2011 Jazz Fest Lineup

FRIDAY, APRIL 29

Robert Plant & the Band of Joy, Jeff Beck, Wyclef Jean, The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Keb' Mo', Mighty Clouds of Joy, Justin Townes Earle, Ron Carter Trio w/ Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone, Donald Harrison, Tab Benoit, Jon Cleary, George Porter, Jr. & Runnin' Pardners, John Mooney & Bluesiana, the subdudes, Mia Borders, Anat Cohen Quartet, Los Hombres Calientes feat. Bill Summers & Irvin Mayfield.

The Bahamas Experience, Ti-Coca & Wanga Négès of Haiti, Germaine Bazzle, The Joe Krown Trio featuring Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., Haitian - New Orleans Connection featuring Emeline Michel, Dr. Jean Montes, and Dr. Michael White, Warren Storm - Willie Tee & Cypress, Shades of Praise, Henry Gray & the Cats, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Red Stick Ramblers, Coco Robicheaux, Danny Barnes, Otra, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Corey Ledet, Derek Douget, Lil Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Doreen's Jazz New Orleans, Dave Lemon & the Flow, MASHUP feat.

Terence Higgins, Ike Stubblefield, and Grant Green, Jr., Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders with guest Butch Thompson, Happy Talk Band, Meschiya Lake & Dem Lil' Big Horns, Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band, Hadley J. Castille Family & the Sharecroppers Cajun Band, Comanche Hunters and Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians, Real Untouchables Brass Band, Rocks of Harmony, Morning Star Mass Choir, Chris Clifton, Louis Ford & his New Orleans Flairs, Voices of Peter Claver, Los Astros de America, Tulane Jazz Ensemble, Jonno & Cajun Experience, Mount Zion Pilgrim Baptist Church Choir, Sister Naomi Washington and Group, Smitty Dee's Brass Band, Dillard University Jazz Ensemble, Black Mohawk and Black Foot Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Keep N it Real, We R One, Zulu, and Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Louisiana Sketches with Carl LeBlanc presented by Young Audiences, Gray Hawk, Young Cheyenne and Geronimo Hunters Mardi Gras Indians...


SATURDAY, APRIL 30

Bon Jovi, Jason Mraz, Fantasia, Irma Thomas, Robert Cray, Amos Lee, Ahmad Jamal, Rance Allen, Ricky Skaggs, John Boutté, The Dixie Cups, Jeremy Davenport, Emeline Michel and DJA-Rara of Haiti, Hot 8 Brass Band, Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby, The Low Anthem, Anat Cohen Quartet, The Bahamas Experience, Alvin Youngblood Hart's Muscle Theory, Ti-Coca & Wanga Négès of Haiti, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Pine Leaf Boys, Rotary Downs, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Shannon McNally & Hot Sauce, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, The Savoy Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Panorama Jazz Band, Renard Poche, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Andrew Duhon & the Lonesome Crows, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Orange Kellin's New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra, The Johnson Extension, Ted Winn, Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Kidd Jordan, Midnite Disturbers, Gospel Soul Children, Jockimo's Groove feat. War Chief Juan, Brice Miller & Mahogany Brass Band, Erica Falls, J. Monque'D Blues Band, Willis Prudhomme & Zydeco Express, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, The Tenor Sax Woodshed feat. Christian Winther and Clarence Slaughter, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Grupo Sensacion, First Emanuel Gospel Choir, Po' Henry & Tookie, Kid Simmons' Local International Allstars, DJ Bomshell Boogie, UNO Jazz Allstars, Big Chief Walter Cook & the Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Nine Times Men, Single Men, and Single Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Les Getrex & Quick Change, Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, Pastor Tyrone Jefferson, Lady Jetsetters, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, and Family Ties Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Red, White & Blue and Wild Mohicans Mardi Gras Indians, Highsteppers Brass Band, Mo'Lasses, Miss Claudia & her Biergartners, Curtis Pierre with Samba Kids, River Road African American Museum Drum & Dance, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians...


SUNDAY, MAY 1

John Mellencamp, Tom Jones, John Legend & The Roots, Dr. John, Alejandro Sanz, Arlo Guthrie, Kenny G, The Decemberists, Vickie Winans, Pete Fountain, Terence Blanchard, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Boukman Eksperyans of Haiti, Deacon John, Zachary Richard, Classic New Orleans Revue featuring Frankie Ford, Jean Knight, and the Blue Eyed Soul Band, Glen David Andrews, Partners-N-Crime with 5th Ward Weebie, Honey Island Swamp Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, The Wiseguys, The Boogie Men, Astral Project, Red Baraat, DJA-Rara of Haiti, Anders Osborne, John Fohl & Johnny Sansone.

Jake Smith, Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88's, Sherman Washington & the Zion Harmonizers, Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Mark Braud, Lil' Malcolm & the House Rockers, Los Po-Boy-Citos, The Tommy Sancton New Orleans Quintet, Jo "Cool" Davis with guest James "Sugarboy" Crawford, Kristin Diable, Free Agents Brass Band, Driskill Mountain Boys, Tom McDermott, Michael Ward, Keith Frank, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Traditional Jazz Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, Furious Five, Untouchables, Big Steppers, New Look, The First Division, and Olympia Aid Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Reggie Hall & the Twilighters feat. Lady Bee, Jesse Lege, Joel Savoy & the Cajun Country Revival, St. Joseph the Worker Choir, Jazz & Blues feat. Luther Kent, Phillip Manuel, and Big Al Carson, Ninth Ward Navajo, Golden Blade, and Carrollton Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Jeremy Lyons Delta-Silly Music, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Voices of Distinction, The Last Straws, Big Chief Kevin Goodman & the Flaming Arrows, LeRoy Thomas, Donnie Bolden, Jr. & the Spirit of Elijah, Delgado Community College Jazz Ensemble, Young Pinstripe Brass Band, Uptown Music Theatre, New Orleans Young Traditional Brass Band with the Heel to Toe Steppers, Ayla Miller Band, Young Guardians of the Flame...


THURSDAY, MAY 5

Wilco, Cyndi Lauper, Lucinda Williams, Galactic, Maceo Parker with special guest Pee Wee Ellis, Ivan Lins, Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste, Ruthie Foster, Michelle Shocked, Charlie Musselwhite, Djakout #1 of Haiti, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Amanda Shaw, The New Orleans Bingo! Show, The Iguanas, Lisa Knowles & the Brown Sisters, Charmaine Neville, Banu Gibson & the Allstars feat. Bob Havens and Randy Reinhart, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Christian Scott, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Leroy Jones, Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove, James Booker Piano Tribute feat. David Reis, Joe Krown, Josh Paxton, Tom Worrell, and Tom McDermott, Delfeayo Marsalis' Uptown Orchestra, Gov't Majik Dirty South Afro-Beat Arkestra, Sasha Masakowski, Brice Winston, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Little Freddie King Blues Band, Lino Patruno of Italy, Linnzi Zaorski, Spencer Bohren, Original Royal Players Brass Band, Belton Richard & the Musical Aces, Roots of Music Marching Crusaders Band, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Paul Eason, John Rankin, Flatbed Honeymoon, Robert "Bilbo" Walker, Ovi-G & the Froggies, Dukes of Dixieland, BRW, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, Kumbuka African Dance & Drum Collective, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, 7th Ward Creole Hunters and Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indians, Young Fellaz Brass Band, Lyle Henderson & Emmanu-EL, Black Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, The Help, McDonogh #35, O. Perry Walker Charter, McMain, and Joseph S. Clark High School Gospel Choirs, Stooges Brass Band, Heavenly Melodies Gospel Singers, Pastor Terry Gullage and the Greater Mt. Calvary Voices of Redemption Choir, Tornado Brass Band, Bon Temp Roulez, VIP Ladies, Men of Class, and Ladies of Unity Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, Clearwood Jr. High School Chorale, Adams Middle School Players...


FRIDAY, MAY 6

Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, Lupe Fiasco, Better Than Ezra, Jamey Johnson, Gregg Allman Blues Band, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Buckwheat Zydeco, Big Sam's Funky Nation, 100th Birthday Celebration for Mahalia Jackson featuring Irma Thomas with guest John Boutté, Edie Brickell, Eric Lindell, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Bonerama, Mingus Big Band, Luther Kent, Bob Wilber & the Crescent City Cats, Bobby Cure & the Summertime Blues with guest Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, James Rivers Movement, Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars, Tim Laughlin, The SteelDrivers, Leah Chase, Djakout #1 of Haiti, The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars' 20th Anniversary, Alex McMurray, Kourtney Heart, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, A Centennial Celebration for Lionel Ferbos with the Palm Court Jazz Band, Yvette Landry, We Landed on the Moon!, Sharon Martin, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band.

Jamil Sharif, Jambalaya Cajun Band, Ingrid Lucia, Big Al Carson Blues Band, Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, Joseph Torregano, Guitar Slim, Jr., Gina Brown & Anutha Level, Andy J. Forest NOtown Band, Blodie's Jazz Jam, Ivoire Spectacle feat. Seguenon Kone, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble, Michael Skinkus & Moyuba, Joe Hall & the Louisiana Cane Cutters, Connie & Dwight with the St. Raymond/St. Leo the Great Choir, Kevin Thompson & the Sensational Six, Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir, Fleur de Ladies Brass Band, Young Magnolias, White Cloud Hunters, and Red Hawk Mardi Gras Indians, Forgotten Souls, The Wimberly Family Gospel Singers, New Wave Brass Band, Original Big Seven, Original Four, Scene Boosters, and Ole N Nu Style Fellas Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Young Cherokee and Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Rev. Jermaine Landrum & Abundant Praise Revival Choir, Rose Anne St. Romain, Nineveh Baptist Church Mass Choir, New Orleans Indian Rhythm Section, N.O.C.C.A. Jazz Ensemble, Metropelican Opera, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue presented by Young Audiences, Bester Singers and Dynamic Smooth Family Gospel Singers...


SATURDAY, MAY 7

Jimmy Buffett, The Strokes, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Allen Toussaint, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Mystikal, Bobby Blue Bland, Fourplay, Marcia Ball, Aaron Neville's Gospel Experience, RAM of Haiti, Nicholas Payton, James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, Jesse Winchester, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Voice of the Wetlands All Stars, Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, Khris Royal & Dark Matter, Ruby Wilson, New Birth Brass Band, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band feat. Thais Clark, Vivaz, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Jeff & Vida, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, The Jon Batiste Band, Wanda Rouzan's New Orleans R&B Revue, Bill Kirchen, R Scully Rough 7, Ernie Vincent & Top Notes, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, The Sammy Rimington International Band, D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces, Pfister Sisters, David Torkanowsky's Fleur Debris feat. George Porter, Jr., 101 Runners, The Revealers, Kora Konnection feat. Morikeba Kouyate of Senegal and Thierno Dioubate of Guinea, AsheSon, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, Tribute to Walter Payton and June Gardner, DJ Soul Sister, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministry, Brother Tyrone, Baritone Bliss feat. Roger Lewis and Tony Dagradi, Smithfield Fair, Troy Turner, Kirk Joseph's Tuba Tuba, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, Greater Antioch Full Gospel BC Mass Choir, Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys, Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians, Golden Voices Community Choir, Tonia Scott & Anointed Voices, Julliard Jazz Ensemble, N'Fungola Sibo West African Dance Company, Minister Jai Reed, Kinfolk Brass Band, Ashe Cultural Arts Center Kuumba Institute, Stephen Foster's Foster Family Program, Baby Boyz Brass Band, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Choir, Cherokee Hunters, Wild Red Flame, Trouble Nation, and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Westbank Steppers, New Generation, Undefeated Divas, Pigeon Town Steppers, and Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs...


SUNDAY, MAY 8

Kid Rock, The Neville Brothers, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Sonny Rollins, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, The Radiators' farewell, Cowboy Mouth, Tabou Combo of Haiti, Papa Grows Funk, Rebirth Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Sonny Landreth, Ellis Marsalis, Henry Butler, Playing for Change, Anders Osborne, Glen David Andrews, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Punch Brothers feat. Chris Thile, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, RAM of Haiti, Fisk Jubilee Singers, Arthur Clayton & Purposely Anointed feat. special guest VaShawn Mitchell, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias.

Treme Brass Band, George French & the New Orleans Storyville Jazz Band, The Bluerunners Reunion, Rumba Buena, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Dee-1, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Tommy Malone & Blvd Jr., Bobby Lounge, Feufollet, TBC Brass Band, Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds, The Generationals, DJ Captain Charles, Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, Gregg Stafford's Jazz Hounds, Jesse McBride presents The Next Generation, Russell Batiste, Jr. & Friends feat. Jason Neville, Tribute to Clyde Kerr, Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys, Betsy McGovern & the Poor Clares, Julio y Cesar, Robin & the Bluebirds, Da Souljas Brass Band, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Wild Tchoupitoulas and Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians, Bamboula 2000, Pinstripe Brass Band, Veal Brothers, Zulu Male Ensemble, Heritage School of Music Band, Jonté Landrum Thomas, Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers, Prince of Wales, Nine Times Ladies, Original C.T.C., Lady Rollers, and Secondline Jammers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, SUBR Jazzy Jags, Johnette Downing, Mt. Hermon BC Mass Choir, Golden Sioux and Apache Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, N'Kafu Traditional African Dance Company, Dragon Master Showcase presented by Young Audiences, Erik McAllister & the N.O.C.C.A. Mime Theater Troupe, Black Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, KIDsmART Student Showcase, Sunpie Barnes with Louisiana Creole Music...

Cajun Groundhog Day

When: Feb. 2nd, 2011

Where: Bouligny Plaza

New Iberia, La 70560

 

Annual event where New Iberia's own version of the traditional groundhog, PierreC. Shaddeaux, a native nutria, emerges to predict weather the weather for the next six weeks…etiher a long or short spring depending on if Pierre sees his shaddeaux or not.

It is the South Louisiana equivalent to the Groundhog Day celebration
that originated in Punxsutawney, Pa., where groundhog Punxsutawney Phil peaks out of his hole to determine if there will be an early spring or six more weeks of winter weather.

Shadeaux, the Cajun groundhog, or nutria, is more in tune with Louisiana's subtropical climate than Punxsutawney Phil, and can more accurately predict the weather for this region.

When Shadeaux comes out of his new, Acadian-style home built by Earl
Patton, and sees his shadow, then Teche Area residents need to brace for a quick end to the spring and the advent of a hot, humid summer. However, if he doesn't see the shadow, it's good news, meaning a longer spring season.

 

A MUST SEE Parade this season -

The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus



The Krewe of Chewbacchus is a Carnival Krewe for the most revelrous of Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, Mega-Geeks, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, and all the rest of Super Nerdom.

We are Bacchanalian Revelry + Sci Fi = BacchanALIENS.

We have several awesome events planned including: a Sci Fi Fashion Show "Set Your Phasers to Stunning", Sci Fi movie nights at the Big Top, art bike pub crawls and parades, and workshops and open studio sessions on everything from building homemade flying saucers to circuit bending experimental musical instruments.

In this, our first year, will be rolling as our very own full-on parade complete with our own brass bands, royalty, floats, throws, and theme. King Chewbacchus himself will lead our krewe and ride on Eyegore the Royal Rickshaw. We are building a fleet of Flying Saucers, a Bar2D2 float, a giant BacchanALIEN puppet and a Boozebot 4200 puppet, experimental X-Wing Art Bicycles, and much much more...

Zulu throws coconuts, Muses throw shoes, the Krewe of Chewbacchus throws wicked cool homemade bandoleros and towels!

Chewbacchus will depart from the Big Top Gallery (1638 Clio Street) at 6:00pm on Bacchus Sunday (March 6, 2011) and march along a TOP SECRET route through the streets of New Orleans bestowing the blessing of our "Sacred Drunken Wookie" to the masses. We will eventually loop back around to the Big Top and throw down at the Chewbacchanal to fill our bellies with delicacies from the Admiral Snackbar. Prepare to rock out with Space Girl Burlesque, Brass Bands blasting Sci Fi theme songs, Giant Pyro-technic Puppetry, the Mad Scientist Rock n Roll musical stylings of the infamous and amazing C.O.G., and all sorts of other madness into the wee hours of Lundi Gras.

We need your support to help pull of this amazing undertaking. Your generosity will help us to build the floats, puppets, and parade props, pay the bands, and purchase the permits.

You are already a space cadet so you might as well make it official and join AND/OR support the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus.

For more info please visit www.razzamatazproductions.com



Project location: New Orleans, LA

Honoring Dr. King

I can't even come close to how well Cliff posts about Dr. King and his impact on society...yesterday and today. Go read it.

Bless Cliff.

Atlanta Weather Report

One of the best weather reports of 2011 and it's only January!

James Carville Takes Issue with Gulf Seafood Critics

"It's easy to manufacture fear, it's hard to manufacture test results".
Thank you Mr. Carville.

St. Genevieve Church - January 2011

Bayou Liberty & St. Genevieve Church pre Katrina.

Click on pictures for larger versions.

So much has changed in the past 5 years. The church has been torn down and the bridge is gone too. Replaced by a wide, tall one





Never thought I'd admit it, but I like the new bridge. For one thing, it's great for snapping pictures of the bayou at sunset.





St. Genevieve Church is FINALLY being rebuilt. I guess they were waiting to finish that bridge.









As they have been doing for over five years now, the parishoners of the church attend mass in the church hall.



For more on St. Genevieve, click here

Can't remember when the new church will be open, but here are older links from this blog about the rebuilding.

And here is an artists rendering of the new church:

Ed Blakely now swindling Aussies

Remember the "Recovery Czar Ed Blakely"? One of Nagin's little pals who was paid an enormous amount of money to help bring back New Orleans after Katrina.


Doesn't just SEEING Nagin make your blood boil?

The same Ed Blakely who said that New Orleanians are lazy and racist.



The same Ed Blakely who enjoyed touring Katrina's devastation on a bike but never did a fucking thing about the recovery.



The same Ed Blakely who inspired this excerpt from an article in 2007 from CNN dot com money


The man behind the rebuilding effort
On the eighth floor of the rundown, 1950s-era New Orleans City Hall, at the end of a long corridor, is an office with no number. Beside the doorpost, taped over whatever sign was there before, is a single sheet of 8½-by-11-inch photocopy paper that reads, "Office of Recovery Management."

This is the redoubt of Edward J. Blakely, Mayor Nagin's point man for rebuilding New Orleans. Blakely, 69, is a longtime professor of urban planning and an expert on disaster recovery. He coordinated the relief efforts in Oakland after the 1989 earthquake, and Nagin hired him to craft and implement one plan that would decide where the city would and wouldn't rebuild.

Blakely inherited more than 50 plans that had been drafted by numerous consultants and community groups, and in March he presented his blueprint for spending $1.1 billion over five years on 17 "targeted areas." He promised fast results, predicting "cranes in the sky by September."

Blakely fancies himself a man of action. He leads reporters on Saturday-morning bike rides through blighted and recovering neighborhoods, both to show citizens that the mayor's office is paying attention to their plight and to familiarize himself better with New Orleans. He arrived Jan. 8 of this year, "the day of the Battle of New Orleans, a providential omen," he tells me. In his spare time he is developing a residential real estate project near Riverside, Calif.

On his desk sits a plaque that reads, footprints in history aren't made sitting down. For all his biking and planning, however, Blakely has yet to spend any money.

For one thing, he's not certain he'll be able to find the billion dollars. He intends to get about a quarter of the money from a municipal general obligation bond passed before the storm, though it isn't legally clear whether that money can be spent on hurricane recovery.

He intends to use $117 million of federal housing money from the state, and he also hopes to float a so-called "blight bond," using condemned properties as collateral for borrowing an additional $300 million. The state may be able to supply the balance.

Blakely lately has begun to acknowledge that there'll be no cranes in the sky by September. (Locals cluck that only a newcomer would have promised construction projects during the heart of hurricane season.)

The delay and the uncertainty over funding highlight an unfortunate fact: Blakely, too, has only so much power. He explains that some traffic lights in the eastern section of town are administered by the city and others by the state. The board that runs the sewage and water system is a separate entity over which he has little control. So despite the existence of a workable plan that generally is supported by residents, Blakely is in a holding pattern.

"It takes time to build things," he says. "They don't appear overnight. It also takes a certain process to put things in order." New Orleanians I talk to admire Blakely's intellect and his ability to look at the situation dispassionately. It's impossible, however, to overlook the contradiction between his professed love of action and his calm, measured approach to what in many areas remains a crisis situation.

Well, now. After this assclown left NOLA in 2009, he returned to Sydney as the Chair of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney.

And today he's the "recovery czar" down under.

Hope those Aussies get wise to this douchebag.

Out of Sight, out of mind, I guess

From a great blog covering the "it's still here" oil crisis, Disenfranchised Citizen, an excerpt from his post entitled "As Problems Persist in the Gulf, Listening ain't Hearing":

Oil residue from the BP spill is still being hauled off by the truckload each day from the beaches of the barrier islands off the Mississippi Gulf coast. In another part of the Gulf set to reopen for fishing on Feb 2nd, a shrimpers’ nets are coming out of the water covered in oil. Florida Fishermen are dealing with the anxiety of knowing fish populations collapsed after the Exxon Valdez disaster. A flotilla of Wildlife and Fisheries boats sped into Bay Jimmy at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, passing flocks of white pelicans, some still coated in oil. On Blood Beach, Mississippi, billions of baby clam and oyster shells washed up on shore. In the coastal areas of St. Bernard Parish, more than 8 months after the oil spill, their industry has come to a standstill; a fisherman adds there’s not much seafood to sell. At Grand Isle, LA, Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s environmental monitor Peter Brabeck said oil is rolling in on the beaches of the state park and nearby. “I’ve been here many times and I’ve never seen it looking like this,” Brabeck said of the oil mixing in with the beach sands, turning it black.

“A disaster. A catastrophe. Whatever you want to call it. Worst than Katrina,” said fisherman Emile Serigne.

Please go to the link above and read the whole post. It's sobering.

Bay Jimmy is STILL oiled, folks

BAY JIMMY, La. -- A flotilla of Wildlife and Fisheries boats sped into Bay Jimmy at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, passing flocks of white pelicans, some still coated in oil.

"We've got four white ones that's got oil we've been trying to catch for the last couple of days," said Wildlife & Fisheries agent Mark Castille.

Agents say miles of southeast Louisiana shoreline has large patches of grass that are dead, everything coated by black oil.

But when he saw no cleanup crews present, Plequemines Parish President Billy Nungesser was infuriated.

"This is the biggest coverup in the history of America," fumed Nungesser. "We got a plan, you signed off on it. Yeah, we begging for help."

"Look at the consistency of this oil oozing out of the marsh here," said Robert Barham.

Wildlife & Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham used his gloved hand to easily expose the still liquid oil just below the surface, worrying it will spread.

"Any oil that is still here will go into new areas," Barham said. "And kill them."

Barham said it is will be a continuing process until someone comes to clean it up.

A Coast Guard spokesman said cleanup crews are still experimenting to find the best marsh cleanup method.

But Coast Guard statements that the cleanup is a priority made Nungesser explode.

"No one is walking away," said U.S. Coast Guard Commander Dan Lauer. "Clearly these are high priorities, but there are different phases in different areas accordingly."

"Oh, it's a priority, look at it," was Nungesser's angry response. "What is it eight and a half months later? Thanks God we're not out here asking for ammo to defend this country. And this is a priority? Their priorities are wrong. They're hoping we go away, we get tired."

"For Parish President Nungesser to make that statement, and even Secretary Barham, they've been a part, they're as trustees," Lauer said in response.

But the concern for the head of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Plaquemines Parish President is making sure that areas with the thick, peanut butter style oil still present are not just ignored.

"This marsh is dead, this marsh is going in the sea," said Barham.

Nungesser added: "And as the water comes in, we get a little thunderstorm comes in tonight, and takes this oil, those ponds you see far inland will have oil in it."

Hubig's King Cake

There Is A Problem With The Hubig’s King Cake