It’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

We traveled for eleven days, visited five countries and it took me two more weeks to get this post up! What’s a few more days, here and there? Traveling to Europe took the whole day. We arrived in Munich at 7:45am and hit the ground running–the day that lasted two days! We left from Vienna and made it back home around 11pm on the Thursday before the weekend that is the Fourth of July. My son slept for the next 37 hours.

Our greeting in our last hotel restaurant of the trip, H2 Hotel Wien, Vienna.

We arrived in Europe just in time for an historic heat wave! Bulgaria was a delightful blur. We accidentally spent too much time in the Munich airport before boarding our bus and heading out for lunch and adventuring in Marienplatz! I’m not able to upload the video I took in the square of the Glockenspiel but it was enchanting. If you go, it is located in the “new” city hall, which is over 100 years old. Our guide told us the old city hall is around the corner, on the next block! We climbed a church tower which afforded us a gorgeous view of the new city hall, Glockenspiel and the surrounding town. Breathtaking (and not just because we climbed 13 flights of stairs to get there)!

Our next full day began with a city tour. We returned to Marienplatz, wanting to view the clock inside the Frauenkirche at 12:10pm. We had some time so we found the Lego store! Afterwards, my son and I ventured off on our own in search of an Italian lunch. We found an award-winning pizza restaurant (they proudly showed us the award). We chatted with the owner while finishing our pizzas. He brought out complimentary tiramisu which was delicious with my limoncello! From there, we took the U (subway) to the BMW museum and showroom. The air conditioning wasn’t what we’d hoped but was still a nice respite from the heat outside! We took the U back to Marienplatz to meet up with our group for dinner.

Day 3 felt like it should have been Wednesday but was already Thursday and began with a 2 hour bus ride to Chimsee to board a ferry boat to the Herrenchiemsee Palace. King Ludwig II greatly admired Louis XIV and modeled his palace after Versailles. The island and the palace were spectacular, the palace ornate. From there, we were back on the bus for a tense ride up through the mountains to the Eagle’s Nest! It was a bit unsettling, lunch was challenging but delicious as was the air! It was crisp and cool in the mountains and the views were stunning!

We made it back down through the mountains and drove to Salzburg. Our smaller group of friends found a cafe and sat indoors, drinking cold drinks versus exploring Salzburg beyond the main square before dinner.

Friday was a bus trip to Prague, broken up with time for lunch and free time in Cesky Krumlov. Everyone adored this quaint town! Our group split up for lunch, we enjoyed Italian again outside under rows of straw hats hung above us. We did some shopping, found some cute souvenirs and I was happy to find a new bag/backpack as my purse strap had broken earlier in the day. The bag was made in Italy and features a fleur de lis on the front! It was an early birthday gift to myself, as if a trip to Europe with my son wasn’t enough! We rested on the bus as we traveled the rest of the way to Prague. I was instantly smitten with Prague! Here is my son showing you that everything is fine, despite it looking like Prague was on fire!

We later learned it was an apartment fire but everyone was OK. From there, we walked to dinner in a quaint Italian restaurant where the pieces of the stone ceiling were falling on our corner table (and our heads) throughout dinner. We went from witnessing a fire to feeling like the sky was falling. We’d forgotten it was to be an Italian night when we chose our lunch spot but we didn’t mind two great Italian meals in one day! The legal drinking age is lower there so it was fun sharing a bottle of wine with our whole table!

Saturday was a full day in Prague. We saw Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, the old town and my son was excited to see the Charles Bridge! We knew it was going to be another very hot day so some smart friends found a chocolate museum where we could take a short class and make our own chocolate! Between the chocolate and the many wax figures in the museum, we’d hoped it would be cooler inside than it was but it was still a welcome respite from the heat outdoors! Our small group took the class with two lovely young ladies visiting from Israel. They were the same age as my son and his friends, had also just completed high school but were not with a tour group, the pair were vacationing on their own before going home to start their two years with the Israeli military. After sampling much chocolate, we visited the exquisite Church of Our Lady Before Týn. My son then led us to “authentic” gelato before dinner! (I only worried a little about being hungry before this trip! We ate well and often, the whole trip!) Dinner that last night in Prague was not far from Wenceslas Square but I failed to get a picture of the historic block. The heat was oppressive and we didn’t venture out as far as we might have, otherwise.

Sunday morning we were up and on our way to Krakow, Poland! We stopped for lunch at a rest stop/bus stop. McDonald’s did not have the filet o’fish over there but I was happy to see they have a veggie burger! It was pretty good! After a full day on the bus, we arrived in Krakow. We toured Wawel Castle, Wawel Cathedral and Glowny Square and the Main Square. Our large tour group was split into two groups with a tour guide each. We were to meet at St. Mary’s Cathedral for Mass but our group was inadvertently led into the wrong church. We don’t speak Polish so we filed in and sat down, only to realize they were already halfway through the Mass! Whoops! The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was gorgeous! The other group successfully made it to Mass at the correct church and time and we all met for a fun Polish dinner, including a beer tower for the table!

Photo was taken after the first round had been dispensed!

Later that evening, whilst playing cards with friends, my son successfully ordered McDonald’s using UberEats! Our delivery person arrived on his bike, pretty quickly!

The following Monday was rough. We boarded our buses for a visit to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. We were told to leave backpacks, bags, etc. on the bottom of the bus so I tossed mine in there–with my hat still inside. Both the heat and emotions were intense. Knowing what the place was is not the same as walking those grounds. Putting feet on the same ground, the same steps, walking the same corridors as so many who suffered and perished there was heart-wrenching. It was quite hot but I couldn’t complain, knowing how so many died from exposure to brutal temperatures. At Auschwitz, we were in and out of various buildings. We saw St. Maximillian Kolbe’s cell. Afterwards, we boarded buses again for a short trip to Birkenau, walking up to the infamous archway in real life, real color not a black and white photo. Our tour of Birkenau mostly took place in the middle of a gravel road, lined on one side by remaining buildings and on the other, only brick fireplaces remained. Eventually, we walked through one building, learning how cramped each building had been. I couldn’t complain about standing in the blazing sun again for the rest of the tour but it was easy to understand how some had died from extreme temperatures, both freezing and heat.

It was a somber bus ride to Łagiewniki. There, in beautiful contrast, we visited the Shrine of Divine Mercy and the Basilica of Divine Mercy. The tour group spent a little time there, then took the bus to the city center but we stayed behind with our smaller group to walk the grounds and stay for the 3pm Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We had time before the 3pm service so we did some shopping. I bought a few gifts but was looking for water. Eventually, my son and I split from the group to check out a small convenience store. He found what appeared to be an electrolyte drink and I thought I purchased coconut water. It was sweet, thicker than I expected and I suspect it was more like cacao water? We got turned around and wandered a bit before finding the correct chapel and our friends. Kneeling on the hard wood kneelers was cooler than outside. I took the opportunity to put my forehead all the way down to the top of the pew in front of me–to pray and cool down but as soon as I put my head down, I could feel myself drifting off to sleep. I sat back up and felt faint so back down I went. I did this a few times, worrying my son before opting to sit on the edge of the pew for the rest of the chaplet versus kneeling. The service was beautiful. They recited each of the five decades of the chaplet in a different language. I didn’t understand four of them well but I whispered along in English. We were able to get up close and pray before the altar and a copy of the Divine Mercy image, afterwards. Back out in the heat, we made our way to the tram stop. Thankfully, our friend had found the route, tram number and purchased tickets so we were able to ride back to the city center. Once in town, I bought and sipped water while our group bought gelato and shopped. I considered trying to take a taxi or Uber back to our hotel but I was falling asleep every time I sat down as it was, I was afraid to fall asleep in the back of a cab in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language. We met our group and walked to dinner. We got to the restaurant and my sweet friends encouraged me to eat, thinking it would help. I barely took a bite, I had no appetite but started to nod off again, at the table. I woke to ask where my son’s friend was? (He was sitting directly across from me). At this point, I went outside and put my head down on an outdoor table. By this point, I felt like I had a fever and my skin was hot to the touch. Other sweet friends brought me Liquid IV over ice. That helped! I’d told my son he could eat my dinner along with his (we had not eaten lunch, that day and he was as hungry as I was exhausted). He finished, came outside and pulled up the Uber app on my phone. The group was getting ready to walk back to the buses to go back to the hotel but I wasn’t sure I had one more walk in me. He rode in the car with me to the hotel. We got back to the room, I took a cold shower. I came out to find my son had filled the carafe with cold water and filled a glass of sparkling water for me! (The water fountains in our hotel had so many options!) He took good care of his mom! We were both in bed before 8pm and needed that good night’s sleep!

We woke, Tuesday refreshed and ready to continue our European adventure! We were back on the bus, headed to Vienna! The original itinerary had us arriving in Vienna with some free time before dinner but our wonderful bus drivers offered us the opportunity to stop in Bratislava! We were able to add one more country to our travels! Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and we enjoyed exploring and shopping for a bit before continuing on to Vienna for dinner.

After a lovely dinner in Vienna, we checked into our hotel and our small group ventured back out to a local gelato shop and another McDonald’s, after the ice cream. We laughed as we passed a “Frick” bookstore! It was closed, for the night but we found another one in our wanderings through Vienna, the next day!

Wednesday began with a group tour of parts of Vienna. We were dropped off in an art nouveau section complete with rolling streets and adorable buildings! Gustav Klimt was featured prominently in the gift shops. We continued on with a informative bus ride through Vienna before making our way to Stephansplatz, the center of Vienna featuring St. Stephen’s Cathedral. We explored a few incredible churches, had another Italian lunch, shopped and stopped for cold drinks as the rain arrived just before dinner. Sitting under umbrellas, sipping, people watching and listening to the bells of St. Stephen’s ring was delicious. More members of our group began arriving in the same spot so we ordered another round and savored the refreshing weather.

It was an incredible trip! As with any tour, we didn’t see everything but we learned a lot and sampled several cities! It was a great way for the students (and parents) to see which places would be fun to visit again! I took too many photos during the trip but we took time, too. Exploring new countries with my youngest was a priceless experience.

Slow down, you crazy child
And take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?
–Billy Joel

Here is the church, here is the steeple

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

I received an email from Trip Advisor, almost immediately after I returned from New Orleans, suggesting that I check out St. Patrick’s Church! That was the main reason I visited the city! The Writing Marathon was the perfect excuse to visit in June but my main intention was to learn more about the church. My current novel began imagining a scene at the top of St. Patrick’s bell tower! I don’t review every place that I visit, so apparently, the travel site thought I’d missed it.

I drove past the church, every day in the early 1990s but only admired it. I never went in. I have visited, attended Mass and toured on my own on recent visits. This time, I scheduled an official tour on the day after the Writing Marathon. I went to Confession, Mass and stayed to pray the rosary with their small group during Adoration. The gentleman leading the rosary clearly knew everyone else, there and nodded to a different person to lead each decade. He nodded to me for the 5th decade! Afterwards, I had a lovely conversation with the woman who had sat in the pew in front of me. She invited me to many upcoming events at the church! I was truly sad to tell her I only had 24 hours left in the city, this time. New Orleans is a small town that pretends to be a big city. Talk to people! Even if you find you don’t know anyone in common–or especially if you don’t–people will invite you to something! Afterwards, I was given a guided tour and made a new friend in the church office! St. Patrick’s offers Masses in both English and Latin. I attended a Latin Mass, years ago when I was in town for a reunion. As a lifelong Catholic who had never attended a Latin Mass, I was a bit lost but captivated!

The arts and crafts style beauty is as much a character in my novel as any fictionalized human. Speaking of beauty, the original murals behind the altar were recently restored and are impressive! New Orleans is saturated in history and some sites retain their splendor. St. Patrick’s is not as old as it’s famous neighbor, St. Louis Cathedral (the oldest continually active church in the United States)! According to church history, St. Patrick’s was commissioned when the Irish Catholics in New Orleans grew tired of attending Mass at St. Louis Cathedral “where God spoke French.” If you are looking for a breathtaking church in New Orleans, you have a plethora to choose from but a visit to St. Patrick’s is worth your time!

New Orleans

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

25 days ago, I landed in New Orleans. 17 days ago, I left. The week in between was a blur! Not the hazy, hungover blur that you associate with a visit to that city but a vibrating, busy week that flew like a weekend! I wanted to write in the city, I hoped to verify details for my my current novel and I was ready to EAT! I used the New Orleans Writing Marathon as an excuse to go. I felt, somehow, that justified my going back to New Orleans to write.

Obviously, justification wasn’t necessary but the retreat gave me another reason to go and dates to put on my calendar. I told my husband I wished I could add a day or two to my itinerary, in addition to the Marathon dates. He said, “Do it!” So I added dates on either end! I stayed for a week! My Plan was to eat, absorb the sounds and smells and work on the novel over the weekend. I assumed I’d be writing pieces unrelated to my novel during the workshop but I planned to edit and revise my book, each evening. I am a mediocre planner.

It wasn’t that I was unmotivated or too tired. I was buzzing and it wasn’t even the alcohol! A writer I met during the Marathon described being overstimulated at the end of each day, likening it to a child after her best day ever at an amusement park. Spending three days with creative people, sharing their stories in New Orleans was energizing! I am usually a bit nervous before walking into a writing conference or workshop. I was determined not to be anxious, this time. Everything had fallen into place so seamlessly from the moment I decided to go! I wondered if I was meant to meet someone in New Orleans. I found my people! One of the very first writers I met was a historian who is writing a non-fiction book which takes place in New Orleans during the same time period as my fictional novel! I met so many incredible writers, some of whom shared personal stories as well as written pieces.

I had registered to go to the same retreat, last summer but my PRP was full-blown. I knew I could not handle it, physically. I still have PRP but it is not erythrodermic and is more manageable. I was scheduled to go to New Orleans in April, this year for a wedding but tested positive for Covid and did not want to share with family members who already have enough health concerns. I’d been bummed about not going and my husband casually asked if I was going to “that writing retreat, this year?” I was pleasantly shocked when we had nothing on the family calendar that week, I was able to use the flight credit from the missed April trip and I had no travel hiccups getting there!

I went, I ate, I wrote and I was inspired! I found some of the answers I was looking for and learned more about the city I love so much but that still has so many stories to tell!

*I have made numerous video montages of my trip, set to “New Orleans” by Stevie Nicks but I am technologically challenged so the music does not actually play. I will get my son to help and share that, soon! Meanwhile, please enjoy this video of her song. (One day, I will write about attending a Stevie Nick’s concert at the height of my PRP! My doctor wanted me in the hospital, that weekend but I had bought tickets for my husband’s birthday (Billy Joel with Stevie Nicks) and I wasn’t about to let him down!) At the time, I was channeling my inner Stevie, wearing my long black dress, black gloves and hat to cover PRP but cover it like a rock star! I was disappointed she did not sing this song, that night but I’m confident I’ll see her sing it, one day!

Misunderstanding

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ 1 Comment

An unintentional, adult version of the Telephone game just made this session even more fun! During the New Orleans Writing Marathon, small groups visit various spots in New Orleans to stop and write. I wrote with groups in an art gallery, Congo Square and many restaurants and bars! At one point, a group of us ducked into the Fives Bar to wait out a summer storm.

I watched Glenn shuck oysters while opening the Shazam app. The playlist was stellar but I didn’t recognize this one. We sampled tuna crudo and sipped our cocktails. I learned that the song I was enjoying was “Hunger for a Way Out,” when the writing prompt came from the far end of the crescent shaped bar.

“Seafood.”
“Did she say “C-word?”
I laugh, take a sip. We can work with this!
“I think she said ‘seafood.'”
“She is eating a plate of oysters.”
“They do kinda smell the same.”
Glenn chuckles. “Oops!” We giggle. “Sorry, Glenn! You’re part of the group, now!”

Crunchy topping on tuna,
cucumber in a Pimm’s cup, though I ordered a Golden Hour.
Crawfish, crabs…

I am feeling crablike. Not crabby. Maybe I identify as a crab. I’m bumpy, scratchy and I pinch my hat and clothes. I’ve been enjoying the steaming pot that is New Orleans but I am a boiled red crab, not a soft pale potato.
I do feel like a twice-baked potato! I’m so full! I couldn’t finish all of my breakfast at the Clover Grill! We only walked for a few minutes before the rains moved us indoors, not enough to walk it all off. Now I sit facing raw oysters and enjoying seafood treats. No crab yet but I feel like a boiled crab, a twice-baked potato. A seafood-stuffed potato!
I am a moveable feast.

Red Rayne

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

Visiting New Orleans with PRP added additional levels of preparation and precaution. This was not a throw-on-a-sundress-and-go type of visit! I am much better but I still can’t really perspire and can’t afford a sunburn. Last year, at this time, I was red over most of my body and I could not regulate my body temperature. I could not sweat. I canceled my plans to attend the Writing Marathon and spent hours soaking in the tub. The best relief and treatment for my skin, at the time, was wet wrap therapy. I’d soak in a tub or a long shower, then apply steroid ointment with wet wraps or a sauna suit. It helped but I was usually wet and cold, in the midst of summer. I’d put the wraps or sauna suit on and sleep with a heated blanket!

This summer, my skin still has bumps and I shed constantly but much of my skin is a lighter pink, salmon color or back to my normal skin color. I still don’t really perspire. I’d hoped the steaming New Orleans humidity would improve my dry, flaky skin but I couldn’t feel the moisture. I felt like I was in an oven, not a simmering pot. While people were fanning themselves, damp clothes clinging to their skin, I just felt increasingly tired and worn out. On my first full day, I kept returning to my hotel room to drink water and sit with my feet up.. After a few trips out, I was drained but wanted to go to the French Market. I didn’t spend too long as I increasingly felt like I might be sick and started to worry about passing out. I came back to the room in time to put my feet up, look out my window and witness a harrowing scene below. A woman was trying to revive an unconscious man on a bench facing the French Market! It was hard to tell if the woman was trying to shake him or give him CPR. I said a prayer, not knowing how else I could help. I was relieved to see many people arriving to assist and calling for help. I saw the gentleman move his hand. He sat up and recovered.

I said a prayer of thanks for the couple below and for myself. I hadn’t been afraid to travel alone but in that moment, I was very grateful I hadn’t passed out near the same spot! Sunday was slower. I went to Mass and brunch in air conditioning, followed by some down time in my room before meeting new people for happy hour and pizza. When I am not overheated, I am just a flaky mess. If I stay quiet, most people assume I am peeling from a sunburn. I went in to that first happy-hour meetup thinking, “I won’t stress about how I look! I don’t know these people and who knows if I’ll see them again?” However, it didn’t take long for me to explain some of my condition over drinks. I liked these people immediately and realized how reassuring it would be if one of them had my back if I did pass out on the street!

Monday we stopped to write in several air-conditioned spots but it was a full day of walking around the French Quarter. When we returned to the Beauregard-Keyes House in the afternoon, I was greeted with “Oh, Lorayne! You got some SUN!” I’d worn my hat and wasn’t sunburned as I appeared, just RED! I was roasted, not burned. This did provide some good material for a writing prompt, the following day! On Wednesday, I realized I had begun to sweat, just a little! Unfortunately, it was as we sat down for lunch at Brennan’s! I apologized with a smile! “Y’all! Of course it had to be as we sit down at this beautiful table but I’m starting to sweat!”

After my week in New Orleans, I came home for a week, officially celebrated my birthday, then visited D.C. for a few days with my husband and youngest. The heat was also intense there so on the day of three museums, I had to remember to slow down and look for every bit of shade on our walks in-between. The heat would have been less suffocating and my shedding would have been less obvious if I hadn’t worn black, every day. I’m dealing with this as best I can but I am too old to start investing in pastels, now! My straw hat goes everywhere with me now and goes with everything!

Plane rides are the most embarrassing but I had direct flights on both trips and I won’t see those people again. (The only way to really avoid shedding everywhere is to wear enough lotion or Aquaphor that clothes end up with white streaks or grease spots. The same goes for the hair. Aquaphor actually helps the scalp but petroleum jelly is not an attractive hair product!) So I leave a little of myself, everywhere I sit. It is still worth traveling! I spent last summer soaking or reading on the couch, avoiding the sun and outdoors as much as possible. I’ve always been a sun-worshipper (which is why I already had an excellent dermatologist) so skipping summer was rough! I don’t mind hibernating indoors during Indiana winters but summers are for exploring. These days, I just need to prepare more for the journey!

…for the Labor Day Weekend Show

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

Come Monday, it’ll be alright. Jimmy Buffet lyrics have long been the soundtrack for those ready for a pitcher of margaritas and a cheeseburger in Paradise! (It’s five o’clock, somewhere!) As a Florida native, there was no escape from Jimmy Buffet songs on the beach–played by those tourists covered in oil. (I am the one to blame for the fact that my dermatologist always wants a piece of me now as I eschewed sunscreen then so I wouldn’t smell like a tourist!)

Katrina hit New Orleans ten years after we’d moved away. So many stories, videos and songs followed but Jimmy Buffet’s Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On was one I gravitated towards and played often. (I keep meaning to find myself a watch “that always just says now!”)

I never made it to Margaritaville when it opened in New Orleans in Storyville. But I’d heard the stories of New Orleans giving Jimmy Buffet his start.You can always stumble across live music in New Orleans and once upon a time, Jimmy was one of those musicians playing on Bourbon Street. Recently, when you and I were not the only ones missing Mardi Gras in 2021, I enjoyed nola.com’s Mardi Gras for All Y’all! Particularly, this segment where they asked Jimmy what New Orleans meant to him.

I’ve not yet read one of his many books. It is simple to find a plethora of Jimmy Buffet quotes online but today, I’m going back to an old , simple favorite.

Don’t try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

I was lucky enough to take an impromptu trip down, this summer with friends and some of our kids. The city feeds my soul! I’m always looking for a way to get back to New Orleans. I set the novel I’m trying to finish in the Crescent City. so I can still “travel” there, mentally while I’m in the story! Actually traveling there is much more fun! A few days back in the city was enough to re-energize, enjoy a frozen daiquiri or three and to get the creative juices flowing! It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane while reaffirming that it isn’t the place we want to live at this moment. (Especially in July!)

Also known as “The City that Care Forgot.” New Orleans is as much a city full of poverty, crime and decomposition as it is mansions, parades and rebirth. It’s a city that can be both thrilling and terrifying, haunting and humorous, cultured and crass. I talked about some of that decomposition in my last post. As entertaining as a stroll through the French Quarter is, I couldn’t argue with my young friend who complained “this street stinks!” (The complex aroma of sweat, pot, urine, incense, body odor, cigarettes mixed with seafood cooking smacks you in the nose on a soggy July day!)

Many years ago, a local friend remarked, “New Orleans is a small town that thinks it is a big city.” You can easily turn a corner and run into someone you know–or at least someone who knows someone you know! (Southern hospitality is real, too! I’d asked if I could stay with her one of the nights during my visit. She immediately said yes but that they had a fundraiser/gala to attend that night so I should come along! I ended up at a lovely cocktail reception with my friends, enjoyed meeting more of their friends while we spied several well-known individuals, including the then-mayor of New Orleans! Walking back to the car after the party, we ran into a friend of hers who asked about the family; we ran into another two blocks later!) During my most recent visit, as the teens in our group flipped through vintage vinyl albums in The Louisiana Music Factory, I struck up a conversation with a man behind the counter. I mentioned that I’ve long since parted with the vinyl records I used to own as well as cassettes I listened to when I lived in New Orleans; he mentioned it’s a shame as those albums are hard to find and worth quite a bit! We quickly discovered we shared an alma mater, though we both attended Loyola University in different decades.

The historic mansions in the Garden District and grandiose mansions lining St. Charles still stand, as do the ancient live oaks in Audubon Park. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is closed to the public. The Rink looks different than I remember. I recall sipping coffee and writing with a view of the cemetery but the bookstore is there, along with boutiques and a larger coffee shop. Neither the Chopin nor Scheinuk florist shops remain on St. Charles Avenue. Several homes I remember as looking decrepit years ago have been beautifully renovated! It has always been a city were decay abuts growth; you can find something shiny and new adjacent to brokenness and disrepair. In the early 90’s, I’d often walk from my apartment to Loyola and pass exquisite homes beside deteriorating buildings. A couple of years later, one of those buildings was beautifully transformed into luxury apartments. (I was able to see the gorgeous interior after one of my bosses at the time moved in!) There have been obvious changes every time I’ve been back but I took special note of many uptown, this visit as I tried to show friends places I’d lived in the area.

We were only there for a few days, not enough time to visit enough of the amazing restaurants but I did enjoy some new places ! On our last evening in town, we were in Audubon Park and in the mood for Italian. Vincent’s Italian was close and had good reviews, so off we went! The place felt familiar but I was sure I hadn’t been there. (I had–when it was Compagno’s!) I was thrilled to see soft shell crab on the menu! I always hope for soft shell crab when I visit but am often disappointed. That meal made my visit complete and I can’t wait to go back, again!

New Orleans is no longer home but I miss it, each night and day!

Just Gone

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

Perseverance Hall is just gone. It has been a year since I read about the “jazz incubator’s” fall. I was editing a separate yet related post, when I realized that this one has been sitting in my drafts folder for a full year. (Both the date on the nola.com article and my initial draft of this post were August 24, 2022. Whoops!) But as it’s been exactly a year, it seemed fitting to post this one, today.

It was not the first culturally, musically and historically significant location to be “just gone,” but one of the most recent. As Paul Murphy mentions in that article, several jazz pioneers including Buddy Bolden, Sidney Bechet and King Oliver played there.

I was reminded of something that Davis said in an episode of the series Treme. I went in search of that remark online, but found a different scene, first. While not the “It’s a laundromat. Clearly,” line I was looking for, it is a scene featuring Perseverance Hall! I’m more familiar with King Oliver than Buddy Bolden but he is the one Davis was excited about, here!

I took a jazz history course as an undergrad at Loyola but Buddy Bolden does not stand out in my memory. I will have to find out more about him and I’ll come back here to let you know what I learn!

The line I was looked for comes during another stop in Davis’s music tour, in that same episode: As they view a laundromat that was once a recording studio, he explains that New Orleans does not preserve their history. There is much truth to this. There are obviously a plethora of plaques throughout the city detailing an event or someone who lived or died in a particular mansion. In a city that is over 300 years old however, there are many significant spots that have not been preserved.

You have to believe we are magic…

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

I had her haircut(s). I had her albums. I bought Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, Just Seventeen and People magazines and kept a scrapbook of clippings featuring Olivia Newton-John posing with other celebrities, riding horses on her ranch or listing her favorite beauty tips. Posters of her face stared back from my walls. Having received an autographed photo in response to a fan letter I’d written, it was easy for my nine-year-old self to believe that I was, in fact, her biggest fan! (When I was 11, I met my Aunt’s future husband and recognized immediately that he was special when I learned that he not only owned a LaserDisc of one of her concerts, but had actually seen her in concert! He had the program to prove it and gave it to me, so it was easy to believe I was still the bigger fan else he’d have kept it, right?)

My favorite number has always been 8, so it was bittersweet that my childhood idol passed away on 8/8. I had to take that as a good sign–that this woman who tried to bring a little light to the world had certainly entered into a brighter one. My Facebook feed was flooded with tributes, memories and old video clips. I didn’t know that I had anything new or different to say that wasn’t being said. So I’m scheduling this to post on her birthday, to say in writing that this fan still hopes to meet her, one day! Meanwhile, perhaps I’ll be able to find a bottle of Koala Blue wine to raise a glass.

Today I’m revising a novel that deals with faith, love, music and magic. I’ve thrown in a bit of this and a pinch of that but if this book is a gumbo, the roux is music and magic. Olivia’s music pairs perfectly.

Straddle the line in discord and rhyme

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

Sitting still is not exactly a workout. Crafting fiction is a bit of a mental workout; is that why it makes me so hungry? As soon as I set a word count goal or come up with what I believe to be an intriguing twist, all I can think about is what I am going to eat next!

I type rapidly but unfortunately, I don’t think my fingers are burning many calories. Most of the jobs I’ve held in my life involved some amount of typing and while I looked forward to lunch, it wasn’t my prime focus. I played piano for years but don’t recall that making my stomach grumble. It’s not my fingers. Sitting down to write however, entails taking a mental tour of the contents of my refrigerator and deciding which items I can eat whilst on the computer. I doubt this phenomenon was the origin of the term “starving artist” but my brain seems to believe otherwise!

I took a look just to see, assuming it couldn’t just be me! (It isn’t). Cool. While composing this post, I ate a sandwich and learned something new. I’ve yet to finish editing the chapter I sat down to work on. (Perhaps the conversation I am editing should not be taking place at the dinner table!)