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When I entered the French Quarter, I felt and smelled
the rich history of Jazz and everything that goes with it. I felt a little selfish because I was glad to
be alone. But it felt so good to be able to experience everything
in my way and with my emotions. Words were
only distracting noises. There were tap-dancers on the street and the sounds
of Jazz and Dixieland came from the many Jazz clubs situated on this street. It was around
half past ten when I walked back from the other end of this famous street. When
I was halfway back, I could not resist the sound of Jazz anymore. Above the
entry of a club, situated on a corner of the Bourbon Street and a small dark alley,
I saw a sign above the entrance that read “Maison Bourbon dedicated to the preservation
of Jazz”. Promising! So
I went inside! No band was
playing, and the room was only half-full with public. It made
me hesitate and I thought about a quick exit. On the other
hand, the atmosphere was really jazzy. Pictures
and posters covered the walls with famous Jazz musicians. This atmosphere
deserved an honest chance! To be absolutely sure, I asked a waitress about
the program for that evening. She told me that life Jazz would start at ten.
I could select
a good place in front of the podium and asked the waitress for a beer which
cost me $3.25. While I was waiting, accompanied by my beer, more
and more people came in. Around ten, the Jazz club was overcrowded. From the
conversations of people around me, I understood it was a performance of some legends
in Jazz and most of the visitors came especially for the pianist. Their names
did not ring a bell, but that tells more about my knowledge of Jazz, which was
very basic. I told myself
to write down the name of the band as soon as I was at the YMCA. I was glad I
decided to visit a Jazz club tonight. In case I would find out tomorrow that
Stephan isn’t interested in life Jazz, it wouldn’t be a big deal for me
anymore. The excitement
of the crowd affected me too. On both sides of me, a couple joined my
table. Soon the glasses beer filled the table. I ordered a
second beer because all the excitement made me thirsty. At 10:45pm22:45,
forty-five minutes later than the waitress told me I watched a scene that I
will never forget. The first
thing I saw was a gigantic fat ass, slowly followed by the rest of the body.
This butt wobbled, trying to move the curtains that separated backstage from the
podium. The feet associated with this bottom moved, shuffling backwards and in
an awkward way. When his head
appeared, from behind the curtains, it was completely red in stress and his
mouth was panting like a winded dog. The only part I was missing was his left arm,
but a little later the reason for his exhaustion was suddenly clear to me. The first thing
that came along with the arm of the fat-guy was the left side of something that
looked like a piano stool. Something was sitting on that chair. It was a
severe frail man who was too weak to walk. He was very, very old and after a quick scan, my eyes stayed
focused on the hands of the men. I had never seen fingers as long as his. Because the
man and his hands were very small, his fingers seemed even longer. A third
person carrying the other side of the piano stool followed the pianist. It took the two men ten minutes to carry the old
legend to a Steinway’s piano, placed at the center of the stage. Still, on his
seat, they positioned the pianist in front of the Steinways. To me, the Steinway
seemed too big for this old man. The only
one who saw the funny part of this whole entry was me. All other visitors stood up, applauded and enthusiastically
calling the name of the pianist fulfilled with respect. The enthusiasm of the audience took me too. I felt I knew the man, a man I’d never met before In a split second, it was also completely
normal for me. After the last standing ovation, everyone sat
down, some were already emotional. The next ten minutes the band was tuning their
instruments and at 11:15pm23:15, the band started with their performance
and overwhelmed me completely. The old man
was the Central Point and the others were extras. In ninety minutes, the band played many Jazz
classics. I lost track
of time and smelled the intense atmosphere. Like the others, I sometimes closed my eyes not
to be disturbed by the surroundings. It was also
nice to see the audience respond to the way the old man was playing. When I looked around, I saw grown-up men with
tears in their eyes. The ninety
minutes went by too quickly. Even when the old man finished playing and moved backstage
the visitors were cheering. Almost without
realizing, I conquered five large glasses of beer, offered by the couples next
to me. I had to
promise them to tell my country about this great Jazz player. Once outside the club, I felt the alcohol was
running around in my brain, and it still was a long walk to Lee circle. It was well
after midnight but still crowded in the street, and tap dancers did their tricks.
When I was
almost at the end of Bourbon Street, I heard a loud shared laughter of five probably
a little bit tipsy ladies who stood in front of a strip-club. I guess they
had just experienced some exciting things inside. One of them looked
at me and whispered something to the others.
When I passed
the group this black beauty, I guess twice as old as me, stepped out of a group
and came straight at me. Before I
knew, she kissed me full on the mouth with her tongue trying to penetrate my mouth
and her hands pinching hard into my ass. Her strong hands prevented me to struggle against
her kiss. The
amount of beer made my resistance low and my mind week. Her tongue
tasted like a liqueur of a very high alcohol percentage. To be honest
it was a delicious liqueur. After her breathtaking kiss, she whispered
something in my ear. “You have a lot
to learn, and I will be your teacher tonight.” For a moment,
I was perplexed, and I stuttered a few stupid Dutch words. Luckily, I regained myself in time. Despite the alcohol, I came with the only proper
response in which nobody got angry or hurt. “It’s a very
tempting proposal, but my wife is waiting for me in the hotel. She is very
envious and suspicious!” As a response,
she pinched my ass harder and then left me, searching for her next prey. The other four
ladies, who were standing ten steps from us, burst into a loud unrestrained laughter,
so intense that tears came out of their eyes. It was a long walk, and I was disordered by the beer, the jazz, and the black lady, so I don’t
remember much about my way back. Probably my
instinct brought me in front of the YMCA at 2:00am2:00. When I was in
my room and in my bed, I could not sleep because my head was full of new impressions.
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