9/30/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (9/27/06)

• Iraq War Veteran Plans A Protest Walk Across Utah, the Reddest State in the Country
• An Interfaith Discussion On War and Fundamentalism
• Ward Churchill Defends His Academic Record & Vows to Fight to Keep His Job at University of Colorado

Professor Longhair, "Hey Now Baby," New Orleans Piano, Atlantic (lp).

The Maple Leaf Re-Opening (re-broadcast)

The Maple Leaf Bar is celebrating the one-year anniversary today of its first post-Katrina re-opening last year. Despite the devastation of much of the city, curfews, the lack of electricity and the terror of pitch black streets, a slice of New Orleans culture was resurrected just a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina. Guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington drove all the way down from Ohio for the occasion. It was an act of defiance against hopelessness.

Allen Toussaint, "Whirlaway," New Orleans Rhythm 'n Blues, Krazy Kat (lp).

Brocato Love

There was a line out the door all day as residents who waited for over a year to get their favorite Italian ice or cannoli from Angelo Brocato's showed their support for a one-hundred-year-old family and neighborhood tradition.


Fresh gelato served up in brand new freezer cases.


Arthur (a grandson of the patriarch) and his wife Jolie Brocato greeted customers throughout the day.


Specialty Italian cookies lovingly made by hand are again available in New Orleans.


There was a line out the door all day.






Angelo Brocato, III (another of the patriarch's grandsons).

Related:

Angelo Brocato's is Back!

9/23/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (9/20/06)

• UN General Assembly Hears Bush, Ahmadinejad Trade Criticism
• Thai Military Leaders Stage Military Coup
• Why Did the FCC Bury Studies on Media Consolidation?
• One Day After Complete Exoneration, Maher Arar Yet to Receive Apology From Canada, US for Year-Long Imprisonment, Torture in Syrian Jail

Terence Blanchard, "Over There," Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert, Blue Note, 2005.

Angelo Brocato's is Back!

Angelo Brocato's Ice Cream & Confectionary (214 N. Carrollton Ave. @ Canal St.), is re-opening today for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

Angelo Brocato was born in Cefalu on the northern coast of Sicily in 1875. After helping to support his mother and siblings working in the finest gelaterias in Palermo, Angelo emigrated to the United States. He worked on a sugarcane plantation in Donaldsonville before opening his own gelateria in the French Quarter, which, by 1905, had become another Little Italy.

The business found a new home on Carrollton Avenue a little over twenty years ago in the Mid City neighborhood where a third generation continued to lovingly create hand-made Italian cookies and ice cream.

Brocato’s is a landmark in the cultural geography of the city, not just because of the fresh cannoli, biscotti, and gelato, but because generations of New Orleanians have made the shop a regular destination for their families, dated their future spouses there, and running into friends waiting in line is a common occurrence. New Orleans and the Brocatos have grown up together.

In 2005, the Brocato family celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the business the family patriarch started. Just a month later, however, Hurricane Katrina delivered a blow that almost destroyed the family business. Five feet of floodwater inundated the shop.

Some friends of the family said they couldn’t return to New Orleans without Angelo Brocato’s, but New Orleanians are tough people. Just as his grandfather did almost a hundred years earlier, Arthur Brocato and his wife, Jolie, joined brother Angelo, and the rest of the Brocato family, to rebuild the business from scratch.

Some of the equipment was restored, and original handwritten recipes were salvaged.

The Brocato family invites friends and neighbors to celebrate the re-opening of an iconic New Orleans establishment.



Angelo Brocato


Angelo Brocato, and sons, Angelo, Jr., Joe, and Roy.




Angelo Brocato's, after the floodwater receded.

Here's another good photo showing what the shop looked like, with the sign on the sidewalk, shortly after the floodwater receded.


A new batch of specialty Italian cookies on new shelves.


Shiny new cases for gelato and pastries.


The old cappucino machine was restored.


Jolie and Arthur Brocato are ready for their friends and neighbors to return.

Related:

Rhonda Finley, "Going To Brocato's For Ice Cream," Emerils.com.

Brett Anderson, "The Ice Cream Cometh," The Times-Picayune, 6/16/2006.

Judy Walker, "Battered, not beaten," The Times-Picayune, 3/16/2006.

"Brocato's sets sights on July," The Times-Picayune, 6/16/2006.

Judy Walker, "A scoop of history," The Times-Picayune, 7/28/2005.

Kathryn Jezer-Morton, "Brocato's to reopen famed N.O. gelato shop," City Business, 9/07/2006.

BizNewOrleans, Arthur Brocato interview, 7/20/2005.

Slow Food USA, Terra Madre Katrina Relief Fund to Benefit Gulf Region Food Producers.

Angelo Brocato New Orleans Traditional Sicilian Cookies - Cuicidatti & Biscotti Regina, Slow Food USA.

2005 eGullet Society review.

NPR -- Owners Debate Fate of Century-Old Bakery.

Ian McNulty, "Rising Above," Gambit Weekly, 12/6/2005.

La Spiga Bakery.

Ron Scherer, "A long road to reopen New Orleans companies," Christian Science Monitor, 12/2/2005.

Fred Buscaglione, "Juke Box," Italian Cafe, Putumayo, 2005.

In the Brown Zone with Mother Cabrini

A reading by Mark Folse, from Wet Bank Guide.

On Monday, the New Orleans Saints will play their first at-home game since Hurricane Katrina. They'll be playing to a sold-out Superdome -- which was in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the scene of so much despair. The Superdome was designed by the Curtis & Davis architectural firm. It was there that Sydney J. Folse designed such unique New Orleans structures as the Rivergate, and Mother Cabrini Church. His son, Mark Folse, was a journalist for many years in New Orleans before moving to Fargo, North Dakota. After Hurricane Katrina, he returned to New Orleans, and now offers thoughtful essays on post-Katrina New Orleans at Wet Bank Guide. He reflected on his father's architecture in a late June post.

Johnny Cash, "Love's Been Good to Me," American V, American Recordings, 2006.

Ernie K-Doe, "Come on Home," All These Things, Bandy 70007.

9/16/2006 Community Gumbo

The Big Easy Roller Girls: Through Hell and High Water (7/29/06 re-broadcast)

In New Orleans, the post-Katrina resurrection of roller derby represents more than just a triumph for the sport. It’s an unexpected sign of the rebirth of a city still marked by a dirty floodwater bathtub ring, and it’s a powerful, tangible symbol of the gritty spirit of her people as they rebuild their lives and their homes.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Related:

The Big Easy Roller Girls

Skater profiles:


First bout:


Sin City Skates

Tulane New Wave -- Big Easy Rollergirls Ready for Prime Time

PGR -- Photos: Big Easy Roller Girls first bout

9/09/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (9/08/06)

• New Yorkers Tell Federal Officials To Stop Ignoring 9/11's Health Effects
• Civilian Casualties, Civilian Solutions: Family Members of 9/11 Victims Spearhead Movement Against War and Violence
• Satyagraha 100 Years Later: Gandhi Launches Modern Non-Violent Resistance Movement on Sept. 11, 1906

The Arabi Wrecking Krewe

New Orleans code enforcement officials posted over 3,000 notices on New Orleans buildings that haven’t been gutted according to a September 8th Times-Picayune story. The City Council set an August 29th deadline for property owners to clean up their flood damaged buildings and lots, or face fines and property confiscation.

The Arabi Wrecking Krewe was formed to help New Orleans musicians fix their storm- and flood-damaged homes.

Louisiana bloggers helped gut Cora Foster's house as an activity associated with the Rising Tide conference. They include Ray of Ray in New Orleans, Oyster of Your Right Hand Thief, Scout Prime of First Draft, Karen of Northwest Carrollton, and Schroeder of People Get Ready (am I missing anyone bloggers?).

Arabi Wrecking Krewe volunteers

This is additional interview material not used in the longer feature. Heard in this interview is a New Orleans blogger from Madison, Wisconsin, scout_prime.

Ms. Regina drove 1300 miles from Michigan, where she was displaced with her mother and sister after Hurricane Katrina, to try to do something with their mother's house.


Ms. Regina wore Virgin Mary and St. Jude pins on her blouse.


Ms. Regina's sister, Sondra.


Cora Foster's Hollygrove house was flooded to the ceiling when the New Orleans levees failed.


A ramp for wheelbarrows fashioned out of a sign and the damaged dining room table.


A warning to rescuers about the neighbor's dog.


Arabi Wrecking Krewe volunteer Richard Stevens removing debris from Cora Foster's house.


A common sight inside flooded homes -- furniture floated around inside the house for weeks, finally coming to rest in a pile.


The house is so damaged that it will have to be bulldozed.


The refrigerator (and everything contained therein for almost a year) was quickly moved out onto the street.








Ms. Regina goes through her family's flood-damaged possessions to salvage what she can.


Ms. Regina's son was an NCAA champion.


The hummingbird music box salvaged from the flooded house was rusty, but still played.


Part of the coin collection once hidden by Mrs. Foster inside the house.


The Virgin Mary and St. Jude statues which stood in front of the house.


Arabi Wrecking Krewe volunteers from as far away as Chicago, and Germany take a break.


Shade is a welcome relief under the hot August sun.


Arabi Wrecking Krewe organizer Brian West is also a Jefferson Parish firefighter who performed rescue operations in the Hollygrove neighborhood when it flooded. Also a talented musician, West is pictured here with a flood-damaged cornet salvaged from Leroy Jone's house.




Removing the house numbers to be used on the new house when it's built.


The Archangel Michael, protector, salvaged from the house and left on the porch.


Neighbors catching up on news, stand alongside an exceptionally low-lying section of the 17th Street Canal.


A pumping station.




Covered sandbags stacked at the Jefferson Parish line. Jefferson Parish flooded at Airline Highway from the Orleans side of the 17th Street Canal (pictured here).

Related:

People Get Ready -- New Orleans, 1 A.K.