Friday, January 01, 2010

Kermit

My friend couldn't believe that Kermit Ruffins was playing at Vaughan's on New Year's eve. I said, "who's Kermit Ruffins?"
Once upon a time my friend's father stumbled on a trumpet jazz rendition of "happy birthday", and loved it so much that he played it at every single birthday party in their house for 10 years. Kermit Ruffins was the guy who played that trumpet. Before we left for the venue, my friend called up the father and told him excitedly that we were about to see Kermit Ruffins live.

So we went to Vaughan's and found a large, crowded shack in the middle of a dark neighbourhood, lit with kitschy multi-color lightbulbs and cheap new year decorations. Kermit Ruffins was deliciously drunk, and his music kept the place together and alive. Everyone seemed to know each other, or at least knew the bartender, who was a small asian lady. A woman passed by and gave me a plastic cube that glowed blue when I put it in my drink.

An old man with a kind wrinkled face sat near us and smiled at us. And then he asked my friend, "What's wrong with your lady friend here? She's so cold. I smiled at her 3 times and she didn't even see me." He must have been 60 years old, and his face was weathered like a farmer who is out in the sun all day.

My friend said, "You know why? Because she's Asian. They have these small eyes and it's hard for them to see things."
"That's right," I said and nodded seriously.
The old man laughed so hard it made me happy to see him.
I gave him a hug and said, "I love you, man."
"I love you too," he said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have to say it's funny. I happened upon your blog to find information about Indonesia. I was considering finding a job there, but then found information about New Orleans. I used to live in Nola for years. Know the place like the back of my hand. How do you compare it to Indonesia? Is there a comparison?