Mike, if you are buying stock in the perception of others lack of simply being human, you will wind up a misfortunate soul.

You may not change the world... you may continue to wonder about your place among a haywire for how people think... but, if you dwell on these matters too greatly, you'll diminish your opportunity to do good things in your own growth as a person and a friend to many others. I will even bet you can be creative enough to include your Lady and get her to grinning with matters (far from wanting you eaten by a gator).

As you have posted many questions regarding Accordion ,and, Music and other things as well; I see the newness of your excitement. Fishing with no bait on your hook just yet.... that's ok bud... you'll get to that one soon enough.

Your leap into "I want Zydeco for my preferance" still leaves a big hole in your overall growth.
I wonder if you have sensed that yet(?). Some have come to understand there is much more than just the accordion. Some have chosen to bale out when it came time to recconcile that there is a large "other learning process segment" that exists.

Perhaps others will not tell you of such things because they are aprehensive to being up-front. Could be perhaps they too, do not fully know themselves or about the growth segments.
For the greater part of jumping into this music, there is the appreciation and emersion into the cultural side for what and why it is, what it is ment to be. You can't get that greater element without understanding why a culture can laugh when things are sad, or continue surviving when things seem dismal. It doesn't happen unless you are content to sit on the porches of life and smile at the simplicity of bird tugging a worm out of the ground for a meal and making a song out of it (no matter how good or bad you play).

Mike you and I are simply guests to this cultural thing. It takes some humble re-programming of how we think to appreciate the little things that serve as a good purpose. In time you will play from the Heart. It may not be studio quality.
It may be riddled with errors that cause folks to laugh; But when you reach a point where you laugh with them knowing it sucks, then you are where you need to be (you're on track),and, it just gets better from there on out. Like ole Burbon street, there is far more to this music and culture than what you sip within the tourist traps, venture out and grow.

Place stock in developing your heart for the culture and music with the right passion, you will be the better person no matter where you reside or how well you play accordion.

Best...... Nonc D

...profound!

RR

Mike,
I listen to NPR at breakfast as well as on my 30-45 minute drive to and from work every day. There has hardly been a day when Katrina wasn't mentioned -- they are constantly running stories about people's individual stories, too, which has kept it really "human" for me even though I'm so far away (VT). There have been some cases over the last few months where NPR news reunited people who had been separated through evacuation. I'm with you 100% on being frustrated with that CNN poll, but to me it also shows that you are in poor company indeed with CNN viewers. It's not just the Katrina business, whenever I watch CNN (admittedly probably a year ago now) I get the impression that it is news for the instant gratification crowd, and that's depressing. So try a different news source, maybe something that isn't as slick. NPR is certainly for people with longer attention spans -- no pretty pictures!
Andy

For the record, since Mardi Gras 2006 at least 9 more Hurricane Katrina victims bodies have been recovered in New Orleans. Now Jazz Fest is here. Disgusting. The plan now is to look for bodies in the process of demolition. Welcome to the great state of Louisiana tourists. A better place to visit than New Orleans would be Opelousas, Breaux Bridge, Mcgees Landing in Henderson and Eunice. www.mcgeeslanding.com

Well yea,! I agree. But, if you live here you hope that the rest of the country doesn't forget about you. Right now it ain't all fun. After 9 months things are still pretty devestated. It ain't back to normal fur sure. So you'll come down and enjoy what you can. CDM is open and the coffee is hot. The few bucks you spend will help.