FoodMusicJustice.com

I like writing, but I like ACTION even better.

In this spirit, FoodMusicJustice is bringing Jason Slack and the Slick Slack Brass Band to New York over the 4th of July weekend.

It’s the first phase of “Two Rivers, One Heart,” the Hudson River/Mississippi River Cultural Collaboration Project: Music in the Service of Justice for New Orleans. A mouthful to be sure, but it sums up what we’re all about.

We want to remind New Yorkers and the rest of the world that New Orleans is still alive and well and still in need of help not in the form of handouts, but in the form of simple justice. The levees were the federal government’s responsibility and cleaning up the results of their failure is a federal responsibility too.

The Slick Slack Brass Band will be performing at the following places:

Wed. July 4th

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Union Square Station (near Virgin Music), Manhattan
8:00 PM Rose Live Music, 345 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

718-599-0069

Thurs. July 5th

1:00 PM Roberto Clemente Square - South Bronx - SoBRO’s Weed & Seed event
7:00 PM J. Maxon’s Bar (take the 6 Train to 138th and 3rd)

Fri. July 6th

5:00 PM - 9:00 PM Hudson Haborfest, City of Hudson, New York

Take Amtrak from Penn Station to Hudson, NY (two hours)

Sat. July 7th

5:00 PM - 9:00 PM Hudson Haborfest, City of Hudson, New York

More about the band and the Hudson River/Mississippi River Collaboration in future posts.

Best book on what we (the progressive, peace-loving people of the United States) need to do right now.

Please support this book:

Buy it, read it, talk about it, and give copies to as many people as you can afford to.

Just want to give a shout out to Nolevee.com. Satire and humor from New Orleans. It’s the online version of the print publication, The New Orleans Levee, distributed monthly in the city.

Check it out NoLevee.com

Even before the federal levee failures (don’t call it Katrina), the New Orleans school system was one of the most troubled in the nation.

Now New Orleans has a chance to rebuild its system.

Some numbers:

1. In October of 2004, 66,372 students were enrolled in the system.

2. After the levee failures, more than 60,000 students left the city along with 7,500 teachers.

3. Seventy-three schools remain vacant.

4. 36,000 students are expected back this fall.

5. Currently, the system is short the 600 teachers it needs to open 80 schools this fall (up from 58 this year.)

The Chinese character for catastrophe includes in it the sign for opportunity.

Are you a teacher? Do you want to become one? Are you looking for an adventure in one of the world’s most unique cities at a time when your efforts can really make a difference?

Contact Teach NOLA for information on how you can get involved.

PERFECT GENTLMEN FATHER’S DAY PARADE

SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2007 – 1 P.M.

Start: The Venue, 1755 Tchoupitoulas St. Down Tchoupitoulas St. to Jackson Ave. Right on Jackson. Up Jack to Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Left on O.C. Haley to Phillip St. Phillip St. to Danneel St. Out Danneel to Washington Ave. Right on Washington.

Stop: Purple Rain, 2030 Washington Ave. Left on Loyola St. Down Loyola to Foucher. Left on Foucher.

Stop: The Other Place, 3601 Foucher St. Out Saratoga St. to Louisiana Ave. Right on Louisiana Ave. to LaSalle St. Right on LaSalle to Washington Ave. Left on Washington Ave. to Magnolia and Second St.

Stop: Teddy’s Bar. Up Second St. to Claiborne Ave. to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Right on MLK to Liberty. Right on Liberty.

Stop: Dorothy Look Out. Up Liberty St. Left on Felicity to Simon Bolivar St. Down SB to Jackson Ave. Left on Jackson Ave.

Omega: Dreamers Lounge, 1931 Jackson Ave.

This parade is dedicated to Dinerral & Byron “Wimp”

Backstreet Cultural Museum
1116 St. Claude Ave. New Orleans, LA 70116 504-522-4806

Nearly two years after the failure of the federal levees (don’t call it Katrina), New Orleans faces a mental health crisis of unprecedented proportions.

Here’s what the city lost and has not yet been able to replace:

1. LSU and Tulane hospitals lost their inpatient psychiatric units. LSU lost more than 100 beds. Tulane lost 110.
2. Tulane’s emergency room has only one psychiatrist on duty.
3. Severe shortage of trained psychiatric nurses and security personnel.

Marc Siegel, an associate professory of medicine at NYU’s School of Medicine describes the situation this way: “…the problems are too pervasive and too dangerous to allow for gradual solutions… Government leaders must treat the mental heal crisis like a fire engulfing the city. A fire hose her and a garden hose there will help, but many lives will be left in the ashes unless drastic action is taken.”

What’s needed?

Temporary facilities, more grant money for hiring mental health care providers to the area, loosening of laws to make it easier to built new facilities. Siegel, in a June 7th article in USA Today, recommends that the American Psychiatric Association uge residency programs to send in rotating doctors to help fill the gap.

In what must be a record for perversity, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Wal-Mart are selling cypress mulch.

Where does this mulch come from?

Ground up cypress trees from the coastal forests that are essential to protecting America’s Gulf Coast from hurricanes and flooding.

Not only are cypress forests being clear cut to provide suburban America with a mulch it doesn’t need (there are plenty of renewable alternate sources), some of these areas are being so devastated that they will never grow back.

For God’s sake, don’t buy this stuff and next time you’re in a store that sells it, let them know that not only are you not going to buy it, you’re also going to scale back (or eliminate) all your purchases from their store until they stop selling it.

The Watekeeper Alliance waterkeeper.org ran a full page ad in the New York Times and posted some articles on this subject on their web site. They need some video too. With all due respect, to try to communicate anything significant these days without using YouTube, Google Video and/or MySpace is non-profiit negligence.

Two food festivals this weekend…

The French Market Creole Tomato Festival and…

The debut of the Seafood Festival at the US Mint building.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation is rolling a Cajun/Zydeco festival into the seafood festival and the Tomato Festival will feature Latin music (salsa…get it?)

All in all, four music stages featuring Lil’ Queenie, Frankie Ford, Bob French, the Zydepunks and more.

Great food, great music, and you can help bring justice to New Orleans by bringing your sweet self. Hard to beat that.

DEVASTATION 2 SOCIAL & SECOND LINE CLUB PARADE

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2007 – 1 P.M.

Start: Sleepy Lounge, Fourth and Dryades. Down Dryades St. to Second St.

Stop: Sportsman’s Lounge. Down Dryades to First St. Right on First to Baronne St. Right on Baronne St. to Sixth St. Left on Sixth St.

Stop: JD Houses, 1722 Sixth Street (Show Time). Down Sixth St. to St.Charles Ave. Right on St. Charles Ave. to Louisiana Ave. Right on Louisiana Ave. to S. Saratoga St.

Stop: Sandpiper Lounge. Down Louisiana to Magnolia St. Left on Magnolia St.to Gen. Taylor.

Stop: Silky’s Lounge. Right on Gen. Taylor to S. Broad. Right on S. Broad to Louisiana Parkway. Down Louisiana to S. Claiborne Ave.

Stop: The Daiquiri Shop. Proceed Louisiana to Magnolia St. Left on Magnolia St. to Second St.

Stop: Teddy’s Lounge. Proceed down Magnolia to Jackson Ave. Right on Jackson Ave. to LaSalle. Right on LaSalle to Washington Ave. Left on Washington to Danneel St.

Disband: Charles Place

Queen of 2007: Mrs. Vanessa Harris

“You Must Have a Vision To Succeed – U Already Know”

Backstreet Cultural Museum
1116 St. Claude Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-522-4806

T’aint exactly news, but the Camellia Grill which was closed for 20 months after the federal levee failures (don’t call it “Kartrina”), reopened for business on April 20th.

What is the Camellia Grill? An Uptown neighborhood favorite. Great breakfasts, great sandwiches, late hours.

The owners threw in the towel after the levee failures even though the building was not damaged. A customer campaign, by Post-It notes, encouraged new owners to step in and re-open.

Here’s a sweet, home-made video that tells the story beautifully: