FReeper Canteen - Countdown To Christmas - 12/20/14

God Bless Our Troops At Christmas & Everyday! | The Canteen Elves

[Drumbo]

My old stompin' grounds bro - and I spent almost ten years down yonder beginning in '74. When I was stationed at Naval Support Activity with Navy Band NOLA (US Navy Steel Band, Navy Showband South & Commandants of Dixieland), I lived in Gretna, Old Algiers and Harvey, but in '77, I moved from the West Bank to a shotgun in the heart of New Orleans, less than a block from the crossroads of Carrollton and Claiborne where the street cars begin/end and divides Uptown from the Garden District. For a while I played music at night (in the Quarter and Fat City) and sold encyclopedias door-to-door by day in the Ninth Ward while my boss canvased the Lakefront (lol). On the weekends my Steel Band trio (US Steel) played as street musicians in front of St. Louis Cathedral and The Cabildo in Jackson Square until they passed a law saying that street musicians had to keep moving because we jammed foot traffic in the Square when we played (especially during Mardis Gras) and the street artists complained.

"When I was 21 I was feelin' low,
Lookin' for work in a rock'n'roll show,
Big stage, bright lights, plenty of fun,
I tried and I tried but I couldn't find one,
So I took to the streets in a three man band,
For coins in a hat and a red suntan,
But it didn't last long 'cause they passed a law:
Said, "You can't play music in the street no more . . .

"When I was 23 my debts were big,
The band had split and I needed a gig.
So in New Orleans, on Bourbon Street;
I got me a job with a Dixieland beat,
Playing double time shifts for the tourist crowd,
But I got fired for playing too loud."

When I was 24 I was really poor,
I sold encyclopedias door to door,
But day after day I could clearly see,
The rest of you cats are more poor than me.
So I quit selling books for pennies a day,
And answered an ad that promised to pay,
It wasn't my style, not rhythm'n'blues,
I was just on the road payin' my dues.

When I was 25 I was barely alive,
The Employment Commission helped me to survive,
They got me a gig singing ditchdigger blues,
Dig a hole, fill it up, wore out all my shoes.
So I quit that mess for the Glitter scene,
Wearing paint on my face and dressed like a queen.
New platform shoes and skin tight britches,
It hurt my pride, but it beat digging ditches . . ."

- From The Drumbo Rap

The Drumbo Rap
~ Drumbo Thunder ~

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[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

I had already moved by 1974 but I moved from Marrero to Houston. My son currently lives in Gretna and works along the Harvey Canal.

[Drumbo]

Finished!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good job!!!!! Now get at least a little rest. ((HUGS))