a bit of hurricane post-script by je

photo by Clay Franks

So today, we’re posted up in Memphis, TN, because back home, shit’s still grimy as hell. Only about 2% of the city has power, so the city is pitch black at night. They put in effect an 8pm curfew, giving them free range to lock anyone they can catch up. Border patrol is everywhere, and it looks like my hood is about to get hit up on that tip.  

The city is largely thrashed up.  Most of my friends and family have trees down in-front-of or IN their houses. Lots of ripped up roofs, felled traffic signs and power lines and the weirdest thing about it all is how no one across the country knows about how badly the city was hit and how many people were actually affected by it. Georgia Bush stopped through to survey the damage, though. He hopped off the plane at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport and looked around and declared it a disaster area and left without actually making it to any of the sites where evacuees were being housed or where the storm was gnarliest. On second thought, it isn’t the least bit surprising that the rest of the country has no clue what’s going on in one of its largest port cities when the shining Knight of the White Camelia can’t even be bothered to leave the fucking airport to see what’s really up.

Tour of My Nieghborhood from jon rogers on Vimeo.

Also, one of the guys over at TBC (http://www.tbcparty.com) got some pretty telling footage of our city and some of our neighborhoods.

September 5, 2008 at 2:35 pm / One comment / View je's Profile /

What We Got. (From Baton Rouge, Louisiana) by je

[Communicated via iPhone]

Cans of red beans
Cans of black beans
Jugs of water
Plum wine
A pack of beedies
White wine
Smoke
Cheap champagne
Rice
A bottle of makers mark
Pasta
Tomato sauce
Canned tomatoes
Veggie burgers
Beer
White bread (we ate all the wheat)

We’ve been up drinking since about 7am. Other than that, we’re just kickin it, playing guitar. We just lost power here, but the storm hasn’t gotten too too bad yet. Branches are starting to break off of trees as the wind gets more intense. Our buddies at Klsu (http://www.Klsu.fm/) lost power, too, and are flooded in the basement.

There are tornadoes all around. We can hear them. They sound like airplanes going overhead or like a train going by. That’s about the only immediate threat to this parish, as we wait for the eye to get closer.

Shit’s consistently getting slammed into the house, but we boarded up the windows.
Tonight, we’ll probably cook some beans and rice.

Stay up fam!
Je d’Horatio Toussaint-Baptiste

September 1, 2008 at 7:32 pm / No comments / View je's Profile /

Quick Words From a Louisiana Maroon by je

so, there’s a big water coming this way in a day or so. this taste isn’t anything new, but it’s way more personal and vivid than it even was three years ago. last time, the levees were a city away. this time, the levee is less than a mile from where i sleep, make music, fuck, buy smoke, and even drink coffee. shit’s too close to my hood, just like it was too close three years ago; less than 2 miles from the house i grew up in. swallowing the thought of possibly losing everything that i’ve known, only too soon after finally appreciating it. 

as for me, since 2 hours of rain leaves my block in shin-deep water, i’ll probably move my half-stack and music gear, records, into my car and leave it at my parent’s house. i don’t yet know where i’ll be sleeping, b/c the more i think about it, my building is too old and rigid to withstand any sort of serious structural damage. if shit pops off too wildlike down here, i might spring up in one of a couple locations.  we’ll see.

August 31, 2008 at 11:57 am / One comment / View je's Profile /