~Editilla Notellas~We missed posting yesterday, and posted little today, because we're getting into the dirty nitty gritty of restoring Editilla's House of Piety. I commute now from Memphis to Nola in 2-week work trips. It's gotten hard, and is getting complicated as we move into the guts of the house. While I had NO INTENTION of getting into something like this, a total gutting restoration, it seems well and fitting to go for it, smooth to the fine.My father gave me this house in a way, as he was gracious enough to include me in the succession of the family farm ---much to my honest and great surprise! Really. It's a long story, perchance even a book, but suffice to say I expected Nothing.
He'd tied up loose ends, come to me more than once. Pop and I were settled.
My father passed away at sunrise on July 11th, 2009. He was 80.
I loved him very very much.
One of the last cogent talks I had with Pop was from a pay phone in the French Market, during the Flood'05, I think the day or so after the Produce Company had exploded atop a 200 year old toxic waste dump a few blocks from my studio, and sometime after I had fought another man in the dark dark with a two foot long sword. It is hard to say what day it was, but it was so hot.
Dog Flora and I were aimlessly wandering into the Quarters to get away from the acrid smell of poison which still blanketed the hood like a rat bag.
Nearly everyone we knew had gone by then.
It is hard to describe the bleakness. It was just hard.
No cell phone towers within a hundred miles yet these old pay phones that Huey P Long installed still worked. So, Editilla phoned home. After getting the rest of the screaming family off the phones, I began to broach the issue with my father of my last wishes etc. It took a second, since Pop was still under the impression that "this can't be happening in America".. that people wearing a uniform meant something and I just needed to go find them and get out of there.. that our country, his country.. well whateva... we were left to die. I knew this. Many there knew this.
About that moment a NOPD car drove by full of BlackWater Mercenaries, all the windows gone with their little rifles sticking out, ball caps on jar heads... I really remember the tiny sunglasses when they looked Directly At Me. They too knew this.
"No, Pop. America doesn't DO uniforms any longer," I said.
So, I needed to get my affairs in order. No more 2nd chances.
"No, Pop, I'm not leaving dog Flora. She is all I have left."
Pop of course disagreed with that sentiment, all of it --and wasn't having any of it. "OK THEN, You get your Goddamn Dog on the Goddamn Levee and go North and we'll find you!" said R.L. Biles.
I broke down.. "Yes sir," said his son, and got my ass in gear.
Alas, his youngest, the straggler, the errant troubadour, I could not face my father until he came and found me, still armed, in Memphis, 4 months later.
He had a massive stroke the following April, yet was allowed 3 years to say goodbye to his children, 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
A Ramblin'wreck from Georgia Tech and a Hell of an Engineer,
both Civil and Electrical, 17th in his class, Lt. Col. USAF Ret,
Formidable Nemesis of the Corps of Engineers, to wit:
"Son there is Nothing more dangerous than a lying engineer,
because then all you have left is the word of a liar."
Planter, Maker, Science Fiction fan, Dog Lover,
Master of Sarcasm and Ruthless Wit,
Protector of the Sunflower River,
Son of the Mississippi Delta,
Richard Leonidas Biles Jr.

*

Whiz Kidding, also, if there's time left over maybe they will buy a theater
~Library Chronicles

'Perfect Storm' Along MO River Puts Army Corps Policies in Cross Hairs
~As the engorged Missouri River swamps towns and threatens to burst a backup levee in Hamburg, Mo., lawmakers are calling for a review of the Army Corps of Engineers' flood-control plans.

Missouri River flood hits unprecedented flow rates
~Jeff Masters, Wunderblog

To bolster real estate market, New Orleans must add jobs, experts say

Goddamnit! Phillis Wheatley Elementary School Torn Down

Ray Nagin to appear Monday on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
~Humid Beings

Major League Baseball to operate youth training academy in Gentilly

Kicking, smiling “Great Dane” is a Saints, Louisiana all-time star

Hundreds of Vespa scooter enthusiasts putt-putt through New Orleans

Release the Hounds!
~a Corps of Engineers whistleblower's letter to the President ~Hat Tip~Levees.org
~Recent levee ruptures in Iowa and Missouri may reflect larger failures of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) raised by whistleblower Maria Garzino. And there may be more tragedies on the horizon: in 2007, USACE released a list of 146 levees across America that are at risk of failing. In an article this week in Politico, Harry Shearer gave a curtain raiser to a letter Garzino sent to the Obama Administration earlier this year that fully exposes the degree of deception by USACE. The letter reveals not only a shockingly detailed portrait, but also the attempts of government officials to prevent Garzino from blowing the whistle at all.

The economics of flooding

Challenges of keeping MS River in check discussed at meeting of Louisiana coastal authority

Wait…didn’t he say there were no health claims?
~Disenfranchised Citizen
~Also~State Senate rejects ban on oil dispersants

GOP Seeks Bidders on Amtrak Rail Lines

Bourbon & Burlesque ~Gambit
~Lauren LaBorde on a fan-and-tassel fundraiser for the Contemporary Arts Center

New Crush~Blackened Out

Food Bloggers Get Up Close and Personal With Gulf Seafood

Monkeying with the Constitution ~Gambit ~Jeremy Alford on how our "small-government" pols in Baton Rouge want to add (and add and add) to the state Constitution

La. lawmakers scrap 'birther' bill

Larger ‘dead zone’ feared, Gulf phenomenon could set record
~Amy Wold

Tugboats free tanker that ran aground in lower Mississippi River on Monday

Evacuteer.org volunteers provide a service when it's most needed

7 blighted homes sold at sheriff's auction in New Orleans

Iron Rail Book Store – Anarchy has returned!~Invade Nola

Le Petite Theater Sale Hits Intermission ~Nola Defender

Slow Southern Street Style: Seen at Freret Market

Check, please! Umm, please?
~He Said/She Said NOLA

Winesday~Blackened Out

A rare but important victory
~American Zombie

Da Train! Da Train! City of New Orleans
~How We Rollas~
On another one of our "work trips" for Editilla's House of Piety (EHOP) we take the southern rails. 7am comes hard on our nerve, but soon the MS Delta is sliding by, shining like a... like a laser-plained, leveled, leveed, over-irrigated, precision- agriculture guitar. We've been riding this particular train since 1979. It leaves Memphis, exiting the bluff into the delta at the beginning of the Corps Levee, then quickly into the very center, en route to Greenwood to Yazoo City, MS, the bottom gum line of the delta. Just passed Marks (they used to just beat the Hell outta my Cleveland High Wildcat football team. I mean every time. Mean delta boys in Marks.) The fields are beautiful golden -fresh cut wheat- and green of new soybeans. The cotton is moving along, but there is still a Lot of water around. The corn to me seems late. These little towns are but slivers of a glory they never had in the first place. This is across the tracks from Faulkner's Delta, "Their Day" was taken along time ago, if not by the Corps of Engineers' flood strategy then whittled down and sold to feed China. But in the space of a crack in an old oiled wooden floor, art has remained embedded in the land of my yout and festered. Many of these towns have secretly taken in Nolafugees, like Water Valley where Waiting Room Gallery immigrated.

Low levees get boost from corps
~Nikki Buskey~Houma~ The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is raising a floodwall at the Golden Meadow pump station from 11.5 feet to just under 14 feet, said Joey Wagner, corps manager for the Larose-to-Golden Meadow levee project. The corps will also improve protection at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port deepwater facility and low-lying floodwalls along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Larose.

As if we had to be told, I mean... Goddamnit!

Lawmaker wants BP Oil Spill medical cases monitored

30 more bays closed at Bonnet Carre Spillway

Have You Seen This? ~GRN

Follow the Money~Indie Film Guru

Postcards of the Hanging
~Tara Jill Ciccarone

Vinterview~Blackened Out

I’ll Have What He’s Having. Not!
~He Said/She Said NOLA

Two Missouri River Levees Fail
~The rising Missouri River has ruptured two levees in northwest Missouri, sending torrents of floodwater over rural farmland toward the Iowa town of Hamburg and the Missouri state park and resort of Big Lake. The levee failures both happened Monday morning.Authorities said a levee near Hamburg now has a 50-foot-wide hole in it. This is the same place in Atchison County, Mo., where a repair was done last week.The emergency manager said while the levee has been deemed irreparable, there are no plans to evacuate anyone.

More trouble ahead for New Orleans? ~Harry Shearer, Politico
~“The (Army Corps) is guilty of engaging in deceptive and fraudulent acts in order to hide the known inadequacies of the hydraulic pumping equipment and the (Corps’) own wrongdoing from the public and other responsible government agencies.” ~Maria Garzino, Civil Engineer USACE
~At right: Maria Garzino, Danielle Bryan, and Harry Shearer in March, at the AFI Silver Theater premier of The Big Uneasy, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Your Ho Ho Homble Editilla was in that audience. After the Q&A we saddled up and presented Mz Garzino with a pair of big shiny Brass Balls!
Yesm, we sure the hell did!
She is the 1st recipient of the Editilla's Civil Engineering Brass Balls Award for standing up to the Corps of Engineers. We shall hang this award for Real Engineers who Defend NOLA. While it is fitting for Matt McBride to be the first, we would be remiss to ignore the contributions of Maria Garzino, the Corps engineer who blew the whistle on our Bad Outfall Canal Pumps. The Lady's Got OVA.
So we Award them both Brass Balls for Testicular Fortitude and Engineering Acumen. One of the biggest problems for me regarding the worst civil engineering failure in the history of our country, the Flood of New Orleans by the Corps of Engineers, is the incredulously small number of real engineers who have stepped into the face of industry intimidation to refute the Corps Lies. These brave engineers stand to loose much given the Exquisite Corps of Engineers' contracting reach. But rest easy, Gentle'rillas, to quote Sandy Rosenthal, founder of Levees.org: "We Are Winning!" Yes, we mfkn are! And this coming sixth Flood Anniversary I will have more Brass Balls for more Herolero Engineers.

Whole Lotta Love during Loyola Avenue streetcar line groundbreaking

Ignatius on Magazine, Walgreens on Carrollton, and proposals for coffee shop and fresh market Uptown all seeking city approval
~Uptown Messenger

Anti-blight program Lot Next Door reaches 1,000 purchase agreements

UMC a "Done Deal"? Not After Today ~SaveCharityHospital.com

Clancy DuBos makes some wishes for Gov. Bobby Jindal's birthday ... then blows out his candles

Gov. Bobby Jindal -- They love him in Ohio ~Stephanie Grace

Louisiana drivers don't know the rules of the road ~WWL

Mapping shoreline activity in Louisiana ~Jeremy Alford, Gambit

New Louisiana oil spill highlights industry's chronic pollution problem
~Facing South

Doing the Math on Louisiana’s 2011 Shrimp Season

Louisiana's largest inshore artificial reef completed northeast of Grand Isle

~The Louisiana Charter Boat Association, Bridgeside Marina (Grand Isle), The Louisiana Seafood and Promotion Board along with www.visitlouisianacoast.com present the Inaugural Saints Alumni Fishing Rodeo on Grand Isle June 17th and 18th at the Bridgeside Marina.
Your Favorite Saints Players of Yesteryear will decent on Grand Isle and will be public Friday evening for a Captain's Party and get together.
Food will be provided by the Louisiana Saefood and Promotion Board so you know that you will be treated to some good ole Louisiana Saefood. The former Saints Players will be on hand to sign autographs and mix it up with the crowd. There will be auction items and as much memorabilia as we can amass. Have a football item that you want autographed - bring it, these guys are great and want to sign it for you.

"GOODBY JOE" J'AI POUR ALLEZ, MI-O-MA-Y-O
J'AI POUR ALLEZ MOI TOUT SEUL
SUR LE BAYOU
MA YVONNE, LA PLUS JOLIE
SUR LE BAYOU
TONNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP
SUR LE BAYOU
----refrain----------
JAMBALAYA, DES TARTES D'ECREUVISSE, FILE GOMBO
PAR A SOIR MOI J'VA ALLEZ VOIR
MA CHERE AMI-O
JOUER L'GUITAR, BOIRE DE LA JOGUE(cruche)
ET FAIR DE LA MUSIQUE
TOMNNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP
DE SUR LE BAYOU
THIBODEAUX, FONTENOT, LA PLACE APRE SONNER
CA VIEN "EN TAS" POUR VOIR YVONNE
PAR LES DOUZAINES
FAIR BIEN L'AMOUR, ET FAIR LE FOU, FAIR LA MUSIQUE
TONNERRE M'ECRASE
UN VA AVOIR UN BON TEMP

Okra and Tomatoes~NOLAFemmes

The Fried Shrimp Po-Boy
~Blackened Out

"Pause for Dinner" Thursday night to benefit LA/SPCA ~Gambit

Sugar Park ~Hat Tweet @BywaterNeigh

The Ultimate Fully Loaded Bloody Mary ~Serious Eats

Susan Cowsill takes 'Treme' viewers to Carrollton Station

200lb log debris found in West Bank levees, Corps of Engineers plays dumb
~This piece of wood, about 3 feet by 2 feet, was removed from the levee under construction between the new Westwego Pumping Station and Orleans Village.

“If they’ve got a 200-pound log buried in that levee, it makes you wonder what else is buried there,” said Giuseppe Miserendino, the levee authority’s regional director. “How does your quality-control person miss something that big? What else didn’t they catch?”

Debris Part 5~Fix the Pumps
~Also this from Slabbed~There is a Heebe in the levee pile!

Michael "Brownie" Brown to sign Deadly Indifference in NOLA
~Kevin Allman, Gambit
~Hat Tweet @Editilla the Pun~@The_Gambit This is an Excellent idea for a Pie Throwing Party! Bring Pies lotta Pies! Chocolate Brownie Pies! Mud Pies! #nola #TheBigUneasy

Housing fight prompts racists to speak ~Jarvis DeBerry

In this episode of Magnum J.D.: Baldie amends the suit against Bull Durham, adds Magnum plus Gauthier Houghtaling and Williams ~Slabbed

NASA software gives Lusher Charter School students all the right stuff

Corps closes 30 bays at Bonnet Carre

High Mississippi River and Algiers Point levee make for good fishing

River flood builds land, but will it help locally? ~Nikki Buskey~“The real tragedy of this flood is that it isn't getting sediment to some of these areas that sorely need it,” said Phillip Turnipseed, director of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wetlands Research Center, which published the satellite photos of the flood. “Terrebonne, Lafourche, Barataria, the Breton Sound — you're all being left out.”

The Nature Conservancy buys land for State of Louisiana

Missouri River levees in Iowa face historic test~Des Moines Register

Economy versus environment…the oil spill fine~Disenfranchised Citizen

While you were sleeping
~Judyb54, NOLAFemmes

The Green Goddess' Omivourous Outré
~Kat Stromquist, NOLA Defender

Tab Benoit in Memphis Tonight at the Levitt Shell
~Editilla Ruminellas~5 blocks from my house, this is an WPA-built outdoor amphitheater that we saved from demolition back in the '90s. I directed 8 Earth Day Festivals here in the heart of Memphis. It is the prettiest place in the city, a sacred space where I laid my heart for safe keeping.

Still to come~Fix the Pumps

Corps options for levee 'armor' include dense grass, fabric turf or concrete

Rising Tide 6 ~The Rising Tide Conference is an annual gathering for all who wish to learn more and do more to assist New Orleans’ recovery. It’s for everyone who loves New Orleans and is working to bring a better future to all its residents. Leveraging the power of bloggers and new media, the conference is a launch pad for organization and action. Our day-long program of speakers and presentations is tailored to inform, entertain, enrage and inspire.

Rep. Cedric Richmond calls for health registry for people assigned travel trailers after Hurricane Katrina

Mandeville residents look to get flood insurance relief under new FEMA maps

Racial divides among New Orleans neighborhoods expand
~Michelle Krupa

Alternative plan to fund teaching hospital 'misses the point,' official say
~Paul Murphy

City shut down anarchist bookstore to run off homeless, member says
~Uptown Messenger

Parishes thankful floods never came

Stories From the Gulf: Living with the Oil Disaster~Disenfranchised Citizen

Joplin MO: toll rises to 151, some suffer from fungus

Sponsoring Hell Yes Fest New Orleans ~Hat Tweet @ianhoch

~Hat Tweet @ LouisianaFests~ This Wkdn in La - Corn Fest in Bunkie, River Fest in Madisonville, Cajun Music Fest, Tomato Fest & Zydeco Fest in Nola

~Hat Tweet @rock_n_bowl~Deacon John's 70th BIRTHDAY BASH tonight. Come celebrate with him 9:30pm

New Myth Buster: #7 ~Levees.org

New Orleans residents invited Saturday to "Hello Hurricane" hurricane-preparedness summit

Assessing the Gulf Coast response: A guest column by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa

FEMA chief sees bigger role for insurers in flood coverage
~Bruce Alpert

"Heckuva Job Brownie" Speaks~Kate Sheppard
~Editilla Shinolas~ We never pass up a chance to say FYYFF and tell the world about this shiftless, self-aggrandizing, opportunistic, pusillanimous, whining asshole. He is to current American Disaster Capitalism what Ed Blakely is to lying down under a tsunami.

Remember the advice I gave way back in September 2008 ~Slabbed

Second suspect from Mississippi identified in January home invasion
~Uptown Messenger

Oil Slick Reported Near Venice, Louisiana - Update ~SkyTruth

Riki Ott, marine toxicologist, weighs in on the Feinberg lie
~Disenfranchised Citizen
~Also see~Nobody Did It...
~Appeals panel for Gulf oil spill damage claims is formed

Fishermen say crab industry still in disarray

Drought causes salt intrusion on farms

Bonnet Carre Spillway bays to begin closing Saturday

Mississippi River flooding likely to spread Asian carp to lakes, bayous

Swollen Mississippi River, Jazz Festival Test Multiband Radios in Louisiana
~Responders from 16 agencies tested the promise of interoperability embodied in multiband radios at the two-week New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and in daily operations that included monitoring a swollen Mississippi River.
An estimated 400,000 people converged on the New Orleans’ Fair Grounds Race Course for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival providing state, local and federal responder agencies an opportunity to test a multiband radio in the event’s crowded and noisy conditions from April 29 to May 8.

Creole Stuffed Bell Peppers
~Chef John Folse

Le Petit Theater board says sale to Dickie Brennan is moving forward

~Hat Tweet @ WeLivetoEat ~Let the debate begin! N.O.'s 9 best snoball stands via @WWLTV Who got left out? http://ow.ly/5eQMU
~At Right in 2008: Haley, 7, and Shane Babb, 5, anticipate the cool sweetness of their snowballs as they wait for Shiela Marriott to prepare them at Ro-Bear's in Harahan. Photo: John McCusker
{We love to tell this story}
~Editilla was doing this very thing~ building some kid a perfect snowball, at the Flora Cafe' one morning when Valentine came in for his early juice.
{I also did fresh-squoze juice for Ali.}
Only this morning Val was a bit up on breaking news: "Hey, Juicy," he says "Did you hear that one of the World Trade Center towers is on fire?" "Nah", said I, more interested in making sure to swirl the Condensed Milk just right around the cone of crushed ice to the top, without breaking it down, which would not do at all, mashing up all the color layers I had painstakingly laid in the snowball already. While the kid watched, Val, stepped across Royal to get a paper and comes back in looking a little scared...looking me right in the eye he said, "You may want to get over to Big Daddy's and check the TV." "What?", I said, stepping around a few more of the children waiting for their snowballs. Then da'Angel storms into the cafe, "HEY EVERYBODY! SOMEONE HAS JUST FLOWN A GODDAMN AIRLINER INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IN NEW YORK!"
The place emptied like fire in a theater, as everyone ran to the bars across the street to see it on the Tube. Suddenly Schiro's was packed too. Suddenly there was not a car on the street outside, as I suspect anywhere else in America that day.
Me, I turned around and looked at the kids waiting on their snowballs and asked,
Who's next?

Swoon At NOMA~NOLAFemmes

Gambit's Wellness Expo

Mythical Creatures & Beings Show from Fleur de Tease ~Humid Beings

BEASTS & BRASS:: A BENEFIT FOR CHEF NATHANIAL ZIMET

Weekend Roundup~Blackened Out

Corps of Engineers faces ‘accounting’ for MO River flooding~"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will publicly answer questions about the current flooding along the Missouri River," Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., assured reporters Wednesday. "It’s too soon to decide whether to hold formal congressional hearings on this issue or whether some other venue would work better," Thune said. “But there has to be an accounting for this,” he said. “We have to get some answers.”
~Editilla Co'tellas~ We wonder if SD will get an Investigation of their own Corps Disaster before New Orleans of 8/29/05? And for that matter, what happens when other states inevitably begin lining up to deal with what the Corps of Engineers has been doing in every one of their own their backyards?

After the Levee Breach, She Never Spoke Again~Levees.org

The Big Uneasy in Chicago
~Also this from the Chicago Reader

In Historic Flooding On Mississippi River, A Missed Opportunity To Rebuild Louisiana~Chris Kirkam

It’s time to rethink flood control, coastal scientist says~Nikki Buskey

New floodgate at Bush Canal will serve as data hub

Port of Gulfport receives $481M

Slain insurance investigators mourned

UMC Plans Face Serious Opposition as Vitter, Kennedy, and Tucker Pitch Alternative~SaveCharityHospital.com

The shocking reveal, sifting though the pieces of the broken prize
~Library Chronicles

Neighborhoods are dandy, but no reason to settle for the ‘official’ 73
~Keith G.C. Twitchell, The Lens

LA Senate approves transfer of UNO to University of La. system

Tammy Fox, who grew up racing horses in New Orleans, now hopes to win Belmont Stakes~Bob Fortus
~Hat Tweet @defendnola

Welcome to New Orleans Land
~The Chicory

Gettin' naked at the World Naked Bike Ride~Gambit

The Radiators' 33 year ride comes to an end~Keith Spera

Comment Bump ~American Zombie

Laying down the Hammer: Hammerman asks about what Ray Nagin knew and when in the St Pierre saga ~Slabbed

River Birch Landfill owners courted just about everyone~James Gill

Loyola Avenue streetcar project officially under way

Morganza Spillway down to only two open bays

Baton Rouge levee may reopen next week ~Amy Wold

Oil spotted in waters off Plaquemines Parish


Organizer who specialized in catastrophe conferences admits to financial disasters~The Lens

Big new artificial reef northeast of Grand Isle

Bayou Grand Caillou floodgate goes to construction

Dolphins, Turtles, Red Snapper…
and now, sand dollars and starfish
~Disenfranchised Citizen

Gulf Update: Sick Fish, Human Risks and a Federal Agency Trying to Keep the Lid on a Crisis~Stuart Smith

~New T from our friends a Dirty Coast!

Toye-ing With Fate~NOLA Defender

Slow Southern Style:
Seen on Magazine Street
~Editilla's new fav blog find! Hat Tweet @CanalStreetCar

Review: On the Air
~Dalt Wonk, Gambit

The Great Equilibrium: Artist Interview with Georgia Kennedy
~Fair Folks & a Goat

Louisiana caravan heading back from Joplin, MO~"We met some special people who had a strong spirit, who shared their stories, their rebuilding process with us," Chef Greg Reggio said. "In all, we had about 1,200 to 1,400 people show up, and they ate up all that great Louisiana seafood."

Winesday~Blackened Out

Bourbon House hosts rye whiskey tasting ~Todd Price

Beers, Not Bullets: A Fundraiser for Chef Nathaniel Zimet
~He Said/She Said NOLA

New Orleans' Best Snow Balls!

Loan Signing! We're going to open a grocery store!~New Orleans Food Coop

Chophouse New Orleans to open at former Cuvee space~City Business

Opening day on Freret; Adolfo Garcia's High Hat Cafe and Ancora Pizzeria
~Uptown Messenger

Creole Tomato Salad: Mediterranean Twist From Mena’s Palace

What to do? Vieux To Do~Colleen Rush

Concerts in the Courtyard with Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots

PresFest celebrates 50 years of Preservation Hall
~Noah Bonaparte Pais

Tracks from Bonnaroo weekend acts
~PICK OF THE WEEK
Desitively Bonnaroo, Dr. John
This 1974 slab of New Orleans funk gave the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival its name.
As a treat for the festival's 10th anniversary, Bonnaroo organizers have booked John along with Allen Toussaint and the Original Meters to re-create the entire Desitively Bonnaroo album at a late-night set this year.

Emmylou Harris Pays Tribute to Gram Parsons on New Album~Rolling Stone~On the album, Harris also sings about post-Katrina New Orleans, becoming a grandmother ("Goodnight Old World") and the death of her friend Kate McGarrigle ("Darlin' Kate").

Galactic bringing it to Brooklyn!
~Hat Tweet @TheAbitaBeer~Tonight 5p at 'Wednesday at the Square' it's Galactic + Marc Stone. Grab a Purple Haze and prepare to get funked people. http://ow.ly/5djB8

Corps of Engineers still won't take the blame for failures during Katrina ~Levees.org

Louisiana lawmakers urge White House to release $95 million for Mississippi River dredging
~Officials, mariners say corps losing battle to keep mud from clogging mouth of Mississippi

New Orleans group bringing food, music to tornado victims, volunteers in Joplin, Missouri~a Spoonful of Jambalaya at a Time

Colo. pair sees 47% chance of hurricane hitting La. in ’11~Amy Wold

Some local parish bridges deemed ‘structurally deficient'

Pontchartrain ferry owners meet today with regulators

RTA to break ground on new Loyola Avenue streetcar route
~This is the first phase of the streetcar expansion project. The next phase will begin in June 2012 and will go down the French Quarter loop, down Rampart across Press Street to Poland Avenue, according to RTA spokesman Justin Augustine. Above, the venerable St Charles Ave street car. Also, we have been enjoying Edward Branley's book on the Canal Street Car Line. You can follow him on Twitter @CanalStreetCar. Check out Transport for NOLA also @TfNOLA
for constant updates and in depth articles on this vital scene.

The Lens: OPSB updates plan to rid Audubon Charter soils of sky-high lead contamination

Irreverent New Orleans lifestyle blog releases first book: InvadeNOLA No. 01: Once Upon an Ever After

Free building supplies at the Green Project this week

Are we slabbing fun yet?

Jindal is now 0-4 in the Legislature on his signature budget bills
~Daily Kingfish

On Feinberg’s claims regarding a lack of health claims
~Disenfranchised Citizen

Bird Project Soap

Street artist Swoon creates sea goddess at New Orleans Museum of Art

All Alon the Watchtower
~Blackened Out~Chef Alon Shaya heads up the kitchen at Domenica in the Roosevelt Hotel. He is also an actor who has received critical acclaim for his role in Treme as the dans le merde grill cook. A native of Israel, Alon spent a year in Italy before opening Domenica with his partner Chef John Besh. 20ish questions on the clock.

Preservation Hall at 50
~Noah Bonaparte Pais

St. Pierre Trial Wrap Up, Part II: The Zen of Turd Polisihing
~American Zombie

Hurricane preparedness meeting to be held in Covington
~At right: Hurricane Warning Flags. A hurricane warning (HWW) is issued when a hurricane with sustained winds of 74 mph (65 knots, 118 km/h) or higher is expected in a specified coastal area in 36 hours or less. When you see this pic here in the top right-side masthead it means there is a Hurricane in the Gulf.
It means Ladder Up. It means Time To Rock and Roll.

Army Corps works to rebuild reputation, capitalize on flooding ~John Snell
~"The main basin of the city would get some flooding," said Sandy Rosenthal, founder of the watchdog group, Levees.org. However, Rosenthal believes it would be "nothing like was seen during Katrina." Rosenthal takes issue with the public relations campaign, including her group's discovery last year of a lucrative Corps contract to pay an outsider P.R. firm $5 million over 3 years. "The idea of spending our taxpayer money for the Corps of Engineers to make itself look good after a spectacular failure before the whole world feels like a punch in the stomach," Rosenthal said.

Corps expects full breach of Missouri River levee

The Yazoo Backwater Area, the Steele Bayou Drainage Structure, and the Yazoo Pump~Quinta Scott

Sediment discussed, officials look to capitalize on flood~Also~Beginnings of algae blooms reported in Lake Pontchartrain

Walter Pierce on why no one is talking about using floodwater mud to help rebuild Louisiana's vanishing coastline

We're all stakeholders in coastal restoration~Bob Marshall

‘Don’t blame us,’ shrimpers say
~A consortium of environmental groups wants officials in Louisiana and other Gulf states to shut down their shrimp seasons until more information is available about spikes in the deaths of sea turtles, which they attribute to shrimp trawls.
~Hat Tweet @ SkyTruth John Amos~Scientific paper: body count may have severely underestimated whale, dolphin deaths due to BP #oilspill - http://ow.ly/5b2XE

Feinberg says no claims filed on cleanup illnesses?

Louisiana Lawmakers approve Arizona-style immigration bill

Chris Rose: Corporal Punishment

Video: Red Light Cameras Covered Up By Anarchists~Nola Anarcha
~Hat Tweet @@bmccarthyTP @judyb1954

Are we having Monday yet? ~slabbed

New Orleans is top NFL hometown

Semi-Ho With Aunt Grandy ~moosedenied

Monday Reads~Sky Dancing

D-DAY Anniversary ~Thanks Katrina

Dome exterior lights to become permanent

"Beers Not Bullets" benefit for chef Nathanial Zimet~Gambit

Only in New Orleans: The 100 Essential Experiences~He Said/She Said NOLA

A Taste of Summer~Blackened Out

New Orleans lawmakers should stop trying to raid flood protection money

River Birch used political cash, helicopter tours to develop landfill, bash rivals

Your Jefferson Parish Tax Dollars at Work: Parish pays Phelps Dumbar over $97,000 to sue bloggers and prevent access to public records ~Slabbed

St. Bernard Project celebrates 5th anniversary by helping New Orleans woman come home

Locals say leave the levees
~Bayou Black and Gibson residents want emergency barriers to stay.

Mississippi River flooding has taken a heavy toll on thousands

Flooding in Atchafalaya Basin may be big help to coastal wetlands

Vermillion, SD Is ‘Scrambling’ As Missouri River Rises

Missouri levee breach prompts evacuations in Iowa

After Bird's point levee breach, farmers try to dig in

National Flood Insurance Program is back before Congress

DOTD Reopens Barataria Bridge

Port Manchac prepares for expansion

Raise a glass to coffin-building monks ~James Gill

Revived Alexandria Central Economic Development District targets riverfront

Rosenfeld Revisionism~CenLamar

Affordable apartment complexes, tailored for artists, are blossoming

Hitler's Atlantic Wall

Downtown: Step away from the Quarters and meet the locals

A-C problems persist at open-air French Market, forget the abject stupidity of that

Teutons having success developing Challenger Drag Pak

The story of the New Orleans Saints' first player, Paige Cothren

Bayou Teche releases Boucanee smoked beer in bottles~Todd Price
~Hat Tweet @nolamaven

~Hat Tweet & QOTD @ bugeyedguide~"in New Orleans the less you know the longer you live"

Father of recovering New Orleans chef says gunshot ordeal has been "hell"

Oysters in June~NOLAFemmes

A New Orleans Vieux-To-Do
…three festivals…one big weekend!

R&B legend Benny Spellman dies