Frolic: jazz, books, food

Jazz, Books, Food, and the Writing Life

Blogging from New Orleans, La

29 August 2006

I wanted to quote another passage from David Lee Simmons’ piece in Creative Loafing:

I could sense some friends and relatives were dubious and thought I was following my heart more than my head, returning to a bombed-out shell of a city that had been reduced to what we began to call “the sliver by the river,” where 20 percent of the city remained relatively functional. It’s a little ironic considering that before the storm, I’d grown a little frustrated with New Orleans. I’d spent seven years in the same job and sweated the same things as everyone else: the crime, the poverty, the crappy education system, the lack of a large and vibrant young professional class. What I’d taken for granted was how liberated I had felt after moving there from my hometown of Tallahassee. It was in New Orleans that I learned I could be fearless and reckless even while progressing in my career. I learned that culture can exist in everything from a trumpet to a po-boy, and that a city could actually have an inner life, its own language. For better or worse, I’d arrived at the conclusion that most people didn’t come to New Orleans to find themselves; they came there to lose themselves. More than anything, I remember walking around my neighborhood thinking to myself, “I can be whoever I want to be, and no one’s going to fuck with me.”
Except, I would learn, nature — and my government.

The whole thing is worth reading.

Posted by Todd at 10:43 am | No Comments

I’m not feeling very eloquent today. Luckily, Poppy Z. Brite in the Boston Globe today says everything I would want to say:

As a New Orleans native planning to spend the rest of my life in this half-drowned but still vibrant city, I’m scared to address you . A year after Hurricane Katrina, I’m scared that you’ve forgotten me or are sick of me or think I’m stupid to keep living in a place that almost killed me. Such are the conceptions New Orleanians have about other Americans these days. We’re grateful for the outpouring of help and support we’ve received, but we also know some people think we’re not worth the effort and expense to rebuild, not understanding that we are rebuilding regardless of anyone else’s opinion. That’s how we do things down here, and that’s part of what you loved about us before. In the past year, though, it seems that “Laissez le bon temps rouler” has turned to “They were asking for it — and haven’t they already received enough help?” For your part, perhaps you think New Orleans is utterly devastated and dying, or that those pictures you saw of the French Quarter mean it’s back to normal. The reality is somewhere in between. […] You can help us get through this difficult time by acknowledging that we matter, and by reminding your representatives. Coastal Louisiana provides America with 30 percent of its annual seafood harvest, 18 percent of its oil supply, 24 percent of its natural gas, and vast amounts of imported goods that come through the Port of New Orleans. Perhaps even more important, we are a region unique in all the world, a beautiful, bountiful country within the borders of your own United States, a magic land that gives the world jazz and Mardi Gras and unforgettable characters and food unmatched in all the world. Louisiana artists — musicians, painters, writers, actors, raconteurs — will be dealing with the storm in their work for years to come. We are in a period of mourning for what we lost, and art is only one of the many ways we’ll mourn it. In the words of jazz trumpeter and composer Irvin Mayfield, who lost his father to Katrina, “More so than ever, we’ve got to do what it is that we do.” And we are. And we will.
We hope you’ll join us in mourning our losses. But please don’t make the mistake of mourning for New Orleans as a whole, because we’re not dead, and we’re not dying.

You can read the full piece at the Boston Globe.

Posted by Todd at 8:56 am | No Comments

28 August 2006

My friend David Lee Simmons, now living in Atlanta, wrote a fine piece looking back at our lives after Katrina:

One night, talking to my dad, I noted that when I was evacuated to Lafayette, one brother was performing recovery work in coastal Mississippi while the other was in Iraq. I told my father how, for the first time in my life, I not only hated my president but my government as well. And I thought I had good reason. By then, the whole city seemed to be self-medicating. In my worst week, I averaged a bottle of wine a day. At one point, I figured everybody was getting married or divorced or going into therapy, or leaving or committing suicide. Katrina was all we ever talked about; it was the only thing that mattered.
The trauma bound us together. We all felt, despite the stress and the strain that grew daily, that we were a part of something special, a part of history — and that we were fighting for our city’s survival. Even as I bid farewell to close friends and co-workers who moved on elsewhere, I grew closer to others who had survived the storm and returned to stay.

I don’t what I’ll be doing tomorrow. I’m not comfortable with organized memorials. David Lee is back in town for a few days. Having a beer with a friend who moved on might be enough.

Posted by Todd at 6:10 pm | No Comments

An orange Coast Guard helicopter is flying low and slow over the city. I haven’t seen those in a while. I wonder if Bush is in town.

Posted by Todd at 5:56 pm | No Comments

23 August 2006

The New York Times has named Chandler Burr as its first critic of scents, including both perfumes and scented candles. He will rank scents on a four star scale.

I’ve got nothing to add.

Posted by Todd at 5:33 pm | Comments (2)

20 August 2006

We’re approaching twelve months since our streets were full of water. Jack Ware over at Metroblogging has the right attitude:

Starting today through the anniversary of the thing that shaped my last year, I’m going to make a serious effort to have fun, relax, sleep better, smile more, laugh out loud and regain some of those parts of me that have been eclipsed by the last year. The fates have had a year to kick me around and that’s all they get. …
Giving weight to that stoopid storm has caused me to list severely for the last year and now it is time for me to get righted, find my center, shake the dust off, and leave this last year to being nothing more than an interesting story to tell years from now when I’m old and feeble as proof that I was strong at least for a while when I was younger.

Can I get a “Hell yes!”

Posted by Todd at 7:05 pm | No Comments

My friend Cynthia Joyce has a great piece on Salon about the local reaction to Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke.

You have to sit through one of Salon’s annoying ads, but it’s worth it. [thanks Rob]

Posted by Todd at 4:04 pm | No Comments

18 August 2006

Dan Baum has an excellent piece in the New Yorker on why so little rebuilding has taken place during the last year. The short answer: politicians are in charge and Bush is in the White House. The New Yorker hasn’t posted the article, so you’ll have to buy the August 21st issue.

Like Baum’s last article on the New Orleans police force, it gets at the complexity of the situation better than anything else I’ve read. Also like the the last piece, this one has some factual errors. I’ve lost faith in the New Yorker’s fabled fact checking department. (I’ve also lost faith in the media, but that’s a post for another day.)

A quick search reveals that Dan Baum isn’t really a man. In fact, he’s not really a person. The author is a husband and wife team, but only the husband gets credit. What an unusual way to work.

Update: The New Yorker has posted the article.

Posted by Todd at 8:13 pm | Comments (1)

12 August 2006

Here is some good news from the Central Florida Hurricane Center:

This year has been quite a contrast to last year, in that systems have been slow to develop, and when they do, not holding together or becoming very strong. Lets hope this trend continues for the rest of the season.

The website has the best information I’ve found on hurricanes.

Posted by Todd at 6:49 am | Comments (1)

When a guide book says “locals call it so-and-so,” you can be pretty sure that locals do not call it that.

Posted by Todd at 6:32 am | Comments (2)

Why are ocean waves so relaxing? We spent last weekend in Destin, which has the right amount of trashiness for a proper beach vacation. Go-karts and badly fried seafood, yes. Drunken frat boys and kids cruising, no.

It seems that any successful Destin restaurant must have an animal display out front, such as a fish pond or an alligator pit. New Orleans restaurants ought to consider this. How about a monkey cage at Galatoire’s?

Posted by Todd at 5:48 am | No Comments

3 August 2006

Former resident Wynton Marsalis, sometimes resident Emeril Lagasse and absentee mayor Ray Nagin are planning a party to celebrate Katrina’s anniversary. Fireworks and comedians were on the schedule. Now, according to the Times-Picayune, they’ve decided that a little seriousness might be better. No more comedians. No more fireworks.

Maybe they should cancel all the official activities. Let the people who live here commemorate the last year in the manner we deem right.

Posted by Todd at 1:25 pm | Comments (2)