I heart NOLA

- More Funk: My auctions sold for $70 and $200 respectively, so I’m happy to say I helped contribute $270 to the soulstrut cause so far. I’m also way over-bidding on a record right now. The auctioning is still poppin’ off so go holler at some records before it’s too late. And, here’s some more record auctions for a good cause; this time the money goes directly to NO artists hurt by the storm. T’is the season to be giving.

- Freedom of Press, my ass: Dude, this country is looking more and more like a fascist state. Sheesh.

- Emotional Outbursts: So, Kanye had his emotional outburst, so did Nagin, so did a couple of newscasters and random NO officials, and I see a lot of people passing these folks off as being “overly-emotional” or something--as if crying because thousands of people are needlessly dead somehow qualifies you as having a chemical imbalance. Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, if you’re not crying about this shit, then you’re the one with the emotional problems. Peep this video of Stephon Marbury bawling his eyes out. Dude is donating between $500,000 and $1 million to the cause. Don’t even try and say “Well, he’s rich.” That’s something like 15% to 20% of his yearly income. So, if you make $50,000 a year, then go ahead and donate between $5,000 and $10,000 of that. Dude is really real. And, don’t forget to watch the Hurricane Relief Basketball Game on Sunday. Why the heck is Derrick Coleman playing in that shit, though?

- Rebuilding New Orleans: Via k-punk, Some scary thoughts about re-building NO:

It's a terrifying notion to think about, but we must: the poor of New Orleans may have been deliberately dispossessed (and demonized as "looters") in order to make way for the rebuilding of New Orleans on the sterilized theme park terms of the rich. Goodbye Robert Johnson, hello Robert Johnson Hotel and Casino Resort Complex.

- Hunter S. Thompson: Rolling Stone fixin’ to publish Thompson’s suicide note. It appears to be touchingly stark and, like any suicide note I suppose, rather bleak:

No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt.

- Noah Baumbach’s Back: The Squid and the Whale looks fucking awesome. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach (writer/director of the brilliant Kicking and Screaming and Mr. Jealousy), produced by Wes Anderson. Go see this when it driddops October 5th.

-e