On June 24, 1943, Dimitri Fouquet’s life began as Wayne Fouquet on a wooden kitchen table in Algiers Point on the West Bank of the murky Mississippi River. Across the river, Algiers shares the same thick humid air in which New Orleans Voodoo folklore was born through whispered stories about Baron Samedi, the original Dr. John, and Marie Laveau; two spirits Fouquet would capture in oil. “The Algiers Ferry” by Dimitri Fouquet “The Algiers Courthouse” by Dimitri Fouquet "Holy Name of Mary Church and Rectory" by Dimitri Fouquet He grew up in “The Point” with his cousin Ronnie Barosse, who would later be known as Ronnie Baron, the well-known New Orleans pianist and singer. According to Dimitri, the boys would strip down on the levee to swim in the Mississippi River so their mothers wouldn’t catch them with wet clothes. As wild teens, they would sneak into the church, Holy Name of Mary, and light their cigarettes and joints off of the candles for the poor....
As the shell may have once said to the oyster as it slipped away and down into a diner's gullet: "Parting is such sweet sorrow!"
ReplyDeleteWonderful video, Kristin.
Ha, good one, J.D.! Thank you!
ReplyDelete“The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.”
-Andrew Carnegie
Thanks for stopping by, K