James Raymond Reese

Link: http://www.vimeo.com/9131842

Louis Armstrong once recorded a song titled "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans." Unless you have lived there, and please trust me with this, you cannot even remotely conceive how this city tugs at your very heart and soul.

New Orleans is a city completely without pretense. What you see is what you get. There is none of the haughtiness of the northeast, none of the overly-reserved character of the mid-west, none of the absurd political correctness that is being shoved down the rest of the country's collective throat.

If you have a friend there, he is a friend who will die for you. If you love food, this city is your Mecca. If you allow yourself to absorb the culture, you will realize just how boring the rest of the continent is.

Hurricane Katrina cut this town off at the knees a few years ago. For a long time I was convinced that New Orleans, as I knew it, would never come back.

The last of my many visits was in August and I was surprised at the differences from just a few months earlier. Something in New Orleans had awakened. There were people in the streets again. And they were smiling. Stores and shops were opening back up. Help Wanted signs were everywhere. There was construction going on all over Orleans and the neighboring parishes. The heart of the city I love so much was beating again.

And then a friend passed along a link to a short video. More than anything else I have seen since Katrina, this video shows me that even the horrific forces of Mother Nature have not be able to destroy New Orleans' joie de vivre.

Before clicking on the link to the video, please read the explanation below:

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This is for those of you who don't know the story.

Buddy D was a local sportswriter/broadcaster/radio personality in the New Orleans area for years and, when the Saints went 5-0 in 1993, everyone was calling in to his show saying the Saints were going to the Superbowl.

Buddy said he would wear a dress and parade down Bourbon if they made it and, since he was so-o-o big, he would need a tent maker to make his dress (this is where Abdul D Tentmakur came from).

Well, after Buddy passed away, Bobby Hebert decided to keep the promise and it came to pass that we MADE IT!

So, WWL plans this Buddy D/Bobby Broads Dress Parade and expected about 500-1000 guys to dress up with Bobby and the crew to parade from the Superdome to Bourbon Street. And much like EVERYTHING they do in New Orleans, they did it to excess!

There were over 5000 men (and a LOT of young boys) dressed, and over EIGHTY THOUSAND folks that came out to watch. It was a sight to behold.

Now that you know the background of what you're about to watch, click on the link and Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!

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(I know. I know. If you speak the 'real" French, the phrase in the last sentence above is sending you up the wall. We all know that no Frenchman would utter that phrase. We know that "bon" should be "bons" but it isn't. No particular reason for that, it just is. Centuries ago, somebody took an English phrase and transliterated into Cajun French. Well, sort of. Just accept that the phrase IS New Orleans, click on the lick and enjoy!