HumidCity

The HumidCity team is composed of writers and bloggers hand picked by Loki, the Blogmaster, as being important voices in the New Orleans creative scene. These writers are occasionally edited for spelling or grammar, but not for content. HumidCity maintains a policy of never censoring the words, views or perspectives of its team members.

As we reconfigure the team for 2008 we will be posting bios of the current contributors on this page. Stay tuned as we add team members from the various neighborhoods, and backgrounds to our roster.

All content contributed to HumidCity is released under Creative Commons unless otherwise noted. If no copyright notice is attached to the work its default designation is:

Ranting From The Rubble:
George “Loki” Williams, Founder and Blogmaster

I am a French Creole and New Orleans native; my family arrived on the first boat along with Bienville. For most of the past 40 years I have lived in the uptown area although I have lived in many other neighborhoods over the years and am deeply familiar with most of them. I have worked extensively producing and promoting local art and music ranging from jazz to punk rock. I have also worked as a freelance journalist doing music and food reviews, although after the Storm my works have been more sociopolitical in content.

My works on HumidCity.com have been featured several times on both the BBC (Website and Radio Five) and Air America on The Mike Malloy Show. Currently I work as a professional blogger and social networking specialist. I contribute pro bono work for WWOZ as their social networking specialist. I was an active participant for over a year in the ThinkNOLA nonprofit for whom I taught web publishing workshops and organized social networking events for technologists. My wife, five cats, and I live off the Mardi Gras parade route in uptown New Orleans. We returned from our flood induced exile in October of 2005, just in time for the New Orleans Bookfair and the MOMS Halloween Ball.

Lord David

Lord David was born feet first with teeth, stolen by Gypsies and raised by Pirates. Since moving to New Orleans, he has added writing to his career catalog of music and art, penning a book of short stories and verse, and is in the process of finishing a novel. Neither has yet been published in any form. Imagine that.

The postings & articles which led to writing on HumidCity deal with the frustration of rebuilding an incredible city that is failing at its highest levels, battling repressive government & a general discontent with being treated like a number in a mindless & greedy corporate computer. Delivering this message in an honest & compassionate manner somehow makes the sarcasm seem less mean. Don’t be fooled. (Note From the Blogmaster: Lord David is also the driving force behind the Skull Club. If you don’t know, don’t ask.)

Bigezbear

Bigezbear was born of Joseph and Mary in a tiny village to the west. Being the third son, there were no angels, shepherds or wise men. There were chickens and geese, the geese particularly taking a lifetime dislike to the fuzzy babe.

At the onset of consciousness, Bigezbear realized he did not fit in in the tiny village. He loved the ballet where everything was beautiful, adored Martha Graham where even the orchestra was beautiful. His discovery of the concept of the Broadway Musical strengthened his resolve that Oz and Wonderland really did exist and could be reached without hitching a ride on a twister or taking a tumble down a rabbit hole. He combed the local library for biographies of the Barrymores, the Lunts, Bernhardt and Duse. He could tell the difference between Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Katherine Cornell with only a glance at their profiles. He knew who Henry Irving was before he found out that Santa Claus didn’t exist. No, he did not belong in that tiny village.

As soon as he was able, he took flight and nested in New Orleans. He quickly became a negligible player in the local theatre scene, having previously obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. To keep body and soul together, and a roof over his head, he sold said soul to the Gret Stet and labored long and hard doing what he thought was for the greater good in his chosen community. Upon his retirement, he was treated by his coworkers as though he had never existed.

Luckily for him, he was picked up late one night by the notorious Mr. Donald “Donnie Jay” James who groomed him to step in as Artistic Director for Mr. James’ To Do Productions . He has been active in that capacity ever since. He is also resident director for the Marigny Theatre, LLC.

P.H. Fred

Fred has been playing around New Orleans and the USA since 1983 from Chicago and Ann Arbor to clubs and casinos across the Gulf Coast. He has written for Harrah’s and headlined at the Grand Casino in Marksville. His folk band the T-Bags caused a stir during the ‘88 Republican Convention with the tune “Nancy Reagan for President.” In 1995 Fred scored nationally with the Dr. Demento favorite “Kill Barney,” which cracked the Funny Five playlist. In 2002 Fred released the CD “Dirty Martini” which featured “Let me play the Fest.” In 2003, 2004, and 2005, Fred did just that with New Orleans premiere jug band, The Basin Street Sheiks. Fred has worked extensively with the New Year’s Coalition to reduce holiday gunfire. He has headlined at the House of Blues for the New Orleans Comedy Fest as well as played most venues in the city (both those that survived Katrina and those that unfortunately have not). Fred is also a founding member of BROWN!, New Orleans’ longest running theater show (12 years). Fred has shared the stage and opened for acts ranging from 3 Dog Night, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and Tony Joe White to Will Durst and Rhonda Sheers

Fred and the Holy Oh’s are currently promoting their new CD: THE ADVENTURES OF BLUE TARP AND BLACK MOLD, which is a Zappa-esque crock opera based on their Katrina experience. Fred’s spoken word blog KATRINA KILLED MY MOMMA appeared live onstage in early 2007. (www.notthat.com/blog)

George Ingmire

George Ingmire has been working as a media producer since 1999. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.F.A. in Film production (documentary emphasis), both from the University of New Orleans. He can be heard weekly on WWOZ (Wednesdays 11am - 2pm CST), where he programs the New Orleans Music Show. He is also an adjunct professor at the Tulane School of Continuing Studies in the Media department.

Ingmire’s recent works include a series of post-Katrina audio essays where he examines the impact of the storm on Mardi Gras Indians, Saint Augustine Church (one of the oldest African American churches in the U.S.) and other culture bearers throughout the city. His film work which includes “Think of Me First as a Person”, an eight minute documentary about a boy with Down Syndrome, was one of 25 films to be recognized by the National Film Registry (Library of Congress) in December 2006. George’s work may be found online through either MiAbuelo or New Orleans Narratives.

Andrea Garland (mojono)

Full Bio soon. Check out her site L’Art Noir.

Kami Patterson

Kami Patterson first visited New Orleans for ten days at the turn of the last century. Upon returning to the dolorous and dull place she had been living, she quit her job, packed her books, and hightailed it back to the city she had immediately recognized as her spiritual home. She has been a happy denizen of this sultry netherworld ever since.

Her work has appeared in HipMama, Rag Cooperative, Deep South Mouth, and most recently in the New Orleans Hope and Heritage Foundation writing series, recorded as spoken word for WWNO’s Katrina Ya Ya Project. Desultory musings and assorted raillery can be found in her blog, a combination rantfest and historia calamitatum. She lives in a barge board camelback shotgun shack near the river with her partner, a native New Orleanian, as well as a semi-feral black cat and a blue catahoula leopard dog. She volunteers with WRBH Reading for the Blind, the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, and as a nepenthe tester at many of the city’s finest local dives.

http://seide.livejournal.com/

G-Bitch

A mad, black woman rants about New Orleans, insomnia, teaching, various -isms and anything else involving a bitch, a spot or the letter g.

The G-Bitch Spot

M Styborski

I could fill this up easy, but wouldn’t you rather find out on your own?

If ‘God’ created the world in his own image, why is it filled with Morons?

Nation of Morons