Kermit Ruffins and Dr. Bob

by Angela on March 31, 2012 · 6 comments

Who dat in a praline bacon-induced coma? We dat. Oh, we daaaaaat.

New Orleans has been truly dizzying. For the first time, we actually feel like we’re on more of a vacation than on a tour with The Lion King — there is so much to see, to eat, to do, to explore, to eat. Did I already say to eat? We have got to pace ourselves so we can last the full five weeks here without gastric bypass.

Mike’s previous posts have centered around po’boys and pralines. It’s true, we’ve been so crazy about the food that we’ve momentarily gone insane. I realized that we have not posted one thing non-food related in the past 3 weeks. But rest assured, we’ve been getting out and about to see what the Crescent City has to offer. It’s taken a little rallying with childcare for Max on the adult outings, but we’ve been soldiers!

1. Kermit Ruffins at Vaughn’s Music Club

To hear Kermit on the trumpet is like being in a room full of joyful elephants partying down. After The Lion King got out one Thursday, Theresa stayed with an already-sleeping Max, and Mike and I mosied down a few blocks in our Bywater neighborhood. We hit Vaughn’s with our friends Robbie (Ed the Hyena) and his wife Lisa (sub wrangler for the cubs), where local legend Kermit and the Barbeque Swingers have played regularly for over 20 years. Kermit’s also a regular on HBO’s show Treme, though we’ve sadly never seen it.

Hoo-boy! It was so much fun to just get out, have a drink, get sweaty and dance. Then after his set was up, Kermit was outside with us cooling down — and me being the ballsy one of the group, I approached him to say hello. Turns out he is a really down-to-earth guy who was excited to hear that The Lion King was in town. “I’d love to bring my five-year-old daughter,” he told Mike and Robbie.

2. Dr. Bob’s Art Studio in Bywater

The one thing I’m trying to collect from each city we hit on tour is a piece of local art, so that one day when we have our own house (!) we can decorate it with these remembrances of our travels. I knew by day one when we had dinner at Elizabeth’s across the street from our house and I saw the kitchey art that plastered their walls, that I wanted a Dr. Bob piece. This is the one I got – simple, red (my favorite color) and small. We will be schlepping this around the country with us!

You’ll find his stuff everywhere in New Orleans restaurants, bars and shops, usually sporting his trademarked catchphrase “Be Nice or Leave”. In our rental house, the Dr. Bob piece on the wall says “Shut Up and Fish”.  But I think my favorite that I’ve seen so far might have to be “Stay and Be Gay.”

Max, Hero (the daughter of Nick Cordileone who plays Timon) and I stopped by Dr. Bob’s “laboratory” last weekend to poke around. The artist himself was touching up a large piece involving a truck, much to Max’s delight. I didn’t know what to expect of Dr. Bob — he looks like a hippie mad scientist, frankly. I said hello to him, and he was gruffly aloof at first. The “studio” was like a colorful junkyard, complete with a huge rottweiler-pitbull-looking dog named George. When Dr. Bob saw Max pointing to the truck, he instantly warmed up, and to my surprise shock, lifted Max up onto his workbench and let him touch the piece.

Max was enthralled, and Dr. Bob actually played with him. But then Max stood up and banged his head on the eaves of the roof of the house on the piece, and started to cry. So Dr. Bob tried to calm him down, as you can see with this video below. Not too sure if his, uh, style worked. Dr. Bob has a way with kids that says, “I’m not too good with kids.”

If you can’t see the video above, click here.

Through all of Max’s fussiness, he still was willing to give Dr. Bob a signature “cheesy smile”. However, at the end of the day, Max was ready to be nice … and leave.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Ron April 1, 2012 at 6:14 pm

Good thing Max has a way with adults!

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Angela April 5, 2012 at 5:01 am

Max has a short memory when it comes to incidents like these. He surely didn’t freak out, but he did express some discontent. Dr. Bob was actually a good sport about it all too!

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Susan M. April 1, 2012 at 9:31 pm

How amazing you got to meet these 2 local celebs!

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Angela April 5, 2012 at 5:01 am

Yes Susan, we’ve found that most people here in New Orleans are friendly and approachable — even these two!

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ANGELIQUE April 1, 2012 at 9:41 pm

WHAT A HOOT! I’VE HEARD DR. BOB IS A CHARACTER. YOU ARE HAVING SOME ADVENTURES FOR SURE! I LOVE LION KING!!!

Reply

Angela April 5, 2012 at 5:02 am

Angelique, you’re a hoot too! Thanks for commenting as always 🙂

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