Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Gambit Weekly & Bruno's Football Watch Party
Posted by Jeanne Foster on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 7:09 PM
Join Gambit Weekly this Thursday, August 7th to watch the first Pre-Season Game!
The Radiators and the troops
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 7:00 PM
A press release, but a pretty cool one, about The Radiators and how they'll be sending copies of their latest CD to American soldiers overseas...
Based in New Orleans, The Radiators have been rocking fans across America for decades. Now they are spreading their music around the world with a donation of nearly 3,000 CDs to the troops. Soldiers' Angels will be receiving the donation and including CDs in some of the thousands of care packages it ships overseas each month....Soldiers' Angels is honored and grateful to assist The Radiators in their efforts to support the troops, and will make The Radiators their Featured Artist for August on the Soldiers' Angels homepage.
I'd never heard of Soldiers' Angels, but I liked this essay on the group's Web site, as written by an anonymous MP:
When I get a box (or anyone else gets a box) its hard to describe. You find a nice quiet corner and everyone knows not to bother you. You sit there and look over the box as if you had never seen anything like it before. You read who it's from, and a smile crosses your face--you recognize the name. You might already know what's inside, but it does not matter. Some tear it open as fast as they can, others take their time and enjoy every second of it.Once inside, you go through it, every little item once, twice, sometimes three times. It's a very delicate process. You breathe it in and you think of the person who sent it to you. You think of home, family, cars, summer--everything all at once. And for a very short time, you are there away from this SH*T hole. You are grateful. Then you look around and there's always a buddy who is down or having a bad day. You share your box--sometimes just with the one guy, sometimes with everyone--and it's electric. Everyone catches that feeling, and we start talking about home, about things we miss, things we are going to do when we get back, and the heaviness of the day lifts and it's not so bad.
Inspired to help? Here's the hookup.
Levees.org Complains of Delays
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 5:35 PM
At a press conference this morning, Sandy Rosenthal, president and founder of Levees.org, protested the continuing delays in the investigations of the American Society of Civil Engineers .
The two investigations were due to release findings in April, but to date, neither has made a report. Rosenthal called the delays “artificially manufactured to give the ASCE time. Time to protect its own reputation and time to discredit those coming forward with ethics violations…and probably worst of all, time so that the American public’s attention will just turn elsewhere.”
Shopping News
Posted by Kara Nelson on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 4:01 PM
On Saturday, Aug. 9, the Voluptuous Vixen (538 Madison St., 529-3588; www.thevoluptuousvixen.com) will join more than 50 French Quarter galleries and shops for Dirty Linen Night, a celebration of the arts featuring free music, food and spirits on Royal Street and beyond. The Voluptuous Vixen will feature mixed-media landscapes by artist Susan Batts and a 25 percent off sale on Anna Scholz clothing and Chaos handbags. After the event, the shop will be closed until Aug. 29.
Ballin’s (721 Dante St., 866-4367; www.ballinsltd.com) is hosting a trunk show Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 7-9, featuring suits by Renee DuMarr and colorful Thai silk separates by Marissa Baratelli.
At Interior Designs Inc. (3814 Magazine St., 895-5111; www.interiordesignsnola.com) shoppers will save 15 percent on all Lee Industries custom upholstered furniture ordered before Sept. 30. Choose from hundreds of styles, woods, finishes and fabrics from Lee, a company with a long track record of eco-friendly manufacturing using soy-based cushions, certified frames, recycled filling for pillows, water-based stains as well as many organic and natural fabrics.
You still have time to take advantage of Rubensteins’ (102 Saint Charles Ave., 581-6666; www.rubensteinsneworleans.com) last-chance sale. Save up to 65 percent on selected menswear items and up to 75 percent on selected women’s merchandise.
Consider this a retraction
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 3:15 PM
OK, so after having a little fun in this space at the expense of Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian's relationship on Saturday, I'm forced to say I'm sorry. That is sorry to all the ladies out there that thought they still had a chance with #25 (see what I did there?). Lost in my COMPLETELY UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIM was the fact that Reggie only had one visitor at training camp for family day and it was the lovely Ms. Kardashian and that they did have some "quality time". With that said, I will not even think about making a comment on the picture above, invonvient as the timing of the shot may be. No, I'll let other people do that.
Saints Scuttlebutt: 8/5
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:30 PM
"The Saints front seven stood out" during yesterday's morning practice — what an inspiration — but only the kickers saw action in the afternoon (and so did Deuce, but shhhh). You gotta wonder what a goal-line stand means in practice; it could be a sign that the defensive line is serious about being the "best in the business." Defensive end Bobby McCray isn't shy about calling this defense dominant and the defensive backs could have a big say in that. Really, though, the Saints D is just looking to get back to past glory. Maybe that's part of the reason Arizona will sit some of its players Thursday. Then again, the Saints will be sitting some players, too. Oh, and some unrelated team looked awesome in Sunday's Hall of Fame game, if you haven't heard.
Guest post: "I had almost forgotten it was hurricane season..."
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:03 PM
(The following is by Gambit guest blogger and New Orleans East resident Clifton Harris, who maintains his own blog, Cliff’s Crib. You can read more of his writing there.)
I had almost forgotten it was hurricane season since I hadn’t been in watch mode. There were some other things I wanted to talk about before my guest duties are over but I couldn’t ignore Edouard sliding right under the state. I have been watching the news but it seems like that storm came out of nowhere. I sure wish Mother Nature would form those things at least east of Cuba so we have some time to plan. There’s no need for a tracking map when it’s already at the front door. I am pretty sure this one is going to miss us but I have some observations.
I noticed state officials seem to be much calmer now since Governor Blanco is no longer in office. After she got burned by the Katrina debacle she was holding press conferences when storms were still in the Atlantic. No one was going to blame her for not being prepared again.
Another thing I noticed is how frequent the weather reporters interrupt programming to give an update now. Do we really need an update every fifteen minutes just to tell us that the storm is still in the same place it was the last update? I realize it’s better to be safe than sorry but if the storm changes direction that fast it was our destiny to get hit by it. All you can do is take down the attic ladder and hope for the best at that point.
Since Katrina I am now an amateur meteorologist. When a system forms I start checking high and low pressure systems, water temperature and cold fronts. I check every computer model and historical map. It’s really fascinating how you can figure out what general direction they are going to travel. If the storm is in the Atlantic I am looking for anything to steer it north. If it’s in the Gulf I want anything to steer it west. I still feel bad when I hope other cities get hit by storms but it’s a dog eat dog world when it comes to tropical weather. The best case scenario is that they all curve north into the ocean and fall apart.
I have to keep on top of storms when they pass tropical depression status. Besides my paranoia, I have two other good reasons. The first reason is gas is too high to not plan ahead. If I don’t need enough gas money for a road trip I can spend that money other places. The second reason is that until we get a test run I will not trust that levee. I have to leave if anything with a tide comes. Anybody who chooses to stay the first time around is crazy in my opinion. Take everything you can’t replace with money and get out of here. If everything goes right we will be back in a few days. The good part about it is that I don’t have to worry about evacuation housing due the all my refugee relatives scattered around the south.
Honestly, I am just trying to make it to November without watching The Weather Channel for more than five minutes or seeing something on the screen so big and scary that I wonder if Nash Roberts is coming out of retirement.
Tonight, in "As the NOAH Turns"
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 4:16 AM
Sorry, Jon Stewart; I've got a new Daily Show.
I've become addicted to Lee Zurik's reports on WWL's 10 p.m. news about the ongoing NOAH saga. Tonight's episode was typically excellent.
Clancy is hip-deep in hip waders in a beautiful Montana stream with his son, catching fish and thinking about better things, but this latest installment of As the NOAH Turns made me wonder just what the legal ramifications could be (hypothetically speaking, of course) about any or all of what Zurik was reporting.
...Clancy? You in range of a WiFi signal up there? Care to opine?
Also of note, to me, was the way Mike Hoss closed the report:
In addition, on July 29, Eyewitness News filed a public records request with the city, to view all of the invoices paid to contractors for the NOAH home remediation program. State law allows the city three days to hand over or provide access to those documents. The city attorney's office has not said when WWL-TV can view those requested materials.
This all seems relevant to last weekend's discussion of whether the Times-Pic should throw down in court over the public documents law. It also seems like a warning shot across the City Hall bow.
Interesting. In the meantime, at 10 p.m., I'll be tuning in for The Daily Show With Lee Zurik.
