altjiranga mitjina: August 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007

Gone For A Few Days

I know it seems I've just got back into the swing of things, but I'm going to visit my Mom for the next couple days or three and they don't have those modern things like internet access. So I'll be MIA for a few days, but I'll be back.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

America

Final Word on Katrina

This should be my last post on Katrina for now. I know I just posted the video of Will Hoge doing "Washed by the Water" a few days ago, but Amy sent me this remix of the song and I just had to put it on here. Listen to it...it's powerful.

Memories of JazzFest and Springsteen and Katrina

This post was written on May 5, 2006 after the first Jazz Fest after Katrina. This concert still holds up in my memory. I can't listen to "City in Ruin" and not think of it as a New Orleans song now. I know it was originally written about his home town of Asbury Park, but I think New Orleans owns that song now.

It's been almost a week since the end of last week's Jazz Fest. I'm sure most of you have heard about Springsteen's appearance at the Fest. In Springsteen lore there are tales of his legendary concerts: the appearance at Bottom Line where Jan Landau came up with the future of rock and roll quote, his first London show, and others. These are the shows that his fans talk and write about, the ones that every Springsteen fan wishes he had been present at. Now you can add another one to that list.

I've seen Springsteen a few times over the years and he always gives a good concert. He puts on a good show, he knows how to play to the crowd. He doesn't stint on his time, he puts it all out there for his fans to see. But no show by Springsteen that I've seen comes close to this show. In fact I'm trying real hard to think of any show that I've seen that can compare to this one.

I talked in a previous post about the importance of this Jazz Fest to the city of New Orleans. In this one concert Springsteen shows he understands what is important and delivers on it. I'm not a religious person and I have never gotten what such a person gets from going to church, until this show. This might be the closest I have come to finding my religion. I've always thought music was the closest I've come to following a religion and today I was in church.

Springsteen opened with a rocking version of "Mary, Don't You Weep" and continued with his versions of the songs off his newest cd "The Seeger Sessions." He added "What's A Poor Man To Do", a song originally wrote in 1929 after the crash of the banks that eventually lead to the Depression. He kept the first verse, but wrote his own second and third verses to fit the destruction and aftermath of Katrina. And he dedicated it to President Bystander.

But the most moving moment came during his own song, "City in Ruins." This song started with him alone on his guitar. As he sang the lyrics it was obvious that this song could have been written for New Orleans after Katrina. And than when the band kicked in with the chorus of "Rise UP!" Hands went in the air, waving back and forth. But many of these hands kept returning to faces, to wipe away the tears. I don't know if I've ever been moved to tears at a concert, but I found myself wiping my own eyes.

Springsteen ended with his version of "When the Saints Come Marching Home." He sang it almost as a hymn. It was one of the most beautiful versions of the song I have ever heard.

This concert went from joy to despair, from laughter to tears. Springsteen made the truth of the importance of the Jazz Fest on this day.

New Orleans: The Drive

James Lee Burke Writes on Katrina

James Lee Burke bring his character Dave Robicheaux into Katrina in his newest book. More here.

Bushisms of the Day

"What I'm telling you is there's too many junk lawsuits suing too many doctors." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 10, 2007

BOOK FUN

What author briefly abandoned the supernatural in the 1980s to pen The Feast of All Saints and Cry to Heaven?

Yesterday's answer: Haiti's

ROCK N ROLL HISTORY

Drummers Alan White, Bun E. Carlos and Bill Kreutzmann each performed behind the kit for their respective Rock and Roll bands. Name their bands.

Yesterday's answer: Telsa

WORD A DAY

ANOMALY: 1: deviation from the common rule: irregularity 2: something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified

Though it's not obvious, the Greek word homos, meaning "same," is a part of the etymology of "anomaly." It's also responsible for words like "homonym," "homogeneous," and "homophone," all of which have to do with sameness or similarity. So where is the link between today's word and the words just listed? "Anomaly" is a descendant of anomalos, which mean "uneven" or "irregular." Anomalos comes from the prefix a- (meaning "not") and the word homalos (meaning "even"). And homalos come from homos.

Random Thoughts on Katrina

At least they picked up the sign. Driving through New Orleans East, coming in from Slidell, on the right side of the highway, in what had been one of those groupings of stores in one area, there was a sign for Save-A-Lot supermarkets. It had been pushed forward by the winds and snapped in half, so it was laying on its side. Everytime I drove that highway I saw that sign. Yes, there were a lot worse things to see, right there on that highway in fact, but for me that sign became my white whale of Katrina. For over a year it sat there, next to a store that was no long in use, next to a whole bunch of other stores that were no longer fit to be used. Finally someone took the sign down and hauled it away.

The Sams store that was near the Save-A-Lot's has been cleared to the ground. So has the Walmart. The Lake Forest Mall, right across I-1o from all this has also been completed razed to the ground. I remember when I first moved to Louisiana we (we being my parents and brother and sister) drove all the way from the Westbank to Lake Forest out in New Orleans East for the Farrels ice cream parlor. There also was an ice skating rink in the middle of the mall.

There's a sign on the site where the Mall used to be saying that there is a Lowes coming soon. I'm not sure how they're going to find people to staff the store. They still don't have a grocery store open in New Orleans East. There are some people moving back, but they need stores near them that can provide the necessities. These stores need people that can provide work for them. It's a cruel circle.

My parents would still be living in Mississippi if hadn't been for Katrina. Or I mean my Mom would now. They only moved after the storm, when they came back to find their car patios in their front yard. I think the storm really scared my Mom, she was in a rush to move. Which has been a blessing and a curse. I miss not having her near here, more so now, since my Dad died. And when he was sick it was hard. But it is also good, because that is where all her family save for me and my brother is. There are a lot more family up there to give her support than either my brother or I could by ourselves.

I do have to admit that Katrina might have saved my life. After coming back from the storm I ended up in the hospital. My appendix had turned gangrene, the doctors told me another day and I would have been dead. I'm not much of a hospital person. I rarely go to doctors. The only reason I think I went than was that everyone was talking about "Katrina flu," people were getting it from the air and the water. The day before I had been on the Westbank with my brother, helping him pull up carpet. I thought I might have picked something up in the water from the flood. So I went. I was in a lot of pain, so even without that excuse I'd like to think I would have went to the doctor, but I don't know.

People in Lakeview, which was one of the hardest hit areas in the city, are actually making a comback. They've managed to do a lot of it on their own. With their own money, borrowing money, and getting the work done. Which is great and to take nothing from them, but they are also an affluent section of the city, so they had money to start with. Areas like the 9th Ward, which doesn't have the money to do it on their own are still hurting.

You can still drive down streets and see the big X's on the side of houses. The X was made when the rescue teams searched the house. They put the date, their unit number and the number of dead found in the house. Driving by a house with an X and a 1 or 2 written in black on the side is still chilling.

The little grocery store next to the fairgrounds where all us early birds for the Jazz Fest would go for breakfast is gone. This last Jazz Fest Larry and I huddled underneath its porch as the rain poured around us, but the doors were closed. The owners are said to have left town and have no plans on coming back.

One of our more honest (or so we thought) politicians, one of the few voices of reason after the storm, that called for us to come together as one, to not let race divide us, was proven to be less than sterling when he admited to taking a bribe, years before the storm. He did something that few politicians, especially ones from this state, did and apologize to the people and admit that he made a mistake and that he let a lot of people down.

Meanwhile "Dollar Bill" Jefferson continues to stockpile his freezer with cash and get re-elected. The Mayor is fairly quiet the past months, after making a fool of himself almost every time he opened his mouth. When we as a city needed a leader, someone to take charge and command action, get things done, he was hiding in one of the high rise hotels from the winds of the storm, not even wanting to come out of his room to talk to people.

I know people still living in FEMA trailers. But now FEMA wants their trailers back. They are telling people that they have to leave their trailers. But where can they go. Money to help people re build their lives is barely trickling in. The Road Home program has paid money to a very small percentage of the people needing the money.

It's easy to forget about us down here. It's been two years. Most people probably think that we're ok, that most people have rebuilt and moved on with their lives. But we're still a long ways from that goal. It's easy for the rest of the country to forget about us, since our government has pretty much forgotten about us. Bush doesn't want to be reminded of his ineptness in handling Katrina. He'll come down here for the anniversary and talk about how things are going so good and that things are on track and that he hasn't forgotten about us, but than he'll climb in Air Force One and fly over our lands again and look out the window and think about something else and forget who we are.

More Hypocritics

You know, I really don't care if Senator Larry Craig is gay or not, maybe he just likes to swing on both sides of the fence, that's cool. What bothers me is that when guys like this end up in situations like this they are usually shown to be the ones that screamed the loudest in the Senate about how terrible gays are or how bad Clinton is for having a woman give him oral sex. Senator Craig has been a very loud voice in support of the military's policy of kicking a solider out for engaging in the same type of acts that he's accused of.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Katrina effects the Presidental Race

But really how much? It'll be a lot of talk, but I'm afraid little action. Read more here.

Will Hoge: Washed By The Water

This is a great song by Will Hoge and it also concerns Katrina. This is one of the best hurricane songs recorded after Katrina.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Happy Birthday Jack Kirby

Today Jack Kirby would have been 90. For those who do not recognize this name he is one of the most important creators in the comic book field. From the birth of the comic book market to the 70s Mr. Kirby has had a hand in creating characters and concepts that have defined the comic book market. One of his creations was this comic:

With Stan Lee he helped create the Marvel comics universe. Also included here is an interview with him and introduced by Harlan Ellison.

Bruce and E Street back on Tour!

The day his new album Magic drops (Oct. 2) Bruce starts a new tour with his old group, the E Street Band. So far his site lists 16 cities they're playing in the States before they head overseas. Unfortunately none of the cities are New Orleans. The word is that this will be the last tour with Bruce and the E Street Band. I might just have to see about traveling to another city to catch a show.

Bo Diddley Has Heart Attack

It wasn't that long ago he had a stroke. Now after going in for a medical check-up Bo Diddley has had a heart attack. His condition is listed as stable right now.

Will Hoge: Concert Poster for Boston