Charmaine's Good Song

I was reading Anne Lamott's Blue Shoethis morning while listening to random Christmas Music on iTunes.

Somewhere in the book (I think I read it this morning, but it might have been a few days ago) Anne writes, "expectations are premeditated resentments." That's a great line; too true for total comfort, but pleasingly close to comforting reality (which is a lot of what is special about Anne Lamott's writing). Despite this fact, I find myself holding grand expectations this morning as I sip coffee and think about the world. That's really what Advent is about anyway. Waiting… expectantly, despite the fact that we know from too much personal experience that shit happens. It is knowing, with no small portion of hope and faith, that however dim it is right now, the LIGHT is returning, and soon.

I have this tendency to put songs into my Christmas mix that don't generally fit into the Christmas song mixes of more grounded people… this morning, Johnny Cash's version of "Your Own Personal Jesus" played earlier. Right now Patti Scialfa's (Mrs. Boss) "Stumbling to Bethlehem" is on. Just before I started writing this, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" came on and I stopped reading to lend that one my full attention.

THAT decision is what brought this whole disjointed topic to mind. Louis singing about all the glorious things he sees is kind of an unofficial theme song of New Orleans and there are a lot of people who sing it. Some of the best renditions are more like impersonations of Satchmo, but around here, that's a good thing. One of the best Satchmo impersonators in the world is Charmaine Neville. I saw her do What a Wonderful World two years ago in Jackson Square at the conclusion of French Quarter Fest at a point in my life when everything (in the city, and in my life) was in much better order than it is now. Well, following this train of thought is like an old Springsteen song from Lucky Town (an incredibly wonderful and generally under valued album) where he sings, "I had a coat of fine leather and snake skin boots, but that coat always had a thread hangin' loose. I pulled it one night and to my surprise it led me right past your house and over the rise." Thinking of Charmaine in Jackson Square singing Satchmo reminded me of the fact that she is singing in town tonight, just three blocks from my house at Trinity Episcopal church. It's one of those typical, somewhat out of place musical experiences that happens at Christmas, a "sing it yourself Messiah." Charmaine will be a featured soloist tonight and will even be singing a special composition written by Trinity's organist and music director, Albinas Prizgintas.

The last time you heard about Charmaine in this weblog, I was in North Carolina and Charmaine was in Baton Rouge following the absolutely horrible experiences of her first few days in the Katrina flood. The day I heard her story was probably one of the lowest days of my life. The familiar threads of my existence had unraveled completely and I was lost in the mountains, covered in chigger bites, unable to make phone calls, and living on a full time diet of Anderson Cooper, Brian Williams and pictures of people dying in The Land of Dreams.

Well… here we are three months later. Life is in no way back to normal and the threads of my life have not found their way back to any kind of recognizable cloth. Things are likely to remain disjointed and confused for years. We need help to make New Orleans whole and that help (as I mentioned yesterday) is not particularly evident right now. But my city is coming, ever so slowly, back to life, and my life is feeling a little bit more whole every day. There's less trash on the street than there was a month ago and there are more homes with lights and water and gas and… people in them. Friends have come home, and more are on their way. People will actually be caroling in Washington Square this evening.

And Charmaine Neville is singing at Trinity Church tonight!

Joyous Advent y'all!

Despite everything that's gone wrong… It's Christmastime in New Orelans.