As we sit here in the thick of Holy Week, we sit here in darkness.
We dread what is to come, yet we know this present darkness will give way to a great light. This week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we find ourselves in something like limbo. We need to just . . . be. We need to contemplate some things. Not to put too fine a point on it, we need to chill. NOT TO put too fine a point on it, that's exactly what the Big Show is all about this week -- this holiest and most solemn of weeks on the Christian calendar. This week, the music asks us what time it is. The music invites us to sit, to think . . . to just be. And we will. We are. We invite you to, too. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Way down yonder in New Orleans, Mr. Mardi Gras thinks it would be a fine idea to rename the former Lee Circle (as in Robert E.) as Mardi Gras Circle . . . in the name of unity and fraternity. Especially, no doubt, fraternity.
As New Orleans celebrates its tricentennial, it is worth noting that Mardi Gras has been an essential part of the city’s history for more than half these 300 years. Street masking and private balls occurred in the late-1700s. In 1857, the Mistick Krewe of Comus presented the first organized Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.
In 1874, 10 years before the Robert E. Lee statue was erected in New Orleans, Rex paraded past the area, then known as Tivoli Circle. For 142 years, families have gathered in harmony to enjoy hundreds of Mardi Gras parades that have passed the site. For decades, the city erected official parade-reviewing stands at the circle. Today, all 34 New Orleans parades roll past this location.
The name Mardi Gras Circle would not invite the public controversy that naming the landmark after an individual surely will: “Why Tom Benson Circle and not Fats Domino? Allen Toussaint and not Leah Chase? Andrew Higgins and not Pete Fountain?”
Finally, Mardi Gras Circle would fill a long-standing need for a monument in downtown New Orleans that commemorates the city’s oldest and largest local festival and world-class tourist attraction. Visitors to the city are amazed that as important as Mardi Gras is to our image and our economy, there exists no monument to it other than a fountain on the lakefront, four miles from downtown where the parades roll. Mardi Gras Circle could itself become a tourist attraction.
METHINKS Arthur Hardy and the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory Committee are on to something big. Real big.
Christe eleison, it's my birthday. Kyrie eleison, I am freakin' old. Lord have mercy, if I have to turn what I'm turning, the Big Show is gonna party like it's 1979. Or 1980. Perhaps, 1985. WHATEVER.No matter the particular year, this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is going to rock. Hard. Christ have mercy, the old farts will rock. Yes we will. And so will you, Cap. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Well, this was extraordinary . . . even for Louisiana.
You might think that was a wild overreaction by Sen. Conrad Appel, but you have to remember he's a Republican who represents Metairie, and that's what one has to do to hold on to one's job in David Dukeland.
People think Donald Trump is America's national disease. He is not.
What Trump is, is a particularly devastating symptom of an even more devastating disease (as evidenced by this display from our national canary in the coal mine, Louisiana).
The president is said to be branching out from Fox & Friends, and that means all media -- for easy comprehension -- are being required to employ Trumplators. This program is no exception.
We at 3 Chords & the Truthhave learned, and learned the hard way, that Trumplation can be a fraught affair. And during the course of this rather jazz-centric edition of the show, some quick conclusions may be drawn about Trumplators and their inherent biases, ideologies and -- alas -- not-so-benign agendas. To wit:
1. Never trust a Trumplator. 2. Never trust a Trumplator. 3. The Trumplator is not worthy of your trust. 4. Bad things will happen if you trust the Trumplator. 5. Do not assume that the Trumplator is translating for the president what you actually are saying. 6. Something ain't right in this whole deal. 7. I do not believe that Trumplators particularly like America or "decadent" American music. 8. Everybody in this whole Trumplation thing is up to something. 9. It is possible to do an excellent edition of the Big Showsky . . . uh . . . Big Show despite the mandated Trumplator causing all hell to break loose. 10. DO NOT trust the Trumplator, comrade. That's about it. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Here's what we're going to do this week on the Big Show: First of all, we're going to tune in.
Then we will turn on, maaaaan. Finally, we will rock out. It's as simple as that. Oh . . . we may end up jazzing out some, too. But we definitely will rock out. Is what I'm saying. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
This week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we find ourselves in something like limbo. We need to just . . . be. We need to contemplate some things.
