7 Years After Katrina, New Orleans Transformed

As another storm bears down on New Orleans, the city is booming seven years after Hurricane Katrina visited, becoming a more racially diverse place with educated young professionals. The change is remaking what the Big Easy once was.

First Person: Long Road To College Pays Off

Karlton Pannell, who's graduating from the New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School and had the honor of introducing former president Bill Clinton, says he's grateful for his unique opportunity.

Weekly Address: Lessons and Renewal Out of the Gulf Coast

The President discusses the steps being taken to finish the job of recovery from Hurricane Katrina as the fourth anniversary approaches. He points to local citizens working hard alongside responsible government to make real progress in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and pledges that the lessons of Katrina will not be forgotten.

Keeping St. Bernard Parish White

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, affordable public housing still isn’t available for many New Orleans residents. How white residents in St. Bernard Parish are keeping blacks out.

By: Brentin Mock

St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans, has the distinction in Louisiana of taking the most direct hit from Hurricane Katrina four years ago this week.

In the slow, painful rebuilding that followed, the parish has gone out of its way to keep low-income, working black families from living there. A federal court ruled twice this year—once in March and again last week—that St. Bernard’s attempts at deciding who could move in and who had to stay out were violations of the Fair Housing Act. According to the ruling, the parish’s ordinances were shown to have both a disparate racial impact and discriminatory intent. They wanted to keep black people from living there. A federal judge described the parish’s efforts as “camouflaged racial expressions.”

Keeping St. Bernard Parish White....

Mayor Nagin gets caught up in vacation controversy

By BECKY BOHRER

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — They've already begun the countdown to Mayor Ray Nagin's last day in office a year from now. He is mocked on bumper stickers, even booed at the opera.

Now Nagin, whose career was nearly wrecked by Hurricane Katrina 3 1/2 years ago, has seen his approval ratings sink to their lowest level ever, amid anger over the city's slow recovery and recent ethics questions about his vacations to Jamaica and Hawaii.

Allegations that Nagin didn't pay for at least part of the trips were raised in a lawsuit over his once highly touted city crime camera system, now known more for cost overruns than catching criminals.

"It's been cleverly portrayed as, 'There's something wrong here,' and nobody's been able to prove that yet," Nagin recently told reporters. "And it further creates doubt about government and government officials, and ... I don't know how to deal with it other than to try and get through it."

Mayor Nagin gets caught up in vacation controversy....

Katrina's Hidden Race War

In this Nation Institute exclusive, reporter A.C. Thompson talks with innocent victims and ruthless vigilantes about his expose on shootings of black New Orleans residents fleeing the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and police misconduct after the storm.

After Katrina, it was literally open season on Black folks

A new report in The Nation documents what many have claimed for years -- for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by White vigilantes in Katrina's aftermath became a bigger threat than the storm itself.

After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will-- with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.

The facts are finally seeing the light of day. Now we must demand action. Given Louisiana's horrible record when it comes to criminal justice and Black folks, it's the only path to justice.

You can help. Join us in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of these crimes and any police cover-up. It takes only a moment to add your voice and to invite your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/

In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness. Meanwhile, an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people. "It was great!" said one vigilante. "It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it."

The Nation's article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander, and Chris Collins -- a group of friends who were attacked by shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September 1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers shouted, "Get him! Get that nigger!" He managed to get away. Alexander and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington, shot in the neck, barely survived.

And there's the story of Henry Glover, who didn't survive after being shot by an unknown assailant. 2 Glover's brother flagged down a stranger for help, and the two men brought Glover to a police station. But instead of receiving aid, they were beaten by officers while Henry Glover bled to death in the back seat of the stranger's car. A police officer drove off in the car soon afterward. Both Glover's body and the car were found burnt to cinders a week later. It took DNA analysis to identify the body.

Then there's the story of White militiamen who tried to drive their Black neighbors from their homes. Reggie Bell, who lived just two blocks down the street from the vigilantes' ringleader, was told at gunpoint, "We don't want you around here. You loot, we shoot." Later, another group of armed White men confronted him at his home, asking, "Whatcha still doing around here? We don't want you around here. You gotta go."

These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation. But unless you speak out, we may never learn the full extent of the violence. Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records. When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about Algiers Point. And according to journalist A.C. Thompson, "the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm."

The Nation's article is important, but it's just a start. For more than three years now, these racist criminals have by their own admission gotten away with murder, while officials in New Orleans have systematically evaded any kind of accountability. We have to demand it.

Please join us in calling on state and federal officials to investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/

TAVIS ACCUSED OF BARACK-BASHING

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama turned down an invitation from Tavis Smiley to attend his "State of the Black Union 2008" conference on Feb. 23 in New Orleans – and all hell has broken loose.


The controversy was been played yesterday across black radio, with Smiley's regular appearance on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" directly addressing the situation.

It all started when Sen. Obama sent a letter to Smiley explaining that his hectic campaign schedule in advance of critical primaries in the coming weeks will not allow him to make the annual conference, but Michelle Obama would attend in his place.


Smiley wasn't having that.

"I believe this is a critical miscalculation and a missed opportunity," Smiley reiterated Thursday on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."

Furthermore, Smiley says he was never contacted by the Obama camp with an offer to send Michelle Obama to the conference.


"It never happened," Smiley said. "No letter, no fax, no e-mail, no phone call, no document whatsoever to my office ever regarding Michelle Obama. She was never offered, it was never discussed."


Smiley said he would've respectfully declined the Michelle Obama offer anyway.

"Just as we would have declined had Hillary Clinton offered Bill Clinton, had John McCain offered Cindy McCain, had Mike Huckabee suggested Janet Huckabee," Smiley said.


Meanwhile, Michelle Obama appeared on the "Michael Baisden Show" to address Smiley's comments and explain her husband's decision to remain on the campaign trail.


"We believe in what Tavis has been doing and are obviously supportive, but as people know, we're at a critical juncture in this bid for Barack to become the next President of the United States. He's in a position that no one could've ever anticipated. But it's not over, and every single vote and every delegate is going to count. That's why Barack has made the decision to spend every minute that he has trying to reach voters who don't know him in states that have still remaining primaries."


As for Smiley's decision to turn down Michelle Obama's offer to stand in for her husband at the conference, she says: "All I can do is respect his decision not to accept my participation, but I think that Barack can do far more in moving the principals of the covenant forward by becoming the next President of the United States."


Out of all the presidential candidates, including Republicans Sen. John McCain and Mike Huckabee, only Sen. Hillary Clinton has accepted Smiley's invitation to appear.

KATRINA VICTIMS FILE 489,000 CLAIMS AGAINST FED. GOVT.

Roughly 489,000 claims have been filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following Hurricane Katrina – and one of the plaintiffs is seeking damages in the quadrillions. Seriously.


According to the Associated Press, a person from Baker, La. is seeking $3,014,170,389,176,410, which amounts to a little over $3 quadrillion dollars, to compensate for troubles ever since the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane rolled through.


Of roughly 489,000 total claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.


Some residents may have grossly exaggerated their claims to send a message to the corps, which has accepted blame for poorly designing the failed levees.

"I understand the anger," Scott said. "I also understand it's a negotiating tactic: Aim high and negotiate down."


Daniel Becnel, Jr., a lawyer who said his clients have filed more than 60,000 claims, said measuring Katrina's devastation in dollars and cents is a nearly impossible task.


"There's no way on earth you can figure it out," he said. "The trauma these people have undergone is unlike anything that has occurred in the history of our country."


The corps released zip codes, but no names, for the 247 claims of at least $1 billion. The list includes a $77 billion claim by the city of New Orleans. Fourteen involve a wrongful death claim. Fifteen were filed by businesses, including several insurance companies.

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Meets The Great Debaters

By Cameron Turner

My kids and I were singing along with a CD of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” when I got to thinking: what if Rudolph’s nose hadn’t been bright enough to guide Santa’s sleigh through that foggy Christmas Eve? What if it had simply been an unusual nose rather than an exceptional nose? Rudolph would probably have been doomed to a life of rejection and ridicule.

Rudolph was mocked and excluded simply because he looked different. Not only did the other reindeer “laugh and call him names” but they “never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.” All that changed, of course, after Santa asked Rudolph to take the point position on that murky night. “Then how the reindeer loved him” as the song says.


The injustice here is that, because of bigotry and discrimination, Rudolph was forced to earn a place in the society into which he had been born. Rudolph had to perform an extraordinary act of heroism -- literally saving Christmas -- in order to be accepted by his peers. He was cool after the foggy night because he did something that benefited the system. He bailed out The Man.


Victims of exclusion and oppression are often told to prove themselves worthy of inclusion. Blacks and other so-called “minorities” know all about that.


The civil rights heroes of yesteryear often faced criticism from whites who claimed that black Americans weren’t culturally or intellectually ready for integration. This theme comes out in The Great Debaters, the extraordinary new movie about students from a small black college in Texas who soar to the national debate championships. During a verbal battle over school integration, a white student concedes that discrimination is wrong but argues that the South isn’t ready for black and white students to go to class together. Jurnee Smollett’s character beats that argument down by stating passionately, “The time for justice is always now!”


Reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous “All, Here and Now” speech in which King declares, “We are not willing to wait 50 years for what is ours on the basis of the Constitution of the United States and the authority of God himself!”


So it was with Rudolph. Like us, he was entitled to full citizenship and the North Pole society had no moral right to exclude or deny him. As our Constitution eloquently asserts, freedom and equality are rights endowed to each of us by the Creator. They are not privileges doled out by biased power elites.



HOMELESS IN BETHLEHEM AND NEW ORLEANS

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” -- Luke 7:2


We revisit those beautiful words from the Gospel of Luke every year at Christmastime. They remind us that God’s empathy for the poor was so great that he permitted his son to enter this world homeless, literally born in a barn. Jesus’ humble birth underscores God’s expectation that we love one another as ourselves.


This Christmas, however, Luke’s comforting words take on heartbreaking irony in the Katrina-ravaged city of New Orleans. There, local and federal governments are poised to actually increase homelessness. Last Thursday the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to let the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tear down 4,500 public housing units (aka “the projects”) to make way for new mixed-income buildings. There are supposed to be 3,200 units in these new buildings but only 900 will be designated for low-income residents. The New Orleans City Council approved a measure asking HUD to build the same number of low income homes as it plans to demolish. But HUD isn’t obligated to grant that request. Don’t hold your breath.


As the bulldozers demolish those 4,500 homes (many of which were not seriously damaged by Katrina) the residents will likely join the 12,000 homeless New Orleanians who already sleep in parks and under bridges every night. About 1/3 of these individuals work full time jobs but they can’t afford a roof and walls because rents have doubled since Katrina. Unfortunately, the HUD demolitions aren’t even the worst part of what’s about to happen in New Orleans. FEMA reportedly plans to close all of its trailer parks over the next six months. 50,000 Katrina survivors currently live in FEMA trailers.


Homelessness will expand much faster than new, permanent housing will be built and the poor, mostly black New Orleanians, will ultimately be forced to leave the city. That’s probably what some people have wanted all along.


For this to all go down at Christmas just adds insult to injury. After all, the man who was born in that barn 2,000 years ago admonished us that we will be judged by the way we treat “the least of these.”

DOZENS IN NEW ORLEANS PEPPER-SPRAYED OVER HUD PROTEST

Police in New Orleans used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters tried to force their way into a packed City Council chamber during a debate on the planned demolition of some 4,500 public housing units, reports the Associated Press.


One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping.

Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.

"I was just standing, trying to get into my City Council meeting," said the woman, Kim Ellis, who was taken away in an ambulance.

"Is this what democracy looks like?" said Bill Quigley, a Loyola University law professor who opposes demolition, as he held a strand of Taser wire he said had been shot into another of the protesters. Quigley said he would explore legal action over the incident, which he believed violated public meetings laws.

Protesters said they pushed against the iron gates that kept them out of the building because the Housing Authority of New Orleans had disproportionately allowed supporters of the demolition to pack the chambers. After roughly 30 minutes of on-again-off-again struggle to get into the meeting, protesters fell back, continuously chanting with bullhorns. An afternoon storm thinned the protesters, some of whom had been waiting since 7 a.m. to enter.

At the peak of the confusion, some 70 protesters were facing about a dozen mounted police and 40 more law enforcement officers on foot. One sheriff's deputy wept on the city hall side of the gate and was comforted by his comrades.


A vote on the demolitions, required by the city charter before the work can begin, was expected in the late afternoon.

The demolition debate has at times exposed class and race divisions in the city — most public housing residents are black, as were many of the protesters, while the City Council is majority white. However, support for demolition among those who spoke at the meeting crossed racial lines.

"It's about being able to walk into a house and say this is a house, not a project," said Donna Johnigan, a black public housing resident who supports redevelopment and who has clashed with residents from other housing complexes. "What we're going to demand is better housing, better schools."

HUD wants to demolish the buildings, most of them damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so developers can take advantage of tax credits and build new mixed-income neighborhoods. HUD says the redevelopment, which was in the works before Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, will mark an end to the city's failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.

Critics say the plan will shrink the stock of cheap housing at a time when housing is scarce and drive poor blacks out of the city. They also say the buildings are, contrary to popular opinion, mostly handsome brick structures that will outlast anything HUD builds in their place.

"It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans," said Kali Akuno, an organizer with the Coalition to Stop the Demolition.

KATRINA CREATES CHANGES IN NEW ORLEANS POLITICS

Whites to take control of city council.

As a result of the recent local elections, the New Orleans City Council will soon have a white majority for the first time in over 20 years.

The election results are a clear and dramatic indication of the displacement of the city's predominantly Black population by Hurricane Katrina which struck the city in 2005.

Estimates vary but it is believed by most experts that as many as half of the Blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina have been unable to return to the city and establish new residences.

The election results also confirm initial fears that powerful political and economic forces would take advantage of the displacements to turn New Orleans into a smaller, higher income and whiter city. For example, virtually none of the reconstruction projects planned by the city to benefit lower income Blacks has gotten off the drawing board. In addition, those African Americans who have managed to re-establish themselves in the city may have lost faith in the political process.

In the Nov. 17 elections, for example, the 52,614 people casting ballots was down sharply from the 113,000 who voted during the 2006 elections for mayor. In addition, 29,700 whites voted compared to only 22,900 Blacks casting ballots.

As a result, veteran white politician Jacquelyn Clarkson was able to defeat Black candidate Cynthia Willard-Lewis in the contest for an at-large seat on the city council.

The Council now has four white and three Black members.

FATS DOMINO: WALKIN', TALKIN' AND HOPIN'

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

NEW ORLEANS — Fats Domino, a founding father of rock 'n' roll, an R&B legend and a New Orleans saint, summarizes his 58-year recording career with sweet sincerity: "There's not too much to talk about."
He squirms slightly in his metal chair near the stage of Tipitina's nightclub and continues in his thick Creole patois. "I'm glad that people liked me and my music. I guess it was an interesting life. I didn't pay much attention, and I never thought I'd be here this long."

And then his anxiety dissolves as he jumps into the title track of his 2006 album, Alive and Kickin':

All over the country, people wanna know

What ever happened to Fats Domino?

And I'm alive and kickin'

"That song's been around awhile," says Domino, 79. "People think I wrote that after Katrina. It was before."

The 2005 hurricane capsized Domino's life, though he's loath to confess any inconvenience or misery outside of missing his social circle in the Lower Ninth Ward, still destroyed and deserted despite some signs of renewal. The smaller of his two side-by-side homes there is nearly restored, with fresh funds expected from a star-studded tribute album out Tuesday on Vanguard. Goin' Home, a 30-track double disc, boasts Domino classics remade by New Orleans heroes from Allen Toussaint to Dr. John, plus such Fats admirers as Tom Petty, Elton John, Randy Newman and Norah Jones.

In addition to renovating Domino's Caffin Avenue home, proceeds will fund other Tipitina's Foundation projects, including Instruments a Comin', which aids area school band programs. The tribute is why Domino, arriving with his favorite cabdriver, came from his current home in Harvey, La., to the Uptown club for a rare interview.

Soft-spoken and pathologically bashful, he's uneasy facing a reporter, though he brightens at the sight of an ice chest stocked with Heinekens, his favorite after earlier loyalties to hometown Jax and Dixie brands.

"I like to go four or five a day," he says. "I just like the taste. I met the company owner in Amsterdam, you know."

It's a rare exotic flavor in Domino's insulated world. He built his Ninth Ward homes a few blocks from the canal-flanking Jourdan Avenue house he was born in. Reluctantly touring the globe, he carried a hot plate and gumbo ingredients. He quit touring decades ago and never takes vacations. When he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998, Domino declined President Clinton's invitation to accept it at the White House.

"I traveled so much, I don't have anywhere left to go," says Domino, plump and dapper in a pale blue shirt, captain's cap and diamond-encrusted ring. The gold airplane pendant he frequently sports "reminds me not to fly. There's no place like New Orleans for me. I like that nightclubs stay open all day and all night. People are friendly here. You can't find better food."

A quiet, but vital, presence

Even in his backyard, he's rarely glimpsed and seldom performs.

"I play enough," he corrects. He may perform at Tipitina's Sept. 29 Goin' Home release party. He last took the stage for a raucous 32-minute gig May 19 at Tip's.

"Only 32 minutes?" he says, turning to Bill Taylor, executive director of the Tipitina's Foundation. "That's all you wanted?"

"That's all you wanted to give," Taylor shoots back.

Domino grins. "Maybe you all didn't pay me."

Taylor: "Another beer, Fats?"

Domino: "Do hogs like slop?"

Conceived a year after Katrina, Goin' Home coalesced into a perfect storm of good intentions.

"Fats wanted to be more involved in recovery efforts — not in a public way, but behind the scenes," Taylor says. "He inspired so many artists, and this gave them a tangible way to recognize Fats and help New Orleans."

After securing Yoko Ono's permission to use John Lennon's Ain't That a Shame, Taylor easily lured others, with Neil Young and Paul McCartney submitting tracks just under the deadline. Getting clearances from labels proved taxing, but artists were enthusiastic.

"We call it the Domino effect," Taylor says. "He's been out of the spotlight for years, but that doesn't change the impact he had. Everyone who signed on understood the significance of Fats."

The tribute's diversity in such pairings as Robert Plant with the Soweto Gospel Choir illustrates how "he really did bridge a gap between black and white audiences," Taylor says. "A lot of white performers had more success financially, but not in terms of influence. Fats is very humble about that. Fame is not of interest to him. If people treated him like a celebrity, he'd be embarrassed to the hilt."

Domino does squirm at the mention of Goin' Home's roster of Fats fanatics. "I'm so glad they took the time, and I certainly appreciate what they've done," he says.

He sold more than 65 million records and scored 37 top 40 hits during his stint at Imperial Records (1949-1963). Only Elvis Presley sold more rock records in the '50s. Eclipsed by his disciples, Domino never complained about his place in rock's pantheon: "I'm satisfied with what happened."

About half of Home was homemade in New Orleans, with Domino attending the Plant and Herbie Hancock sessions. B.B. King taped the title track in Las Vegas. McCartney worked in London. And local sensation Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews did Whole Lotta Loving in New York with Lenny Kravitz, ReBirth Brass Band and James Brown's former horn section.

"For the first time ever, I was nervous," says Andrews. "Lenny's one of my idols, I grew up under ReBirth, and Fred Wesley is king of the funky trombone. And here we are, honoring one of the greatest New Orleans musicians ever.

"After Louis Armstrong, Fats was the key icon to take New Orleans music and make it mainstream, to keep the music real but make it commercially appealing to the rest of the world. He's an inspiration."

Andrews is especially impressed by Domino's hometown allegiance.

"People in the Ninth Ward love him," he says. "For him to live in the toughest part of town, it gave people hope. They respected that. He was the king of the Ninth Ward."

Mostly self-taught, Antoine Domino was inspired by pianists Albert Ammons and Amos Milburn and learned piano from his brother-in-law Harrison Verrett, a player in Oscar "Papa" Celestin's band.

"I didn't need school for that," he says. "I could listen to a record and play it right away. Anything with a lot of piano, I'd pay attention.

"I didn't know I would be a musician. I worked on an ice truck. I towed ice blocks on my back, sometimes 100 pounds, sometimes 25 or 50. I was 15. In the houses where people had a piano in their rooms, I'd stop and play. That's how I practiced."

Big time for The Fat Man

In 1949, after being discovered in The Hideaway on Desire Street, Domino and longtime collaborator Dave Bartholomew retooled drug-themed Junkers Blues into The Fat Man, his first Imperial Records hit and considered by many the earliest rock 'n' roll song. They teamed on a host of R&B hits, including Domino's first crossover, 1955's Ain't That a Shame, a No. 10 pop hit. Pat Boone's version reached No. 2. Did white artists get better breaks?

"They had better laws," says Domino, who avoids discussing politics or race. "I was used to it, so it didn't make any difference. It was harder traveling. There were separate places to get gas or use the bathroom. I didn't let that bother me. It still doesn't bother me.

"Maybe I'm putting you on," he adds with a sly chuckle. "Maybe it's the beer."

Blueberry Hill, Blue Monday and I'm Walkin' landed in the top five. His last single to crack Billboard's top 100 was a 1968 cover of Lady Madonna (the song McCartney wrote to pay homage to Domino).

He continued performing after his chart slide in the mid-'60s, but gradually retreated into a quiet existence, emerging only for infrequent concerts or special occasions. He was part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 1986 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.

Life was good. Until Katrina. The morning after the storm, drummer Ernest "Box" Fontenant went to Caffin Avenue and found Domino stranded as waters quickly rose. He carried him on his back to the second floor of Fats' big house next door, and they huddled with a dozen others, including Domino's wife, Rosemary, until a boat rescued them from the balcony that night as the flood reached 8 feet.

He was dropped at a bridge before winding up on the couch of LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell. His agent and some relatives were unaware of his fate for three days, and nerves weren't soothed by graffiti scrawled on his home: "R.I.P. Fats. You will be missed."

He doesn't dwell on the loss of pianos, cars and memorabilia, including gold records stolen in a post-storm burglary. (Capitol recently provided replicas.)

"A lot of people lost more than that," he reasons. "You can replace pianos, you see. You can't replace life, and we got out alive."

Domino was dazed and numb in the aftermath of the hurricane, which stole his happy routine, says close friend Haydee Ellis.

"The Ninth Ward was a real community," she says. "People walked to his house to visit all the time. He was so relaxed with his friends and the musicians he knows. Strangers could knock on the door, and if Fats was up to it, he'd share whatever he was cooking, and he'd play the piano for them. He'd shake hands with people on a tour bus."

These days, Domino passes time watching TV, and cooking remains his passion, though he's less inclined to whip up hog's head cheese or red beans and rice without a gang of pals to feed.

"You get tired when you cook for yourself," he says. "You keep tasting it and then you don't want it.

"I'm getting a new stove put into my house today. I have a big stove in the kitchen, but I need a little one in my room, so I don't disturb my wife when I'm cooking. And I can cook without being disturbed."

He starts singing: "I hear you knockin' but you can't come in!"

Aside from promoting Goin' Home, his only quest is "paying more attention to the master," he says. "I hope it goes well with the Lord; that's what I've got to prepare for. We're only passing through. We're a bunch of sinners, and time is passing on."

Pressed again to survey his past, Domino says he wouldn't alter one minute. Has he always had a positive attitude?

"I don't remember changing anything except my clothes, and I don't always do that," he says. "I don't know anything about an attitude. I'm just me."