February 1, 2020 @ 9:37 AM
Igor’s Twenty Four Hour Lounge and Laundromat
Faubourg Livaudais, New Orleans, Louisiana
In 1964, the Animals wrote a song called “The House of the Rising Sun”, and the song became part of the legend of New Orleans. I have wasted a few good minutes reading an article that attempts to find a brothel or women’s prison that fits the lyrics. A few articles from the local paper spin interesting theories. I remembered the song as I walked west on Saint Charles Street, listening to the cable cars go by and noticing the twenty-four hour bars offering drinks, dining, game rooms and laundromats. The House of the Rising Sun is everywhere the sun rises over a house.
Right now, I’m washing my clothing at Igor's, one of these all hours bars. I got here early but after the rising of the sun. The wireless works and my phone and laptop have charged. I asked for two dollars in change and the man with the long red beard with no gray hairs declared, “Of course, sir, as long as you have paper money”.
“Well, isn’t that how it usually works”?
“Well, I’ve worked this bar for seven years, and I’ve had people just ask for laundry quarters. I don’t know what people are thinking”.
I put my money on the mahogany bar top. He gave me eight quarters and a glass of water.
Igor’s costs less than Melba’s, the laundromat I patronized when I got to town. Igor’s doesn’t use a stupid card that costs a dollar. I have three bucks on that card from last time that I cannot sell or use anywhere else.
At Igor’s, two dollars for a washer and two dollars for dryer beats three dollars for the washer at Melba’s. I just got a comment on my Google review for Melba’s, asking me to hurry back. I would, but I’m among the Warehouse District, close to the river, adjacent to the Garden District and not horribly far from the French Quarter. Plus, Melba’s pays me with a compliment, actually giving me an actual response. I really would love to have a dish of jambalaya and a free wash and dry. Burger FI gave me a free frozen custard for my review of the Saratoga Spring store. Maybe if I went to the counter and asked at Melba’s. They’re nice at Melba’s.
Mother knew me well. I would help people out, friends, for the sake of getting out of the house and getting a dinner and a drink. A neighbor had a business installing security video, filming baby showers and births, even editing commercials. I rode along a few times, learning from him. I still keep in touch with Dee’s wife, Nancy. One night, I even delivered the pitch for him at an event at a Flint hotel, easy for me, something that he hated. I met people and we had drinks together. We had a nice steak dinner on the way home. Mom met me at the door, and yes I loved her for it. But she said, “He didn’t pay you, did he”?
He didn’t. But I have used my savoir faire so many times in the thirty-six years since I left home, the ability to walk into a situation and make sense of it and be friendly, make contacts. It didn’t have the name networking in the early eighties when I was making these calls with Dee. He helped me out later when I was demonstrating software for a design company to interior designers at the Troy Design Center. I killed in that demo. He made sure that I had my audio visual right. I even used the television from the living room of my home. I’m treated so well whenever I go to see Nancy, who hardly stays home, going off to play disc golf, film depositions and ski.
Google had a headquarters near the capitol in Washington. An acquaintance at a party told me to keep an eye on Google because sometimes the hospitality section opened for a really good party. I had an idea to walk into Google and ask to be linked into the Google Local Guides people. For some reason, they refuse to show me as a level 10 guide despite taking my reviews and asking for my pictures. So I’m treated like a level 0 guide. I feel like I've been busted to a Private in the U.S. Army. I wrote the mailbox and got back a message that said, “There’s no sanction on your account”. So why don’t I show as a level 10.
I’ve even thought of finding a lawyer to sue Google, claiming that I’m suggestible. I mean, they pop up with suggestions on my cellphone to go here, document that, share my pictures just to be a good guy and get a little exposure. This is worse that taking instructions from a burning bush or a talking dog. But the messages really do show up on my phone, for which I pay a monthly fee. I'm not imagining things.
And Google has just shut off my picture upload to my account because I refuse to pay thirty dollars for more space. These are the pictures that Google asks to publish, placing them in the right places because the pictures contain location information. Yes, maybe Google has taken over my life and I have a full blown case of “Local Guide Syndrome”.
What is it like to have a Trillion dollar svengali? Google, set me free or pay me for my content.
Back to Lucky’s, Igor’s and the Avenue, three of several all nighters. Now, these qualify as houses of the rising sun because the denizens cannot avoid daylight when it makes a scheduled stop in the windows every morning. Even though there’s never a last call in these twenty-four hour clubs, there is an inevitable dawn. And I have successfully opened the door and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air without dissolving into a pile of vampire dust.
The House of the Rising Sun
Check out the nice custom made suits worn by these five young men, piping around the collar, cuff and placket. The British Invasion brought the Animals to the American shore in conquest, but these barbarians dressed in coat and tie. I had a chance to meet Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits at the casino in Manistee, Little River Casino and Resort. He was very cordial and dressed in a coat and tie after the show, hardly dressing down for meeting guests.
Paul Revere and the Raiders played at that concert too, singing Kicks and all their hits. Paul Revere Dick marched with his band although he had a short time to live. He announced to the audience, “You must know I’m rich. Because I wouldn’t wear my hair this way if I were not able to wear my hair any way I wanted”. He wore it very full and very long, very much like the long hair of the Bee Gees.
The House of the Rising Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fy7opKu46c
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one
My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans
Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's all drunk
Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun
Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Alan Price
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