Tigers, Widgets, and Edro

I rarely put fun things on my computer, but I've found a guilty pleasure, albeit probably a temporary fascination. Widgets. So, I just upgraded all my computers to Apple's new operating system named "Tiger". Tiger has a dashboard feature that holds these fun little pointless programs called Widgets. My Widgets programs give me the latest music news, local weather, where to find the cheapest local gas prices, an audio calculator, dancing Homer, clock, and a drag and drop FTP upload. OK, so some of them are actually functional, but lets face it, most of them are just there because.

Enough about Widgets and Tigers. Me, Brent, and Rob Mathes all collaborated on a hip hop track for Edro today. Edro is still in London, and we're here, so once we finished it, Brent sent it over and apparently Edro had already begun writing to it before the end of the first listen. I think that means he liked it. Edro has been in the zone lately with his writing and flow. He's like a man possessed, a man on a mission, a man on fire, you get the idea. Its gonna be really tough narrowing all the songs down to only what gets released on the album. I'm sure some songs we all love will get left off, but then these are good problems to have. Tomorrow I'm cutting a soul singer on one song, and an opera singer on another song. Yes, this album has plenty of musical diversity, from straight up street, to very musical, from deep storytelling to rhyming about paper, rims, and bit...... ummmmm nevermind. The London crew will be coming across the pond in October to (hopefully) finish the album. We're renting a big house to put them all in during their stay. It'll be perfect, only a mile away from my studio, and isolated enough from their neighbors that we'll probably move most of one of my studios over to the house so they can still do production, writing, and maybe even some vocals, and we'll be at my studio as well grinding it out every day running both of my other rooms. Its gonna be pretty crazy.

The New York AES Convention is in a week and a half. Anyone going? I'll be there. Sunday night should be particularly fun. More bout that later.
-Ken

Ghosts in the Machine

Tuesday's gone with the wind, but it seems the ghosts are still here. We just switched all four computers over to Mac Tiger operating system. Surprisingly few problems are occuring, but one major problem is that my Eventide Reverb doesnt seem to be working and i use it alot. Also, my Arp 2600 synth plugin has decided to take a vacation. A couple other strange things are happening, but i won't bore you further.

Edro sent over three new MP3's of songs they've been writing in London. really good stuff, i have very high hopes and even higher expectations for this album. I'm gearing up for the AES Convention in New York City about 9 days from now. For those of you who don't know, AES is a nerd convention for all things studio related. I'll be there geeking out. Other stuff will be happening for me there but i'll save it for another blog. There's definitely some gear i need to check out this year.

Last night i went to see Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride". Visually stunning. That guy is a Mozart level genius, and his composer, Danny Elfman, must be the reincarnation of Mozart himself, only much quirkier. I'm a big fan of both men. Pretty cool story to the movie as well. Go see it. OK, time for me to find a pillow, its been a long day.
- Ken

Midpoint Wrap-up, Jeannie Ortega Mastering

Wow, what a weekend. Very fun, very busy, very exhausting. Kind of a vacation even though i was working alot, listening alot. Midpoint 2005 was a great time, my fourth year doing it, and they already asked me back for next year. Invitation accepted! My favorite artists this year were Cari Clara, Moth, Holly Spears, Diet Audio, Stephani's ID, and of course Small Town Sleeper. I also got a really good CD from a band called Bluf that i just listened to. rockin stuff. I'm trying to listen to all the CD's that artists gave me, its tough to get to all of them, I'm trying.

So, I must give my personal thank you's and compliments to Midpoint organizers Sean Rhiney and Bill Donabedian, as well as all of the volunteers. You guys have all done such wonderful things for the Cincinnati music scene, and its so much better because of it. The panelists were also really great this year, and the whole vibe of the festifval was so positive.

Monday. I went to the mastering session today at Masterdisk for the Jeannie Ortega record i mixed for Hollywood Records. Its always good to hear how my mix room translates in a mastering environment, and even better that it translates about flawlessly. Andy Vandette handled mastering duties today, and said i made his job very easy today. Thats always a good thing to hear. I thought andy did an excellent job on the mastering.

Whilest i'm talking about mastering, I also recently had Sarah Register at the Lodge master a few new Small Town Sleeper songs. I thought her work was superb as well. Thanks so much Sarah and Andy for taking such good care of my mixes.

Mastering is a funny thing. Lots of voodoo going on. Gear that you dont see anywhere but the inside of a mastering studio, enormous speakers with ribbon tweeters, all kinds of esoteric EQ's and compressors. I get my mixes really close to fully mastered, but those top level guys always seem to find something to subtly improve it. Anyway, there's the update. Tomorrow i must dig in to some serious mixing as i'm a little behind schedule and have alot of work coming in.
-Ken

Midpoint Saturday Morning

Good morning. 10am. I never sleep well in hotel rooms, even nice ones. Might as well wake up and be productive. Last night rocked. Tons of great music all over the place. My favorite was Cari Clara, those guys rock.

Mentoring and 2 panels today. Should be a very fun day. Lots of great bands playing tonight. tomorrow i fly back home and get back to real work. Cincinnati is my home town, its always good to be here. I saw an old friend from high school last night who's now a music professor at University of Cincinnati. He wasnt even a musician in high school. Quite the accomplishment to become a professor, his band High Water Trio was really cool too. check them out.

So, i feel like i should talking more about mixing or engineering or something relating to how i earn a living. I guess i'll get back to those subjects soon enough. I've got alot of mixes waiting for me when i get back. Alot of production and songwriting work as well. I think i've hit a real creative mode lately where i actually think my songwriting is very good. not usually the case. I'm typically much better at molding other peoples songs into something much better (thats called production, mixing can certainly help that too). Who knows, I'm runnin with it. I've never shy'd away from a good challenge and one of the things i challenged myself to do at the beginning of this year was alot more songwriting. So far so good. I like setting goals, often outrageously ambitious goals. I rarely fail, its not in my blood. By the way, the Cuban Link album that i produced, played multiple instruments on, and mixed, hit the Billboard Top 200 Charts this past week. Congrats Cuban Link. Rumor has it that G Unit has been talking to him about possibly joining the click. That would be cool.
-Ken

MidPoint Part 2 - Friday night preamble

Friday afternoon here is "beautiful" downtown Cincinnati. Gotta say I'm a little cynical today, its been a day of contrasts. Lets back up and recap Thursday night.

My favorite bands of the night were Stephani's ID (virtuoso level vibraphonist, un-F'ing believable player, i was captivated), that are from North Carolina. My favorite band in the world, Small Town Sleeper came down on zero notice to fill in a cancellation slot. They drove 2 hours each way to play a 35 minute set, because me and the festival needed them. Thats hardcore, and they rocked it out. I'm so glad i got to see them play. They come back Saturday night to play their scheduled slot for the festival, 10PM at Jefferson Hall. If your in town, DO NOT MISS THEM!!!! And last, Ric Hordinski tore it up. He's one of the most amazing guitar players i know. truly gifted. His band lays down some serious rhythm as well.

Today. No panels to speak on today, thats all tomorrow. I did do mentoring sessions though today and i went to see both keynote addresses. Here comes the cynicism. OK, i'll preface this by saying its my fourth year doing the festival, alot of people have already heard everything i have to say, but i made myself available for 2 hours of mentoring sessions, which is basically one on one, ask me whatever you want, anyone at the festival can sign up for them, and they run 15 minutes each slot. In 2 hours i had 3 people come talk to me. So i guess that means there were only 3 artists at the whole festival who could have benefitted from any of my experience. Even funnier still, all three artists that came to talk to me, have had a fair amount of individual success already and were looking for ways to take their careers even further. Not a single young, hungry, doe-eyed artist or band came thru. I guess those guys already have it all figured out. At least 3 people there understand whats going on. Well, actually 4 people. Me being number 4. To show you how valuable i personally think the mentoring sessions could be, I signed up to be mentored by one of the panelists at the festival. (me the student, he the mentor) Unfortunately, much to my dismay, he didnt actually show up to do any mentoring as he was scheduled to, i missed out on 15 minutes of getting schooled by someone who knows alot more about things that i wanna know about than i do. Indie artists pass up so many opportunites for knowledge. Its really rediculous.

Further. The keynote speeches. Both of which were dismally attended. I mean, the room was mostly full for both, but it should have been overflowing with people. Again, i guess alot of the artists at the festival didnt think they could learn anything valuable from these guys. I learned alot and I've been making major label records for about 14 years. The industry keynote speaker was Alan Light (formerly editor in chief of Spin, editor in chief of Vibe, senior writer for Rolling Stone, etc...). I was like a sponge soaking every word of knowledge he passed on, and there was alot to learn. Greg Dulli was the artist keynote (lead singer of the Afgan Whigs, and the Twilight Singers) Greg and the Whigs have been personally highly influential on me with their music, so getting to hear him speak was a real treat. I'm on a panel with the Whigs bass player, John Curly, tomorrow. Anyway, Dulli was very inspirational. Didnt necessarily "teach" me anything i didnt already know, but if i were a young artist, it certainly would have. I just found it highly inspirational and enjoyable. So many people missed out.

My panels are tomorrow. There's a production panel, and the Demo Derby (each artist gets a minute or two of one song played, and the panelists rip it to shreds, actually not true, lots of good music gets played, and we critique it constructively). I'm also doing mentoring tomorrow if anyone shows up. We'll see. I always love doing the panels, its fun, and nice to feel like i'm contributing in a small way back to the cincinnati music scene. The guys who organize and run Midpoint along with all of the volunteers deserve a HUGE pat on the back. Its a really great festival, with great bands and great panels and great speakers. I wish more bands utilized the information disseminated here though. Your missing out.

Tonights must see bands for me, Holly Spears, Cari Clara, High Water Trio, Kevin Shima, other very good artists I'm going to try to attend are Two Turntables and a Saxaphone, The Whitney Bariklow Band, Soular, Messerly and Ewing, Clabbergirl, Captain of Industry, i'm sure there's a ton of other great talent playing tonight as well.

Off to dinner now, then on to the shows. Should be a great night. And my note to all unsigned artists, you command your own destiny. knowledge is definitely power, self promotion is absolutely crucial. Dont miss a single opportunity to get out there and gain knowledge or fans. If your not out there doing it, someone else is.
- Ken

Midpoint Music Fest Part 1

OK, so i just got back from London not 48 hours ago, and here i sit in the airport again on my way to Cincinnati, Ohio as a guest of the 4th Annual MidPoint Music Festival. Over Thursday, Friday and Saturday 200+ bands will be performing at all the local Cincinnati clubs, including my guys, Small Town Sleeper, Saturday, 10pm at Jefferson Hall. Dont Miss them if your in the area!!! A ton of my other favorites are performing as well. I'll be doing mentoring sessions on Friday and Saturday as well as speaking on a couple panels on Saturday. I've been a part of this festival before, and it's always a very well run, very informative, very cool festival. As i'm originally a Cincinnati native, its also a chance for me to get home and see my family again. Its been a while, it'll be good to see them.

In other news, the Edro album is progressing very nicely, looks like they are crossing the pond to my neck of the woods in October. Damn, they are calling my flight. Gotta run. More updates soon from Midpoint!!
-Ken

London Bridge is......

Hello again. Been back in London since Thursday morning. Rome, Itlay was just unbelievably amazing. Right after i finished my last blog post, from an internet cafe in Rome, i went and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant right in front of the Pantheon, not fifty yards away from its columns. The Pantheon is definitely one of Rome's gems, and was built in 25AD and rebuilt in 125AD. That makes the rebuilt version 1,880 YEARS OLD!!!!!!! Thats REALLY old. Dinner was a bit surrealistic, italian food, in Italy, so i guess it was just food, italian wine, a perfect night, and the Pantheon. I'll never forget it.

Thursday was low key, got some good work done in the studio on Edro's album, then around Midnight we went clubbing at China White in London. I actually remember leaving the club this time. We all had a ton of fun. 3 hours of sleep and i was wide awake, kind of, and on a train into London to record a string section. Rob Mathes flew over from the States to arrange and conduct. He's brilliant. The string section sounded so beautiful. 5 violins, 2 violas, 2 cello. We cut strings to 4 of Edro's songs, then Rob put down some mean piano on a few songs. A very productive and musical day. Edro's album had so many flavors, all solidified by his voice and lyric writing. He's gifted and we're making an album i think will really connect. There are powerfully sad moment, poignant political statements, straight up club partying songs, and plenty of streetlife. I'm very happy to be a part of it.

Edro's camp is coming over to the states in October to hopefully wrap recording and mixing. I've got alot of other projects in the works as well. Never a dull moment for me, i've perpetually got too many irons in the fire, I've decided i just cant help it, but I'm trying. 2006 needs to be a slightly less overwhelming year. I've had too many in a row. Dont get me wrong, 2006 will be a big big year for me and I'll be working hard, but I'm trying to focus harder on fewer things. Just you wait and see.

Today, I'm sorting thru all the string and piano tracks for each of Edro's songs. He has a song called "Cry" that might make grown men do just that. Its powerful and emotional, thats all I'll say. Not your typically hip hop song and one of the rare times in my career where i can say with utter confidence, "this could be a big single". Not the first single, its not a first single type song. We've got another song for that, mum's the word on that song. Back to work for me. gotta get a ton of work done today so we can go out late tonight and have fun. See, i'm really trying to have a bit more of a social life.
- Ken

Greetings From Rome, Italy

I know what your thinking..... isn't he supposed to be in London? I have been, and iàm going back tomorrow. I found an incredibly cheap flight from London to Rome, so i decided to take one day away and go. Rome is so beautiful. Everything here is. Everywhere you turn. I have been all over the city today, to the Colloseum, Vatican City and St Peter's Bassillica, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and many more places. So much is so old, and some is very well preserved. I highly recommend Rome, and I've been many places, this ranks right there with Prague and Paris.

I could babble all day about Rome, but I have to go get dinner, I have had almost nothing for 24 hours, and I am getting hungry. The Edro project is going ful steam ahead. This project as of this week has surpassed any initial expectations I had for it. I think we have genuine hit singles, plural. Time will tell if i am right.

We cut strings Friday at Rak Studios with Rob Mathes. I cannot wait!!! Iàm off to dinner.
Chiao
- Ken

Late Registration Credit

Congrats to Kanye West for selling over 800,000 copies of Late Registration in the first week alone!!!! Amazing sales numbers.

So, some of you might have been wondering, as I have, why on Earth my name doesnt appear on the new Kanye West "Late Registration" album. Good question, wish i had a good answer. Seems i got left off the credits.

Unfortunately, most of the samples i replayed, which i thought all came out pretty spot on, Kanye decided to clear the samples anyway. No big deal, he's got the budget, and he should make exactly the record he wants to make, so even though he hired me to recreate the samples, I'm not upset by his decisions to then clear the original samples anyway. OK, maybe a little personally upset because i thought i did great work that didnt get used, but not upset at Kanye, he's a brilliant producer, as is Jon Brion. The one sample they did use of mine however, the "Get Down" scratch on "Gold Digger" i got no credit for. Nor did the Get Down voice (Charles Roberson) get any credit either.

I cannot put into words how heartbreaking it is to have your name left off of a #1 single and a #1 album, and almost certainly a future Grammy nominated album. Suffice it to say it really physically hurts. And it really hurts my career immeasurably, and its happened before.

The record company appologized and said they'd correct the credit on the next pressing of the album. I really hope they do.

Originally i recreated all of the Ray Charles sample on Gold Digger, and though i thought the music was a carbon copy, do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a replacement voice for Ray? Damn near impossible. I often work with a great soul singer from the Cayman Islands named Ben Hudson (www.BenJHudson.com) who i thought got VERY close. Then Kanye called in Jamie Foxx to try to recreate the sample voice. Jamie got even closer, damn near perfect. But i guess in the end, Kanye wanted to sing along with Ray Charles himself. Cant say i blame him, I'd wanna sing with Ray if i could too, and its probably the first time a Ray Chalres sample has ever been cleared. So Jamie Foxx did that acapella intro, and Kanye used the Ray sample, but Kanye also used my "Get Down" scratch. Oh well.

I hear that Gold Digger is supposed to be used in a Pepsi commercial and that the music in the Pepsi commercial is in fact the music that i did. They werent given the permission to use Ray Charles for the commercial. I havent heard it yet. Also, I just watched an MTV special on the in studio making of the Late Registration album. there's a part where Jamie Foxx is in the studio doing his vocals. The music for Gold Digger is playing. Thats all me. Thats all my recreation playing, so if you really wanna hear it, there it is for about 5 or 10 seconds. they later went back to the original sample when they cleared it. But on MTV, thats me.

I also recreated the sample used for the Kanye/Brandy song "Bring Me Down", which i was told they ended up clearing, except there's no sample clearance info in the credits, and there's no piano credit, So i dont know if they used my piano or not, or??? Either way, no credit for me.

This is the FOURTH major credit that i have not been credited for THIS YEAR ALONE!!!!! This is just bad for the industry. Imagine if my name is being left off the credits and at least i'm a known entity, imagine how many up and coming cats who work on albums nowadays get left off the credits. Oh, by the way, those four albums are.....

Memphis Bleek "504" album - i did the "Oh Baby" sample. Thats all me, music and guitars and vocals. everything but the basic beat. no credit.

Common - "BE" album. "Chi City". All of the music is 100% me, except the kick, snare, and scratch. No credit

Cassdy - "I'm a Hustla" album. "AM to the PM". That big string orchestra sample that goes thru the whole song. Yet, thats me. No credit.

and of course, Late Registration.

Other noteworthy albums I've worked on as an engineer, mixer, or musician, and either not been credited, or only partially credited (like on the Common album, they credited me on "Faithful" but not "Chi City") include.....

Jay Z "BluePrint II", Mariah Carey "Charmbracelet", Shrek Soundtrack (Baha Men "The Best Years"), Kadakiss "Kiss of Death", Usher "Usher" (his first album. i got my credit on Confessions), Trans Siberian Orchestra "Christmas Eve Sarajevo", man there just have been too many others to count. And I am usually very diligent about asking for and submitting my credits.

So if your out there and your working on a record, any record, dont expect anybody to ever remember you at credits time. Bug them, pester them, submit your credit several times. make sure your submitting it to the right person. And even then, trust me, more times than you can imagine, your credit will still get left off. As for Kanye, its not his fault, I'm sure he's not the one submitting and compiling credits, but whoever left my name off that album, just know, it hurts personally and it hurts my career as well. Credits are everything in this business.
- Ken

Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Time for Me to Fly. Newark Airport, 7:30am. Boarding in a few minutes. When i left for the airport this morning it was still dark, now the sun is shining bright. I'm sure London will fix that, London is not exactly known for its wonderful weather. We get into London late tonight, I'm sure we'll probably hit the town tonight and hit the studio saturday with a vengance. We've got alot of work to do but everyone is excited about it.

The studio subwoofer is fixed and while i dont plan to mix there, It's always nice to know whats goign on with those frequencies while your creating. Its a nice studio and I like working out of it, though the internet connection is a little sketchy which makes staying connected to the states difficult sometimes, let alone keeping up with my blog.

Hmmmmm.... they are starting to call for boarding, guess i should wrap this up and get on the plane. See you in London.
-Ken

Packing my Bags

Off to London in the morning. Can't wait, i think its going to be a GREAT trip. I'm feeling really good about the current direction of the E-dro album. We certainly have alot of hard work ahead of us, but things are pointed in the right direction, everybody seems to be on the same page with what needs to be worked on and get done. I think its going to be a very productive and creative trip. my favorite kind. OK, thats a lie, my favorite trips are vacations to exotic locations, but as far as work goes, this is my favorite kind of trip.

I worked more today on this super top secret virtually instrument plugin that I've been hired to mix and optimize sounds for. All i can say is you'll want to buy it. I want to buy it. Its crazy hot super phat fresh illmatic dope off the chain grimey gangsta thugged out rugged ok you get the idea. Its good.

Now i have to pack. I have had ZERO time to pack or even think about packing, so everyone here is in frantic mode trying to make sure i bring everything with me that i need. Hope i dont forget something. that would be bad.

Its gonna be a big week. Next Friday we're cutting a string section for E-dro's album. We're trying to lock in the studio now. Its either gonna be Westside (first choice), or RAK studios or Abbey Road studio 2 (the Beatles room). OK, i know what your thinking. "Book Abbey Road!!!!!!". Yes well, it is far and away the most expensive of the three, but its still under mild consideration because after all it is Abbey Road and after all The Beatles recorded there and well, nuff said. I'm actually hoping to Westside for many reasons yet to be disclosed. I'll keep ya posted. The string section and arranger/conductor have been booked though. Rob Mathes is handling arranging. Super genius that guy is. If you have a big project and want an amazing string arrangement, he's the guy. I've used him in the past on Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz and he was amazing.

So, i'd better run and start packing. Morning is going to come very early. See you in London!!!!
Cheerios
- Ken

I dont know what to write about today

I dont know what to write about today but i feel like writing, so this might be a bit "stream of conciousness", a bit disjointed, we'll see.

Still overwhelmed and upset by the tragedy in New Orleans. I watched Oprah's show on New Orleans today. As bad as I knew it must be down there, it took Oprah to show and tell the story far better than any news cast or journalist has yet. I dont normally watch Oprah, but wow, this show was powerful. It makes me wonder how screwed up the current news system is that THIS show was the most informative, eye opening, and heart wrenching that I've seen. Our government's lack of response to the crisis in New Orleans will go down in history as a great failure to our own people. American people. I think it will also set race relations back immeasurably. I'm white middle class, and I'm furious, embarrased, and appauled at my Government's lack of aid to its people in their time of need. I can only imagine if i were black or poor how I'd be feeling right now, I don't think i'd trust government for anything again. In fact, I already don't. This is terrible.

Sessions. All in all going really well. I've been crankin on some really fun projects lately for Jive, Interscope, Disney, Hot Ash Entertainment, and some really cool indie stuff. Tomorrow I'm helping put together a hip hop drum machine type plug in for a client. Super secret. I'll tell you more when i can.

My "other" company, indieTunes, is finally done sifting thru the mountain of entries for the indieTunes Song Contest. I was hoping to announce winners today, but it's looking like a Wednesday announcement. I had no idea was a collosal undertaking this song contest would be when we started it, and we havent even given out the prizes yet (which inlcude alot of free mixes from me to the category winners, which is awesome because I get to mix songs for alot of super talented independent artists who won.) Honestly, if your an artist looking for a place on the internet to sell your downloadable music (MP3's), indieTunes is a great place to do it. Honestly, i think its the best place. check it out.

I am headed back to London very soon, more later on that. I'm looking forward to getting back. E-dro and i have been in regular contact, sending songs back and forth. I had genius level bass player Rob Calder in yesterday putting some basslines down on three of E-dro's songs. Wow, rob is really good. Next week in London i get to cut a string section for some of E's songs!!! I CANNOT WAIT! its gonna be really fun. Rob Mathes another Mozart level musician and renouned string arranger will be scoring and conducting the strings for me. I'm pulling out all the stops to try to make E-dro's album the best it can possibly be (as i do for all of my clients, its just that most of my clients don't hire me to executive produce their albums, in addition to producing, writing, and mixing on it).

The "Small Town Sleeper" shopping package is at the duplicators now. Oh my god. It looks and sounds so good. Way better than just good. More about that later. I'm a lucky man to be surrounded by so many talented people who helped me put everything together. Thanks Lori, Ric, Annette, Lydia, Justin, Brent, Cooper, Jeff B, Chris D, Rob C, Frank, Sarah, Scotty, Emily, Dylan, and anyone else i'm currently forgetting. None of you probably read this thing, but i dont care, you are all very appreciated for all of the help you've given me in developing such a stellar band. It takes a village. it takes a great team, and i have one. I'm lucky.

right now i crave nothing more than i crave sleep. OK, maybe one glass of wine for my health, then its time to sleep. Tomorow is a long day.
-Ken

Ode to New Orleans

Sorry to harp so much on New Orleans, but its truly a crown jewel of America. At least it was before it was destroyed. I'm still so shaken by everything thats happening and is still happening. I've been there several times and i will definitely go back. New Orleans is so rich with culture and history, there are so many incredibly talented musicians who perform every day around New Orleans. On the streets during the day, or at an outdoor cafe, in the Bourbon street clubs at night. There's always at least 1 live band PER BLOCK playing on Bourbon street for about 8 blocks straight every night. And their music is original New Orleans. I've never seen a city with so much of its own sound and identity. Please, New Orleans, recover, rebuild, remember, and rekindle your music. America needs it.

Other New Orleans places i've been and love. In the French Quarter, Royale Street has some truly captivating art galleries, quite a few. Thats where i discovered my favorite living painter, Paul Guy Gantner. I will own an original Gantner work before i die, i swear it. His art inspires me deeply. I believe Gantner is actually an Eastern European painter, however, he sells some of his works through a gallery in New Orleans. I love art, and Gantner is the pinnacle of living painters in my opinion.

The Garden District. Some of the most beautiful houses and streets you've ever seen. You'd swear you stepped back in time to the 1800's. The zoo. really cool, with GREAT climbing trees out front. I indulged like i was a kid, 30 feet in the air, walking a limb like a tightrope. The aquarium is pretty awesome too (anybody catching on yet that i love nature). the D-Day museum is also in New Orleans. Anyobdy reading this who hasnt fully taken the time to appreciate what happened during World War II, and what the allies sacrificed and achieved, you owe it to yourself to learn. The D Day museum is powerful, walking the invasion beaches of Normandy, France is ten times more powerful. Both are worth doing in your lifetime.

No doubt, New Orleans can be a very dangerous place. walk a few blocks off the French Quarter at night and you'd swear you stumbled into a war zone. I walk the streets of New York unafraid at all hours and i was concerned. New Orleans has consistently been one of the metropolitan murder capitals of America. Wherever there is great poverty and suffering, you can pretty much assume there will be an elevated crime rate. I dont condone it, however, I've never known what its like to not have money to eat, to put a roof over my head, to support myself or my family. I'm lucky that way. Thank god. I fear that most of the people suffering in New Orleans right now are the poverty stricken who coudlnt afford to get out. If Government isn't there to protect the poor then who will?

So, I find it mildly encouraging that virtually everyone, except for the current federal government, acknowledges that the government completely F'd up. Even Bush senior said the government screwed up, but didnt go so far as to say his son was at all responsible. I mean his son only runs the country. Wait, did i give "W" that much credit. I wouldn't call what he does "running" the country, maybe closer to "Running the country into the ground".

Please, New orleans, recover. America needs you. America needs your culture, your history, your music, your art, your people. I miss you and I cannot wait to return to you.
- Ken

Research Note

Just a follow up to the last post. It seems that the Federal government was well aware that the levee's protecting New Orleans from the waters of Lake Ponchatrane were only designed to withstand a Category 3 Hurricane. Hurricane Katrina was a massive Category 4 storm, which was predicted to make a direct hit on New Orleans as much as 3 full days before it happened. They should have known the levee's could and probably would breech. In fact, LAST YEAR, the governement held a "Mock Hurricane" disaster drill IN NEW ORLEANS!!!! This drill predicted massive flooding, massive evacuations, potentially massive loss of life, massive property destruction. The government knew it could happen. The events currently unfolding in New Orleans have been high on the Governments potential catastrophic disasters list for a long time. Every major figure in government who says this could have never been predicted is lying. This exact scenario has been predicted years ago and is now happening. Oh yeah, and we're winning the war in Iraq. The insurgents are getting desparate. And the Brooklyn Bridge is now for sale.

I still cannot believe the complete lack of an immediate, overwhelming government relief effort to the city and surrounding areas of New Orleans. Well over half the nation, and dozens of military bases were completely unaffected by the Hurricane. Why weren't these bases put on high alert for disaster relief? Why weren't they immediately mobilized? Why were the people who remained in New Orleans left alone for days to suffer, starve and die? Most of these people were unfortunately the sick, the poor, the disabled. The ones most in need of their government in a time of crisis. The death toll is now predicted to be in the thousands. I am just shocked.

Back to mixing.
- Ken

Did you? do you?

So, i got back to the states the night that Hurricane Katrina was lining up New Orleans for a direct Cateogry 4 hit. New Orleans is below sea level. This is common knowledge for anyone who knows anything about New Orleans, a disaster waiting to happen. I watched on CNN in the airport as President Bush said before the even storm hit that he was already declaring the entire area a disaster area so that aid could be released quickly. I watched as the talking heads at FEMA said they were preparing relief efforts even before the storm hit.

After the hurricane passed, i was watching a reporter standing in downtown New Orleans in about 2 feet of water steadily rising. He said a protective levee had breeched and the lake was pouring into downtown New Orleans with nothing to stop it. Water was rising about 1 foot an hour and in some places New Orleans was submerged under 25 feet of water.

I then watched in horror as the days passed and our Federal Government did virtually nothing to help the people of New Orleans as a whole. Sure there were sporadic helicopter rescues going on, small boats going around saving people, but where was the "Shock and Awe" military and Federal response everybody knew should be coming? The military keeps some units on constant readiness, packed and ready to go on zero notice. Where were they? They could have been there in hours. I could have gotten to the Superdome faster than the relief effort did. The military has amphibious vehicles which could have easily reached the Superdome. They have huge military transport helicopters that could have easily landed at the superdome. Where were they? It still seems like the Federal government doesnt see this as the complete human disaster that it is. I've seen our government react quicker and with more aid to international disasters than to New Orleans. Why?

All i can figure is that there seems to be a complete detachment from reality between our Government and its people. Did you vote for Bush? Do you regret it yet? I didn't vote for Bush. Next question.... Did you vote at all? If not, Do you regret it yet? If you didn't vote, you really can't complain about our government response. I mean if your so detached that you can't make it to the polls, why should you care that our government is so detached from reality that they can't make it to New Orleans. Seems they have the bigger job. Next election, for God's sakes vote. The current White House administration seems to be able to paint anything in the news like its not their fault. Bush said on Thursday that the Government relief effort was unacceptable. He's right. He could have ordered immediate and massive aid mobilized to the area. He didn't. Your right "W", the government effort was unacceptable.

Kanye West spoke out about it. I don't agree with everything he said, but I'm glad somebody had the guts to stand up and say it. Never did it cross my mind that race or class had anyhing to do with it, but somehow i wonder if Kanye wasn't at least a little bit right. But i personally believe that its simply a completely inept administration once again proving loud and clear that they can't run the country. I mean the Iraq war is getting worse by the day and our President goes on vacation?? WHAT! I'm sorry but most Americans get little vacation time, and i think if my family or my company was in crisis, the last thing on my mind would be to go on vacation. Even if Bush was getting some work done on the ranch, (not nearly the workload that he should be carrying), symbolically speaking, a President that goes on vacation in a terrible time of war, a war that he started, is a complete slap in the face to the nation. Did you vote for him? Do you think he has a grip on reality?
- Ken