I like to think that the “Louis” in Louisiana is derived from the name of the King of Jazz rather from that of some remote Bourbon monarch. By that, of course, I mean Louis Armstrong. And although this view might seem yet another outgrowth of the Satchmo-centric view of the universe to which I subscribe, it is the way it ought to be. And just maybe there is something else at work in this theory. I mean, is it just coincidence that Louisiana's postal abbreviation happens to be LA?

When we c...