EUROPEANIZE!

New Orleans should be like the Greeks and start napping when it gets hot. Or at least the way Greece used to be. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12382344

This was very cool - the first annual "San Fermin in Nueva Orleans" a mock running of the bulls in the French Quarter. Brilliant. The Big Easy Rollergirls acted as bulls on rollerskates, and a pretty decent group of runners showed up to participate. It started at 8:00 a.m., so I missed the begining, but I caught up with them when the crowd made a turn on Royal from Toulouse. Everyone seemed to just be laughing their asses off. I think this wil become a big deal and definitely worth waking up early for. Not to mention the fun white with red 'kerchief outfits. The metal bull was also the dj/music/boom box getup.

Earlier this month I went on a very short trip over to Austin. I rented a car and hit the road with a stack of This American Life cds. I had heard that Austin was very different from the rest of Texas, and was actually very cool. I found this to be true with lots of things going on around town such as the old Paramount Theater downtown playing Breakfast at Tiffany's, lots of thrift stores, the giant, amazing original Whole Foods, lots of scooter shops, a public springs/pool, etc. These were my two most European experiences: Being the "overflow" person in the hostel and getting the bed on the floor in the t.v. room. (It really wasn't that bad) and stopping in Houston at Mecca

The yahoo group, "scootneworleans" have organized themselves and are riding on Sundays. Whoever shows up at NOMA at 4:00 pm - or I think it's CC's on Esplanade now - is welcome to ride around for a while and usually end up at some restaurant. This is from the first ride that ended at Angeli. I think its a fun idea, but like a veterinarian allergic to cats, all those two stroke vintage bikes put out a nasty exhaust that gives me a headache. I'l start going more if the modern "cleaner" bikes outnumber the stinky ones. This is the opposite of what most of the hardcore scooter dudes think, they snort up that blue smoke like its cocaine.

This is one of the best bands in New Orleans right now and they are now playing Friday nights at the Spotted Cat from 6:30 to 10. And there's not a cover, but a tip jar contribution is encouraged.

La Vie en Rose, the life of Edith Piaf, Canal Place, magnifique.

I wish the French Quarter location would re-open, but for now I'll make the drive all the way down St. Charles to La Madeline in the Riverbend for the Frenchy atmosphere. But the BEST thing about La Madeline is the free bread. There's a yummy variety of sliced breads with butter and jelly next to the fountain soda, so you can help yourself to as much as you'd like. With this in mind, I thought I could eat a cheap dinner out. I made some bad choices though, and three things added up to $8.75. I treated myself to an Orangina, and a chocolate chip cookie, and I picked the bowl of soup instead of a cup which was over $4. I learned my lesson. I should have got a cup of soup, picked up about five slices of bread, drank tap water, and (maybe) lost the cookie. . deliciousness.

Ahhh, no, Paris - I - love you.. This film finally came out in New Orleans and you better believe I was there the opening weekend at Canal Place. I read about this movie a while ago, it is eighteen short stories (some French and some English) from different Paris arrondissements. Most of the stories were clever, lovely, sweet and beautiful, two were totally off-the-wall bizarre, and only a handful were sad. This will be a great DVD to own so I can create my own movie by editing out the sad stories, and watching my favorites over and over. One of favorites was a middle-aged American tourist with a fanny pack describing the events that led up to her realizing that she had fallen in love with Paris. This hit my soft spot because I remember the precise moment this happened to me. It was not until my fourth trip to Paris that I fell in love with the city. It was the first weekend of December in 1999 the weather was goregous and the sun was going down in the Tuileries Garden. I had snatched

I just went to Canal Place to see The Valet, which is a gem of a French film. But wait, there's no need to be sad and hope that you've absorbed as much French culture as you can handle - there are about 5 French movies coming out this summer: 1.The Valet - mistress comedy 2.Paris, Je t'aime (also out now) 3.La Vie En Rose - biography of Edith Piaf. I get choked up just from the preview. 4.Angela - some black and white film with the goofy grocer from Amelie 5.Moliere - biography of 17th century playwright/actor I think there might have been even another preview that I'm just not remembering. Tres bon!

While in Ohio for a few days this past week, I DID see this one scooter:

After three years of bitching about the May 20th, 2004 show getting canceled at One Eyed Jacks (I think the drummer had to have surgery) my very favorite musician, Neko Case, finally returns to New Orleans. This is in between Austin and Atlanta shows where she'll be opening for Rufus Wainwright, so that might be what's going on here too. This is from the Anti- records site: Neko Case Sunday August 12, 2007 @ 8:00 PM The Republic New Orleans, LA US This made my day. So...... happy.

The Big Top/Three Ring Circus on Clio Street is probably the best art space that New Orleans has going right now. They just came out with this spiffy new calendar for June and it looks like its going to be a fun month.

With all this talk about gas mileage I wanted to find out just how much my little Vespa ET4 was drinking. I've never paid much attention to it before, but now I AM tipping over the $5 scale, so I kept track and punched in my numbers to milesgallon.com and a few other sites. I liked this one because it mentioned that I can't do this equation for my bicycle... Calculate Your Gas Mileage Your gas mileage is 58.2 miles per gallon and your fuel cost is $0.06 / mile. You can't calculate the fuel consumption of your bicycle. Your fuel consumption in some other units 4 litres / 100km 1.72 gallons (US) per 100 miles 69.9 miles per imperial gallon (UK) 0.4 litres per swedish mile (10km) Driving from New York City to Los Angeles you would have to use about 50 gallons of gas costing you $160. Not too shabby...

test.test. Setting up blog on how to live a more Euro life in New Orleans, specifically with a Vespa . Italian scooters, French bakeries, farmer's markets and art markets, festivals, fun stuff, funny stuff, we'll see from here. Laissez les bons temps rouler .. a la Vespa .