An Amazing Evening!
We'll get back to Vegas in just a bit....
This evening, I went to a party... it was our yearly store party, and as it turns out, it will be the last store party for the Esplanade location. We will be closing that store on April 20th and moving to a new enormous and fabulous brand new store, which will open two weeks later. It's great news for all of our team members; we are moving to a brand new house, one that will have everything we need to do an amazing job!
The neighbors at the present location are pissed... the news was announced this last Saturday. New Orleans is a city of traditions and people tend to hate, hate, hate any kind of change. It's all anger, denial, acceptance, and that's a very rocky process.. I've spent an hour of each of the last two days empathizing, commiserating and explaining with and to the local customers who vary from the rational to the extremely emotional and then to the extremely and possibly dangerously edgy.
The fact is that about half of our present customer base lives very close to the new location. They, of course, are deleriously happy! So, it's this wild swing of emotions every few minutes; one customer is so glad that the new store is opening, the next one is heart broken, and as usual in this location, the third person is an escaped mental patient... you think I am kidding? I am not.
The party was fantastic!
It was held at "Ernie K Doe's "Mother-In-Law Lounge" on Claiborne Ave., a little joint that Ernie's widow runs as a sort of bar/living room/shrine to her recently departed husband. I had only heard of this place and had no idea what it was and I didn't bring my camera... I just didn't know what an amazing place it was going to be! So, you just going to have to take my word for it for now. (I'll be going back... I'll get some pics.)
This was the most incredible bar/lounge/party place that I've ever been in! It was like being in someone's house, but the living room had a nice bar in it and a big comfy couch in front of a huge tv, and the other room was big enough to dance in, but it had a couch in it too and some nice tables and chairs, and Ernie's wife had some really very good seafood gumbo ready for when you were hungry.
It was a totally definitive New Orleans experience; I kept thinking that I wish all my friends were here... but I couldn't even believe sometimes that I was there. I mean, like Ernie K Doe's wife says, "excuse me darlin', I have to get this gumbo out to the table." and I'm thinking this woman knew this New Orleans music icon...
Ernie K-Doe.
If yer not from New Orleans, you may not know who he is, but his biggest hit was "Mother-in-Law" (the number one song in the nation in 1961), and at that time, he was as big a star as James Brown. He stayed true to New Orleans and to Claiborne Street where the Mother-In-Law Lounge is now. He was always a wild man, but he finally calmed down, sort of, and married Antoinette Fox, She's absolutely amazing... Ernie passed away on July 5, 2001, and she runs the club now.
And honestly, not one of you has probably ever seen a place like this.. I hadn't, and this is not my first time at the rodeo.
This was one time where I was writing a mental postcard and thinking, "Wish you were here." and meaning it.
durlx
We'll get back to Vegas in just a bit....
This evening, I went to a party... it was our yearly store party, and as it turns out, it will be the last store party for the Esplanade location. We will be closing that store on April 20th and moving to a new enormous and fabulous brand new store, which will open two weeks later. It's great news for all of our team members; we are moving to a brand new house, one that will have everything we need to do an amazing job!
The neighbors at the present location are pissed... the news was announced this last Saturday. New Orleans is a city of traditions and people tend to hate, hate, hate any kind of change. It's all anger, denial, acceptance, and that's a very rocky process.. I've spent an hour of each of the last two days empathizing, commiserating and explaining with and to the local customers who vary from the rational to the extremely emotional and then to the extremely and possibly dangerously edgy.
The fact is that about half of our present customer base lives very close to the new location. They, of course, are deleriously happy! So, it's this wild swing of emotions every few minutes; one customer is so glad that the new store is opening, the next one is heart broken, and as usual in this location, the third person is an escaped mental patient... you think I am kidding? I am not.
The party was fantastic!
It was held at "Ernie K Doe's "Mother-In-Law Lounge" on Claiborne Ave., a little joint that Ernie's widow runs as a sort of bar/living room/shrine to her recently departed husband. I had only heard of this place and had no idea what it was and I didn't bring my camera... I just didn't know what an amazing place it was going to be! So, you just going to have to take my word for it for now. (I'll be going back... I'll get some pics.)
This was the most incredible bar/lounge/party place that I've ever been in! It was like being in someone's house, but the living room had a nice bar in it and a big comfy couch in front of a huge tv, and the other room was big enough to dance in, but it had a couch in it too and some nice tables and chairs, and Ernie's wife had some really very good seafood gumbo ready for when you were hungry.
It was a totally definitive New Orleans experience; I kept thinking that I wish all my friends were here... but I couldn't even believe sometimes that I was there. I mean, like Ernie K Doe's wife says, "excuse me darlin', I have to get this gumbo out to the table." and I'm thinking this woman knew this New Orleans music icon...
Ernie K-Doe.
If yer not from New Orleans, you may not know who he is, but his biggest hit was "Mother-in-Law" (the number one song in the nation in 1961), and at that time, he was as big a star as James Brown. He stayed true to New Orleans and to Claiborne Street where the Mother-In-Law Lounge is now. He was always a wild man, but he finally calmed down, sort of, and married Antoinette Fox, She's absolutely amazing... Ernie passed away on July 5, 2001, and she runs the club now.
And honestly, not one of you has probably ever seen a place like this.. I hadn't, and this is not my first time at the rodeo.
This was one time where I was writing a mental postcard and thinking, "Wish you were here." and meaning it.
durlx
posted by durlx at 1/18/2005 03:37:00 AM
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