectors and whatever-you-call-it-gadget with him. I was able to see a couple photos, that really made me look damn good! Like washboard abs! no lines! no zits! no problems! I think I can dig the whole camera thing now...

I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. We had a great time doing it, albeit cold, but great. It was mostly on location at Hopson Commissary and Shack Up Inn, though we did have a graveyard sequence and shot footage inside the old Roxy Theater, that litterally was falling down around us. But hey, it looks cool!

You can check out some of Michael's other work on his website, www.guerillamonster.com, and even see me in his Jim Dickinson video, that was shot about a year ago. Hope to have photos up on the site soon and of course the finished video streaming.

For now, I am practicing my close ups with much more zest, as we can fix it all with osme lighting, makeup, and post production!

Sale!

Hi y'all

Well, I sure hope everyone pulled out of the holidays a-o-k and back on track. I know for myself it took a while to shake out of the food-wine-party stupor and wrap my brain around a new year (I also had to practice writing 2-0-0-6).

And with 2006, I finally have my new CD, "Now is the Time" hot off the press and available for pre-release sale and downloads off my website,www. laolga.com (The actual release date is April, 18, 2006, where the new album will be in retail stores both online, like itunes and amazon, and offline, like Tower, Virgin and Borders).

However, just because the holidays are over, does not mean there are no gifts! Many of you know, that I am a big fan of the whole gift-with-purchase thing, and now, for a limited time, every order of "Now is the Time" will come with a free OLGA lipbalm.

But that's not all! Any order of both "Now is the Time" and "Kiss Your Blues Away" will receive an additional surprise gift! Yessir, indeed!

All songs and albums can also be downloaded off laolga.com for those of you needing music asap.

In the meantime, many thanks in advance and keep those lips happy!


xoxOlga

\

An Invitation

Dear Roots Music Lover


New Orleans music has inspired many of us in the world of roots music, blues and jazz. With the devastation of Katrina, the city is facing its biggest challenge in history. While rebuilding is underway, it will take years to reconstruct what was once our beloved Crescent City.

The JMH Foundation sponsored a benefit concert in Memphis on October 14, 2005, resulting in the live recording When the Levee Breaks: A Benefit Concert for Katrina Survivors. The event, which featured notable musicians from the Memphis and north Mississippi area, was recorded and filmed with the intention of releasing a benefit CD/DVD to assist local non-profit organizations in their ongoing effort to rebuild the greater New Orleans area.

Featured on the recording are Jim Dickinson, Jimbo Mathus, the Bo-Keyes, Luther and Cody Dickinson, the Bluff City Backsliders, Jack Oblivion & the Tennessee Tearjerkers, Monsieur Jeffrey Evans, Tate Moore & Ken Hart, Amy & the Tramps, Paul Taylor, Duff Dorrough, Jimmy Crosthwait, Jim Dees of Thacker Mountain Radio, Bill Ellis, Johnny Vomit & the Dryheaves, Lynn Drury, Larry Frye & the Livewire Band, and Olga Wilhelmine.

Kevin Houston will donate mixing of the album and Larry Nix & Co. are generously donating the mastering. Live from Memphis is graciously donating the filming and editing of the project.

All proceeds will be divided amongst different organizations including the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Covenant House-New Orleans, the LA/SPCA, and Tipitina’s Foundation. With these proceeds, the JMH Foundation hopes to continuously provide funds for the on-going relief and rebuilding efforts in the area.

When the Levee Breaks: A Benefit Concert for Katrina Survivors CD/DVD is scheduled for release in May 2006 on New Orleans-based record label 219 Records, distributed by Redeye Distribution. The project will be available on digital download sites as well.

The JMH Foundation would greatly appreciate your support in the form of a tax-deductible donation. Your contribution will go towards manufacturing and promotion of the project. The goal is to raise $5,000 by March 2006. The JMH Foundation will keep an online progress report as relates to the project, culminating in its release date of May 2006. Donator’s names will be included in the liner notes of the release.

The JMH Foundation has been recognized under section 501(c)3 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code for charitable organizations. You may donate by sending a check or money order payable to JMH Foundation. Receipts will be sent for all donations. Thank You!

JMH Foundation
Post Office Box 12
Como, MS 38619
USA

Another Year Done Gone

Done gone and old!

I am sitting on my bed today, watching my soaps, which has been real nice as there has not been much time to relax prior to Christmas. I am stilltrying to wrap my brain around a few things, like how the year can already be over...

Well, I am looking forward to a new beginning as I think there are some cool things ahead and in store not just for me, but many of my friends. So I am happy for everybody and happy to have a nice crew to work with and be friends with.

Guess I'll try the ole "new years resolutions" things again (what the hell). Okay, I want to quit smoking, drinking, being ignant, enough with the debauchery and mayhem...oh, that does not sound very fun! Well, maybe I'll work on doing it less....less is more, right? Hmm...what else? I guess being more relaxed and sympathetic and forgiving, even to those who I may not belive deserve forgiveness. Really, I need to minimize the grey hairs standing on my head!

That's all I can think of. I am so blessed with many a good things. I want to try and keep it that way and not get in the way of myself (that seems like an issue most people have, myself included).

Happy New Year and see you in 2006!

MARDIS GRAS SCHEDULE FOR 2006

New Orleans Parade Schedule: (times to be announced)

Saturday, February 18

Pontchartrain

Pygmalion

Sparta

Pegasus

Sunday, February 19

Carrollton

King Arthur

Bards

Thursday, February 23

Babylon

Chaos

Muses

Friday, February 24

Hermes

Krewe D’Etat

Morpheus

Saturday, February 25

Iris

Tucks

Endymion

Sunday, February 26

Okeanos

Thoth

Mid-City

Bacchus

Monday, February 27

Proteus

Orpheus

Tuesday, February 28

Zulu

Rex

Elks

Crescent City

Death of an American City

New York Times Editorial
Death of an American City
Published: December 11, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/opinion/11sun1.html

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.

There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.

At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature.

The rumbling from Washington that the proposed cost of better levees is too much has grown louder. Pretending we are going to do the necessary work eventually, while stalling until the next hurricane season is upon us, is dishonest and cowardly. Unless some clear, quick commitments are made, the displaced will have no choice but to sink roots in the alien communities where they landed.

The price tag for protection against a Category 5 hurricane, which would involve not just stronger and higher levees but also new drainage canals and environmental restoration, would very likely run to well over $32 billion. That is a lot of money. But that starting point represents just 1.2 percent of this year's estimated $2.6 trillion in federal spending, which actually overstates the case, since the cost would be spread over many years. And it is barely one-third the cost of the $95 billion in tax cuts passed just last week by the House of Representatives.

Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?

Losing a major American city.

"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better," President Bush said that night in September. Our feeling, strongly, is that he was right and should keep to his word. We in New York remember well what it was like for the country to rally around our city in a desperate hour. New York survived and has flourished. New Orleans can too.

Of course, New Orleans's local and state officials must do their part as well, and demonstrate the political and practical will to rebuild the city efficiently and responsibly. They must, as quickly as possible, produce a comprehensive plan for putting New Orleans back together. Which schools will be rebuilt and which will be absorbed? Which neighborhoods will be shored up? Where will the roads go? What about electricity and water lines? So far, local and state officials have been derelict at producing anything that comes close to a coherent plan. That is unacceptable.

The city must rise to the occasion. But it will not have that opportunity without the levees, and only the office of the president is strong enough to goad Congress to take swift action. Only his voice is loud enough to call people home and convince them that commitments will be met.

Maybe America does not want to rebuild New Orleans. Maybe we have decided that the deficits are too large and the money too scarce, and that it is better just to look the other way until the city withers and disappears. If that is truly the case, then it is incumbent on President Bush and Congress to admit it, and organize a real plan to help the dislocated residents resettle into new homes. The communities that opened their hearts to the Katrina refugees need to know that their short-term act of charity has turned into a permanent commitment.

If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.

Our nation would then look like a feeble giant indeed. But whether we admit it or not, this is our choice to make. We decide whether New Orleans lives or dies.

N.O. no more

Drove through bywater/lakeview and surrounding areas which were under water (which was just about everywhere) and even after the huge cleanup that has happened over there over the past three months, it is STILL a horrible disaster. Houses, trees, cars and everything near by was dead and it looks dead, like a bomb went off. 60 percent of the tax paying citizens of the city lived in this area...

I have no other words to describe it, nothing other than tears.

What New Orleans is Like

Hello y'all

I'm writing from NOLA right now, sitting in CC's coffee...well, it's pretty sad around here. Lot's of missing trees and roofs replaced by bare sky and blue tarps! Uptown fared better, but there is still plenty of fixing to do, lot's of insurance claims to make, humvees, rotten fridges, garbage, debris and cocktails (of course!-the first building block of N.O.). Some things are "normal". Some restaurants are open, and little stores...the French Quarter is looking all right, though trying to find a mint julep now is virtually impossible (Jimbo and I used to entertain ourselves on a Sunday afternoon doing the "mint julep" bar tour in the F.Q).

There are about 100,000 people living here now, down from 1/2 million, which gives the whole city sort of a ghost town effect. I don't think there will be many more peole coming back for years to come. The rest of the city is not fixable. I guess we are lucky enough to have something here to fix, as are most of our neighbors, but it will never look the same.


I met some people at my show last night that have been here working and doing clean-up. It was moving how people thanked each other for being here and for helping. Overall it seems like a real community, considering the lack of it in many parts. What can you do? I guess clean and cry and find a mint julep!

I do a some good news though, Port a Call has reopened down on Esplanade. I am heading o'er there tonight to eat a big fat steak and wine with friends...

When the Levee Breaks II, Oxford MS

Hello and Merry HoHo

Here is the schedule for Friday night "When the Levee Breaks :II" concert, proceeds going to the Rebuild the Coast Fund and recording/filming for upcoming release in April 2006. Doors at 9:30pm.



"When the Levee Breaks: II "

December 9th, Two-Stick, Oxford MS

Doors 9:30pm

10:00 -10:05 intro by Jim Dees

10:05-10:30 Lynn Drury

10 :30-10:35 Jim Dees and change over

10:35- 10:55 Olga & Jimbo

10:55-11:05 Jim Dees and change over

11:05 -11:40 Tate Moore & Ken Hart Band

11:40-11:55 Jim Dees and change over

11:55- 12:20 Amy & the Tramps

12:20-12:25 Jim Dees and change over

12:25 - 1:00 Bluff City Backsliders

1:00-1:10 Jim Dees and change over

1:10-? Jimbo Mathus, Duff Dorrough and Knockdown South

a good day to record

...on a 8 track that is!

Alas, I awoke with a song on my mind, which has not happened much lately, so I was happy to oblige the muse. Seems like lately, whenever inspiration came, it was at an imopportune moment to do anything about it, and I thought, "well, one of these times it will come and the time will be right and it will fall out of me by way the universe."

I think every songwriter out there loves those "fall out of the universe" moments in songwriting. It all happens at once and suddenly your done and you have a cool song you dig! Not too much editing, not too much fuss if at all...it's just suddenly...there.

I guess you can't have those moments all the time, else they would not be so special. But what a special feeling it is when it happens! Hope I'll keep it up and finish another albums worth of stuff. Amen.

Boulder-us

Headin out to Boulder, CO tomorrow....I used to live there! It will be a nice trip reconnecting with friends and perforing a birthday party on Saturday. I had a very nice life in Boulder, I'm sure it's not hard to imagine. I had a nice apt. on Pearl street and Folsom with a view of the Flatirons. I worked two blocks away for Alternative Radio, and dj-ed at KGNU, which at the time was also about two bocks away. My gym was about 1/2 mile away, my PO Box about 5 blocks away, and I would ride my bike or walk around these places. The best was that I took tap dancing classes once a week up Pearl street (the studio is no longer there) and go see shows at the Fox Theater on the weekend. Often, in the winter, I'd do a 1/2 day skiing up at Eldora, and come back down to work in the afternoon. Like I said, very nice living.

Then one day, I realized I was missing someting. It was like I had accomplished all that I needed to in my time in Boulder, and that I needed to go find my muse, but it would be somewhere else. And suddenly, I was in U-haul truck driving accross the country on acid with two friends to help to New Orleans. That was it! I moved in July 1st, the hottest day down there, and we were sweating so bad (the apt. was on the 2nd floor) that I felt like an extra in a Rocky movie. For days, I would wake up and think I was still in Boulder, or not even know where the hell I was...it was a traumatic change, but one that was perhaps the best I had ever done.

It is hard to let go of what is comfortable and warm. It is so difficult to leave all that you have built up to start over somewhere else. It is a challenege of unbelieveble means. My change was by choice becasue I felt like I needed to go and continue my journey. However, when I think of all the people who were forced to leave because of the hurricanes, my heart breaks at the thought of their struggle to overcome the difficulties and hardships that the demanding challenge was brought upon them.