Tales of the Cocktail 3: Dream Warriors
It’s funny how grief manifests itself in different ways. It’s almost time for Tales of the Cocktail 2026 and I’ve yet to even write about my time at Tales last year.
That’s because I have been keeping myself occupied. I think. July 2025 was nothing short of a whirlwind tour — and I mean it in the most literal of ways.
My mother and I went to my family reunion — and by went, I mean I drove for like 16 hours or something like that. My uncle wasn't feeling up to the trip and opted to stay home. We left all the provisions and things he needed and set out on our journey.
We made it down south and did our best to fellowship with our family, my favorite girl even made the trip down a few days later.
We kept trying to check on my uncle and he was hard to reach. Someone even went to the house to see if everything was alright. They were able to get in contact with him and everything seemed in good order.
A day or so before we were supposed to leave, we could not get in touch with him again. As we traveled back home on that long trip once again, we still couldn't reach him even though we called several times.
When we got to the house, I opened the kitchen door and found him laying on the floor. He was barely conscious and I was losing my mind trying to figure out how to get him up. My girl had the wherewithal to say that we should probably call for some medical help.
My mother called. They came in a decent amount of time and took him away. My girl and I went to visit him and deliver updates to my mother. They said there was no injuries from his fall but they did say he was in some form of insulin shock. I can't really remember off the top of my head.
There was also a mass growing inside of his chest that we had only recently found out about. He had been in denial about that whole process and we still aren't sure if he kept his diagnosis hidden for awhile.
Complicating this whole process was the fact that I was scheduled to go overseas to Europe with my girl Theresa and her band (Mourning [a] BLKstar) for the first half of their European tour the next day.
Yikes.
With that happening, I had to make sure that my mother was able to have everything she needed while I was away as well. She has mobility issues and my uncle was an amputee, so I was pretty much on call all the time.
We showed her how to use WhatsApp so that we could stay in touch. I believe we left on July 6th or 7th or so. It was my first international trip and I was certainly looking forward to it but also worrying about my family at the same time and feeling a bit guilty about leaving with all these things happening.
Being over 4,000 miles from home overwhelmed me for a bit and a great deal of it is a blur, but I enjoyed the trip as much as possible. I took plenty of photos of Theresa and the rest of the band, but I only realized afterward that I didn’t have any photos of myself.
I checked in with my mother when I could and she told me that my uncle had finally been released from the hospital and was going to rehab. We made plans for me to take her to visit him when I returned.
Two days later, we were arriving at Nica Jazz Club in Hamburg and mom called. She asked me if I was alone. From that point, I knew what she was going to say next but I let her speak. She told me that my uncle had passed away in a hospice home and that he wasn’t suffering anymore.
Rest in peace, Uncle Rufus.
Theresa consoled me. I didn’t say anything to anyone. I pulled myself together enough to focus on doing my job. Compartmentalizing trauma is something that I’m exceptional at, so it seems.
In the wake of all this, I began to wonder to myself how this would affect my upcoming trip to New Orleans for Tales. I had been hired for services by two people and I felt like completing those jobs were nonnegotiable. My travel plans changed. Instead of coming home, resting for a few days and flying to Louisiana…I now found myself in a Berlin hotel booking flights and renting a car for me and mom.
We flew from Cleveland to Atlanta (where we picked up my cousin) and then drove six hours to Pushmataha, Alabama. I was able to rest for a few hours and then I woke up and drove myself to New Orleans. The drive isn’t necessarily a bad one — only about 3 hours or so.
I made my way to the Ritz-Carlton and picked up my credentials. After a mixup about which hotel was booked for me, I finally checked into my room and could rest for a couple hours before having to go to my first event.
Tales. Finally.
My first assignment was a multi-layered event by Bacardi called Kinship. We traveled to Congo Square and learned about its significance and importance in not only New Orleans culture but African American history as well. We then went over to the Andre Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Culture for the remainder of the evening’s activities. That included numerous samples of spirits and some crafted cocktails served by some of the best mixologists in the industry, a musical performance and also a demonstration from some New Orleans Blackmasking Indians. Kinship came to a close with a multiple course family style dinner, of course complemented by a few cocktails.
I went back to the hotel to rest a bit before going back out into the madness. I forgot to mention that during all the hustle and bustle of trying to get my mother to Alabama, I had certainly pulled some muscles in my abdomen and I was nursing that.
The next event I went to was a party hosted by William Grant & Sons and while it was generally cool, the party just didn’t hit for me like the ones in previous years. With that said, I still had a good time trying everything and definitely made sure to hydrate.
My second assignment was photographing AJABU’s Africa Rising pop-up at the Ritz. There was plenty of good information about the spirits industry in various African countries. I would love to visit someday. We sampled several cocktails crafted by various bartenders from Africa alongside some VIP guests as well. Rich Medina provided the soundscape for the afternoon.
I did a little bit of exploring on my own on Frenchmen looking for some more delicious drinks and food. Also, anytime I’m in New Orleans, I have to stop by Seaworthy at least once for their happy hour — best oysters hands down.
My last assignment was to take photographs at the afties — the afterparty that follows the Spirited Awards. This particular party took place at NightBloom and things got wild fairly quickly. There were laybacks after laybacks, rows of shots, guest bartenders and even big trays of Chicken McNuggets being passed out like candy. Needless to say, it was the escape that I needed but I was tired. I went back to my hotel and then the next day I headed back to the reality of life.
I’ll never forget July 2025. It pulled me in so many directions, both literally and figuratively. It showed me some of the highest highs and lowest lows all within the span of a few weeks. A year later, I’m still processing parts of it all.
Maybe that’s why it took me this long to finally write about Tales.
Grief has a funny way of showing up when it’s ready.