    "Eating, drinking and carrying on..." -- Adelaide Brennan
The dilemma this summer. Residents of New Orleans will have to decide, as Mick Jones sang, "Should I stay or should I go?" New Orleans sinking faster than expected. Great.
I'll bet somebody brings up Da East here. Apropos of this, to anyone who brings up the Lower Ninth and thinks it shouldn't be rebuilt because it flooded so badly ... the Lower Ninth Ward is actually at a higher elevation than Lakeview, and nobody's suggesting that the area where lots of rich white folks live shouldn't be rebuilt. The Lower Ninth was destroyed because the levee and floodwall at the Industrial Canal failed. Back to the article:
Actually, the people in St. Bernard and Da East got wiped out because the goddamn MR-GO existed in the first place and, as predicted, the storm surge went right up it and over the levees.
Oh, big fucking surprise.
How much ya wanna bet they don't do that, and rebuild concrete walls instead? Jazzfest, Day 2. I've been getting behind. After a glorious first day of the most important Jazzfest ever, we plunged right into Day 2. Always the first questions, "Whatta we gonna eat?"  Today's first answer came from Michael, who recommended Shrimp and Sausage Maquechoux. Pronounced "MOCK-shoe," it was a dish that supposedly the Cajuns learned from local Native American tribes, and gradually Cajunized over the years. It's basically corn sautéed in butter with black and a little red pepper, plus sweet peppers and whatever else you want to put in it. (Here's my own recipe.) This was a very good example of the dish, with lots of plump shrimp and a good smokey flavor from the sausage. Next, a New Orleans standard little-known outside the city, which I wanted despite my lack of hangover:  Ya ka mein (say "ya-ka-MAIN" or "ya-ka-MEEN") has been a staple in New Orleans black community for years, served at bars and corner groceries and at second-lines. The Times-Picayune ran an article about the stuff a month or so ago, and in the interview with Linda Green, the city's best and most proficient "Ya Ka Mein Lady," she said that it probably came back with black soldiers returning home to New Orleans from the Korean War (it's "Seoul food!" ... ahem). Asian noodles gave way to good old spaghetti, topped with chopped meat, green onions, a half a hard-boiled egg and a beef-soy sauce broth ladled over the top. You can additionally season your serving with Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, more soy sauce or ketchup. Unfortunately Miss Linda's momma told her not to give the recipe out, so she gives out a "basic" recipe that omits the seasonings added to the broth that make it "special." I'll start working on my own version in the next week or so, and we'll see how it goes. I'll post it when I'm happy with it. Oh yeah, there was music, too.  We hadn't been to the Gospel Tent at all yet, so we headed there first. Wes remembered Voices of Distinction from previous fests, although oddly enough I didn't. I wish I had, though -- they were terrific (who isn't, really, in the Gospel Tent?), with glorious harmonies and pure power. Man, those ladies can sing. 
 Back to Economy Hall for some tradidtional jazz. I'm a huge fan of jazz clarinet, and there are a bunch of really great players in New Orleans right now. One of my favorites is my old high school classmate Tim Laughlin, who sat behind me at band practice. I, of course, haven't touched my horn in years, and now looka dis guy. An amazing clarinetist, and outstanding composer as well. Several years back Tim got tired of playing standards over and over and began composing; his second most recent album The Isle of Orleans is entirely original compisitions. Check that out, along with his newest album Live in Germany and all the rest, at his web site. We bounced over to the Southern Comfort Stage (packed with about 40,000 people) and managed to sneak in the side for a pretty good spot near the stage for Snooks Eaglin, one of the city's greatest blues guitarists and a repertoire of over 2,500 songs committed to memory. To my delight he was accompanied by George Porter, Jr. of The Meters, The Funkiest Bass Player In The World, and John "Papa" Gros of Papa Grows Funk on organ. Smokin', smokin' set. Wishing we had the ability to teleport ourselves, we fought our way out of the crowd and went over to the Fais Do Do stage to see Eddie Bo, where we had a good spot to listen and a lousy spot to take photographs. Eddie's a legend of blues, R&B and funk, and I was looking forward to his set. Unfortunately it wasn't all that special. "It sounds like he's phoning it in," said Michael, and I agreed. It was lightweight stuff, aimed at the tourists, and none of the terrific funk we've heard him do one some of his more recent albums. Don't get me wrong, he's still a great player, but he wasn't exactly on fire that day. Back to the Gospel Tent, for one of the Absolutely Positively Must-See Acts of Jazzfest ...   The Crown Seekers, recently re-dubbed The Electrifying Crown Seekers, are a group I'd rearrange flight schedules to see if necessary. The energy, the intensity, the sheer joy and exuberance of this group is nearly unparalleled anywhere on the Fair Grounds. I've been a huge fan for years, but I've only ever seen them at the Gospel Tent, and I was embarrassed that I didn't even know the names of any of the members of the group, including the bald-pated singer that puts the electricity in "electrifying," and has enough electricity in him to power a small city. To the best of my knowledge they still have no recordings available (and sadly very few recordings are made available by the Munck Music/Jazzfest Live folks from the Gospel Tent, so you just gotta head down to New Orleans and buy tickets to Jazzfest and see these guys for yourself. You'll never forget 'em. Praise Jesus! Okay, now I'm hungry again, but not all that hungry, and we hadn't had anything to eat sine the ya ka mein around noon, but we shouldn't fill up 'cause we were going to Café Adelaide that evening, but I want something now, dammit ...  The perfect solution -- Jama Jama, or African-style sautéed spinach with lots of hot sauce apparently made with African Insanity Peppers (absolutely delicious with the spinach, but I had put on too much, and Wes began to complain when my exhalation singed the hair off his forearms). Bennachin Restaurant, longtime purveyors of West African cuisine in New Orleans, mans one of the most dependable food stalls at Fest, serving this along with piles of sweet and delicious fried plantains (which we skipped this time, as they're really filling). They had apparently served me some kind of bottomless serving, as I ate my fill from the plate you see above, but by the time I was finished there seemed to still be a whole serving of jama jama left on the plate. Nobody wanted it, so I had to toss it. It broke my heart, and I thought too late that maybe that plate was meant to feed the multitudes ... oh well. We had to leave early in order to get home, shower, dress and make it to the restaurant on time, so back to Fais Do Do to catch some of The Iguanas' set. Again, in a lousy place to get a good picture (I've got a good shot of them from the Mermaid Lounge that's in the book in my Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens box set, so it didn't bother me too much, plus a lot more from previous shows) but a great place to hear. I've loved these guys' music for about 15 years now, and listening to that set, the great new stuff as well as the old, was like listening to an old friend. It kills me to leave Fest early, but oh well ... ya gotta eat. More later. Welcome to Alito's America. In the first Supreme Court decision that shows what our country will be like after Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation, Samuel Alito's vote turned out to be the key vote in yesterday's decision restricting the free-speech rightsof the nation's 21 million public employees, ruling that the First Amendment does not protect them from being punished for complaining to their managers about possible wrongdoing. The case was argued last October, then reargued in March after Alito joined the court. As this NPR story reports, the dissenting opinion was written by Justice Souter, clearly worded as if it were a majority opinion ... which suggests that Justice Souter was assigned the majority and that O'Connor was inclined to vote the other way. "Thus making this case," reports Nina Totenberg, "the first to mark the change caused by O'Connor's retirement." And that first case restricts speech protections. Just great. Pathetic. I've been living in California for over 20 years, and never has there been a worse choice for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate than there is now. At first, Phil Angelides and Steve Westly were merely lackluster, but they get worse with every passing day. I was just expressing to Wes my disgust over the race when I came across this post by Markos. I'm glad it's not just me.:
The two of them, and Schwarzenegger. Worst. Choice. Ever. "You must smell like feet wrapped in ... leathery, burnt bacon." I'm not usually wont to post this sort of thing, but it's feckin' funny. Click on the image below to play the video, which is a must for "Star Wars" fans, and everyone who had to sit through the last three movies (okay, the third prequel wasn't as bad). No, it's not the Triumph the Dog thing. (Thanks, Steve!) Heeeeee! [ Link to today's entries ]
A separate grief. Memorial Day takes on a new meaning in New Orleans, remembering the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Army Corps of Engineers' flood.
 We met a man, Mr. Willie (I forgot his last name, I'm sorry), on this street. He lived on that block, and told us that the Brooks family was safe, that he and his family were safe, but pointed at a number of neighbors' houses (or spaces where their houses used to be) and said, "I used to hang out with him at the barbershop ... he's dead now ..." This went on and on. Remember. UPDATE: What the--?! From Poppy's journal: "I just heard some wingnut on the Garland Robinette show say it was 'disrespectful' for these people to march for storm victims on Memorial Day, and that he believed legislation should be passed making it illegal to march on Memorial Day for any reason other than honoring veterans. This was a local wingnut, mind you, not some ignorant freak from elsewhere who doesn't understand how many people died here and what we've been through since. Sometimes I really understand why greygirlbeast has chosen to secede from the human race." As John Prine said, "Some humans ain't human." Meanwhile ... The Army Corps of Engineers is keeping at it:
I feel safer already. Where is the outrage? Right here. Join Levees.org.
You don't have to live in Louisiana to join. All you have to do is care. The life of a pig. Tamara Murphy is the chef of Brasa Restaurant in Seattle, and has been keeping a weblog about the value of small, sustainable family farms using the example of pigs that are raised on such a farm, following their lives from piglet to pork. It's fascinating, and helps you connect in a very real way with the food you eat -- something people who are used to shrink-wrapped cuts of meat should understand. This is how humans lived and ate until very recently, and it's something we shouldn't forget about. Note especially her findings that "the meat on these pigs, was incredible. The loins were big enough to create an entire dish. The legs and shoulders were big. The factory farmed pigs I was so used to, even of the same weight, offer less than HALF OF THE MEAT of Whistling Train Farm's pigs. There was absolutely no comparison. My conclusion was that pigs that get to run around develop muscle (meat) in all the right places. Factory farmed pigs get fat in the belly, just like us. Muscle weighs more than fat, just like in us. These pigs were all muscle, which meant all meat." Y'know, I was just talking to Wes about this yesterday -- give me pork over beef any day. I'm so sorry I missed her all-pig menu on last April 20, too ... good lord, look at it: Chicharrones Everything Pig Pate Smoked Riblets Traditional Posole, Roasted Chilies, Tomatillos, Tortillas Grilled Loin, Chorizo and Clams Roast Pig Heirloom Navel Oranges, Jicama, Watercress, Cracklings Bacon Baklava I'm squealing in delight at the mere thought of it. Speaking of pork over beef, next on my must-buy book list is Peter Kaminsky's Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine and Some Great Ways to Cook Them, which among many other wonderful things tells us exactly why pork tastes so good. [ Link to today's entries ]
Worth it? Bob Herbert (behind a paid firewall, unfortunately), via Tom Tomorrow:
2,465 aren't, apparently. [ Link to today's entries ]
Here's your new CIA director. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden was confirmed by the Senate as the 20th director of the CIA. Hayden, who as the head of the NSA since 1999 administered the BushCo warrantless domestic spying program, has been dodging questions about domestic surveillance on many occasions of late; here's what he had to say (or rather, not-say) at the National Press Club in January:
Okay, then. Recipe of the day. The idea for this came from Wes' sister Melody; I'm not sure where she got the orignal recipe, but I futzed with it and added some stuff, and it makes a lovely dessert topping for cake or berries or what have you. The Fluff keeps it from being too highbrow, while you get to coo and brag about the other ingredients. The vanilla bean paste is perfect for this dish -- you get the lovely vanilla bean specks in the topping, and it's a lot cheaper than using an actual vanilla bean (which you can certainly do if you're into conspicuous consumption; it's a dessert topping made with Marshmallow Fluff, for God's sake).
We used it atop some Trader Joe's Mini Vanilla Bundt Cakes, with fresh blackberries and some chocolate syrup ... yum. [ Link to today's entries ]
This just in! Chocolate is good for your brain. I think I'll have some right now. The Cocktailian. In today's edition of Gary Regan's fortnightly column, The Professor, our cocktailian bartender, tells us that there's more than one way to skin an advocaat. That's the Dutch eggnog liqueur, of course, mixed with rye (and what the world needs now is more rye cocktails, even if they're fattening ones like this) to produce a Golden Rye Flip, which actually looks quite good. I tend to avoid drinks containing cream or half-and-half these days, but this one looks worth a try. "Greentinis?" I'm not a fan of appending the suffix "-tini" to all the myriad new cocktails out there, nor am I a fan of calling anything a "Martini" or a "____________ Martini" unless said drink contains gin and vermouth and maybe orange bitters and nothing else (rendering any "____________" superfluous anyway). That rant aside, there was an interesting article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times Food Section on cocktails containing fresh herbs, such as basil, chervil and cilantro. It's a step beyond the mint in your Mojito or Julep, and a couple of them look worth trying. There's something called a "Cucumber Martini", which I might allow because it does in fact contain both gin and vermouth, but I'd be less grouchy calling it a "Cucumber Cocktail." (The five minutes of infusing might make this one difficult to serve in a busy bar, though.) There's Honeydew-cilantro agua fresca with tequila that sounds perfect for Memorial Day weekend, plus a Basil-berry wine punch that could be doubled for a good party punch bowl. Check 'em out. A while back I was working on a drink with lemongrass- and lime-infused vodka with a muddle of cilantro, but now that my vodka days are mostly behind me I think that experiment needs to be revisited with some gin. The golden age of cocktails. I missed posting this article since it was right in the middle of Jazzfest, but a few weeks ago the Times' Food Section did a huge spread on the Museum of the American Cocktail, displaced from New Orleans for the time being and now set up at Commander's Palace in Las Vegas. As I mentioned a while back, our items are still in the Museum's collection, this time with a lovely plaque acknowledging us among their contributors, and it's great to see the collection so nicely laid out at Commander's. (If you go, say hi to Santino, the maître'd, for me.) The Times article is excellent, interviewing Dale and Doc and several other members of the museum's board, plus some excellent cocktail recips by Audrey Saunders, Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim and Jacques Bezuidenhout. Fresh from fields to a street corner near you. Times Food Section again ... yesterday there was an excellent series of articles about farmer's markets, starting with the idea that shook the world, when 27 years ago four farmers brought strawberries and zucchini to sell in a Gardena parking lot, not realizing that it would be the start of a movement that would change the way we cook at eat -- straight from the farmer to you with no middleman (which is the way I like it). Chefs from great restaurants all over town are seen at their local farmer's markets, and love to go wild (check out the recipes for Polenta Cake with Roasted Cherries; Market Vegetable Pizza; and Pan-roasted halibut with grits, morels and spring onions). At your local market, keep an eye out for Laurent Bonjour, the roving cheesemonger -- he'll delight you with peppered Cabecou, a good English Cheddar, Maytag Blue or Tomme de Savoie. If you don't know where your nearest farmer's market is, then consult the complete list of Los Angeles-area farmer's markets. (I'll be shopping, plus having a meal of some carne asada tacos and a strawberry-banana-Nutella crêpe, tomorrow at the Eagle Rock Farmer's Market, which is small but I love it anyway.) If you're in New Orleans, the Crescent City Farmer's Market is the place to start. That's ... guilty, guilty, guilty! (With apologies to Garry Trudeau.) Ken Lay convicted on all counts, plus guilty on additional counts of bank fraud. Skilling guilty of fraud and conspiracy, 20+ counts. Justice, finally. The cronies begin to go down. Photo of the day. America, it hasn't gone away.  Halves, Reynes St. (#2), Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, 4/27/2006 There are 17 more photos added to my Lower Ninth Ward set on Flickr. Beyond belief. Steve K. sent this in from his friend Doug, and we're all just boggling ...
From the Think Progress link:
That, plus they're apparently really, really stupid. [ Link to today's entries ]
Photo of the day. A cactus flower, from our front garden.  Out of 50 I took the other day, this was the only one I remotedly liked. There are now five of those flowers open, and I hope I can get a few more good photos; they only stay open for a couple of days, so time's a-wastin'. Negroponte Can Waive SEC Rules for "National Security" Via Daily Kos: "Tell America once again, Mr. President, how your secretive, spying national security policy is for the benefit of citizens and not of your corporate cronies - or to cover up your administration's illegal and unconstitutional acts." From Business Week Online this morning:
More: "Security-law experts speculate in the Business Week article that such waiving of reporting requirements for companies could be used to mask the funding of secret CIA or Pentagon assignments." Jesus. Holy bejeebies. Startling yet unsurprising:
Maybe he and Jefferson can share a cell one day. UPDATE: Hastert is denying it and accusing ABC of libel. ABC News stands by the story. The right-wing wingnutosphere is howling for more Rather-style blood, and it's been suggested that RoveCo deliberately leaked false information to ABC to set them up for a Rather-like fall. We'll have to wait and see, but I look at that bloated shit-toad in the Speaker's chair and I don't see a good person; never have. [ Link to today's entries ]
Penguins! The penguins returned to New Orleans today! That is, the ones who were rescued from the Audubon Insititute Aquarium of the Americas, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. They'd been another aquarium since then, and FedEx flew them home for free. I'd been looking forward to this for a few weeks, after having met Karen Jeffries (interviewed below) in New Orleans, who said they'd all be home by the 22nd. There's no footage yet, although I assured that they'd be filmed, walking in single file down the plane's ramp as they are wont to do; we'll see it soon. In the meantime, FedEx has a little animation along with the story of how they came home. Karen and everyone at the aquarium were tremendously excited by this. Their funding was wiped out along with most of their animals, and they basically went to FedEx and said they needed this and would they please do it for free. To everyone's relief, FedEx said "Sure," figuring (quite correctly) that they'd get a terrific commercial out of it at the very least, not to mention lots of goodwill. Here's more: Nineteen African blackfooted penguins and two sea otters that were rescued from a New Orleans aquarium after Hurricane Katrina returned home Monday on a cargo flight donated by FedEx Corp. The creatures, which had been living at the Monterey Bay Aquarium since September, departed Oakland International Airport in a FedEx plane at 8 a.m., said aquarium spokeswoman Karen Jeffries. The 21 animals were evacuated when Katrina forced the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas to shut down. The New Orleans aquarium was expected to reopen over Memorial Day weekend. The Aquarium reopens this Friday. If you're in town, go and get some penguin love. Photo of the day. Lest you forget ...  Forstall St., Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, 4/27/2006 I'll post more photos (and a full set on Flickr) from the Lower Nine over the next several days. Whistle-blower on government domestic surveillance. Wired News reports: "Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program. "In a public statement Klein issued last month, he described the NSA's visit to an AT&T office. In an older, less-public statement recently acquired by Wired News, Klein goes into additional details of his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T building in San Francisco."
"'Smith!' yelled the voice from the telescreen. '6079 Smith W! Uncover your face. No faces covered in the cells.'" The complete file is available as well. Quotes of the day. Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry oscillate in their graves ...
I'll take the liberty, thanks, and take my chances with terrorists. Out of a population of 295 million people we've had 2,752 killed by terrorists in this country in the last five years, all from one incident, which averages out to about 550 per year. Frankly, with 41,000+ traffic accident deaths per year I'm much more afraid to get in my car and deal with my daily commute (and I don't get worked up about that all that much either). 30,000+ deaths from firearms, about 15,000 pedestrian deaths, 14,000 deaths by falling, 8,200 deaths in residential fires, 8,700 deaths from bad medical care or drug reactions, 8,600 deaths by poisoning, 6,000 from choking, 700 from carbon monoxide gas, 350 from industrial or farm machinery and 67 by lightning strike. (Hell, 440,000+ deaths per year from smoking, for Christ's sake, which is a fucking holocaust, and a self-inflicted one at that.) Yep, I'll take the liberty ... Quote of the day, part deux. RIP, Sen. Bentsen:
Too bad that '88 ticket couldn't have been flipped around. [ Link to today's entries ]
Disappointed, with hope. Sigh. Ah, New Orleans politics ... plus ça change, plus c'est le même chose. Appealing to reason and to the necessity for change never seems to work anyway, at least not these days. (Here are a few observations on the Republican smear machine and how the race swung, from Schroeder.) You can lay it all on them, though ... Mitch should have put forth a stronger image in his campaign, and should have pointed out lots more of Nagin's failings. Jeffrey said that at least "now Mitch can run for governor and stop Jindal." (Well, good luck with that.) All that said, I think Nagin's more or less a good guy, a decent guy ... I just don't think he's competent to lead the city post-Katrina. (As another local commented, Nagin's just as mentally unstable as a lot of people in New Orleans right now, but I wouldn't vote for those people either.) Well, we've got him until 2010, so I hope he does a good job. Nagin got more votes in the areas that were hardest-hit by the flooding, so I guess the people most affected trust him, for some reason (and it really didn't seem like a vote-by-race election, either; there was a fair bit of crossover voting). Let us all, New Orleanians and everyone else, do everything we can to help him (and the city). The really good news with this election is lots of new blood in the City Council. Jackie Clarkson is out. Jay Batt is out. (I lost count of the red-circle-slash-BATT "Anybody but Batt" signs I saw in the Carrollton neighborhood over the last few weeks.) As Mr. Clio pointed out, "the City Council -- not the mayor -- was the major source of problems before the storm." Let's see the Council do some good work now. Army Corps of Engineers incompetent; we as a nation are unsafe. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, there's this headline in today's Los Angeles Times:
Uh, yeah. Even if they want to, they apparently aren't capable. And "Seed said that Congress needed to authorize a comprehensive evaluation of th system and that the corps should conduct it"?! Is he insane? You have a massive organization whose incompetence threatens not only the safety of New Orleans but safety projects nationwide, but you want that organization to investigate and evaluate itself? I'm a firm believer in hiring the best person to do the job, not giving the job to your brother-in-law because he's cheap and readily available. We need to hand the entire thing over to the Dutch and pay them whatever it costs. Lives are at stake. I weep for our children. And, as Mary said, I want to slap some of them upside the head. This blog post, reproduced in its entirety from a group history blog at George Mason University, was written by Professor James C. Cobb of the University of Georgia:
You can't just blame the student, though. This is what the right-wing witch hunts against universities and professors who don't preach their views have wrought. This is what nutcases like David Horowitz and his ilk have wrought. This is what threatens academic freedom in this country. Outrage over having to hear about the civil rights movement in a US History post-1865 class? I can just see Snidely Horowitz rubbing his hand with glee at the mere thought of it. Well he's movin' on out ... from Dee Cee / to a dee-luxe federal prison / in the Mid-weeeest ... Okay, that was a seriously feeble attempt to rewrite the theme song of "The Jeffersons" for Rep. William Jefferson, who's finished -- they found $90K in his freezer, all of which came from $100K in marked bills from an FBI informant, which Jefferson took in order to bribe the vice president of Nigeria. They have the whole transaction on tape, too. In order to spare the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and the Democratic Party any further pain, he needs to resign today. Unfortunately, the fool doesn't realize that he's been nailed, and is saying that "there are two sides to every story" and that he intends to run for re-election (what, from prison?). He fails to explain how there's a side to the story of $90,000 of bribe money being hidden in his freezer that could possibly exonerate him. (More from the Times-Picayune and Los Angeles Times.) [ Link to today's entries ]
$1,487! That's how much money we raised during "Down Home" for KCSN last night. Wow, not bad! That's nearly triple whad I pulled in last drive, and that doesn't count the >$100 pledges that were matched by Our Generous Benefactor From Chatsworth, nor the pledges that he tripled during the last 15 minutes of the show. I know that at least two of y'all Looka! readers kicked in, and I really appreciate it. Thank you. I know you can (and should) get your New Orleans music from WWOZ, and thanks for moving over to my show for those two Thursday evening hours. (Thank Gawd I'm not on opposite Billy Delle.) Rump states. Gleefully lifted from Billmon:
It's an image to make me very happy, and help (slightly) distract me from the developing stomachache about the commencement of hurricane season in 13 days. Bayona. I got a little ahead of myself the other day, in my eagerness to share the first day of Jazzfest with you. Besides the meal at Cuvée we had a lovely, lovely lunch at Bayona the day before Fest started; I walked away with a smile on my face, a full belly and a nice lil' pile of food porn. Oddly enough, neither Wes nor I had a food hangover from our extraordinary meal at Cuvée the night before; we were hungry and more than ready for lunch, but I kinda wanted to take it a bit easier, and to perhaps eat some lighter seafood dishes. We asked to be seated in the courtyard, one of my favorite lunchtime dining spots in the Quarter, and ordered two Sazeracs, excellent as always. It's a bit of a tradition for us to lunch and drink Sazeracs there; Bayona was the first place we had lunch in New Orleans, and the first time Wes ever had a Sazerac (as well being the site of our cocktail epiphany, all those years ago, thanks to that Sazerac). They're a bit non-traditional as they're served in a cocktail glass rather than the standard rocks glass, but it's their own touch which we don't mind at all. Wes still maintains it's the best Sazerac in the city (well, it's certainly one of the best).  This more than filled the "lighter" bill without making me feel as if I was missing out on anything: Jumbo Lump Crabmeat Salad with Tomato, Avocado and Green Goddess Dressing. I love crabmeat, and could eat it night and day; this dish was just what I needed. The crabmeat was sweet and tender, and I'm a big fan of Green Goddess dressing. There was enough of it to season the greens but not so much that it overwhelmed the crabmeat. Yum.  This is one of my favorite Bayona dishes, a longtime staple of their lunch menu which I hadn't had in a while: Smoked Duck, Cashew Butter and Pepper Jelly Sandwich, grilled with caramelized red onions, and served with a cucumber slaw. Perfect combination of flavors, and the grilled whole-grain bread is a refreshing change from the poor boy bread I was having pretty much every day (not that there's anything wrong with that, oh no).  This was Wes' entrée: Lemon-Parmesan Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms,Pancetta and Sugar Snaps. He said it was very good and the gnocchi, while not the lightest he'd ever had, were certainly light enough (and he's particular about that).  Of course we have room for dessert. Dark Chocolate Ganache Cake with Strawberry Jam and Rose Petal Meringue, which was good but not quite what the menu described (a "rose petal jam" was mentioned). The strawberry sauce was very good, though, as was the little rose meringue.  This was Wes' dessert: Espresso and Bittersweet Chocolate Dome with "Milk Confit". This was also slightly different from the menu description. I'm not sure what that little tart on the side was, and I think the "milk confit" was the cooked, caramelized sweet milk sauce around the plate (which did look really good, but I can't tell you how good it was or wasn't because I didn't get any). The rest of the afternoon was very, very sobering, as we spent a few hours driving around the Lower Ninth Ward. I had only been to the part of the Lower Ninth closest to the river, to see what was left of my high school; what faced me above St. Claude was almost not to be believed. More on that later. Deadeye Dick in the Red Stick. Had y'all heard that Darth Cheney was going to be the commencement speaker at LSU's graduation ceremony in Baton Rouge today? (I hadn't.) Michael at 2 Millionth Weblog caught a bit of his speech:
Apparently he got big cheers and standing ovations from the graduates, who keep making a certain Randy Newman song go through my head ... Quote of the day. You really can't make up shit like this. (Via ... um, whoever I nicked it from the other day, I forget.)
WTFWJVF? (We heard Jesus voted for Kerry, but He voted in Ohio and his ballot was "lost" until three days after the election.) Beached. Hee hee. What kind of idiot would actually try to drive one of these in San Francisco? Furthermore, what kind of idiot actually builds or rents one of these? (Nobody I want to know.) Maybe they should blow it up, as when they blew up that beached whale in Oregon ... (thanks, Dule!) [ Link to today's entries ]
Moneygrubbing time. KCSN are in the middle of our semi-annual Pledge Drive, and as we're the little guys (unlike the Behemoth of the Westside), we need all the pennies we can get. If you happen to be a fan of the radio station, and of my little radio programme in particular, be a dear and kick in a fistful of dollars this evening between the hours of 7 and 9pm, Pacific time. (800) 795-5276, that's 1-800-795-KCSN, is the number to call, or you can pledge online via our secure server. Our Stupendous Anonymous (well, I know who he is but you don't) Benefactor is matching every pledge of $100 or more, so if you're feeling generous your money will be doubled! In fact, if you kick in $120, you can receive as our thanks for your pledge the Down Home CD Five-Pack:
That's actually six. A five-pack in which you get six things. How great a deal is that? Pledge tonight, or online now! When gifts come back to haunt you. "Memento Mori", a new story by David Sedaris. [ Link to today's entries ]
New Bush memo allows telcos to lie about phone records. ThinkProgress.org has the story:
Partial text of the memo, via dKos:
"Boom," said the author of the dKos post. "Negroponte was given the power to excuse the Telcoms from lying about this very act, so long as he gives them the order. So the Telcoms can lie about this (notice it took them a few days) and you, as a shareholder, can't do a damn thing about it. They are immune from lawsuits, and exempt from prosecution." "Constitution and laws of the United States," my ass. What kind of idiot is Chris Matthews? An uninformed troll, a poor excuse for a so-called "journalist," and, most astonishingly and yet sadly unsurprisingly in this case, a political debate moderator who has a Republican agenda of his own.
Let me repeate that last bit:
It's a good thing I wasn't watching the debates, because I would have teleported to New Orleans by sheer force of will, just so that I could whap that fucking moron upside the head with a telephone book. Repeatedly. Perhaps until he was no longer able to speak. (Rendering him unable to speak would have been a great gift to humanity.) As Mr. Clio said, "NBC could have plucked a guy off of a barstool at Parasol's and gotten a better performance from a debate moderator." (Here's a clip to illustrate Matthews' inappropriate "moderating", which is also a good example of how good a job Mitch Landrieu did fending it off and getting his own points across). I'd suggest to him that it'd be in his best interest never to set foot in New Orleans again. Robinson wasn't much better; maybe he wants Tweety's masters to give him a job too. I'd like to see a coalition of people from some of the neighborhoods he mentioned run his ass out of town on a rail, after suggesting those neighborhoods shouldn't be rebuilt -- "even Lakeview" -- right on the heels of Matthews' dismissing federal responsibility for levee construction and maintenance, and when most of those areas were destroyed by the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers' defective levees (except for the East and St. Bernard, which were destroyed by the Army Corps of Engineers' near-useless shipping canal). Chris Matthews is a disgrace, but he's par for the course on the "24-hour 'news' networks" now, and there are many who are far worse than him. Why do we tolerate any of them? Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and thank-God-he's-still-with-us Walter Cronkite are undoubtedly weeping now. "Never forgiving" the Landrieus. Oyster has an excellent couple of posts about what's behind a great deal of the opposition to Mitch Landrieu as mayor. He's "the politics of the past," they keep saying. (As Mitch pointed out, his dad was mayor 40 years ago, he's running now, and he's not his dad.) A lot of people are basically blaming the entire Landrieu clan for "the fall of New Orleans", beginning in the 1960s, because of Mitch's father Moon's tenure as mayor. Vague charges of "incompetence" and "corruption" are bandied about with little, if anything, to back them up. So what is it, then? It's lots of code-talk for being angry at Moon for desegregating City Hall and the public schools, and for "handing the city over to them." Nobody'll say it out loud (at least not to anyone they don't think is in agreement with them). They'll say things like "I'll never forgive the Landrieus for destroying this city," things like that. I hadn't thought about it much until I started hearing it on my visits back home, and then reading more from folks who live there year-round. It certainly fits with the attitude I've heard from a lot of white people over the years, including the code-talk I heard from several people on my first visit, about how Katrina and the flood "solved a lot of our problems for us," etc. Part-time NOLA resident Harry Shearer's hearing it too:
Add to that the ridiculous irony of punishing the Landrieus for opening City Hall and the schools to blacks by voting for a (weak and incompetent) black mayor, the claim of a distrust of political families by people who undoubtedly voted for the Bush dynasty three times, the cutting off their noses to spite their faces ... It's disgusting, and shameful. Fortunately, I don't believe these people exist in sufficient numbers to tip the election. Mitch Landrieu is intelligent, articulate and cares deeply about New Orleans. I think he can get things done, and I think he's going to win. In another dimension to all this, there's the mindboggling doublethink position now being taken by conservatives and Republicans who back the re-election of Nagin for mayor, after unleashing hellfire torrents of criticism upon him for his lack of preparation before and inaction and incompetence during Katrina and the resultant Army Corps of Engineers flood. Oyster has another must-read article on the Republican support for Nagin, and why Nagin must not be reelected:
Read all of it. Then read Adrastos' comments, and Jeffrey's comments. Then read the timeline of Nagin's record as mayor. Then think about it for a while. If you're voting for Nagin because you're mad at Moon for desegregation, or because you want to help the Republicans to a statewide win later on, then you don't really give a shit about New Orleans, do you? You'd vote for the guy who let the buses sit there and flood, who rejected a contract that would have paid the city $100 for each junked flooded car removed from the streets and instead spent $23 million to have it done after having so little money in the city budget that he had to lay off 90% of city workers, with the list going on and on, to satisfy a racist vendetta and/or Republican agenda without thinking or caring about what's best for the City of New Orleans. Harry also observed:
Ray Nagin had his chance, blew it and should not be mayor of New Orleans anymore. If my Ward 9 Precinct 44 voter card were still active, I'd be voting for Mitch this Saturday. Incidentally, the Times-Picayune officially endorsed Mitch Landrieu for mayor today. "Katrina fatigue?" Ashley (who has been on fire lately ... well, always, pretty much) posts the following, with which I concur a thousand times over. [Reformatting mine, for emphasis.]
I had to bitchslap (figuratively, sadly) a cow-orker the other day who, after asking me how my trip home to New Orleans was, had the foolish audacity to wonder aloud why the city should be rebuilt at all. A witness to my lengthy, passionate and fire-breathed response could only say, "... Whoa." I would recommend that one should cure oneself of any innate ignorance, indifference or foolishness which might prompt one to make such an unwise statement in my presence. The jewel of the Kalahari. Ahh, the earthy black truffles of Périgord, France ... the astonishingly perfumed flavor-blast of Italian white truffles ... and !nabas from the Namibian Kalahari? Yep, African truffles. Not quite as aromatic as the French ones, but dirt cheap and (usually) plentiful. Thing is, ya gotta go to Namibia to get 'em. If I ever do, I know what I'm having for dinner ... Restaurant Cuvée. I did have a brief mention earlier, and this is a bit out of order, but it's time for a more in-depth look at the first meal of our visit back home to New Orleans, at the stupendous Restaurant Cuvée. We landed at about 6:30, picked up the car and were on the road to our humble abode, a studio apartment Uptown near the Riverbend owned by some old friends of ours; they live on the Northsore but do business in the city, and use the apartment as a daytime base of operations and business plus as a place for them and their kids to crash without having to drive across the Causeway -- a very good idea. It was perfect for us, and once there we dropped our bags, leapt into some nice clothes and made it to Cuvée just in time to be prompt for our 8:30 reservation.  They were suffering from the same thing everybody else in the city suffers from -- a lack of help. 250,000 people yet to return means that every establishment in the city is understaffed. They were sharing their valet with a hotel down the street, so it took a few minutes to get the car parked, and there was a brief wait inside, but hey, no problem. We were so happy to be there, and to see them open and busy, and we were certainly in no hurry whatsoever, that little if anything could take us down. Jason, the maitre'd, recognized me from my last visit to Emeril's Delmonico a couple of weeks before the flood (he'd been an assistant manager there at the time) and took brilliant care of us all night. Apparently the people at our table had been presented with their bill but were lingering, so we had to wait in their lovely bar for a while. Jason kept checking on us and made our wait most pleasant by presenting each of us with a glass of sparkling rosé, Alain Renardat-Fache "Demi Sec" Vin de Bugey, which was superb and kept us very happy.   The lingerers finally buggered off and we were ushered to our table with apologies, quickly seated, served with Sazeracs and presented with the staggering menu. Between gawking at other people's food while we were waiting and seeing the whole bill of fare, we quite literally wanted to try everything. (As our surname isn't Creosote, however, we decided that that would be impractical at the very least.) Cuvée was already one of my favorite (and by many others' accounts, one of the best) restaurants in the city, but we'd been hearing over and over that Chef Bob Iacovone has been truly outdoing himself since reopening after the storm and flood. We were about to find out.  We ordered starters, entrées and wine, and within a few minutes out came the amuse bouche: Terrine of Foie Gras, Brie and Praline Bacon on a Brûléed Apple. It was the first time in my life I have ever been served foie gras as an amuse bouche (which, in the unlikely event you're not familiar with an amuse bouche, it's a little bite sent out by the chef to whet your appetite, wake up your taste buds, "amuse your mouth," and it's also lagniappe, as in free). We immediately added an entry to our List of Rules, Observations and Mottoes To Live By: "Free foie gras is a good thing." (Sadly, we weren't able to make it work with one of the others near the top of this list, "If it's free, take two," but I digress.) It was a moan-and-pound-on-the-table moment. I was unable to stop myself from finishing it in two bites, but I thought Wes was going to make his last for a half an hour. He just kept moaning and giggling and oh-my-Goding, and didn't want it to be over. I understand, as it was fabulous. We've already referred to the New Orlens dish of Praline Bacon as being perhaps "better than sex," and certainly one of the best things one could ever put in one's mouth (minds out of the gutter, please ... okay, stay there, but just for a little while). Imagine that paired with foie gras and a rich Brie, a real Brie from France and not from the supermarket, all that richness and smokiness and sweetness perched on top of a crisp, tart apple. If you can't, well, I'm sorry. Go to Cuvée and get one. The amusements were not over, however.  To our amazement, a second amuse came out, we suspect as a gesture for having to wait for our table. (But we were happy! We had wine! Oh, okay.) It was a component of a larger dish on the menu, and listed as a Serrano-Chèvre Peppadew. "Peppadew"? I'd never heard of that before. Jason explained, "It's a kind of pepper from South Africa, sweet but with a hot finish. We fill that with an herbed goat cheese, wrap it in Serrano ham and flash-fry it." We just giggled. It was fabulous, and although I tried to make this one last it was also gone in two bites. I want me some more of those peppadews. There were a couple of dishes on the chef's tasting menu that looked really good, but we wanted our entrées from the regular menu, and we couldn't help but notice that the special items on the tasting menu were also available a la carte, and we were going to split them, so what the hell ...  Well, at least this one was light and non-fattening (as if that would have made that much of a difference over the course of this meal, yeah right). Seared Yellowfin Tuna with Avocado-Ranch Dressing, Tomato Sorbet, and Baby Romaine in a Parmesan Tuile. The tuna was perfect, exactly how I like it, and that dressing was Absolutely Out Of This World. We immediately declared that we wanted a vat of it to take home, but decided that the TSA might object ("Obviously they intend to attack someone with it!"). Now that I think about it, I should have asked the chef for the recipe, but ah well. The tomato sorbet accompaniment was also amazing; intense and bright and not sweet at all, but not acidic or really savory. A serving of that on its own would probably be the best palate-cleanser ever.  Hmm, foie gras twice in one meal? That hasn't happened very often, but what the hell. We were celebrating our return, Wesly's first sine the flood, our first night in town, the rebirth of Jazzfest and much more. Why not more foie gras? In fact, why not two of our favorite things together, foie gras and duck? It was perhaps the world's best boudin ball, not as rich as you might fear (although the foie gras was certainly present), with the tangy slaw and the fruity pungency of the raspberry mustard cutting through the richness and balancing it perfectly. We just kept moaning and giggling, and were complete suckers for Jason's suggestion of a wine to go with it (hell, we wouldn't be driving for hours anyway). He presented us with a terrific 2004 Rosato from Miner Family Vineyards in Mendocino, a rosé made from Sangiovese grapes and tangy-fruity-perfect not only for a dish like this but for outdoor summer grilling, or just drinking on its own. (We'll be picking up some of this for the summer.) Okay, now for the solo appetizers, as in "sorry babe, I ain't splittin' this one":  We're both big fans of sweetbreads, and Wes got the chef's "daily sweetbreads preparation" (!), which that day was Grilled Sweetbreads with Roasted Baby Beets and Aged Goat Cheese with a couple of other accoutrements I forgot to write down because I was busy boggling over my own starter. Wes declared the sweetbreads to be superb, but at the time I wasn't hearing him ...  I had just been presented with Deux Foie Gras: Chef's Two Signature Preparations (!!), which that day were a Seared Foie Gras on Watercress Salad with Boursin and Crispy Serrano Ham, with a touch of Demiglace alongside one of the chef's more notorious (and notoriously fun and delicious) preparations, Cr´me Brûlée of Foie Gras, Roasted Apple and Chèvre;. (Okay, that's four foie gras dishes, but hey, they were all really small. Sorta.) The seared dish was really good -- sliced and seared with some creative accompaniments and sauces has usually been my favorite way to go with foie gras -- but that crème brûlée ... my God, that crème brûlée ... it was insane. Insanely good. Faire le boggle. I'd never had anyhing like that. It wasn't sweet, it was most certainly savory, but it still had the delightful caramellized sugar crust that you break through to get to the joys beneath the surface. It's such an inventive and fun dish that you're laughing while you're moaning while you're eating it. I loved it. (That night I missed one of the chef's other signature foie gras preparations, which is the foie gras "twinkie" -- a not-too-sweet cake in the shape of a Twinkie, with a foie gras and goat cheese (a pairing that pops up frequently) filling; as New Orleans Magazine said, "someone's having fun with their food!") I was looking for a Sauternes or good late harvest wine to accompany this, and Jason suggested a 2001 Château Pierre-Bise Quarts de Chaume Late Harvest Chenin Blanc that was, of course, perfect.  I was a little jealous of Wes' entrée, because it looked so good. It was also considerably lighter than mine, and given that this was the first meal of the trip it might have been a good idea to start slowly and build up. After a moment's thought of what we had just eaten and what we would be eating over the next couple of weeks, I just laughed it off after a second and dug in to my own meal after a few moments' more eyeing Wes' dish: Saut´ed Speckled Trout topped with a Crown of Lump Crabmeat, with Sweet Corn & Crawfish Relish, Polenta Fries and Louisiana-style Barbecue Sauce. The "crown of lump crabmeat" came from another dish that offered it; the trout didn't include it, but they were happy to add it on. The sauce wasn't what he expected, which is for the best -- it wasn't sweet or heavy, just tangy with a little bit of spice. A more typical barbecue sauce would overwhelm the fish, but this one didn't at all. The crawfish and corn relish was a bit like a crawfish maque choux, and those polenta fries were fantastic -- herby and cheesy inside as well. Along with it he drank Jason's recommendation, a Basque wine from Spain that neither of us had ever tried, Txomin Etxaniz, Txakolina 2004. (Say that five times, quickly.) It was white and crisp and dry and lovely with the fish. On its own too, as the wine outlasted the fish (the pour was, shall we say, extremely generous; "Aah, there's not all that much left in that bottle ... why don'ch'y'all just finish it?" Okay!). As for me, there was only one choice: pig.  Kurobuta Pork Belly with "Sweet Heat" Glaze, Pancetta-Plum Pie and Baby Vegetables. (Oh my.) Berkshire black hog, or "Kurobuta pork" as the trendy Japanese name goes these days ("kurobuta" meaning "supreme"), is very high quality pork, with darker meat, a more intense flavor, and more fat marbling than the lean "other white meat" pork that's bred so often today. This breed of pig hearkens back to the days when pork wasn't as good for you but tasted better. (And of course, this is the belly, from which bacon is made -- the fattiest part of the pig other than the fatback, I guess.) The "sweet-heat" glaze was just that, the red pepper offset by the sweetness (I suspect some "Steen's syrup and a little brown sugar as well), and we were both eager to try the pie. "Pancetta plum pie ... it's fun to say!" It was an interesting accompaniment, like a little quiche. I did like it, although it was probably my least favorite component of the meal. As good as it was, that's saying a lot for the entire meal. I had been looking for a wine to go with the pig, but Jason ended up recommending, to my surprise and delight, a porter instead. I love porter and had never tried this one, a St. Peter's Porter from London. It was the right choice, as the crispiness/smokiness/richness of the pork along with that glaze might have made a wine pairing a little too challenging; there was a lot in that dish to overwhelm. The porter was great, dark as night with a complex flavor that stood right up to the charging pork and danced with it. (Hmm, I wonder if Galco's carries that ...) 
 Dessert? Of course. I must confess that we hesistated, though -- if we didn't commit the Deadly Sin of Gluttony during this meal, we certainly skated along the border thereof. As long as there's one cubic inch in the old belly for dessert, though, I'm in. We decided to split one, our fallback choice in such a situation (and our main strategy at Jazzfest, so that we could try more dishes). We had seen it at another table, and couldn't resist: Candied Macadamia Nut Bombe with Dark Chocolate Sauce. I love bombes! You could call me the Mad Bomber! (If I'm still here after Homeland Security hauls me away for saying so, leaving me to spend the rest of my life in prison without charge or legal representation and attempting to explain to Big Brother that a dome-shaped serving of layered ice cream is not in fact a Weapon of Mass Destruction, but I digress again.) From a distance it looks like one of those deep-fried ice creams you get at some chain restaurants, but the "deep-fried" coating consists of candied and crushed macadamia nuts. The ice creams inside were milk chocolate and caramel, and the sauces dark and white chocolate. Oh my. As we had already had about half a winery to drink that night, no port or armagnac or eau-de-vie was to be had with dessert. Alas. The understaffing issues everyone's going through didn't seem to affect Cuvée much at all; as soon as we sat at the table the service was snappy and friendly and we felt very well taken care of. The food was world class, as were the cocktails and wines and porter. Cuvée is surely one of the top five restaurants in town right now, maybe the top three. Right up there with the outstanding Café Adelaide, which I'll write about later. If you go to New Orleans, you gotta go see the Mardi Gras ... and besides what Professor Longhair says, you've gotta go have dinner at Cuvée. (P.S. -- Lest you think the whole city is like this, it's not. This is an oasis. There are many more, but there are far, far more scenes like this, a 17-minute video of a drive-through of the Lower Ninth Ward. I'll be posting my own pictures from the Lower Ninth tomorrow, which were taken the day after this meal.) [ Link to today's entries ]
Another step toward the dissolution of our democracy. A group of Republican senators has blocked judicial review of the NSA domestic spying program:
More from Glenn Greenwald:
So much for Arlen Specter, the spineless bastard ... eh, Cafferty? Yet more from Salon via dKos: "Salon has posted its interview with Matthew Aid, a historian who has written extensively about the NSA. In the interview, Aid paints a frightening picture of how 'the NSA replaced the FBI as the nation's domestic surveillance agency after 9/11.' The whole interview is a must-read. Aid hints at a disturbingly wide-ranging scope of surveillance:"
"On how the law was deliberately ignored:"
For all you idiots who keep saying, "Why should I worry about this? I'm not a terrorist, I'm not doing anything illegal, and why should I worry if they're listening to my calls? I have nothing to hide," ask someone who lived in East Germany if that's the way the felt about the Stasi. Ask someone who lived in Romania under Ceausescu if that's the way they felt about the Securitate. Listen to what they say, then think about it. Then think about the Constitution, what you learned in your ninth grade civics and government class. If you have any relatives who died in World War II, think about how they died actually protecting our freedom, and what they'd think about a president and administration who trample and shit all over the Constitution they died defending. Then think some more about how the criminality of this administration is putting the Nixon administration to shame, and that until now the Nixon administration was probably the low point of the history of the presidency of this nation. Quotes of the day. (Thanks, Wes and Mary!)
The problem with tuning the president out is that if nobody's paying attention, he and his minions will continue to ignore and circumvent our laws until it's too late to do anything about it. The Cocktail Bicentennial. Well, not quite -- only the 200th anniversary of the first mention of the "cock tail" in print, in The Balance and Columbian Repository of Hudson, N.Y. "Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters -- it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion," went this inaugural mention. "It is said also, to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else." A snarky birth, to be sure, but hallelujah for it. And because we really really need a drink, here's Dave Wondrich's version of a classic, "sucked down in vast numbers by the dudes, swells and sports of [New York City] from around 1800 to the late 1880s."
Off to the Wine House for some genever ... [ Link to today's entries ]
Lord, here comes the flood. Check out this amazing interactive animated Flash graphic on NOLA.com which shows exactly how and when the flooding happened in New Orleans. Levee failure after levee failure after levee failure ... The land of the free. Reported this morning by ABC News:
Just in case you had any lingering doubts about what this president and this administration really think about freedom, the rule of law and the Constitution. As Tom said, "If you always assume that the administration is lying and that things are much worse than you?re being told, you will rarely be proven wrong." [ Link to today's entries ]
Quotes of the day. (Thanks to Steve M.)
As Steve said, "Let me repeat: any legal process. Not cut corners, but simply ignore them. That's the way I imagine all constitutional governments work." Then there was the line from Bill Maher on Real Time last night, which I wish I'd seen but only heard about (gotta set up the TiVo to catch the repeat). He said that Bush is doing all this to foil Osama -- "he can't hate us for our freedom now. [ Link to today's entries ]
Outrage. Just as I was getting around to posting some photos and tales from the triumph that was Jazzfest '06, I read about this, which shook be back to the reality of what's going on around the city for untold thousands of people. From WWL-TV, via Oyster and The Third Battle of New Orleans. This'll make you so proud to be an American.
While I take a walk around the block and try not to break something, here's more commentary from the original post:
Aren't you proud to be an American? Army Corps of Engineers to NOLA: Too bad, we lied. From The Times-Picayune:
And even by then, the work still wouldn't protect us against another Katrina-level storm surge. Big fucking surprise. A good friend of mine drives right by the 17th Street Canal breach area at least twice a day, and says she's lucky to see two people working out there at the site. Some days she sees nobody, no work being done. Who will answer the question of why aren't there large crews there, working 24/7? Whose head will we have on a platter for this? (No one, of course.) Jazzfest, Day 1. Wes and I waited in the line at the Gentilly gate of the Fair Grounds, almost jumping up and down with excitement. It was a good-sized crowd, and we were all very, very happy to be there. The gates opened, our tickets were scanned, and ... YEAH YOU RITE! Jazzfest '06 had begun. Sadly, though, I felt a little lost, somewhat bereft. Every time I enter the Fair Grounds for Fest I make a beeline for one food booth to start each day -- Creole's Stuffed Bread. I say hi to Miss Merlene ("Hey baby, good to see you!" she says, or something similar), get my bread, and then I can go. This year, there was none. I didn't know what to do. Fortunately there was an idea to try one of the tastiest-sounding new items first, and that ended up being our first of three mini-meals with Andouille Calas with Green Onion Sauce, from the new restaurant Calas Bistro and Wine Cellar in Kenner. Calas are deep-fried rice fritters that were a traditional food in New Orleans in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, and are making a comeback. This unusual savory version, with the smoky-spicy flavor of andouille sausage, was outstanding. 
 Then there was the meat of the matter, so to speak. What was going to be our (first) main course of the day? Easy decision -- an annual favorite, particularly among us pork-loving fanatics of The Fat Pack. There was nothing other than Cochon de Lait Po-boys, with cabbage slaw and white rémoulade sauce. Tender, smoky, porky ... ooooohhhhhh, my.  Then it was time to get down to the music. First up on the list was one of my favorite bands in the city, the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, who play '20s- and '30s-style traditional jazz and swing. It was also the first of two Vipers gigs where we got to hear their marvelous new song that I wrote about the other day, "I Hope You're Comin' Back to New Orleans".  Next up was the Panorama Jazz Band, whom I'd never seen but had been hearing about. Their self-description: "Imagine that Serbia and Macedonia are next to Louisiana with Martinique and Manhattan off the coast and Ukraine and Poland to the north. Mexico is due south with the Bahamas and Venezuela near at hand. New Orleans is the cultural hub ..." That's what these guys sound like, not forgetting to mention the klezmer as well. All that plus a blast of New Orleans jazz, right up my alley.   Mealtime again! On Michael's recommendation, we had one of his favorites, and a longtime Jazzfest favorite of many that I hadn't tried before: Palmer's Jamaican Cuisine's Caribbean Fish, a jerk-marinated fish with steamed cabbage over rice. A few shakes of Scotch Bonnet hot sauce, and mmmmm ...  Next set -- Charmaine Neville and her band, featuring saxophonist Reggie Houston and pianist extraordinaire Amasa Miller. It was so great to see Charmaine up there on stage, so vibrant and full of life and energy, after her horrendous ordeal during the hurricane and the Army Corps of Engineers' flood. She's back and strong and was absolutely on fire, as Steve wrote:
Mine were, and my scalp was tingling. 
 
 With all the energy we expended cheering for Charmaine and band, we were hungry again. (Fortunately, Wes and I split everything, which meant that we got to try more things without becoming Mr. and Mr. Creosote. In fact, in two weeks we only put on four pounds each, which is astonishing for a Jazzfest-time feeding frenzy, but I digress.) Mary had heard that the Pecan Catfish Meunière was good, and it was, sorta ... it was well-spiced and the meunière sauce (a brown butter and lemon sauce) with pecans was excellent, but we all found the fish to be too salty. The combo plate featured the other dish from that booth, Fried Crab Cake with Smoked Tomato-Jalapeño Tartar Sauce and was very good, although spoiled as I am by Commander's Palace's mindbogglingly good crab cakes (seemingly 99 and 44/100% crab), I'm invariably disappointed by crab cakes with filler and those encased in a carapace of fried breading. That said, it was still pretty good, and that sauce was terrific.  The next must-see event offered a bit of indecision -- Dr. John was playing opposite
BeauSoleil, and they were both stage-closers for that day of the fest. As much as I love BeauSoleil (as a twenty-plus year
"BeauHead", as Mike Doucet once called me), I was fiercely determined to see and give priority to as many New Orleans
artists as possible, so off to the 
 All in all, a most excellent first day of Jazzfest. And as we've seen the last few years, it wasn't over when we left the gate to walk back to the car. Lest anyone worry about the survival of young neighborhood brass bands, there was at least one right outside the Fair Grounds, at Gentilly and Sauvage, putting their heart and soul and balls into a street performance that gladdened my heart.   I feel like funkin' it up, feel like funkin' it up ... [ Link to today's entries ]
Comin' back. Ooh man, laaaaaaaazy. We got home Tuesday night, but I guess I wasn't exactly rarin' to go back to hittin' the weblog right away. I might have had plenty of energy for two weeks back home, all six days of Jazzfest, late night meals and later night music shows, but there's nothing like airports, shuttles and eight hours of plane travel to really wipe me out. It may have been the best Jazzfest ever. I don't know, I didn't go to all of them (only about 25 or so), but it'd be difficult if not impossible to top this one, certainly on an emotional level. It was certainly the most important in the history of the Festival -- the one that showed we could do it, that we could begin our recovery, and was a testament to, as this year's Fest t-shirts said, "the healing power of music." It was full of strong emotions, love for the city and its people, anger over what happened that didn't have to happen, and a big display of resilience and a strong determination to rebuild -- not just a New Orleans for the well-off few, but for everybody. As Big Chief Fi Yi Yi (and numerous others) said, "Come home, come home, everybody come home." There have been several new songs written since the Army Corps of Engineers' flood destroyed most of the city, but I think my favorite one was written by Joe Braun of the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, and it's the lead-off track on their new album Hope You're Comin' Back. It's called "I Hope You're Comin' Back to New Orleans" (free RealAudio download), and it's fantastic. Make sure you buy the album too; you can get it directly from the Vipers' site.
Yeah you rite. As you probably heard, there was one big disappointment -- Fats Domino wasn't feeling well and didn't play. He got a clean bill of health at the hospital, but only the man can say how he's feeling, and if he ain't feelin' well he ain't feelin' well. A few friends wondered how much of that was nerves -- Fats has always been "a notoriously reluctant performer," as Da Paper said -- but I'm just glad he's okay. Rather than do a big Fest wrap-up I'll just be even lazier and link to Steve's (he's a pro, after all) and Steve M.'s ('cause he's a pro too), but I'll have some comments along with the pictures I'll post over the next several days, starting tomorrow. The Cocktailian. In today's edition of Gary Regan's fortnightly column, The Professor, our cocktailian bartender, gives us an Austrian Martini, the old Tanqueray and Noilly Prat classic spiked with a dose of Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur, which tastes like ... well, pine. ("Ever drink a pine tree? Many parts are ... um, drinkable!") Not sure how soon I'll be adding this stuff to my bar, but the drink sounds fascinating. Privacy? No, not so much. The Empty Suit in the White House assured us that they'd only be engaging in warrantless spying on people who are talking to al Qaeda members overseas. "You have nothing to worry about," he and his minions crowed. Well, as you've likely heard by now, the NSA "has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth," according to people "with direct knowledge of the arrangement."
Bush personally assures us that they're not actually listening. Uh huh, I believe that. The man lies about cheese and fish, why should I believe him about this? Rick put it very well in this imagined conversation with the administration, sent via email this morning as he wondered, "What I'm waiting to hear is how they are going to explain that they are not doing something completely, totally, and horrifically illegal."
Jesus H. Christ. Quote of the day. Read the whole transcript and email it around, and watch the video:
Do not remain silent. OMGWTFCAPRICA!! That was the subject of Wesly's email to me yesterday, delivering the following news item announcing a new series called Caprica ... a spinoff from Battlestar Galactica (!):
WOW! My little geek fanboy heart flutters. If the writing, acting and production values of this show are equal to that of BSG, we may be in for a winner here. (Goddammit, as if I didn't already have enough TV to watch ...) [ Link to today's entries ]
Coming home when you have no home. Day after day, stage after stage, club after club, we keep hearing about musicians up there performing; someone'll whisper, "Did you hear? He/she lost everything." A lot of folks like that are in town for Fest from wherever they evacuated to, but there are lots of questions about the future. Some of them are answered by the almost unopposable pull this city has on people, but there are practical questions, like "Where ya gonna stay?"
One of the more depressing lines: "Some musicians who have tried to find housing report that rents have doubled." This isn't just musicians, it's everyone who's coming back. Wes and I were talking about this last night. I'm not so sure I could sleep at night if I owned an apartment and doubled the pre-flood rents just because I could. Sadly, I don't think many New Orleans landlords think the same way. Blogging Jazzfest, wit pitchas! Thanks to Steve Hochman, who's one of the writers covering Jazzfest for AOL Music, plus editor Brad Hill, a couple of the stories up there are now illustrated by my photographs (Thanks, y'all!). In addition to the rest of his excellent stories (as well as those of his colleagues), check out the posts on Big Chief Victor "Fi Yi Yi" Harris of the Mandingo Warriors, and longtime Gospel Tent denizen Wing of Life. I have a story about Big Chief Harris on Mardi Gras Day, but I'll save that one for later. Now, off to the Fair Grounds ... we gotta go see Mr. Fats today. [ Link to today's entries ]
Yeah you rite!!! Liuzza's is reopening today. Sorta.
 (Liuzza's on Bienville, 8/6/2005, with my parents and grandmother)  (Liuzza's on Bienville, 9/8/2005, under water) Sadly, we can't make it today, but this is GREAT news! I'll be there in July. Now, gotta go ... off to the Fair Grounds. [ Link to today's entries ]
The Wizards of 'OZ. From the Times-Picayune: "While showcasing New Orleans culture, radio station WWOZ became a cultural icon itself. General Manager David Freedman and his colorful collection of music devotees are hellbent on saving it."
I can tell you from experience ... with a sink sprayer to get the grit off, then in mild soapy water, and dry with a soft cloth, wiping from center to edge. Listen to WWOZ, the greatest radio station in the world, and give them your support. [ Link to today's entries ]
Stephen Colbert: American Hero. In case you hadn't seen this (primarily because it's not being reported by mainstream media), Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report roasted President Bush, several members of his administration, the press and others during his appearance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. This is, as you may recall, the same dinner at which Bush joked about not being able to find WMDs a few years ago, and went around looking under people's tables for them (very funny to the 2400+ dead soldiers whom he sent to look for them, and their families, no doubt). Colbert's performance was astonishing, hacking them to shreds, all while standing just a few feet away from the President (who was observed as looking "visible uncomfortable" and who left with the First Lady soon after). Colbert has the balls to say what no one else will during this Emperor's New Clothes presidency, and he deserves a medal. More from dKos and Atrios (here and here) and Crooks and Liars (who have a downloadable file of the complete video). Now, back to my vacation ... April Looka! entries have been permanently archived. [ Link to today's entries ]
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| Several of my friends and loved ones (and a few kind strangers) contribute regularly to this weblog, providing links, comments and sometimes lots more. Thanks to Wesly Moore, Mike Luquet, Mary Herczog, Steve Hochman, Dave Schmerler, Nettie DeAugustine, Diana Schwam, Andy Senasac, Michael Yasui, Steve Gardner, Michael Pemberton, Steve Kelley, Barry Kelley, Eric Labow, Tom Krueger, Greg Beron, Sean Burke, Shari Minton and Barry Enderwick. |
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