New Orleans, LA

I got an email from the zoo:

My name is Zelda, an African Blackfooted Penguin—one of the many animals you can adopt from Audubon Nature Institute! Over the past year, my animal friends at Audubon Zoo, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species have been doing well because of the kindness of supporters like you.

Your gift of $35 to adopt me will help feed and care for me—and for the many animals within Audubon’s care.

When you adopt me or any other animal at Audubon Nature Institute, you will receive a “parent package,” which includes a personalized adoption certificate, a photo and fun facts about your new wild child and an invitation to a special event only for adoptive animal parents. Animal adoptions are terrific holiday and birthday presents, too!

Thank you for being a part of our Audubon family! Please come visit us; we love to see the people who make our excellent care possible.

Love,
Zelda
African Blackfooted Penguin at Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

zoo, audubon, aquarium, penguin, adopt, new orleans

Queen New Orleans, City By The River, was written by Harnett T Kane. Mr Kane was a lover of Louisiana and New Orleans. He wrote several books about the region, include Queen New Orleans, The Bayous of Louisiana and The Romantic South. Mr Kane died on September 4, 2007.

In honor of his memory, and to celebrate his writing, I thought I would share a short excerpt from Queen New Orleans. I have to say that I am quite proud to own a first edition; printed by Morrow in 1949. If you can get a copy, I recommend it. You can find them on ebay at times.

I enjoy this book from two perspectives. As a native New Orleanian, I can see Kane’s love for New Orleans. It’s in every word. As a writer I can see his love for words. When you read this excerpt, I don’t think you’ll be able to do anything but agree.

From Queen New Orleans, Introduction - New Orleans is a Lady.

New Orleans is a lady - part American, part Spanish, more French than either in her essential viewpoint. She is intriguing in her swift changes of mood, grande dame one moment, gamine the next. She enjoys laughter, appreciates a show, relishes a quiet hour of happiness. By the unco guid she is considered a little shady, if not worse she would be the first to admit she is no anemic Puritan. For she has seen a good deal in her day, and she doesn’t shock easily.

It is generally admitted, however, that she has taste and judgment and poise is unmistakable. To her have come glory and heartbreak, triumph and defeat, and she has profited from them all. She can look fate in the face and make the best of whatever befalls her. And above everything else she has her Gallic joie de vivre, her Latin appreciation of the generous intention, the gallant gesture.

Throughout her story New Orleans has remained faithful to herself, and to the river with which destiny has joined her. In fat years and thin, she has stayed his Queen, now a consort in ornate halls, now a tiresome helpmate eating red beans and rice in her kitchen. With the Mississippi she will live to the end; and meanwhile she will go on as always, savoring, appreciating what the days bring.

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I read an article in CityBusiness this weekend, Jeff Parish plans Fat City makeover. They’re talking about a potential $300 million improvement. This is great news.

Sneed and the rest of the Council have made inroads to maximize the area’s potential. Fat City is softly bounded by Division Street to the west, Severn Avenue to the east, Veterans Memorial Boulevard to the south and West Esplanade Avenue to the north.

I used to live in Fat City. For a couple of years in my late teens, early twenties, I lived in an apartment on Edenborn. Talk about “living liquida loca”.  Anybody else remember “drinkin with lincoln?”  $5 all you can drink friday night.  I was even stabbed in Fat City once. Just a flesh wound.

Anyway, it’s been a two or three years since I was last there but it was decrepit and run down then so I can imagine what it looks like now. I’m glad they are putting some thought into renovation.

“It goes against common sense that this area, with its proximity to viable real estate like Lakeside Mall, Causeway Boulevard and Interstate 10, has been able to languish,” Sneed said. “This is clearly the best real estate in the metro area.”

They are talking about high-rises and I’m not too sure about that. Keep the high-rises in the NO CBD. Fat City should be about architecture and open air. Make it an open air, walking mall like is common in San Diego. Or make it an shop/entertainment area like Universal City Walk in Orlando.

“It’s easiest in that area to build high rises,” Sneed said. “It makes it of value to developers because it makes it financially feasible for a (building like) Lakeway Center or a Heritage Plaza.”

But anything would be good for Jefferson and for Metairie. Boot out Broussard and rebuild Fat City. The future looks bright.

jefferson parish, fat city, new orleans, metairie, party, liquor, drinkin with lincoln

Sunday is Photo Of The Week Day.

French Quarter Band, April 2005
Photographer: Mikrash

To submit a photo, send me an e-mail at lewis.cunningham@451press.net with the subject line of New Orleans Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo. Include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

By emailing me the photo, you are explicitly declaring that you are the copyright holder of the photo and that you are giving me permission to post the photo.

I can hot link to your site, or upload the image and link from this site. Tell me your preference.

Thanks,

LewisC

new orleans, photo, image

Monday night. Will I be watching Heroes or K-Ville? I can’t decide. I plan to watch both but one will be DVR’ed. I think I may watch K-Ville live and then blog about it during Heroes’ commercials.

What genius decided to put K-Ville up against Heroes? K-Ville is already fighting an uphill battle just by being a fairly depressing topic. I’m not sure the rest of America really wants to spend an hour a week watching ficticious stories about crime in New Orleans when they already spend part of their nightly news time watching true-life stories about crime in New Orleans.

Bah! I guess I’ll just make sure my DVR is ready. I plan to watch for as long as it lasts or until they just get too stupid to be born.

Will you be watching?

kville, k-ville, new orleans, crime, drama, heroes, abc, nbc, tv

Ok, let me clarify. It’s not a comic book, it a graphic novel. An anthology, actually. From what I have seen of it, it looks pretty sharp. The book, Hope: New Orleans, is from Ronin Studios and says “100 comics creators joined forces to create an anthology to benefit the victims of the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans”.

The proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the Red Cross and its continued effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The front and back cover are painted by David Mack, creator of Kabuki. The pinups by Lark, Shinn/Barkmann, Stahnke, Villegas and Wachter are placed throughout the book, rounding it off perfectly.

Some of the stories in the anthology:

Persistent City
An ode to New Orleans by writer Alex Wilson and artist Mario Boon, this story was created for HOPE: New Orleans and first printed in The Florida Review, Fall 2006

Goth Ninja in New Orleans
Stepping off the pages from her Silent Devil book, the Goth Ninja takes on an enemy in the streets of New Orleans.

Brotherhood
A father tells his son about the power of music in a seemingly hopeless situation.

Epsilon Realm: A Reason to Believe
An international group of superheroes goes to help the victims of Katrina.

Lightning Squirrel: Terror in the Ruins
Lightning Squirrel and his friends help New Orleanseans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of the city.

Sweet Marie
The last story in the anthology is a tale of the indomitable spirit of New Orleans, symbolized by the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau.

You can get more info from this discussion about the book. I haven’t been able to find it on sale yet. Doesn’t amazon carry things like this?

new orleans, katrina, comic, book, graphic, ronin studios, hope: new orleans

Taking the lead from several of my co-bloggers here at 451Press, I have decided to start a Photo of the Week. The others do a photo of the day but I think I will reserve Sunday as my photo day. If I get several good ones in one week, I may also post a photo on Saturday.

French Quarter, Window of a store, Christmas Day 2005
Photographer: Gina Cunningham

To submit a photo, send me an e-mail at lewis.cunningham@451press.net with the subject line of New Orleans Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo. Include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

By emailing me the photo, you are explicitly declaring that you are the copyright holder of the photo and that you are giving me permission to post the photo.

I can hot link to your site, or upload the image and link from this site. Tell me your preference.

Thanks,

LewisC

new orleans, photo, image

In an effort to talk about something besides Katrina, I figured I would talk about Voodoo Fest.

That’s right. October 26 - October 28, 2007 in New Orleans City Park. It’s the 2007 Voodoo Music Festival. Come and go weekend passes were $100/head. Those have sold out and now there are only limited $115/head tickets left. You can also get a VIP pass if you want to pay for one. Those are currently $450/head and the price is going to increase as the day gets closer.

The line up is amazing. From The Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine to Dr John and Dumpstaphunk. The complete line up: Rage Against the Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins, Wilco , Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Sinead O’Connor, Kings of Leon, Mute Math,

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I am feeling somewhat melancholy and homesick today. More so than last year. I’m not sure why. Things have gotten better in New Orleans but for some reason I am more depressed this year as the anniversary rolls around. Maybe it’s because two years later and things aren’t further along.

My mom is moving out of her trailer at the end of this month. Housing is outrageous. My nephews have jobs. I have two less siblings this year than I did two years ago. I didn’t think it was possible for New Orleans to have fewer IT jobs than it did several years ago but that is the unfortunate truth.

So, today, I will leave you with two NPR stories. You can follow the links to hear the recordings.

The first is titled: Dear New Orleans: I’m Leaving You. This is the story of a reporter, a non-native, who had adopted New Orleans as her home. A female representative of Generation K. Eve from K-Ville. Maybe that makes her a native.

The story isn’t so much about her as it is about the sadness and the crime permeating the city two years after Katrina. The big easy that is less easy. Her feelings about New Orleans seem to be a lot like mine:

They don’t understand that I’m in love. I talk to friends about New Orleans like a dysfunctional romance. I gush over it one day, then call up bawling and heartbroken the next. Why can’t it change? Stop being self-destructive and violent? It has so much potential.

I don’t live in New Orleans anymore. I don’t know if I ever will. But I am still a local. I always will be. There is something about New Orleans that forces that on you. Even through the embarrassment of re-electing Nagin, I will forever be a child born in Mercy Hospital.

The reporter, Eve, is leaving New Orleans after a friend being murdered, after friends being mugged, after being mugged herself. I wish her the best. Go to the link above and listen to the audio. It’s worth a few minutes.

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Fox and NOLA.com have gotten together and you can watch the k-ville premier right now. Go to the NOLA Entertainment section to see it.

Spoiler Alert: I am discussing the new K-Ville show on Fox and I have seen the ending. If you have not seen the premiere (the link above) and don’t want to be spoiled, do not continue reading. You’ve been warned!

Unless you’ve been under a rock (or have absolutely no interest in New Orleans topics), you have heard of K-Ville. If you haven’t heard, it’s a cop drama in New Orleans about two years after Katrina hit. New Orleans now. Crime drama. Just like real life. Only here the bad guys are rich white women and mercenaries that work at casinos. And I thought there was enough crime with the scum bag murderers, gang bangers, dopers, pimps, etc.

From the blurb on fox.com:

From writer and executive producer Jonathan Lisco (“NYPD Blue,” “The District”) comes K-VILLE, a heroic police drama set – and filmed – in New Orleans. Two years after Katrina, parts of the city are still in chaos, but hope has emerged. Battling an upsurge of violence, understaffing of police forces and a lack of crime labs and other facilities, the cops who remain in the New Orleans Police Department have courage to burn and a passion to reclaim and rebuild their city.

MARLIN BOULET (Anthony Anderson) is a brash, wry, in-your-face veteran of the NOPD’s Felony Action Squad, the specialized unit that targets the most-wanted criminals. Even when his partner deserted him during the storm, Boulet held his post, spending days in the water saving lives and keeping order. Now, two years later, he’s unapologetic about bending the rules when it comes to collaring bad guys. The stakes are too high, and the city too fragile, for him to do things by the book.

Boulet’s new partner, TREVOR COBB (Cole Hauser), was a soldier in Afghanistan before joining the NOPD. He’s tough and committed, but if he’s less than comfortable with Boulet’s methods, it’s because he’s harboring a dark secret. Cobb has come to New Orleans seeking redemption, but redemption can be dangerous. Will Boulet be able to trust him? Will Cobb’s past endanger them both?

Rounding out the crew are wisecracking JEFF “GLUE BOY” GOODEN (Blake Shields), the team’s comic relief; tough-as-nails GINGER “LOVE TAP” LeBEAU (Tawny Cypress), the only female on the squad; and CAPTAIN JAMES EMBRY (John Carroll Lynch), who wrangles the eclectic personalities of his squad with equal parts humor and tenacity.

Through its no-holds-barred crime stories and dramatic personal stories, this intriguing series will take viewers from the Victorian mansions of the Garden District to the rubble of the Lower 9th Ward.

K-VILLE, executive-produced by Lisco and Craig Silverstein (BONES, “Standoff”), is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Deran Sarafian (HOUSE, “CSI”) directed the pilot.

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Here’s something I have never heard of, read beans can make you sick. I ran across this article, Why Red Beans And Rice Can Be Nauseating. I knew red beans could make you fart and if you eat too much it’s like a fiber bomb but I didn’t know it could literally make you sick.

According to the article:

Scientists have discovered how lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide that is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains, can make you feel temporarily miserable.

I searched around to see what a lectin is. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins or glycoproteins which are highly specific for their sugar moieties. Yeah, that didn’t help me either.

Have you heard of ricin? It was used by the Russians to kill a spy. They poked him with a special umbrella and it injected ricin into him. He died shortly after. Ricin comes from the castor bean and is highly toxic. Apparently, under cooked read beans can have something of the same effect.

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I took my wife to a restaurant here in Florida, near where we live. The place is called Po Boy’s Creole Cafe. It looked very promising. Inside it looked more like a sports bar than a New Orleans restaurant but they have some awesome black and white New Orleans prints on the walls.

The menu looked good too. Appetizers included fried pickles (mmmmm!), cajun popcorn and other goodness. Actually, you can view the menu yourself. I don’t see the fried pickles so they may not be selling them anymore. That’s a shame as that was my favorite item.

Anyway, my wife and I are both huge fans of red beans so we ordered the read beans and rice appetizer. The read beans came with great big chunks of tomato in it which kind of grossed us out. It was super thick and I didn’t like the flavor at all.

The wife likes nothing better than a shrimp po-boy so that’s what she ordered. It was kind of small, about 9 inches maybe, and not over stuffed but the breading was spiced decently and the shrimp weren’t over cooked.

I’m a muffuletta fanatic. The description of the muffuletta at this restaurant is:

MUFFULETTA: A New Orleans legend. A round, baked concoction of ham, salami, swiss, and provolone dressed with home-made olive dressing, creole mustard and mayo.

Close but no cigar. Mayo? On a muff? Blech. I asked if they could hold the mayo. The answer was, “No. We have them shipped in special from Louisiana. It’s very authentic. That’s where we get our read beans and rice, too!”

Ugh. I got it anyway. It had been too long since I had a muffuletta. It was an ok sandwich. The olive dressing was good and the meat was very thinly sliced. Worth eating but a far cry from New Orleans.

We’ve been back a few times since it’s so close but it’s not our favorite. Now that it looks like fried pickles aren’t on the menu, there’s not much point in going back.

A much better restaurant, and very authentic, is the Cajun Cafe on the Bayou. This place has EXCELLENT food!

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I was browsing around the web today and stopped by the Tucson, AZ site. There’s a new article that is as pertinent to New Orleans as it is to Tucson, The Housing Bubble Has Burst. The author, Amber Curtis, describes a market that sounds a lot like N.O. pre-katrina. Even after Katrina, the housing prices went nuts for a while.

The reasons for the bust a pretty universal also:

Part of the reasons given includes the risks taken when lending to the segment of the population with poor credit histories. During the boom there was a lot of creative financing to get just about anyone into a home. Now that the pressures of paying for those homes has hit many can’t make the payments they thought they could.

She also mentions a local (to AZ) mortgage lender would no longer be funding loans. That’s bad for everyone. Give the article a read.

LewisC

tucson, az, housing, real estate

Dooky Chase’s to reopen after $500,000 in repair. According to the New Orleans City Business news, Leah Chase has been able to get the requires repairs funded and implemented. We’re coming up on the two year anniversary and while the article says no date is yet set, I hope it’s on the anniversary. That’s the kind of message the world needs about New Orleanians. The job will get done.

I watch Leah on PBS when I see that she’s on. Her show is “Creole Cooking with Leah Chase” and it’s a hoot to watch. She is one spunky lady. The article above says she is 84 and wikipedia says she was born on January 6, 1923.

She’s a local. She was born in my mom’s home town of Madisonville on the north shore. Even now, Madisonville is fairly rural (growing lot’s of very large homes right now, though) so I can imagine what it was ike in the 1920s. When I was kid, many of the roads were made up of little river rocks (and I’m not that old).

She moved to New Orleans when she was 18 and got a job at Colonial Restaurant . In 1945 she married Dooky and, after starting a family, she began working at his family’s restaurant, part-time. She soon took a more direct involvement and eventually changed the menu and became chef. The rest is history.

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The New York Times recently had a good article about the impact that Katrina has had on local musicians: The Katrina Effect, Measured in Gigs. It’s a good article but pretty sad. For a city known as much for it’s music as it is for its food and good times, the fact that very talented musicians can’t get work pretty much sucks.

Of course, since Katrina, it’s been hard for every one. There’s no reason it wouldn’t be hard for musicians. It’s just a shame that one of New Orleans’ main tourist attractions, and one of the things that improves everyone’s morale, is having such difficulties. The fear is that if the musicians can’t get gigs in New Orleans, will they go where they can?

The Times article has some important figures. They are disturbing, but not unexpected, for anyone living in the area:

Conventions, typically a strong source of music gigs, are running at 70 percent of 2004 levels, but leisure travel remains far below pre-Katrina levels, according to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Over all, visitors generated $2.9 billion in spending in 2006, down from $4.9 billion in 2004, according to the bureau. About 3.7 million people visited the city in 2006, compared with more than 10 million in 2004.

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