I haven't been able to summon enough outrage to write about Gulf Coast recovery issues with anything more than a "me too" next to the fine writings of the rest of the NOLA blogosphere. I will be writing about Generation Kill over at NuPac, and about David Simon's New Orleans project when it gets off the ground. I am also taking my publishable writing a lot more seriously lately, with two short stories ready to be published just waiting for me to find the time to sit down and submit them. So I'll still be writing. I just don't have much to say here at Ray in New Orleans any more.

If we get another hurricane threatening, expect me to be back, and the archives will still be there, but unless that happens don't expect a lot from here for the foreseeable future.

Cheers.

Not available on YouTube.

Blue Orchids "Dumb Magician"

We move so fast today
Nothing stands in our way
We're free to act
And forced to pay

The only way out is up
The only way out is up
The only way out is up
The only way out is up
The only way out is up
The only way out is up
The only way out is up...

Last time I felt this bad about my job was mid-August 2005, but I was soon distracted.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have another good cry in me that's been waiting to get out.

We got "gumbo". Cause we're special.

I wonder if they get chowder when it floods in New England.

http://webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=49097

“The last [e-mail] conversation I had with this gentlemen, he expressed great satisfaction and pride in having worked hard to get me invited to the DePaul commencement,” Simon wrote. “In fact, I was originally scheduled to be in London doing the final sound editing on Generation Kill this coming weekend and so I regretfully declined. He e-mailed me back saying he understand and was very disappointed, but understood the scheduling conflict. Next thing, I learn that Ashley has passed away suddenly.

“So the last thing this fella did was ask me to make a commencement appearance at the school where he taught and I said, sorry, no. And then he departs this vale. Naturally, for karmatic purposes, I had to call DePaul back and say if you still need me I'm there.

“I enjoyed reading Mr. Morris's contributions to the Got That New Package website as well as his dissertations on New Orleans in its post-Katrina agonies. I have a feeling I would have gotten to know him well and enjoyed his company if he had lived long enough to be in New Orleans when we, I hope, will begin filming down there for a future HBO project.

“I admired his sense of outrage; petulance and selfish rage are useless, but rightful and righteous anger has an essential place in our times. Ashley was angry on behalf of others, which in my mind makes all the difference. From what he wrote, I am convinced that Ashley loved his city and he loved the people of his city, and he was short and to the point with people who tried to [evade] the real questions using ad hominem and decorum and false civility. He spoke his mind.

“So I never got to know him. And that is my loss. And on some weird level, I owe him a trip to Chicago and a morning spent in a funny hat and gown.”

The whole article is here.

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

[from Syl, of course.]

If you'd like to see how charter schools spend public education money, join Alford, his board of directors, and his fresh-faced faculty of still-wet-behind-the-ears Ivy League "teachers" as they whoop it up at their end of the year party at Bacco, Thursday night from 6:30 on. Free dinner and open bar, all paid for with school money (how much of it is state and local funds? who can say). If you're not feeding at the public trough like the public servants from the charter school, bring your American Express because entrees at Bacco run from $17-$33.

While you're there, ask them how they can afford to party in such splendor when their kids' families certainly can't, and when their kids had to share books this year because there weren't enough books to go around for every child.

As Sly Stone once said, "there's a riot goin' on".

To pass the time, please enjoy the rhythmic stylings of Mike "Dancing Around the World" Long, who I think gets Minor Threat better than anybody.

Get your shirt now, be a fashion trendsetter, and support Ashley's family all at the same time.

Exclusively from Dirty Coast.

Sinn Fein, mooks.

"I'll put it up on the lift and take a look," the mechanic says. "You can hang out in the waiting room and I'll let you now what I find out."

The penguin takes a seat in the waiting room and idly flips through some magazines. After a while he notices that there's an ice cream shop across the street, so since the mechanic seems to be taking a while, he ducks out for a snack.

A little while later the penguin returns, just finishing up his vanilla cone, when the mechanic comes out, wiping engine grease from his hands.

"It looks like you blew a seal," the mechanic says.

The penguin blushes and wipes his mouth and says, "Oh! No, that's just ice cream."

ba-dum-dum

And now, back to the news:

MSNBC: Seal caught on tape molesting a penguin

In other news, a priest, a rabbi, and Britney Spears walked into a bar...

And then we drove by the house on Gordon Street.

I blogged about gutting this house with the Mardi Gras Service Corps back in November '06. It was a lonely block. One house had some renovations going on that seemed to be going slowly, and a few houses were gutted and the lawns were being kept up, but the block didn't seem to have a lot of hope, and the house itself was a mess. Lots of termite damage, some tree damage to the roof joists and the back frame of the house. A sign on the front said "For Sale By Owner: Mr. Henry" with a phone number.

There was also a light switch in the back bedroom that had a Disney character floating under some balloons which got me all choked up when I ripped the moldy sheetrock down around it.

But down the street was an uninhabitable Baptist church with a FEMA trailer outside it, and that Sunday while we were gutting, three carloads of older black folks in their Sunday best, the women all wearing their crowns, all showed up, went into the trailer, worshipped, then came out and hugged each other and shook hands and drove off. So I always had kind of a fondness for this block. It seemed hopeless on the face of it, but maybe not so hopeless if you squinted just right and held your head at the right angle while you looked at it.

In November of '07 I blogged about my tour of despair, of all the houses I had gutted which hadn't been touched since I left them, and I took pictures of this house on Gordon Street, the last one in that post, and wondered if there wasn't some sign of progress.

The windows were still broken, the house was still gutted and open, but the For Sale sign was gone, there was a storage unit out front, and there was new debris which maybe was construction debris, not demo refuse.

Well, I drove by it four weeks ago with Sarah, and check this shit out:

New doors, new windows, new plumbing (see the vents in the roof?). New sidewalks, and landscaping, and brand new trees!

It's not occupied yet, I don't think, but clearly somebody has plans for this house. And three other houses on the block are occupied now too, whereas back in '06 we felt like we were in the middle of Siberia until those church folks showed up.

Progress. Little bits of progress bring me such huge bunches of joy sometimes. Sometimes at the times that I most need them.

You do NOT fuck with "Bananafish".

(OK, I'm trying to come out of my hole here, cut me some slack.)

If I was an artist like Greg Peters, or a photographer like dsb or Galfreaka, or had the design aesthetic of dangerblond, or had kept up with my musical training like the Hot 8, I could have created something original for Ashley. Instead, I do what most former zine editor/rock critic/college radio DJs do...I rearrange other people's art to express my feelings.

This is the mix CD that was played during the visitation at Ashley's funeral. Probably most of you didn't get to hear it, or only heard snippets. Maybe you can take this list and turn it into your own version, or I can burn a couple copies for people to pass around if anybody wants. I kinda like it. I used to be a mix tape fanatic back in the day, and it felt good to make this. Keeping it down to one CD was the hardest part.

Many thanks to Greg Peters for the vast collection of vintage funeral jazz to dig through.

Warren Zevon "Keep Me In Your Heart" The Wind
Everybody's seen Greg's video that goes with this song. It still makes the tears flow, two weeks later. This song is going away in the vault with Sigur Ros "Staralfur" and Martin Sexton's "Wasted" as songs that are so associated with pain that I don't think I can listen to them ever again.

Treme Brass Band "The Old Rugged Cross" Gimmee My Money Back
Classic jazz funeral dirge done with modern Treme flair. Plus I think Ashley is gonna be reincarnated as Uncle Lionel. Seriously. When Uncle Lionel passes, Ash is gonna sneak into his body before anybody notices and live the life for a few years (with Lionel's blessing, I'm sure).

Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys "La Toussaint" La Toussaint
La Toussaint is the Cajun French name for All Saints Day, the day we pay respects to our ancestors who have passed on. This song is beautiful and haunting.

Queen "Love Of My Life" A Night At The Opera
Requested by Hana.

Professor Longhair "Tipitina" Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box Of New Orleans
We had to have the most classic of all New Orleans songs by the most classic of all New Orleans musicians, and this is one of the most stellar studio versions. I never went to Tip's with Ashley, although we always talked about this show or that show. Always thought there was plenty of time.

Warren Zevon "Accidentally Like A Martyr" Excitable Boy
Looking for an older Zevon song that was funeral-appropriate, I happened on this and it was such a fucking obvious winner.

Louis Armstrong "St. James Infirmary (Gambler's Blues)" Birth of Jazz
Liam's choice, a classic version by the man who made it famous.

James Booker "Over the Rainbow" Spiders on the Keys
Recorded live at the Maple Leaf, the last place I ever saw Ashley, played by another man who lived too loud and too fast and too crazy and left the world too soon without realizing how much he was truly loved.

Lyle Lovett "If I Had a Boat" Pontiac
Requested by Hana.

Kermit Ruffins "What is New Orleans?" The Barbecue Swingers Live
Ashley Morris IS New Orleans. Kermit needs to re-record this.

Flogging Molly "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" Drunken Lullabies
This song brought me to tears in the first days of April. Check the lyrics if you don't believe me.

Cheap Trick "I Want You to Want Me" Live At Budokan
Requested by Hana.

Eddie Bo "When The Saints Go Marching In" Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album
A brilliant post-Katrina mellow-sad version.

Queen "You're My Best Friend" A Night At The Opera
My choice. Nuff said.

Davell Crawford "Gather By The River" Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album
My favorite post-Katrina gospel recording that is heavy with tragedy, brotherhood, and redemption all at the same time.

George Lewis "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" Funeral Songs (Dead Man Blues)
Supplied by Greg Peters. A 1920's recording of a classic jazz funeral dirge.

New Orleans Wanderers "Perdido Street Blues" Funeral Songs (Dead Man Blues)
Another 1920's vintage recording from Greg Peters. Ashley would have wanted at least one title with a political subtext to it. Gotta get that last dig in.

Henry 'Red' Allen "Canal Street Blues" Funeral Songs (Dead Man Blues)
The third selection from the huge library of vintage jazz Greg Peters sent me. We started Ashley's journey homeward at the funeral home on Canal Street, and we definitely had the blues.

Allen Toussaint "Tipitina And Me" Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album
A post-Katrina recording that renders the Fess classic slowed down and in a minor key, taking our happiest of happiests and producing a dirge with a hint of triumph.