Down by the levee, there is a fenced compound that from the outside looks a little like an amusement-park-quality re-creation of a fort, ringed with tall, slightly flimsy-looking wooden stakes. This is Music Box Village, a collection of climbable structures where you can play music on instruments made of repurposed pots, pans, trashcans, planks, car parts, PVC pipe, anything that makes a good sound. Essentially it’s a playground for musicians, and lucky me, I was there with Mambembe, the Afro-Brazilian drum ensemble I play with.
The place was supposed to be closed, but when they realized Everton had a band with him, they let us in. Some of the founders were there in the warehouse, bringing out power tools, fixing piezo mics that had come disconnected.