Recently in blogging Category

I got BoingBoing-ed.

As Unapologetic said, "Great. We finally get on Boing Boing right when we stop talking about the storm to talk about lunch."

FYI, if you're coming here from BoingBoing, most of us are not on the ground there, we evac-ed to safety. The best advice I can give you on getting real information is to turn off the major TV networks entirely, and go to nola.com, streaming audio from wwl.com, and streaming video from wwltv.com. Then follow the New Orleans blogo- and twittersphere for our analysis of the news we're getting from those outlets.

The problem is that the CNN, etc, reporters fly into town and don't understand the complex geography or how the flood control system works (something every normal citizen understands) and so they stand on bridges in their raincoats making statements that are factually nonsensical. If you can't even reliably tell me where you're standing and which direction you're looking, or which side of the river you're on, you can't possibly analyze the situation for me. "You lack basic situational awareness", as General Honore says.

Lee Zurik on local CBS affiliate WWL TV is a sharp cookie, as is Garland Robinette on WWL 870 AM radio.

The only reason to watch CNN is for the occasional glimpse of General Honore in a very spiffy civilian suit. The guy cleans up real nice and he knows what he's talking about.

You know it's a real storm when Gulf Sails starts blogging again.

Heard from Benz, one of my "correspondents" out at the Lakefront. He said, "It's pretty windy." I laughed and told him that's not very descriptive. He replied, "It's pretty fucking windy."

GS is the eye witness on the ground in River Ridge (east bank of Jeff Parish near the river, if you're from out of town). He's uploading video.

For the second time in recent memory, I've run across a blog post about a punk zine I published back in college with my friend Rob Stewart. Oddly enough I had just run across what I believe is my last remaining copy of the thing the other day in a mixed box of old comics.

It's weird having something you worked on in obscurity (our one and only printing ran 100 copies) become part of ancient pop culture lore.

On a related note, I was wearing my Pere Ubu L'Avant Garage t-shirt at the Bluebird this morning and the guy who always brings me my pancakes informed me that he was the artist who actually designed the Modern Dance album cover that the shirt is based on.

The world gets smaller...

Posting has been getting light around here, and I think I am probably going to take a break from blogging here for a while. I've got a lot going on between family, roller derby, work, and volunteering, and none of it is stuff I particularly feel like writing about.

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.

The link a couple of posts ago (or if you want, go get it at NuPac) has the video replay of David Simon's tribute to Ashley Morris at the DePaul commencement on Sunday.

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

The webcast for Ashley's college, including speaker David Simon, will be broadcast tomorrow morning at 8:30am CDT at this link:

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

In an e-mail to me, Simon said he had hoped to get to know Morris if a proposed HBO project about New Orleans got off the ground. He also wrote about why he wanted to come to DePaul the ceremony to honor Morris:

“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.

Loki wants everybody to know that Humid City will be back soon.

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.

Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing. -- Rob, High Fidelity

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.