There are plenty of silver-lining, glass-half-full types who point out positive things that resulted from the failure of government-built flood protection in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. For me, one of those positives is that in 2006 when the Saints returned home to the Superdome they became the NFL team with the best song, U2 & Green Day’s stellar remake of The Skids’ The Saints are Coming. Granted, we already had the best song with When the Saints Go Marching In, but Bono and Billy Joe Armstrong have the edge (pun intended) when it comes to a 21st century rallying cry. Read the rest of this entry »

First of all, sorry that this wasn’t up yesterday. We can all thank Gustav and Entergy for working together to give me power and then take it away randomly yesterday afternoon. Anyway, this week I’m joined again by our good friend Gus Kattengell of WWL-TV. Gus was with the Saints in Indianapolis and we talked about how the team fared in the wake of Gustav and what we can look forward to this Sunday and the rest of the season. Music this time is by Sick Like Sinatra.

 

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Goodbye, Gustav; Ike, I see you. But I’m not ready. I still have a bad feeling in my gut from Gustav, and I mean that quite literally.

People elsewhere seem to think that we mainline butter and grease on a daily basis, and like everyone else I have a fondness for hot sausage po-boys, red beans, and pork chop sandwiches…along with more healthy choices like falafel, salads, and phó. But what we eat here on a daily basis makes sense to my stomach and my mind; it sustains me physically and emotionally.

Flash back to last week in Jackson, Miss. Unable to countenance getting back in the car again, I only had a few choices within walking distance. The only one with any choices beyond fast-food burgers was Shoney’s, the “casual dining” destination at the other end of the motel parking lot.

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What if Christmas was delayed, not just a day, but for six months? That’ll give you an idea of what it’s been like for local children’s music extraordinaires the Imagination Movers and their legions of preschool fans while they waited for the debut of the band’s new live-action television show. The wait is finally over, and the show premiers at 9 a.m. Saturday on the Disney Channel. Scott Durbin, the goateed Mover with Wobble Goggles, sums it up simply.

     “It took a long time,” Durbin says.

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Don’t unpack your suitcases yet, folks…  

UPDATE:  There’s a pretty decent weather blog on Weather Underground by a guy named Jeff Masters, who writes that there are two schools of thought on Ike’s path. Interestingly, neither school has it coming directly at New Orleans.  One has it going to Texas, the other to the Florida Panhandle — even within 50 miles of Tampa.  Often times the “official” track forecast merely “averages” the various tracking models and casts a wide “cone” hundreds of miles to the east and west, and that appears to be happening right now.  The thing to remember is that all of the models have a significant margin of error 3 days out, and a great deal of wiggle room 5 days out. Hence the “cone of uncertainty,”  a/k/a “cone of confusion.” Now that we’ve all learned  how to evacuate, let’s hope the mayor can figure out a better way to let us back in. Personally, I’d love to see us not have to practice so often.

Good luck, everybody.