Welcome to the Spring 2008 issue of Kole Notes

Yes, It’s been a very busy past few months here in New Orleans and also in my career…January brought us the Sugar Bowl Football Classic, of which I’m a past president and chairman, and the BCS Championship Collegiate Football Game – New Orleans followed that with Mardi Gras and the NBA All Star Basketball Game…Add to that, many great conventions, thus showing countless millions of people viewing these events on TV and the many millions of visitors to our city because of the events and conventions that we are back in business, and bigger and better than ever…Y’all come…   In between these events I was busy performing on the RiverBarge Explorer on the Texas Coast between Galveston and Port Isabel, TX, which is on the Mexican Border…I followed that by going to Washington, DC and producing and performing music for the Krewe of Louisianans Mardi Gras Ball which is held in the Washington Hilton Hotel’s Grand Ballroom…3000 people each of the three night of the event which I’ve been involved with since 1972……It is the most exciting and hardest event to get invited to in the DC area…   In March we were in the Cincinnati area to once again perform with the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra…Last year’s concert was fantastic…Wonderful conductor and a great group of musicians from the area…We were fortunate enough to record the concert which is available on CD and DVD…The concert was scheduled for March 8^th, and after a fine rehearsal on March 6^th, some white stuff started to fall from the sky…16 inches later meant no concert, so it’s been moved to May 24^th which is Memorial Day Weekend… We look forward to our return concert on May 24^th, so if you are anywhere within driving distance, I’d love to have you see this fine orchestra and exciting concert that we’ll be doing…This city is so Arts conscious that my fee has been underwritten by some dear friends, which means that the tickets are almost a give-a-way…$15.00. If you’re interested in coming to the concert, go to the orchestra website, www.hfso.org or contact me…   Late March we put on our 16^th Annual Jazz on the Bayou fundraiser at Chateau Kole, our home on Bayou Liberty…We raised over $90,000 for Easter Seals Louisiana, St. Tammany Association for Retarded Citizens (STARC) and we also underwrote two bands to perform free concerts in St. Tammany Parish (County), which is were we live…A few days later we boarded the RiverBarge Explorer for my second annual Kole & Company Excursion with many of my musician friends entertaining…It was a fantastic trip, with more music, food and fun than you could imagine…The day after we disembarked from the Explorer was the unveiling of a life size bronze statue of me placed in New Orleans Musical Legends Park at 311 Bourbon Street…The four previous inductees were Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Fats Domino and Chris Owens…Yes it is quite an honor, which I’m still on Cloud 9 about, and I’m alive to enjoy it…, New Orleans Musical Legends Park is directly across the street from the Royal Sonesta Hotel, which has been my home base in New Orleans for the past 18 years…You can see me there doing a very improvised show on the third Thursday of the month, except for the summer months…   We immediately followed the unveiling and press conference by leading the French Quarter Festival Parade down Bourbon Street and to Jackson Square to kick off the 25^th Anniversary of the French Quarter Festival, which I was one of the founders of…The next day I performed with my septet. Gardner had walking pneumonia during most of this, and how she was able to get through all of this is beyond me, and she still has it, but she’s getting better every day, as we are now resting on the RiverBarge Explorer for two weeks – Two show each week…The trip we’re now on is from New Orleans to Memphis, and next week it’s Memphis to St. Louis…These trips are so relaxing and we both are getting caught up with our correspondence… There are too many concerts and performances to mention during this period, and also coming up these next eight months as well as France and Germany in June and early July…After that it’s back on the RiverBarge Explorer doing excursions on the Illinois, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kanawha Rivers…Check my website to find out when I’m performing, as we’d love to have you join us on this very unique and wonderful vessel…a casual dress code and no tipping policy is really unique…   I promised myself that I’d make this short, but there has been so much to tell you like on January 11^th, I was honored to receive the Louis Prima award for Arts and Entertainment, of which I am very proud of, as Louie was a good friend as well as a wonderful musician…and I didn’t even mention that on January 1^st, I became President of the World Trade Center in New Orleans, which is the first WTC in the world…It is a wonderful experience with a great Executive Director and some very fine men and women on the Executive Committee…Last week, as President of the WTC, I was one of eight people to be invited to a private photo session with President Bush…This was quite an honor…   Do keep in touch, and I promise to answer, and hopefully, you’ll be at one of my concerts in the coming months…  

  Gardner and Ronnie Kole