A cabbie honked and hollered out his window to us in greeting. He yelled to us that he was a member of the Church of Christ. An odd proclamation to make in the middle of the night down a busy city street, or so we thought until we realized that Green Day had a “The Churches of Christ Salute You” bumper sticker riding the tail of his car.I remember very little about the actual show. We arrived late, and my inexperienced little body cringed as Tipitina's seemed more like a dive bar than a hip music club. Devon brought along a little mini office recorder and dubbed the show for his later listening pleasure.

Since we arrived late, Sebadoh was already perfoming. We pushed our way up close as Devon got out his little mini-recorder and newsman-style made announcements while he then proceeded to record the entire show.Afterwards we hung out on the side of the venue, near a van that surely must be the band's for an hour or so, hoping to see Lou Barlow and the rest of the boys. We dreamed of hitting it off and going someplace for coffee, waffles, and good times.

When the band did come out, Tara managed to say something cheeky like “great show” while I stood in the back smiling like a fanboy too nervous to actually talk.Green Day decided he was too exhausted to drive home and I volunteered to make the trip. Before conking out, it was explained that the speedometer was broken and that I should let the RPMs be my guide.

Somehow I managed to make it back to Montgomery, though I didn’t know the way, and had to wake Devon up for directions back to school.I finally hit the bed well into the day’s morning light. The director gave us a right ribbing for missing dress rehearsal and threatened to kick us out of the show, but in the end all was forgiven.

We didn’t see Mardi Gras, nor sample the excellent cuisine, nor take in any of the sights and sounds of the Big Easy. But we heard its call just the same, and took a mad dash trip through the wee hours and made it back with a great story to tell.I hope the city will do the same for someone again, someday.