{"id":2462,"date":"2019-09-12T16:49:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T16:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lowlifejournalism.com\/?p=2462"},"modified":"2026-05-12T19:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T19:47:36","slug":"jim-smith-on-shootin-pool-talking-to-strangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/?p=2462","title":{"rendered":"Jim Smith on shootin&#8217; pool &#038; talking to strangers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10155568_10203285996062335_8527401685472749259_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10155568_10203285996062335_8527401685472749259_n.jpg 720w, https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10155568_10203285996062335_8527401685472749259_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10155568_10203285996062335_8527401685472749259_n-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption><em>[Photo of JS, left, &amp; Josh Stone by Louis Maistros]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In &#8217;89 Caf\u00e9 Brasil was a coffee shop. I had just moved here. Me and three other people bought a top-of-the-line Mac and started a graphic design business. Those were my <em>OffBeat <\/em>cover days&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;d go to Caf\u00e9 Brasil once in awhile and pretty much just sit quietly and watch the locals. Sitting outside, sipping coffee, gazing at the American Billiards sign across the street&#8230; It was my favorite abandoned building on Frenchmen, at one time it glorified my favorite game, bill-ee-yards&#8230; Later on it became the Praline Connection. I hated to see that sign go. I held a grudge for a long time against that restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, I started going down there by myself, sipping coffee, not saying much, keeping my mouth shut, wishing I could join in, that I could converse a bit, but I&#8217;m feeling like I did when I was the new kid back in my school days. I moved around a lot. An introvert wishing to be an extrovert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After about six months in New Orleans, I made my first running-around, pool-shooting friend. His name was Fritz, and he&#8217;d been in town for two weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re hanging out one night, and we walk down to Caf\u00e9 Brasil. Amazingly enough, <em>he knows everybody.<\/em> There&#8217;s hugs, handshakes, smiles&#8230; I stand there astonished. He&#8217;d been here two weeks, and I&#8217;d been around for months, and I didn&#8217;t know anybody&#8230; I&#8217;m standing there wondering what&#8217;s his secret. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m pondering this to myself, then after awhile it hit me: He said hi to people. And lo and behold, they said hi back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;d never lived in a place where strangers said hi back. That was a huge eye-opener for me. I learned a lot that night, learned to let my guard down a bit&#8230; and fell in love with New Orleans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*Story written by Jim Smith, not an interview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>[Stay tuned for full-length interview!]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In &#8217;89 Caf\u00e9 Brasil was a coffee shop. I had just moved here. Me and three other people bought a top-of-the-line Mac and started a graphic design business. Those were my OffBeat cover days&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,4,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-interviews","category-interviews","category-quick-reads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3456,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462\/revisions\/3456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchmennotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}