"Can I see some ID?"

"Don't have any," said the faded manila folder listing toward a bottle of Jack Daniels.

"Proof of income?" the bartender asked gamely.

"Don't have that either," answered the thin file.

"Then you must be a -- "

"Yes, I'm a Troubled Asset!"

The bartender slid...

It's quiet here south of Chicago. The big news this week is a soybean oil spill. This weekend is the alternative corn fest. Don't knock it until you've been to the actual corn fest. I'm from here and my mother is about to go into an Alzheimer's ward. That's why...

After threats of a devastating hurricane similar to Katrina, the Republicans changed course day one and turned their convention into a Hurricane Gustav benefit. This time the bayous and coastal wetlands were harder hit than New Orleans, but they have not gotten the kind of media attention that New Orleans...

The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund has posted a new messageboard for those who have room for musicians out on the road or in shelters. So far we have offers from Austin, Santa Fe, New York, Florida, LA and Kokomo.

The Bush Administration's attempt to reframe its New Orleans legacy on the eve of both parties' national conventions has sent an unlikely point man into the trenches - one who wrote the book on information warfare. Retired General Douglas O'Dell wrote in National Defense on April Fool's Day, 2002:

Mark Hudson and Shamarr Allen jam at Rock Fantasy Camp

When Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp rolled into New Orleans, the rock star counselors asked the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund to fill some scholarship positions and show them the effects...

The first blog I ever wrote for the Huffington Post was two years ago for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund's ReDefine 8/29 program, so watching it grow into repurposing thousands of items of four star furniture through a collaboration with the

Senator John McCain canceled his trip to visit Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as almost half a million gallons of crude oil began to coat the Mississippi River. The McCain campaign barely avoided stepping on a campaign banana peel, or oil slick as it...

Today nola.com's Chris Rose described the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund guitar transfer (story here). Next month our charity is passing along a donated grand piano and good used car to New Orleans music families thanks to the help that's still coming in.

Newly elected Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is facing a potential recall, after he declined to veto state legislators doubling their salaries.

A contender in John McCain's vice presidential pool, Louisiana's new governor won his campaign by pledging legislative ethics reform. Reacting to the recall petition, Governor Jindal's team...

"Give what you have to somebody, it may be better than you think."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Since Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent broken New Orleans levees, hundreds of music lovers have donated enough to keep displaced musicians in gear, transportation, housing and instruments through the New Orleans Musicians...

As the rivers converge and and the crest moves south, national efforts to shore up our levees ought to look like someone is building the pyramids. They don't, and eight more midwestern levees broke last night. As did the New Orleans levees which brought me back to the Midwest in...

During my last trip to New Orleans I noticed that a pile of sheets which looked perfectly normal during the day resembled 13th Century Persian poet Rumi once the light changed -- as clear as grilled cheese Jesus. My husband...

Last night Rep. Dennis Kucinich was on the floor of the House of Representatives reading 35 Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush, broadcast live on C-Span. It was covered by Thomas D'Antoni, and the full transcript is available at AfterDowningStreet. That giant sucking sound you hear...

NEW ORLEANS -- Here, Tuesday night, just beyond the municipal limits of the City that Care Forgot, John McCain kicked off his general election run against Barack Obama. He also attended a New Orleans $10,000 per couple benefit this week, more evidence of his staggeringly tone-deaf advance team if the...

After Bill Clinton's "I want to say also, that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind" statement in South Dakota, here's how I picture his final primary morning:

"Thanks for the coffee. This may be the last morning we ever pay your...

Harold Ickes, hand wringing throughout the Democratic National Committee's hearing this afternoon, sounded more like someone fresh off a breakup than a Hillary Clinton surrogate. Even his checkered shirt looked sad. In 1997, a New York Times Magazine article titled "Bill Clinton's Garbage Man" wrote of Ickes' father, "From 1933...

While boarding a helicopter in Monaco, Brad Pitt's new tattoo was unveiled in photos picked up by celebitchy, then Britain's Daily Mail and across the internets. The lines and squares of the tattoo could be anything -- an Escher print, Chutes and Ladders, an Ashton Kutcher Pop Fiction...

John McCain's recent visit to New Orleans and his current eco tour of the west coast follows a wave of his courting progressives, since he has already courted and received endorsements from conservatives like Rev. John Hagee.

Problem Reverend issues had staying power in national and state levels last...

As the Democratic Party nomination race moves to a close-- the relatively unknown Illinois Senator pulling ahead of a political powerhouse-- the race begins to further parallel another historic run.

Prairie State "DD"s are behind both races: Dave Davis...