Mississippi PhotoBlog

All photos taken between July 23 and July 29, 2006

NOLA PhotoBlog

All photos taken July 27, 2006.

Mississippi Clean

Alright - I'm outta here. It's lookin' like we're going to try to bug out Friday nite, the 28th - puts us home Saturday evening the 29th. Will probably need a day or so to get back to speed.

So - no more blogging until after August 1.

Until then, wish us luck...thekeez

Friday Alphabetical Ten Seven - Weather Report

Hot 'n Nasty - Humble Pie

Hot Blooded - Foreigner

Hot for Teacher - Van Halen

Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone

Hot Love - Cheap Trick

Hot Pants Explosion - The B-52's

Hot Stuff - Donna Summer

Keep it clean green...

Rock group Pearl Jam has promised to donate $100,000 (£54,456) to several groups that focus on climate change, renewable energy and other environmental causes as part of an effort to offset carbon emissions the band churns out on tour.

Source

I'm thinking they're just trying to make nice with Al Gore after vocally supporting Nader in 2000. They'd luv to get a few opening gigs on the Al'apalooza tour...

Nonsense

The man who discovered Oasis, founded Creation records, and championed indie bands from My Bloody Valentine to Teenage Fanclub, has sounded the death knell for the single. Alan McGee said the format will soon be obsolete, unable to compete with the meteoric rise in downloading.

Source

What an idiot. The exact opposite is happening - we are entering a new era of the single. It's the album that's dead. People want to get exactly the songs they want - they don't want the filler. That's why downloaded is so popular. You bring up the band's songs, listen to samples of each, then download just those songs you like. No more buying a whole album for just one or two great songs.

I'm thinking bands will devolve back to their approach from the 60s. Rather than trying to come up with an entire album's worth of songs every year - they'll be recording three or four songs every six months or so - releasing them singly or in pairs.

Under the current model, the increased storage capability of the CD over the old vinyl album means that bands have to come up with 14 to 18 songs almost every 12 to 18 months. Most bands just don't have that much to say.

Embracing the classic singles approach, a band will only be coming up with six to eight songs a year - but released individually every six to eight weeks. They can concentrate on writing and producing great songs - and leave the filler behind.

Ask any Insufferable Music Snob - the golden age of any band that's been around since the 60s is going to be their time in the singles era. That's a good thing...

Keef!

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Keith Richards, lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones, has been promised a pardon for an old traffic offense -- courtesy of a fan, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Richards was fined $162.20 for reckless driving in 1975 after being stopped in tiny Fordyce, 70 miles south of Little Rock, between shows in Memphis and Dallas.

His car swerved when he tried to adjust the radio, Richards explained, but police said they smelled marijuana and took him and three others to jail. All were freed after a Stones lawyer posted bond, and Richards paid the fine by mail.

Source

The old "adjusting the radio" defence. Works every time...

Gonna be hot...

When I sign off Friday the 21st, I won't be back until Monday, July 31 or maybe even Tuesday, August 1. I'm off to Pass Christian, Mississippi for a Katrina relief gig. The Fam is going along with 11 other nutbars who thought it was a good idea to go do physical labor on the Gulf Coast in late July.

It's been quite awhile since the storm hit but from what we are hearing it is still awfully devastated down there...



We've been told that the beach has been cleaned up but you can't go in the water - several blocks of buildings were hit with 24 feet of water and then dragged out to sea. They don't know what kind of debris is off-shore.

This isn't their first horrific hurricane experience there in Pass Christian. In 1969, Hurricane Camille blasted into town a full-blown category 5...



Check out this before and after of The Richelieu Apartments...



This site spawned the infamous legend of the deadly Hurricane Party. The story goes that a whole mess of the residents ignored evacuation orders and stayed for a great big, raucus party on the third floor. By morning there was nuthin' left but the concrete slab. Only one person survived, washed inland into the woods. A certain TV movie from 1974 helped cement the legend...



There were people in the apartments, eight of them died, but the majority of them survived. And it wasn't hubris that led them to stay. The Richelieu was one of the newest buildings in town and a designated Civil Defense air raid shelter. The folks that stayed thought they were in the safest place around...



So we'll be on our way Saturday morning. Drive time is expected to be 16+ hours. We're pushing to get through Georgia and stop just over the line in Alabama on Saturday night. We'll be taking a side trip to New Orleans on next Wednesday. Won't be able to blog down there but will be shooting lotsa pics so I'll post some when I get back...