Guess who ate at the Abita Springs cafe today?

Morgus has not come in to my knowledge. but Chopsley comes in all the time...he was in last Saturday or Sunday. Not in costume though. Sid Noell (morgus' name) does live in the vicinity according to Chopsley himself.

 

An employee and I had a late lunch at the cafe on Wednesday. It was great! I had the catfish with crawfish sauce and he had the pulled pork sandwich. I was pretty sure that you weren't there so I didn't even ask. My only disappointment was the lack of purple and gold decor.

 

Sorry I missed you guys. When it's slow, sometimes I leave my two assistant guys in charge and Go get lunch orders from businesses and deliver them.

Crawfish, I sent you a pm. I gotta find out what happened. Three people at the same time may or may not be coincidental. Please respond.

 

The daughter of a true jazz and swing legend came by today. She's been a regular since she moved to Abita after Katrina. I hadn't seen her in a while and it was a joy to run into her again. Joyce was an entertainer in her own right but her father was in a class of his own. He really connected with his audience in a way that no one has since. He was a Vegas mainstay and the energy he exuded along with his band is still infectious. Miss Joyce is now a typical grandmother from the parish and is really a New Orleans character...LOTS of stories and always charming. It's really sad that she lost tons of priceless memoribilia when her house in St Bernard was destroyed in Katrina. I've been coy about who she is, so I'll post a video of her famous dad and let you folks figure out her name....

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWq8jafqYV0&feature=related[/media]


The Sax player was legendary (Sam Butera) and a lot of Joyce's stories are about escapades involving her dad and the rest of his band...no wonder they were known as the "Wildest". Sam Butera recently died after a long illness involving Alzheimer's disease. When I saw the story on the internet about his death, I called her and broke the news to her about Sam's death. She told me how he had been ill for a long time and reminisced happily with me over the phone. It turns out that I was the first to call with the news.


Another video that shows louis' energy and enthusiasm. Can anyone really look at this and not smile?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV8HrpOu1FA[/media]

 

Today was kind of rough at work because I was able to take Mac, my 12 yeqr old son to his first game in Tiger Stadium...he must have been impressed because he told me that he wants to go to LSU now. He better study and get his TOPS scholarship if that's his goal !! Late night and I get up at 4:00 am.

But I digress.

We get a lot of bikers that come to the cafe on the weekend...the Dennis Hopper type as well as the Lance Armstrong type. Well I see this bicyclist parking his bike and he takes a table on the front porch. Only he's wearing an orange helmet that has the green and blue "Gators" logo of the university. I resisted the urge to say "gradlations...go gator...and Percey Harvey"...

(cf) that horrid youtube video

...because this dude was around 6'2" and about 225lbs...and obviously in very good shape. so I told him that I bleed purple and gold and, not to worry, I couldn't talk much smack after last year. I did say that Florida lucked out to hang 50+ on LSU last year... they really only legitimately earned around 45 of those points!!:hihi:.

Any way, he let me know that he played fullback for the gators in '81 and '82 under Charlie Pell. His name is David Gilliard and now lives in Mandeville. We had a nice discussion about how college athletes should get paid and he agreed because that tuition had little or no value to most athletes who, if it weren't for football, would be nowhere near a college campus...(discussion for another day and forum.)

We also touched on the ratting out of Rich Rodriguez by his own players and he was wondering what was really up with that team. He told me that all coaches always have "encouraged" their athletes to work out more than the NCAA guidelines. He said, back then you got a paper handout which outlined what was expected of you. He also said that it was more than understood what would happen if you blew off the extra workout...(you'd be off the team).

 

Actually Sid Noel's real name is Sidney Noel Rideau. My late ex-mother in law went to school with him in New Orleans. He would have to be in late 70's by now.

Morgus made an appearance at the St. Gabriel Parish fair back in the very early 1960's and it was like a rockstar had arrived. The kids mobbed his hearse (he arrived laying in the back of an antique glass-enclosed hearse.

Here is Sid Noel Rideau and his alter-ego Dr. Momus Alexander Morgus

 

One of my frequent customers, whom I haven't seen in a while came back in for lunch today, but we had been closed long enough that I wasn't able to serve him...all grills had been turned off for too long and were cold...all food had been stored, etc.:rofl:.

He was a tiger in the early 70's and played with Terry Robiskie, Warren Capone, Kenny Bordelon, Paul Lyons and Bert Jones. Other guys he played with were Binks Miciotto, A.J. Duhe, Mike Miley, Brads Boyd and Davis...etc.

Later he was a DB for the Chicago Bears.

He went to Rummel High and his father and mine were classmates at Jesuit in the '40s.

Any one of you old timers is free to guess who this might be, but for you youngsters I'll provide the answer below...









....Norman Hodgins. He's now an executive for New York Life and is in good shape for someone old like me. A real nice guy and full of stories about his playing days...probably the quintessential golf partner, (but I don't play golf).

 

Today is the day we play Tulane for the last time...so I was wearing one of my LSU shirts. I get to work around 4:30 or 5:00 am every day and the staff starts coming in around 6:30 or 7:00.

Around this time, one of the young waitresses comes in with one of her friends...a beautiful young blonde girl just dressed to the hilt. She told me that her friend was going to hang out at the cafe wile she worked and that they'd spend the rest of the weekend hanging out. The friend's name is Abby Moody. Abby saw my LSU shirt and announced that her brother played for LSU as a walk on and graduated a few years ago. I forgot what position her brother played, but his name is Chad Moody.

She said he didn't play much. I told her that I'd give anything to be on the team and run through the tunnel and onto the field...just once. Football is a team game and make no mistake...ALL team members contribute completely to the effort. The team is a family and it's like one body. Different team members have different functions, but the team is whole, the team is one...especially this year (unlike last year). Walk ons like Chad are just as much of the team as the starting players are. Go Tigers !!!
:tigereye:


I also got to see Scott Skene today...the former Alabama coach and director of football operations under Gene Stallings.

 

I'm an LSU fan, but also a Louisiana football fan; and I know a lot of you went to, graduated from and are interested in other Louisiana Colleges and Universities...as long as they're not playing the Tigers.

I'm always flattered when former athletes dine at my restaurant. It's a real honor to serve all of my customers, but it's a treat for me to serve former players.

The other day, a father and son who both played for the same University came in and had a nice visit at the cafe.

They both played for NLU...now ULM in Monroe, Louisiana. I'm sure you guys from Monroe may recognize these two men...Tubo and Travis Edwards.

Tubo played around 1958 or 1959 for the Indians under Coach Rowan. I believe they were NLSC back then. His son, Travis, played for the 1990-1991 conference champions under Coach Dave Roberts. He wore # 36 for the Monroe team.

I don't know what ULM's mascot is now. They'll always be the Indians for me. They told me they had to change the name from Indians to something else because of political correctness. It was OK evidently to name a team after a Tribe but the name Indians was offensive to some people (probably not Native Americans but "do gooders"). I can think of no better way to constantly honor the Native people and their culture than by preserving the original names of landforms and rivers, etc. as well as in the naming of athletic teams.

Honoring the people and their culture is very important to all of us...making sure that not one, single person has hurt feelings over this is very important for a few who like to lord it over the rest of us...so Geaux Indians. :thumb: (as long as it's not LSU week).


If any of you Monrovians have any memories of these two eras of ULM football...please reply, the Edwards men will be following this thread.

By the way, since today is the day we will humble Alabama, my favorite Indian name for a stream is a creek in Alabama...either in the Coosa or Talapoosa drainage...It's called Emukfa creek. Being from New Orleans as well as being fluent in both "Yat" and "Ebonics" I get a real kick out of Emukfa creek. " Whatdjou call me?"

 

Talk about timing, talk about coincidence. At a time when I'm scratching my head wondering about what's wrong with SEC officiating...not being able to shake off the loss to Bama...in comes a customer of mine who lives in Abita and he's wearing a Texas Tech shirt. Last time he was wearing a Texas A&M shirt so I asked him what gives? He said that he went to neither school but has a lot of shirts from the big 12 because... he's a Big 12 football ref !!!

Last week he refereed the Iowa game and this week he said he was assigned the OU-Texas A&M game.

When he was driving to the airport to fly home to Abita, even in Iowa, all that was on the radio was the blown calls in the LSU-Alabama game and how bad the officiating was. He said, "I heard they have problems."

He was loathe to offer much of an opinion other than that.

So we talked about what they do in the Big 12. He said that every game is filmed and each week those films are sent to the NFL. They evaluate each and every play and grade out the refs. He said they were merciless in their grading. If they don't get good grades...they're suspended. When I asked him for how long he said "maybe one game, maybe indefinitely forever."

He said sometimes they suspend the whole team. He also said teamwork in officiating is crucial. There are good and not so good teams, but regardless, if they don't perform at a high level or if they don't get better...they're gone.

He explained the chain of reporting problems. Coach to AD to conference commissioner to supervisor of officials to the ref and the whole team. And no one wanted that to happen...because...you could be fired if it was found you messed up !!!

He also told me that there are a bunch of other conferences that use the NFL system of evaluation to HOLD TEAMS OF OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE.

I asked him if the SEC was one of those conferences....he said "No, they do their own thing over there."


Telling...don't you think?