Have A Crazy Cool Christmas (Coming 11/10/09)

Posted by  mark

Kermit Ruffins‘ first Christmas album, Have A Crazy Cool Christmas. Coming November 10, 2009. Ho Ho Heaux.

CLICK ONESHEET TO ENLARGE.

Preorders may be made now at www.BasinStreetRecords.com

Email bulkpricing@basinstreetrecords.biz for info on bulk pricing.

We will celebrate the release at the Blue Nile in New Orleans on Friday, November 27th. See you there!

Nagin’s Fault

Posted by  mark

This video by the Globe and Mail describes the emptiness that exists in an area of the lower 9th ward 4 years after the devastation caused by the incompetence of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Levee Boards. The fact that people are living in this emptiness is the fault of Mayor Nagin.


He had an opportunity after the storm to put a system in place that would incentivise people to move out of some areas and additional incentives to move into other areas. There could have been efforts to concentrate populations into 6 to 10 square blocks and make other areas of 6 to 10 square blocks into parks.

He decided that to get reelected he needed to allow everyone to rebuild wherever they wanted, although it was obvious to everyone that there was no way to support the large footprint with police, fire, water, power, etc.

So now we have blocks with 1 or 2 families living in them.

I am not suggesting that the entire lower 9th, or all of lakeview, or all of gentilly should have been off limits. I am only suggesting that within the lower 9th, or lakeview, etc. that there had been an effort to concentrate the population that wanted to stay in those areas so that people could live in something that looked like and felt like a neighborhood.

By the way, I have a train that runs straight behind my house. (If you watched the video link above, you know why I added this comment).

It’s Been 4 Years

Posted by  mark

Hard to imagine sitting here in my kitchen that nearly 4 years ago my family and my city was about to experience devastation that we had been warned about, but that came about for different reasons. We always knew that a hurricane that hit just the right way could push water from Lake Ponchartrain into our city and that pumping it back out over the levees could take awhile, but we never feared that the canal levees and walls would break.

As I look back at the archives in my blog, I really can’t believe all of the things that we were dealing with in the Fall of 2005 and continue to deal with (an incompetent Mayor is at the top of the list).
Our government should have compensated all of the families whose loved ones died due to the Army Corps of Engineers’ and the Levee Boards’ incompetence by now, but they haven’t. President Obama: Make this happen. We also need 500 year protection and a rebuilt coastline. Join www.Levees.org.
Basin Street Records was streamlined and I’d like to thank our operations director, Nick Thomas, for coming on board in 2006 and helping me keep the company moving forward.
I am fortunate. Home is rebuilt. Neighborhood looks great. Oldest son (who started high school the week before Katrina) just started college. Middle son is a senior and daughter just started driving lessons. I got remarried and have a baby on the way. This list is partial, but here are some reasons why we are OK today: Beacon of Hope (Denise Thorton started this organization in our neighborhood), DesireNOLA, Idea Village, Red Cross, Austin Texas community, my family, my parents (who decided to buy a house in Austin and let us live with them for 9 months), FEMA (after nearly 2 years of complete and total aggravation), MusicCares, the resilience of the New Orleans people, and our artists’ perseverance.
Thanks, y’all. And thank you for buying CDs, and even downloads.