Harry Shearer caught off guard during making and debut of The Big Eneasy

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

H.J. Bosworth Jr, Harry Shearer and Sandy Rosenthal pose on Aug 23, 2010 after unveiling Levees.org's first Historical State Marker

In a radio interview today, Harry Shearer admitted he was caught off guard by events during the making and the debut of his documentary, The Big Uneasy.

Although Harry expected the media to be “DNA-wired to pay attention to” the 5th Anniversary of Katrina, he said he was surprised at how the media “re-ran the same old stuff” about New Orleans being flooded by a natural disaster.

He also said he didn’t anticipate how much the media was “impervious to new information since it wasn’t uncovered by them.”

In response to news sources such as NPR which claimed they had always ‘been covering news stories about the New Orleans flooding’, Harry countered that by saying the news had ‘dribbled out’ and no news media had truly told the full story.

Regarding the making of The Big Uneasy, Harry remarked that he was “not ready for the litany of mistakes and wrongdoing” on the part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Harry also weighed on the NPR flap about its refused to allow Harry’s preferred text in an advertisement for the movie.

You can hear the whole interview by Isaiah Thompson of Philly Citypaper here:
http://stream.citypaper.net/music/pfs_harry_shearer.mp3

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Who is that young man who played “A Closer Walk With Thee”?

Monday, September 20th, 2010

17-year old Doyle Cooper played "A closer walk with thee" at Levees.org unveiling of first ever State Historic Plaque

Many have inquired about the young man who played “A Closer Walk With Thee” at Levees.org’s Unveiling Ceremony of its first ever State Historic Plaque on August 23, 2010 near ground zero of the 17th Street Canal.

Mr. Doyle Cooper is a senior at NOCCA and New Orleans Charter for Science and Mathematics. He has been playing Trumpet since the 5th grade. After the levees broke, Doyle has been dedicated to preserving the Traditional Jazz that was born here in our city.  He was grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Unveiling Ceremony to commemorate the event that changed all our lives.

Doyle needed special permission to leave school for the Unveiling, and Levees.org gave Doyle a small donation for his efforts.  Doyle responded by saying how much the Ceremony meant to him.   Doyle’s mother, Leslie Cooper explained to me that he is using the check and saving his own money to buy some beginner music books that he gives to kids when they are deciding if they want to play trumpet or not. He loans them a horn and gives them the book and a few lessons. He also tries, said his mother, to keep the parent from putting out the expense of a horn until the child decides if they really want to stick with it.

Thank you Doyle for your dedication!

WDSU Channel 6 story about the Ceremony.
http://www.wdsu.com/news/24733275/detail.html

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Radio show caller confirms New Orleans pumps probably won’t work in high water event

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

H.J. Bosworth Jr. lead researcher for Levees.org

Yesterday, an unidentified caller phoned in while Kaare Johnson of WIST Radio was interviewing Levees.org’s lead researcher H.J. Bosworth Jr.

What the caller added was bone-chilling.

Bosworth was explaining why the Corps of Engineers’ expensive pumps installed at the mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans and London Avenue Canals might not work if needed. Mr. Bosworth was explaining testimony from a Corps whistleblower featured in Harry Shearer’s new documentary, The Big Uneasy.

The caller added some first hand testimony. Here is a short excerpt from Karre’s interview with ‘Dave.’

DAVE: I was involved with another company trying to sell these pumps to the Army Corps of Engineers. In doing some research, the gentleman is correct (H.J. Bosworth Jr.). The specs were not met. No way, no how, no shape, no form. They (the pumps) were supposed to be witness tested. The pumps themselves are great pumps, they do work. But not under the conditions that they ran in the canals right now. There’s not enough water in the canals to be able to run those pumps properly. They’re hydraulicly driven, which means there’s fluid in these motors, and fluid gets hot and the seals break.

KAARE: Well that’s the key, Dave. How long has the Corps run these? How long can they run?

DAVE: They really haven’t done a lot of testing on them.

Click here for the entire interview. Begin at approximately the mid point.
http://www.webwiseforradio.com/site_files/244/File/KJ_083110_H2.mp3

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