If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not at Mardi Gras. Wherever you are, take a moment to conjure an ecstatic and impossibly colorful place — that’s New Orleans, and in particular, that’s New Orleans at Mardi Gras.

Antoinette K-Doe, the widow of rhythm & blues legend Ernie K-Doe, died early Mardi Gras morning of a heart attack. She was 66.

Antoinette presided over the Mother-in-Law Lounge, a small, funky club in the shadow of I-10 on North Claiborne Avenue that she opened to give Ernie a steady place to play. In the process, she helped orchestrate a renaissance in his career, and after his death in 2001 she preserved her late husband’s memory while contributing to a New Orleans community very much in need.

I had the opportunity to interview her at the Mother-in-Law Lounge at Mardi Gras last year. She had laid out a buffet at the foot of the stage featuring a dark, thick stew seasoned with unknown animal vertebrae. Musicians wandered in and out, played, drank and passed time. In the resulting video, she discusses the club, and the city, she loves. She will be missed.

Here’s the link:
http://www.blender.com/Antoinettekdoeinterview/video/804.aspx

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Mike Errico official site: http://www.errico.com
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