Venice, N.O. History, Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint

The New Orleans situation reminds me of a PBS doc I saw a few years ago, The Sinking City of Venice. I think I'm going to see if the library has that available this weekend. There's a transcript of the whole show here.

I realized that I am not as familiar with the history of New Orleans as I would like to be, so when I go to bed tonight I am going to start reading The Battle of New Orleans by Robert Remini. Remini is one of the leading scholars of Andrew Jackson, but I think he will give some historical perspective on the city itself.

Fats Domino may or may not have been rescued from his home earlier today. Jazz composer and pianist Allen Touissant may be among those stuck in the Astrodome. Here's a statement that pretty much confers asshole status upon the writer:

In the meantime, another important Louisiana musician who probably hasn’t been asked to be in any telethons is the also legendary Allen Toussaint.

Last night, Toussaint was one of the 25,000 people holed up at the New Orleans Superdome hoping to get on a bus for Houston’s Astrodome. I know this because he got a message out to his daughter, who relayed to it through friends.

Oh wait - the writer works for Fox. Silly me.