Saturday Music Hall: NOLA Edition

A wide variety of coverage of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 29th has already begun. I thought I'd focus one of the most incredibly valuable contributions of the unique N'awlins culture -- its music. Above we have a long clip of jaunty, just-right jams by Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis and local musicians in New Orleans supporting the Musicians' Village by Habitat for Humanity or New Orleans. All that brass makes me want to toss some chickory into my coffee this morning.

To remind us of just what the folks are up against in trying to rebuild their lives and their city, check out video of the state of the Ninth Ward six months in accompanied by John Mellencamp's Pink Houses. Video matched with Steve Goodman's song City of New Orleans, sung by Arlo Guthrie, checks in with the Ninth Ward and Lakefront districts about ten months after the flood. (I have a special bond with this song because I used to ride the Illinois Central railroad's City of New Orleans between Chicago and Champaign-Urbana on its way to New Orleans and back in my college days. Its club car scene and general atmosphere were special indeed.)

If you've got some wandering and meandering time on your hands this weekend, enjoy more of NOLA's musical treasures and then throw a few bucks in to help:

One of NOLA's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong, scats about Dinah in a 1930s-era performance and offers a rather elegant rendition of When the Saints Go Marchin' In a little later in the century.

The master of New Orleans piano, Professor Longhair, runs through Tipitina in some rather rare old footage. Crescent City blues legend Irma Thomas belts out You Can Have My Husband with B.B. King. Fats Domino tickles the ivories and sings Walkin' to New Orleans.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band website has lots on the history of New Orleans jazz and its continuation today.

The website of the historic Tipitina's nightclub has video of many of the New Orleans musicians who have performed there including the Funky Meters, Neville Brothers, Wild Magnolias, Rebirth Brass Band and one of my favorites, Marcia Ball. They've also got extensive video archives and a podcast section. The also webcast many of their performances live.

You can find ways to help New Orleans musicians, most of whom aren't well known beyond the local scene, and many of whom lost their homes and their livelihoods because of the levy breaks, at the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

Then think about how the Bush administration's wholly incompetent, neglectful, corrupt, uncaring, cold-hearted, shameful and, to my mind, criminal response to this crisis continues today. And vow to do something, anything, to help get things on the right track and provide some real justice and help to the people and the city of New Orleans and beyond. This is not America unless we do.