New Orleans, LA

I am a news junkie. One of the topics that I spend a lot of time on is New Orleans news from places outside New Orleans. I like to see how other people see New Orleans. I especially like news about New Orleans from outside the US. The point of views can be fascinating. You can see the type of stuff I like on my other blog where I comment on an interesting New Orleans news headlines. I try to post at least one headline per day.

Along those lines, I found an article in The Hindu. The Hindu bills itself as Online edition of India’s National Newspaper. This particular article, After the floods, is written by Anjali Kamat and was posted on September 23, 2007.

I don’t want top say that the author got it wrong as much as I want to say he is misinformed. For one thing, he starts off with a picture labeled, “Now a Wasteland.” Excuse me, New Orleans is not a wasteland. True, there are plenty of areas that need work. Some areas haven’t even started work. Calling it a wasteland damages your credibility though.

With all of the half-truths and misinformation in this article, there is one comment that really stands out as being just plain ignorant.

Visiting the post-Katrina landscape of New Orleans is a bit like time travel. It’s a crash course in the long and shameful history of American poverty, injustice, slavery, and racial segregation. But it’s also a window into the future of what other cities in the United States and perhaps across the world could soon look like. That privatised, gentrified, and militarised future is unmistakeably bleak and terrifying.

After a statement like that, you would think the author would provide some information to back up the statement but not in this case. It’s a drive-by insulting aimed at New Orleans and all of the US.

But, as I said above, there are some very true statements in the article:

Two years after the flood, little has changed at the Lower Ninth Ward. The scene is eerily reminiscent of images from days after the hurricane.

Or this:

After two years of wrangling with the bureaucracy, owners who had finally received federal money to rebuild their homes returned only to find their houses demolished and their property seized by the city. Meanwhile rent prices had skyrocketed by almost 200 per cent.

The insane cost of living that is currently biting New Orleans is particularly vexing. Until there is additional housing, rent will remain high. With insurance and taxes out of control, I don’t see it getting better any time soon.

This following paragraph is a prime example of, almost paranoid, misinformation.

The city’s elite called Katrina a godsend that “cleaned up” the crime-ridden projects. But all Stephanie could talk about was how much she misses the sense of community at the projects. She now lives in Survivors Village, a rat-infested “tent city,” erected in protest by former public housing residents like herself, right across the street from her old home.

Who, in New Orleans, called Katrina a “godsend”? I think they got that from the K-Ville pilot episode.

Even though this article is mostly wrong or warped, I still like reading what people in other places are thinking. The downside to reading this is that I have to ask myself, “Is this the image New Orleans is broadcasting to the world?”

new orleans, katrina, news, india, hindu, image

In 1800, Spain controlled a vast territory in the New World called Louisiana. The small, at that time, US had no particular interest in buying that land. That land which ran from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The US and Spain had a treaty, the Pickney Treaty of 1795, that allowed American navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the Port of New Orleans. More than a quarter of everything produced in America traveled to the Gulf via the Mississippi River.

In 1801, France resumed control of Louisiana and America’s views on that changed. President Jefferson was concerned that France would try to block American use of the river stangling American growth. France at that time was the traditional American enemy. To make matters worse, Napoleon made public his intentions to occupy Louisiana and make that land the bread basket of France in America.

Many in the US wanted to declare war on France. Not just for this but it added fire to the flame. The Federalists had wanted war for a long time and this gave them added impetus. Jefferson did not want war and struggled for a way out. He wrote to the US ambassador to France and said (I paraphrase), “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans is the day we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation.” Meaning that he was willing to go to war over New Orleans. He also instructed the ambassador to make sure that the French, in particular, Napoleon, understood that.

France was facing a slave revolt in the Caribbean. Between fighting and yellow fever, Napoleon lost over 40,000 soldiers. He could not afford a war with the US and Britain. The US wanted to purchase New Orleans for $10 Million. Napoleon sold all of Louisiana for $15 Million, only 3/4 of which they were required to pay (the rest went to reparations to the US government).

In one fell swoop, the US doubled its land by acquiring Louisiana. The purchase was ratified in 1803 and Louisiana was admitted to the Union in 1812.

new orleans, louisiana, louisiana purchase, france, america, jefferson, history

The New Orleans Mint is reopening in October. The New Orleans mint was the mint that imprinted an O on coins. The mint shut down in 1909 but has been turned into a museum. It took some major damage by Katrina but has been renovated and is reopening for business.

For those collectors passing through New Orleans, the restored Mint Museum is well worth a visit. The former exhibit on the history of the New Orleans Mint has been totally revamped and expanded. It also now includes a section on the archeology of the Mint. The building served as both a U.S. and Confederate mint, but lack of bullion shut it down quickly under Confederate administration. Minting operations ceased once and for all in 1909 and in 1966 the landmark was transferred to the state. It opened to the public in 1981 as a state museum.

According to web sources, the old mint was built in 1835 and is the only mint in the US to server as both a US and Confederate mint.

View Larger Map

new orleans, us mint, o mint, tourism, history, museum, history, historical, numismatic

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

Set your DVR on Thursday, September 20 at 7PM to WYES for Reshaping New Orleans. It will repeat at 9pm on Friday.

Reshaping New Orleans is a discussion amongst several knowledgeable and involved people. They will be discussing the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP). The Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP) addresses specific actions necessary to facilitate the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans. The objective of this multi-level planning process is to successfully integrate community input and a set of deliverables from the district-level and neighborhood planning processes into a Unified Recovery and Rebuilding Plan that will be submitted to the City Planning Commission, City Council, Mayors Office and State of Louisiana. The plan culminates with a city-wide plan that encompasses all districts and neighborhoods.

Is the Citywide Strategic Recovery and Redevelopment Plan more than just thoughts and words on paper? Can it really serve as a practical, workable blueprint to rebuild the city into the community that all residents and neighborhoods want?

The discussion is being led by John Snell (WVUE) and includes:

Stephen D. Villavaso, local planner who worked on Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP); David Dixon FAIA, a Boston, MA planner who worked on the UNOP; LaToya Cantrell, President of the Broadmoor Improvement Association; David Voelker, board member on the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and a Federal Representative; Dr. Edward J. Blakely, Executive Director of the Office of Recovery Management for New Orleans and Donald E. Powell, Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding. Prior to his new appointment, Mr. Powell served as the 18th Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Tune your radio to AM 690 WIST Thursday, September 20 at 8pm after RESHAPING NEW ORLEANS with local hosts Eric Asher and Shane Warner as they discuss the program and take calls from locals. Watch on AM 690 WIST Inside New Orleans with Eric Asher weekdays from 12-3pm and don’t miss The Shane Warner Show weekdays from 3-5pm.

new orleans, planning, katrina, rebuilding, wyes, wvue, wist, reshaping new orleans

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

The NYT had a good write up about K-Ville, Cop Show Comes Calling in Battered New Orleans. I don’t particularly like NYT because, for many articles, you have to log in. This headline caught my eye though.

K-Ville starts next monday. Sept 17. I will be watching. I watched the preview and liked it. I have two hopes for the show.

1) I hope it doesn’t get too cheesy. They could easily get maudlin or they could go the other way and just get stupid with the violence and stereo types. I’m hoping for more.

2) I hope, keeping #1 in mind, that the series is very successful. I don’t know if you remember Frank’s Place but I hope K-Ville is much more successful. I think having a series every week that keeps New Orleans in people’s minds could be very beneficial.

The article says that some people are bothered that in New Orleans, people don’t refer to the city as K-Ville. That’s true but I have read it quite a bit. I read it from people natives and non-natives. I think the title is a non-issue. I mean it’s a TV show for christ’s sake. It beats reality TV and Dr Phil.

Best Quote: Employment and other economic benefits are at the heart of that welcome. Ms. Day said that 80 percent of the crew on the show is local. “It takes eight days to film an episode,” she said. “Over that eight days a little more than a million dollars is pumped into the local economy.”

Wikipedia has a write up about K-Ville. Short but good. I’m sure info will be added to it over time.

new orleans, k-ville, cole hauser, anthony anderson, tv, series, fox, katrina, jobs, tourism

Get’em while they’re hot. The party in park. Voodoo Fest tickets are $40/per day. If you aren’t sure which day you want to attend, check out the Voodoo Fest Schedule. For a single day, Saturday looks like a winner.

If you’re really in the mood for some voodoo festing, check out the “How Would You Do Voodoo?“ contest.

• Grand Prize: One winner, chosen by StarCostumes.com from the top 50 entries, wins 2 three day passes, $1000 for travel & lodging, $100 to StarCostumes.com and a feature on their site.
• 2nd Place: One winner, chosen by highest score, will win a $100 credit at StarCostumes.com.
• Most Viral: One winner, who gets the most attention across the internet, will win a $100 credit at StarCostumes.com. About Most Viral.
• Sweepstakes: One registered member of Brickfish that participates in the campaign by entering, voting or reviewing will have a chance to win a $100 credit at StarCostumes.com. See rules for details.

Sweet!

new orleans, voodoo, fest, festival, costume, music, city park

From KATC, Acadiana’s News Channel, Anne Rice’s New Orleans house for sale. Anne’s massive, 9000 square foot mansion in the Garden District is up for sale. The house is going for a very reasonable, $4.5 million.

Best Quote: According to the mortgage calculator on a real estate web site, if you put $500,000 down on the house and got a 30-year mortgage at 6.63 percent, your monthly payment _ principle and interest only _ would be $25,940.21.

Sweet!

Below is an unrelated but fairly amusing interview from her pre-Christian days. Skip to 19:00 into the video to see Anne.

new orleans, anne rice, vampire, house for sale, real estate

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

From the eJazzNews, the #1 source jazz resource on the web, New Orleans Jazz Greats in St. Croix Fest‏; Stephanie Jordan, Donald Harrison.

Sultry sounds from trumpets, trombones, saxophones and pianos will waft through the evening air when the highly anticipated Blue Bay Jazz Fest makes its mark on St. Croix November 15-18, 2007, featuring an impressive lineup of talented local performers and celebrated musicians from the city where jazz was born: New Orleans.

This sounds like an awesome festival. Does it get any better than kicking back on a beach, having a few brews and enjoying some live jazz?

The lineup includes Donald Harrison, Jr., trumpeter Christian Scott, vocalist Stephanie Jordan and the Jordan Family, pianist Henry Butler, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, and The New Orleans Trumpet Summit featuring Kermit Ruffins, James Andrews, Marlon Jordan, Christian Scott and Troy Andrews.

In addition to amazing live shows by jazz masters, the Jazz Fest will feature local foods, arts and crafts, dance troupes, Quelbe musical groups, stilt-dancing mocko jumbies and street entertainers all weekend long, as well as fundraising events, including a “Hugo to Katrina” benefit cocktail party.

A festival sponsor, WWOZ 90.7 FM, New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage radio station, will broadcast live from the multi-day event.

Sounds like good times.

jazz, music, fest, festival, virgin islands, beach, st croix, blue jay jazz fest

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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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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