Posted in MLK BLVD, Musical context, Versions on March 25, 2007 | No Comments »
Mr. Marsalis
The only way this counts as an interesting picture is if you use Andy Warhol’s definition of a successful photograph: In focus, and of someone famous. Wynton Marsalis, performing here in Savannah as part of a local music festival, spoke at a brief ceremony for the unveiling of a plaque in honor of King [...]
Posted in MLK BLVD on January 23, 2007 | Comments Off
hip-hop service
Originally uploaded by Zervas.
… on MLK BLVD in Portland. The latest entries to the Flickr collection, from Zervas….
Speaking of MLK: I posted a kind of miniature higlight reel of MLK BLVD on Murketing.com, right here.
The subject of MLK Blvds etc. came up on yesterday’s installment of the African-American roundtable, on News & Notes on NPR. Host Farai Chideya introduced one question by noting that for people her age (I think she’s [...]
Posted in MLK BLVD on December 12, 2006 | Comments Off
blockbuster on mlk
Originally uploaded by Zervas.
Another recent MLK BLVD addition, one of two from Portland. You sort of have to click through to really see how curious this is.
Posted in MLK BLVD on December 12, 2006 | Comments Off
firehouse2.jpg
Originally uploaded by blitzcat.
Several new shots have appeared lately in the MLK BLVD Flickr pool. Here’s a nice one from Greensboro.
Posted in Friends, MLK BLVD on November 22, 2006 | Comments Off
10-13-16-mlk-chattanooga-tnn01.jpg
Originally uploaded by crfranko.
Some great shots from Chattanooga added to the MLK BLVD Flickr pool by our friend crfranko. I love the color on this one, but the whole batch is really good — including the “Pimp Oil” sign. Check em out.
Posted in MLK BLVD on August 14, 2006 | Comments Off
SV102721
Originally uploaded by deltasly101.
A recent addition to the MLK BLVD pool: Flickr contributor deltasly101 has an excellent set called Historic King Drive, revealing “some of the greatest architecture in Chicago.” This particular shot that I’ve chosen to post here is not exactly representative, but I happened to love the colors. Anyway his set is [...]
Posted in Letters From New Orleans book, MLK BLVD, New Orleans, Public Housing on June 15, 2006 | Comments Off
Calliope (Post-Katrina)
I have a really bad feeling about the news that four New Orleans housing projects are now slated for demolition. I don’t have any illusions about the problems of the projects, but when I was researching the long piece in LfNO about the Desire projects, I got pretty familiar with the extremely bad history [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Friends, MLK BLVD, Musical context, New Orleans on May 14, 2006 | Comments Off
A Serious and Sober Fellow
Photograph by gwen.
1. Sober? You may be able to rent a room on MLK Way in Oakland: The above popped up in the MLK BLVD pool this week, courtesy of gwen.
2. So, I had a post the other day about the latest psychology research on the link between music preferences [...]
Posted in Friends, MLK BLVD, New Orleans, Public Housing on April 28, 2006 | Comments Off
1. Pal Marc Weidenbaum (proprietor of Disquiet) hosted a panel about making instruments and making music with them — his panelists were Tom (Univac) Koch, Krys Bobrowsk, and Chachi Jones — at the recent Maker Faire in San Francisco. He’s posted a recording of the 45-minute panel, and it’s very cool. Check it out.
2. New [...]
[Or: The Point of this Site]
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a third version.
And now, this site: A place to collect some of the links, leads, thoughts, and suggestions relating to the song that readers (from Finland, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, England, Sweden, Canada, and all over the U.S.) have sent me. This may lead to a fourth and significantly expanded version of the essay, some day. Also on this site: Plenty of tangents.
Never heard "St. James Infirmary"? Start here.
The most recent version of my "St. James Infirmary" essay is now a few years old. But it's still a fairly decent overview of what I know about the song, and why I'm interested in it. You can read it either in the book Letters from New Orleans (see below), or in the archives of The Gambit, the New Orleans weekly that published the piece as a book excerpt when LfNO came out.
This site is a partial spinoff of the book Letters from New Orleans, published by the unstoppable Garrett County Press. My interest in "St. James Infirmary" is the subject of one essay in the book. All author proceeds from the book still go to post-Katrina relief efforts, so I think it's okay for me to say: You ought to buy it.
