Outwester.com

Katrina: Two Years After, New Orleans reflects

It hasn't entered the lexicon of infamy quite like 9/11 (perhaps since events spanned far more than one day), but today, Aug 29, marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast.

Unlike Manhattan, where herculean efforts got the disaster zone cleared faster than expected, the recovery of New Orleans and surrounding Louisiana and Mississippi has progressed far more slowly.

Reasons abound: the sheer size of the disaster; politics of ineptitude at nearly all levels of government; enormous costs and uncertainty surrounding the feasibility of rebuilding; fearsome crime.

Whether the federal response has been hindered by some Rovian scheme to deny a blue state, or the far less machiavellian reality that US resources have been stupidly bogged down in Iraq (where was the Louisiana National Guard two years back?), it remains that the efforts to restore the region were punted by the Bush administration, and have yet to be run back.

With a new election pending, politicos will leverage Katrina. They'll pledge not to forget it, develop grand plans, even in the case of John Edwards stoop to kicking off his campaign in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Regardless, what you'll find in New Orleans if you visit yourself - and please, do - is a populace accepting the fact that they can't rely on their government, that if they wish to rebuild they need to do it themselves. They're hardened, assuredly, at times depressive and mad. But they are New Orleaneans, still, and by nature lovers of life, quick to shake off the demons with a concoction of regal cuisine, pure hospitality and the most ass-shakingest music scene anywhere in America.

Do yourself and them a favor, and get back on down to New Orleans, hear?

Brooklyn, baby

Brooklyn Rising

If you grow up by New York, you've got to get back whenever you can. The sweet thing about NYC is no matter how well you think you know it, there's always tons new to discover. Whenever I return, I look to explore what's new and happening, and these days in New York, that's Brooklyn, baby.

You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that Brooklyn is outright booming. With the cost of living in Manhattan mushrooming in the 1990s, Brooklyn began its transition from the biggest outer borough to nothing less than the new downtown.

An influx of artists, musicians, yuppies, families, students, immigrants and old-school New Yorkers took the leap across the East River, and aren't looking back. The NYC compass of cool points east to the borough that were it not a part of New York, would be America's fourth largest city.

Our first Brooklyn stop was Carroll Gardens, where my hombre Chris moved in 2006. We lived together in the East Village, on Second and B, ten years back. "Do you miss it?" we asked. "Hell, no" he replied.

Hanging in this old Italian enclave, shopping at delis, kicking by handball courts, drinking espresso on Court St and Brooklyn Lager on Smith St, we could see the attraction: We're talking straight-up day-to-day NYC neighborhood life. Unlike sanitized, overnoised Manhattan, Brooklyn nabes feel more real, more genuine; the sidewalks are wider, and less crowded with tourists; the trees are big and leafier. Pizza slices are cheaper. Brownstones have driveways, and more shocking, these New Yorkers actually own cars. (Some stuff's the same though: cops still double park, and the Red Sox still suck.)

Not like Brooklyn's all under-the-radar: far from it. Word's way out. Any doubt of that was erased by venturing into Williamsburg, the epicenter of young hipsters in NYC that's about four years past its tipping point. Flocks of nightflies were buzzing around these blocks of old light industrial warehouses and repair shops, a topography more Newark, NJ than the Lower East Side.

We convened for drinks at Barcade, the former garage-turned-nightspot renowned for its long row of vintage video games. Defender, Spyhunter and Berzerk beckoned and blinged in retro glory. We pounded Harpoons, then pounded pavement on our way to Spuyten Duyvel, a ramshackle beer joint housing yard sale furniture and an exquisite, freakin' expensive collection of gourmet global beers. "Have you had this before?" came the query to which we grunted yes. Not that I can tell you what we ordered - that's a mystery list lost with a coaster in the back of a yellow cab back to Carroll Gardens.

Too early the next morning, I traveled to DUMBO, or Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Galleries, new media companies, high-end organic markets and sushi bars populated the cobblestoned alleyways of renovated warehouses along the East River, on the northern tip of Brooklyn. Yellow and black water taxis bobbed across the water like drunken bumblebees, flitting from stop to stop. At the DUMBO ferry landing, markers noted where George Washington led his fleeing revolutionary army. Brooklyn then was mostly farmlands - amazing to think of an agrarian New York.

But I went to DUMBO for the future - namely, to explore the soon-to-be Brooklyn Bridge Park. In the next several years, a massive new parks-and-rec complex will rise next to tiny, tidy Empire Fulton State Park, as former warehouse piers get converted to pools, playing fields, grasslands, kayak marinas, bandshells, picnic grounds and more. Another sweetness about NYC: constant reinvention, continual evolution, inspired change.

Lonely Planet Encounter New York

Happy to announce Encounter New York. Lonely Planet's new pocket urban travel guides. Local NYC author Ginger Adams Otis dishes on the best galleries, happy hours and street eats in the city. Fun book!

Download NewYork.pdf

A Streetcar Named New Orleans

A Streetcar Named New Orleans  

 

By Jay Cooke

They'd gathered at Beauregard Circle by the entrance to City Park, a crowd several hundred strong, tooting horns and shooting video, tossing beads and waving Saints hats.

The steady 'bwomp, bwah bwah' of a brass band marked the cadence we quickly fell into, dancing around the vintage St. Charles streetcar with the throng on the median, or  'neutral ground'. They'd gathered to cheer us on, a krewe of 60-odd costumed revelers, temporary freaks and ambassadors who climbed aboard the streetcar, bedecked by purple, green and gold.

We were in Mid-City New Orleans, with the Phunny Phorty Phellows social krewe, to kick off Mardi Gras 2007. It was January 6, AKA Twelfth Night, when legend says wise men bestowed gifts onto baby Jesus, and New Orleans' Mardi Gras season begins.

I was riding with Anna and Kristian, two New Orleaneans impacted by Katrina, but fighting to revive their town. We squeezed to the front of the streetcar, grabbed window space and some beads and held on as the streetcar lurched into the night. The band, stuffed in the rear of the car, kept on blowing.

In the 18 months since Katrina became a four-letter word in this town, New Orleans has struggled to recover. Despite red tape and doubters, a hearty core has returned to make a stand and rebuild this unique American city.

It's not been easy. Normalcy is hard to fathom when half a city remains uninhabited, when empty homes line once-vibrant neighborhood blocks. Crime is a major issue.

That's what makes Mardi Gras and New Orleans' spring celebrations - the French Quarter Festival, Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - so important for New Orleaneans. In the city that's mastered communal celebration unlike any other, public parties now symbolize progress, a reminder of good times past and promise of future ones to come.

We saw this first-hand in Mid-City, a broad, middle-class borough that flooded but is now returning in fits and starts. As our streetcar clanged down Carrollton St. away from the kickoff crowd, smaller groups clustered along the neutral ground, awaiting our approach. They'd wave and bellow "throw me something", we'd whoop and shower down beads in return.

We had the perfect front-window vantage of upcoming groups, some standing, some in lawn chairs, all ages and ethnicities represented. As we approached, they'd erupt in joy.

Though stereotypes paint Mardi Gras as a raucous show of drunks going wild (which they do, on Bourbon Street), for New Orleaneans it connotes much more. Mardi Gras is about families, and generations, gathering for reunions; neighbors reconnecting at favorite parade route spots, year after year.

The conductor noticed the turnout. "So many people," he said as he worked his dual-levered magic, angling the streetcar left onto Canal Street for its dash to the French Quarter downtown. Truth told, the crowd wasn't huge, but in a city striving to repopulate, parade goers were a welcomed site.

As we rode through our final leg downtown, a king cake appeared, and we munched the ceremonial pastry of Mardi Gras. Our beads depleted, we stumbled off at Royal Street, barely noticed despite our elaborate masks and clownish costumes -  which in itself, was a small symbol of normalcy returning to New Orleans again.

If You Go

The 2007 Mardi Gras season runs through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, when the police sweep Bourbon Street at midnight and Ash Wednesday begins Lent. Popular parades include Endymion (Feb. 17, 4:30pm), Orpheus (Feb. 19, 5:45pm) and Zulu (Feb. 20, 8am). For schedules, video and trip planning details visit www.mardigrasneworleans.com.

 

Festival season continues throughout spring in New Orleans. Favorites include the Tennessee Williams Festival (Mar. 28-Apr. 1, www.tennesseewilliams.net), the French Quarter Festival (Apr. 13-15, www.fqfi.org) and the granddaddy of American music happenings, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Apr. 27-May 6, www.nojazzfest.com).

Places to Eat

Down-home Mothers (401 Poydras St., 504-523-9656) dishes fluffy biscuits and 'heaping debris' po'boys. Palace Cafe (605 Canal St., 504-523-1661, www.palacecafe.com) masters horseradish oysters, velvety crusted duck and unreal desserts. The Central Grocery (923 Decatur St., 504-523-1620) birthed the muffelatta, a mega sandwich stuffed with ham, salami, provolone and olive tapenade. One fills two.

Places to Stay

A great value in the French Quarter, the 1830's-era Place d'Armes (625 St Ann St., 504-524-4531, www.placedarmes.com) features several buildings around a communal pool and courtyard. The Canal Street Guesthouse (1930 Canal St., 504-266-1930, www.bestguesthouse.com) shrugs off Katrina with its watery murals and festive traveler's ambiance.

Travels with Lonely Planet

King Features Syndicate 2007

 

Lonely Planet New York City 5

Hot off the presses, Lonely Planet's New York City 5. Featuring interviews with New Yorkers on their tips and tricks for navigating NYC.

therefore_I_travel
Originally uploaded by droccadnoh.

Travelers Tales: the World is a Kitchen

Kimchi 김치
Originally uploaded by Nagyman.

kimchi
Living in Korea, kimchi was the staple. Back stateside, the cravings panged. First I bought it, then I made it, to make Mr. Cho proud.

Food and travel are deliciously intertwined, and cooking is a great way to get immersed into a culture. I learned it making kimchi in my Fort Mason backyard, and love to reconnect with true tales of food cultural immersion.

The World is a Kitchen, the new Travelers Tales anthology, bridges cuisine and culture in 37 stories from writers around the world. With an extensive directory and fab accompanying website, the book speaks to its growing community.

San Francisco Zine Festival 2006

Fine Print Revisited: Way back in 1994-95 I worked at a small- & independent-press distributorship down in Austin, TX; Fine Print Distributors, long R.I.P.

I still pine for the days we'd pull down a new pallet with the latest Temp Slave, Hate, or Punk Planet aboard. Many hours spent soaking up information from far-flung outposts, valuable stuff in those final months before Mosaic upended the forklift.

King of all? Factsheet Five, the Sears Catalog guide to the small & alternative publishing world, reviewing hundreds of titles on all subjects, many available for price of postage or fair trade.

Back in the days of DIY innocence before the web leveled economies of scale and relandscaped publishing, the 'zine scene was the way for indie media voices to get word out. It was the punk rock parallel to big journalism, niche creators of content unbeholdened to corporate interests, typed at temp jobs and stapled by fellow travelers with Kinkos gigs.

Nostalgic? Shit yeah, for zines had little if any monetary prospects, so the scene was pure.

But the problem with nostalgia is it implies something is over, when in fact, 2006, its becoming the year that 'zines came back.

No surprise, really: the publishing platform that usurped zinemaking has evolved into the mainstream itself, so a natural reaction would be for indie print publishing to return, price inefficiencies and all.

Two great indicators. First, the return of the San Francisco Zine Fest, held this weekend, Sept 9-10 2006, at CELLspace. A two-day conference of indie & underground publishers, the show offers workshops, film screenings and opportunities to connect with nearly 1,000 like-minded creatives and creators. Bonus: costs our favorite price - free!

And in news that warms our media dork hearts, 2006 also sees after an 8-year hiatus the return of Factsheet 5. Plans are for FS5 to continue covering the small & alternative/independent zine and media world, branching into other publishing platforms including radio, blogs and DVDs. Currently they're ramping up their editorial staff, and are wide-open to contributors, so if you've got an itch for this, start scratching.

What's next? The Meat Puppets reuniting to tour?

What's On: San Francisco Arts & Culture Sept 2006

  Golden Gate Bridge Sunset 
  Originally uploaded by mattiasgrillet.

This week we're starting a new feature here at Outwester: monthly roundups of San Francisco's varied Arts and Culture scene.

The city, justifiably famous for its range of arts offerings, remains as progressive, independent and adventurous as always. You'll find heaps of info on what's on at SF Station, to whom we bow humbly and offer mad props and that hyperlink.

We'll aim to highlight some choice morsels that grab our eyes, which we'll focus on lesser-known trends and events that may be flying under the mainstream media. Each month we'll profile several cool happenings, any of which we'll give the Outwester guarantee of good stuff. Here goes:

Snap Your Hands Say Yeah: Never know what a walk down mid-Market will reveal. Today we came upon Fingersnaps, a self-proclaimed DJ and Arts Collective that offers 8-hour DJ training workshops. Cueing, beat mixing, equipment tips, audio engineering -- all are covered in lessons adaptable to beginners or advanced DJs. One on one consultations, all gear provided (though you may wish to bring your own CDs.

With opportunities in audio/video amplifying throughout the media world, all boosts to your skill sets and terminology bases are more than welcomed. Impress HR at your next potential gig with you offline creativity.

Start Your...Installations?: Art and autos converge on the Bay Area Sept 14-17 for ArtCar Fest 06, the 10th annual California road rally/pilgrimedge for the most American of mobile public art forms. Elaborate sculptures-slash-canvasses on wheels, ArtCars are exactly that: cars recrafted as mobile artworks.

If you've never seen an ArtCar parade, head to Amoeba Music on Haight Street, Thursday at 11am (or Amoeba on Telegraph in Berkeley around 5) for the Amoeba to Amoeba Caravan, winding its way across the bay. Or check the Pyramid Brewery Kick-Off Party, the staging point for the first evening's festivities. For the full weekend calendar, click here.

  The Illustrated Car 
  Originally uploaded by schmeebis.

Bikes, Birds & Madelline Kahn as the Bride: Just in time for September, San Francisco's best weather month, Film Night in the Park has a winning schedule for winning evenings, convening in shared public spaces.

On Saturday, Sept 9, Hitchcock's The Birds takes flight at Union Square. Saturday Sept 23 signals The Bicycle Thief in Washington Square Park (don't hate them cause it's spelled wrong.) Wear black or white for Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein ("that's fran-ken-steen"), screening on Saturday, Oct 7 at Dolores Park.

More films are screening at sites around Marin County. For photos of past events, check here.

New Orleans: Progress & Good Works, Pt. 2

Along with the failed levees, the Louisiana Superdome became the most prominent symbol of systematic failure during Katrina. Once representative of Super Bowl celebration and excess, the Superdome devolved into a physical manifestation of human tragedy and bureaucratic ineptitude.

Its restoration, therefore, was prioritized. Engineers had a mandate: to rebuild and renew the football stadium well in time for the New Orleans Saints 2006 home opener.

Unlike the Army Corps of Engineers, the Superdome's contractors have hit their deadlines. The Saints will kick off their home opener on Sept. 25, 2006, versus division rivals the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.

And fans, local and global, have stepped up in kind. Team officials announced that nearly all of the Saints 2006 season tickets packages have sold out. With more than 65,000 of 68,354 seats already sold, the team has shattered its previous high of 53,728 season tickets sold in 2003.

  Go Saints 
  Originally uploaded by howieluvzus.

On and off the field, the Saints worked to achieve success. The free agent signing of quarterback Drew Brees and drafting of running back Reggie Bush provide major talent upgrades, while new ticket plan packages at 17 different price points offers flexible options for fans of all budgets.

2005 Heisman Trophy winner Bush has emerged in particular as a symbol of renewal and hope in the city. He's giving back, too, spearheading restoration efforts of Tad Gormley Stadium, the high school field flooded in New Orleans City Park.

Additional props to Sports Illustrated NFL columnist Peter King, a vocal champion of the city and a season ticket holder to boot.

New Orleans: Progress & Good Works, Pt. 1

In the Year of Katrina, the media has covered the bad news far more than the good. Truth be told, our national tragedy has provided a context for some great works of charity, and a platform for highlighting ongoing cultural, ecological and philanthropic actions.

In support, this fall we're acknowledging some works that are making a positive difference down south. Here's one:

Tipitina's Foundation: The non-profit affiliate of NOLA's most famous music club, Tipitina's Foundation works to help musicians get back on track, with replacement instruments, legal and housing aid, and business seminars.

On August 29, Tips' contributed $500,000 to the Instruments A-Comin' program, providing hugely-needed funds for NOLA school music programs. By purchasing instruments, schools teach local kids skills to succeed in the music trades, offering them ways to escape environments plagued with poverty and strife, hurricanes or not.

When you head to New Orleans, head uptown to the club named for Professor Longhair that launched the careers of the Neville Brothers, the Meters, Rebirth Brass Band and so many more.