earnesthemmyway:

This was another delight in my day after walking to Cafe du Monde for beignets (I shamefully walked around covered in powder before I noticed during my lazy walk over to the Oyster Fest. That’s me, embarrassing myself since 1983!). It was a calliope performance on the Natchez steamboat, which won the Great Steamboat Race of 1982, haha. For those of you who don’t know, a calliope is an instrument very similar to an organ, as you can tell by the sound in this video, and is often called a steam organ. I had first been annoyed by how loud and pervasive the song was until I realized someone was actually playing and then I fell in love and waved to the adorable old man up there. I know how to play the piano, so maybe I’ll need to sign up for a guest spot, haha. I will oust you, adorable old man! Ha. To have this tune, or any other, playing on repeat through a machine would be most regrettable for a fine boat whose history of captains included a man named Thomas P. Leathers, “Old Push,” who was described as savage, reckless and colorful. Wikipedia says: “He loved to prove his boats were the fastest. He would sometimes throw fatty bacon and hog fat into the engine to dramatically increase the speed of the boats. He would sometimes cause other boats to slow down by quickly racing in front of them.” Sounds like my kind of person. Learning about ol’ Mr. Leathers makes me think of my intrepid voyage on the East River with a friend in merely an inflatable raft. We played chicken with ferries and speedy leisure boats and won…but only because they had the power to steer away quickly while we watched in anticipation and hoped not to be sunk. It was a most exciting and probably one of the stupider things I’ve done, and it is personally an indelible NYC moment, a modern day Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer adventure. I did this knowing we might get swept out to sea and all the while without a life jacket or essential equipment. We voyaged from Long Island City to Williamsburg and people I spoke to after the trip said they were surprised I was still alive. Take that, Death!

Calliope serenade is so special. NOLA treat!