Experimenting with Fones - They Are Called Smart But They are Very Stupid

      . . . . Written on my fone.  Sort of. It's hard figuring out how to get the type size right.  Among other things. And figure out what it will look like on a different screen than a fone screen. So after this paragraph, I gave up, and posted from my desktop.

In the meantime, it's cold and dismal here, as it has been for a while, but it isn't raining today, which is an improvement, but still not a delight.  What also isn't delightful is attempting to revive my small travel laptop, which was on its last legs before the pandemic locked us all down.  But I can't write on either the tablet or fone -- I tried to write and post via the tablet earlier this month, but it didn't work. But I didn't have time to just hang out alone anyway.  But it will be different this time as we will be there earlier than the Travellers and depart later, as el V pulls things together beforehand such as, read a bit further below, and be sure everybody has been paid, etc. afterwards.  Nothing for me to be bothering my head with.

Trying to wrap the mind around going to New Orleans again, not tomorrow, but the next Sunday. The actual Postmambo "For the Funk of It" is February 1st - 5th -- people go home the 6th, so I shall have down time, solitary time, for a couple of days before and after the Travellers arrive and when they depart. 

The kick-off "For the Funk of It" is in the Louisiana State Bank building,

which Benjamin Latrobe was working on, before he died of Yellow Fever in 1823.   Recall, Latrobe was the architect of the Washington D.C.
 
We will have dinner in the courtyard first, then there will be a concert in the whispering gallery, a short, original piece, designed for a single performance, essentially composed by the Haitian director/conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Loyola University, Dr. Jean Montès. El V and Jean bonded almost immediately upon sight.  The music, instruments and vocals will be provided by a small group that includes members of the transplanted Haitian group, Ram.  El V's going to conduct, because directly after the rehearsal on Monday, Jean has to fly to Charleston, S.C. to direct a concert of the music of -- the Chevalier de Saint-Georges! Nobody knows what that music actually sounded like. That transplanted Haitian, Jean, is conducting the Charleston concert is all the more interesting.  Like Jean, like the group, Ram, the Chevalier was a mixed race fellow, born in the French Caribbean -- Guadeloupe (which is fascinating as I had the privilege of learning back in the last decade).  Like the Chevalier too, Jean and Ram had to leave the French Caribbean due to political and racial violence.

As the film, Chevalier, released in September at a Canadian festival last year, dramatizes, Saint-Georges was a  flamboyant figure: a gallant, a swordsperson, a spy, and soldier, as well as gifted musical artist.  The film will be released here in the US in April.  Alas, I'll probably not see it, as I'm still not going to movie theaters.