1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: I mean I had two calls from the White House 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: where they wanted to come take pictures there over the 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: course of the projects and take credit for it. And 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: I may or may not have ended up on a 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: watch list because of some language that I use. 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 2: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney, 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 2: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father, 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 2: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 2: inner City Memphis. And the last part unintentionally led to 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 2: an oscar for the film about our team. It's called Undefeated. 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 2: I believe our country's problems will never be solved by 12 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 2: a bunch of fancy people and ice suits talking big 13 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 2: words that nobody understands or ever uses. Not seeing it 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 2: in Fox, but rather an army of normal folks, US 15 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 2: just you and me deciding, Hey, I can help. That's 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 2: what John Currents, the voice we just heard, has done. 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 2: The project that John mentioned was saving a restaurant and 18 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 2: the home of an eighty nine year old New Orleans 19 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: woman named Willie May after Hurricane Katrina. Willie May's Scotch 20 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 2: House makes what's been called the best fried chicken in 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 2: the world, and it wouldn't be here today if not 22 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 2: for John and an army of normal folks who spent 23 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 2: sixteen months volunteering to rebuild her restaurant. And John was 24 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 2: going back and forth almost every week between his adopted 25 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 2: home of Oxford, Mississippi, and his native New Orleans that 26 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 2: was five hours away, and he had three of his 27 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 2: own restaurants to run in Oxford. John's love for Willie 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 2: May and New Orleans is extraordinary. And we'll continue with 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 2: the story right after these brief messages from our general sponsors. 30 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 2: You're twenty six when you show up in Oxford having 31 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,920 Speaker 2: no business opening a restaurant, but do any way and 32 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,839 Speaker 2: start down your road to restaurant tour success. What year 33 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:31,679 Speaker 2: was that? And home is still New Orleans? I mean 34 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 2: it's where you came from. You're making home here. 35 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: But current leadership is making it very easy for me 36 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: to divorce myself from the romance of the city. I 37 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: mean it's a you know, it's a it's a mess 38 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: like so many other cities in the South. 39 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: Right now, I get it, But you still have a 40 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 2: heart for your home under presently it right, And this 41 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 2: little storm comes through called Katrina. What year was that? 42 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: Two thousand and five. 43 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 2: Two thousand and five, and I'm sure all of us 44 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 2: watched that whole scene in horror. I'll never forget the 45 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 2: pictures of all the people on the There was an 46 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 2: overpass right near the Superdome that's elevated that people kind 47 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 2: of had to get to the I'm in the heartwood 48 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 2: lumber business. I sold a customer in New Orleans at 49 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 2: the time. It was called Hogan Hardwoods, and there was 50 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 2: actually a picture on the news. They delivered all their lumber. 51 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 2: They made, you know, ten to fifteen stops a day, 52 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 2: and they would deliver on eighteen wheelers that had curtain sides. 53 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: And I will never forget watching one of those eighteen 54 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 2: wheelers going down a road on the news, and it 55 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 2: was a Hogan Hardwood's curtain side truck, and there must 56 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 2: have been thirty people sitting on the bed of the 57 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 2: truck and it was, you know, going through three feet 58 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 2: deep of water to get them out, and another couple 59 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 2: of guys and a john boat paddling out, and they 60 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 2: were paddling with six inch wide pieces of red oat 61 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 2: that they'd taken from the lumber company just to get 62 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 2: out the death the people in the in the Dome. 63 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 2: It was tragic. For anybody to watch it was it 64 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 2: was significant. I mean, anybody alive at that time remembers it. 65 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 2: But for somebody from there, whose friends were from there, 66 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 2: who grew up there, it had to have and even 67 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 2: more poignant significance to you as you watched. 68 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's it's I still, you know, almost 69 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: twenty years later, find it difficult trying to explain it 70 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: to people, you know, to sit there and watch in 71 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: real time as the place that you you know and 72 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 1: love more dearly than than anywhere else in the entire 73 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: world get swallowed up and you know, to not have 74 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: any idea whether it's going to continue to exist, you know, 75 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: in the. 76 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 2: And we're talking one of the world class cities in 77 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 2: the world, one of the most amazing places with its 78 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 2: culture and its architecture, it's food and the trolleys and 79 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 2: uptown in Tulane and the French Quarter and all of 80 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:38,599 Speaker 2: what New Orleans is is sunk, and the people are sunk. 81 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 2: And people are going to Memphis, people are going to Houston, 82 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 2: people are fleeing to Shreveport, people are fleeing to cities 83 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 2: I mean literally all over the southeast. 84 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, We were packed here. I mean there was there 85 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: were several Yeah, several gyms were used as overflow for 86 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: the hotels. My whole family was was was was here, 87 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 1: and so it was I really I remember cooking on 88 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: that that Monday night after you know, we had been 89 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: watching this this all day long and all of a 90 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: huge number of family, friends and acquaintances were in town 91 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: and just sort of how quiet the dining room was 92 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: at the at the grocery was it was like a 93 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: wake almost that you know, folks were drinking hard, but 94 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: it was it was very quiet, almost like a church service. 95 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: And so there was you know that there was something 96 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,239 Speaker 1: you know, akin to a you know, a family member 97 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: being lost or potentially lost or in the ICU that 98 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: you know, it was just really challenging to explain the 99 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: breadth of emotion. And in that afternoon before that service, 100 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: I I called my whole management team together and and 101 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: I told him, I said, I don't I don't know 102 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: where I'm going, because I mean, God bless him. In 103 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: the in the early part of the coverage of the storm, 104 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: the Gulf Coast, that the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which was 105 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: largely forgotten because the pictures of New Orleans. You know, 106 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: underwater was much sexier than just the Gulf Coast that 107 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: had been wiped out and all of the detritus being 108 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: sucked out to the golf And so I sat down 109 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: with all these guys and I said, look, I don't 110 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: I don't know where I'm going to go or or 111 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: how long I'm uh, you know, I'm going to be gone, 112 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: but I've got to go do something. I mean, this 113 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: is this is my home. There's got to be something 114 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: that we can do. And uh so my my dad 115 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: and I loaded up and we rode down to New 116 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: Orleans on on about day four. 117 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 2: And this was before. 118 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:13,239 Speaker 1: The National Guard had moved in you know, local parish deputies. 119 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 2: Which meant it was not largely safe either. 120 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: Well, we just didn't know, right, That's what nobody knew 121 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: anything about that. 122 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 2: You know. 123 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: The concern was that with all these folks that were 124 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: moving about the city, we didn't know what was underwater 125 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: and what wasn't underwater. You know, that if folks were 126 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: going to loot, that the entire area that had the 127 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: most affluent homes in the city, you know, was wide 128 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: open to to burglary. But I think in retrospect that 129 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,439 Speaker 1: you know, even folks in the city had no idea 130 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: you know, what was underwater and what wasn't And. 131 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 2: Because there was no electricity anywhere, right, No, I mean 132 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 2: the whole city. 133 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: No, it was the the craziest thing, uh, that I 134 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: experienced through it all. Was our first morning in the city. 135 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: As the sun came up and I walked out into 136 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: the middle of the street. It was it was so 137 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: dark you could not see your hand in front of 138 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: your face, no light, there was no light. But walking out, 139 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: you know, into the street as sun was beginning to break, 140 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: and there was no noise. It was so quiet. It 141 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: was definitely definitely loud. I mean there was no bugs, 142 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,079 Speaker 1: there was no cars, There were no air conditioner compression 143 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: compressors running, there was no street cars. Uh. All the 144 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: the you know, the bugs and birds had been blown 145 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: out or had you know, had flown out, you know, 146 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: in in front of the storm, and so there wasn't 147 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,199 Speaker 1: a single sound. And so to stand there, you know, 148 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,439 Speaker 1: several days after the storm, there was there was more 149 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: organic matter on the ground than I had ever seen anywhere, 150 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: and you know, it was just beginning to decompose, and 151 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: so there was this smell of sort of organic decay 152 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: and then this deafening silence, and that was it. I mean, 153 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: it just so too. 154 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 2: And for a notoriously noisy place, there's always. 155 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: Well and it was, Yeah, And it was the moment 156 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: where I realized, you know, it didn't smell like I 157 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 1: was accustomed to it smelling. I couldn't describe what New 158 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,679 Speaker 1: Orleans smelled like before. I mean I could certainly describe 159 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: with Bourbon Street. 160 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 2: So. 161 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: You know, but what my home smells like something that 162 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: you become that it just becomes that much of your being. 163 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: There's no way to describe how in an instant when 164 00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: that changes, how prof only moving it is. It's very surreal. 165 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: And so you know, that was that was really what 166 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: was the most a sort of recognizable experience day one. Yeah, 167 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: being there on day one it was crazy. 168 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 2: So I, starting as a freshman, would gather up money 169 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 2: and run down to New Orleans two or three times 170 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 2: a year. Like I said, it's one of Lisa in 171 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 2: my favorite cities. But it's long been one of my 172 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,440 Speaker 2: favorite places, you know, as a college kid and an 173 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 2: young adult. And you know, I found places to eat 174 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 2: that I thought were cool, and one was Mother's. I 175 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 2: love the roast beef with all that gravy over the bread. 176 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,199 Speaker 1: I mean debris. What's that the debris? 177 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it. And I love Mothers. Another place I 178 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 2: like to go late night if I was hungry and 179 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 2: had had too much with Portocol. Huh. They used to 180 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 2: have a big fat file at I bet they still do. 181 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,439 Speaker 2: But I know you know what portocol is. 182 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,839 Speaker 1: Well, no, I just for the sake of experimented, I 183 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: have had a month sooner two in there. Yeah, but 184 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: that that burger was was was what it was all about. 185 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,719 Speaker 2: They're still around. Oh yeah, okay. Well, and believe it 186 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 2: or not, fried chicken at a place that you are 187 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 2: all too familiar with now And there's a place that 188 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:43,319 Speaker 2: I'm gonna let them tell you about, widely known for 189 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 2: her fried chicken. And I've had it before. I haven't 190 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 2: had it since it's uh, since it's reopened, but I've 191 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:57,839 Speaker 2: had it before. And why don't you tell us about 192 00:12:58,080 --> 00:12:59,319 Speaker 2: Willie may Scotch House. 193 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: Well, I think it has to start a block away 194 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: at Dookie Chase. 195 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 2: And Dookie Chase I don't even know what that is. 196 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: So Doukie Chase is one of the most historic restaurants 197 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,439 Speaker 1: in the city. Really, the only way that I can 198 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: can really couch it effectively is that it is the 199 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: black part of the population's commander's palace. 200 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 2: Was Wow, I bet it's amazing. 201 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: Well it is. And Leah Chase, who was the grand 202 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: dame of the restaurant for years. It was originally her husband, 203 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:47,199 Speaker 1: originally her husband's family's restaurant. Her husband was the heir 204 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 1: apparent to the restaurant, was more interested in being a 205 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,439 Speaker 1: musician than he was being a restaurant tour and Leah 206 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: took up the mantle of running the restaurant and gave 207 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,319 Speaker 1: it that's new life in the in the forties and fifties, 208 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: and that restaurant entertained from the forties and until Barack 209 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: Obama was president. You name any black celebrity in movie, sports, television, politics, 210 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: if they came to New Orleans, they came and they 211 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: ate it too. Get Chase, and they sat, you know, 212 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: on bended knee, you know, next to Leah, just because 213 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: she was a woman to be reckoned with and respected. 214 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 2: Wow. And that's very And that's a block away. 215 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: It's a block away. And so Leah became like a 216 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: third grandmother to me, and we had a magnificent relationship, 217 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: and it's it's one of the things that I treasured 218 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: more dearly than about anything in my life when it 219 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: comes to curation of folks and Leah. Her lunch menu 220 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: was largely a sort of a New Orleans version of 221 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: a meat in three. 222 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 2: You know. 223 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: She would do you know, trout moniere and fried chicken 224 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: and smothered chicken, pork chops, and then had a selection 225 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: of yams, green beans, spoon bread. But inside of the restaurant, 226 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: I mean it was tricked out to the nines and 227 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: then has one of these most spectacular collections of African 228 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: American art that exists in the city of New Orleans. 229 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: She was a prolific collector, and so the restaurant was 230 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: absolutely beautiful. So I would regularly when I was in 231 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: New Orleans make a lunch stop with Leah to visit 232 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: with her and eat fried chicken, then get on the 233 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: to drive home to Oxford, you know, late afternoon. And 234 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: a friend of mine from childhood who wrote for the 235 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: paper one day we were leaving together, and then there 236 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: had been a fam trip, a bunch of traveling food 237 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: writers that were in town doing a piece on New Orleans, 238 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: and it all been brought to Lea's and he said, 239 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: you know, I sat here and listened to you, and 240 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: I've done this for years. You talked about how great 241 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: Lea's fried chicken is and blah blah blah blah blah. 242 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: And this is my friend's named Lolis Eli, and Lois 243 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: grew up in Uptown. Both of his parents were academics, 244 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: and Lolis was black. And he said, let me tell 245 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: you something, white boy, the best chick. You don't know 246 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: where the best chicken is. It's right around the corner, 247 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: and you need to go. You need to go try 248 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: Willie May sometime and see what it's like. And so 249 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: I don't remember if it was on that trip that 250 00:16:58,080 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: just went around. I thought I'll grab a sack on 251 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: my way out the door, or if it was the 252 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: next time, but I I went around the corner, and 253 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: I felt like I was cheating on my girlfriend, buying check, 254 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,400 Speaker 1: buying fried chicken from Willie Mays. And if I tell 255 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: you that, I mean Willie Mays was a hole in 256 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: the wall at the dining room had about five tables 257 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:27,199 Speaker 1: and fifteen or sixteen chairs. It was just covered in 258 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: grease and invariably you go in there and there would 259 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: be a pair of police officers sitting at one table, 260 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: a couple guys that may or may not have been 261 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: crack dealers at another. You know, it was, it was, 262 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: but it was really like the It was the safe 263 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: house for everybody. And she had chicken and smothered pork chops, 264 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: and then on Friday shoot she would fry They should 265 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: fry some fish, but you got any of those things 266 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: with either white beans or red beans and rice, and 267 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: then two pieces of white bread cut in half and 268 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: just dropped on your plate. And that was it. And 269 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: so anyway, I grabbed some fried chicken and took it 270 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: out the door and got in the car with it, 271 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: and I was full as hell when I got on 272 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,920 Speaker 1: the road, but I remember sitting there and I hadn't 273 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: even you know, made it out to the airport before 274 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:25,360 Speaker 1: I was like, I can't stand the smell of this anymore. 275 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: This is too much. And I remember biting into that 276 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: chicken while I was driving down the interstate, and the 277 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: skin was so crisp it almost shattered in my mouth. 278 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it was spectacular, and I thought, I was like, damn, lolss, 279 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: one hundred percent right, this is the best freaking fried 280 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: chicken I've ever eaten in my entire life, and so 281 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,439 Speaker 1: that became that became my regular practice of sneaking around 282 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: on my girlfriend and eating fried chicken and sort of 283 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: winking at everybody and telling them. 284 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:08,360 Speaker 2: Really may and now a few messages from our general sponsors. 285 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 2: But first, I hope you'll consider following an Army in 286 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 2: Normal Folks on all of our social media channels for 287 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 2: more powerful content, which is also great for sharing to 288 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 2: help grow the army. Our handle is at Army of 289 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 2: Normal Folks on all of them, except Twitter, which I 290 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 2: guess is X these days, which is interesting because everybody 291 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,680 Speaker 2: says X formally called Twitter, so we might as well 292 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 2: just call it Twitter whatever. At Army Normal Folks. We'll 293 00:19:42,960 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 2: be right back now. 294 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: Willie Mays was only so dooky chases on Orleans Boulevard, 295 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: which is a four lane that runs through that neighborhood, 296 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: and that neighborhood that's sort of the edge of Tremy 297 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: in it, or I think it's where Tremy and the 298 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: Seventh Ward butt up to each other and so they 299 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,880 Speaker 1: argue about which one it actually is. Whatever it was 300 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 1: before the storm, it was one of the worst neighborhoods 301 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,120 Speaker 1: in the city of New Orleans. I mean it was awful. 302 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: I mean to the point where Willie May was not 303 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: open at night. She lived. It was it was a 304 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: shotgun that the restaurant was in and the restaurant was 305 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,239 Speaker 1: on one side and her house, her living quarters, were 306 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: on the other side. But it was one of those 307 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: places where everybody understood. The reason why everybody could go 308 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: in there and eat was because it was one hundred 309 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: percent off limits for any bs. I mean, she worked 310 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: only in cash. Everybody, you know, who whoever went there 311 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,720 Speaker 1: knew that, you know, and she lived hand in mouth, 312 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: so she had that. She had a coffee can full 313 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: of wadded up bills that she bought her groceries with, 314 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: I mean in the house. But you know, you didn't 315 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:15,200 Speaker 1: rob Willie May. 316 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 2: But you didn't. 317 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: You did not venture off by one block from Orleans 318 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: once the sun went down. 319 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:29,479 Speaker 2: So William May is, as I understand the story, grew 320 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 2: up in Mississippi, went to New Orleans, and I think 321 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 2: opened this place in like the forties or fifties, opened 322 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:42,880 Speaker 2: a bar and was selling scotch, but she was cooking 323 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 2: for her family. People smelled the smell and so she 324 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 2: started selling what she was cooking. Is that about right? 325 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 2: Is that story close? 326 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, The part of the building which is now the 327 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: I guess the back part of the restaurant now was 328 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: just storage when we went in and started working on it. 329 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,160 Speaker 1: That was originally a salon. And so she she came 330 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: to New Orleans and was working as a cosmetologist I 331 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: think she was cutting hair and and doing stuff, and 332 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: grabbed a piece of the building and opened the bar. 333 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 2: And cosmetology during the day and bartender at. 334 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: Night and yep, and started doing that and then her 335 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: food caught on and and ultimately the salon left and 336 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: at some point the Scotch House took up the whole building. 337 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: But by the time I started going and eating there, 338 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: it was literally just the front, little bitty room and 339 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: then the kitchen immediately adjacent to it at the back 340 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: of it was just that's always just a mess. 341 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's that's what it was. And it was candidly, 342 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 2: this little little African American woman who was old but 343 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 2: don't think she was not strong, cook and chicken, and 344 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,119 Speaker 2: people from all walks of life going there because it 345 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,439 Speaker 2: was the best chicken in the world. And I assume 346 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,440 Speaker 2: her fish was probably just as good and making a 347 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 2: life and that's part of you know, your life and 348 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,239 Speaker 2: where you came from. And Katrina hits and that is 349 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,360 Speaker 2: the very area that got the worst of the flooding, right, Yeah. 350 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: It was about eight feet of water. I wouldn't say 351 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: the worst when you got out to Lakeview where seventeenth 352 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: Street canal busted and you just you know, you had 353 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: a fire hose of water coming through there, and you 354 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: know they had it, so it took a lot. 355 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 2: How deep was that restaurant under water? 356 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: Eight feet? 357 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:44,360 Speaker 2: Eight feet? Yeah, eight feet And if we go back 358 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 2: to what you said about your first day of stepping 359 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 2: out in the street and the smell, and it's eight 360 00:23:52,320 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 2: feet of that eight feet of deteriorating, rancid, disgusting, stagnant, hot, smelly, floodwak, right, 361 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 2: which gets into sheet rock, and it gets into insulation, 362 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 2: and it gets into studs, and it melts paint off 363 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 2: ceilings where the water didn't even get and it warps furniture, 364 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 2: even on the second story, and it completely destroys electrical wiring, 365 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 2: and it is it's not like when you get a 366 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 2: foot of water in your house for you know, thirty 367 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 2: minutes because of tub upstairs leaks. It's it's standing rancid 368 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 2: stuff that absolutely reaks carnage, and nobody could live there. 369 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 2: And all of the folks from these areas took refuge, 370 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 2: like we said, in places like Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Houston, Shreveport. 371 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: Yet wherever the busses took. 372 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 2: Them, wherever the buses took them, because these are largely 373 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 2: people of very very little means, and their only way 374 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 2: to survive was to get on a bus. And they 375 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 2: bus took them where the bus took them, and then 376 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,360 Speaker 2: they ended up sleeping on cots in churches and Red 377 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 2: Cross stations. That's pretty much it, right, except for Willie May, who, 378 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 2: at eighty nine years old, said, my entire life is 379 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 2: that restaurant. That's my home, my restaurant, my place work. 380 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 2: And she got an airplane, slipped away from her family 381 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 2: and got an airplane by herself and flew back to 382 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 2: New Orleans. 383 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,679 Speaker 1: Yeah, and there may be some question on whether it 384 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: was an airplane or bus. It doesn't matter. She was 385 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: ninety and the restaurant was all she knew, and I 386 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: mean it was her I mean, it was her reason 387 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: for being And so yeah, she slipped away from her family, 388 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: came back to New Orleans. The water had been pumped 389 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,439 Speaker 1: off and receded, you know at this point, you know, 390 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: and so what remained was this shell of a building 391 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: that had been neglected for eighty years that was just 392 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: totally washed out, so you know, and what it did 393 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,959 Speaker 1: was just basically, you know, it gave everything you know, 394 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: inside of her building the ability to just say, oh 395 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: the hell with it, just right. And so it was 396 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: a it was a it was a mess. And the 397 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,199 Speaker 1: reason that I got involved is to go back to 398 00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: May of that year. So Katrina hit on August twenty ninth, 399 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: in the beginning of May of two thousand and five, 400 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: at the James Beard Awards William they had been recognized 401 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: as one of the four America's Classics to be recognized 402 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: that year. They recognized restaurants that that are that are 403 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:04,360 Speaker 1: not you know, fufie, you know, over the top. They're 404 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,679 Speaker 1: they're carrying on a tradition that wouldn't exist if the 405 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: folks populating, you know, that business were not there to 406 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: carry on the tradition. And she she she was awarded 407 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: an America's Classic. And so she comes back to New Orleans, 408 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: I mean we a group of us, had to figure 409 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: out how to get her to New York at almost ninety, 410 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,919 Speaker 1: to get her to up on stage, to get her 411 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: to the awards, up on stage, get her paid for, 412 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: I mean all of it. She I mean she literally 413 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: could not have lived any more hand of mouth than 414 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:40,919 Speaker 1: she did. 415 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,919 Speaker 2: I mean, she her money in a coffee can, yep. 416 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 1: And you know, bought her stuff from the grocery store, 417 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,399 Speaker 1: got into the restaurant, prepared it, you know, saved the money. 418 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: Her great granddaughter got tipped. And that's how she made 419 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: her money, and that's how they lived. And so all 420 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: of a sudden she comes back and there's a little 421 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: bit of recognition. You know, she got doubles, her triples 422 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: in business, all of a sudden, Folks are you know, 423 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: taking interest in this place. And so she was struggling 424 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 1: a little bit with you know, an increase of business. 425 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: She did pretty much all the work in the kitchen 426 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: by herself at eighty nine, and her great granddaughter helped 427 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: out a little bit, but her great granddaughter had to 428 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: basically do all the hustling out in the dining room. 429 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: And so this is all of a sudden at a 430 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: new level they were struggling to figure it out anyway. 431 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: Then the storm hits and everybody picks up, you know, 432 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: and goes off to Houston, and so, yeah, she she 433 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: can't get her head around at all, and so takes off, 434 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: comes back to New Orleans. Is apparently just despondent, sitting 435 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: on the curb. 436 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 2: Living and everything she owns was in that restaurant slash house, yeah, 437 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 2: and was rooted. 438 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: And a New Orleans Police Department officer finds her sitting 439 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: on the stoop and goes up to you know, get 440 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,479 Speaker 1: her identification, find out who she is. Willie May is, 441 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: you know. At this point, is just she's in shock. 442 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: She can't talk, she doesn't have any idea, and the 443 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: officer ends up going through her purse with her, and 444 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: wrapped up in tissue paper in her purse is her Beard. 445 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 2: Award, which is amazing too itself, right in that And. 446 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:45,959 Speaker 1: So the police officer calls the Beard Foundation, the Beard Foundations. Well, 447 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: I mean, we're not charge over, but you could try 448 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: this guy, Lolas Eli, he might be able to help. 449 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: So they get in touch with Lolis and Lolus calls 450 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: me and another friend here in town, John t Edge, 451 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: who runs the Southern Food Waste Alliance and says they've 452 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: found Willie May. And he says, we got to do 453 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: something to help her. And at the time that that 454 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: I got that phone call, I was in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Philadelphia, Misissippi, 455 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: and I had done the casino, had done a fundraiser. 456 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: I was getting phone calls to go everywhere to work 457 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: fundraisers to raise you know, five thousand, seven, ten thousand 458 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: dollars here and there. Money that wasn't accomplishing anything. But 459 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: until I could find out what my job was going 460 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: to be, I said yes to everything. And I get 461 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: this call in Philadelphia, and you know, we said, look, 462 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: this is something we can get our arms around. I 463 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: know that restaurant, I know what's there. This is something 464 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: that we could take on and you know, put up 465 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: some new sheet rock where sheet could come down, just 466 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: get her, you know right, you know, polish off the equipment, 467 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: and then off. 468 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 2: We got five weeks off. 469 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: Yeah again. The second worst miss calculation of my entire life. 470 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 2: The first miscalculation was going to an all male college 471 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 2: in Virginia in the middle of nowhere and thinking how 472 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 2: could it get distracted there? But ended up there were 473 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 2: about five all girl colleges nearby. We'll be right back. 474 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: So we got in and we partnered with some folks 475 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,959 Speaker 1: that were part of a preservation group out of the 476 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: northeast that had said they wanted to sink their teeth 477 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: into into something, and so they brought down all these 478 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: ivy lead educated fellas to you know, sort of take 479 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: a look at the building and and help us, you know, 480 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: figure out the best way that we could surgically remove 481 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: the weather board on the outside of the building up 482 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 1: to six feet. 483 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 2: For God's sake, isn't it funny how smart people could 484 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 2: be so stupid? 485 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was, you know, it was all dry rod, 486 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: and so it started splintering immediately, and you know there 487 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: was just there was going to be no salveging in it. 488 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 2: And so what termites thinkites would be a thing? Uh? 489 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: You know termites, you know, you know urmites work. You know, 490 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: you've got to have regular moisture and water, right, right, 491 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: you know, you've got to have a post that's that's 492 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: sitting on concrete that's sunk and gotten into wet dirt. 493 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 2: Right so they can crawl up in a nest, right, 494 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 2: I respectild like that was eating up with. 495 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: This, Uh, this is a building that there was a 496 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: lot of dry rot. But I mean it was it 497 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: was some wood that had that had dry cured and hardened, 498 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, to petrified. Wow, it was it was yeah, 499 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: I mean the there we was still magnificent issues the 500 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 1: back half of the building. Once we we sort of 501 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: dug into it, determined that there were about eight layers 502 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: of shingles that had been laid on top of shingles, 503 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: so shingle on shingle on shingle. The roof was setting. 504 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 1: From a construction standpoint, I don't think in the back 505 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,479 Speaker 1: half of the building that there was a single there 506 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: was anything bigger than a two by four framing up 507 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: the roof, right, so that should be two by eights, right, 508 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: And what's worse is there wasn't two by four that 509 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: spanned all the way from the apex to an outside wall. 510 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: Everyone scabbed everything was scabbed together, and so all of 511 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: a sudden we realized that, you know, we've got you know, 512 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: two tons of shingles that the hand of God is keeping. 513 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,320 Speaker 2: In probably six tenpenny nails. 514 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 1: Right, and removing that was was really dangerous. Anyway, the uh, 515 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 1: you know, the point was we got into this thing. 516 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,319 Speaker 1: We thought, five weeks, we can get the sheet rock 517 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,839 Speaker 1: cleared out, get it cleaned up, hang new sheet rock, 518 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: paint it, get it ready to go, get the stuff 519 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: plugged back in, and off we go. 520 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 2: And she can be cooking chicken, making her living again, 521 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:35,320 Speaker 2: and in an area of the city that desperately needed 522 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 2: one thing to look fixed again. This is the flag 523 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 2: I was talking about. I mean, this is an area 524 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 2: of the city that there was a lot of neglect. 525 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 2: It's not like the federal government swooped in and helped 526 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 2: out all that much. 527 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:54,080 Speaker 1: No, no, I did. I mean I had two calls 528 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 1: from the White House where they wanted to come take 529 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,319 Speaker 1: pictures there over the course of the project and take 530 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: credit for it. And I may or may not have 531 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: ended up on a on a watch list because of 532 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 1: some language I used. 533 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,440 Speaker 2: The city desperately needed things to open that reminded them 534 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 2: of New Orleans and their culture, and this was one 535 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 2: of them. And so in and out in five weeks 536 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,600 Speaker 2: you got the people from the northeast going to help out, 537 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,839 Speaker 2: and no problem, right, and it ended up. 538 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:35,040 Speaker 1: Being well, it ended up being the sixteen eighteen month project. Instead, 539 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: the folks from the Preservation Society threw up their hands 540 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 1: after week four and said, this is beyond the scope 541 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:43,040 Speaker 1: of our ability. 542 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 2: You mean the Northeast smart people. Yeah right, and I 543 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,799 Speaker 2: think we just lost that. The show just lost all 544 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,280 Speaker 2: of the New England listeners. 545 00:35:53,920 --> 00:36:00,279 Speaker 1: Harbor no ill feelings. Yeah, so the same group of 546 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,880 Speaker 1: us ended up back on the phone once we realized okay, 547 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: we've gone through five weeks now, and folks came from 548 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,920 Speaker 1: all over the world. So the Southern Food Ways Alliance 549 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:16,839 Speaker 1: helped set up, you know, a network to encourage volunteers 550 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: who wanted to come to New Orleans and help out 551 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 1: to do something, to come work with us. 552 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 2: Kind of like you were, I want to do something, 553 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,440 Speaker 2: but how And this gave the answer to the how 554 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,960 Speaker 2: to well intentioned people that wanted to volunteer, And so 555 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:34,480 Speaker 2: you had a small army of people show up as 556 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 2: a result of them plugging those people in. 557 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, so, you know, five weeks past. It turns out 558 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: it took every bit of those five weeks to get 559 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 1: the place cleaned out. I think in the first five 560 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:51,480 Speaker 1: weeks we ended up getting the roof off of the 561 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: back part of the building, reframing the roof with proper 562 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,919 Speaker 1: timber and reroofing it. So we got it in the dry. 563 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: But the rest of the building, this is twenty five 564 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 1: hundred square feet, was completely gutted to studs. There was 565 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 1: and by the way, there was no insulation. You know, 566 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: it was wiring from the thirties, forties, fifties. I mean 567 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,319 Speaker 1: there were still a couple of circuits that were being 568 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: carried on insulators. The plumbing, yeah, I mean, and there 569 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 1: was you know, there were lead pipes, there was cast iron, 570 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: you know, there's there was no ac I mean, so. 571 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 2: We put something just You've got a business to run, 572 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 2: so how how are you working that? Well? 573 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: This the first five weeks, it just went down on 574 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: the weekend, so you know, I can work during the 575 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: week and then go down and do my thing. You know, 576 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 1: when we ended up with follow the follow up phone 577 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,799 Speaker 1: call with myself and Lolis and John t. Edge and 578 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: maybe one or two other PEOP people in there at 579 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: this point, and everybody is scratching their heads, going, what 580 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,279 Speaker 1: the hell are we going to do now? And I 581 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:11,879 Speaker 1: just out of the blue, I just said I got it. 582 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,279 Speaker 1: I mean, if you guys will continue to help, you know, 583 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 1: arrange volunteers, I'll I'll take this thing on. That's I'm 584 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: just that dangerous that I know, you know that much 585 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: about construction. And I've got I've got tools and generators 586 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,920 Speaker 1: and you know, and I've got a couple of friends 587 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 1: here and there that'll help out. But you know, this 588 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: isn't a huge job. This is the kind of thing 589 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,879 Speaker 1: that we can do and we'll get some support out 590 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:47,840 Speaker 1: of like people will be interested in this story. And folks, well, 591 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,360 Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, there was a massive fascination 592 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,399 Speaker 1: with southern food. You know, you had people who were 593 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:59,359 Speaker 1: just pouring their hearts out about the significance of New 594 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: Orleans at that point and wanted to be a part 595 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 1: of it. They were looking for feel good stories. You know, 596 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 1: everybody was lobbing grenades at the federal government. And you know, 597 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: and let me be very clear. You know, when a 598 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: lot of people feel like they know, you know, what 599 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: my politics are and how I feel, and you know, 600 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 1: there was no playbook for how to deal with that. 601 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,800 Speaker 1: And you know, I think we had, you know, president 602 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:31,040 Speaker 1: who had some magnificently wrong people and wrong positions at 603 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:34,719 Speaker 1: the time when all this happened, and so you know, 604 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,200 Speaker 1: could the response have been better, sure, but who the 605 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:42,200 Speaker 1: hell was thinking at that time. Okay, well, let's just 606 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:46,719 Speaker 1: say New Orleans floods and the entire city right, like, 607 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:54,120 Speaker 1: what do we do? So, you know, it was easy 608 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,480 Speaker 1: for us to look like these knights and shining armor 609 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 1: going into, you know, a blight neighborhood taking on a 610 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,280 Speaker 1: restaurant that very few people knew about. But the story 611 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,200 Speaker 1: was that if we didn't do it, there was no insurance, 612 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: there was no savings, that this was a fifty year 613 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 1: old fried chicken restaurant that would cease to exist in 614 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:20,239 Speaker 1: that moment. I mean, if we had not stepped in, 615 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: you know, I believe fully that you know, that building 616 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: would be a pile of rubble on that corner right now. 617 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 2: Which, by the way, today there are still shells of 618 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:38,800 Speaker 2: buildings littering the New Orleans landscape from Katrina that nothing's 619 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,360 Speaker 2: happened with now. So when you say a pile of rubble, 620 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,720 Speaker 2: don't think that all this revitalization and all these areas 621 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 2: going around and this thing would have been cleared and 622 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 2: a Starbucks sitting on the corner, It literally would probably 623 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,920 Speaker 2: just be a collapsed pile of rubble, like so many 624 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 2: structures all this time later, still really are right. 625 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:03,279 Speaker 1: Yet now it is a building that six days a 626 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,600 Speaker 1: week has a line outside two hours long waiting to 627 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:10,879 Speaker 1: get in. I mean like that, it's unbelievable. I mean, 628 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:12,560 Speaker 1: it is a you know it. 629 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,440 Speaker 2: It was nothing like that when when I went through it. 630 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:20,920 Speaker 1: No, and and so, you know, I think the combination 631 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:25,719 Speaker 1: of the press that it got, the association that was 632 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 1: made between the Southern Food Ways Alliance and Willie Mays, 633 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,879 Speaker 1: you know, and the fact then that once they reopened, 634 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:37,839 Speaker 1: you know, every food show and every food writer wanted 635 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,520 Speaker 1: to come through there and shoot footage and you know, 636 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: and write about it being the best fried chicken in 637 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,120 Speaker 1: the country. And you know, YadA YadA YadA that there 638 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:50,719 Speaker 1: was the response to it was was explosive. And you know, 639 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,279 Speaker 1: here we are twenty years later and Carrie Seaton is 640 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:58,120 Speaker 1: still sitting on that corner, uh, you know, making fried chicken, 641 00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:03,040 Speaker 1: you know, every day and we say this all the time. 642 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 2: You know. 643 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:08,319 Speaker 1: The thing that's really inspiring about it from a generational standpoint, 644 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 1: that restaurant is better today than it was on the 645 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: best day that her great grandmother cooked in it. 646 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 2: We'll be right back. Willie May was there the entire 647 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,400 Speaker 2: sixteen months from the day she showed up in Houston, 648 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,560 Speaker 2: sitting on the corner to when you showed up in 649 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:52,600 Speaker 2: her life and all the volunteers. But sadly, once it 650 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 2: finally opened up at ninety two, I think ninety one 651 00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:57,879 Speaker 2: years old. 652 00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,640 Speaker 1: Ninety two years now, she'd have been ninety one. 653 00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:04,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, at ninety one years old, she was just physically 654 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:07,719 Speaker 2: unable to stand over the stove and cook all day, 655 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,640 Speaker 2: and mentally it took a toll on her and she 656 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 2: was never able really to to work in and run 657 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:21,839 Speaker 2: her restaurant again. But her great granddaughter stepped up. 658 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a that that part of the of 659 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:31,400 Speaker 1: the process was going away, the most challenging part. 660 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:31,719 Speaker 2: You know. 661 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:35,200 Speaker 1: I at the for the for the better part of 662 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: a year, I was going down to New Orleans, you know, twice, 663 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,360 Speaker 1: I mean three times every two weeks. Basically, I'd go 664 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,799 Speaker 1: down for three days, come home for a couple of days, 665 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,239 Speaker 1: three days, come home for a couple of days, four days, 666 00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:50,680 Speaker 1: you know, and work and come home for a couple yard. 667 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 2: I mean, running a business going back and forth, that's 668 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,480 Speaker 2: that's a that's a lot for a fourteen month stint. 669 00:43:58,560 --> 00:43:59,040 Speaker 2: It was. 670 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:02,520 Speaker 1: But I was forty and you know, I still had 671 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:03,840 Speaker 1: a lot of energy when I was forty. 672 00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,799 Speaker 2: I remember those days too, But uh. 673 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:15,920 Speaker 1: So I spent a lot of time in there by myself. 674 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,560 Speaker 1: Willie May, Willie May would her son drove a taxi 675 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: wan bring her over and unload her and put her 676 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,360 Speaker 1: in a chair, and she'd sit in the corner with 677 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,280 Speaker 1: the newspaper and just talked to me whatever I was doing. 678 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:33,000 Speaker 1: And you know, and as we moved through this project, 679 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: in the project was was was getting written about, and 680 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,400 Speaker 1: there was interest in it. You know, all of a sudden, 681 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: family members started showing up that never had any interest 682 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: in the restaurant before. And in their minds, you know, 683 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,080 Speaker 1: this is something that is all of a sudden. You know, 684 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:55,400 Speaker 1: they've got some sort of you know, generational equity in it, 685 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:58,920 Speaker 1: and you know this is gonna inorder their benefits somehow. 686 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,880 Speaker 2: And which is not what you bought in for now. 687 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:08,640 Speaker 1: Right, And as you know, as time went along, they 688 00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:13,080 Speaker 1: were manipulating Willie May. Willie May was getting very confused. 689 00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 1: She was, you know, I watched a woman who went 690 00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:21,200 Speaker 1: from a you know, a seventy year old, ninety year old, 691 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,239 Speaker 1: you know, into a full one hundred year old, ninety 692 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,680 Speaker 1: year old, just by virtue of the fact that she 693 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,040 Speaker 1: was taken out of her regular routine that she had 694 00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:32,720 Speaker 1: been in for fifty years. 695 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,560 Speaker 2: And she may not have died in the flood, but 696 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:36,400 Speaker 2: the flood killed her. 697 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:40,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, and she survived for you know, 698 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,280 Speaker 1: a couple of years, a couple of five, six years 699 00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:52,239 Speaker 1: after the storm, I mean, after we got her reopened, 700 00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:56,800 Speaker 1: and I mean, I don't know how much she was there, 701 00:45:57,080 --> 00:46:00,759 Speaker 1: but the infighting that went on, you know, led me 702 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,360 Speaker 1: to a place where there were moments when I was 703 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,920 Speaker 1: in there, and I mean I was on my knees 704 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:14,720 Speaker 1: praying because I didn't know what these hundreds and hundreds 705 00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:17,640 Speaker 1: of hours we're going to ultimately lead to. If we 706 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,239 Speaker 1: were going to, like there was a possibility in my mind, 707 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,319 Speaker 1: we could hand the keys over these folks and they 708 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:26,480 Speaker 1: go thanks, And next thing we know, they're nailing a 709 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,880 Speaker 1: for sale sign to the side of the building and 710 00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:32,719 Speaker 1: then they're just going to split up whatever it is 711 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:34,359 Speaker 1: that they can can make off of it. 712 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,880 Speaker 2: As you know, as a Catholic, no good deed goes unpunished. 713 00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:40,759 Speaker 1: Of course, and you know, and that was, you know, 714 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:42,200 Speaker 1: and that was one of those things where I really 715 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:46,840 Speaker 1: had to meditate on you know that you just you 716 00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,719 Speaker 1: can't qualify your philanthropy. I mean, you do the right 717 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,480 Speaker 1: thing for the right reason, and no matter what the 718 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:57,719 Speaker 1: outcome is or what the consequence is, you're just doing. 719 00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:01,360 Speaker 2: Did you question your efforts at some points? Of course, 720 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:03,520 Speaker 2: there's a lot of money involved, he too. I mean 721 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:05,520 Speaker 2: you had to have spent a fair amount of money 722 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:08,000 Speaker 2: doing those raised a fair amount of money. 723 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:10,360 Speaker 1: We we did, and you know, and and yeah, I 724 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:13,759 Speaker 1: mean I never I never until you just said it, like, 725 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,839 Speaker 1: I never really thought about, you know, what I spent 726 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:19,319 Speaker 1: out of my pocket. I just didn't care, you know. 727 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:22,000 Speaker 1: But there's a lot of trips up and down the highway, 728 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:23,759 Speaker 1: you know, to the tune of about one hundred and 729 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: fifty bucks a trip, you know, on gas in a 730 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:28,120 Speaker 1: you know, in a suburban. 731 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,000 Speaker 2: And pepless nights away from your business. 732 00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:35,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, those just weren't the things that 733 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,640 Speaker 1: I thought about that, you know. The the nice thing 734 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:40,319 Speaker 1: is that you know, the end of the story is 735 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:42,200 Speaker 1: that you know, in spite of the fact that you 736 00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:46,480 Speaker 1: know that Willie may ultimately passes, you know, sort of 737 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:51,040 Speaker 1: right before hundredth birthday, you know that she never did 738 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,319 Speaker 1: work another day you know, in the restaurant, you know, 739 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:59,799 Speaker 1: but it remains in the hands of the family and. 740 00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,839 Speaker 2: The great granddaughter who actually hustled for tips originally, which 741 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,120 Speaker 2: is rightfully where it should have been done. It sounds like, yeah, 742 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,320 Speaker 2: and the recipe on the chicken hadn't changed. 743 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:16,040 Speaker 1: No. Now it's still spectacular, and you know, and as 744 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:19,880 Speaker 1: I said, you know, they've expanded the menu slightly, but 745 00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:23,960 Speaker 1: not you know, gone beyond you know, what they're capable 746 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:24,600 Speaker 1: of serving. 747 00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:25,560 Speaker 2: You know. 748 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,799 Speaker 1: One of the things that I that I always loved 749 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:29,920 Speaker 1: was it Willie May You know when I said you 750 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:31,600 Speaker 1: would get your plate of food with two pieces of 751 00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:34,200 Speaker 1: white bread. You know, she would go through these sunbeam 752 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:38,920 Speaker 1: or bunny loaves of bread and uh, and she'd serve 753 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:40,960 Speaker 1: all the bread out of them. And she would keep 754 00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:43,480 Speaker 1: one bag that she'd just throw the heels in. And 755 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,399 Speaker 1: she would throw the heels from the loaves in the 756 00:48:45,719 --> 00:48:48,000 Speaker 1: in the bread bag, throw them in the freezer, and 757 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,400 Speaker 1: hang on to the heels until she had enough heels 758 00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:55,400 Speaker 1: to make a pan of bread pudding. No way, and 759 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:58,520 Speaker 1: so and it was it was total Russian roulette when 760 00:48:58,520 --> 00:48:59,960 Speaker 1: you went in there, whether she was going to have 761 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:02,080 Speaker 1: of bread pudding or not. She had bread putting a 762 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:05,440 Speaker 1: butt once every you know, or two days out of 763 00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:06,600 Speaker 1: every two weeks or. 764 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,640 Speaker 2: Something because she had to get enough eels to make it. 765 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,719 Speaker 1: Right and never saw you know that. Well, maybe if 766 00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:15,960 Speaker 1: I just like left some bread out overnight and let 767 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:18,040 Speaker 1: it dry out, you know, I could sell bread pudding 768 00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:24,000 Speaker 1: on the rag and uh so, but Carrie now keeps 769 00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:29,840 Speaker 1: bread putting on the menu. Here's a great grandaughterre you operator, Yeah, 770 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:34,680 Speaker 1: she and she is married and they I think I 771 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,200 Speaker 1: read recently they're they're looking at opening a second location 772 00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:42,040 Speaker 1: in the in the French Quarter or or somewhere. So, 773 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:44,920 Speaker 1: you know, I hope for her sake, you know, that 774 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:47,080 Speaker 1: she can do that, that her you know, her work 775 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: continues to pay off because she she could have walked 776 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:54,640 Speaker 1: away from the same thing and it just wouldn't be there. 777 00:49:55,480 --> 00:50:00,319 Speaker 2: So in that that first few days of that five 778 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,800 Speaker 2: week process where it was going to be five weeks, 779 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:08,640 Speaker 2: I remember reading that there was and I think you 780 00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:11,600 Speaker 2: said it, you know, it took all that time just 781 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,160 Speaker 2: to get everything out. But I think I remember reading 782 00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:18,080 Speaker 2: that there was a debris field that was the inside 783 00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:21,239 Speaker 2: and outside and what was this place that was like 784 00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:25,120 Speaker 2: ten feet wide by eight foot tall by you know, 785 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:29,080 Speaker 2: fifty or sixty feet long. Just how many people did 786 00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:31,480 Speaker 2: you have there, because that's a bunch of crap to 787 00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:34,640 Speaker 2: be carrying out of a building and putting on a curve. 788 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:43,320 Speaker 1: Well, the story of the the people who volunteered, folks 789 00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:47,040 Speaker 1: who came once, folks who came multiple times, Folks who 790 00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:51,040 Speaker 1: came from as far away as Europe and South America? 791 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:52,879 Speaker 2: Are you kidding? To help you? 792 00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:56,480 Speaker 1: It was? It was, it was, and this was really 793 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,399 Speaker 1: this was not me. This was the SFA, the Southern 794 00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:00,000 Speaker 1: food Ways alone. 795 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,480 Speaker 2: But they were right, yeah. 796 00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:07,000 Speaker 1: And you know, I think that most of them were 797 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,560 Speaker 1: connected to the s f A. You know, there there 798 00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:12,080 Speaker 1: were probably some who just wanted to come and be 799 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:14,680 Speaker 1: part of something and ended up falling in our laps. 800 00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:21,640 Speaker 1: But those first five weeks, we took a picture every 801 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:24,320 Speaker 1: weekend with the volunteers on the side of the building, 802 00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:28,520 Speaker 1: and we have a vinyl banner with sort of the 803 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:34,000 Speaker 1: project name on it, and everybody autographed it. And it 804 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:38,080 Speaker 1: was hundreds and hundreds of people that came in those 805 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:39,080 Speaker 1: first five weeks. 806 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,239 Speaker 2: And not just from New Orleans, literally from all over 807 00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:41,960 Speaker 2: the world. 808 00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:47,160 Speaker 1: All over the world. And you know that the whole process. 809 00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:50,440 Speaker 1: I made so many amazing friends. There's still a half 810 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:54,040 Speaker 1: dozen folks that you know, I rubbed up against on 811 00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:56,919 Speaker 1: that project that check in with me from time to time. 812 00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,640 Speaker 1: They send me pictures from you know, when they run 813 00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:02,080 Speaker 1: into a big bad breakfast and Charleston. They you know, 814 00:52:02,239 --> 00:52:04,719 Speaker 1: just want to know how I'm doing and what's going on. 815 00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:11,520 Speaker 1: You know, I met my wife and uh we I 816 00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:14,440 Speaker 1: met a woman who would become my wife, and we 817 00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:21,359 Speaker 1: courted through all of this. And you know, there were 818 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:27,279 Speaker 1: two people that came along as part of that project 819 00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:31,040 Speaker 1: that locked arms with me and spent time with me 820 00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:34,839 Speaker 1: and helped me and became close enough friends that two 821 00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:39,239 Speaker 1: of those guys stood in in our wedding together. I 822 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:43,320 Speaker 1: mean stood, they stood with us and uh in our wedding. 823 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:49,880 Speaker 1: That's how profoundly moving, you know, this was that, you know, 824 00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:55,360 Speaker 1: the the relationships that were that were built and or 825 00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:58,239 Speaker 1: forged as a you know, as a result of the 826 00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:02,280 Speaker 1: time that we spent together, and you know, and how 827 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:04,080 Speaker 1: emotional it was. 828 00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:05,080 Speaker 2: I mean, it was. 829 00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:10,520 Speaker 1: The roller coaster of emotions that went on constantly, you know, 830 00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:22,400 Speaker 1: while they're you know, both you know, being fear, joy sadness, love, ache. Yeah, exhaustion. 831 00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:26,360 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's it's truly something that you know, 832 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:31,600 Speaker 1: I can't I can't imagine. Uh, and I know that 833 00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:34,680 Speaker 1: it doesn't come close to, you know, to any sort 834 00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:40,560 Speaker 1: of true uh you know, battlefield reality. 835 00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:43,359 Speaker 2: But there have to be. 836 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:48,279 Speaker 1: There was definitely some similarities, and it definitely took an 837 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:51,920 Speaker 1: army of folks, you know, just out of nowhere. But 838 00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:54,919 Speaker 1: there's a pile of those that are you know, they're 839 00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:55,840 Speaker 1: friends for life. 840 00:53:56,360 --> 00:54:03,279 Speaker 2: It's an amazing story. So you taking the time to 841 00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:11,279 Speaker 2: understand that save your involvement. Willie May's legacy ends at Katrina. 842 00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:17,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, more than more than likely. Uh, it's just it's 843 00:54:17,560 --> 00:54:23,840 Speaker 1: one hundred percent at a at a dead end and also, uh, 844 00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:27,120 Speaker 1: you know, open the door to uh, you know, some 845 00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:30,880 Speaker 1: really great exposure. You know, the the volume of business 846 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:33,480 Speaker 1: they do now is just it's. 847 00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, you can do more than a living. Yeah. But 848 00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:42,120 Speaker 2: the point is, John, nobody anointed you. You're not a politician. 849 00:54:42,239 --> 00:54:46,480 Speaker 2: You're not You're not somebody that that that tabs you 850 00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,480 Speaker 2: the guy to go fix stuff. You're a normal guy 851 00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:54,440 Speaker 2: going through life, building your business, building your brand, working hard, 852 00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:58,640 Speaker 2: and you see a need in your home in the 853 00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:00,960 Speaker 2: face of a catastrophe and you filled it and in 854 00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:08,600 Speaker 2: doing so, you saved a family's legacy and really, honestly 855 00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:12,960 Speaker 2: a piece of New Orleans legacy. And I don't care 856 00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:16,920 Speaker 2: how many Big Bad Breakfasts you build in your career, 857 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:22,400 Speaker 2: nothing can replace that. And I think it's a fabulous story, 858 00:55:22,560 --> 00:55:28,759 Speaker 2: an amazing story, and you are almost overly humble about it. 859 00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:33,959 Speaker 2: But you know, well, with the risk of sounding condescending, 860 00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:35,080 Speaker 2: you should be proud. 861 00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:37,839 Speaker 1: Well, well, thank you. It's very kind of you to say, 862 00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:40,560 Speaker 1: but I won't lie to you. One of the one 863 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:45,960 Speaker 1: of the one of my favorite moments from it all 864 00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:48,360 Speaker 1: only came about two years ago when we had a 865 00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:52,040 Speaker 1: hurricane bearing down on New Orleans and uh and I 866 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:53,560 Speaker 1: was talking to John Ty and I said, the sin 867 00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:55,600 Speaker 1: can't hit New Orleans. I don't have another Fried Chicken 868 00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:58,719 Speaker 1: rest It's sixty years old. 869 00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:04,919 Speaker 2: Hey, listen. One of the things we do is we 870 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:10,600 Speaker 2: share contact information. If someone here's your story and is 871 00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:15,880 Speaker 2: inspired to help somebody else out that's in need, is 872 00:56:15,920 --> 00:56:19,120 Speaker 2: there an email address through your restaurant business that people 873 00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:20,960 Speaker 2: could reach out to you. I'm easy. 874 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:24,080 Speaker 1: I'm John at Big Bad Breakfast dot com. 875 00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:27,640 Speaker 2: John at Big Bad Breakfast dot com and you're in 876 00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:30,920 Speaker 2: seventeen cities now right, a big bad breakfast. 877 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:32,439 Speaker 1: Well, we have seventeen locations. 878 00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:36,439 Speaker 2: Seventeen locations. Yeah, and if you have a big bad 879 00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,759 Speaker 2: breakfast in your town, this is a shameless plug. But 880 00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:41,839 Speaker 2: if you have a big bad breakfast in your town 881 00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:45,640 Speaker 2: and you hadn't been, check it out. It's an Oxford 882 00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:51,000 Speaker 2: staple and it is really good breakfast stuff. So and 883 00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:53,279 Speaker 2: if you're ever in Oxford on the Square, check out 884 00:56:53,360 --> 00:56:57,799 Speaker 2: City Grocery or Boo Rah. John's food will be on 885 00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:02,480 Speaker 2: display there. It's been wonderful visiting with you, John. I 886 00:57:02,480 --> 00:57:03,279 Speaker 2: appreciate your time. 887 00:57:03,320 --> 00:57:04,520 Speaker 1: Thanks man, it's been great. 888 00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:14,120 Speaker 2: This is a ball and thank you for joining us 889 00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:17,800 Speaker 2: this week. If John or another guest has inspired you 890 00:57:17,880 --> 00:57:21,400 Speaker 2: in general, or better yet, to take action, please let 891 00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:23,680 Speaker 2: me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can 892 00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:28,040 Speaker 2: write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks dot us and 893 00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:32,040 Speaker 2: I'll respond. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it 894 00:57:32,080 --> 00:57:36,080 Speaker 2: with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate 895 00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:40,640 Speaker 2: and review it, Become a premium member at normalfolks dot us. 896 00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:44,280 Speaker 2: All these things that will help grow an army of 897 00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:48,080 Speaker 2: normal folks for our premium members we'll have bonus content 898 00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:51,200 Speaker 2: from this episode, and it's John and I talking about 899 00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:54,680 Speaker 2: restaurants in New Orleans and Oxford and his early career 900 00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:57,280 Speaker 2: as a restaurant owner. If you don't want to miss it, 901 00:57:57,640 --> 00:58:02,240 Speaker 2: become a Premium member today Astley thanks to our sponsor 902 00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:07,000 Speaker 2: iron Light Labs. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.