posters, etc.

some of the posters and flyers i've put together for common ground relief.

photos from meg's garden

this is the crowning achievement of common ground's meg perry healthy soil project. a large portion of it is being turned into a CSA while another section will be a general community garden and a few beds will be overseen by common ground. there's some concern about the original owner paying back-taxes and reclaiming the property. but there's action being taken that will hopefully preserve its place in the community.

brad pitt 4 u

just met brad pitt and bill clinton. i'm encasing my shaking-hand in bronze. brad said, "hi," and "thanks for all your work." to which i replied, "no, thank you!" We are so close, we're like conjoined twins now. and bill really liked my shirt. he said, "heh heh... vampire. that's good."

two of a set of commongroundus mascotus kittenus

ki(10)z!¡¡!¡!!

Tyler and his bikes; Nutmeg is sunshine; Tallie McOneball looks over his broken bike with Tyler

a kiln at the kiln and pottery expo

Chicken Box don't lie

People overlooking the levee at the kiln and pottery expo by the Industrial Canal

today, i found an old minolta camera with a telephoto lens in the old distribution house. i have no idea if it has film in it or if it even works at all, but i've been pretending like it does. i also found a canon eos, but it needs a battery or two, which i don't have in my possession. if i can find a place that actually sells batteries and film (whatever that is...) maybe i'll try using a real camera for once. i've gotta figure out how to open up that minolta first though.

apparently built to spill played a benefit gig for common ground last night. i mean, i know they did--i was there--but no one seemed to know about it until like the day before. the set was mediocre... like day old bread. they did play the longest, and possibly worst, encore ever. 20 minutes of white noise.

business at CGR keeps bouncing along ever so uncontrollably. yesterday there was massive confusion about how many volunteers were to be apportioned for each project, and Zeke (the co-head of the megan perry healthy soil project) got the fantods.

i've managed to pretty much stay away from the spring break-y bullshit and have been trying to garner my own pet projects. over the following couple of weeks i oughtta be building a couple of desks and helping set up the LAN in the new office suites along with my general helping hand to the bioremediation and gardening projects. Additional avoidance of spring breakness included moving out of the short-term volunteer housing and into "yellow brick," the house reserved for long-termers. we've got a room with extra-long bunks designated specifically for tall volunteers. you must be at least six feet tall to ride that ride. the morning was spent raising the top bunks higher so the people on the bottom bunks wouldn't wack their noggins so often. it seems like everyone can now sit up in bed. the real upside to the move is that we only have four people in our room as opposed to six. the downside is that we no longer have enough mattresses to go around, so i'm now sleeping on my camping mat. the upside to that is that my camping mat is actually pretty comfortable.

oh yeah, and we have bicycles now.

second line

it's a tradition here that when an established musician dies the
members of his band lead a parade in his honor and the crowd follows
behind.

i'm fairly certain when my mom told me not to ruin my dinner she
meant, "do not eat a pint of cherry garcia in a 10 minute span." i
will confirm this when dinner is served.

my favorite slasher porno

morning brought a meeting with theo, a woman heading up an organization called replant new orleans, which is doing exactly what the name describes--planting trees and creating a system of compost remediation to help clean up the city's soil. another common grounder and i will help her out for an earth day event that will involve planting up to 525 trees. winn dixie, the regional super market chain, is sponsoring the event and we'll get all the publicity that goes along with it as they try and establish themselves and an environmentally friendly corporation.

after lunch i got sent on an emergency mission to an alternative media convention, the theory being that it would be about media trends and strategies for independent media outlets. while it was an alternative media convention, it was alternative in the dyed-hair and nose-piercing sense and the media included comics, films, and arts and crafts. there was a showing of goregasm, a slasher porn movie featuring everyone's favorite serial murderer, penis-face. the two of us who went there bailed and headed to cafe du monde for some free beignets and coffee (free if you table them).

tomorrow may bring some soil testing.

keepin' it weird.

onwards, to austin!

"This is the most magnificent discarded living room set I have ever seen"

Sunday is an idle day here at Common Ground, which I believe is welcomed by many after a week of some strenuous manual labor and some psychological battles (some of which are ongoing--and it should be noted that these are not my battles), and of course, Mardi Gras, that day of overblown hedonistic festivity that couldn't possibly live up to its reputation and yet somehow in the lack of recollection of so many, can't not be as amazing it's supposed to be. Work did stop for Mardi Gras, and virtually everyone at Common Ground went out to the parades--the Zulu parade seemed to be the biggest draw, featuring not just your standard beads and plastic cups being artlessly strewn about, but also coconuts. What made the parade truly memorable to me was that about half of the participants were in black face. All that revelry with a legacy of racism staring us in the face. These were black people in black face too. I'm unsure what to make of it all.

My past two days were largely spent working on a powerpoint presentation for VIP-types who came for the grand opening of 1800 Deslonde Street (what will be offices for Common Ground's legal, tech, and bioremediation services) and then also helping break soil in preparation for a rose garden outside of 1800. The whole event was put together in two days, which is a remarkably short time considering it featured multiple musical acts and free food for a crowd of about 100. It was minor miracle. I was approached to create a flyer for it on Wednesday evening, we had it printed and ready to be distributed by late Thursday morning. Until I started work on the flyer the administrative director didn't know the party was happening. Organizational troubles persist.

To keep things light, games of chess are abundant and there were a couple evening viewings of Ratatouille and Juno.

you're shorter than you think you are

lined up for the zulu parade

foxy throws rocks at the cameraman

sunset obscured

where deslonde street runs into the north claiborne bridge

NOLA photos

Walgreens, Canal Street

Absinthe poster by Ron English

Café Du Monde serves up the beignets

eviscerated shops support Georges for Gov'na!

Claiborne Avenue Bridge, Day

Keith Calhoun


the neighborhood


Claiborne Avenue Bridge, Sunset


Levee, Lower 9th Ward

after the tornado warnings

today the sun was shining and the wind was blowing down on deslonde street. woken by a fellow bunker's early morning calisthenics, i lazed about on the mattress (luxury!) in the top bunk of a bed in a house that will eventually hold offices for common ground's bioremediation project, free legal advice for residents dicked over by contractors, and other useful community programs. after about a half hour, i managed to peel myself out of bed and jogged down to the kitchen house to get started on my dish washing duties for the morning. around 8:30 we had our morning meeting and then split off into our different work groups. today i was with zeke and nutmeg doing some gardening work. we prepped a spot for for the pink project to come in and plant some roses next to 1800 deslonde and then headed off to meg's garden where we set up some beds and planted some broccoli, carrots, leeks, turnips, and sunflowers among a couple other plant-y items.

the afternoon was less busy, but i managed to drop a bunch of doughnuts off at lowernine.org. some woman apparently brings a large box full of sugary baked goods to common ground every few days. our capacity to consume them is outweighed by their numbers. maybe one day lowernine will bring common ground something.

cgc

we've moved a few blocks to from lowernine.org to common ground's digs on deslonde st., right where the barge burst through the levees. it's also where branjolina's make it right group (pink tents below) is situated. spent the day doing some sheetrocking and some gardening. the plan is to get in on some bioremediation work and work some at meg's community garden. the people here are pretty cool--a mixed bag in terms of ages, but a good slice comprises left-leaning 20-somethings. it's a bigger crowd and seems slightly better organized than lowernine, but it's also been around about 2 years longer. there are regular morning meetings and a weekly meeting, a chore chart, and running water and electricity. we're also provided 3 square meals a day.

MREs are nutritious because they say so

twins

foresight

underdogs

DIY city planning

our quarters

foxy dresses himself in front of some meals ready to eat



walking through the lower 9th



still rebuilding



branjolina's pink tents

i've got shingles

we put some shingles on a roof today. not too complicated. of course, i say that now, but who knows how leaky that thing'll be in 2 months. cutting shingles with a razor blade is lame. hammering nails into them is awesome!

jonah took us out to meg's garden in the afternoon. it looks well cared for. beans, rhubarb, broccoli, lettuce, arugula, dill, and a couple other odds and ends were all growing. it was nice to reminisce about the good times hanging with meg, late night theater adventures and diner runs.

and now i have a cold.

dude, we're finally landing

the heavens opened today, we took this largely as an excuse to sit around. well, that's only partly true. we took some time out to get some serious cleaning done. i wish i had "before" photos. the office/kitchen/lounge area we've been using was a complete shit hole. and now it's a slightly cleaner shit hole. at least it's functional and we've instituted a no-shoes rule, which will hopefully stave off a reversion to its previous state at least until we can get the actual LowerNine HQ up and running. we also started working on some brochures and on the website. so it wasn't completely wasted. we even had a couple of mobile attack units tackle some insulation and drywalling. dinner consisted of a po'boy and a freaking ginormous daiquiri from a drive-through daiquiri establishment. drive. through. daiquiris.

take it to the streets

two and a half years after katrina and the freaking street signs still haven't been replaced in the lower 9th. i spent some time today with tim working on making new ones.

the grilled chicken MRE is truly awful. it smells kind of like cat food. it isn't so much grilled chicken as modified soy protein with fake smoky flavoring and grill stripes painted on it. the chicken piece is also pentagonal (irregular). it does come with rice pilaf, which is delicious.

the MRE

it's been about 2 days. lodgings are bare, but improving. the house we're staying in has been gutted, but that's about all. currently there's no running water. plumbers were in yesterday and today working on installing the hot water heater and getting pipes put in. we've dropped some wires from neighboring houses for now, but we're waiting on an inspector to approve of the electrical work in the house so we can get it up and running. we also can't put in the insulation and sheet rock until the wiring's approved, so all the walls for now are stud walls, except for a section of what will eventually be a bathroom. there are a couple of port-a-potties out front and one half of a duplex down the road that we have access to for showering, kitchening, and computering. we do have about 3000 military-style meals ready to eat sitting out behind the house. so free food galore.

yesterday a group of like 20 jewish teens from a new york synagogue came by to help. mostly they moved some dirt around while throwing rocks at each other. charming.

foxy, tim, and i dropped by the branjolina site last night to check out the art installation. they've got these pink tents set up all over one section of the lower ninth ward. for every certain amount of money that gets donated to their organization, they put up a new section of these tent-houses that are supposed to represent where real houses will eventually get built. it's a pretty cool idea, though a couple of the lowernine.org people have noted that they're planning on spending way more money on these houses than they need to. i got some photos. i'll post 'em at some point.

returning to the gulf coast

i'm flying back to new orleans on the 10th, this time with foxy berger and maryland's favorite son, tim g. it'll have been almost two years since my previous stint volunteering with HAWC and bayou liberty relief. this time around i'll be working with lowernine.org and it looks like i'll get to do a little house building and help pack down some of Emergency Communities' camp and kitchen. in '06 i helped build a tipi for the EC camp site. fun and educational!

the plan is to stay for two weeks at minimum. if everything goes well and the work isn't too physically and psychologically taxing, i may stick around until march or so. i'm not entirely sure what kind of availability i'll have in terms of the internet, but hopefully i'll be able to update y'all on what's what and how things are while i'm actually there.

Todd "Tastic" Collins

I ♥ Todd Collins. A 106 passer rating is pretty -tastic. tastictacular.

Say what you will about Joe Gibbs being too old for the game, not
understanding contemporary schemes, etc., but he's led the 'skins to
the playoffs twice in four seasons, which is twice as many times as
the skins went to the playoffs in the 11 years he was not the 'skins
head coach and he's done it with fairly mediocre talent. The man knows
how to motivate players and when things are going well, the 'skins are
fun to watch.

And finally, can anyone stop Chris Cooley? Anyone? ... Hello? Didn't think so.

my top cinco songs of two thousand seven

i don't really have the attention span to do more than a top 5. and i'm far too lazy to write about 5 whole albums. my biases: i have a predilection for power pop and hip-hop with r&b/soul inspired production. i also have a soft spot for music that might somehow (really, in any way) be related to rivers cuomo (this is related to my love of power pop). whatever. my list:

5. hold it in - jukebox the ghost. jump into the water and see for yourself/take a deep breath and hold it in hold it in. ben folds five meets queen. hand claps, piano, and falsetto vocal interjections. support your local indie rock.

4. sweetness and tenderness - the rentals. yes, i realize that this song was originally recorded by the rentals in 1994. but they re-recorded it. yes, this year. jerk. and this version is arguably better than the original. the rentals give you viola, beautiful harmonies, dreamy atmospherics, and sincerity. and what do they ask for in return? they deserve your everlasting soul, but all they want is you to enjoy their goddamn music, you lilac. go listen.

3. the coolest - lupe fiasco. really, i wanted to put fiasco's "just might be OK" on here, but that was clearly on an album that was released in earth's previous orbit around the sun. clearly. that said, i'm going to say that "just might be OK" is pretty fucking awesome. i mean, the production is badass--horns, bitchin' soulful vocals, and airplanes overhead. and how often does cornel west get name dropped in a song? well, once it would seem. oh, yeah, and the coolest is pretty good too.

2. lady snowblood - olmecha supreme. as seen on my mog: lady snowblood kicks off with what might be called a moment of pure, unadulterated rock'n'roll, transitions into some rhyme-spittin' goodness, and ends on a high note. you can rock out to this tune. you can bounce to this tune. you can skank to this tune. you can sing along to this tune. there's beat boxing, wailing guitars, rhyme-spitting, fluting, and primal screams. olmecha should be the future of pop music.

1. lover in the snow - rivers cuomo. see biases stated above. and so what if it was recorded in 1997. it was released in 2007 on alone: the home recordings of rivers cuomo . it's arguably the best weezer song that weezer never got around to recording. i quote myself: "there aren't any spine-tingling solos. there isn't even a bass line. This is stripped down weez (it is a home demo after all): rivers' emotive vocals supported by a jumpy strumming pattern, hand-claps, and a hi-hat. and it's got a melody that just begs you to sing along." ...just listen to the goddamn song, OK?



--
"Poppa's got a brand-new bag... of fish!" -- The Tick

2 Amys

I've said it before, possibly not in cyberspace, but in the real, physical world: pizza is all about the crust. The rest is easy. Truly easy. Crush some tomatoes, add some salt. Shazam! Sauce! Most toppings are sourced from outside. Really dedicated chefs will make their own sausage, or cheese, or roast their own red peppers, etc. But most just go buy the toppings. Really, how hard is it to get good cheese or pepperoni? It just takes some taste-testing. But I defy you to find a great pizzeria that doesn't make their own dough. The dough has to be tailored to the oven. If the dough is too wet, it will take too long to cook and you might have a burnt outside and a gummy interior. If it's too dry it'll turn crackery. The point being, if you can make a great crust, the rest should come easy.

2 Amys has a delicious crust. If they sold just the crust, I would buy it. The cornicione is perfect. 5/5. 100% good. Puffy, soft, chewy, and salty. I would describe it as meaty in some bread-like way. This crust is rolling in umami. Umami. That's the word of the day. Take that crust and put on some quality ingredients and you've got one hell of a pizza. photos for you:

Pupatella

Street vendors are known mostly for hawking greasy comestibles for low, low prices. A serving of chicken and rice from the local halal cart might run you four to five dollars and will last for couple of lunches at least. But then, you just might die of salmonella poisoning. Well, for those of you lucky enough to find yourself by the Ballston stop on the DC metro Orange line on a workday between the hours of 8am and 4pm, I have a foolproof answer to your stomach's lunchtime grumbles: Pupatella Neapolitan Food Cart.

I dropped by Pupatella on a frigid, snowy day last week to see if the rumors of quality pizza pie-ing were true, which clearly, based on the tone of this post, they are. Pupatella is run by a former employee of 2 Amys, who, along with her boyfriend (who learned the pizza-making craft in Naples), opened up a fire engine red food mobile. The pizzas are cooked at 650ºF in what looks like either a small gas or electric oven with a couple ceramic tiles on trays. I ordered a margherita extra (sauce, buffalo mozz, basil, cherry tomatoes, all topped with a drizzle of olive oil), which baked for a about two minutes. The results:



Even at 650ºF, the crust was very good--crisp yet pliant, with a nice char. The cornicione, sadly, was lacking in the oven springiness department. However, that's about the only negative comment I have for this pizza. It is magnificent. The sauce had a light sweetness, the buffalo mozzarella was creamy and salty with a slight tang, and the basil packed a punch, which was impressive considering the season. I was all set to give it top honors for the best pizza I've had in DC.

Then I went to 2 Amys.