If you're as into music as I am, you'll recognize the title of this post. "Right Place, Wrong Time" is a truly classic three minutes of rock 'n' roll by Dr. John (aka Mac
Rebbenack), who's really known less for his rock stuff than for his blues and "boogie
woogie" stuff. Dr. John hails from the great city of New Orleans. Music is only one of the things New Orleans is famous for, but you may be familiar with the term "Cajun" music. "Cajun"...
I've mentioned on several occasions that I'm from Halifax, Nova
Scotia. There used to be a bunch of people of French descent living in Nova
Scotia. They were known as
Acadians (not to be confused with the
Akkadians of the ancient Middle East). Anyway, a couple (or a few, I'm doing this by memory!) hundred years ago, the British kicked the
Acadians out of Nova
Scotia. Although pockets of the original
Acadians still remain in Nova
Scotia, the loss was irreparable (the loss in hockey talent alone was staggering!). The point is, "
Acadian"... "Cajun"... Get it? Yeah, all those
Acadians went down to New Orleans, where they started their own culture and all kinds of cool shit in the context of "America". Too bad for Canada, really. Another British fuck-up in the New World.
My father's father was a descendant of the original
Acadians. He died young, so I never had the
privelege of meeting him. "Nova
Scotia" means "New Scotland". I've never been to Scotland, but I can tell you in all honesty that when I hear bagpipes my chest puffs up involuntarily. By the same token, when I hear "
cajun" or other New Orleans music, I'm similarly affected. I've never been to New Orleans.
By a strange coincidence, the last time I went home to Nova
Scotia was early September, 2005. There was a huge (I mean, fucking huge!) typhoon that passed through
Miyazaki on the day I was to go home. I was delayed
one day by this typhoon. It was only a few days earlier, of course, that Katrina had hit New Orleans. The people of New Orleans, unfortunately, have been delayed a couple of years (or worse).
So, you may be wondering, is there a point to this post? Yeah, there's a fucking point. One of the great cities of the world is dying. Yes, in 2007, a great American city is dying. New Orleans is dying. Maybe you were aware of this, maybe you weren't. If you think I'm bullshitting, then read my friend
Glenn's blog for a few days.
Read what is coming out of New Orleans.
You won't like what you see...
If you're as old as me you'll have no trouble recognizing the image on the left. I remember watching the 1968 Olympics with my mother (my father was in Cyprus with UN peacekeeping forces that year). Being only 10 at the time I couldn't really understand the significance of those gloved, raised fists. That would come later. And I certainly never, not then or later, gave a thought to the white guy standing on the podium with the two black Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Until now.