"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, in the land of the dreamy scenes, there's a garden of Eden, you know what I mean" - written by Henry Creamer and J. Turner Layton...
There were no dreamy scenes, no garden of Eden, just death and destruction one year ago when Katrina ripped apart the levees of New Orleans, flooding the city. There will be all kinds of tributes to "The Big Easy" today. Here in New York, Fordham University's WFUV is featuring the music of New Orleans all day. If you have the right software you'll be able to listen to their stream at www.wfuv.org/stream.html. There have been so many songs written about New Orleans ("Way Down Yonder...", "Walking To New Orleans", "The City of New Orleans", "Do You Know The Way To New Orleans", etc.) that it promises to be quite a treat At the moment they're playing mostly music from New Orleans musicians post-Katrina but hopefully that will change to include some of the earlier songs listed...
According to the latest reports of the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and gulf coast cities destroyed by the Hurricane, it's a slow process. Can they withstand another devastating storm ? That remains to be seen. It depends on who you listen to. You won't want to be listening to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin who's off his noggin' (a future campaign slogan ?). On "60 Minutes" it was Nagin who criticized rebuilding efforts at New York's ground zero: "You guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed and it's 5 years later. So let's be fair". Nagin did acknowledge that his comments could have been interpreted as insensitive but refuses to apologize...
The idiocy of Nagin aside, the world is hopeful that New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast cities will in time, recover fully. We can only hope so...
Ten Timeline Memories...
(01) [1886] In New York City, Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang's chef invents chop suey (what exactly do they put in that stuff ?)...
(02) [1892] Pop (Billy) Shriver of the Chicago Cubs catches a ball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument (it takes several days to extract Shriver who can only be seen from the neck up)...
(03) [1958] George Harrison joins John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a member of the Quarrymen...
(04) [1965] 75-year old Met manager Casey Stengel retires after a 56-year career...
(05) [1966] The Beatles play their last U.S. date in the U.S. at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. They made another appearance at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on the same date 2 years earlier in 1964...
(06) [1967] The last episode of "The Fugitive" draws 72% of the TV audience as Dr. Richard Kimble is freed in a wild water tower chase where Lt. Philip Gerard kills the one-armed guy who was about to kill Kimble. A witness agrees to testify that the one-armed dude killed the good doctor's wife Helen, not Kimble...
(07) [1977] 3 people are arrested for trying to steal Elvis Presley's body (which would have made Elvis a nobody)...
(08) [1977] Lou Brock breaks Ty Cobb's 49-year stolen base record with his 893rd swipe...
(09) [1982] Swedish film star Ingrid Bergman dies on her 67th birthday after a long battle with breast cancer...
(10) [2002] Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel is sentenced to 20 years-to-life for bludgeoning his then teenage neighbor in 1977, Martha Moxley (Skakel's attorney has filed another appeal in July to go before the Supreme Court to free him on a statute of limitations)...
#1 on this date: 1971] Paul McCartney with "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"...1982] "Abracadabra" - Steve Miller...
Released on this date: 1964] "Oh, Pretty Woman" - Roy Orbison...1970] "Lola" - The Kinks...
Movie Premiere: 1964] "Mary Poppins"...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
E-mails...
Nice to hear from Pete Bennett who mentions that he was at both Forest Hills Beatles' shows with Murray the K. Pete was with the Beatles from day 1 in 1964...
Gordy Brown who remembers meeting the now 81-year old Billy Grammer in Nashville many years ago and says he was a great guy. I never had the pleasure but I'm sure he is...
And Mickey Gensler who'd like us to do a "good guys" list. Mickey means good people not the WMCA Good Guys, who are also good "people". It's something to think about. By the way, on Mickey's list is:Gladys Knight, Carly Simon, Kool & The Gang's Robert Bell, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and DJ Fred Buggs...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Rebecca DeMornay (44), Michael Jackson (48), Robin Leach (65), Elliott Gould (68), Senator John McCain (70) and Richard Attenborough (83)...
[Timeline Countdown: 7 days until Labor Day, 11 days until NFL countdown, 36 days until MLB playoffs, 124 days left in 2006 and The Mets Magic # is: 18]
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