Press Street Press has been doing some great subversive things lately and some things I can tell you about. They put out the book, Intersections, and they have done some edgy post cards, this being my favorite, post-K.

This weekend Press Street is hosting a Draw-A-Thon. I don’t about you, but I have to really put a lot of effort in getting out to do the different and very fun things emerging in the artistic community. They are hitting a great stride. I get a lot of requests to post things that are happening around town but with the demands on my time lately and with so much happening, it really is hard but I am finding that it’s always worth it. I try to report on the cream o’ the crop, the most curious events. Living in New Orleans right now is intense and the arts are providing an equally intense diversion. We all know someone like, Karen, my dear friend and partner in crime, at Squandered Heritage, who is recovering from breast cancer and still has no heat in her home! And our MB buddy, Jack, is living on space heaters in the shanty. So, you know they aren’t the only ones and it’s been cold here.

Considering the adversity we’re still dealing with, it makes it more meaningful to spend time with my friends at events like the comedy showcase at La Nuit last weekend. Not long ago, I saw Richard’s show at La Chat Noir, and saw my friend Michelle Levine’s Signs of the Times Exhibit. These people put themselves out there and they make our life better. The arts offer relief from the municipal issues, our own jobs, our issues regarding our own homes and insurance, it’s been very rewarding to see the liveliness happening all over the city on so many levels. I encourage you to get out and get some balance through these events while you’re waiting for the appraisor, the plumber, Entergy, attending NONPACC meetings, reporting bad neighbors and waiting for all things functional to fall into place. Did Chris Martel say, wild pigs?? The Draw-A-Thon screams for a middle of night reason to get wacky ! Ann? Do y’all have heat?

…that there is a family of wild pigs roaming around City Park. Numerous sightings have been reported. The nola.com Mid City Forum is abuzz over it.

So with Thanksgiving coming up, this reminds me of the “Fowl de Cochon.” By now, most of the USA has heard of the Turducken– a Louisiana creation in which a chicken is stuffed into a duck, and the duck stuffed into a turkey. It’s a novel creation, but somewhat of a letdown when you actually dig into one. I’d much prefer just a plain old duck. Anyway, I always find myself being sucked into boring turducken conversations during the holiday season– they are quite a conversation piece, but it gets tired after a while. If you have this problem as well, fear not! You can brighten up this dull conversation by sharing your knowledge of the Fowl De Cochon, a De-Boned Pig stuffed with a De-Boned Turkey, a De-Boned Duck, De-boned Chicken, and De-Boned Quail with two dressings of your choice.* Predictably, the conversation will then venture toward putting this creation inside of a veal calf or something. At this point, excuse yourself by going to get another plate of sausage balls or cheese fudge.

*quoted from shrimpshrimp.com of Kenner, LA, who sells the fowl de cochon for a mere $300. See http://www.shrimpshrimp.com/specialtymeats.htm

It isn’t that I am happy when other people are killed or I hear of high violent crime rates, but this oh-so-brief story of a murder spree in Detroit that I found in the Times-Pic is a bit humbling, no? We can complain about our city’s crime rates and pretend like there isn’t a world filled with shit out there, but really this happens all over.

There is no way to describe the excitement I felt when I found out that I could purchase and wear Metroblogging draws. Ah, “Cotton/Spandex low-rise hip hugger underwear.” how I love thee. I shall wear them in front of the mirror each night when I do a little strip tease for myself before I go to bed. And, if on occasion, I should happen to meet some lucky girl (or some drunk girl as the odds would have it) and she should display to me a lovely pair of said draws I should know that I have indeed found the right girl for me. We will then dance merrily, the matching underwear dance until nearly exhausted and then confirm our affections by their unceremonious removal….

Oh yeah, and they got some t-shirts too! Check it out. More styles coming soon.

As you probably know by now, Greg Peters of Suspect Device will undergo open-heart surgery in Cleveland soon after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Rebecca Stephenson, Alan Gutierrez and I have created a fundable account to purchase Greg a 2.0 GHz MacBook. We figure that 52 pledges of $25.00 will keep him connected, creative and employed during his recuperation.

Here is the link to the Fundable.org action: A MacBook for Suspect Device.

I’m sure that we can raise the money in a few days, before he heads off to Cleveland.

Here is the computer we’d like to finance: MacBook 2.0 GHz.
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We gonna have ahselves a drag strip daddy! Hail to all the toothless hillbillies in the region, for a citadel of Podunk proportions is trying to make its way home. We are going to build a drag strip in New Orleans East if everything goes as planned. WeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHaw, theres gonna be a linchin’ tonight. What the hell are they talking about? Does the name Jazzland ring a bell in anyone’s memory?
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“Alice? Can you bring me my pile of cash? I need to stoke the fire. It’s cold in here.” We have architectural teams here competing for the chance to design the new riverfront. The only thing they didn’t talk about was how much it was going to cost. Sure, the developers pay for the planning process, but who is going to pay for the rest? I’m all for progress and building new things down here, but why are they doing this when the infrastructure of the city is still in shambles? They are talking about building parks and condos and public areas, but do we need this now?
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New Orleans doesn’t always fare well with Conde Nast writers. Case in point: native son Nicholas Lemann (son of Uptown lawyer Tommy Lemann and stepson of novelist Sheila Bosworth), who has been particularly nasty to his hometown on the pages of New Yorker. But this recent GQ article by Alan Richman clearly takes the king cake:

I’ve never had much luck eating in New Orleans. I might be the only person who disliked Uglesich’s, a beloved seafood joint where I once stood in line for an hour in wretched early October heat for a po’boy containing a miserly quantity of oysters so overcooked they were like marbles. I believe most of the profits made by that establishment came about because of its periodic threats to close, which inevitably brought a rush of business. Uglesich’s finally shut down last year, to everybody’s dismay but my own.

–continued at GQ

Now, I know New Orleans is far from perfect, and I’m more than happy to hear critiques of the city from people who know what they’re talking about. But when someone compares Creoles to non-existent “faerie folk, like leprechauns, rather than an indigenous race”, I think he deserves a swift kick to the nuts.

BTW, that article came to my attention via Pat Jolly, Gawker, and the Onion’s AV Club, which offers a delectable dissection of the piece.

And apologies to an especially dear friend at the New Yorker. You’re still a mensch in my book…

Craig’s post has been on my mind since I read it yesterday. I was originally going to just comment but the way I praddle on, it seemed like another post may be in order.

I’ve noticed something in the last few months. It seems that the people who are the most busy doing something aren’t as bothered by the goings-on in the city as much. I know a lot of people burying themselves in neighborhood meetings and panels for this and that. Personally, even though I know they are necessary, I still find them to be irritating wastes of time and have since discovering this, don’t attend anymore. Still others are busy rebuilding houses, even to the point that they work an extraordinary number of hours every week. Now I’m not saying these people are healthy, quite not, but they have certainly found a somewhat acceptable, if not helpful way to deal with shit. It is a fact, I think, that whatever you’re ‘thing’ was before the storm, it’s worse now. Be it drinking, weed, or working too much.

I bought the shanty because I didn’t feel like I was doing anything and it was making me weird. And aside from my occasional snap which usually only lasts a few hours; and the more than occasional saying something ignorant to a friend who will either forgive me or not – usually not; I seem to be relatively ok. Part of the problem is that people don’t have the patience for my rather, uh, unique sense of humor. I’ve been told more than once that it’s exhausting talking to me and people just don’t need that crap right now. I try and keep that in mind; I try to tone it down a little, but then I just come across as sarcastic – just like when I apologize. Online, in this setting, I used to feel less pressure but more and more I find I’m editing whole paragraphs out because I’m tired of the hate mail and the alienation of potential friendships (i.e. Termite several months ago among others).
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Carrollton Station hosts a benefit for Engineers Without Borders featuring Dash Rip Rock, Susan Cowsill, Motorway, BarStool Logic and my lovely friend, Amanda Walker. Please join us to help international engineers bring healthy drinking water to the people of Nicaragua. $5 (or more, if you wish) at the door. Sunday (11/12), 7pm, 8140 Willow St. (at the end of the tracks) in Carrollton.