Why Dr. John matters...

 
                                      horse drawn casket on Basin street in N.O. at Dr. John funeral

THAUMATURGY= working of wonders and miracles
 from the Greek thaumatourgos= thauma =marvel
                                                      ergos= working

first of all Dr. John spoke passionately about the need to preserve
animal habitat...which makes him a good fellow in my book.
but music is how the good doctor made his living in the "meat" world
as he called it...he said he had one foot in the "meat' universe and one
foot in the "spiritual" universe. Dr. John was  benevolent not malevolent
although I think he had a bit of the "trickster" and "cosmic giggle" persona
about him...Greg Allman said he had to spend thousands of dollars
to have his keyboards cleaned after Dr. John threw hands full of glitter on them.
Dr. John spoke about his efforts to make it legal to practice voo-doo, magic,
gris-gris and other forms of thaumaturgy in New Orleans. He said it was because
of his efforts that the palm readers are able to work around Jackson square.
In the sfumato of other worldly consciousness which existed in New Orleans
Dr. John felt right at home with "alternative" world views.
I had walked over to Basin street to witness my first funeral. I felt the need
to be at this guys send off for some reason. I positioned myself on the side
 of the street and waited until I saw a slow procession of people moving
towards me. It didn't seem like much to me. Then suddenly I am engulfed
by bass drums and brass horns and people. The event seems
to be more an idea than a physical thing. A joyous noise! Now I know
something about what a funeral is about and what the second line is for.
I told myself I was crying because the horses looked so hot. Hell, we were all hot.
So, I don't know it Dr. John did magic, but he let it happen. And now he probably
has both feet in the spiritual world, but I wouldn't be surprised if he still has
 a toe somewhere in the meat world around the back of St. Louis cemetery
and giggling about it.

I have a pretty good video of this event which I will post as
soon as I can figure out how to do it.