Shrimp and Gumbo

What's to uplift your spirits more than find out two packages waiting for you when you come home from work? Not many things I tell you :) Getting new stuff hit's the spot: today, the packages came from two different locations; Budapest and New Orleans, let's take a look:

Two very exciting locations! Can't wait to open!

Ah-ha! A CD from New Orleans and tools from Budapest!

Special tools for the trade: Sold by a great fellow shoemaker Marcell Mrsán, from his shop in Hungary. He's also an enthusiastic blogger! The top long white stick is for sharpening, the knife with the curved tip is for trimming leather soles and the last one is for cutting uppers. Can't wait to get some hands-on experience with these! Cutting the uppers with a knife is a lot faster than with scissors, so I'll need to start practicing with it.

If there's something I love more than crafts, it's music. I can practically listen to any kind of music, the genre isn't important to me, it's just the song that matters. This CD is by Rebirth Brass Band, a native New Orleans band, and it's their latest recording. I fell in love with the New Orleans's culture with the HBO's magnificent series "Treme". At first I thought the series would be a bit boring, but when the first beats of music started in the first ever episode, my heart was flabbergasted. "What is this music?!" I couldn't answer. It resembled a lot of things I'd heard before, but it was definitely something new to me. And that was a bit strange, because I've listened to sOoo much of different music during my life.
It was something like a military brass band had suddenly hired James Brown (R.I.P) as their conductor, and instead of playing in a parade, they played in the clubs and the streets. Needless to say, it's a great recording :D

Some links to previously mentioned subjects:

• A great shoemakers blog from Hungary: Koronya
• A video by Koronya, making a pair of high heels and using the curvy tip knife during the process (in 1:04): here
• HBO's series, Treme: A great opening video from the first episode: here
• Basin Street Records, New Orleans: here
• Rebirth Brass Band, a great video: here

All in all I must say that I'm very excited to have found New Orleans's unique culture, and surely hope to end up visiting that place in the future. <3NOLA

-Otso