The City of New Orleans
Michelle Malkin, as usual, has plenty of links for those who want to follow the story of Hurricane Katrina as it passes over New Orleans. You can follow the story at the Times-Picayune weblog. Hog On Ice survived Katrina’s attack on Coral Gables, Florida, so he offers some sound advice.
Cradle of American popular music, New Orleans occupies a special lyrical and spiritual position in legend and history. From Storyville to Preservation Hall, New Orleans is all about jazz, prostitution, crime, stories… all the things that bring color and excitement to life. The Big Easy is a city of dreams and nightmares. I’ve been there numerous times, even once for Mardi Gras.
Even though I grew up just south of Chicago, I grew up on the stories and the music of New Orleans. The fabled City of New Orleans train runs on the Illinois Central line from the Big Easy to Chicago, as shown on the map to the right. Steve Goodman, a friend during my days at the University of Illinois, wrote the great “City of New Orleans” in 1972. Still worth listening to.
The great Chicago bluesmen made the trip from their home towns on the Mississippi Delta aboard the City of New Orleans. Louis Armstrong started his career in New Orleans, but his signature recordings with the Red Hots took place in Chicago. In my teens, I played in numerous Dixieland bands with guys in their 40s and 50s, veterans of the swing bands. Many of them gave up life on the road to teach music in the elementary and high schools. Dixieland is where it all started, in the 19th century in the Big Easy.
The House of the Rising Sun may be the most famous residence in the world. “Don’t you do what I have done,” probably serves as good advice for just about anybody who’s partied in New Orleans. My favorite Big Easy movie: “Angel Heart.” No other movie has quite captured the brooding evil and dark sexuality that lurks in the back alleys and brothels of the city.
Disaster is nothing new to New Orleans, so they’ll weather Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane will only add to the legend. I don’t mean to sound callous. I feel for those who will suffer and die. Prayer is all I can offer. Brace yourselves for a whole new era of songs, stories, fables and movies about the Crescent City. The city will rise out of the water again, the legend even more powerful than before.
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