NOLA

New Orleans, Louisiana--The Big Easy--this year's host of the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Sounds exciting, right? Well, in our business it's a fantastic place/event/venue to build relationships with legislators and staff. That is, cultivate new relationships, and maintain and build upon existing ones. Relationships, you see, are the life blood of the business.

I was told by a legislator this week (over dinner at Mr. B's Bistro) that two characteristics, in his opinion, are required to make a lobbyist effect: 1. honesty 2. knowledge. NCSL gives us just another avenue to demonstrate both.

I flew in Tuesday morning---up at 4am, flight at 6am---landed in New Orleans (via Houston) at around 10:00am. I proceeded to my quarters for the week, an elegant place on St. Louis Street called the Omni Royal Orleans. I unpacked and received almost simultaneous emails from TC and the Counselor to join them for lunch. I did so at the in-house joint in the Hilton Riverside--just a short cab ride away. I had a fantastic burger and some fries. After catching up with TC and the Counselor, I headed to the conference venue--the New Orleans Convention Center. This place is HUGE! It was also home to alot of displaced citizens during Katrina.

Anyway, I checked in and did a tour of the venue--including the exhibit hall which housed all of the vendors in town for the conference. You name it, it was there--hybrid car manufacturers, health care providers, branches of the armed forces, cspan, cnn, bla, bla, bla.

After spending some time on site, i ventured back to my room, took a shower and met up with TC again for dinner. Double M joined us for dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville (as TC is a big fat parrot head). My cheeseburger in paradise was delicious--as were the numerous Miller-Lite's. After dinner we head to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter--to what turned out to be our "spot" for the week, Fritzel's European Jazz Pub. Fritzel's is small, but is loaded with musical talent--not the least of which was the fast fingers of the piano player (sorry I cant recall his name). This jazz band was made up of a drummer, the piano guy, a clarinet player and a guy on bass. Amazing talent these guys have--exactly what i envisioned the experience to be--in fact it exceeded my hopes and expectations. What a great experience.

Wednesday (ill skip the boring daytime stuff) we hit dinner with several Northeast Ohio legislators at Mr. B's Bistro (see above for link). I have no idea what i was thinking, but for my entree i had some kind of chicken and rice nonesense. It was terrible, and I regret tremendously my decision not to order a steak (or anything other than what i ordered). I was particularly jealous of the Senator's meal---a nice juicy filet on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce (with some sort of house dressing). It looked amazing. The wedge salad i ordered was delicious, however--as were the crab cakes we ordered for appetizers.

Tonight we went to Brennan's with a couple of legislators from southwest Ohio. Good guys (and their wives were as pleasant as could be). A fun group, really. I ordered the 14 oz Ribeye with the Garlic Butter Sauce. While the 31/2 hour wait was maddening, the juicy, delicious, perfectly-cooked ribeye almost---ALMOST made up for it. We sat down to dinner at 7:30pm and we didn't pay the bill until well after 11:30. Ridiculous. BTW--the Banana's Foster was AMAZING! Thanks, Ron.

I thoroughly---thoroughly enjoyed New Orleans, Louisiana (aka NOLA). The people are polite and proud, the food is amazing, the music is delightful and the ambience (i was careful not to say atmosphere) is unique. The heat and humidity, that's another story. I have to say, aside from the smell of diesel fuel, urine, and horse shit--the NOLA is a rockin' joint. I highly recommend a visit.

TC and I even worked in a tour of The National World War II Museum--inspiring and educational. I highly advise a visit.

After being devasted by Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, this city that sits in a bowl between Lake Ponchartrain and the grand Mississippi is an American gem.

Thank you, NOLA.

--G