"Routine" is only relative

It really does take a full week to recover from Mardi Gras, one full week to remember what your routines are -- or were -- pre MG. It was harder than usual this year, too, since I'd only recently put some routines back into place: Laundry on Saturdays. Movies on Sundays. Mona's on Wednesdays. The one I'm most looking forward to during Lent is fish on Fridays. Not that I really even observe Lent -- I just love that the whole city smells good on Fridays.

I was giving a couple of kids I tutor a ride home the other day (said one to his friend: "I'm going with the Caucasian lady"), and when a new song came on the local rap station, Q93, they asked me to turn up. It was an R&B song, not the kind that ordinarily appeals to 17-year-old boys, so I was kind of surprised, but when I heard the name-checking of different neighborhoods, many of them projects in New Orleans -- Calliope, St. Thomas, Desire -- I realized this was a local guy singing. And then I heard him call out areas that don't usually get mentioned on rap records -- Gert Town, Marrero (Marrero?), CBD (Central Business District), Pigeon Town - and I realized that, unlike so many of the more successful rappers like Juvenile and Master P who no longer live here, this guy is apparently *still* local.

He's Roi "Chips" Anthony, and the song is "Long Way From Home" -- you can check out his MySpace page here. The remix bounce version of "Long Way" is the best. I'm not sure I buy the final line -- "New Orleans, we're gonna be back stronger than ever" -- but I do really like the song.