I went to the debate at Loyola tonight for the candidates for City Council District A. It wasn’t really a debate, it was more like an opportunity for the candidates to make an impression. I thought Susan Guidry did very well. She clearly has a grip on the issues that [...]
I’m at my mother’s house in Jackson, MS. My mom loves Christmas. She has Christmas decorations in every room. Even the bathrooms have Santa toilet seat covers and Santa soap dispensers. The regular couch pillows have been changed out for red, gold and green ones. The front and back yards [...]
Oyster plugs the Hot NOLA Firefighters Calendar. I already have mine thanks to our Mama Roux captain, Viv. I’m especially partial to Mr. October.
I might have mentioned that Mama Roux needs a new float. Our old wagon is worn out. We had a junk sale last [...]
I will be paying close attention to the race for City Council District A. I’m the chair of OPDEC for District A, and I will be working to elect Susan Guidry, the only announced Democrat, to the city council.
Guidry is a lawyer, a community and neighborhood activist, a former teacher, [...]
I refuse to read anything with the name “Palin” in it. I’m just waiting for it to subside. Either Palin or her son-out-law seem to be everywhere. How long does a person’s 15 minutes last now? I wish they would take their hard-earned money and go away.
[...]Have you discovered The Lens? It’s Karen Gadbois’ newest online venture. She’s working with Pulitzer Prize winner Jed Horne, Ariella Cohen, Eli Ackerman, Ethan Brown and Brentin Mock. These talented writers will be investigating New Orleans and the Gulf South. I’ve got it on my feed reader and [...]
Local blogger Adrastos has hit the big time. He is now posting at First Draft, a very popular group blog that has been supportive of New Orleans and our alternative media since day one. If you don’t read First Draft, you should. I’ve been reading it [...]
Not really. Not yet, anyway. It’s been overcast and chilly all day. I have heard that the canals and river are high, but here Dangerblond Gardens there is not a leaf shaking on a tree.
UPDATE: I went to Rite Aid at about 8:30 and there was wind. It blew my [...]
Ray Nagin has an interview in the Times-Picayune today wherein he says that we hurt Ed Blakely’s feelings. We didn’t make him feel welcome enough.
I don’t know, dude. I showed up for his bike-ride around the Carrollton area, along with city council member Shelley Midura and a whole [...]
I was lucky enough to go Sunday second-lining with Lisa Palumbo today. Damn, that woman is a pro second liner. She somehow manages to stay right by the band, where you can hear the music and nothing else. We alternated marching with the Free Agents and Rebirth.
Each band [...]
The historic health insurance reform bill that Democrats have been trying to enact for 60 years has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. New Orleans’ representative Joseph Cao was the only Republican to vote for the bill. You would think that would be the top story on nola.com this [...]
What’s with the weather? It’s cool and fabulous outside, but I go to nola.com and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A tropical storm in November. The tentative forecast has it coming to our neck of the woods. Are we about to experience a test of our [...]
Greg Meffert, the mayor’s former right-hand man, has been indicted, along with his wife, Linda, and his crony, Mark St. Pierre. If Meffert is guilty, does this mean he did all this without Mayor Nagin knowing about it? I doubt it. Meffert: flip on Nagin and do it [...]
blogbasics
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Rising Tide is hosting a Blogging 101 workshop to show people how to get their own free blog going. A generous person has donated a keg of free beer for the event.
Bring [...]
Karen Gadbois’ assessment of Ed Blakely.
Times-Picayune editorial about him.
Arnie Fielkow’s statement about him.
I ask myself what we did to deserve this guy, and then I remember that we re-elected the man who hired him, Ray Nagin. What do you want to bet that Blakely [...]
Ed Blakely’s interview is depressing. He basically calls us a bunch of racist illiterates. Way to help out, Ed.
The interviewer asked him what he’d accomplished. He said that he brought in money, but the money went back into the federal treasury to pay the coast guard, or something. [...]
Unless you are going to the Saints’ game, do not, under any circumstances, try to drive downtown. Football fans are everywhere. Every parking lot has been full of tailgaters since early this morning. There is a stage set up off Poydras Street. People are grilling everything from andouille to zucchini. [...]
I received a communique tonight from Capt. Viv advising that Krewe du Vieux’s 2010 King, Dr. John, has chosen his queen. She is Priestess Miriam Chamani, co-founder of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. Now, see, this kind of stuff really gets the creative juices flowing. [...]
I had jury duty today, again. It’s getting very old. Today, I was called up and put on the second panel, but I was not picked for the jury.
The case was 2nd degree murder. A lot of the voir dire questioning from the defense attorney was about guns, what we [...]
When I heard that Shelley Midura wasn’t going to run for re-election to her seat on the city council, I got curious about who would be running.
Sure enough, Jay Batt popped up. Batt is chairman of the Republican party in Orleans parish. He represented District A, which stretches [...]
In conjunction with Krewe du Vieux’s theme of “Fired Up,” my sub-krewe has announced it’s 2010 KdV theme - “Mama Roux Burns in Hell.” This theme began as a vision that came to our head costumer, Bobby Wozniak.
It’s very appropriate for Mama Roux, because we were singled out by an [...]
I went to an OPDEC reception today to meet Charlie Melancon, who is running for U.S. senate. It’s pronounced “melawnsawn.” Who is Charlie Melancon? He’s not David Vitter, that’s all I need to know.
Melancon is the only Democratic U.S. representative from Louisiana at the moment. He is from Napoleonville. He [...]
After having the same cell phone since way before Katrina, I finally joined the gang and and got a Blackberry. I was thinking about getting an i-phone, but I wanted to stay with Verizon because I have never had a single dropped call or any of the things people complain [...]
I heard today from Capt. Viv that Dr. John is going to be the king of Krewe du Vieux this year!
KdV’s theme will be “Fired Up!” This is a reference to the fire earlier this year at our den, but also a tribute to the Saints, who are on their [...]
From Humid Beings:
Beth Humphrey, 30, and Terence McKay, 32, an interracial couple of Hammond, LA were denied a marriage license by the justice of peace, Keith Bardwell, in Tangipahoa Parish. The Justice denied the license based on his observation that interracial marriages do not tend to last. Another [...]
I showed up for jury duty again today, and was again put on a panel, but this time I was not picked for the jury. At first I got a feeling like I had failed somehow, but then I thought, “I get to go home and eat, and I don’t [...]
I had an early dinner with Patrick and Alli at Slice. We lingered over our dinner because there was a huge gully-washer coming down outside. Dinner was uneventful, but getting home involved major aggravation.
Metairie Road is flooded on the west-bound side by the cemetery. I saw a couple of cars [...]
I just went to Walgreen’s in Jackson, MS, to try to refill my Ambien prescription. They told me “no.”
“Why not?”
“We can’t transfer it because it’s a controlled substance.”
“But I have two refills left.”
“Sorry.”
“I have identification.”
“Sorry.”
Since when did this become a rule? It’s illegal to change drugstores now? I guess I [...]
It’s hard for me to believe, but at the age of 49 I just served my first jury duty. I’ve always been registered to vote, but somehow they just never got around to me until now.
I didn’t think I would get picked for a jury because I’ve always heard that [...]
And proud to have made it these 49 years! I still have one year before the half-century mark.
My step-brother and I were talking this weekend about the things we are old enough to remember, like having to wait for other family members to get off the phone. We remember not [...]
I spent the weekend in Mississippi, where it rained every day and was cold. It also rained all the way home. It couldn’t have rained as much here, because when I got home I had purple windows on the front of the house. David couldn’t have done that in the [...]
From the Louisiana Coalition for Science:
In short, as BESE’s complaint procedure is now drafted, DOE’s expert reviewers will be in the minority, and DOE staff will not be allowed to independently assess the reviewers’ reports but must instead transfer the reports directly to BESE for evaluation. Judging from [...]
The Moving Finger Writes about him:
5) So how did they catch him? Polanski’s lawyers recently filed a Motion to have his conviction overturned. This was a dubious strategy for two reasons: 1) American courts typically don’t view post-conviction motions for relief filed by a fugitive with favor. I [...]
Steven Seagal pretending to be a cop.
Tom Delay on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“Dancing with the Stars,” period.
Television, in general.
Tonight, I was at a friend’s and we watched the network news. We heard the shocking story of how difficult it is to get teenagers to drive responsibly. Who would have thought [...]
It’s taken David forever to make it back over here to paint over the Mardi Gras purple primer, but he is here today. It’s not his fault, it’s just been raining every weekend. The actual paint color is a dark eggplant purple. I love it, but there is a lot [...]
I was at the Krewe du Vieux Den today. Mama Roux has some issues with our float (not caused by the fire), so I went down there to help them deconstruct it so they could check out the underneath.
It looked like the fire burned quickly and hot, but only in [...]
Tomorrow is Book Club, and I should be cleaning my house right now because we are meeting here. I stupidly chose the book Sarum by Edward Rutherford. Neither I nor anyone else has come close to finishing it. It’s about 800 pages. It’s a great book, but it’s just v-e-r-y [...]
While I was in Jackson this weekend, my cousin and her husband came by for a visit. We got to talking about how old we are all getting. We often have this conversation, because we have known each other all our lives. We went from cute little babies to sexy [...]
I went to visit with the family in Mississippi this weekend. Everyone is still doing well. I think I have written about my step-dad having liver cancer and the new drug he is taking. It is doing wonders for him and he still seems to be improving. The doctor is [...]
Another day, another death of a legendary celebrity. Today, it’s Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary. The NYT has an article about how it only seems like more big celebrities have been dying this summer than usual. The author says that we baby boomers are [...]
I was thinking today about what a nice quiet hurricane season it has been. That got me to thinking about how next hurricane season is a year away. So, then that got me to thinking - by next hurricane season, we’ll have a new mayor! We’ll almost have a new [...]
I have been having the most vivid dreams lately. They are psychological and very specific.
Like the night before last, I dreamed I went to an auction and bought all these antique televisions. Some were coin-operated. When I brought them home, they were all computer monitors, but still in their antique [...]
I got into a slight argument with my brother today. He is on SSDI and Medicare and gets excellent health care (in Mississippi, not here). He informed me that you have to wait 12 hours to see a doctor in Canada.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen it on television.”
“Don’t believe everything [...]
I ate a Lucky Dog today, with chili. I’m incorrigible.
[...]
