Source: Omnivoracious

The Omnivoracious blog over at amazon has been writing about significant books from every state for the last couple of weeks (an exhausting undertaking it seems to me!). They just hit Louisiana and along with a nice write-up for John Kennedy O'Toole also included:

The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld by Herbert Asbury: "Thank God for Herbert Asbury, the unapologetic yellow journalist from the 1930s who, a few years before publishing this masterpiece on the bawdiness and tawdriness of the Vieux Carré, wrote The Gangs of New York. Asbury never met a descriptive adjective he didn't like, and his obvious love for dirty sex, tainted booze, pistol-whippings, and municipal corruption makes for a rollicking good time. Everything you ever wanted to know about the history of New Orleans depravity, but were afraid to ask your parish priest."

and also:

The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon by Clara Solomon: "I came across Elliott Ashkenazi's edited Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon while researching a project of my own, and was shocked to discover that the sixteen-year-old Sephardic Jewess, Clara Solomon, was as neurotic as any youth of today, if about four hundred times as eloquent. My God, the phrases this girl was capable of crafting; mind you, many of them are as purple as the languorous Louisiana dusk, heaving with cloudbursts over the all-too-parched earth, but often gorgeously so. That said, for an account of civilian life in New Orleans before and during the Civil War, especially if for some arcane reason you happen to be seeking to view it through a Jewish lens, there can't be a finer resource."

Be sure to check out the whole list!

Source: Houston Chronicle

The Chronicle has created a page on its website to honor heroes of Hurricane Ike. There are some photos of the people on the front lines, some audio recordings and comments. There's also a pdf of a comic book that is based on the premise that FEMA funds superheroes to protect Gulf Coast cities from hurricanes. I think Brownie thought of that one.

Source: WDSU

All the dirty dealings of democracy are on display this month as we near an historic election. Down in New Orleans, the Vietnamese population is being targeted:

The church member said a flier was handed out at the Queen of Mary Vietnamese Catholic Church on Election Day.

Experts said this could put the church's nonprofit status at risk.

The article leaves out which politicians received recommendations, unfortunately.

Source: Los Angeles Times

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to act for at least a year on warnings that trailers housing refugees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde, according to a House subcommittee report released Monday.

The CDC issued a statement Monday saying that the subcommittee report focused on the February 2007 assessment and not an October revision or other CDC efforts to address formaldehyde exposure.

You can find a long analysis of the CDC delay at ProPublica and then start drafting your letters to your congressmen and women about why someone needs to get brought up on charges.

Source: All About Jazz

Trumpeter, singer and all-around musician Leroy Jones talks about New Orleans music in this interview:

"I think the main reason why I've chosen to keep New Orleans as my home base is because if I ever decide to stop going on the road, New Orleans is one of very few cities in the United States, even perhaps in the world, where a musician can earn a living from just playing music. New Orleans' economy thrives on tourism. So there will always be a market for entertainment and usually within the genre that has made the city famous. And that musical genre is jazz. Not to mention, New Orleans has a vibe and a cultural spirit that is unique."

I

Source: WDSU

Here's a sign of how warped things are in this country these days: Perhaps the worst-ever vice president comes to southeast Louisiana to stump for Republican candidates in tight races. In a just world, Cheney stumping for you would be like Amy Winehouse attesting to your sobriety. But, at the risk of stating the obvious, this ain't no just world.

Source: Associated Press

With just one-quarter of the vote, scandal-plagued Congressman William Jefferson proved once again that he is a political survivor, winning his party's primary.

Now, as he faces a runoff against a former television journalist, Jefferson also has demographics and history on his side.

He proved his political resiliency two years ago, winning easy re-election over state Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, a young, up-and-coming black politician. The victory came even as late-night TV comics made him the butt of their jokes after federal agents said they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer.

I'd say Mr. Jefferson has used up about eight lives, but it looks like he still has one to go.

Source: Time

The more things change, the more they stay the same:

Like Katrina, the tragedy is found in the particular and often reflected in the horrors facing the most vulnerable. In November 2005, three months after Katrina blew though New Orleans, 82-year-old Marguerite Simon sat on her front porch on Egania Street in the Ninth Ward. Spread out on the bushes along the path to the front door of her small home was an American flag, drying in the sun. The tiny, small-boned woman wearing rubber boots and a paper mask, had smoothed out the crumpled, wet flag that had draped her late husband's coffin.

Three weeks after Ike swept across Galveston, 74-year-old Francis Sullivan — "I'll be 75 on the 17th if I make it!" — is on her front stoop and eyeing a small triangular wooden trophy case on her living room floor amid a stinking pile of family belongings. The box contains the flag that had draped her husband's casket six years ago. It is an ironic coincidence, a reporter's happenstance, brought about by a random turn down a neighborhood street that looks like so many others on the island — lifeless homes with leafless, saltwater-poisoned trees, battered fences hung with soggy towels, shattered windows, and front yards filled with piles of wet carpet, soaked clothes, moldy pots and pans, beach chairs and books, all water-laden, useless, even dangerous from soaking in the diseased stew, and hung about with the smell of decay. Perhaps 20,000 households share this circumstance, according to Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas.

This time it took only three weeks for the story to vanish from the news. Can anyone remember the last time cable news even mentioned Ike?

Source: Associated Press

Looks like the case isn't over yet:

Federal officials will investigate the New Orleans police officers involved in fatal shootings that happened on a city bridge after Hurricane Katrina, authorities said Tuesday.

"In the best spirit of law enforcement coordination, and at the request of the victim's families, the New Orleans District Attorney has referred the matter to the United States Department of Justice for review," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said in a statement.

Source: Miscellaneous

Don't forget the Louisiana Book Festival is this Saturday from 10 to 7:30. It happens in and around the state capitol building in Baton Rouge. Click on the link above to get a schedule and more details.

Source: Associated Press

Four white bouncers pinned Levon Jones, a black man, to the ground and killed him after Jones and his friends argued about double standards for getting into the Razoo Bar and Patio in the French Quarter. Yet manslaughter charges filed against the bouncers were dropped. Just doing their job, I guess.

Meanwhile, in the real world:

A study by the city after the death found blacks were discriminated against in the French Quarter in a variety of ways.

In 57 percent of the bars the blacks received less favorable treatment than their white counterparts. In 40 percent of the test blacks were charged more for drinks. In 10 percent they were told there was a drink minimum which they would have to buy, while the whites weren't. In 7 percent of the bars, blacks were told they would have to meet a dress code, while the whites, dressed in the same fashion, were not.

You think Levon and friends could have had a point?

Source: Times-Picayune

Cops busted several people on what seemed to be a routine drug bust back in 2002, but then the credibility of the men in blue started to unravel:

Prosecutors had a problem: In the years since the bust, the police officers involved ran into legal troubles of their own.

Sharply diverging claims surrounding the 2002 drug bust may never be put to rest; no judge or jury rendered a final judgment. But a look at the raid and its aftermath offers a window into the tactics of one team of narcotics officers -- the kinds of alleged abuses that critics say foster suspicion toward police.

In the end, the wrongly arrested people settled a lawsuit against the police department for $85,000. Good for them.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Seven months after she was separated from her 3-year-old daughter during Hurricane Katrina, Lisa Stewart was all but delusional with grief. She rarely spoke. She asked volunteers to check the New Orleans morgue.

An estimated 200,000 people fled to Houston from New Orleans and other storm-ravaged areas after Katrina, and about half that number remain here. The film's producer, Ruqayya Gibson, got to know many of these evacuees as executive director of the nonprofit Action Community Development Corp.

I can't imagine what Lisa Stewart went through - or that no one was reporting on her story three years ago. Amazing.

Source: Ray in New Orleans

Maybe our friend Ray in New Orleans and Joe Lieberman finally found one thing in common: A serious dislike of Ned Lamont. Ray's wrath was provoked when Mr. Lamont called the financial devastation taking place on Wall Street Greenwich, Connecticut's Katrina. Yes, it's a laughable comparison [.d] reminds me of honky Americans who move to Japan, get stared at and declare, "Now I understand racism." But Ray's in a fury, so Mr. Lamont, beware:

Ned Lamont, you are hereby designated Fuckmook of the Week. And in a week where Sarah Palin is going to actually attend the VP debate, the world economy is crashing into dust, and Joe Torre is going to to the playoffs in a Dodgers cap, that's saying a fucking lot.

It always feels kinda cleansing when Ray gives us a good NOLA-style rant to start the day.

Source: New Orleans Magazine

The University of New Orleans celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. This piece looks at some of the highlights and contributions the university has made, but one especially caught my eye:

Making a middle class. Prior to 1958, New Orleans could be described as a city with a small but pronounced upper class, a huge underclass and a weak and faltering middle class. It is hard to imagine that the city went 240 years from its founding without having a permanent public university. Until UNO, local students ready for college had to either be able to get into a private university or leave town. UNO changed that by giving a chance at higher education to many people who might have otherwise been denied. The school has always been a commuter college, its students often holding jobs while matriculating. Through five decades, UNO has given those students a chance to advance themselves and the city an opportunity to escape its former third-world reputation. In its own quiet way, UNO may have saved the place whose name it carries – and no more can be asked of any university.

Source: New Pittsburgh Courier

A discussion among community leaders in Pittsburgh reminds us that the problems of New Orleans are the problems of urban America:

“What we need to think about is that the poverty that existed in New Orleans, not only existed there, but it exists here,” Peters said. “You can look around this community and say the same conditions are present.”

The average annual income for individuals in New Orleans and in Pittsburgh is around $31,000, according to Peters’ presentation. Peters also noted that in Pittsburgh one in two Black adults have no full-time job.

Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin

Following up on this week's Music Friday theme, here's another example of New Orleans music in exile, this time via Portland, OR, and Hawaii:

... conditions in the flooded city caused [Devin Phillips] to leave New Orleans and rebuild his life in Portland, Ore. — thanks to the Portland Jazz Festival and Azumano Travel.

"We played that song a little before the hurricane, but I think after the hurricane we put it together and it started to mean a little something more to us. Maybe it's irony or whatever, but all that stuff is there," Phillips said during a brief telephone conversation last weekend.

Source: Nolafugees

If you've never heard of Bernard Pearce and One Man Machine, check him out. He and his collaborators are talented and out to express themselves in unique ways.

I've chatted with Bernard via email a little because we're in the midst of putting together a book by his talneted partner, Tracey Tangerine, which will be out next spring. This Nolafugees piece gives a sense of where Bernard is coming from:

DM: So, who were some of your influences for "Get My Sound"? And what were you listening to at the time of the recording?

BP: I was listening to a lot of Modest Mouse. I really like their early recordings --their pre-MTV stuff on K Records-- like that kind of influence on a song like “Get My Sound” is [inspired by] the cadence of Isaac Brock's singing. On the early Modest Mouse stuff his singing is very staccato. So that's where that kind of came from. When I listen to music, I don't listen the lyrics, per se, a lot. I love Iggy Pop. I was listening to some Iggy Pop back then, as well. I was at a karaoke bar in New York singing to Iggy Pop, and I realized the lyrics are silly (laughs).