April 2021
[Meredith worked at Apple Barrel, where Coco Robicheaux was a fixture, from ‘98 to ‘01 or 02]
ML: Alright, I asked Coco Robicheaux to marry me and my husband Johnny years ago. I wish I could remember what year—I’ll have to check the marriage certificate—but it was April Fools’ Day, and it was by the Tree of Life and Death outside the Fly, and he was there on time, and we were late, and he totally thought it was an April Fools’ joke.
But we showed up, and a whole bunch of other people from the bar showed up, and he married us. We had two people tripping in a tree above us that we did not know. It was hysterical.
[Meredith (R) & Laura, 2020ish]
LD: You didn’t know them, or you didn’t know they were tripping?
ML: We didn’t know them and we didn’t know they were tripping. Until we kinda asked, and then they said something, and we were like, “Oh well… yall can just stay up there during the ceremony.” [Laughter]
So I gave Coco an amulet from Africa, which a friend of mine had given me. I’d had it for twenty years and it was always good luck for me. I gave him that and fifty dollars for doing the wedding, and we go through the ceremony… And afterwards he goes home and finds his house on fire.
I’m thinking to myself, “Oh, this is a bad amulet. Oh my god.”
LD: You said earlier the amulet was bad luck… for men?
ML: I think it was, for men. Yes. My friend from California had given it to me, and he got in a serious auto accident with it. He said, “But this will be good luck for you.” But twenty years later, I don’t remember that story! Until Coco tells me what happened.
And then I asked him later that day, or maybe the next day, “Did you mail off that wedding certificate?”
And he’s like, “Yeah, on my way home.”
And I’m like, “Goddammit, noooooo.” [Laughter]
But he was wonderful. [Coco, not the husband.] He drank Jose Cuervo Gold. He was a great, great person. He always had so much fun at the bar. I loved Coco.
