The Big Easy
I'm going to Mardi Gras. I've just finished the book that is due out this December, turned it in and now I have an idea for a new series that takes place in the gritty city of New Orleans.
Certainly there are other series set in this fanciful, dirty, romantic city, but not as many as you would think. And I haven't found anyone who is taking the approach I intend to take. I've visited the wonderful city and enjoyed it's decadent hospitality, but never with the intention of writing about it.
Now, I have to approach my interest in a new way. I have to capture everything I can. Photos, notes, interviews, images, characters and personalities all have to resonate. In five short days I want to absorb as much of the culture as I possibly can. I'll make friends with a bartender, a cop, a cab driver or someone who works the nightlife. I need to explore as many aspects as possible of this remarkable civilization.
I don't believe that any other city in this country behaves the way New Orleans does. And the fact that the cities' population has shrunk 27% since hurricane Katrina just plays into the mystic of this earthy town. While tourism drives the economy, there is an underbelly that squirms. I want to know both sides, the up and the down.
Reading a blog site about New Orleans, the blogger referred to a trip back in 2009. Getting mugged one evening, getting mugged a second time, and telling the third mugger that there was nothing left to mug. I can only hope I don't have to report on that aspect of thise shrinking metropolis.
Mardi Gras, the party city, the jazz and the Dixieland music...Bourbon Street, Voodoo and witchcraft, it all has a magical feel. Couple that with the crime, the corruption, the greed that drives any major city and I feel certain there's a series just waiting to come alive. Wish me luck!
