I was a friend of Al Hirt's brother...a lovely man who was a teacher of English, and had diabetes. I still miss him. He said I reminded him of the Wife of Bath from the canturbury tales, for some reason....The whole family had problems with depression and diabetes...
Hopefully you didn't take that as a compliment.
I know there are a lot of websites on New Orleans and LA, but I hope people are collecting and saving as many "before" pics as possible. My dearest friend, who died last year, was born in Orleans Parish and grew up in Jeff Parish. He was a fabulous story teller. I remember him talking about learning how to dance for the balls and performing before the King. He wanted to take me down and give me the royal tour from his childhood, but he got too sick. The best he could muster was beignets and cafe du monde at Underground Atlanta. Plus, he taught me how to make a real mean red beans and rice :)