Sunday, March 05, 2006

Charmaine's Good Song Part Deux

Back in September from exile in North Carolina, I posted this piece on Charmaine Neville's struggle and heroism during the aftermath of the storm.

Since the storm, I've seen Charmaine twice. Once during the singing of the Sing Along Messiah at Trinity Episcopal Church in December, and then again this morning at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in the Treme.

This morning, the first Sunday of Lent, Father LeDoux spoke about the fact that, for most folks in New Orleans, the sacrifice and penance of Lent really started back on August 29, and that the process of Lent was a symbolic participation in that ongoing sacrifice. As if to drive home the point Charmaine sang the song I featured on my blog back in September.

Everybody Needs a Good Song

There's really no point in trying to explain how grateful I am for Charmaine's presence, spirit, music and survival. This woman is a personification of everything good I love about my city. In that she's a lot like the other piece of the city I've been talking about of late, Mardi Gras itself.

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