KinderKitti, Maggie & Daphne at Liuzza's

Liuzza's was a crazy street party as usual, filled with kat greetings. The whole time was a bit of a blur for me, because I'd drunk quite a bit that day, but I remember that it was tons of fun, but I forgot to take many pictures. Banzai Bill and his sweetie Susan offered us a ride to the quarter in his vintage caddy. We piled in 10 people but only got a block down the street when everyone had to pile back out, because the back of the car was bottoming out! The Jersey kats said they'd grab a cab, so Banzai took the rest of us to the quarter. Banzai Bill dropped us off at the LaSalle and Pete and I headed upstairs to unpack a little and take our showers. We'd lingered at Liuzza's pretty late, and by the time we were ready to go out, I was starving. First, we walked down Burgundy a few blocks to stop in at the permanent "stoop party" at Pete's friend Kate's house. Sure enough, the gang was on the stoop as usual. I got to meet Gil from Scotland and his girlfriend Caroline, who is one of Lisa's dearest friends, plus a nice guy named Dave. We chatted and had a drink.

Then Pete and I walked up to Mama Rosa's on Rampart Street for some dinner. Joe and I have eaten at this place every year, because it's just one block from the Funky Butt. And this year was the same - excellent food but a very long wait between ordering the food and getting served. We split a large pizza and devoured a good portion of it. I took the leftovers in a box, figuring some kat later in the night would want to eat it. Then we headed upstairs to check out the new club named Mama's Got The Blues, which is upstairs from Mama Rosa's. The cover charge was $20, which gave us entry to both Mama's Blues for Gatemouth Brown, plus The Funky Butt for The Wild Magnolias and Henry Butler. I enjoyed the new club - it was a nice, large airy room with a long bar and no wait to get drinks. Gatemouth was awesome, and we got to hear the 2nd half of his set, before he took a break.

Banzai Bill & his sweetie Susan

Rama, Daphne & Jersey Jim at Liuzza's

Pete and I headed to the Funky Butt to see if we could catch some of the Wild Magnolia's first set. It was a mob scene with a line outside, even though we had been pre-stamped. But it turned out that the wait wasn't that long at all, probably only 15 minutes or so before we were able to head upstairs. The Wild Magnolias were still on their first set and the music was great. The place was totally packed, so we headed toward the back and ran into the Jersey Krewe. I jumped up on a chair next to Juls/NJ and we danced through the end of the set. Juls, Jersey Jim, Ricky and Sha were all there, and we saw Big Dave for awhile, but he left. During the break, Jersey Jim ate the pizza and Turbodog showed up to join us for the funky 2nd set. The Wild Magnolias were hot and funky as always and it was a great time. Pete and I headed out during the last song of their set, it had been a really long day. As we got to the street we ran into Henry Butler getting out of a cab to arrive for his set. It was tempting to go back inside, but we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

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