Lundi

New Orleans Daily Photo~Steve Buser

Dear kos~Remember New Orleans~Louisiana 1976

A child shall lead them

Colleges make music together in joint education program

FBI used subtle tack with Jefferson

FEMA's Katrina recovery head to retire, interim replacement named

Road Home a frustrating cycle of incompetence
{Editor notes every mention of entanglement with the Road Ho}

Preserve Charity

Campus comebacks

Lott's interim replacement named

Not All Progress Is Good, Not All Obstructionism Is Bad

WWOZ~GAMBIT

Samedi

“Take care when you handle Cliche’ lest you draw offense of Metaphor as neither will honor what they seem in life nor what you would wish of them in death.” …Down the Gravedigger

Dylan on the Ghosts of New Orleans~Toulouse Street

New Orleans~Locked Outside the Gates~Bill Quigley

New light shed on N.O. jail jam

Thomas' friends show their support

Recovery schools distribute bonuses

Deadline for grants is Jan. 15

Exquixotic Corps
~Corps won't meet December deadline for coastal protection plan
~ Number 1 on East Hartford's 2008 agenda: Federal funding help with repairing the town dikes and levee system

Can't Bear It Again

Trombone Shorty Gives Christmas Gift to New Orleans

In New Orleans, it's all about the cocktails

Puttin' on the Pitt

HowlPop

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

WWOZ~GAMBIT

Vendredi

Susan Cowsill~Still Believing in New Orleans~Georgianne Nienaber

Council members back off strict rules for using slush fund

A holiday from jail

Lawyers file suit to thwart merger of Orleans courts

Murders and Comfort~latest from C. B. Forgotston

'Old House' heads to New Orleans


Call for Artists - Contemporary Group Exhibition at BECA in New Orleans

Get Up Stand Up New Orleans~Dreams of New Orleans, 309 Decatur St. Reggae concert to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Urban League in tribute to the rebuilding of New Orleans, featuring Junio Reid "One Blood", Pallo Da Jiint, Roi Anthony, Ras Tree and the Third Coast Reggae Allstars, and birthday star DJ T-Roy, 8 Sun. Tickets are $27 in advance at www.NewOrleansblack.com, $32 to $45 at the door. Call 444-2928.

Jackson Square New Year's Eve~Decatur Street Stage. Free concerts with Ras Tree & Third Coast Reggae All-Stars, 8:30, Fredy Omar, 9:30, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, 10:30, culminating with the "Symphony in the Sky" fireworks display over the river, midnight Mon. Free.

Ricky Graham's Very Yat Persons New Year's Eve Party Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 581-5812. Mr. Bingle throws his ice cream cone hat in the ring for the district attorney's race, and other Graham characters weigh in with New Orleans New Year's observations, songs, resolutions and rants: Mr. Otto, The Meter Maid, Father Bargain, Marie Antoinette Impastato and Cissy Fay Bitsy Mae Werlein Claiborne Delahoussaye III. With musical director-sidekick Jefferson Turner on piano and stage manager Brian Johnston in bits. Monday at 8. Tickets are $30, includes a $5 drink credit. Parking next door.

Jon Cleary~Solo, Sat/28th, House of Blues opening for Dr. John~With Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Sun/30th, Republic New Orleans benefit for RENEW

WWOZ~GAMBIT~music listings

{editor Snake Doctor would like to thank Ladder readership for all the emails of fine regards and patience as to our stuttered holiday issuances. We average 50 hits/day from all over now thanks to y'all! But editor could stands no'mo and hence journeyed to the City That Care Forgot and the Presidente left for dead. On the road, putting out the Ladder in bits more akin to a game of ergot solitaire, finding wi'fi amongst some of the strange places that one can wind up in this city at the end of another Kafkatrina year, beneath a Mars Full Moon no less, editor Snake Doctor would try to describe some of the sights and sounds of our Belle in her holiday drag...but doubtless such a scene holds more in the blink of an eye or careless humid glance than could be had in this googol of gaggle. Suffice to say some readers want answers, so editor Snake Doctor will oblige this once. Joe in Bangkok wonders about the handle Snake Doctor. Snake Doctor rides upon the head of Water Moccasin and hunts Mosquito. Jill in Missoula wonders about the fog~Yeah, it carries the sounds of the city's church bells like a shawl made from white-class lace. Raindog from the UK would like to know if the Flora Cafe is still open~Yes! see photo/Lundi. Snake Doctor's Nolablogger friends wonder at very little these days, having seen it all...or perhaps 'wonder' puts it a bit nicely~they know...Sinn Féin. Amidst the Muses the trees still talk to the Snake Doctor, pedaling to a gig like old times before the storm (BS), lost in cluster street lingo, on uptown, lifestyles of the idle coherency, all the way to Neutral Ground and the TAOn't poets of Daneel Street}

Jeudi

One Man’s Carpetbagger Is Another Man’s Freedom Rider. The Outside Agitators in New Orleans~Think New Orleans

NRA Targets New Orleans

La. tough on grants to insurers

Disaster Losses for Insurers Double

Wetland projects gain momentum

The third Christmas~Larry James' Urban Daily

Drummer Adonis Rose keeps taking giant steps toward putting the Fort on the jazz map

Rebirth Brass Band blows in from New Orleans
Cyril Neville Talks Back~offBeat

WWOZ~GAMBIT~live music listings

Mercredi

New Orleans Daily Photo~Steve Buser

The Assualt on Private Housing (Yes, Private Housing)
in New Orleans~ Alan Gutierrez
An idea that works~Craig Giesecke

25% get zip from Road Home

A place worth fighting for

WWII Museum continues plans for its expansion

Good riddance to MR-GO

Pastorek gives school passing grade

The price is right for new library

Coming back was the only option

Exquixotic Corps
~Heritage Destination Consulting secures interpretive training contract with US Corps of Engineers
~Hawaii to start flood-mitigation project
~Turtle lighting rule for naught?

Painting at Windmills?~NOLA Rising

Connick doesn't sing a note -- and loves it

Jazz Notes

How Mavis Staples teamed up with Ry Cooder to give us the year's best album

WWOZ~GAMBIT

Mardi

Marva Wright's 8th Annual Christmas Show at Tipitina’s Uptown~501 Napoleon Avenue at Tchoupitoulas Street~Christmas Night, December 25, 2007~Doors open at 7:30pm Show starts at 8:00pm

Hasidic New Orleans Funky Jam Band

In Louisiana, even blues can make us happy

WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

La.'s No. 2 insurance official bows out

Why the Housing Demonstrators Are Wrong Part 2~Errol Munson

Wash Post Not Getting It About New Orleans~Chuck Munson

Lundi

Welcome Home Everybody!

"Mother Nature makes the rules...but we're gonna live where we wanna live,”~Joe Black in New Orleans

NOLA Holidays for the Jolie-Pitts

Christmas wishes and dreams~West Bank Guide

Wish upon a city

Ailing Copeland still lights up the block

Pact seals demise of Mid-City hospital

Charter schools learning balance of power

'A Breath of Fresh Air'

Lock will improve navigation, flood protection


Exquixote Corps
~Area Projects~CO
~Bidding is set to begin for BRAC construction projects
~Bill Expected To Get Mystic River Dredging Going
~Today's Must Read
~Congress sends Tybee $6.3M to offset erosion from dredging

One woman in FEMA had it right~Voices of New Orleans

Katrina Survivors Take on E-Mission

Last week's 'K-Ville' episode was probably its last


Peace Brother Peace~Dr. John, from In the Right Place, ATCO, 1973~Home of the Groove

WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

Dimanche

Holiday Struggles on Magazine Street

Treasure Hunt

North shore showing political muscle

He's a mean one, Tom Tancredo

VIEWPOINT: Calls for Impeachment of New Orleans Federal Judge G. Thomas Porteous; very sad time for "our court"

New Orleans housing plan does not solve problem~Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel

Region's home supply increased

Recovery in the Wild

On the Hill

Save the Mississippi River Flyway Wetlands from the US Army Corps of 'Engineers' LARGEST PUMP KNOWN TO MAN~Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute
Also please see~American Rivers ~ NWF ~ CorpsWatch Campaign

Landfill and its contents concern city residents~Tonawanda News

Power couple shine light on health care

Blazing a Trail~Women fire up a new twist on an old River Parishes tradition

Von and Ed's "Battle of the Saxes" this Weekend and New Years Eve at the Green Mill

Home for the Holidays~The House of Blues, 7:30 p.m.

WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

Samedi

Special Thanks to the Jim Crow Museum for the copious use of their archival images to illustrate the reality of pre and post Kafkatrina New Orleans as a City of Living and Dying Metaphor

Enter Stage Left~Baby Ray Nagin Writes Letter To HUD About Housing Demolitions~Letter puts conditions on demolition permits
{editor notes~Yeah Riiiiiiiiiight! And each city council member, as if on cue, read their own pre-prepared words as they justified voting to assume the position?}
{editor asks~Who ya'gonna believe? Baby Ray Wonka or your own lyin'eyes?}{It would also appear that the Times~Picayune has forgotten the rest of us out here on the back hand path riding the Long Road Ho~who'dat?}
One comment from yesterday's Bayou Buzz
I WANT TO SPEAK OF THE MEETING ITSELF.
During Thursday's meeting, I was in the City Council Chamber from 9:30am to 4:30pm, and I'd like to put to rest the old refrain about 'out-of-town trouble-makers' that recalls the dismissive scorn of the civil-rights activists of the Sixties. I was sitting in the central section, and the shouts and action began in front of me and to the right of me. I recognized many of the people sitting there from previous rallies against demolition, and they were native New Orleanians, not out-of-towners. There was one outspoken young man that I had never seen, but I would estimate that three-fourths of the rest were native. It should be noted also that at least half of the developers hired to plan the replacements for the projects were from out-of-town, as their presentations during the meeting revealed, and their motives were clearly rooted in their intention to profit from the demolition. So we had out-of-towners on both sides.
I HAVE A WORD TO SAY ABOUT THE CITY COUNCIL'S HANDLING OF THIS HEARING.
At the end, each council member read a lengthy explanation of his or her vote, and it became clear that they had prepared these statements together prior to the hearing. To me, that meant that the meeting was not a hearing at all, so a lot of very busy people had just wasted their time preparing their own three-minute speeches. The deal had already been done, and we were just spinning wheels, no doubt to the considerable amusement of the council members, the mayor, and the federal authorities. I judge the council members harshly for this deception. Furthermore, they had the outrageous audacity to correct the public for noise while they were speaking, yet they laughed and joked while the public was speaking. In fact, one man stopped his comments and demanded their attention before proceeding. It was a mockery of democratic procedures, and for that reason I found myself sympathizing with the outrage of the demonstrators. I also felt outraged, though I do not like to demonstrate in the manner they did. I left the meeting with the conviction that George Bush and his clique had their vision of what they wanted to look like, so they told Alphonso Jackson, who extorted obedience from the council. I do not know what the council would have decided, if the members had in fact been free to vote their own judgments. I have a copy of the threatening letter that Alphonso Jackson wrote to the mayor and the council.
I ALSO WANT TO COMMENT ON THE DEMOLITION ITSELF.
The belief that destruction of the housing will bring about a reduction in crime is an illusion. Crime and other behaviors are the result of education and training, not of public housing. If we do not understand this, then we will fail to address the issue. It is a mistake to destroy solid buildings and replace them with flimsy ones. If this issue could be addressed with objectivity, instead of with fear and with greed, we would probably save those buildings in good condition and demolish only those that are not. However, Alphonso Jackson made it clear in his letter that he would prohibit funding to New Orleans if we did that. Of course, it is possible to find the funding through other federal authorities, but the council did not overcome its fear enough to think of that.
FINALLY, ON RACE. The great lesson of the day was that race was not the primary issue. Class and power were.


Faith, Hope and the New Orleans Housing Fight~NPR

Conflicted~Bart Everson

17 reasons your donation helps makes a difference!~Facing South

New Orleans~Proud to call it Hell~Nolafugees

"The First I've Seen of This Information"~Harry Shearer

RIP New Orleans~1718 - 2007~The Command Post

“Everybody can live in housing”~People Get Ready

Demos drag themselves home

La. Road Home makes changes

Long road home

The Kindness of Strangers~Katrina Connections

Our Views~Kopplin led La. recovery

2 local legislators top House leadership

RVs thrive along Industrial Canal

Borrowed trouble~Landowners find holes in Corps’ clay acquisition plan

Septic rule stalled recovery

Senators cry foul over restrictions on rewriting water control plan
Bids sought for Kansas levee repair

Flood Chute Repairs in Federal Spending Bill

NASA counted on for key role in New Orleans recovery

Northrop gets $1 billion deal with the Navy
Group sues city's juvenile center

Icelandic woman chained on arrival at JFK for 1995 overstay

What's that howling drowning out the winds of Katrina?~New Orleansians know it as none other than...The Devil Baby of Bourbon Street!

Jolie and Pitt put focus on Katrina's child victims~ Dare to take the kids cycling in New Orleans for Brad's birthday cruise

Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Ten Days Out: Blues From The Backroads"

Nominated for Two Grammy Awards

Soul Rebels at the Dragon's Den~10pm~Bring Toys

Lil Rascals~Buck It Like A Horse Remastered

WWOZ
GAMBIT
Nola Tonight

The Beatitudes in New Orleans chronicles The Big Easy

Katrina Helps Spread Cajun Cooking

Vendredi

The Shock Doctrine "...there's a woman with a Taser over there, telling me~~I've got to BEWARE!"

The Shock Doctrine in Action in New Orleans~Naomi Klein

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down~Buffalo Springfield

New Orleans City Hall Protest 12.20.07~More Videos~Dandelion Salad

UNANIMOUS!~New Orleans City Council votes 7-0 on Thursday, approving the demolition of four sprawling public housing developments.
{please note~this story was scooped and published 1st yesterday by real-time journalist Georgianne Nienaber and forthwith hung out to dry on the Ladder below.}

Both police, protesters came prepared

Public housing controversy no stranger to New Orleans

Fury in New Orleans as housing demolition OKd~LA Times

New Orleans police attack protesters against housing demolitions with Mace, Tasers, to keep them out of city hall

Edwards' statement on New Orleans city council vote to approve Demolition of public housing

New Orleans Under Glass~ Stephen Sabludowsky

~and how thick is your skin?~Ashley Morris

Public Housing Demolition in New Orleans~Think New Orleans

Lakota declare independence from U.S.~Your Right Hand Thief

Who’s side are you on anyway?~Louisiana Questions











Thank you New Orleans Daily Photo~editor's sentiment exactly!

White Gentrifiers Flood Storm-Sensitive New Orleans Basin~Francis L. Holland Blog

Notes from the Field~New Orleans~Preservation Nation

The new economy of catastrophe~Naomi Klein

Katrina lawsuits~Coast residents want justice from Insurance industry

Two Years Following Katrina Mental Health Treatment Still Lagging

Writing on the Wall~From Disaster to Doing Something

Schools given OK to borrow

Ouster fight starts for U.S. judge

Feds lodge appeal over Jefferson records

Mr. Russell & Ramifications

Fayetteville~Post-Katrina work has UA flair

5 more pumps to get shelters

Levee board hears from Corps critic

Rising water

N.O. lands second yacht-maker

Hail Hulk!

A Cajun Warriors New Year's Eve Bash in New Orleans

Guardian of the Groove~George Porter's 60th Birthday Bash at the Howlin' Wolf Saturday Night

The 60-Second Interview~Irvin Mayfield~Ambassador Mayfield turns 30 this weekend. To celebrate, he is hosting a party at the Latter Branch of the New Orleans Public Library

Louisiana Music Factory Concert Series~210 Decatur St~Phillip Manuel, 3, John Boutte, 4, Sat; Fred LeBlanc and Cowboy Mouth, 6 Thurs. Free. Call 586-1094.

Artists House Music

WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

Broad Strokes

Carnival of Hurricane Relief, #118

Jeudi

Stun guns, pepper spray used on New Orleans protesters~more Video Here

New Orleans~The Quiet Time is Turbulent~Harry Shearer

New Orleans Housing Facing Major Reconstructive Surgery: Council Votes 7-0 to let the Bulldozers Roll~Georgianne Nienaber

New Orleans Faces Tussle Over Housing

Take Action to Stop Public Housing Demolition in New Orleans~jspot.org

Help sought in housing homeless~Duncan Plaza site access ends Friday

{editor weeps from the back hand path~after all the disaster and havoc wreaked upon us by the criminally negligent US Army Corps of Engineers' failed levees, and after everything we have been through since, ourselves alone in the eyes of our nation and the world, how can we turn our backs on anyone still less fortunate and do this to each other again?~Sinn Féin New Orleans!}

Human trafficking flies below the radar of most people's consciousness, but it happens � even in New Orleans~Gambit Weekly

Yet another new office boosts Czar Blakely’s fight against real estate development blight

State uses $29M to lure five new property insurance firms

Bond insurer's downgrade not expected to hurt N.O.

FEMA trailer utilities will be cut off

Toxic Trailer Political Theater~Tin Can Trailer Trash

School razing signals fresh start

New retailers move into neglected Claiborne stretch

Louisiana scores 8 out of 10 for emergency preparedness

Boh Bros. wins regional award for 17th Street Canal

JEDCO joins chorus for flood help

Jefferson expected to testify today in bribery case

House passes disaster fraud bill

Corps faces critics at levee lunch

Go-ahead to close MR-GO expedited

Vitter~Corps can now rush to close MRGO

Elevation grants grounded~Legislation that would enable Louisiana homeowners to get up to $30,000 in grant money upfront to elevate their homes stalled Wednesday after a Alabama Repuclican Sen. Richard Shelby raised late-session, last-minute, double-dealing, thief in the night, bend over backwards, back-handed, behind the back, backslide-of-hand objections.

Lawmakers blast last-minute measure blocking updates to water manuals~Georgia lawmakers are peeved, piqued, persnicked, poontangled, pssd, with Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama for slipping sliding language into a massive end-of-year spending bill.

{editor thumps nose, pulls finger, falls over laughing with increasingly smug satisfaction and says~Oh Yeah? Oh Yeah? Just wait 'till Republican Sen. Richard Shelby~(202) 224-5744 (DC), (256) 772-0460 (AL)~gets a mouthful of the Loot (oops, I mean) Lott Brothers (errrrah I mean) Bros (DOH!) Breaux~or is it the Brothers Lott~Yikes! BreauxLotts? Breaux Lotts? Uh'Oh Nooooooo...sounds like used cars smells like team spirits! Dare not The Dynamic Nuevo Duo protect us from the evil Senator Rich 'Katrina Condo' Shelby? Aren't they on the job already, workin'da lobby t'ang, scamming fag ends? How could they let this happen~Wha'happened? www.breauxlott.com?}



Jonathan Freilich~Guitar views with Adam Levy




Naked Music Manifesto






Jeremy Lyons and the Deltabilly Boys

Delta Bound~Evan Christopher~all about jazz

Johnny Adams - Please Come Home For Christmas (Hep'Me 138)~the 'B' side

Sing along with Judith Owen, Harry Shearer goes on the road!

WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

I Can Hear Again, Praise the Lord!~Andrei Codrescu~Penny Post

The Ghost of New Orleans and "The New Anne Rice"~The Beatitudes

Library takes teens' views into account

New Orleans Book List - Fiction~Mystic Knyght

Have Yourself a GOUGÈRES Merry Christmas~Cooking Creole with Marcelle Bienvenu

Painless pralines

New Orleans Boat Show expands to entire Gulf Coast region

Bumper sugar cane crop to fetch low price

Mercredi

Thank you Momo Show Palace


Vieux Carre panel aims at graffiti, T-shirts
{editor nominates Fred Radtke to the position of butt-kisser in Dante's 9th.}

New Orleans Fig Street Studio

Dirty Coast

Pooch

{editor should have snagged this one~"Mom, Dad, went to New Orleans and all I got was this T-shirt, a Cadillac Escalade and a wide screen TV!"~T-shirt on Decatur Street Dec'05}

City inflating damage, lawsuit says

Obama Calls On President To Protect Affordable Housing In New Orleans

Obama: Don't Forget NOLA~Louisiana 1976

House reads, passes omnibus spending bill~“We simply don’t know what’s in this bill,” said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). “We don’t know what we’re voting on.”

US Senator Landrieu~Louisiana Gets 142M In US Senate Appropriations

Bork and Activists Chained to Bulldozer at B.W. Cooper Homes

Playing into your opponent's hands~Your Right Hand Thief

Liprap's Lament - The Line

Housing officials describe surplus

What's Next For New Orleans Demolition Sites?~Planetizen

New Orleans Waterfront Plan Takes Shape~A team of architects led by Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, Hargreaves Associates, TEN Arquitectos, and Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, will unveil the final design in February for revitalizing a stretch of the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

FEMA trailers catch fire

FEMA stuck to policy that slowed over 1,000 projects

State cites tardy financial audit in funding cut for N.O.

N.O. audit finally submitted to state

State balks at grant for N.O. DA

Lawmakers approve $1.6 million loan for New Orleans DA's office

New Orleans is Prime Example of US's Failed Drug War
If you don't like what the Big Chief say then jack da' morphine all day!



There's more time to talk dirt~Corps aims to clarify the 'borrow process'
{editor persists~What happened to the 2/29 Commission Investigation of our failed levees and why is the Corps still allowed to operate in New Orleans like street-corner thugs?}

Senator Lautenberg Hails Decision To Block Corps' Additional Dumping of Dredged Waste in Nature Park

North Carolina Business Groups Oppose Expansion of Federal Authority Over State Waters

PeSA and Infopia Co-Host the 9th eCommerce Summit In New Orleans

Holiday eats dished out this weekend

Cloud control

Hulk Hogan to reign as king of Bacchus

Member chooses kids over contracts

School hit by teacher sickout to open

Data center restoration nearly complete for New Orleans schools

Policyholder longed for skills of a trial lawyer

'Through the Eyes of Katrina' - Perspectives in Gray,

More time for GO Zone

Disaster Recovery – Alternate Site Geographical Distance

Float of fancy

Donation to help restore park

Explosion prompts moratorium on driling near highways

Roving toddler alerts North Shore cops to gas leak

Cereal as a Metaphor for Capitalism~NYT

Marin Theatre Company hires director from New Orleans





WWOZ~GAMBIT~Nola Tonight

Preservation Hall in all its forms~WSJ

A memorable night on the town in New Orleans (me't'inks)

Thank you New Orleans Daily Photo