NOLA Musicians Relief Fund T-shirts Available

Preservation Hall and the Musicians Relief Fund are selling t-shirts to help raise money for displaced musicians. "Do you know what it means..." is printed on the front, "New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund" is on the back. If you don't know what it means, the last half of that is ..."to miss New Orleans."

The Musicians Relief Fund was created to help musicians on every level, from the local street players, to those musicians who gig out of town. A lot of NOLA musicians lost all or most of their instruments and equipment, so they need help so they can start working again.

Please visit the web sites, make a donation if you can, or just read about the relief work going on in the music community. Another place to visit for news about New Orleans bands is New Orleans Bands.net. Also New Orleans Music Resources where there is an incredible list of links for relief efforts compiled. Tipitina's has a very detailed list of musicians and what they are in need of in the way of equipment, gigs, and even clothing.

Put Yer Money Where Your Cowboy Mouth Is

Well, here's the first of a series of blog entries about hurricane relief efforts.....

Having found themselves unable to return home, New Orleans-based rockers Cowboy Mouth are staying on the road to help their city recover.
The band's Take Me Back To New Orleans Tour - named after their signature show-closing anthem - stretches across 10 states, heading out to California and back to wrap near home in Baton Rouge, La., November 25.
Funds raised at the shows will go to the newly established Cowboy Mouth Hurricane Relief Fund, a 501(c)3 relief organization.
The Southern Comfort company, which shares Cowboy Mouth's New Orleans roots, is sponsoring the tour and the band's "home on wheels" tour bus.
"So many of our friends, families and fans lost their homes, not to mention their livelihoods, so we are very fortunate in that we can continue on with a portion of our lives, which is playing music, being positive and making people feel good," drummer/lead singer Fred LeBlanc said.
"That's our mission," he continued, "and right now people in New Orleans and all across the Gulf Coast need as much positive support as possible, even if it's from a stage across the country."
In another unfortunate blow, the band had to cancel several concerts and a September 25 NFL appearance due to the death of lead guitarist/vocalist John Thomas Griffith's mother. The tour is to resume September 29 in Hernando, Miss.

Support New Orleans musicians - go see a show!!!

"You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie"

Judy is now in Gulfport helping her family cope with the disaster. The people down there are amazing. Through it all they look to the future while standing in the ruins of today, many with a look of determination to overcome no matter what. They've been through it before. It's the price you pay for living in a coastal region.

It's been a rough road around the studio the past few weeks. A crushing workload, computer headaches and in the middle of it all, Katrina. I'm amazed I'm still sane at this point. I'm thankful for the all the work, don't get me wrong, but the circumstances I've had to work around has made it, let's say, interesting. Laying awake at night worrying about friends and family, plus work, and then there is may total distaste for the US government right now and some opinions of the American people.

I'm not going to rant about the people saying "They shouldn't live there. They are stupid not to move knowing this could happen". The Gulf area brings in over 25% of our oil and the major portion of our natural gas. It also supplies a great deal of produce, shrimp, bananas and other imports from South America and around the world. These industries require a work force, those workers have families, and they have families...Get the picture. They got to live somewhere.

An earthquake could wipe San Francisco off the face of the map and I don't see anyone telling Silicon Valley to move or calling them stupid. I guess they figure they are smarter than the people who live there, that they know better...Oh well.

Does the government really care about my welfare?".

No, the Federal Government is clueless about anything but staying in office and maintaining control, They don't care. We only have each other and unfortunately "We the People" are not the government any more. We must learn to respect each others rights and take care of our communities or we as a society will fail. The people always survive, it's the governments that always fail and pass into history as a footnote.

My faith in the government is non-existent. After the past few weeks, I don't think it will be that easy to reestablish anytime in the future.

As a small businessman, I am taxed to death. I would like those taxes I pay to at least be used to make me feel secure in the knowledge that if a disaster strikes and people need help, that help would come when they need it most. That the basics of life would be provided, if only for a short time, so they can once again get back to normal life. Instead I see greedy politicians spending your and my hard earned money, lining their pockets with it like it was their own.

GW Bush and company has increased the size of the Federal Government and Government spending to levels that this country has not seen since WWII. This is the party of "Small Government"? Clinton (and I'm no fan of Clinton) was supposed to be from the Big Government party, but it's a fact he left office with a fiscal surplus. That was spent and exceeded in the first 3 years of Bush's administration, supposedly to "keep us safer". Now the country is in deep debt and crawling in deeper every day.

I only have one question...Do you feel safer?

I don't. Not by a long shot.

Remember, we only have each other. Please become involved in making a change in this country. Your very life may depend on it. Don't believe me? Look no futher than the past few weeks.

Rogue's Gallery

The picture speaks for itself. Found it on the net and thought I would share.
Perfect, just Purrrrrrfect.

18th High Times Cannabis Cup Art

Here is the final version of the Cannabis Cup art. Posters will be available at the Cup and from DCS after the event. Judy and I will be at the Cup this year. Drop by and say "High"!

And the "Blame Game" Begins.....

It has been a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, leveled New Orleans and left hundreds of thousands of Americans homeless. We saw the best of America during that time䴊millions of people stepped forward to offer help. Meanwhile, the Bush administration failed at their most important job: keeping America safe. The federal effort was too little, too late and it is now becoming obvious that hundreds or even thousands of people died as a result.

Then, starting Friday, in a Karl Rove-led campaign, the White House started to blame state and local officials and even the victims who were stranded without transportation when the Hurricane arrived.

It is important that the Bush administration not get away with shifting their responsibility to local officials. Here is what actually happened.

Timeline:

Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance.

Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved.

Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be "uninhabitable" after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper.

Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site.

Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor's earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news.

Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in "medieval" conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies.

Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a "Desperate SOS" to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing.

Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials䴊despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op䴊diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president's visit and White House press corps.

Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help.

Monday, Sept. 5: New Orleans officials begin to collect their dead.

(Adapted from: Katrina Timeline, http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/ )

Those are the facts. State and local officials BEGGED for help as people in their city suffered. The Bush administration didn't get the job done and when their failure became an embarrassment they attacked those asking for help.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Karl Rove and White House communications director Dan Bartlett "rolled out a plan...to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina." The core of the strategy is "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana."

This is the same pattern of smearing that the Bush political machine has used for a decade. John McCain and John Kerry had their war records smeared. The CIA cover of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was blown after he criticized the Bush Iraq policy. Now, Hurricane victims are attacked when the Bush administration failed to do their duty to help them.

It isn't just the Bush administration. Republican Senator Rick Santorum blamed victims in a TV interview and House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested New Orleans should not be rebuilt.

It's time to start asking questions, folks.

Don't Forget Our Furry Friends!

As pet owners (5 cats, 3 dogs), Jeff and I cannot imagine what pet owners who are being told they cannot evacuate with their pets are going through.

Here are some links gathered by the SamoanLawyer to assist our furry friends:

Humane Society US
Katrina Found Pets
Noah's Wish

Getting Food and Supplies Directly to the People

Donate to Conscious Alliance

Conscious Alliance's Executive Director, Justin Baker, and one of CA's Board members are taking matters into their own hands and flying to Texas to help the Houston Food Bank with their hurricane relief efforts.

Over the course of the last week, Conscious Alliance has secured initial donations of $10,000, made arrangements with the national office of America's Second Harvest Food Bank, the Houston Food Bank and Costco managers in Houston, and secured a Penske truck with which they will purchase and deliver pallets of food to support the refugees arriving from the Superdome.

Financial donations are generally the best form of donations for hurricane victims, but at this time, packaged, ready-to-eat foods, bottled water, and toiletries are urgently needed. Conscious Alliance will be renting trucks to purchase food in bulk from Costco and traveling between Costco and the Food Bank until the Conscious Alliance Hurricane Relief funds runs dry.

Given the urgency of the matter, it is best to donate online through their secure, easy-to-use, PayPal account. Donation tax receipts will be provided.

Conscious Alliance is well known in the Jam Band community for their efforts to help people in this country who are in need. They are at every major concert and festival collecting can goods iin exchange for posters that have been created by artists who donate the art, Living Tree Paper who donates the paper, and the printer (whose name I do not know) who donates the printing. They have been taking food into Pine Ridge Reservation and other impoverished areas for years.

The director, Justin Baker, is a man I am proud to call a friend. He and his brother, Evan, and the other members of the org personally drive the trucks of food directly to the people who need it the most.

Every single dime received by Conscious Alliance will go to the people. Specifically, the evacuees being housed in Houston.

If you are wary of blindly sending donations to orgs you don't know whether will be used properly, then please consider Conscious Alliance. Justin has an uncanny ability to cut through the red tape and get direct access to the people in need.

In This Land We Grew Up Proud....

Keith Olbermann Tells It Like It Is

Well, this isn't a post about Peter Gabriel, but the line seemed to fit.

It's been over a week since Katrina hit, and yet we are still waiting to see when and if FEMA, the Red Cross, and the other agencies of the federal government are ever going to get their collective shit together. Amidst reports from volunteers who have been turned away when they showed up with boats, food, and other supplies, one has to wonder exactly what the hell is going on down there in South Louisiana.

There are people STILL in need of assistance, and rescuing, yet the volunteers are being turned away?

Anyway, the link above is to the first commentary that seems to cover all the bases and say what I have been trying to say for over 4 days once I realized that the help for many still stranded would not arrive in time to do more than bag the bodies.

If you cannot watch the video, then here is the transcript.

It's time to staert asking some very serious questions, folks.

A Can't-Do Government - New York Times

A Can't-Do Government - New York Times

This article pretty much sums it up for me.

Drowning Creek Katrina Relief Auctions

DCS will be digging in the archives and collecting memorabilia from our clients for an auction to raise relief money for The people of the Gulf Coast.

Most of you know of Judy's very close family connections to the area. The Gulf Coast has a very special place in our hearts.

We want to do anything we can to help people who have lost it all.

As we acquire items a list will be posted online. I will be digging some CHOICE items from my personal collection.

Items that will be auctioned off at present include:

Uncut remarqued sheet of prints from the 2003 Trey Spring Summer Tour

1 remarqued A/P from the 2004 PHISH Camden poster

1 remarqued A/P from the 2004 PHISH Great Woods poster

1 remarqued A/P from the 2004 PHISH SPAC poster

1 remarqued A/P Allman Bros Band 35th Anniversary Tour poster

1 remarqued Black Crowes/Oasis Brotherly Love Camden poster

1 signed Jimi Hendrix Giclee

a couple of poster lots, blotter lots, giclees

and to more to come.

Bid often...Bid generous.

An announcement on all items and auction dates will be made as soon as we start to fill in the details.