That's what this blog is about, as drawn from the experiences behind my published work, and my life away from my computer. For the immediate future, I'll have a dual focus. I'll share my own immersion into New Orleans -- my accounts of the struggles facing jazz players, brass-band musicians, Social Aid & Pleasure Club members, Mardi Gras Indians, and others who support and live Crescent City culture. But I'll also relate the sights, sounds, personal stories, and big ideas issues drawn from the echo and decay of music heard by a guy in Brooklyn. What was played and where, maybe even why. Also, the live-wire issues activated by that music and its context. Some postings correspond directly to my writing. Others grow from the conversations musicians, critics, and listeners have before and after gigs (okay, sometimes in the middle of one). Jazz is one important touchstone, sure, but you'll find improvisation figuring in here in the contexts of Bach, basketball, and just a well-lived life. Blues is one dominant color, but as revealed in many through various cultures around the world. This is about music as more than just downloadable databits meant to course through headphones -- the shared moments and ideas that so often just don't fit on the page.