A neighbor and musician told us that John Mooney was doing a solo show on Tuesdays at Chickie Wah Wah, so we did some babysitter planning and decided to go see him last night. We got there and learned the chef hadn’t showed up so we went down the street to Cafe Minh to pick up some food to go. While we were at Minh, I noticed on the bar a box that said SAVE THE FISHERMEN with a coin slot in the top.
We cozied up to a table near the stage after paying our $8 entrance fee and John Mooney was just getting to the stage and from that moment until his set ended he played with such passion and talent that we were engrossed in the blues. He ran through three guitars, breaking the strings on his first one, and never missed a beat. I looked around at some point to the darkened hall where maybe eight people were scattered about, two women kept insisting on getting in front of him and taking his photograph. I thought to myself that what he needed was a box that said SAVE THE MUSICIAN because it’s one of the sad facts about New Orleans – the musicians are tripping over each other and there is not enough us to go around and make sure they have a comfortable life.
But then again, isn’t that where the blues came from? The art of living uncomfortably and singing about it.