AnimaMundi

Southern Decadence

There's still time to join Chi Chi La Rue and the boys gone wild.

Katrina Info Network

You might want to check out Katrina Information Network, a collaboration of groups that are working to put pressure on lawmakers and businesses to do right in New Orleans.

Colorlines is also a site that you might like to look at. They are featuring "A Return to New Orleans" that includes a variety of articles about the city and its changes.

Thanks to Lauren Cerand.

NOLA, Two Years After The Flood or A Reminder To ADS-Let's-Ride-Bikes-North America

These are links to people who are living in New Orleans. They are standing naked in the storm. They have come back to their city. This is what they are seeing and feeling two years after the flood amidst the the slow motion recovery. Wet Bank Guide, Library Chronicles, Poppy Z. Brite, People Get Ready, The Chicory.

Alt Media

Joshua Clark has written Heart Like Water, a non-fiction novel about Katrina and life in the disaster zone. He appeared at the 2nd annual Rising Tide conference in NOLA. I haven't read it yet but intend to. In conjunction with this, a super site has been set up for all Katrina-related news called Hurricane Katrina News. Please check both out on this day to never forget.

Some Solidarity

In memory of those that lost their lives in the flood caused by the failure of the levees.

Dignity

The communication
of the dead is tongued with fire
beyond the language of the living.
— T.S. Eliot

What has happened and not happened in New Orleans is fast becoming political fodder for 2008. A flock of pols are in the city this week. Hey, look at what politics has done to the city thus far. The people of the city need more respect and concerted help, but less bullshit. They are doing it on their own without much help from the tangled bureaucracy. Where's the sense of urgency for the Crescent City? Two-Friggin-Years. Health care, schools, housing, crime...Will Shrub and company unleash Halliburton and billions just before the election?

I don't agree with everything that is written in the following. It goes with out saying, but I thought i would say it anyway, just for the people of the city of New Orleans wherever they might be.

Douglas Brinkley in the WAPO:

"Entire blocks are moldering away while the federal government lifts only a cursory hand to reverse the desultory trend."

Brian Schwaner in the NY Times:

"Among citizens, there is anger. There should be. For those who see New Orleans as someone else's agony, a caution: This kind of governmental and political nonchalance could greet you at your most dire moment."

Walter Mosley in The Nation:

"Not only did our government fail to answer the call of its most vulnerable citizens during that fateful period; it still fails each and every day to rebuild, redeem and rescue those who are ignored because of their poverty, their race, their passage into old age."

Full Moon in Pisces

Since my sun sign is Pisces, the full moon on the 28th is important. I don't look at astrological charts very often. I found the link through iGoogle. However, I do believe that a wine grown in a particular place on the earth and harvested at a certain time will determine that wine's unique character. Astrology claims no more than this. It's not all occult cosmic smoke and mirrors.

Fire On the Bayou

Fire on the Bayou

Where The Hell Is The Money?

Rising Tide two starts tomorrow.

There have been billions of dollars allocated to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina, Rita and the failed levees in NOLA. Two years later not much of these billions have found there way to the people that really need it. Alernet reports that billions are missing. Bill Moyers is still on TV. Amazing in this time and age. Katrina revisited is a compelling video interview in light of the two year aftermath.

Dean Does In Bananas

The bananas of Martinique and Guadeloupe are especially good. Hurricane Mr. Dean took care of this year's crop.

Rising Tide Two

The Rising Tide Two conference takes place from August 24-26 in New Orleans. I wish I could go and meet some the intrepid NOLA bloggers who are keeping the truth alive and well.

Hits

Today marks the most hits for my blog, 55 and counting. Ashley watch out.

Dean or Day-awh

I am thinking of my friends in Martinique. It's not DEEEN to them. The first Canadian cold front passed through northern NY State a short time ago.

"Low and Behold"

Via Humid Haney in NOLA comes news of an Indie film, Low and Behold, that was shot in New Orleans. 

Max Roach

It was on the Clifford Brown-Max Roach recordings on EmArcy  that I first came to appreciate the phenomenal talents of Max Roach. Listen closely to "Delilah", "Joy Spring" and "George's Dilemma" and the changes. He was one of the most accomplished drummers that this country has ever produced. The drums in that 52nd St in the sky will shine brighter with another percussive artist tonight. One can not say much more. You have listen to it happening.

Earl Turbinton

Earl Turbinton, a prominent world class saxophone player from New Orleans, recently passed.  Cassandra Wilson acknowledged him as her personal mentor while she was in New Orleans. From the Times-Picayune article on Turbinton's passing: "His religious wanderings informed his life and music. A former Roman Catholic altar boy, he later embraced elements of the Rosicrucian, Buddhist and Muslim faiths. He didn't eat pork, unless it was on a muffuletta."

Dan at Home of the Groove has posted a fitting tribute to Earl Turbinton.

No Post

The lack of posts can be attributed to the following:

a) the weather, it has been so damned hot and sunny and great

b) home repairs

c) lawn mowing

d) radio show demo tweaking

e) travel

f) Saratoga Springs (NYRA)

e) summer laziness

f) lack of NOLA posts is due to corruption that I can't really comment on since I don't know anything about the political landscape

A House a Day in NOLA

Slimbolala has started a new series. It's called "A House A Day" in which he photographs one house a day in the city of New Orleans. Homes or houses are in various states of gutting, renovation, neglect and resurrected majesty. His photos are a fine peek at the architectural tapestry of the city.

National Geographic Meet Time

There has been previous mention of this good though flawed article in the venerable National Geographic in NOLA bloggeurs circles. On the heels of that article, Time Magazine has produced this piece that gets it a little more. However, according to Matt's comments on RightHandThief, Time didn't dig very deep either. It would be a good idea if National Geographic reworked the story and put it on the tube so more Americans could see what happened and is still happening.

Via Oyster