Day one and of course I have no idea "what it means to miss New Orleans".
If this writing project is a success, by the end I may be able to say "This is what it means...Our guest house is a mixed blessing. As a maritime boarding house (next door to a Norwegian seamen's church), I'm sure the property had seen worse days. Under its present occupation of guest house it no doubt has also seen better days. We had a hard time in deciding on the better of two upstairs rooms. The first had an unacceptable bathroom. The one we settled on was not without flaws but showed fewer immediate signs of neglect. Neglect was painted over at our guest house in the posted articles denigrating character-less chain hotels. Our guest house had character, no doubt about that, but even that was peeling.
So, I might guess that living in New Orleans is such a daily trip that it leads its citizens into the neglect of body for the greater good of feeding the soul.
On the GMWA front, the immediate highlight for me upon arrival into a partially set-up exhibit hall was the impromptu organ and piano jamming at the Hammond organ and neighbouring Technics electric piano booths. 5 or 6 guys multi-talented in organ and piano would spell each other off like we might play round-table ping-pong. The B3 organ was the instrument of choice but that didn't keep those organ-vanquished from grabbing the spotlight (or adding more spice to the reigning organ master) on one of the Technics pianos. I talked to one of the younger guys when I saw him later at Wendy's and I was just as impressed by his attitude. "I'm nothing at all" he insisted when I asked him if he was more organist or pianist, "I'm just here to absorb".