I'd like to offer a little piece of advice to anyone who goes to Bourbon St. Looking for beads:
Look before you touch.
Treat those puppies like a downed power line until you identify what they've been swimming in.
I present to you a cautionary tale spun during a very nice spring night in the Quarter. Tax day had recently passed; there was a weekend break between the very successful French Quarter Festival and the popular Jazzfest, and a huge abundance of spring breakers, vacationers and others on vacation. In short there was a helluva lot of drinking going on.
Brooke and I were on break when a visitor decided to return his deposit of everything consumed throughout the evening right on the corner of Bourbon & St. Peter. When Ray, our producer, noticed our corner it merged with the previous dirt to become this brown sludge. We decided it was definitely something to avoid in the last hour of our show.
This brings us to life's first lesson: Know when to say when.
Getting back to the show, we worked stage left interviewing and having a good time with everyone. Eventually a group of revilers standing neat the fouled corner starts prompting the Cat's Balcony for beads. They got 'em and how. One particularly small set (by boobie showing standards) landed right in the muck. Following those beads down was the hand of a rather inebriated college age guy who wasn't going to let anything come between him and his prize.
I think you see where this is going...
This guy worked with lightning precision. He snatched his quarry before anyone else had the chance to grab him (or warn him otherwise) and proceeded to wear them around his neck. Ray watching the whole thing was transfixed; like watching a train wreck or "The Jerry Springer Show." The show wrapped up soon after leaving that image in our heads for the rest of the night.
So to anyone that will visit New Orleans I have to remind you of the real cost of getting those beads. It might be showing a little skin, giving a stranger a kiss, or even going where no one should ever go: the ground.
