Life is the farce which everyone has to perform

I IS ANOTHER (2008)

I’m going to take you on a river journey
Merci beaucoup. Thank you.
Connecting the dots: how far we’ve come
That helicopter turned up river.

Newfound vigilance in our citizens
Ok Daddy you take fishy
It was August in New Orleans with no electricity. It was so hot.

And fishy survived.

City that normally spends
Caribbean flavored bright orange with two palm trees in the front
reinventing, and making a way out of no way

Like Shell Oil.
Not only did they come back right after the storm,
they also stepped up
and became a major, multi-year Jazz Fest sponsor.

Gene’s Po-Boys, in the hot pink building on the corner of St. Claude and Elysian Fields
reducing the jack-o-lantern effect
very serious

My next topic is streets. A comic once asked:
Why did the chicken cross the road in new Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Pause.
Cracked the code
To go swimming in his favorite pothole.

Seriously.

We pay above the Southern regional average
This year we have had zero. That’s right, not one
It is about you.

We have been working hard to get these cameras rolled out,
but we’ve had some challenges
Allow me to paint a picture

Celine Dion, Al Jarreau, and Aaron Neville are giving a special concert
The moon and stars are up above
reinventing
you have a dinner reservation
pass through the biomedical district
into their second hot salsa set.

That’s right, not one.

Can you see it New Orleans? Then let’s make it happen!
large, small, mom and pop
It is about you.

a trade mission in July to Panama.

Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes to create a confederacy
It is about you.

This is something I started talking about six years ago, remember sell that sucker
We have finally cracked the code on this pot
have finally after a full year cracked the code
Hallelujah!

Ok Daddy you take fishy.

from the unlikeliest stretch of swampland rose the likeliest of cities
And they didn’t have skin in the game, they didn’t have our genes
It’s like Teddy Roosevelt said

Five billion tourist dollars spent?
you have a dinner reservation.

Your blood sweat and tears are all over this recovery.
The dust of rebuilding is on your hands.

Can you see it New Orleans?
This recovery is bigger than Ray Nagin or Bobby Jindal or George W. Bush
It is about you.
And we will never be the same,

only better.

Like Shell Oil.

Good jokes comin' right up

Nagin's State of the City goes down tonight at 6:30pm. Last year's was the infamous tribute to 1990's No Limit Records and Smokey Johnson. This year's will apparently mention the great corporate investment in the city over the last year, apparently symbolized by the new Nike Store next to Rock n' Bowl.

No, really, a shoe store is "corporate investment." More to come on another historic microphone assault.

If I Don't Do Nuthin', I'ma Ball

Playaz Circle ft. Kenya Smith ...

'"If you're lobbying a council member or a state representative on something and you bring them to an environment where they're more comfortable and they feel more at ease talking -- as opposed to the drive-through window at McDonald's -- there's a greater likelihood of being able to prevail on the issue," Smith said.
"This is within the standards of how it's done around the country. You don't take people to eat at a greasy spoon, or say, 'We're going to give you a turkey sandwich.' We're trying to build consensus to generate resources to meet the needs of this recovery."
The billing statements provide no details about who accompanied the city administrators at the various meals, nor do they specify what they ate and drank or the business purpose. The city has yet to respond to a May 6 request for documents that include such details.
Smith said the people he has entertained include a "huge cross section of stakeholders -- business leaders, community leaders, political leaders -- those are three broad categories of who I work with. I do that because I have to build consensus."
Quiett said she has used the card only to cover the costs of city business. Even the smoothies and coffee she charged to the city were purchased at business meetings, she said. In some cases, she said, she purchased a smoothie to reward a staff member who had worked extra hard.'

Hornets - Spurs Game 5 notes

These might get to SLAM today, but here's what I had....

Pre-game
-Due to some confusion, I’m at the top of the lower bowl and Aggrey’s down at courtside. Pretty diverse crowd up here, as I sit next to a French reporter, whose next to a Chinese reporter, whose next to this (don’t make me have to go and see the) Rasta, who Aggrey is best boys with. Also: two rows down, a white dude with gold fronts.
-Nat’l Anthem: a 5 year old named Tione Johnson. Honestly, this city has more child prodigies…

Q1
-TP gets hit hard early, and is in a pissy mood all night. This is a game the refs will need to control. (Sad how true--in the bad way--that becomes)
-After CP3 loses Parker to make it 13-11, Pop calls a TO, out of which Bowen drains a 3. There’s a grave inevitability with the Spurs that’s not unlike watching the Patriots. Christ, does that make CP3…? NO, and B-Scott isn’t some angry old man, either, and the Saints better not sign Shockey.
-Emeril in the house. Aggrey texts that Lang would be amped. During last year’s Jazzfest, some friends of mine from Pittsburgh went to Emeril’s and got mean drunk, apparently a reaction to the poor service. Emeril was in the house that night, too, filming a TV spot, and one of my friends tried to crash the kitchen, yelling, “Emeril knows this ain’t right! Emeril knows!” I can’t really forget that when I see him.
-David West is on fire, has 14 for the quarter. Peja’s only had 2 shots, which is not hot.
-Quarter ends 23-21, SA, and Pop just went crazy. It looks like bar fight down there, and I’m pretty sure Joey Crawford said something. To defuse the situation, Crawford walks to within 5 feet of the dancing Honeybees and stares. Always a good way to release the stress when Pop’s mad at you, Joey.

Q2
-I don’t know how to describe the moments when Juju Wright sees a seam in the defense, but the entire crowd can see it happen, like his eyes just got 10x bigger and his arms grow a few yards. He attacks the hole in one long motion, and banks the ball hard off the backboard. Bowen drains a 3 at the other end.
-Bow Wow in the house! I text Aggrey that Lang would be amped.
-34-28 Spurs with 8:00 left. The Hornets need a solid run now, I think.
-Drew Brees pops his free t-shirt, autographs a football, then guns it into the first row of the upper deck. Sign that lady to a minicamp!
-Wow, a second white dude with gold teeth sits down and high fives his, uh, brother. Bling, ahem, bling.
-The run is slow in the making, with Peja and West doing some damage and Ginobli countering them. 42-36 Spurs with 1:50 left.
-At this point, the dude whose seat I’m in (KATZ reads the label, which could be radio or a deli) shows up and I move to the TV station seats on the same level, center court. Much better.
-When Ginobli falls down, West ends up dunking at the other end and the game is tied. The crowd, as it has been all post-season, is electric.
-Parker gets hit again, this time by, I think, a Pargo elbow. That’s the playoffs and maybe Mike D’Antoni isn’t in the seat of a sexual harasser if everyone thought the same way.
-Half ends 47-44. West has 22, CP3 only 6 and 8. Manu leads the spurs with 15, Parker’s at 10 and 2, and TD is held to 4.

Halftime
-Trombone Shorty might be compared to Lebron James. Since a young age, he’s been in the spotlight, playing on the street and with his well-known family. Now the question is, can he take that next step and push N.O. music further than just funk and brass? The talent and charisma is there, and he’s definitely looking for the nat’l audience. That quest might be his Achilles heel, but tonight, things look good for the next king.

Q3
-Well, I guess Chris Paul made the decision to take this thing by the throat. A floater, a 3, and a chip shot from the paint make it 57-51. Not to root against them in the next one, but how dope would it be to see this dude in his first Game 7?
-Hornets D is the other story, as they have SA playing sloppy and frustrated. The refs haven’t been good on either side, but the Spurs get the visitors treatment.
-From this angle, you can really see that TCP3 alley-oop coming. Fortunately, the Spurs aren’t stealing signals.
-D-West +1 past TP, quarter ends 72-58.
-The Used-to-Bees come out. They’re the, like, older, more physically diverse dance team. They have this Svengali dance coach, a real shady dude, who tonight…is that guy making it rain? No sht. He just made it rain. I’m still wincing as I write this.

Q4
-Byron is going for the kill! He leaves his starters in to face Pop’s line-up of shooters, Udoka, Ginobli, Fin, Bones, and Oberto, who’s not so much a shooter as an extra in a junkie flick.
-Doesn’t work. 2:30 into the quarter, it’s 78-63. After the Spurs TO, the Jumbotron plays a clip from 300 while Enter Sandman pounds thru the speakers. That line, “Off to never, neverland” was the death of heavy metal.
-Tyson is helped off. Looks like an ankle and trouble down the road. He and West have alternated on TD and done a great job tonight.
-West goes around TD, then blocks his shot at the other end. Pargo finishes with a 2, its’ 85-70 Hornets with 6:00 to go.
-Unfair but awesome: when Tony goes to shoot FT’s that could cut the lead to single digits, a fan holds up a life-sized cut-out of Eva in what looks to be a Honeybees outfit. He misses both and all us 15 year old’s chuckle. For this, the fan gets a pound from Hilton, who seems to have some diva-on-diva beef with Eva.
-Hugo appears with gold boxing gloves on as the Rocky theme plays, and eventually he makes his way to the top row in the arena, bringing the crowd to its feet. Hugo’s been thru a lot these last few days, and it’s good to see him back on-top. Aggrey resents the out-of-Philly experience.
-This leads Pop to pull his starters with over 2 minutes left and a 12 pt. deficit, though it might have been a Fck You to the refs, too.
-I’m not sure, but I think the local TV people just had an Anchorman-like confrontation below us. Really, there’s a heated re-telling going on to my left. Huh.

Post-game
-The reporter who Pop sarcastically labeled, “a very accurate young man” after Game 2? Yeah, he introduces his question to Pop by saying, “it’s the very accurate reporter again (coy smile).” Really? You want to what, flirt with Pop at a time like this? Pop still doesn’t know why the games are all blow-outs, but he does say “I believe the official was incorrect” twice.
-Big Shot Bob talks to some friends on the loading dock, looks unconcerned. This concerns me, as we still haven’t seen his dagger collection this series. More to come.

Video of the History of the Creole Wild West

Spurs Get Stung

Notes up on SLAM. I don't think this thing is done, but there's nothing the Bees lack right now. The defense is crazy, Peja (my x-factor) is hitting threes and diving for loose balls, and CP3 looks possessed, even more than the previous 88 games. They win this and they've blown through the last 3 defending Western Conf. champs. The crowd is the greatest vent/pride session in town right now, with people standing for quarters at a time and tubas blasting in the street after the game. The Hugo fiasco aside, these games make us look pretty good. And that's no small thing.

Also, if you want daily Hornets news and you're not reading Hornets247.com, now you know.