Bravo

I didn't vote for Barack but I am happy he won. Bravo!

OK, can we impeach Bush now?

Wouldn't that be nice? This would be the perfect time to do it. The Democrats who didn't have the balls to impeach him before now, have nothing to lose.

Do it.

Chilling

Dubya says farewell with a song: G.W. Bush Vs John Lennon, GOD from John Callaghan on Vimeo.

And Happy Christmas / War is Over

voting today

I walked over to the polling place at about 10:30 this morning and
was back home at 11.

All went reasonably well. Not much of a line. Two tables were set up
for two election districts. I wasn't sure which district I was so I
waited in line abit and then went to the district table that wasn't
seeing much action. Turns out I wasn't in that district so I got back
in line, my place being saved. I fished out my voter registration
card and held onto it.

One of the election volunteers tried to put a man ahead of all of us
waiting in line but eventually relented and had him go to the back of
the line. Other than some confusion about organizing the people into
lines the election volunteers were competent. Some were even nice/friendly.

I got up to the table, signed in and went to the voting machine, one
of the old lever types that I am used to.

When I went into the machine, I looked for Nader's position. He was
way down on the bottom row, hard to see without bending over. He was
also on the same line as Bob Barr. I wish I had taken a picture so I
could remember if there were any blank lines inbetween the
independents on the bottom of the ballot and the entries for Obama
and McCain on the various party lines they were on. By putting the
independents so far towards the bottom it shows the clear bias the
two major parties have against them and is another tactic they have successfully used to maintain their power. Some day it would be nice if that sort of gerrymandering was
corrected.

Bush's brain

Michael P Smith RIP

Michael P Smith, the great New Orleans photographer who took so many
classic portraits of New Orleans musicians, died recently. I think I
first saw his work in my college yearbook in 1972. I've appreciated
it ever since.

See this for a good selection of his pics:
http://www.michaelpsmithphotography.com/jazzfest/pages/jazz1.htm

Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival, afterwards

My original idea was to write down the title of each poem I heard and then underline the notable ones and try to write something about them but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So, what I have below is the next best thing. I only wrote comments about a few poems or poets. I have also included some links to whatever poems I could find on the net.

I noticed a higher proportion of humorous as well as extremely gut-wrenching poems than in the past.

***


I went for Saturday and Sunday. It rained both days, a little on Sat, tons on Sun. I saw/heard some poets new to me and some familiar ones. Some impressions:

I got there in time for the 11 o'clock session on Saturday. Wandaring around, I saw Susan Jackson, who had a soft voice but stunning poetry, Ken Hart - a poem about him dating was one I noted and I think it was Brenda O'Shaughnessy whose language impressed me as especially lively.

In the main tent from 12:45 on I heard Peter Cole, who is very interesting, Linda Pastan, whose (Disobedience? In The Garden?, "I was never meant to be a God.") I remember from an earlier festival or hearing it somewhere else. A great dog poem. Later, Chris Albani was both funny and grippingly real in his tales of cruelty.

(Here is Chris reading on Friday)




Sharon Olds' poem(s?) on the death of her mother were moving and she did some of her Odes.

I went to the Bray Pond tent to hear Coleman Barks, Ted Kooser and C.D Wright. I hadn't heard Coleman in the morning Rumi session but he read more of his own poetry in this session. Ted and C.D.'s poetry didn't move me to write any notes on them.

(Here is Coleman reading on Friday)

I then went to the Gazebo to hear people read Whitman. One man in particular had memorized various sections and brought them to life by picking up a blade of grass while talking about it and otherwise using what he had around him. Brilliantly done!

The evening program's poets and poems who stood out in my mind:

- Simon Armitage two poems, one on a childhood school physics experiment where he had to shout to see how far a voice could carry (called The Shout) and I Am A Sperm Whale.

- Patricia Smith's riveting poem about the people who were left behind in a nursing home in St Bernard parish during Katrina. "... Leave them there..." repeatedly whispered. Gut-wrenching. (See the book Blood Dazzler.)

- Robin Robinson, from Scotland: Wedding The Locksmith's Daughter.

- Martin Espada's poem Alabanza about the food service workers in the World Trade Center tower on 9/11, teaching, at the end, the others how to sing. Another emotionally wrenching poem. See a movie version of it here.

- Franz Wright's poem that had in it, or was it an aside, that the IRS doesn't allow deductions for cloudy days.

- Kevin Young's poems "Aunties" (from Jelly Roll) and odes "To Pork" and "To Boudan."

I didn't stay after the break because I had to go back home and give my cat her insulin shot as well as get up early the next day to do the same, so that I could make the Rumi session then.

Sunday

I arrived before the Rumi session started and it got off to a little bit of late start anyway. Some lines I noted, but are roughly paraphrased here: the world is drowning in sorrow. What is the point of trying to know God? Be like a dog howling for its master. In the yearning, you will understand. There are many ways to kneel, as each instrument is singled out. (I'm guessing that the sound crew didn't play a track that Paul Winter wanted them to. He kept signalling them but I didn't hear any sfx or backing track. They did play some whale songs last night... The sound, by the way, was better than last year. Other than the heavy rain drowning out Billy Collins at times, EVERYTHING was audible and excellently handled. That tent is a fishbowl acoustically. Last year it was muddy unless you were sitting in a good spot. This year, it sounded good, if not a little loud, everywhere I sat.)

I wasn't sure where I wanted to go after that, and despite the hard rain, I headed to the farthest tent, the Bray Pond tent, to hear talk of poetry and animals. Mark Doty, as always, read beautifully. His poems about grackles in Houston "Theory of Beauty (Grackles on Montrose)" and goldfish eggs and him saying the chief of the Nez Perce' indians had told him, life without animals would leave humans with a loneliness of spirit. Very true and we are doing it anyway.

Maxine, Joy and Billy's readings and poems were good but I didn't write down any notes on them. Maxine and Joy had several horse poems. I don't understand horses but they helped.

I then still wasn't sure who I really wanted to see so I picked Kevin Young. Coral Bracho was new to me. Her poems were interesting, especially the one about water, "Agua de bordes lubricos. Both the English and Spanish versions were beautiful. I was tempted to make a short film, trying to find the sights she saw. In my mind's eye, I could. I don't think I could do that on film/video though. I might try. Kevin's poems I noted were about grits and chitlins.

The rest of the day was spent in the main tent.

I'd heard of Robert Haas and never seen him before but I didn't "get" most of his poetry. He did have poems about the death of his brother that were poignant. The line that 'poetry is dreams sent to school', to roughly paraphrase it, stuck with me.

Maxine's poems didn't stand out for me.

Ted Kooser had at least two that I noted: one about a skater and another about his wife washing her hands. "That is I"(?) too?

I hadn't seen Charles Simic before but nothing stands out.

I've heard Billy Collins read a few of the same poems at every Dodge Festival I've seen him at and was hoping he'd do some different ones. He did but repeated these: Tension, The Golden Years, The Trouble with Poetry and Litany. (He also read The Revenant at the poetry and animals session.) A new one (to me) that I liked, was his birthday poem. (Some readings can be downloaded here.)

At the very end they played Pat Metheny's Are You Going With Me (originally on the Offramp album), a wonderful tune I have always loved and very powerful.

I was fairly uncomfortable in the chairs at most of the stages so I squirmed abit but my back is feeling better, now that I am home.

I was disappointed that the food selection was so lackluster. Lots of junk food, not much that was good. The frozen hot chocolate at one stand was VERY good, thanks! I am suspecting that the festival doesn't have much say in what vendors are there; I'm guessing the state dictates some of that. I hope next time it's better.

Also, the main tent should have been ventilated better. I watched them open up the areas by the entrances on Saturday afternoon but most of the time it was MUCH too hot in there. If there are tents with flaps that can be rolled up more easily, I hope they use them. You feel like cattle in the feed lot when the crowd sits there helpless because the people running it aren't doing anything about ventilating it better. That kind of thing makes the festival experience unpleasant.

Overall, lots of wonderful poetry, wonderful poets, plenty to think about and enjoy. I'd say there were equal amounts of laughter as well as strong feelings on death and loss as well as a myriad of other subjects. It looks like much contemporary poetry has more humor in it than it has in the past which is an interesting development. Only one or two poets raised their voices and swore, something I'd seen more when I was growing up in the 60s.

Anyway, I look forward to the next one. Two years is too long.

Oh, and look for Festival poets on YoutTube! Their entire recorded collection going back to the first festival will eventually be available. See my earlier post for at least one sample already up.

Nader Releases 10-Point Plan to Recover from Financial Crisis -- Ralph Nader for President in 2008

Nader Releases 10-Point Plan to Recover from Financial Crisis

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Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival next week!

It's that time again. The Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival is coming up next weekend. Go. You'll love it.

Here's a sample from last time.

thoughts on the Republican convention, 9/2 - 9/4 and some of the music used

8:59 Tues
Something weird before Lisa Keegan. An attempt to be hip. Fairly awful.

The Repubs become non-partisan for a moment when asking for help for
the Gulf Coast. Soon enough, they discard that and go back to being
jerks.

Polls say the delegates are pro-Bush, pro-McCain to a great extent
whereas the majority of Republicans DO NOT favor Bush or McCain at
all. Should be interesting. These are the guys who drank the Cool-Aid.

Also disappointing is the fact that reporters outside the convention
are being arrested and abused. Like most Republican conventions, free
speech is in danger and protesters will get abused. They too will
cause trouble but the police will overreact and innocent people will
get hurt or arrested.

Repubs are using fear to get elected as usual. That and an overdose
of patriotism.

Fred Thompson on now. A joke of a man. Amazing that people would vote
for him. A macho idiot.

Jolting Joe Lieberman on now. How bizarre to see him there.

***

Wed

They play Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People. Great song. I
think this is an alternate version or they have edited out, or are
using an edited version that has the 'different strokes for different
folks' part out. Why? Maybe they just are missing a channel. I
suspect they edited it out.

Next, they play the rockabilly song (Rock This Town - by?, very familiar).

Kenny Loggins next.

Happy Republicans dancing to some cowboy song.

Earth, Wind & Fire - September. These white folks are abit retarded,
dance-wise.

Guiliani had to mention 9/11...

Sarah Palin's a pit bull with lipstick. I can't wait for the
Photoshopped pics that won't be flattering to her. But then, she did
ask for it.

Thurs

They go for the 9/11 angle.

Kenny Loggins sings - ..."we're gonna take you to the danger zone"...
Yes they will. Not the best choice for a song I'd think.

Lindsay Graham's argument about Iraq only points out that the
Republicans and Bush would have kept going on the same course if the
surge hadn't been tried, over their protestations. The soldiers on
the ground said this isn't working? Why didn't Bush, the Republicans
and the Dept of Defense listen?

Sarah Palin film
Mother, moose hunter... great. They show a pic of her as a child with
food on her mouth. Nice. Over the rainbow shot at the end blows the
tone.

Having that large screen behind the speakers reminds me of the Apple
1984 commercial. All the willing lemmings eating it up.

The movie that plays after Tom Ridge speech for Cindy McCain has a
first musical theme that sure sounds alot like this Land Is Your
Land, not a tune I'd think they'd want to use given the Pete Seeger
connection.

Cindy with black folks in Africa. She must be a good person.

She appears. Her hair has gotten bigger.

She's "blessed and honored to be part of our national conversation."
That's a wierd thing to say.

"Get the federal government out of our way." She's one of those...

Ralph Nader is on a live webcast now so I'm watching that.

'Let all of those who are locked up for non-violent drug "crimes"
go. Then, have massive prosecution of corporate crooks.'

They're using a handheld camera. They should have used a tripod...

'The US people don't want very much.' That, alas, is why Ralph won't
do well. Most people don't care enough to think things through. If
they did, he'd do better.

What makes anybody think that the Repubs or Democrats will "ever get it done."

CEOs should outsource their jobs too!

The Repubs are showing McCain in Viet Nam again.

McCain is standing in front of a green screen (later blue). Perfect
for lots of people to put something in for the background that may
not flatter him.

Nader webcast is hard to hear...

Nader: We're putting kids in front of screens in education when they
should be doing more worthwhile things.

I agree. "Only human beings should have constitutional rights. Not
corporations." And corporations should not be able to lobby either.

It's kinda cool to see the Repub convention-goers cheering while I
listen to Ralph's webcast! And to have McCain mouth Ralph's words!

Nader will be on 45 state ballots!

The audio is too hot. Distorting but it's still hard to hear the speakers.

The speaker that follows Ralph asks for a $2300 contribution. The
room doesn't respond at first then we hear someone say 'I will.'
They're doing some fundraising now.

I turn the volume down on Ralph's fundraising and listen to McCain.
McCain is now saying we will embark on a big project to make us
energy independent. Drill now? That's the WRONG strategy, my friend.
More nuclear power plants. Clean coal. All bad ideas.

Actually, we know better than what you're suggesting.

Q&A for Ralph now.

On 9/11: Would have worked with other countries to go after the
attackers with a laser-like focus.

Full Medicare for all.

Next week will get together with Bob Barr, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney
(the Green party candidate for President) and some others to say
they are for all for repealing the Patriot Act and treating the
massive deficit (and more).

'The word "spoiler" is a politically bigoted word reserved for third
party candidates... No one blames Pat Buchanan for the 2000 election.
Gore should have won his own state of TN. etc.'

McCain seems to be done. We see a big flag behind the speakers most
of the time.

Bush and Cheney (and Rumsfeld) are subject to criminal prosecution
after they are out of office.

Replace health insurers with Medicare.

Repubs play September again as McCain walks through the crowd.

I agree, the Dems are only interested in self-preservation.

The federal government of 1933 could have done a better job with Katrina.

Hurricane Gustav, Tuesday, 9/2

I tune in to DSU about 10:45 NY time.

Jindal is having another press conference.

People are heading back even though they won't be allowed to enter some places.

Randi Rousseau's profile looks like my old girlfriend...

Mr Moore, a neighbor who lived near and worked on a house that had
collapsed, will have more work... (Remember that song, don't have any
more, Mrs Moore?)

They show a shot of the entrance to the Palm Lake subdivision in
Slidell. It's a lake alright.

No levees breached in Orleans parish. Good. Water is still coming
over the top of the Industrial Canal though!

Danny Prinze and his wife moved to Slidell because they like the
water. Well, they got water now, as we seen them walking into it to
check out their home.

Rep Cedric Richmond: "We have to be sure we don't rely on the Coast
Guard", re: the ships in the Industrial Canal. That should be
interesting.

Plaquemines has 8 places where the levees are being overtopped. They
show footage shot yesterday of work by Braithwaite.

DSU's Dan Milham: "It looks like Hannah may go to Savannah."!

Various rivers are flooding.

DSU anchor doesn't have a blow dryer as a way of being sympathetic to
those who don't have enough money to stay away any longer. I'm sure
some will be upset with that comment but it was meant to be humorous
and that's how I took it.

Haskell baskets.

Billy Nugesser is pissed that the Corps hasn't figured out how to get
the levee fixed near Conoco. He agrees that they are frustrated as he
is.

Mayor of Slidell jokes about getting the sewage, "things", moving.

Billy Nungesser: "We're sitting around with our hand up our ass"...
He wants to cut through red tape, environmental reviews, etc to get
the levees in better shape. I hope they don't skip the environmental
reviews.

Helos (helicopters)

Ceeon Quiett is a spokeswoman for the city of NO. A quiet spokeswoman...

Heath Allen standing in water up to his knees as he makes his report
from Mandeville.

Reporter reads info provided by the military for the pictures they've
sent them verbatim. They should leave out the hype/self-promotion
they provided.

4:42 NY time: DSU: We're seeing some training going on. What's
training? This was in regard to bad weather, tornados or possible
tornados.

Tornados seen. Adding insult to injury, many must think 'what a place
to live.' They certainly have their hands full.

Levees overtopped in Plaquemines.

Crevasses.

Nungesser owns Elkland, an exotic animal tourist trap.

We see JIndal, Mitch Landrieu and MIchael Chertoff touring around.

Tempers are flaring with drivers who want to come back. We're not
seeing that but I am sure it is happening alot. People are impatient.

5:36 NY time. They are starting to let some people back in some places.

They show a tornado warning which they think will bring it to Audubon
park at the same time it is due in Lafayette. I'm not sure what that
was supposed to be.

They also say:
4:59 Audubon Zoo
--- Lower Garden District
5:01 Tulane.
Anyone who knows about Audubon Park will know that Tulane is across
the street. That's a little ridiculous, tracking anything to that
small level. (It's now crossing the street at such and such a
location...)

On the banner "leaders say the", that's it. Oops.

More tornado warnings, maybe 3, for Orleans parish. Oy.

7:05 NY time. The twin spans have reopen! It also seems the tornado
activity have quieted down but no, more to come. NO is still not
admitting people. Report of a tornado touching down in Abita Springs.

9:39 NY time: Things have quieted down mostly.

30% of the residents of St John Baptist parish stayed through the
storm, according to Buddy Boe.

WWL and VUE are showing commercials. DSU isn't yet.

Seeing that many places are letting people back in. Good.

I may check back in but I think this is it for blogging this storm.

Take care New Orleans and all those affected by the storm.

Cheers,

John L

One last one:
From a parish president as reported on DSU: "if you don't need to come back please have a compelling reason to do so." Hunh?

Hurricane Gustav, Monday, 9/1

Monday, 9/1

I start watching at 10:20 NY time

Anchorwoman calls the Rigolets, Rigolees.

We see water at the top of the Industrial Canal. It will probably
overtop any minute.

There are some ships/barges loose in the Industrial Canal. Great. A
fire at Broad and Esplanade.

We hear, "Tornados. I need to go on."

The New Orleans side of the Industrial Canal is at risk.

We're losing the audio and the entire signal often.

Watching water coming over the Industrial Canal, the Orleans side. Very sad.

I wonder if a second wall behind these first walls would help. The
second wall wouldn't have to be as well entrenched. It could just be
enough to hold whatever spilled over or if the first wall broke, a
smaller force of water, not the full force of the water in the canal.
Would that help?

Shut up Travers.

Anchors talking to Sen Vitter: "Obviously no one is jumping the gun."
"Obviously" is one overused word and inaccurately used in most cases
so far.

Bush: "The co-ordination of this storm is a lot better"... If you say
so. All that says is you are covering your ass. What are you doing to
help? He is still an idiot.

Jindal: 3 more hours of peak water on the Industrial Canal.

Lilly pads!

Jindal is giving excellent info.

Norman Robinson, DSU: ..."in Southern ship yard"... should be In THE
Southern shipyard...

Some city councilman are going to make sure that vessels won't be in
the Industrial Canal during hurricanes. Good idea.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis is wandering in her answer.

I am feeling better that the city will survive with few problems. The
water is not overtopping as severely near the Judge Sieber Bridge,
where DSU's Travers Mackel is. Other reports indicate that things
seem to be getting better. That could change though with one break.

Ron Smiley has calmed down. Good. We'll get better info if he isn't breathless.

3:16 NY time: DSU: The Army Corps of Engineers isn't overly concerned
about the overtopping of the Industrial Canal. The city pumps will
take care of it.

1/4 of US oil production is from the Gulf. It's all shut down. 40% of
US refining capacity is shut down. The Strategic Oil Reserve is at
record levels.

The Red Cross director is saying all the right things.

Billy Nungesser via a DSU reporter: "We didn't dodge a bullet. We
dodged a cannonball"!

Heath Allen's audio report of the North Shore is horrendous. Cell
phone garbage. 'There was a lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta,
rain out there.'

Smiley laughs as they say that 'people who evacuated to get out of
the way of this, are now getting slammed.' Real compassionate. He's
laughing because it came out so differently than they had expected
and that is human but it just looks bad.

They're relieved that the expected worst in New Orleans hasn't
happened but what about the rest of LA?

DSU (guest) reporter Sandra Shaw..."as you can see some of the EMS
workers had to help him out." No, we aren't seeing that.

4:30 NY time: Cat 1 now.

Ron: ..."we have a lot of friends back in the Mississippi"... He
meant to say the 'Mississippi area' but he had too much to say so he
skipped it. Idiot. Slow down. Engage brain before operating mouth.
...back in the Florida... signs that says...

Richard Angelico is filing some good reports.

Ron: "When you're looking at this eye kind of thing"...

DSU: Rachel Wulff: "Occasionally we'll see a huge whiff of wind." A whiff?

Keli Fulton: "We saw several trees down literally".... Hunh? Literally?

Good to have phone reports from all the reporters.

5:10 pm CNN: WGNO is reporting a levee break? Caernarvon.

5:30 NY time: "Plaquemines parish residents must leave now." The
levee will be overtopped.

These newscasters/weatherpeople have to stop using the word
"obviously". Please.

They interview john Green. He thinks people will stay the next time.
He's probably right. People are lazy. If they don't have to move to
get out of danger, they won't. Of course, they may die if the storm
goes one direction rather than the other.

CNN's John King: "St Bernard's parish." No, it's St Bernard parish.
Others have made that kind of mistake too.

I watch the News Hour. They mentioned that the traffic was one-way
but all the video they showed was of highways with traffic going in
BOTH directions. They also showed a graphic that had nothing to do
with the issue of overtopped levees and the scouring that occurs,
which was what they were talking about.

I am under the impression that the Corps is only rebuilding to a Cat
3, not a 100-year storm. The Corp spokesman said they are rebuilding
for a 100-year storm. But since Cat 3 and 100-year storm are
different ways of looking at it, who knows what they really mean.

Ron: Both the West and East banks are in danger of overtopping by
Caernarvon ... "if I'm not getting this correct." No, you mean 'if
you're not getting this incorrectly' or 'if you're getting this
correctly.'

Jindal on again.

7:12 NY time: The T-P announced at 4:43 pm that the Caenarvon
Mississippi River diversion will be opened. DSU is still wondering if
that will happen.

7:54 NY time: I am not sure if the diversion was opened or not. DSU
aired a report that didn't indicate that. It looked like they were
patching the levee rather than opening it up.

8:08 NY time. DSU: Levee no longer at risk. Good but I am not sure
which one. "The Gulf is rising", in a report shot earlier.

I can't tell what Ron is talking about. The fence? Ascent? Air moving
over water. Enunciate.

They show a map that has the track inland. They list Tues, Wed and
have Sat 7:00 Pm in bigger letters for some reason. Why are they
mentioning Saturday? Are they talking about last Saturday? Next
Saturday? It doesn't make sense to me.

Fetch? Dan Milham mentions it too.

Aaron Broussard on now. One guy demands that Entergy had better be
working on restoring power as soon as the winds go under 25 mph.
Alright.

A pretty Senator Julie Quinn praises the difference between Gustav and Katrina.

We've told you your homes are protected, etc. Stay away until
tomorrow night when they make the decision.

"The winds were declining, not inclining"...

DSU plays first promo since the storm started.

Nagin press conference: Only 2 arrests in the past 24 hrs in NO! Fire
at Esplanade and Broad was due to someone who stayed behind, using a
generator.

DSU headline: "City operating on Skeleton Crew, Working on back-up
power." That could be a headline during Mardi Gras!

The Saints will be back by Monday. Great. (That's a sarcastic great, folks.)

Nagin: 'We need to push the Engineers, the Corps of Engineers, to get
the levees back in shape and the wetlands in the best shape
possible.' Good.

Nagin wouldn't do anything different except maybe calling this the
mother-in-law of all storms!

Nagin thanks Americans.

It looks like this event is over. Yea!

Well, almost over. There are a few levees that may still be in danger
including the one in Plaquemines. One also in St Bernard.

Anderson Cooper: "La fayette."

Fox: Shepherd SmIth: "The governor of New Orleans"...

I see flooding but don't know where it is. And places like Houma and
SW LA really got hit but we'll find out about that tomorrow.

Michael Brown on MSNBC!

DSU is showing what they are calling a live image but it shows late
afternoon and it is now 9:30 NO time. Other stations, CNN included,
are doing that too.

Task Force Gator... (LA National Guard)

11:46 NY time: DSU: Mandeville mayor: Had 8" of rain in the past 2
hours. All the power is out there, except for where there are
generators.

Gina Swanson files a good report from Lafitte. The cameraman/woman
didn't have the light on for awhile but she carried on regardless.
Good for her. More portable levees! They get filled with water.
Brilliant!

Terrebone parish won't be open to people until Friday! That's how bad
things are there.

12:08 NY time. I go to bed.

Hey. Where'd everybody go?

A dog, probably in New Orleans, during Gustav.

Hurricane Gustav, Sunday, 8/31

I tune in to WWL before noon, NY time. Mayor Nagin is having a press
conference. He's feeling better today, knowing that so many have
evacuated. (WWL's audio is ahead of the video, probably due to the
Flip4Mac plugin.) I also can watch the WDSU feed and see that it is
many seconds ahead of the WWL feed and appears to be in sync.) People
are hanging out in Uptown.

Tornados in Lafourche and Terrebone parishes. What a place to live.

Bill Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish President, is one fat man.
Sheriff: "Don't let this become another St Bernard..." Troublemakers
will be sent to Angola... Pres; "This is not nothing to fool with."
You mean it is isn't anything to fool with or don't fool with it but
not it isn't NOTHING to fool with...

DSU female anchor: "Do you known the percentage of people who would
have stayed...", meaning the percentage of people who stayed, not
WOULD HAVE stayed. They mean two different things.

People can get 10 sandbags per person in one of the parishes. How
much good could that do?

34 ft wave heights.

The DSU map has "Fl" over Florida but no other state abbreviations.
Sloppy. And Fl should be FL.

25 inches of rain possible.

Good traffic coverage by WWL.

Wind will start in NO at midnight.

Obama phones in to WWL. He wants to make sure everything that can be
done is being done. What position is he in to do that? Anchors
interrupt him, assholes.

It takes 2 hours to go from NO East to the twin span on i-10.

Obama on DSU now.

Bush on WWL. He's not going to the GOP convention. He's going to
Austin, San Antonio. He's calling it a "difficult situation". You're
on your own folks.

DSU: They show Barack Obama lower third as they show Contessa Brewer
in the CBD. Audio way ahead of the video.

DSU: If the contraflow began at 4am, why does it say contraflow
begins on the graphic? (It's about noon NO time.)

Aaron Broussard on WWL. 85 % of people on the West Bank in Jefferson
Parish have evacuated.

DSU reporter interviews a guy in a bar in the Quarter. He is staying
because he doesn't trust the government to take care of him. They
didn't last time, he says. He'd rather get shafted by Mother Nature
than the government. OK. Stupid but OK.

Angela Hill still on WWL. WWL meteorologist looks like a blond Tina
Fey with those glasses. The storm coming in earlier is great news?

WWL: Worst winds expected in Terrebone and Lafourche parishes.

DSU: Mary Landrieu on. Yes, get LA it's share of oil revenues. She
questions why people think it is strange that people say people
shouldn't live there but it's ok to live in coastal FL which gets hit
by hurricanes as much . I agree. If they had fixed things up after
Betsy, etc... "we would be in a great shape today."

DSU: "This is a very interesting right now development.' Idiot.

We lose audio on WWL.

DSU: He draws the path of Betsy and calls it similar when it went WAY
off the projected track for Gustav and only met in NO. ...You've had
good luck and good fortune?

No audio on the WWL feed still.

WWL audio is back, 1:36 NY time, but it's overmodulated.

Gov JIndal on now. 15,000 (assisted) evacuated out of NO by now. 2
trains out, that's all?

DSU has a split screen showing highway traffic but they don't say
where the highways are.

Gov Jindal lists the preparations which sound good. We'll see how
well they can handle it. He talks about the buses that didn't show
up. They have more capacity than there is demand. Let's hope. Pet
evacuations contractor didn't do what they were supposed to do either
but the state has made arrangements to cover that.

State police say 200,000 have left NO? Seeing minimal traffic flow in
NO. Things are working so much better now than they were with
Katrina, he says.

2:25 NY time: WWL still loud and overmodulating.

St John Parish President is expecting 96, 97 mph winds.

My computer is averaging 95% CPU use with two Quicktime windows open.
One fan is running constantly, the rear left. The rear right has not
come on since I had the board that had the faulty USB connector on it
replaced. Hope the computer doesn't overheat.

FEMA thinks it is ready for the storm.

3:39 NY time: WWL feed is starting to get jerky. Lots of users I'm
guessing. I close both streams to let my computer cool off.

I watch some on CNN. John King points to three canals, the London
Ave, the 17th St and the Industrial Canal, calling them all the
Industrial Canal. Is it too much to ask that newscasters give out
correct information?

CNN: 'No one understands the situation as well as (General Honore).
Apparently CNN too.

McCain on now (4:03 NY time). Obama beat you by several hours. It's
time to open our hearts, efforts, wallets..." He sounds stilted, the
same as Bush, out of touch. He's asking the Republicans to be with
the Americans. So, Republicans are so removed that they have to be
asked to join in? They are begrudgingly changing their plans. (Gee, I
wish that storm didn't get in the way.) RIck Davis of the RNC: "The
reason we are not able to give you a more notice..." Nobody knows how
to speak anymore.

Rick Davis: They will 'refrain from giving any political rhetoric' tomorrow.

Rick Davis: 'The President's full undivided attention is in the
Gulf.' Wouldn't it be ON the Gulf? His attention is in the Gulf? Is
he in the water?

Fox: Saw "uparmored humvees"... So they have "uparmored Humvees" in
the US. Do they have enough in Iraq?

5:52 NY time. Lafitte mayor mentions they have portable levees!
That's a cool development.

DSU reporters talk to people who are staying. They feel confident
they will be ok for no good reasons, (Car dealer feels ok in his
gut?!). I hope they talk to them after the storm. See if they sing
the same tune.

Billy Nungesser is riding house to house to try to get people out.
This man is a hero. 'If he can save one person, it makes it all
worthwhile.'

Some, who should know, are saying the storm may not be as bad we'd
feared. We'll see,

DSU anchor pronouncing it Gustav'. I'd pronounce it Gus'tav.

6:41 NY time: Chertoff is behind Jindal for this announcement. Cat 3 to 4.

Chertoff is patting everybody on the back for doing good planning.
Less than 10,000 left in NO.

..."Unconformed reports"... - Jindal.

Hurricane winds hit land early Mon morning.

7:12 NY time: CNN: The storm is still heading into the Gulf of
Mexico. Um, since it is already there where else would it go?

7:19 NY time: Good long press conference from Jindal.

Jefferson Parish evacuation went well - Jefferson Parish Sheriff. In
order to beat contraflow? Why would people want to avoid roadways
having twice the capacity to leave?

DSU doesn't mute the audio for helicopter traffic shots while they
have someone else is on cam in a split screen. It'd be a good idea.

7:33 NY time: DSU audio is out again.

CNN: "Obviously that's probably going to be cancelled..." Obviously.

7:36 NY time: CNN: "In 2003, as Katrina devastated"... Um, Katrina
was in 2005. Incredible how much nonsense there is!

I restart DSU stream and the audio comes back.

CNN: 90% of population have left Southern LA.

8pm NY time: NO is starting to look wet and dark.

Causeway is now closed.

DirecTV now has DSU on so I will watch that.

I now see that it is "contraflow", one word.

9 pm NY time: The airport is now closed.

Tornados happening.

Dry air? Over the Gulf? The DSU has personified the hurricane by
calling it "he". He becomes a tropical storm. He weakens, etc.

26 ft storm surge!

DSU banner says the Causeway will close at 7pm Sunday. It is now 9:20
NO time. Is there any point in showing that?

DSU weatherman is saying it is a Cat 3 now and it may be less than
they expected.

~10:30 pm: City Councilman Carter: 'Yesterday, people on the West
Bank weren't taking it very seriously. Then the mayor made his
announcement at 8 am. Then they started taking it seriously.' Um, how
many people were doing anything before 8 am. I think he meant they
weren't taking it seriously on FRIDAY.

SO MANY misstatements.

DSU anchor: "You're always a big supporter of crime." The other
anchor corrects her: "Fighting crime." So many....

DSU's Fletcher Mackel: "The only cars driving by are police cars and
national guard." As he started saying that we saw a taxi drive by.

Travers? Who's Travers? You mean Fletcher? Both the anchor and the
other weatherman addressed him.

Other weatherman Dan Milham who at least is capable of speaking in
proper sentences: "You wanna know exactly how much? I don't know
exactly how much." Well, thanks for sharing.

"Pretty earlier." You mean 'earlier'. (This is an example, as are the
others, of that well known New Orleans brain fog that makes people
say stupid things.)

Landfall before noon tomorrow, they say.

The cops are being understanding about people out in the curfew. THAT is nice!

DirecTV signal goes out at 11:12 NY time, as Ken was telling us what
the plan was for the police at midnight, though he didn't want to
tell us exactly what the plan was. Wouldn't want to the bad guys
know... Signal back at 11:17.

Idiot weatherman Ron Smiley, when asked why they can't tell the surge
height: "We would need something"... "we have that".... He goes on to
mangle some more English but doesn't explain why he can't provide
that info.

"Largest evacuation in US history."

Travers Mackel: 'As we all know, the Ritz-Carleton had severe
flooding damage in Katrina.' No, we didn't all know. Apparently,
there is a Fletcher Mackel and a Travers Mackel or maybe he goes by
two names? Oh my god. I just looked them up on the internet and it
turns out they are identical twins that both work for DSU!

They are still running the banner that says the causeway will close
at 7 pm Sunday. It's 10:34 NO time. What is the point?

They now have FL marked correctly but that is the map that has all
the other states two letter abbreviations. If they show the one with
Florida and mostly the Gulf, that one will probably have Fl on it.

Ron doesn't want to stay on a spot where there is a tornado warning
because they are assuming that all the people there have evacuated.
By that reasoning, why warn anyone at all? Why tell us about any
dangerous situations?

Ron, shut up every once in awhile. Your mouth is running overtime,
way ahead of your brain.

National Hurricane Center: Cat 3

Ron asks about the eye, landfall, type of storm and a few more
subjects all in one mangled, long question. Ed Rappaport, of the
National Hurricane Center, manages an answer.

The term "feeder band" is tossed around often without any
explanation. It would be nice to explain it every once in awhile.

Norman Robinson to Ed Rappaport: "It's always a joy talking to you."
It is? It didn't seem very joyful to me.

There's tension between the reporters and the police? That's the
first I've heard of it in this event.

Paul Folger has diarrhea of the mouth as he does a remote from downtown.

Polly Boudreaux of the St Bernard Parish Council: intense and
articulate. ...know with some assurity? Assurity?

The Weather Channel is saying this is the largest evacuation in the
history of the state. The state or the country? Both?

12:27 NY time: I go to bed.

Hurricane Gustav, Saturday Night, 8/30

I start Sat night at 11:30 pm (NY time)

New Orleans is being evacuated.

WWL has info on the scroll that says there will be no mail service on
Saturday in X, Y and Z parishes... This is 10:30 at night (NO time)
on Saturday night. How much mail gets delivered on Saturday night?

The storm of the century - Nagin.

What does the evacuation at 8 am or noon mean? You have to start
evacuating at these times or do you have to be evacuated by those
times?

More useless info: Nagin: every mile of wetlands takes absorbs 1 foot
of storm surge. So, do that mean that 200 square miles absorbs 200
feet of water? No. That's useless info.

WDSU (TV) stream is working well. WWL (TV) stream keeps stopping.

DSU anchor man: With the weather being as unpredictable, Anchor
woman: "And volatile." (That means the same thing...)

"Hope is not a plan." True.

"We hope that everyone that's watching is listening." Idiocy.

Anchor has a laptop on the desk but it's closed.

The state police want people to call to get a flyer? How the fuck are
people going to get it? In the mail? Are the state police going to
deliver it? Utter nonsense.

State policeman says he thinks the evacuation/contraflow is going to
go real smoothly. It's not the first rodeo they have been to. Un hunh.

Ah, contraflow will BEGIN at the times mentioned above.

The weather channel: "We're planning for the worst and hoping for the
best." Thanks.

Austin City Limits has the New Orleans Social Club on tonight. A
repeat in honor of Katrina I suspect. We're praying for you, New
Orleans.

Irma sings Look Up... as I sip on my McCormick Irish Cream. Here's to
you New Orleans. May you survive but the odds are sure against you.

DSU reporter: 'Pick the best car you have.' No shit.

150 mph winds. Gusts of 184. Jesus. Cat 5.

John Boutte' - Why. A powerful song. Why indeed. This bowl is sinking...

Henry Butler plays Big Chief.

music at Democratic convention, 8/27 & 8/27

8/27

Addicted To Love? after Clinton's speech. Just what are they thinking...

Joy To The World as they introduce Nancy Pelosi to nominate Joe Biden. Oy.

Ain't That America (Mellencamp) as they introduce Joe Biden.

Some Springsteen song after Obama comes on. We Are Family...

What is Hip after the benediction!!!

8/28

Love Train

U2 - It's A Beautiful Day. One tired campaign song.

7:22 pm Funny to watch the people dancing to whatever is playing now.
I'm watching on C-Span of course.

One ponders the power of all these people. I become emotionally
impressed by it all. (I'm still gonna vote for Nader though...)

I Know A Place (I'll take You There)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered. A love song. I don't think songs like this
are the very appropriate.

Live Performance
will.i.am
Accompanied by John Legend (piano), Agape Choir, and band
Very nice!!

Stevie Wonder will be on fairly soon.

Remarks
Ray Rivera
Obama State Director, Colorado
Watching the map, the East coast is hopping. Upstate NY is surprisingly active.

Earth Wind and Fire - Shining Star. This is getting to be like a 70s
hits station. Some cover of The Beatles - Across The Universe, David
Bowie?

Live Performance
Sheryl Crow
Singer/songwriter
I could care less.

A Change Would Do Us Good. OK.

The songs used in this political context are so unpolitical.They're
hopeful in spots but impotent as political statements. Oh for the
60s. Many then were too but many also had unmistakable political
content. So many of these used now are love songs, useful to one on
one relationships but not very appropriate for a wider political
context.

Live Performance
Stevie Wonder
1st song - weird. Doesn't sound quite in key.

"I gotta do this one"...Signed Sealed Delivered... I wanna hear Sir
Duke or whatever the one is that has that list of famous blacks where
he says " a black man"...

"I know Barack Obama's gonna set the country on fire." 40 years ago
that would have been literally true...

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up!

They play Let The Sunshine for Al Gore's entrance.

Remarks
The Honorable Al Gore
Former Vice President of the United States
I listened to a little of it but two owls were hooting in the woods
behind my house and that was much more interesting...

Live Performance
Michael McDonald
I had the mute on the whole time.

Remarks
Susan Eisenhower
Granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Lots of people wearing red at this convention. I thought that was the
Republican color. I mean it doesn't belong to anyone but... Maybe
that is the strategy in having so many people wear it for Obama. Look
at all the those Republicans who are on Obama's side...

"Advance on the garrisons of hope or retreat to the hills of
despair." Geez. Here's someone who needs to get out of the military
mindset.

Retired Generals Tribute
Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration (Ret)
Accompanied by additional generals

The stadium looks pretty full!

Joe Biden comes out onto the stage and turns and is happy to see
himself on the big screen.

These people are here cuz they are willing to die for their country?
That's why they're there tonight? They're going to die? Geez, another
leap.

American Voices Program
Monica Early - Good Einstein quote!
Pamela Cash-Roper - Had the crowd in the palm of her hand.
Barney Smith - Had the great Smith Barney line. You KNOW he was
hand-picked because of his name. He's being used like a tool. No
differently than a Republican would do either.

Ray Rivera says look at the screen but it isn't showing his text
message results. Oh well.

Lennon's Power To The People. Using the original version! They've
used covers of other songs.

Some bad disco coming up. White folks getting down. Most, so far, have rhythm.

What is the music they intro him to? Surely it isn't something he picked out.
Introduction of Barack Obama Video
The Honorable Richard Durbin

'Those (elderly?) volunteers who want just one more chance to hope.'
Meaning they are going to die soon? They only get one more chance?
I'd think hope is unlimited.

Remarks
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA
Some cowboy crap after the speech.

The fireworks on the stage remind me of the Wizard 0f Oz.
The music makes me expect the giant spaceship to appear any second.
And it crescendos as they walked back off the stage making me think
something terrible was going to happen. It didn't so that is nice.

Democrats 1, Republicans 0

The Democrats had Alejandro Escovedo playing for them last night.
Good choice and a nice surprise! He played to a drum backing track
but the others were live. I am not familiar with the song.

I do have to wonder about their playing Disco Inferno after Hillary's
speech though. I remember the riots of the 60s. "Burn baby burn"
wasn't an impotent disco chant. It has since been turned into that
although the song is so old one would probably only hear only it at
weddings or bad parties (or bad radio). Let's hope anti-Barack people
don't jump on it and claim black folk want to destroy this country.
It doesn't take much to make an issue out of stuff like this.

But anyway, until the conventions or maybe the elections are over,
the Dems are ahead 1-0. (And with their being held one after the
other a running score won't really work... ) The Dems have played
lots of lousy music in this campaign but I haven't heard any John
Cougar Mellencamp recently (or Fleetwood Mac, but that was the
Clintons theme song). Let's see what atrocious music the Repubs play.
I'm expecting some cowboy crap to represent macho. Obama favors
late-60s Motown and 70s soul (and later black music) which is tolerable
but I think he may surprise us here and there. Having David Amram play
for some event outside the convention hall got me interested.

I also had to wonder about their playing Isn't She Lovely after
Michelle's speech Tues. It's about a baby... I think they used the
version without the baby gurgling in it and while it was meant as a
token of affection, some might be offended being compared to a baby
or just being thought of as good looking. Not a big deal.

$11 for a bologna sandwich at Blue Hill cafe at the Stone Barns Center, Pocantico Hills, NY

I was at the cafe at the Stone Barns Center in Pocantico Hills, NY
yesterday. Had a bologna sandwich. I haven't had a bologna sandwich
since I was a kid. I thought since this place is supposed to have
good food, even something like bologna would be good, and probably
good for you, unlike all other bologna.

That and a small (but tasty) apple cider cost $11!

I guess the Rockefellers are still making money at this place.

To be honest, I don't know what the sandwich cost. They didn't have
the price on the menu but how expensive could a bologna sandwich be?
I mean, even if the ingredients are from real quality animals? The
menu also said "feel free to take a beverage" from the cooler. That
should mean they are free. (Maybe it was and the bologna all by
itself cost $11...) It didn't have any price on it either. So how
expensive could a small, maybe 5 oz, container of apple cider be? Do
they make it on gold cider presses?

The sandwich was ok. I didn't like the pickled vegetables strewn on
it so I scraped them off. And the bologna was only a few THIN slices.
The bread was good though.

How the rich stay rich...

WFMU Radio Greats Weekend, Sunday, August 10th

Vin Scelsa
Sunday, August 10th, Noon - 3pm

Great Vanilla Bean and Jim Price segments.

Repeat of Vanilla Bean and RSM segment. Why?

Jones is good at theme sets, one of the best things about 70s and 80s
radio, that FMU, surprisingly, never did much of.

Vanilla Bean with Terry Folger -> music - awkward transition -> back
to radio theme. (My Old Guitar not a good song to have in there.)
Blue Danube Waltz nice.

Vin's gonna talk too much.

Capitol Theater, Passiac not Portchester.

Good ole Larry Josephson, one of my radio heroes.

Vin didn't know it was radio greats weekend.

Good Sgt Pepper's story (Bob Fass on BAI)

Jean Shepherd, Vin's other radio hero.

I remember WOR FM... (Am also remembering FM Guide...)

Jones is on Sirius? All FMUers should be on Sirius.

Hello Hello, first song Vin played on the first free-form FMU show.

Ken said on Wed that FMU shut down cuz they thought Woodstock had
stolen their idea. How about that for presumptuousness!

I knew he was going to say the Fugs, before he gave any clues.

Jones admits he is just doing Scelsa.

Larry Yudin (I need to look him up.), called it free-form. They were
already doing it out in SF. FMU copyrighted it? But didn't Tom
Donahue "create"it?

Vin was depressed. So was Jones. (I have been too. I wonder if that
is a pre-requisite to loving radio... FMU)

LIR got me through John Lennon's death. I still have those tapes,
very moving and the days that followed. Vin didn't know what to say.
Neither did the LIR DJs. Across The Universe was played at the
memorial in Central Park after the minute (5 minutes?) of silence.

NEW sucked then, in the early 80s.

I heard the Vin Scelsa FUV Artie Traum tribute where he played the
song The Hungry Dogs Of NM then too.

Gary Alcoholic died.

Jones explained why he doesn't do playlists.

Get to the point Vin... (talking about getting yelled at). Jeez,
there's more to this yelling story? (After telling teh Duncan, NEW
story).

I didn't like the change to New Wave at LIR either.

Vin owes his freedom to leave when he didn't like what was going on
to his wife.

Steinski
Sunday, August 10th, 3pm - 5pm
Not much of interest except at the end to hear some Mardi Gras
Indians explain the talk.

John Narucki airchecks
Sunday, August 10th, 5pm - 7pm
Awful. I guess you had to be there.

Hova & Belinda, plus R. Stevie Moore
Sunday, August 10th, 7pm - 9pm

Vanilla Bean with Evelyn, hilarious.

Nice to hear Stevie and Hova and Belinda. I took a detour to check
out any FMU videos on YouTube and found some with the Vanilla Bean
and Stevie in them!

Stork Club archives
Sunday, August 10th, 9pm - Midnight

Some beautiful things as always. Could have been current for all we can tell.