November 3

Sorry non-southern Americans but I forgot how much better the accents are down here than up there. I was eatin' ma' usual southern breakfast of eggs, biscuits, gravy n' grits (ok, not grits, I don't like grits) and there was a group close by who were from California - or one of them other fancy places. I'd forgotten how nice the folks down here sound. My ears have been spoiled. It took the grating, nasal tones of the "y'know", "like" and "totally awesome" crowd to make me remember. So thank you Yankee, Unionist scum, thanks for that. The New Orleans accent is a real winner by the way, but apparently it's on the wane.

It's quite touching how everyone you meet here in New Orleans genuinely wants to know whether you like the city. When they find out you do (and there really is no other appropriate reaction) they tell you to go back home and tell everyone you know so that they come. All the city's people, from old musicians to cab drivers to hip kids, all seem desperate to put New Orleans back on the map as a post-Katrina tourist destination. Tourism isn't a dirty word here. People are thirsting for it. So come yea Europeans and Asians! Come to wonderful New Orleans! You probably won't die!

I saw some exceptional, face-shredding free-jazz tonight in a bar that was just about dilapidated enough to do justice to the uncompromising, blasting noise being created on and around the stage. The band was made up of a white drummer, a (splendidly afro'd) Jewish double-bassist and two black horn players. This bodes well for Barack Obama tomorrow night. All races working together to create atonal non-music! Yes we can deconstruct conventional performance and composition art theory!