by Richard Bienvenu. All About the Music, Food, Events, Culture and Everyday Life in New Orleans, One of the World's Unique and Most Beloved Cities
This lady really knows how to do it. How to second line. Such feeling, such grace, such gracia. Can you learn this? I don’t think so. It’s in the blood, the bones, the spirit. It bubbles up from the street. Authentic, real. Truly New Orleans.
Posted in New Orleans Culture, New Orleans Festivals, New Orleans Food, New Orleans Music, New Orleans Videos.
– December 3, 2011
You know you love it. That silky flavor of Spanish ham or jamon. Only recently has it been allowed to be imported to the U.S. Xavier shows you how to do it. Does it make your mouth water? Do you feel that hole in your stomach that can only be satisfied with jamon serrano? How about it? Xavier would love to slice some up for you. He’s waiting, amigo.
Posted in New Orleans Restaurants, New Orleans Videos.
– December 2, 2011
Years ago, too many too recall now, I lived in Seville, Spain, the place I got my start in teaching English as a second language. Living in Spain, especially southern Spain, Andalucia to be exact, was revelatory for me. I mean it was eye-opening, I mean it expanded my horizons in so many ways that I am still affected by it to this day. They say that you must travel to foreign countries, even live in a foreign country to break you out of the mold of your familiar and sometimes restrictive surroundings.
The thing about Seville though was there was a real familiarity about it, I mean there was something that was akin to New Orleans in it, the food culture, the history, the architecture, the neighborhoods, the music … ah yes, the music! The Flamenco! Ay, yai yai. They have a style of Flamenco singing called Cante Jondo which in its improvisatory style is akin to Blues, although sounds nothing like it.
Not only that the French Quarter in New Orleans should really be called the Spanish Quarter since the architecture, with its patios with interior fountains and gardens, the balconies with it’s grill work, is all of southern Spain. Walking through the old quarter of Seville, the Barrio de Santa Cruz where I lived, was very much like walking through the French Quarter. It had a similar feel.
To show you my then ignorance of Spanish food culture — I thought that we’d be eating beans, tortillas and hot sauce! Ha. I was so wrong. What I got exposed to almost immediately in Spain were tapas, these little dishes of delightful, simple, inexpensive food served at bars, sometimes free with your beer or wine that would encourage you to drink more. They would serve jamon seranno, salad, shrimp, potato salad, croquettas, olives, bread and other little tasty appetizer type things served individually on a little plate. You could actually have a nice meal just by getting several tapas. And they were pretty healthy too.
When I came back to the states I found that I really missed the tapas. I thought it was such a good and simple idea that I wondered why local bars didn’t include them in their bar menus. Then these tapas restaurants started to show up but the thing about them was the price on the each tapas plate was ridiculous. It was as if they didn’t the tapas idea of inexpensive little tastes of good food at all.
A few blocks from my house in the Riverbend area, Xavier Laurentino has opened up his own version of a tapas place and being from Spain, Barcelona to be exact, his tapas are authentic, made with the best ingredients and aren’t ridiculously priced. The chef is very talented and serves some of the best tapas I’ve ever had.
We ordered about 14 plates for the four of us and our favorites were the lamb chops — succulent, juicy, tender — an incredibly tender squid steak — never seen it served like this, bomba — a fried round potatoey thingy with meat, and well, I don’t remember the rest but they were all good and worth ordering again.
While the others ordered wine I got fino, a very dry type of Sherry that I learned how to drink in Spain. Most bars or restaurants in the States don’t serve it, never heard of it. No, it’s not like Dry Sack or what you are used to drinking as Sherry, those are too sweet. Your first sip of fino will make your lips curl.
It took me weeks of drinking fino daily to get me to the point that I actually preferred it over your typical Sherry. In fact in Spain most people drink fino, that sweet Sherry they export to less, ahem, discerning tastes. So sitting there with my fino and these incredible tapas engaged in conversation with friends was almost like being back in Spain.
Ah, Spain, next to New Orleans, my favorite place in the world. All that was missing was a talented Flamenco guitarist. But Chef Xavier, an authentic Spaniard in the full sense of the word, spent quite a while talking with us at our table, so if you can’t have a live guitarist then a live talented Spanish chef is close enough.
Posted in New Orleans Culture, New Orleans Food, New Orleans History, New Orleans Restaurants.
– December 1, 2011
I remember it well. It was exactly a year after Hurricane Katrina. Me and my coffee klatch were all sitting in PJ’s after Mass at St. Patrick’s and we were all still reeling from the feeling of the tidal wave of emotions the hurricane had rendered and all of us were quietly trying to put our lives back in order.
We were the lucky ones who had very little to deal with because we had little damage to our homes. At our house we just needed to replace our entire roof was all.
I remember coming back and inspecting our house for damage. Finding none I decided to go up into the attic to see if I was missing something. As I climbed the stairs I saw little pinholes of light coming through the wood between the rafters. We must’ve lost some shingles on the north side of the house. Upon further inspection by a professional it was found that shingles were torn up all over the roof and that it needed to be replaced. The roof was almost twenty years old as it was so a new one was due anyway.
Of course, replacing a roof was nothing compared to what others had to deal with. Although there was little damage to our house and to others in the neighborhood we had seen extensive damage to other parts of the city, especially Lakeview, Mid City and the Lower Ninth Ward. Seeing all that destruction felt like a punch in the gut.
The daily news was filled with updates about how the city was maintaining and recovering. Some of it was encouraging some of it depressing.
But anyone who lived in the city no matter what type of damage they had or what experiences they had were all affected by it. I mean New Orleans is our home, people were suffering, some people were trying to get back, others were in permanent or semi-permanent exile.
On top of that was having to live smack in the middle of all the government incompetence, the what now can be considered the “dark ages” of the Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco administrations, the floundering of the feds, and the almost daily revelations of the incompetence and negligence of the Corps of Engineers, perhaps the real villains in the Katrina story.
So on that day of August 29, 2006 one of our coffee klatch had found the newest periodical on the stand on the way to the restrooms, had grabbed several copies and gave one to each of us. We stared at this strange new thing and suddenly we all found ourselves laughing at the front page, the name and the slogan: The New Orleans Levee – We don’t hold anything back.
A brilliant play on words and a brilliant idea for a city much in need of laughter. We doubled over at the second page story of Bill Jefferson, the crooked congressman who had stashed $90,000 of cash in his freezer. But wait he hadn’t stolen the money, according to The Levee, it was just a rebate from Frigidaire!
That first edition was funny, I mean hilariously funny, some of us had tears in our eyes as we read the headlines to each other. It was good to laugh like that and it’s been good to laugh for the past 5 years at the humor and mischief of The Levee. I guess it’s been successful since they have not missed an issue since the beginning and they don’t seem to have trouble finding advertisers. The writing is funny, clever and to the point and it’s delicious watching how they skewer our local figures and their shenanigans.
So thank you Rudy Vorkapic and Gogo Geaux (whoever you really are) and all the people that put this paper together. Congratulations for your success in for bringing your brains and your ridiculousness to New Orleans, a city that revels in the ridiculous 24/7.
Posted in Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Art, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life.
– October 5, 2011
Several years ago I had the privilege of meeting Archbishop Philip Hannan at a private fundraiser at a home in Lakeview. I was standing on the porch at the top of the stairs when I saw Hannan walk up. He came over, extended his hand and I introduced myself. He said something about my last name being a good Louisiana one and we stood talking for what seemed like several minutes.
What surprised me was that he was totally engaged in our conversation and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to move on. I mean a lot of times you meet someone famous and if they don’t know you just kind of exchange some pleasantries before they move onto someone ‘more important.’
Hannan was not like that at all. He was having a conversation with me and was totally focused on that and nothing else. We chatted as if we were old friends.
Right then it struck me why this man had been so successful as an archbishop and why he continued to be a such success in his retirement: He loved people and he loved New Orleans. He was totally authentic, without guile.
To be honest I had heard of Hannan, that he had been our archbishop for about 24 years and I guessed that he was well- liked. But I did not know too much about his accomplishments.
However, in meeting him and the way that he treated me and the ease with which we carried on a conversation told me all that I needed to know about the man. He was someone who was honest, had integrity, had a purpose and was driven by it and was also a man of God. Even though he was in his 90s when I met him there was a robustness about him that was impressive.
I have never really met a saint before but Hannan I feel is probably the closest that I will ever come to meeting one face to face. There was something profound and saintly about him. That is the only way I can describe it: I felt that I had met someone holy.
There was nothing pretentious about him or ostentatious. He was completely down to earth and with a love and warmth that exuded from him.
A year or two ago I was there when he gave a talk at the World War II Museum recounting some of his experiences in the war as a paratrooper priest. They called him the “jumping Padre.” He seemed a little more frail at the time but his memory was clear, his voice was strong and his humor was sharp. I was amazed that a man of his age would be out and about still giving talks, still meeting people. That is a testament to his commitment to the people of New Orleans, as well as, to his country.
Although he was not originally from here he became a New Orleanian by infusing himself in the culture and extending the hand of friendship to everyone, from the wealthiest and well-connected to our most needy citizens. He became part of the culture itself.
He became one of our city’s greatest leaders. New Orleans has been blessed over the years of our history with extraordinary people. Hannan, friend of the Kennedys who gave the eulogy at JFK’s funeral Mass has done so much our city and will not be forgotten. He knew his purpose and fulfilled it with love and grace, inspiring us along the way.
Mayor Landrieu says it best:
“Today, New Orleans has lost one of its greatest leaders in our nearly 300-year history. A World War II veteran, he assumed the role of Archbishop during one of our city’s most difficult periods, just on the heels of Hurricane Betsy. A builder in the truest form and a man dedicated to education, from his earliest days he led the rebuilding of badly damaged churches and schools and drove the creation of a strong Catholic school system throughout the Archdiocese. Archbishop Hannan was also a firm believer in caring for the community’s seniors and the poor, leading important housing and social justice programs.
“Archbishop Hannan was a devoted man to his family, his church, and this community. He consistently stood for a vibrant, God-fearing community, and he truly was a spiritual shepherd to his flock.”
Posted in New Orleans History, New Orleans Life.
– September 30, 2011
Leave it to an Cambridge-educated Brit to come up with the perfect moniker for New Orleans – his Jerusalem. Religious folks take pilgrimages to that city in Israel so it fits that blues and jazz musicians and anyone who is a fan of those styles would make a pilgrimage where this true American music got it’s birth. Makes perfect sense.
Laurie who plays the iconic Dr. House on TV and nails the American accent beautifully on that show has been seen recently around the city, riding his bike in the Quarter and having his first ever live performance to tout his new CD Let Them Talk.
This performance was part of the PBS special Great Performances which Laurie hosted documenting his pilgrimage to New Orleans which started in Texas and ends in the Crescent City. Along for the ride are Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John who sings while Laurie accompanies him on piano.
Laurie said in a recent interview:
“I completely understand if someone says, ‘This isn’t the real thing’ or ‘Who do you think you are?’” he said. “I get it. I absolutely get it.
“I can only say I have as much respect for and love for this music as I know how to have. I would fight a man who disrespected this music. I don’t come from the city. I have no ties to that city beyond what it has given me over an ocean and thousands of miles.
“It’s very subtle and subliminal. It’s elegant and graceful, but it seeps into everything and seeps into all of us, and it is inarguably America’s greatest gift to the world. The martini runs a close second.
“That’s all I can say. I can say I love it in as respectful a way as I know how.”
Read more about Hugh Laurie and his visit to New Orleans.
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Posted in New Orleans Art, New Orleans Culture, New Orleans Music, New Orleans Videos.
– September 28, 2011
Part Deux
Here it is to be in the this place,
of pleasure and misery, and joy and pain.
Of the sighing in the night
as the oaks in the distance call and sway in the breeze.
The smell of the air, the night jasmine,
and the roofline and the lamps lighting the way
casting their yellow shadows on the long form.
It is the norm of it all.
Against the night sky,
the moon bright and full in its glory
above the gingerbread rooftops,
trying to catch the essence of this city,
of the Quarter.
It is the moon in all its mystery and beauty
casting its brilliance and art down on us below
and filling us like a frame of life
and art and love and being.
Here in this ancient town,
the deep history of it, the swaying of it, the calling of it.
The long last line of it.
The howling of the wolf in the forest,
we are the wolves howling at the moon.
We are the lunatics who drink ourselves silly,
who party like no tomorrow,
who bed the women in the upstairs bungalow
while the fountains play in the courtyard
and the cries of ecstasy are sent up to heaven.
We know about pleasure here and we know about sin
and we know about redemption.
And we know about the spirits
who have lined this place with the sweat of their backs.
Now things are quiet as the night settles down.
The sound of piano in the ancient bar,
the candlelit tables,
the quiet sound of conversation,
the exchanging of ideas and the laughter
and reminisces of the day.
Away and away and away.
Part Trois
Look down that alley, and you’ll see history
in the bricks and mortar,
the tropical plants that line the wall,
the lamplight casting its yellow shimmer into the shadows,
the spot and pool of light
and the dark New Orleans sky above.
Yesterday I took a photo in Jackson Square,
a man and his dog crossed the camera view
as I trained the lens to catch the moon
and the lighted lampposts against the night sky.
As I pressed the button the camera held a second or two
and afterward revealed in the viewer
a ghost image of a man and his dog,
transparent like ghosts they were crossing in front of the square
echoing the ghosts that have crossed here by the thousands.
In the fog and the night dew.
Posted in New Orleans Art, New Orleans Culture, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life, New Orleans Poetry.
– September 22, 2011
Part Un
Stockpiles of yearnings delivered to the back door of remembrance.
The locks rusted and fallen in the river-clayed mud.
The bracing of the fast wind, too powerful for justice,
blown out doors carrying soot and dew.
I remember you.
This is the lost lawn upon which the land of no time
dreamt itself out of existence.
From out of no existence existence bred.
Now along the limed lane
lies the levee in all its resplendence.
The hill top and hell top,
the bumps in the grindings of waddles and beer.
The sweaty palmed Sundays,
the holes in the cast iron brazings
now on and on into the night sky.
I ask, what is this here? Where is the corn?
Where is the new morn with all its resplendence
and the sky broken into a thousand pieces
as I look at the shadow under the moon.
The extra crescent that floats in the eye.
I will draw myself nigh to the moon,
the tune brazen in the lamplight,
it pulls me to its melody.
Now as I lean against the far wall,
the wall in the outside protected-ever patio
in the courtyard of the two-storied building.
I look up from the candle-lit tables
and see the roofline of the old Quarter buildings
play against the night sky.
The up and up of it,
the stretching out of it.
On the high verandah walk,
I imagine the pretty girl all in flimsy white,
the breeze catching the dress
and her long dark hair in the emptiness.
The sound of the music,
the music wild and free here in this country,
calling the country to be.
The feeling of this ghost of a city,
the history and plaintive cry of the ecstasy, of alive.
This place that is art itself, like living inside a painting,
like I am the painting be.
And the air of it, the up and up of it,
the near of this and the far of that,
over the rooflines moving
like a mountain range of rooftops.
Posted in New Orleans Art, New Orleans Culture, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life, New Orleans Poetry.
– September 21, 2011
Harry Shearer, best known for his voices on The Simpsons especially the evil industrialist Mr. Burns as well as appearances in mockumentaries such as Best in Show, is a resident of New Orleans. Last year he produced The Big Uneasy
Most people around the world believe that the destruction and flooding of New Orleans was a natural disaster. Still today after six years the news media still puts forth this tired old saw.
What most people don’t realize is the the inundation of New Orleans by a storm surge could have been prevented. Most folks here believed and trusted that the US Army Corps of Engineers knew what they were doing and had built our levee system to be strong and impermeable and had built it up to standards.
The disaster that occurred in New Orleans in 2005 was unprecedented and a big black eye for the Corps because it was their engineering and organizational incompetence that flooded the city. We were all living under the notion that the levee systems were built well and the protecting us. They weren’t.
Shearer’s The Big Uneasy
The emotional side was all the poor blacks who lost their homes from the flooding. The truth is that just as many if not more whites lost their homes in the flooding. The truth is that the Corps of Engineers with their shoddy designs and construction and incompetent management flooded the city.
Billions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on this levee system. And after the flood it took months and months of investigations and constant pounding by independent scientists and investigators to finally get the Corps to admit any culpability.
So after all that and all the obfuscation, misdirection and cover up, which to many New Orleanians was criminal, the Corps doubled down and went right ahead and spent billions on the repair of the levee system using the same outmoded engineering ideas and construction design that flooded the city in the first place.
They put in a temporary control structure at the 17 Street Canal using million dollar pumps that kept destroying themselves in the testing phase. Yet, they still installed them. Why? Well, as related by the on site project manager standing in front of these pumps said, “If they only have a 1% chance of working then it’s worth it.”
It’s telling that no one in the Corps was reprimanded or lost their jobs over this disaster. Compare this to a whistle blower within the Corps in charge of pump construction oversight who was essentially fired, a scientist in charge of the hurricane center at LSU who was terminated because he and his colleagues spoke out against the Corps and their negligence, and a renowned engineer who was ostracized and called an enemy of the United States by his colleagues.
Every American should see this film. It’s a cautionary tale because there are hundreds of flood control structures in the United States built and maintained by the Corps of Engineers. It’s also important that people realize that the flooding of a great American city with the loss of hundreds of lives and the near destruction of entire neighborhoods need not have happened.
Do we in New Orleans feel any safer now? Maybe a little but not much. It is our duty as citizens to take our government agencies to task and make sure they are living up to their “mission statements” and doing the jobs they have been created to do, that of protecting citizens and making sure we can live our lives free of endemic organizational bureaucratic corruption that was on full display in the unnatural disaster of the flooding following Hurricane Katrina.
Posted in Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans History.
– September 15, 2011
Twice in one week is unusual for me but The American Sector at the World War II Museum in New Orleans was good enough for me to splurge and order the same thing twice.
The setup is pretty cute and respectful with period type dishes and a menu the style of which reflects the type of artwork and design used back in the 40′s. Airy and open with lots of glass and lots of class this young bistro is the new talked about place from the prolific and nice guy chef John Besh.
This guy is handsome and dynamic with a killer smile. I admire him and what he has done for our city. Here is a guy who came back after Katrina and started opening restaurants and really helped the city get off its knees and back into the limelight of cuisine culture.
Of course, New Orleans has its own culture of cuisine that no place else can touch. And I can say that without any reservations because I’ve eaten in a lot of places here and abroad and as far as I’m concerned no place can match the mix of culture, class, haute cuisine and low cuisine like New Orleans can.
Folks come from all over the world to bask in our celebration of class and decadence. We have the young and the old, the in and the out, the high and the low. Each style of cuisine is like musical notes and it all blends together in a wonderful symphony of texture, flavor, culture and down-homeness.
Well, I’m getting a little off here from the subject. But I just felt I needed to give a little background to what I am saying.
Anyway, I went with my cousins who were entertaining other cousins from the San Francisco bay area. They come here a least once a year and have their favorite places to go. So we decided to spend a little lunchtime at the American Sector.
The waiter we had was James, a young, nice-looking, sweet, unassuming guy who really took care of us. His service was excellent, very attentive without being overbearing. He was the perfect waiter.
We ordered some appetizers, one of a pickled plate which was delicious, the rabbit pate served in a tin can a la “c” rations and then some fried chicken gizzards. Now I always thought gizzards were tough but these things were as tender as can be, and with a dip of mustard sauce, they were perfect and scrumptious. Yummy. Yum yum.
I wanted to eat light so I ordered the down home tomato soup that came with a grilled ham and cheese. 8 bucks. The soup was great by itself but when I dipped the sandwich in it and took a bite? Incredible. I mean that’s the way it’s supposed to taste.
The soup came in a tin can which they poured into a small white cup. One cousin got lamb meatballs in a delicious sauce, my other cousin got pork cheeks in another delicious sauce that is indescribable and the daughter got a chicken breast sandwich that was so huge that she couldn’t eat it. I mean she just saw it said she couldn’t eat it. It was just too big for her. So the rest of us dug into it and what was left we took home to my mom who later said it was delicious.
The walls are lined with photographs of movie stars and celebrities from the war era and on the big screen TV they show movies and clips from USO shows. What I like about the place is that it feels good. The decor fits the food and is never overwhelming. With little touches like the tin cans and the feeling that maybe you might be eating in an upscale mess hall is just the right note for the American Sector Cafe at the World War II Museum, a place that honors those who risked their lives to help keep the world free.
Posted in New Orleans Food, New Orleans Landmarks, New Orleans Restaurants.
– September 9, 2011
The storm was coming, we had been warned, with possible street flooding and 20 inches of rain. Yikes! OK. That’s New Orleans weather for you. So we got a bunch of rain and the depression was transformed into Tropical Storm Lee. And the proper amount of fear instilled by the news media.
Yet, I couldn’t help thinking that, you know, usually hurricanes don’t dump that much rain but since this system was slow moving we could have some flooding.
I had gotten the generator started and ready to go, stocked up on batteries for the radio and flashlights and shopped for some food. I lowered the outdoor umbrella, clipped and tied off a rose bush that had gotten knocked over by the first winds and trimmed some leggy vinca that was being whipped about.
Friday afternoon I went out to the New Orleans Marina to check on our sailboat and the water had risen considerably.
I had to remove my shoes to step down onto the dock because it was already under water by a bout a foot. In the fifteen minutes it took for me to adjust the lines the water had risen at least another foot and was right below my knees. Seeing that I’m 6’3″ with long legs that is considerable.
Water was pouring through the concrete in the marina parking lot and I went down the road intending to drive out to the Southern Yacht Club but the street, the park and that whole area, including the Coconut Beach volleyball facility, was entirely under water.
We didn’t lose power and was able to watch TV and do some computer work while the wind gusts blew the trees around and some occasional hard rain fell on the house.
But I was right. It didn’t really rain hard enough at one time to cause much flooding in the city. The pumps were able to keep up with the inundation and as I drove around the city during the rainiest times I say no flooding anywhere.
Now that the storm has passed we have a nice cool day with beautiful sunny skies and a light breeze. The windows are open which is one of the pluses of this type of weather. I like being able to breathe and feel the outside air and hear the cars on the street and all the other activity that comes and goes outside during the day.
Personally, I like all kinds of weather. I like the storms and the rain, the heat and the cold. And I really appreciate the beautiful, sunny New Orleans weather that we are having today.
Posted in New Orleans Life.
– September 6, 2011
So here we go. New Orleans with a storm sitting out in the gulf, they call it Tropical Depresson 13 or is it Tropical Storm Lee? perhaps, waiting to hit us and drop tons of water on us but I just wonder about all that and how much of it is just media hype, yes, even from the Weather Channel.
They say we can get 20 inches of rain in the next three days. Well, OK, but if it is a slow moving system then that will be spread out over a period of time, over days, and as we know in hurricanes it’s mainly wind not water. I mean, yes, there is water as in storm surge and such and rising water caused by the surge but usually not much rain is dumped.
But perhaps this will be a different thing, as it seems like it is going to sit and spin and go up and around again. All we have to be concerned about is the water in the streets and the pumps being able to pump out fast enough to keep the streets from getting too much water. Of course, there will be places in the city that will flood. That is a given in this type of system. We have flooding several times a year here anyway in heavy downpours.
As I type this it is early morning, overcast and looks like late afternoon. There is no rain and there looks to be a slight breeze outside, just barely enough to move a few branches. So it looks just like a typical overcast day.
Getting Prepared
Maybe we will not see the sun for a few days as this system plays itself out. I hope that we don’t lose power although I do have a nice little Honda generator to keep the fridge going and some fans and some lights. I will have to go out and fill up the 5 gallon gas can so we can have gas if need be.
So we have been through this before but not with a 97 year old mom. If the power goes out as long as I can keep some ice handy for ice water and maybe a nice neck wrap and all that to ward off the heat. So we will see what we will see, as my dad used to say.
I’m also going to go to Sam’s Club and buy a bunch of food, stock up and get ready not only for the storm but for labor day weekend.
The Early Days
I was wondering what it was like back in the early days of New Orleans history, back before there was electricity and weather services and such. They did have barometers so they knew when something was coming, they could see the pressure drop.
I am almost positive that the Indians knew when something was coming. That there were those who could read the weather and the sky, look at the birds and such and get a sense that something impending was coming.
It would be hard for me to believe that people were not aware enough to know that they were in for something and took precautions. Although, I can’t imagine what kind of precautions they would have taken. Maybe stocking up on water and food and closing the shutters and boarding up windows.
I’m guessing the Indians taught them how to read the weather if they didn’t already know how to do it. Europe didn’t get hurricanes like we do so it must have been a learning curve in that regard when they started settling here.
But after being here for a few generations I’m sure that the New Orleanians at least those who took on that duty to be aware of such things probably figured out that something was up. They could probably see the color of the sky, the way the entire sky was dark and filled with clouds.
Here in the summertime we don’t usually have the entire sky filled with clouds or rain falling on the entire city at once, it’s usually spotty storms that move around the city. Sometimes you can be walking down the street in sunshine and right across the street it will be pouring. No kidding.
But back then they could see that something was different in the weather, maybe even the quiet before the storm as it is right now. A few birds sing, the air is still and the sky is completely grey. As they say the calm before the storm.
Just Waiting
That is the way it feels right now, like waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know. And when it drops it will drop 20 inches of water, at least that is what they say. But I always have to wonder about the news media since they are so accustomed to frightening people, so committed to the drama and saying words like dangerous and terrible and all that stuff. Instead of just reporting they have to editorialize, instead of just giving us the facts that have to paint a violent and dangerous scenario. Gets kind of old after a while.
So we sit and wait and go about our business and get the gas and the groceries, get the flashlights together, bring out the candles and oil lamps. It’s actually kind of fun in a way torn out of your routine, living a little differently, a little more primitively, reading by your battery powered lamp or the kerosene lantern, casting big shadows on the walls, little pools of light moving from room to room.
It’s the heat at night and the day that I am concerned about, having to keep the windows closed. I just pray that we don not lose power or if we do that it only be a few hours.
Posted in Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life.
– September 2, 2011
Third. The people that suffered in the city were only poor blacks. This was encouraged of course by the news media who always like to focus on the disadvantaged and the underdog simply because it makes for conflict and drama. Good television.
And then there are people like the Spike Lee director of the documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts
In New Orleans everybody suffered in one form or another.
Fourth. New Orleans is not worth spending the money to rebuild. This is the one that gets me the most. Most people don’t realize that New Orleans is the birthplace of what we would consider American culture.
This is the birthplace of Jazz, the greatest cultural gift that America gave to the world. This music gave rise to Rock and Roll and other cultural art forms. Our foodways are unique as well, a true melting pot of Western old world culture mixed with the new world.
People come from all over the planet to eat here. Our neighborhood restaurants are not Denny’s or McDonalds but little hole-in-the-wall places that serve delicious New Orleans food at rock bottom prices.
In fact, in New Orleans we still have a true culture. People live in houses and neighborhoods over 100 years old, some 200. Where most of the country has lost their connection to the past and ripped up cities and neighborhoods in the name of progress we not only maintain our houses and neighborhoods we celebrate them and hold fast to our culture and traditions. Why? Because it makes us happy. Because it gives us a sense of belonging, a sense of family, a sense of community and a sense of purpose.
Yes, New Orleans has its problems like any city and we’re working on them. Katrina, which comes from the root word for “cleansing”, has exposed a lot that was wrong with the city and what we will no longer tolerate. It has made people more socially and politically active. It has shown people that when we work together for a common purpose amazing and wonderful things can happen.
That is happening now in the city and it’s a great and exciting time to live here, common misconceptions notwithstanding.
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Posted in Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life.
– August 30, 2011
Today marks the six year anniversary of the catastrophe that hit our beloved city of New Orleans. As many folks here know it was not the hurricane that caused all the damage and flooded the city. No. What a lot of people don’t realize is that although Katrina was a category 5 hurricane when it was out in the gulf by the time it hit land it had been reduced to a category 3.
So what caused all the flooding? Were the levees overtopped? No. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the aftermath of Katrina was a manmade disaster of epic proportions not only through incompetence and negligence from the Corps of Engineers but the incredible disorganization and ineptitude of the government from FEMA and state on down to the local level.
Common Katrina Misconceptions
First. Katrina caused the city to flood, that it was a natural disaster. It was not. The Corps was at fault and almost 100% so. The failed levee system on the outfall canals built and maintained by the Corps of Engineers was faulty from the get go. Poorly designed and arrogantly defended by a bureaucracy that wasted billions of taxpayers money.
The thing of it is and what many in the rest of the country don’t yet realize is the the Corps has numerous projects around the nation that are meant to protect citizens from floods.
Sacramento, California is more vulnerable than New Orleans to mass flooding since a greater percentage of that area lies below sea level. And those systems have been built by the same incompetency that caused the flooding of our fair city.
If you want to get an in depth and shocking idea of how the Corps operates watch the documentary The Big Uneasy
Second. New Orleans is a bowl and it all sits under sea level. The news media would like you to believe that because it makes for good drama. The truth is that fifty percent of the city lies above sea level. The oldest sections of the city, which includes the neighborhood where I live and lies closest to the river, did not flood at all because they are at or above sea level.
The parts of the city that did flood used to be swampland and if you were to look at an old map of the city and overlay it on a modern map you would see that the parts of the city that did flood were the parts that in the old city were uninhabited because they were at that time nothing but swamp.
As the population grew swamps were drained and built upon. The problem was that when they took out the water they didn’t do anything to build up that land to make it level with the rest of the city. Consequently you have whole neighborhoods that sit below sea level and are prone to flooding even during downpours that we so frequently have in this city.
Posted in New Orleans History, New Orleans Life.
– August 30, 2011
I must confess that the original version of this article was not very complementary to this series. Although I am from here and live here I found that some of the elements of Treme to be, well, a little annoying to say the least.
We rented the first season from Netflix as we don’t have HBO and after hearing so much about it was eager to see how they depicted the city especially after Katrina. My 97 year old mom and I went through all four disks of the series one right after the other.
The first thing that struck me was the constant and almost annoying use of the f-word. I mean, I use it from time to time when I am really pissed off, like slamming a hammer onto my thumb, or getting a freaking plumbing snake stuck down a drainpipe and getting black disgusting drainpipe sludge all over the bathroom and my clothes. I mean those are the useful times to send out a violent slew of f-bombs. (Jumping up and down like a child in a temper tantrum helps too.)
But the almost constant use of the word by almost everyone in the show is just a little too much. I mean come on. I live in New Orleans and, yeah, people do use the f-word on occasion. But not like on this program. It’s mostly college students walking up and down our street late at night after a bout of drinking.
I mean I think it just gets tiring after a while. And yeah we get it. It’s hip and cool. With the freedom of cable TV f-bombs are now the cool thing. The series would have you think that everyone peppers their everyday language with f-bombs. Yes, I hear it occasionally. But continually and ubiquitously as depicted in this series? No.
I’m harping on this because, yes, there were a lot people pissed off after Katrina. Myself included. How the city was treated by the national news media and some idiotic politicians suggesting that we shouldn’t rebuild made our blood boil. Along with the incredible incompetence and of the Corps of Engineers …well, don’t get me started.
I know people were angry after Katrina, some more than others depending of course on your situation and where you were in the city. Still even during those times you came across people just trying to cope and maintain some manner of decorum and class.
Heck, many reactions to the absurdity of it all, from all the government incompetence from the federal level on down, was laughter and a knowing shake of a head. This does not take away from the horrible situations people found themselves in. Anyone who took a drive to the lower ninth ward after the storm felt the tragedy of all those people losing their homes as a literal punch in the gut.
Anyway, after watching the first few episodes we were getting so tired of all the angry people that we almost cancelled the rest of the DVDs. But we had one episode to go on the second disk and by the time that was finished, well, we were hooked. Dangit.
The characters, many despicable in some ways, are all lovable and if you lived through Katrina you can really get their anguish and the reason for all the anger.
The producers decision to include a lot of our world class home grown musical and acting talent is wise and brilliant. I find powerful and moving the opening credit sequence with the Treme theme song [shown above] showing hurricane footage of rushing water inundating homes, and the little “still-lifes” of black and rainbow colored mold climbing walls. The song itself is of the city: full of life, drive and purpose.
The depiction of our town with all its quirks, beauty, corruption, life and romance I find to be amazingly accurate. And really puts New Orleans on full display as much as a TV series can. The producers get it, that elusive, nearly indescribable quality that makes up the uniqueness of this place. In truth, descriptions are futile. It has to be experienced. Treme gives you as much of that experience as possible.
I like the way the producers have included all social ranks and races of the city without apology, judgment or pandering. Everyone is tragically flawed and they all know it, which makes this such an engaging and addictive series. Like a good book you gotta keep turning the pages and you just can’t put it down.
Treme is probably the truest depiction of the Crescent City since that old and wonderful but short-lived series Frank’s Place. I get goosebumps when I think of that show. Each half hour was like a little gem of a movie and although not filmed here the producers on that show really got New Orleans in all its quirkiness and customs and delight. (The star of that show actually has a bit part as a judge in Treme. Nice that Treme included him in the series.)
So we are looking forward to the DVD release of season 2, f-bombs and all. Don’t get me wrong I’m not averse to f-bombs when called for. I mean how funny would My Cousin Vinny be without them?
Posted in Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Culture, New Orleans History, New Orleans Life, New Orleans Music, New Orleans Videos.
– August 26, 2011
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