HumidCity

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My wife drives me nuts. This is why I love her.

While everyone else in the city (myself included) is running around at war with the month of August — fighting and backbiting and teeth-gnashing and letting their fear and anger get the best of them, my girl Elly is keeping a calm head and focusing on the one thing where she knows she can make a difference. Saving little lives.

At the moment our house is a bit of a zoo, filled with wayward animals that she’s been busy snatching from the jaws of death and is currently seeking homes for. This is called fostering. But she does the rescue bit, too. Every single day.

Our latest little tribe of houseguests is a mama cat and her six babies, and a seventh one (a little orphan) who the mama cat has amazingly accepted as her own, without question or complaint. If only the people in this city treated each other with such generosity. The little orphan has been given a new chance at life from this tight knit little family, just as Elly gave them all a chance by saving them from euthanasia only hours before it was too late.

Please read Elly’s latest blog entry about this unusual family of cats, and their harrowing story of abandonment and salvation. It will warm your heart, remind you how fragile and fleeting life is, and show you how a simple act of selflessness can really and truly put things right.

Elly’s well-written account, called “Cats Can’t Count,” with pictures, is here:

http://waifnola.livejournal.com/2008/08/20/

The cats are named after our favorite New Orleans characters and colorful homeless folks, they are: Ruthie the Duck Lady (the mama cat), Biscuit, Lucky Bead Lady, Head Wound Harry, Mr. Ike and His Harmonica That Cost More than a Car, Geico Caveman, Homeless Bill, and Flash. Here they are:

Have I mentioned that my wife drives me nuts? God bless her for it. She also keeps me sane. Little acts of kindness can have that effect.

Elly’s little neighborhood rescue organization, which she runs with her friend Gail, is called WAIF (Wandering Animals’ Insurance Fund). Please visit their website at http://waifnola.com. Their motto is: “Two Crazy Ladies on a Mission and One Husband Who Barely Tolerates Them.”

I’m the husband. :-)

- Louis Maistros

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http://louismaistros.com

Hey everybody, hop on over to HumidCity blogger Bigezbear’s blog and show him some love. That big fire in the French quarter the other night was in his building. At the moment he is eiled from his home in the middle of a production without any way of knowing when he will be able to return home.

Here are his pertinent recent posts:

• Living on the Edge
• Some picture from the fire
• If we didn’t have bad luck we wouldn’t have any

During the season or worrying about water it is fire that strikes close to home.

Let’s help our brother pick himself up a bit, eh?

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

Go figure, people are people warts and all no matter where you go. This one is the first of many dedicated to those who continue to excoriate us rather than assist. It is not a hand out that we want or need. It is a hand up.

In that spirit allow me to shout about whats going on in Iowa. For them it is a manner of weeks since their flood, not the years we have had to navigate the dilirium, for them the red tape and greed factors are only just rearing their heads.

Via Iowa’s Gazette Online (hat tip to the inimitable Karen Gadbois for the this first one):

CEDAR RAPIDS — Three more residents have been accused of fraudulently claiming to be flood victims in order to receive money from the American Red Cross — taking more than $3,000 in assistance.

Patrice Howard, 36, and Willie Morris, 38, both of 1200 First Ave. SE, Apt. 1, were arrested this week on charges of second-degree theft, police said.

On June 21, the two gave Red Cross officials their previous address of 1806 M St. SW and said they lost their home in the flood. Investigators later found that house was not damaged by the flood.

For those keeping count that make seven so far in Cedar Rapids. I really feel for them, even a pale spectral version of what happened to our Crescent City is more than I would wish on anyone. It is close enough however that I can see the same pattern of news stories developing: thievery, red tape, failure of infrastructure. Just like home in that respect.

Wait, did I say red tape? Lets check back in on the Gazette, different article this time:

I called up John Gillick, who was flooded out of his house on 10th Street NW two months ago this week. His home was trashed, his Ellis Harbor boathouse was smashed, and the cops had his flooded car towed before he could get back into his neighborhood. He’s given up trying to get it back.

Still, Gillick is remarkably positive. I caught up with him Wednesday morning as he and his wife were moving into a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer in Hiawatha.

“It’s good and it’s bad,” said Gillick, who’s happy to have a place to live but laments how he got here. “At least it’s a place to stay.”

He figures the decision to pull out dozens of moldy FEMA trailers extended his wait for housing. “Tell Patty Judge thanks,” one of his moving helpers yells, referring to the lieutenant governor’s snap, late-night order last month to remove the tainted trailers.

Gillick’s house also has been on a bureaucratic roller-coaster ride. First it was yellow-carded. Then yellow turned to that infamous shade of purple. Then, for some reason, purple turned back to yellow. He’s weighing the costs of rebuilding or renovation or putting in a modular home. But for now, like a lot of people, he’s just waiting for the feds, state and city to make some key decisions.

Right now Katrina is on everyone’s mind (at least here on the Gulf where there is no choice), in the spirit of generosity shown to us by those who came from states away to help while the official effort floundered I would like to advise readers to remember all the victims of infrastructure failure across the country.

Levees are everywhere.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

(Here is a guest post from my friend Bethany Butman, President and CEO of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic. She is a dynamic force for good in the city and I am proud that she was kind enought to write this for us. -Loki, HumidCity Founder)

New Orleans’ warm, erotic humid climate, the wild foliage, the sensuous aroma of sweet olives and rifts of Jazz and funk combine to evoke a unique place and a culture, not unsympathetic to the weaknesses of the flesh. At The New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC est. 1998), the United States’ only comprehensive health clinic for musicians, we are faced with sustaining a unique population during the hard times we all wrestle with since the 2005 floods.

For more than ten years, we have proudly served a “challenging’ population of musicians who personify a cluster of characteristics including “creative” and “sensitive” with shades of “deviant” and “non-conforming.” Add to this a predilection for risky behavior and a lifestyle with a wide acceptance (and even reliance) on illicit drugs, alcohol and sex. And lastly, a historical low priority on personal health and a distrust of conventional medical care. Although New Orleans musicians are celebrated around the world, at home they have a history of living hand to mouth, outside mainstream social and economic systems. Many of them pride themselves in existing in a cash-only economy, not having a bank account or paying taxes. Hence they are in effect excluded from the American health care delivery system. Read the rest of this entry »

(This is a guest post by Steve O’Keefe. I have the pleasure of working for Steve as a contract blogger and used to share the Bywater office he mentions below. I share his shock, his outrage, and most importantly his desire for answers to the following questions. -Loki, HumidCity Founder)

This morning I walked past the home of Jessica L. Hawk whose lifeless body was discovered by police at 9:40 Monday morning, August 11, 2008.

Jessica lived halway between my home by the Sound Cafe and my former office by the satellite dishes on Chartres. She lived two doors away from Dr. Bob, who police questioned Monday morning, and who I spoke with this morning after visiting the stoop at 3013 Chartres to pay my respects to the woman who sold flowers from Harold’s up on Saint Claude.

Jessica Hawk was murdered. Stabbed multiple times. Dr. Bob visited the crime scene with detectives before her body was removed. He said her naked body was propped-up. Since he is sharing this news with neighbors, it is no longer the private knowledge of detectives.

This is our murder investigation. We are entitled to know the facts of what happened, as police are able to reveal them.

Have the police asked NOCCA for surveillance video? They are located right down the street and usually have a night guard. Did the guard at NOCCA see anything? How about the drivers who pick up produce at AJ’s on Chartres in the early hours of the morning — every day? Do they have video tape? Did they see anything? Read the rest of this entry »

Information is sketchy at the moment, but all those national guard vehicles that are gathering and shutting down the street at Chartres and the train tracks are apparently there because of a murder. This DOES NOT involve Dr. Bob, I just got off the phone with him and he is fine.

No word yet on the victim or circusmstances, but I will post info as I get it.

If anyone else has info on this, or if I’m in error (which I hope I am), please post any available information in the comments section of this post.  If the information you have is a rumor or second hand, please post that anyway, but please specify that your information is unconfirmed. Thanks.

Louis Maistros, 1:23 PM

UPDATE, 5:45 PM:

While detectives worked the earlier murders, officers conducting a check on a residence in the 3000 block of Chartres Street made a grisly discovery.

link: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/three_homicide_investigations.html

So it’s August and the big anniversary is coming up. Me and the family usually head to Gulf Shores, Alabama to lie on the beach, count our blessings, and forget. We really don’t need a flashy annual reminder of what turned our lives upside down.

I understand the desire to commemorate what happened, and to pay tribute to the lives that were lost. But that’s really not us, y’know? This is the land of jazz funerals; where the usual drill is to look death in the eye, thumb our collective nose at it, and strike up the band. All this commemoration stuff is a just a flat-out bummer, and it’s out of character.

This year, let’s do what we do. Turn the beat around. Take a sad song and make it better. Transform our blues into a turbo-charged, sugar-frosted luv-mo-sheen. Let’s take the anniversary of the worst thing that’s ever happened to this city and make it a day that promotes change for the better and celebrates the power of redemption over catastrophe. Let’s be a city of wise-aching smart alecks. Yes, this is what we do.

I have a proposal for my fellow New Orleanians.

This year, on August 29, instead of mulling over our misfortunes, let’s take a cue from the president. Let’s follow his lead – with an act of solidarity and tolerance that will push the boundaries of human comprehension.

This August 29, let’s shuffle off the collective gloom by having a citywide party that celebrates the birthday of John McCain.

Huh?

Pop quiz: Where was President Bush when the big storm hit, on August 29, 2005?

Answer:

(actual photograph taken on August 29, 2005)

He was in Arizona having a piece of birthday cake with his buddy, John McCain.

The president didn’t get caught with his pants down, the storm did not take him by surprise. Everyone saw it coming, knew exactly when it would make landfall. The president’s master plan for zero hour was, apparently: Gotta get me summa that cake!

I’m not sure if I blame the president. Think about it. John McCain, in effect, lured a mentally-disabled manchild to Arizona with the promise of a tasty hunk of birthday cake. How can we expect a feeble-minded person to resist such yummy temptation?

I’m not sure if I blame Senator McCain either. When you reach his age, you really have to celebrate each birthday as if it might be your last – bodies floating down the streets of a major American city be damned!

So this August 29, let’s follow the example of these two great Americans – one who is president, and the other who will be the next president if we’re not careful.

Let them eat cake. And let’s have some, too!

Start making plans. I want to see McCain birthday parties popping up all over the city this August 29. It will be a chance to turn a frown upside-down, and to provide the sort of high-minded, outrageous political mockery that New Orleanians have always been famous for.

Start blogging about your McCain Birthday Bash plans, set up websites, and spread the word!

Come as you were: life preservers and air-mattress-as-flotation-devices are optional but recommended! Don’t forget those pointy little paper birthday hats – and be sure to bring lots and lots of candles!

If our citywide McCain Birthday Bash makes the national news (as it should!), it will be an opportunity for us to remind the rest of the country (in a very important election year!) what Candidate McCain really thinks of American citizens who are staring down the darkest moment of their recorded history: Not much!

He didn’t let us ruin his party, so let’s not let him ruin ours!

If we play our cards right, we can: pass a good time, make a point about the common-decency-deficit in the Republican party, help get Senator Obama elected, let the world know we’ve still got a sense of humor, and wish an old man a happy birthday.

Everybody wins!

That’s right, New Orleanians, this August 29th we can save the human race with a good old-fashioned hunk of birthday cake. It’s not been done before, but there’s a first time for everything…

- Louis Maistros

http://louismaistros.com

These things may not be right, but they are true

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The Sound of Building Coffins Louis Maistros is due for release by The Toby Press in March, 2009

Saturday is it! A huge date on the calendar during which Rising Tide, Dirty Cost Press and the Big Easy Rollergirls Present:

FYYFF It’s Black and Gold Forever
A Fund-raiser for the Ashley Morris Memorial Foundation

Featuring:
The Big Easy Roller Girls, The Other Planets , Simon Lott, Helen Gillet, Justin Peake , Diamond Kinkade, Fleur de Tease “Nude Is Nice” performance, Supa Saint, Art for sale/auction/raffle by NOLA Rising, T Shirts and gear from Defend New Orleans and illustrious services of emcee Andrew Ward - The Reverend Pysch Ward, who was last seen at O’Dark Thirty in the morning kicking off the NOLA Running of the Bulls.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

You see the fine folks at NOLA Rising have agreed to re-purpose their art party earlier in the day into creating fresh art for the evening to help raise funds. Come by, grab a paintbrush and join in the fun. Ashley Morris loved this city and its community more than words can express. Come and BE a part of that community.

When? Saturday, July 26th, from noon until sunset. Yep, the dog days of summer. No one said living in New Orleans during the summer is nice.

Where? XO Studios in the Marigny. 2833 Dauphine at the corner of Press (right where the train tracks are)

Why? Why not? We love our community, we love to paint, we love to be a part of something that is uniquely New Orleans. You don’t have to be an artist to come and join us. In fact, most of the best talents we’ve discovered had never even picked up a brush in their entire life.

(Proceeds from the raffle and the auction as well as the T-Shirts will be donated by the Morris family to the Ashley Morris Memorial Foundation which will be used to present FYYFF Awards at later dates.)

Please share this message through your MySpace Bulletins, email lists, and blogs. Be part of the community!

If anybody out there has missed my vitriolic ranting I have come to apologize. I have been absolutely buried over the past two weeks or so and have contributed but little here on the HC. One reason is that I have been getting things off the ground over on Katrina An UnNatural Disaster where I have just done some posting, including a piece I just put up today about local bloggers here in New Orleans.

Anyway, there are a few posts coming in the near future. In the meantime it seems that you are all in capable hands with the rest of the team. Kami just got back to town so we should be hearing from her soon. (hint)

While I need to keep it brief I would like you all to think for a moment. Think about what the flood victims North of us are going through. Think of what they are about to go through. Just because a few dipshits got on the Internet or in front of a camera and ranted about how we deserved it when the waters hit us does not mean that everyone up there shares that perspective. We have skills unique to the situation, we know what the long haul looks like. We can help.

I don’t care who you are, almost three years ago someone helped you. There was someone out there that helped each and every one of us. Remember that.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder (Like The Governator, “I’ll be back!”)

Syndicated from the mass email by Loki, HumidCity Founder

A collaboration has been formed between Beacon, LCIA and Episcopal Diocese. We have started a fundraising campaign for the flood victims of Iowa. We will buy gift cards to give to displaced residents that can be used for clothing, food, water or building materials. On-line donations can be made through our website: www.lakewoodbeacon.org using PayPal or Just Give. Please make checks payable to Beacon of Hope and write Iowa in the memo. Checks can be dropped off or mailed to: 6268 Vicksburg Street, NOLA 70124 or 145 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Ste. 210, NOLA 70124. All donations are tax deductible as we are a qualified 501(c)3. Donations received will not be spent on our travel expenses.

Connie Uddo, Al Petrie and me, Denise Thornton, are going to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 13 through 17^th. The Episcopal Diocese and Vineyard Church have already set up a distribution centers and camps in Quincy and Cedar Rapids. There are approximately 5,000 displaced residents in Cedar Rapids. We’re taking Chef Mark Uddo to do a community dinner, New Orleans style. The distribution center will get flyers out in advance of our arrival. We will hold workshops like contractor fraud & mold remediation. We will hand out the gift cards at the dinner in exchange for their contact information and we’ll start a database and try to identify a Beacon Administrator and a Volunteer Coordinator. We’re taking the Beacon Procedure Manual. We will make contact with government leaders. I have obtained letters of support from our city council and police department which will give us instant creditability in that arena. Connie’s 18 year old daughter is going with us and she’ll try to start a Youth Recovery Program which will involve the high school(s). We have learned so much about our own recovery that will be helpful to them long after we’re gone. If any of you have any thoughts or ideas on how we can make this trip more productive, please let me know.