AnimaMundi

This One is For Ashley Morris

Whether it's a Sazerac or a Ramos Gin Fizz, this one is for Ashley Morris. I mentioned Tesla

 

to Ashley once and he informed me about Tesla's knowledge and his under appreciated place in history.

 

Greg Giegucz NOLA

Greg Giegucz is a graphic artist from New Orleans. His work is intricate and painstakingly beautiful. He just emailed these two drawings:

Satchmo

Robert Johnson

Chris DeBarr Leaves The Delachaise

Chris DeBarr has left The Delachaise in New Orleans. He is a very progressive multi-talented chef who turned The Delachaise from a wine bar into a food destination during very critical time for the city, postdiluvian to now. He is also an adept writer. Here's a link to his journal entry about his decision to move forward. Also from the Times-Picayune.

Your Native Son

I never knew there was a Gulfport, Illinois until the levees failed there too. We all heard what good ol' Rush Limbaugh had to say about the comparison of the flooding in the midwest with what happened in New Orleans three years ago. The man should be deported to Siberia and denied access to any media input. In a less divisive way, Mark Folse writes that the backbone of America is the Mississippi River basin in more ways than one.

"I want to believe that the people of Iowa and Illinois will make common cause with the people of Louisiana and Mississippi, will insist that things change, will demand that the United States once again be about its people, will be a nation and not just an economy: of the people, by the people, for the people, never to perish from the earth.

People in the Midwest with flooded out lives have no time to think of this right now, but the eyes of the nation are upon them. Those of us who have walked that path must tell this story, must demand on their behalf and for all of us–even as we reach out to help our brothers and sisters in the baptism of the flood–that the levees must not fail again somewhere else, that the slow motion, disaster-without-end lived in New Orleans and the whole hurricane coast from Cameron to Gulfport should not be repeated there or anywhere."

Spirit of Place

Lawrence Durrell's unpublished letters were compiled in a book entitled "Spirit of Place". The letters describe his experiences in Corfu, England, Egypt, Rhodes, the former Yugoslavia and South America. Durrell had a the artistic ability to depict the spirit of a place. Smells, light, good food, wine, beauty of nature, great conversation, fascinating characters. All part of the mysterious uniqueness of spirit of place. I was reminded of Durrell's images of spirit of place when I read this post about the Lower East Side of New York. It also reminded me of the aftermath of August 2005 in New Orleans:

The speakers began to deride nostalgia and Fullilove stepped to its defense, saying, "Nostalgia was coined by psychiatrists, who saw that people who moved far from home could die from longing for their home." She asked us to respect that nostalgia is not just some bittersweet emotion, but rather a testament to the fact that "home is an object of attachment, like a mother or a father, home is a secondary system of homeostasis. When you destroy this system, you destroy a person's ability to function in the world. Nostalgia is something we need to understand and respect."
Repopulation of New Orleans. Click to enlarge.

Blue Crescent Age

The jazz tradition of New Orleans is the backbone of this young country's music. The liner notes to Dr. Michael White's latest album, "Blue Crescent", contain his eloquent thoughts on his still recovering city and the precarious state of the jazz tradition itself. He writes prose like he plays jazz, conversationally. To paraphrase what he has written: When the London Canal levee breached in Gentilly, Dr. White lost his home and a massive archival collection of recordings, books, photographs, films, vintage instruments, original compositions, sheet music, interviews, research and rare musical artifacts relating to jazz, New Orleans and African American history and culture. After the flood and loss, it was prayer and music that kept him alive. His ancestral jazz tradition has always served him as a constant source of challenge, strength, growth and wisdom which continues to enrich and inform his soul and makes him appreciate being alive and from New Orleans. The music on the album mirrors the current situation in New Orleans. The wide range of moods on the tracks reflects his vision of present day New Orleans. The color blue in "Blue Crescent" can refer to sadness, depression, peace, unity, optimism, opportunity and new beginnings. The crescent is a traditional symbol of New Orleans due to its shape formed along the river. It also points to transition and transformation. It is an uncertain time for the city and its traditions. The recent concern over the fate of local culture is viewed by some as a sign of hope and long term survival. During this time of the city's history there is an opportunity for a new and better nurturing of the musical treasures. The passing on this tradition to the younger generations will keep the special ancestral musical flame so that it will continue to inspire joy, hope, passion and good dancing forever. Dr. White's liners are just as uplifting as the music on the album. I'll try to post something about the album soon. I have to listen another 20 times to say anything that is worthy of the soul of the music. 

Do You Need Any More Reasons To Go?

My friend Alfonso just came back from NOLA. He gave a "Don't Passover The Ripasso" talk at a wine caucus in the Crescent City. Ya' know, I have known friends to visit the city for a conference and have a coffee and beignet period. Thankfully, Alfonso knows how to enjoy himself while helping the city at the same time.  He went to K-Pauls, Bayona and Vaughan's Lounge, where Kermit Ruffins (top) holds court on Thursday nights. But my friend still has that acidic-Loire thing lodged in his palette. It might be a reverse of the Teutonic-Mediterranean fantasy. Or like BK said, maybe it's the humidity.

Dr. Michael White New Orleans Jazz Band On Fire

H/T Odd Bits of Life In New Orleans

NOLA Road Home Program Guarantees Exile

The Road Home Program in New Orleans has been, let us say, less than effective. The population of the city is still half of what is was before August 29, 2005. The program has already arranged bureaucratic hoops and loops that would befuddle Kafka at his best. Now the wondrous program is delaying insurance payments to people as well. That's the way to repopulate the city and give a sense of rebirth to those already hanging on for dear life.

Treme

Wynton Marsalis presents The Faubourg Treme Documentary Project. Check out the trailer of the winner of the Golden Gate Award at the 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Lines and Home

Tim is an engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. Yes, that Corps. It has been interesting following his struggle to rebuild and relocate after his home was destroyed by flood waters. After 22 months in a miniscule FEMA trailer, he and his family are finally moving into their new home. Rebuilding at the same location was out of the question. The cost was outrageous. Reluctantly, the family had to leave their neighborhood, but they have found a new home.

And Then It Rained

From Toulouse Street in New Orleans, Mark Folse tells about a special moment at Jazz Fest 2008 when Terence Blanchard performed selections from his "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)".

“They’re Tryin’ To Wash Us Away.”

The lyrics and origin of "Saint James Infirmary" are the cause of much dispute. Ambiguity and uncertainty surround the song like a diaphanous veil. There have been subtle and not so subtle changes to the song. The song is organic and therefore alive, not some museum piece in the Smithsonian. A death has spawned many versions and live-ly debate. Rob Walker's one-song-centered site, the only such site that I know of, bears this out. This is part of the allure of the song, not to mention the timeless unforgettable melody of the mournful dirge. Similarly, Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" has become a folk song in much the same way. Though, there's not much ambiguity here. Since the Federally built levees collapsed in August 2005, this song has taken on an aura that can not be denied. We all saw it on television. Bodies floated through the streets of a major city. It is branded on the country's forehead forever. In the Lower 9th Ward, 1,200 people out of 14,000 (8.5%) are back.

Today, I read Mark Folse's take on the first weekend of this years Jazz Fest. Mark knows his music and I always look forward to his posts that are musically bent. Yesterday, he stopped by Ashley Morris' grave in St. Louis Cemetery #3 before he went to Jazz Fest. The Hot 8 Brass Band played at Ashley's jazz funeral. They played St. James Infirmary, dirge first then an uptempo repeat on the way home. Dineral Shavers, a crack snare drummer for the Hot 8, was shot and killed December 28th 2006. Ashley, on snare, had been part of the Silence is Violence march on Perdido Street in Januray 2007. Following a string of acquittals, the person suspected of shooting Shavers was acquitted the day before Ashley's funeral. The song is always there.

"This is the life. You know what they’re eating in Houston right now? Quiznos.” — Ashley Morris while sharing a meal from Dooky Chase's with a friend

"remembrance descends from the tongue to the heart and from the heart to the soul"

Suspect Device on Ashley Morris' Jazz Funeral

Greg Peters, creator of some fine comics on Louisiana politics, reflects on Ashley Morris' jazz funeral. If this doesn't touch you, then you should probably look for a hear transplant.

HT Your Right Hand Thief

Not OK in NOLA, but...

The media darlings have moved on from New Orleans. CNN's 360 has done another 360. The Pope is in Yankee Stadium not knowing when to stand or sit down. Come to Papa. The Italians are in a knee deep funk after years of unbridled prosperity. The Italian wine industry is being pummeled. A ride in the country costs $50 and rising. Over $700 billion in Iraq. Enough positive uplifting blather. Then, I learned today from the great pianist Lee Shaw about Adams Piano of Kingston(?). They sent PIANOS to the schools and musicians of the city of New Orleans. Random acts of kindness amidst troubling signs from all sides of the arena.

There are continuing stories from New Orleans that can break the hearts of the most hardened arteries.

Suffering from mental illness and obsessed with the Passover, Alvin Thomas met his end quietly in his parents' abandoned home. Sometime during the night on March 15, Alvin Thomas crumpled onto his cold porch floor, where he lay, alone, behind a locked wrought-iron door embossed with oak leaves and acorns.

On the other hand, Aaron Neville has just moved back to New Orleans. Although he said that the New Orleans he knew is just a memory now, there are flickers of life in the Lower 9th Ward.

H/T Poppy Z. Brite

Notes From The Underground

In NOLA, Mark Folse from the underground:

Part One-

“So long live the underground. I already carried the underground in my soul.”
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground

Part Two - Hey, white boy, what you doin’ uptown? 

Part Three- Up From The Underground

Here's what got Mark started on his Orphic thing. In a city that has given birth to American music as we know it, it is fitting that Orpheus, whose mother was Calliope, is Mark's god of choice here.

"Miracle at St. Anna"

Spike Lee's latest film "Miracle at St. Anna" (release date October 2008) was scored by Terence Blanchard, the New Orleans trumpet player who provided the music to "When The Levees Broke."

"The music in my films is part of the bedrock," Lee said. "It has a very integral part in what makes up a Spike Lee Joint, the same as the cinematography, the acting, the editing, the production design, the costume design. Music is one of those pillars that holds a movie up."

Yeah, New Orleans

It's all true and they need more people to visit and give them a hand in return. For what? If you don't know, don't go.

The Rangers Are Winning, At The Moment

With the NHL playoffs underway, I had always sought out the in depth analysis of Professor Ashley Morris. He was amazing in his detailed knowledge of the game, the players and its history. He was particularly adept in his knowledge of goalies, past and present. My knowledge of the game consists of being able to follow the play of the puck and not much more. If you are into hockey, take a look at this post from last year on the playoff matchups. Professor, I miss your knowledge of the game and the anecdotal tidbits. If the Rangers lose along the way to the Cup, then I go back to reading 4 nights a week.

Never Forget, Ashley Morris is New Orleans

His body is in St. Louis #3 now, but his spirit will continue to fuel the spirit and soul of his beloved city, New Orleans. Ray Shea gave the eulogy in honor of the bigger than life bon homme.

We may Know Da'Sound of UnBroken Belief
as a bucket of tears while da'years go beside us. But We Roll down da'wet stones in da'street by a'little Cafe' named for Our Goddess of Flowahs.

There'da 8-Ball lines up wit'da Lucky-13
Snake Eyes'n'Diamonds Demons'n'Chains
Still, da'Angels Wake for Saint Ann to begin with her Masque made of sorrow
and her Laugh made of sin.

So when I die do please carry me down Royal Streets wit'a Brass Band an'da 2nd Line Beat by'da Court Yards Tru'da Mook d'City and lay me down my soul to sleep

Top photo: Greetings From New Orleans

Hot 8 sending the Professor to the Saints.

Photo: Howie Luvzus'

In Remembrance of Dr. Ashley Morris

Adrastos has posted a moving remembrance of the Professor by John Kelly, the Captain of PAN.

FYYFF--30

This was Ashley Morris in his best rant mode. Let us never forget.

Remember Ashley Morris by helping out his wife and three young children.

Ashley's Fire Will Never Go Out

Right now in New Orleans and through out the vast web of the Internet, there are are many people paying tribute to Ashley Morris, New Orleanian juste, firebrand blogger, husband, kind gentle father of three small children plus a few thousand other things. He was the spirit of New Orleans incarnate. He tried to make the world a better place.

Mark Folse of Toulouse Street:   

"A very few of us rise above that personal level of history, make a larger mark in this life, like elephants passing on the savanna: something monumental moving through the world, a rumbling in the earth and a trumpeting cry, a trail of marks left behind which other men will find in some dim future and say: that is what it was like in that place and time.

Ashley Morris, was one of those few."

Ray in New Orleans:

"His earthly self is going to St. Louis #3 some time next week, the cemetery right behind the Fairgrounds. His soul is going to a righteous place somewhere else. But I have no doubt that every year when Jazz Fest rolls around, if you hang close to that end of the neighborhood, you'll hear an extra drumline coming from somewhere and maybe the whiff of Jameson and a Cubano. You won't be able to see him, but you'll know he's there, drumming like mad and laughing his ass off."

Ashley Morris, You Loved NOLA

I was walking Aldo yesterday around noon and I had a strange feeling about death. Every now and then, Ashley used to mention our bulldog Aldo in a comment or email. He knew about that bull-doggednese that was a part of his own unflinching love of his home sweet home. It wasn't a premonition, just a to-the-quick reminder, memento mori. Every morning with coffee in hand one of the first stops on my blog roll is Ashley Morris. You will be sorely missed, Professor. I never got to meet you to share some crawfish and drink. Your love for your family and your city was from the heart. You were a furnace of fire and spit when it came to your beloved New Orleans. Your cussed up rants were the high bar. No one could do it like you, spewing your venom into the faces of the gutless and indolent. Your voice will echo in their ears forever. I can't begin to tell you the amazement I felt whenever you recounted your exploits in life. I would need a few lifetimes to do some of the things that you did in your brief life. You lived, Professor. "Better to die a devil in the fire, than an angel in the wings." Ah man, amen, you were never in the wings. You were always on the frontline. You made me laugh a lot. I thank you for that and salute your soul and wit and cussing. I'll be in that second line to send you off.

Louis Armstrong's "Saint James Infirmary" is playing in da' house for you man. Along with Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Hot 8, Dirty Dozen and...

Video of Ashley and what he was about in relation to blogging and NOLA.

Greg at Suspect Device has put together a fitting photo memoriam to Ashley.

"We need them,

Brands that flare to show us

the dark we are in, to keep us moving in it."---Denise Levertov, "An Interim"

I shed some tears, but I am moving on as you would wish, Professor.

Creole Heritage, Gumbo and The Lower 9th

Slimbolala and his aunt Annou talk about their Creole heritage and gumbo at The Southern Gumbo Trail. This interview is part of the Southern Food Alliance's collection of oral histories of the dish and the people who make it.

The Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association is fighting to save the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans that has been written off by some as too vulnerable to be worth saving. Officials refused to let people back into the ward while other parts of the city were rebuilding. Needless to say this has not rested well with people who have lived their for generations.

NENA has been helping people come back to the Lower Ninth Ward by providing assistance on issues such as securing loans and hiring contractors. Only 1,200 of the 14,000 residents who lived in the Lower Ninth Ward before Hurricane Katrina have returned. NENA hopes that 4,000 residents will come back by September 2008.

Manse on Folse Drive and Howling Monkeys

Mark Folse bids farewell to Popeyes Chicken founder, Al Copeland.

A little bit of us all died with Al, and if we aren’t careful soon all that will remain to differentiate us from Atlanta will be our broken and littered roads rolling beneath the faded beads dangling in the branches of the winter trees.

You are looking forward to a good meal in a restaurant. You need it. It's been a tough day or week. You have a good appetite. When you enter the RESTaurant you feel a slight glow as the aromas of the kitchen fill the room. Gastropoda and consort are then seated next to a howling hyena. What galls me is the limp parents of these brats. They are the most pathetic examples of attempted rearing. This sometimes continues until the child grows up and starts collecting automatic weapons in the garage, for fun. The deaf, the dumb, the blind.

Weekend In New Orleans

Via The Excitable Professor in NOLA, NYT's slideshow, a weekend in New Orleans.

Fried Chicken and Son Montuno

I first had Popeyes Fried Chicken in the Bronx many years ago. My mate was in Loehmann's and the fried chicken was across the street. The chicken was good. The batter was right, not overloaded, falling off the chicken. Crispy, hot and spicy and the chicken moist. I lost track of the time. That's what good fried chicken should do to you. It was a chain, but it was still good, then, 20 years ago. By the time Popeyes reached upstate NY, the magic was gone.

Al Copeland started Popeyes (no apostrophe since he said he could never afford one) in Arabi in 1972. He died a young very wealthly man. $319 million and an income of $13 million a month. His NOLA obit details his feud with Anne Rice, the vampire author who is now writing novels about Jesus Christ, yes that Christ, known in New Orleans for her flamboyant stunts. It is worth a read. He lead an eventful life. As Poppy Z. Brite said "I always liked him for being such a fly in Anne Rice's ointment, and while most people assume that Lenny in my Liquor novels is Emeril, he owes at least as much to Big Al. Rest in Pieces, Al, preferably a box of 12 spicy ones."

The world famous Cuban maestro Cachao has died at 89.

"Cachao, as he was universally known, transformed the rhythm of Cuban music when he and his brother, the pianist and cellist Orestes López, extended and accelerated the final section of the stately Cuban danzón into the mambo. “My brother and I would say to each other, ‘Mambea, mambea ahí,’ which meant to add swing to that part,” he said in a 2006 interview with The Miami Herald."

Cum Grano Salis, Fat, NOLA Trumpets, Drama Wines

Well, it's Holy Week for all you non-Christians and pagan-heathenists. Then again, there is the Vernal Equinox coming up. Without day equaling night, none of this would exist, would it?

Alfonso On The Wine Trail in Italo-Americano California dines in a few posh overpriced real Italian eateries on that venerable pacific coast and discovers the secret ingredient that keeps the faithful returning to these temples of Italian food. Since it is Holy Week, he somehow manages to avoid the use of profanity. I could never do that.

"Who therefore knows the salt and its solution knows the hidden secret of the wise men of old. Therefore turn your mind upon the salt, for in it alone (i.e. the mind) is the science concealed and the most excellent and most hidden secret of all ancient philosophers."

Mario Batali says he's going to lose 40 pounds. I should talk, but seeing is believing. Well, Bourdain gave up smoking so...

The trumpet has played a vital part in the history of the city of New Orleans. Irvin Mayfield views libraries as musical notes drifting through city, creating a sense of community.

"A library is democracy inside four walls, the freedom to information," he said. "Jazz is democracy we hear."

I think this marketing ploy is a little shallow, demographically speaking, but wine for drama queens? Turn up the refrigerator.

The City That I Haven't Forgot and Neither Have Some Texans

I used to post more about New Orleans and I admit people that I have been lax. No fear, I am still here and angling for the opportunity to combine a New Orleans visit with a San Antonio stop off to see Tom Speeeed, an old college friend. To begin with, I read this article in Facing South by Bill Quigley. Even the United Nations has weighed in on the destruction of public housing in New Orleans. Is this  going to stop it? No. Euchred again.

"Those who wanted a different New Orleans rebuilt probably see the concentrated displacement as a success. However, if the test of a society is how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members, the aftermath of Katrina earns all of us a failing grade."

But watch out New Orleans, the Texans, not those kind but the other kind, are on the move. Bill "USA" Kennedy is coming to town for The New Orleans Wine and Food Festival. Gird up and stock up. He and Janine get it. I believe that Alfonso "On The Wine Trail In Italy" Cevola will also be there. He also gets it.

For some more levity, NOLA Notes and the three degrees of separation from Hunter S. Thompson.

Bringing It All Back Home or East of Eden

I have mentioned this person before and I'll do it again. When New Orleanians say that they roll the way they do, I think they mean that they have a sense of place and soul connection with that tenuous place on the mighty-Twain Mississippi looking to empty its riches into the Gulf of Mexico. Mark Folse is one of the best writers that I have ever had the pleasure to read. He lives in New Orleans and recently put The Wet Bank Guide to rest. He, along with his city, has reached a critical turning point. He knows as well as anyone that his city is still crippled and does not have the flood protection for that 100 year deluge. Though he now writes from a slightly different perspective and in a somewhat brighter light. The anger and cynicism have not left, but it is tempered by living fully and looking for those little epiphanic moments. Here is a quote from his most recent post at Toulouse Street:   

"Now I try instead to celebrate the found moments of odd or profound beauty that come out of All That: the moments of simple, quiet pleasure and ecstatic, public joy that mark life in postdiluvian New Orleans, the surest signs that what we are building here is indeed New Orleans, heedless of the violent transfiguration of our landscape, the vast swaths of ruin that still blanket the Gentilly and the East, that mark the modern Land of Nod."

B&N Gives It Up For Gentilly

When you buy books at Barnes and Noble, you will feel better than buying them at Borders. Why? Barnes and Noble recently donated $20 million to help restore Gentilly, an historic gem of a neighborhood in New Orleans. Gentilly was badly damaged by floodwaters from Lake Pontchartrain and failed levees. The doantion will go toward renovation and new contruction. The effort translates into 100 households being able to return home.

John Brunious

When Preservation Hall Jazz Band came to Albany last year, we got to see them at the acoustically sound Egg. John Brunious was playing trumpet that night as he has been for over 20 years with the band. His trumpet tone and style were very much like his voice: casual, soft, appealing and clear. At one point in the show, he merely said without drama that things in New Orleans were not good. He didn't say anything else about the condition of his home town. He didn't need to. Then he began to play "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?" He died outside Disney-fied Orlando.

Creative Director of Preservation Hall, Ben Jaffe remarks, “John Brunious was living history.  One of the last things John told me was, ‘There’s another Louis Armstrong somewhere out there in New Orleans.  I’m going to find them and teach them all I got.’ It’s now in our hands to carry on his message and legacy the way he carried the torch for so many years.”

Is It Worth Saving NOLA?

The Library of Congress thinks so. They have saved WWOZ's record and tape collection. So far they have over 3,000 hours and expect more. It will take 10 years to digitize and catalogue the musical treasures of the legendary station.

Soul and the City

Angus Lind of the Times-Picayune writes of why people are drawn and stay in New Orleans. I was speaking to a friend about this today. The contradictions of living there are many, but the spirit of the city lives on and continues to be a mysterious magnet.

Thanks to Ashley Morris and Lafcadio Hearn.

Happy Mardi Gras, People!

In the rest of the country, this is just another Tuesday, but in New Orleans it's Mardi Gras. If you would want to catch a little of the spirit, you can listen all day and all night at WWOZ or Home of the Groove Internet Radio. Later you can listen and watch the webcams here.

The picture to the right is of The Divas

New Suit or Meet De Boys On the Battlefront

As the people of the city of New Orleans roll their floats and gird up for the big Mardi Gras weekend, shitty hall lags behind. Dan at Home of the Groove pays tribute to the Mardi Gras Indians. Here Come Da Indians!

Photo Professor Ashley and Hana Morris

"San Francisco isn't in the same country as Lakeside anymore than New Orleans is in the same country as New York or Miami is the same country as Minneapolis...They may share certain cultural signifiers--money, a federal government, The Tonight Show--it's the same land obviously--but the only things that give it the illusion of being one country are the greenback, The Tonight Show, and McDonald's."

Neil Gaiman  "American Gods"

Tipitina's

Whether or not you are a Chris Rose fan, he has written a good piece about the 30 year anniversary of Tipitina's in New Orleans.

"Come on baby, we're going ballin'
We're gonna have ourselves a good time
We gonna hoola tralla walla malla dalla
Drink some mellow wine"

Jazzfest, Ponderosa Stomp and a Lagniappe

Dan at Home of the Groove has links to the Jazzfest and Ponderosa Stomp lineups. Incredible amount of music and talent.

As if that's not enough, there's the free the Fete Internationale in Lafayette during Jazzfest.

It's Carnival Time and "If Ever I Cease To Love" Search Time Redux Redux

For those dedicated searchers who are looking for the elusive and ever changing lyrics to "If Ever I Cease To Love" go here. Now you have to understand that this is not in any way definitive. The lyrics are continually being added to and changed on the spot, so...

Give it up to the people of NOLA

While Spike Lee was filming "When The Levees Broke", he said that the people of New Orleans had his crew in stitches. They were laughing their asses off.

"I'm from Brooklyn, but damn, I have to give it up to the people of New Orleans!"

Wet Bank Guide Moves to Toulouse Street

Mark Folse is one of my favorite New Orleans bloggers. He doesn't post everyday, but then again he doesn't have to. His posts fill you up for quite a while. He is transitioning from Wet Bank Guide to Toulouse Street.

NOLA Carnival-Mardi Gras Parades

Via The Yellow Blog, come two essential Carnival and Mardi Gras links in the Gambit. Sacred Ground: "We'll bring all the past dead spirits to the streets. Mardi Gras is the one day we do that." The culture gave birth to Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, jazz funerals and much more. But for how long will that go on in Treme?

Krewe To Their Roots: The oldest parades have had to change their routes, but still retain the ties to their old 'hoods.

One Family's Story

Tim is an engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Yes, those engineers who are responsible for the levees that failed and flooded 80% of the city. This is part five of Tim's family's tortuous and frustrating attempt to build or buy a home. His family has been living in a trailer for over two years. While you read his story so well told, take a glance at the ticker to the left. It is the continuing cost of the US occupation of Iraq.

Drum Buddy Opening Bid $5k

Now, I don't know if I'm in the market for a Drum Buddy. However, this gizmo created by the amazing Quintron of New Orleans is an analog marvel in this tricked out tech world we all live in.

Here We Go Again

It's Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and you know what that means. Yes, it means that and that, but it also means the search continues for the illusive chameleon-like lyrics to the song "If I Ever Cease To Love". The searches for the lyrics to this ditty that hit my blog are more than any other search. Period. I won't answer the phone after 9 pm for fear of a manic lyric searcher. Though now, news about New Orleans is passe. The great populace of the USA are more interested in presidential folklore and shenanigans, Iranian nuclear development, the housing market, the weak dollar, New Jersey, not the Devils, apologizing for slavery, Pakistan. David Simon still seems to think there's something more to New Orleans other than being a tourism destination. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but...

Home Denied

"It seems like every time I take one step forward, the government sends me 10 steps backward," Clark said recently to the pastor, the Rev. Douglas Haywood.

As Harry Shearer so aptly points out, being self-reliant and hardworking doesn't necessarily translate into humane treatment by the paralyzed bureaucracy that is the USA. For the full frustrating story go here.

Welcome Home, Mark

I wish that I could write half as well as Mark Folse, a New Orleanian who returned home after 20 years away from his city. In this post he recounts the story of the person who helped carry him back to his home in New Orleans. If you can read this and not weep, then there's no hope for you.

P.S. Mark tells me that is the Iberville projects and that they are mostly occupied. And that's St. Louis Cemetery #1 in the foreground. This one of four cemeteries that border those projects. I do remember going through it one May long ago to Marie Laveau's tombstone.

Kiss It Good Bye

Mark Folse is one of the most respected NOLA bloggers. This is another reason why you should be reading him.

Just try not to look out the window of your plane as it approaches the city, lest you be reminded that the cost of that low-fare to the City That Care Forgot is the displacement of a million of your fellow citizens and the destruction of their unique culture, the intentional eradication of an entire, genuine way of life. Forget that someday the consequences of that loss will come home to you.

Public Housing in New Orleans

"we don’t want you, go away, at least until we need someone to clean the floor and wipe the shit off Great-Grandma’s ass."

Depsite some opposition and no plan to build new low income housing, the demolition of NOLA public housing has already begun.

That Wet Bank Guide guy, Mark Folse, weighs in on the New Orleans public housing fiasco.

The Coming of the Light

After the flood of 2005, the city of New Orleans was without light for weeks and months. Two years and three months later, some parts of the city are still in darkness.

WetBankGuide speaks to that ancient light in the East as it affects what is going on around him in his city today.

New Wine in Old Bottles or Old Wine in New Bottles

Alfonso Cevola was in New Orleans for a meeting a few days ago. He somehow manages to put his impressions in the light of eternity and the vine, the tenacious vine and the living animal, the wine. It's a mystical transformation that few people can express.

sub specie aeternitatis et (quod?) vino

My Latin does not have the Imprimatur, so please forgive my endings.

Public Housing in New Orleans

Two years and three months after the flood, New Orleans public housing remains closed. The city wants to demolish most of the units. I believe most of them did not flood and are structurally sound. Why is HANO so intent on demolition rather than renovating the units? I don't know enough about the political background to this issue in NOLA. I have seen first hand what public housing can do to people who are warehoused in high rises. This was during my illustrious career as a caseworker in the early 1970's in Albany, NY in the Green Street Housing Projects run by the crackerjack Albany Housing Authority. Read about what is going on in NOLA in this three part documentary.

Update: The demolition has already started.

Post Katrina And The Flood, Let The Anti-Depressants Flow

Health care of all kinds is still scarce in New Orleans since the city flooded in September 2005 due to the failure of the shoddily built Federal levees. If you lost count it has been two years and three damned months! Mental health care is almost non-existent. However, prescription sales for anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication are booming. I imagine alcohol sales are up a tad too. Hospitals and clinics remain shuttered. It is part of the continuing national disgrace of what has happened on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. People know that I write more about New Orleans than about Gulfport. This is because I read NOLA blogs more and not because I have less sympathy for the people of Mississippi or Southwest Louisiana. So when I stress New Orleans, it is not meant to exclude the rest of the coast. It's that I know a little more about this area than the other ones. When people cannot get back into their home or cannot find work to rent an apartment, this is not an enabling force. It is crippling people and thus the recovery of the city. The images have faded from the national ADS consciousness. The MSM want to keep it that way and they have. Thanks to the volunteers and to the private monies that are not in the media spotlight. There has been and is no concerted State and Federal effort to rebuild the infrastructure and there never will be. The gritty gutsy people of the city know who have provided help and genuine assistance.They also know that most of the work is on their shoulders and in their hands.

Hot 8 Brass Band Rebuilding Along Side NOLA

The Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans has lost many of its members to violence on the streets of the city. This Village Voice article tells of the parallel rebuilding of the city and the band.

"The danger and dislocation you've heard about in the streets of New Orleans is real. Yet so is the devastating beauty you don't hear about as much. The former is a crucible in which the Hot 8 has been forged; the latter, a transcendent truth to which it contributes mightily."