Why I love New Orleans...

Over the next few months, there will be some guest bloggers telling us why they love New Orleans.  Everyone has a different perspective on this city.  The locals vs the tourists, the people that have been here for generations vs the newcomers, the established musicians vs the musicians just starting out...but they all love New Orleans. 

New Orleans gets into your blood and into your heart, regardless of how long you've lived here.  It enchants your soul...it keeps you young...it performs miracles for you... and most of all, it changes you.  You  learn a lot: how to be an adult, how to laugh, how to celebrate and how to mourn and everyone's journey is different. 

My love affair started 14 years ago... and at that time, lasted only a year...8 years later, I found myself back in this city.  Looking back, it was the hardest transition I had ever made and now I can't imagine my life any differently.  My friends have become family, I know someone everywhere I go, I know all the quiet spots to hide and the best places to watch the Saints games if they're away (otherwise you better believe I'll be in that 'dome).  A love for music brought me back to New Orleans and I couldn't have made a better decision. Now I stay because my friends have become my family and I can't imagine my life without them.

I want to say thank you to New Orleans and especially the people and musicians of New Orleans who have taken a chance on me, molded me and encouraged me.  I can say with great confidence, that the people in this city are unlike people anywhere else and for that, I will always be truly thankful.  And one day, I will repay that to the next person that moves here... until then, I'll just have to have guest writers on this blog!

"Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans. When that's where you left your heart. The moonlight on the bayou a creole tune that fills the air. I dream about magnolias in bloom and I'm wishin' I was there," - Louis Armstrong