A Thanksgiving tour of devastated New Orleans

We're in New Orleans for Thanksgiving and yesterday took a tour of the devastated 9th District and areas east of town near the levees. I'm like many Americans, I suppose, in that I had largely put the plight of New Orleans residents of out my mind two years after Hurricane Katrina. However, the extent of the damage here snapped me back to reality. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Even those that did survive are so badly riddled with mold that it's unlikely they can be repaired. Our hosts told us that hundreds of thousands of people have left the area, most never to return. Many of these people are lifetime residents who never conceived of having to flee and put down roots somewhere else.

There are signs of hope. Rebuilding is going on all over the city and some of the wealthier neighborhoods near the breached levees look almost back to normal. The highlight of our visit was stopping by Musicians' Village, a complex of 70 homes being erected by Habitat for Humanity with the help of musicians Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. About 20 homes have been built and residents are moving in.

We ran into drummer Bob French, leader of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band and a local legend of sorts. We rapped with him for nearly an hour on the porch of his new home in Musicians' Village. He told us about the resilience of the New Orleans musician community and the many local jazz legends who are now his neighbors. He gave us an armload of his CDs and invited us to come hear his band as his guest next time we're in New Orleans. You can bet we will.

Here are a few photos I took on our tour. You can see more on my Flickr album. For background on the story, see this excellent flash video by the Times-Picayune newspaper. Happy Thanksgiving.

The ASPCA scoured the territory, marking homes where live animals were found so the pets could be fed and sheltered.

This boat came to a rest in a tire store parking lot two years ago and hasn't been moved since.

Many people are living in trailers outside their devastated homes.

One family that returned to its shattered home scrawled a message of hope on the door.

The high-water line was still visible on the inside of this shattered home; it was about a foot over my head.

Signs of hope: some of the brightly colored new homes built by Habitat for Humanity.

Harry concert

The modern crooner and my musical hero for about 15 years now, the cure for every bad mood if you want one and the perpetuator of sullenness if you so desire, held concert in Providence last night with his Big Band. My love bought us tickets. We went, we heard, we laughed at his stories and his audience banter (he's funny on top of it all!), we tapped along to his New Orleans bluesy jazz and we left, a bit too soon for our taste.

Harry was a mixed bag. It was amazing to see him in person (we waited over 1/2 an hour after the show to get an autograph and I talked to him), but his 90 minutes of music was a bit short and he played only the stuff from the new album except for 2 or 3 songs, so that was mildly disappointing -- that he didn't dig deeper into his bag of tricks and/or get the crowd more into the show by playing just a tasting of his hits. Still, his band was great, his voice was just pure and amazing and it really was a thrill to see him.

What did I say to him? Here's the convo:

Me: Hi, Harry. I'm Dana and this is my fiance, Paul. Is there any chance at all you'd be able to sing at our wedding?
Harry: Sorry, I don't do weddings. But thanks for asking me!
Me: Eh! It was worth a shot! Thanks!

He seemed genuinely grateful that I asked. Paul and I thought it'd be worth it even if we had to pay a boatload, although we kinda know he's not the kind of artist who'd be in it for the dough.

So here's an idea for Harry and his publicists: Do a wedding a year. Get back to the small-audience, do-it-for-love, albums upon albums worth of love songs that you're most known (and let's face it, loved) for. Charge whatever you want and have that price be public. Also provide available dates, so that the contest can work around your schedule. Have some sort of contest (essay? photo?) and run the entries on your Web site so that your fans (or members of your fan club, if you want to herd people into joining) have to prove themselves worthy. Pick the best story each year and make someone's dream come true.

As for our wedding, no worries... Harry's voice will be there even if Harry himself isn't. Our playlist will be heavily peppered with him.