Land of the Delta Blues, or the other LA

Dear trusty Englanders, I am completely overexcited about re-visiting New Orleans two years on. Back in May, 2005 I trooped it the hundreds of miles with my cohort of fellow Brits - 5 to an "SUV" - into the sweltering heat, edgy atmosphere and faded elegance of the Vieux Carré, the old French-Spanish quarter, home of Mardi Gras mania, Hurricane pints and live music to drown for...

This time it's different though. Catching CNN this morning in the "food court" of GW, I watched the strange sight of GoogleEarth floating over the destroyed wards of New Orleans, making the overwhelming point that little has changed. The houses are still flattened, families fled, the city poorer than it was two or ten years ago. So if you really want to bring it all back home to this wonderful European-American foolish-hearted city of delight and plug up the tiniest of holes in the levée, check out Bring New Orleans Back http://www.bringneworleansback.org/, the musicians fund at http://musicmakerstore.stores.yahoo.net/neworre.html and Spike Lee's requiem documentary When the Levées Broke http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/







The music will go on!