Treme

Oh. My. God.

I know I said I was going to break from all things New Orleans for a spell, but I poured myself a glass of pinot grigio this evening and sat back with Treme.

Oh, David Simon....you have cast a spell on me.

Everything, from the shotgun houses to the greener-than-green palms, the clapboard, the second line (so-called because after funeral processions; after the mourners and hand-wrenchers; there is a long-standing tradition of a "second line" brass band playing joyful celebratory hymns and ditties with the express purpose of "celebrating" the life of the deceased), the Mardi Gras Indian, the X's on the houses, the "Red beans and rice even though it ain't Monday," the mold in the opening credits, and the music-oh the music- sweet bluesy-jazz-zydecho. Spot-on, Simon. Spot-freaking-on.

"How's your house?" people inquire, as casually and common-place as "How's life?" People displaced to Baton Rouge and -gasp- as far as Jefferson Parish (highly inconvenient by taxi to anywhere action might be)...

Oh, David Simon.

Treme is, after only one show, already signed on for a second season. People are committed to this post-Katrina New Orleans thing, and David Simon's Midas touch certainly helps.

Watch it. Find it, watch it, live it.