Music fans with some extra bucks to drop might consider Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol’ Box Of New Orleans, a 4 CD set of classic N.O. music. Through the end of 2005, Shout! Factory Records is donating their profits from this one to the Red Cross.

Oddly enough, I found this while talking to torgo_x about his friend Chuck Taggart, who, it turns out, wrote the musical liner notes for the set. Chuck is an expert in Louisiana culture who’s done a radio show here in Southern California forever. Looking at Chuck’s site I discovered that the other writer of the liner notes is my old college friend Mary Herczog, who has written the Frommer’s guide to New Orleans and is a serious student of the city.

It’s a tiny ol’ world. Oh holy crap I just noticed that Mary wrote “California for Dummies” too. Now i have to find that.