Live From New Orleans, New York, and Los Angeles

Walking Through Heaven's Gate, Glen David Andrews. Incredible set of New Orleans gospel recorded live at the Zion Hill Baptist Church in the Treme neighborhood. Andrews, the Zion Hill choir, and the NOLA musicians comprising the band breath such life into chestnuts "Down By The Riverside," "Jesus On The Mainline," "Down By The Riverside," "I'll Fly Away," and "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" that you'll think you're hearing them for the first time. Andrews, a belter if there ever was one, and his followers deliver these standards with enough joy and inspiration to make Madeleine Murray O'Hair reconsider atheism: If church was always like this, I'd go all the time. Featuring a new song written by Andrews and Paul Sanchez, as well as a brilliant rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Andrews and John Boutte. Available from the Louisiana Music Factory.

Live at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Dumpstaphunk. Sizzling live set by Ivan Neville's funk band gets you off your feet and dancing from the first notes right through their hard-driving cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" with guest guitarist Warren Haynes. Some of these cuts are so new that they don't have names yet. Keyboardist Neville (son of Aaron) leads a crack quintet that includes nephew Ian (son of Art) on guitar. These guys may be New Orleans musical royalty, but there's nothing staid or snobby about their approach to funk. At one point, Ivan introduces what he calls the Dumpstaphunk version of a ballad. Take my word for it: No one was slow dancing. Available as a download from www.mule.net.

Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Van Morrison. In November 1968, Van Morrison released Astral Weeks, an introspective, impressionistic recording unlike anything before it or since. Revered by critics, the enigmatic recording regularly rates high on lists of top recordings ever. But aside from "Cypress Avenue," Morrison rarely performed the material from Astral Weeks, in part because his record company at the time had been uninterested in promoting it. Last November, Morrison for the first time performed the entire suite, along with epic versions of "Listen to the Lion" and "Common One." Although the results have been well-received, critics have held back from calling this recording superior to the original release.

To these ears, the new recording offers benefits not present on the 1968 version. To be sure, an album as artistically significant as Astral Weeks can only be original once. Moreover, the '68 version benefited immensely from the contributions of jazz musicians Richard Davis and Connie Kay; they provided a lightness and etherealness rare in rock recordings. But the new version gains greatly from the directness of a live performance. Moreover, the arrangements are superb, especially the segments in which the flamenco-style guitar interacts with violin and flute. The interplay between Morrison and the band is superb: It's plain that all knew they had something special going. Moreover, Van is in top form, scatting and improvising vocals and exhorting the band onward. If you have the original release, Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a terrific companion piece. If you don't have the original, this reimagining is a perfect introduction...

Wayback Machine. In 1974, Van Morrison capped the first phase of his illustrious career with It's Too Late To Stop Now, a fine live album that combined R&B covers with highlights from his first six albums, often improving on the original versions. The string section gathered to play behind his live band enhanced the arrangements rather than making them stodgy, and Morrison reached new interpretative heights on "Listen to the Lion" (the best recorded version of this song), "Caravan," "Wild Children," and "Into the Mystic." Still arguably the best introduction to Morrison, and excellent from start to finish...

The C-Span list of presidential rankings. I'll save you the suspense: Bush is 36th, ahead of such luminaries as Millard Fillmore, Warren G. Harding, William Henry Harrison (who was in office a month before he died of pneumonia contraacted during his inauguration), Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan. Bush ranks lowest among presidents who served two terms.

All things considered, I'm suspicious of the criteria. For one thing, why is John Kennedy so high? He served less than three years, was timid on Civil Rights -- the signature domestic issue of his time -- and accelerated America's drift into Vietnam. In terms of accomplishing what he set out to do, I understand Reagan's high ranking. In that light, he could be higher. But whether or not his presidency was good for the country is another matter entirely, especially as his hands-off business philosophy now stands discredited...

George Will's war on science...

Buy American? Not if the U. S. Chamber of Commerce has anything to say about...

The atheist-gospel war for my immortal New Orleans soul continues. I read this (Secular humanists establish a beachhead New Orleans) but then I see this:



You get my dilemma...

Tulips...TU-lips...