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Creole
Ladies & Crazy Times
Down in New Orleans
by
Ben Fong-Torres
AsianConnections
is proud to present the adventures of Ben Fong-Torres, our Renaissance
man: author, broadcaster, and former senior editor and writer at
Rolling Stone Magazine. This guy's our hero!
Ben
was a featured character in "Almost Famous," the Oscar and Golden
Globe-winning film by Cameron Crowe.
- AC Team
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Bobby Cure, leader of one of two bands playing at the wedding of TV
anchor Sydnie Kohara (of CNET TV) and high-tech executive George Laplante
in New Orleans, couldn't believe his eyes and ears. On his stage was
Sydnie herself, glowing in her beautiful satin wedding gown, belting
out Gloria Gaynor's who-needs-a-manthem, "I Will Survive." A few songs
later, she was back, this time to do one of her favorite songs, Patsy
Cline's "Crazy."
"I knew you'd love me as long as you needed
And then someday you'd leave me for somebody new??
Cure loved her performance, but couldn't help scratching his head
at her song choices. But there was no mistaking it: Sydnie was in
love with her brand-new husband. Take it from me. I married them.
So that was another thing that probably had Cure thinking
that this was one of his more curious gigs. Here was Sydnie telling
him, with no warning, that she wanted her minister to do a little
Elvis. And I take the microphone and do "Can't Help Falling in Love"
while the newlyweds swirl around the dance floor, soon joined by
dozens of others. And, later, I encore with "Teddy Bear."
Of course, in New Orleans, odd moments are taken in stride. We were,
after all, in the Big Easy on the throbbing eve of Mardi Gras, with
parades coursing through town and various suburbs. (One of them, Barkus,
featured dogs dolled up to the theme, "Saturday Bite Fever.") The
weather zigged and zagged, from humid heat to 40 MPH winds and a splash
of rain, to 30-degree nights. But no one cared. The streets were jammed
and jamming. Bourbon Street was its usual frat party-meets-rave. Philip
Kan Gotanda, the playwright/screenwriter, his wife, actress/producer
Diane Takei, my wife, Dianne, and I lasted maybe a dozen blocks before
we escaped down a side street, back to the Omni Royal Orleans.
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(Top
L to R): Liz Lufkin's husband Bob, Susan Serrano,
Dale Minami, DIane Takei
(Front L to R): SF Chronicle's Liz Lufkin, Philip
Kan Gotanda, Ben Fong-Torres
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We were in the Crescent City because Sydnie is from Louisiana, and
chose to have her wedding close to family. A couple dozen of her California
friends made the trip; others came from Arizona, Colorado, New York,
and London. Pals included television personality Jan Yanehiro, who
helped get Sydnie and George together two years ago; her agent, the
civil rights attorney Dale Minami; San Francisco Chronicle entertainment
editor Liz Lufkin, and several former fellow reporters on KGO-TV in
San Francisco.
All together, almost 200 people attended the nuptials, which
George and Sydnie sandwiched between a welcoming reception and an
afternoon of up-close parade watching at a house they rented on
Napoleon Avenue for a Mardi Gras Brunch. That's where we screamed
for and caught "throws" of beads, doubloons and other trinkets from
cartoonish characters riding in the floats.
The Laplantes did it up right. I mentioned two bands at the
wedding. I lied. Besides Bobby Cure, there was a swing band - but,
at the wedding itself, there was also a jazz trio playing the processional,
recessional (in full New Orleans second-line style), and a song
within the ceremony, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."
I even got into the act, working a few lines of another favorite
song of Sydnie's, "Tell Him," before asking her to recite her vows.
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"3
Waves and a Broken Nail"
(L to R): Susan Serrano, Dale Minami, Diane Takei,
Dianne Fong-Torres
Photo Credit: Ben Fong-Torres
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It's easy to get overpowered by music in New Orleans. Whether on Bourbon
Street or down by the riverside, or in a bar at 5:30 in the morning,
you're gonna hear jazz and blues and R&B and Zydeco, whether from
street performers, legendary bands or just a jukebox. I even spent
one breakfast talking with "Mr. New Orleans" himself, Allen Toussaint.
The elegant Mr. Toussaint, who showed up in the Rib Room at the Royal
Orleans in a suit and tie, has been making music since the Fifties.
As a writer, arranger and producer, his credits include "Mother in
Law," "Ya Ya," "Working in a Coalmine," "Lady Marmalade," "Yes We
Can Can," "From a Whisper to a Scream" (which I used to play constantly
on my KSAN radio show), and "What Do You Want the Boy to Do" (covered
by both Boz Scaggs and Bonnie Raitt. He's worked with Etta James,
Dr. John, Paul McCartney, The Band, and his own mentor, the maestro
of New Orleans piano, Professor Longhair.
We were meeting because I'm working with the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame to gather material for a library being built in the
near future, and I wanted him to consider donating documents to
the new facility. Mr. Toussaint, who was inducted a few years ago,
listened to my pitch and - music to my ears - agreed to help.
I celebrated by joining my wife and four friends for a huge
breakfast at Brennan's. (I'd only had coffee with Allen Toussaint.
No fool, I!) At this landmark restaurant, breakfasts described on
the menu as "typical" run $35 to $50. If you economize by ordering
ala carte, then an egg dish - say, a Benedict or a Sardou - can
be acquired for a mere $19 to $24. Financing is available.
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"Hey,
Mister Throw Me Something!"
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In a city of voodoo and ya ya, of Hurricanes and dog parades, of boiled
crawfish and gators-on-a-stick, of swamps and sidewalk psychics, of
Saints and sinners, of grownups walking around in jesters hats and
flashing breasts in hopes of a string of beads, and of singing brides
and ministers, the twenty-buck omelette was just one more thing to
laugh about, and to remember. After all, you could always balance
it off by going to Café DuMonde for coffee and beignets, costing
$4.10 for the both of you.
But, then, balance is not exactly a high priority item in
old New Orleans.
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