High notes

NEW ORLEANS — Managed to cross a couple items off my New Orleans To Do List last night.
While the Lower Ninth Ward and Gentilly sections of New Orleans are still trying to rebuild from the post-Katrina devastation, the pulse of the city remains strong thanks to the bustling Bacchanalian heedlessness of the French Quarter, the quiet beauty of the Garden District, the spice of the city’s cuisine and the dulcet tones of its musicians.
You can't walk 10 steps without hearing jazz music in this town, although there's some variance in the quality. Thankfully, I managed to walk into the right establishment Sunday night.
The Blue Nile, a great club frequented mostly by locals, featured local jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins and his wonderfully-named band, the Barbecue Swingers.
They produced a sweaty, rollicking show packed with impressive solos and Creole flavor. Didn't know much about Mr. Ruffins before last night, but I'm now a fan.
A 2001 New York Times article described him as ''an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too astruse in his material.''
Don't know what ''astruse'' means, but I'm in agreement with the rest of it.
The real question now is how to spend the night before the Sugar Bowl.
It'll either mean watching the Chik-fil-A Bowl on TV somewhere packed with drunken New Year's Eve revelers or heading to the House of Blues to hear five-time Grammy winner Buddy Guy.
The HOB is asking $88 a ticket for Guy, which might work out to a dollar for every year he's been alive.