The Long Black Line

At Jazzfest last month Spencer Bohren intro'ed his new song, The Long Black Line. It was one of those transendent moments when a crowd becomes one. We sat there in the Fairgrounds Paddock, utterly silent, as the music rolled over us. When the music stopped we sat there, stunned. Applause? Tears? How to respond?

Last night, as I was walking past Spencer's house, he & Marilyn were sitting in their car listening to the CD player. I guess if you have 8 visiting homeschoolers staying in your house while they work on their Katrina documentry & you want a little privacy, you move to the car.

But it's what was coming out of the speakers that brought me to a stop. The Long Black Line. The cd arrived yesterday from Germany.

Spencer is freely sharing this with those who want to -- who can -- listen. If you're from here, it won't be easy.

I've duped a low fidelity version. Click the image above to listen. If you want to hear it right, check http://www.spencerbohren.com/ often and order the CD when it comes out.

Enjoy, if that's the word.

A Disaster Timeline

Sunday the Times-Picayaune released a marvelous animated map of the flood sequence during Katrina. Going through the display, it's obvious our city and region could not have emerged from Katrina unscathed. Even without the MRGO "Hurricane Highway", the water would have been high enough to overtop the Plaquemines Parish levees, and probably those in New Orleans East. But the levee failures and poor design (Why was the embankment at the foot of the Orleans Avenue Canal 6 feet lower than the floodwalls on either side?) added immeasurably to the extent of the disaster.

This story would have been so much different if we had the protection we thought we did.

The Corps Dodges Again

"We will all be surprised," Dan Hitchings recently told a congressional committee, "when it is soon shown how much water poured into New Orleans before certain floodwalls collapsed."

It is no longer news when a Corps spokesman evades or denys responsibility for the Post-Katrina flooding disaster in New Orleans. But after Lt. General Carl Strock, Corps of Engineers Director, admitted that design errors caused at least some of the flooding, there was reason to hope they were moving on.

No such luck. Dan Hitchings is head of the Corps' civilian Task Force Guardian. He made the statement above at a Congressional hearing last week -- a statement immediately contradicted by two of the independant agencies investigating the disaster.

When we were children our parents taught us to admit our transgressions, accept our punishment and never do it again. Those in FEMA and the Corps could use some remedial training.