Gah it's been a stupid crazy busy around here this week with the day job having all sorts of deadlines so we apologize for the radio silence. Thanks for sticking with us, all three of you (that includes you Mom, hi!) Anyway on to it...
We love us some New Orleans around here so the whole crazy oil rig explosion madness down there is heart-breaking. Just when they're starting to really get it back together after Katrina, to then get hit with this...I heard recently from people down there who said the smell of oil is just permeating everything and everywhere throughout the city. What's next, a deluge of locusts?
Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under a lava flood of taxes and frauds and maladministrations so that it has become only a study for archaeologists. Its condition is so bad that when I write about it, as I intend to do soon, nobody will believe I am telling the truth. But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.-(19th cent writer Lafcadio Hearn about NOLA, roughly 1879, when thousands died from yellow fever)
The great radio station down there, WWOZ, announced they're holding a benefit concert at Mardi Gras World's River City Plaza in New Orleans this Sunday (5/16), from noon-10pm, "to raise funds for efforts to stop the oil from destroying our wetlands, as well as to provide financial aid to fishermen and their families."
If you like NOLA-style music, it's quite a lineup. Thus far, they have:
Mos Def, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Allen Toussaint, Ani DiFranco, The Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (featuring Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, George Porter Jr., Waylon Thibodeaux, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone, and Johnny Vidacovich), Beausoleil, Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys with Jon Cleary, Marcia Ball, Zachary Richard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Irvin Mayfield's Playhouse Revue, Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers, Jeremy Davenport, Rebirth Brass Band, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Shamarr Allen, and MyNameIsJohnMichael, with more to be announced.
Tickets are $50 and available here. Funds will be distributed to organizations to focus on two key elements of recovery: the wetlands/coastal environmental issues and the well-being of fishermen and the regional seafood industry.
If you're not in the area, WWOZ will be broadcasting live from the concert (listen here). Be sure to send in a few pennies too, which you can do online or by mail (Gulf Relief Foundation, P.O. Box 6917, Metairie, LA 70009).
Give a Listen: Trouble in Mind-Richie Havens/Preservation Hall Jazz Band/Buy Preservation: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program
No comments:
Post a Comment