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Thanksgiving Travelers Crowd Airports, Highways; U.S. Troops Weigh in on War Debate; Mardi Gras in 2006

Aired November 23, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
Here's the stories that we're working on for you right now on this Thanksgiving eve.

Far from home for the holiday, American troops on the front lines in Iraq, how are they holding up?

Heading home here in the U.S. -- what are the big snags for travelers? We're tracking the traffic in the sky and on the ground.

And not enough iPods to go around? That's what we're hearing. One of hottest holiday gifts may be in short supply.

This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Well, if you have been keeping tabs on the pre-Thanksgiving travel with us here on LIVE FROM, you may be chuckling at home or not chuckling at the airport. Almost 22 million Americans are flying to their Thanksgiving dinners, probably at an all-time high, in spite of higher fares and wicked weather in the Northeast quarter of the country.

Gasoline, rental cars, hotel rooms all cost more than last year, but gas has come down a lot in the past few weeks. And the interstates, weather permitting, are pretty hopping. Take a look at these live pictures right now. You're seeing traffic moving along right now in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.

CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen and Bonnie Schneider have been watching the weather and everything else. They have got up-to-the- minute information for us.

Hi, guys.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi.

What we are looking at right now is certainly a strong system that is going to bring wind and rain and snow, a -- kind of a combination of all three. In fact, as we take a look at this storm, it's called an Alberta Clipper. The cold air originates from Alberta, Canada. It drops down to the southeast, generally a fast-moving storm. That doesn't usually produce that much in the way of snowfall accumulation. However, there's always an exception. We are watching for the colder air to come over the warmer waters of the Great Lakes. And that will produce what we call lake-effect snow. And we're seeing that right now.

So, for Cleveland, for tonight, you will see a couple of inches of snow. But, then, on the east side of the city, closer to the shoreline, expect more than that. Three to six inches are expected just right here, along the border there of the -- of the Great Lakes area.

And, also, for Detroit, too, we are looking at a lot of snow expected in the forecast. Now, further to the south, we're also expecting snow in Cincinnati, Ohio. We can show you a live picture of Cincinnati right now. And look for a couple inches of snow to start accumulating there as well. It will also be quite windy. So, we will be watching for that throughout much of the evening tonight.

And, really, what we're expecting is this storm system to drop further to the south, eventually just pulling down some much colder air. There's that picture of Cincinnati for you. And it shows that what we can expect, once again, is definitely a lot of wintry weather for much of the region.

Clear right now, but snow is expected for this evening. Well, a lot of other places in the Great Lakes and across much of the country, unfortunately, dealing with travel troubles. Let's

Let's go to Dave Hennen right now. He has more on that.

DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks, Bonnie.

We're going to show you this kind of cool program we have been using all day to kind of keep track of the flights that are up in the air. This our Flight Explorer program. And the thing to look at here is, this is the Great Lakes region right there. There's the state of Michigan, state of Indiana, state of Ohio.

And right here, that's our area of snow we have been watching -- this program handy to us, because it also tells us where there are airport delays. There's a red dot over O'Hare. We know there -- there are airport delays there -- and the only other airport delays to report in the Northeast, in both La Guardia and at JFK.

Let me put on some airplanes. This actually tracks all of the airplanes that are in the sky. And look at that. What a mess, huh? We have over 7,000 planes that are in the air. When I walked in this morning, about 5:00 a.m., we had about 1,000 airplanes in the air at any one given moment.

And then, about every hour, it's gone up about 1,000, to a peak of about 7,500 that we saw earlier. You can see the cluster of planes around the New York City metro area. These are not all commercial planes. These are actually private planes as well.

So, any plane, Bonnie, that has a transponder on it actually sends back a signal, and then we can track these flights in real time as they move through the Northeast.

So, that's what we have been doing all afternoon. That's the only airport delays right now, Chicago, Newark, and La Guardia. We will be watching that -- Bonnie watching what is going to happen tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day itself -- Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: That's right, Dave. And I'm not surprised to see all those planes.

If you're going to be heading out there this evening, out on the roads, or just heading to the airport, bundle up. Look what is happening. We have got temperatures that are dropping down to the teens tonight Chicago. It's going to be cold there. We are expecting lows tonight in Minneapolis to drop down into the teens as well.

And what's happening with this storm system, it not only brings the snow showers, but it adds a reinforcing shot of colder air that will be felt across much of the country for Thanksgiving. For example, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, you will feel the cold in the afternoon, starting off with some rain and snow showers. But temperatures will be quite frigid. And it will also be breezy. And we have the windchill factor to contend with in New York and throughout cities like Chicago, and even back up towards Minneapolis, for Thanksgiving Day.

And, as a result, look at high temperatures tomorrow. They're much colder than today, especially in Chicago. I was talking about this earlier in the week. We had temperatures about 40 degrees in Chicago -- not too bad to be out and about. But, Thanksgiving Day, it is going to be very cold, 27.

But, remember, those strong wind gusts will be coming in throughout the day on Thursday and on into Friday. And that's going make it feel so much colder. And even though temperatures in Washington, D.C., and -- are in the -- in the 50s and in the 40s towards the big cities in the Northeast, Kyra, by the time we get to Friday, and everyone is heading to the shopping malls, it's going to be even colder. We are looking at high temperatures in the 30s.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bonnie, thank you.

Well, we mentioned just a couple hours ago that one airline was offering free massages at its VIP lounge at New York, La Guardia's airport.

Well, since then, our Alina Cho has handed off her reporting duties to her colleague and ours, Allan Chernoff.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Though we're pretty sure it's just a coincidence.

Allan, I'm told it was the Delta Crown room. So, have you been able to check that out? Will you be able to get in there and get a little something?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry to hear it's the Delta Crown room, because Delta is not in the building...

PHILLIPS: Oh.

CHERNOFF: ... in which I'm standing.

PHILLIPS: I'm sorry.

CHERNOFF: Maybe American or United can offer something to me like that, because I would take them up on it.

As you can see, it's not all that crowded right now. Crunch time here at La Guardia typically comes in the late afternoon. So, that's when things should get very crowded. But, also, as much as New Yorkers love their town, they love to get out. And a fair number have already left.

Yesterday afternoon, we were very busy here. And even this morning, there was a 5:40 JetBlue flight early this morning for Fort Lauderdale. That was 94 percent full -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Allan, I'm curious. Any last-minute deals for folks that maybe get this crazy idea they want to go visit that favorite mother-in-law?

CHERNOFF: For procrastinators, they may be in luck.

Airlines call these turkey fares. You leave Thanksgiving Day. You have to return the next day, but it can certainly offer you a great deal -- in and out of Boston, $149 to many major cities around the country -- Detroit, $99 round trip -- and Des Moines, $119.

So, these are certainly things that people want to check out, if they would like to pop over for dinner, just stay the evening, and say, nice seeing you, bye-bye.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right, Allan.

And beefed-up security -- I know you told me earlier there is definitely beefed-up security. Is that causing any type of delays?

CHERNOFF: It doesn't appear to be the case over here.

I -- I mean, obviously, the TSA folks are -- are on guard, and they -- as they always are. But the lines don't look all that bad. In fact, the line you see right behind me, that is a line to go through the security check.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Looking good. Allan Chernoff, thank you so much. We will start working on that massage for you, I promise.

All right, let's get straight to Fredricka Whitfield. She is working a developing story in the newsroom regarding New Orleans' police chief -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, helping to offer stability to the city government there, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will be making it official, making Chief Warren Riley the superintendent of New Orleans Police Department come Monday.

Chief Riley has been the interim police chief. But, come Monday, it will be made official. He will be leading a police department in a city where, before Katrina, had one of the -- or was dealing with one of the highest crime rates of a city in this country. And then, post- Katrina, that police department was plagued with a number of other things to contend with, from desertion of a number of its officers -- in the end, 45 of the police officers were fired because of desertion -- also dealing with accusations of the police officers carrying out looting during the days of Katrina.

And they also had to deal with the unexplained resignation of Police Chief Eddie Compass. So, after Eddie Compass stepped down suddenly, Superintendent -- or Chief Warren Riley was brought in as the interim superintendent. He's been holding that job ever since. And, now, come Monday, the mayor, Ray Nagin, will be making it official.

PHILLIPS: All right. I'm sure we will follow it, too, live, if it happen.

Fred, thanks.

Thousands of U.S. troops getting ready to spend Thanksgiving Day in Iraq -- with the stateside debate getting more and more heated, some war supporters have accused war opponents of undermining morale. So, how do troops on the ground in Iraq feel?

CNN's Aneesh Raman tried to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The best days in Iraq are the slow ones, when there's no engagement with the enemy, when there's a chance to get some downtime, killing time, killing flies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not even flying.

RAMAN: And, for us, it's a chance to talk to soldiers about the war raging here and the debate about it raging back home.

CORPORAL JAMES PARSLEY, U.S. ARMY: Whatever they're fighting for over there, this is our fight. You know, we're trying our best. And pretty much soldiers, whether they want to be here or not, this is our focus.

CORPORAL CHARLES JOHNSON, U.S. ARMY: I think it's right for people to argue, in college, and, you know, regular office days, argue what we're doing over here. Hey, it might help our benefits get higher or something, you know? I don't know. They just -- they just don't understand what it's like over here, what it's like driving down a road full of VBIEDs or IEDs or something.

RAMAN: The fight in this part of Iraq, just south of the capital, remains a tough one, roadside bombs found on a near daily basis, car bombs detonated, insurgent groups operating among the civilian population. The soldiers are trained, though, to confront these dangers, but not the risks they can face back in the U.S.

JOHNSON: When I went home, you mentioned you were from Iraq and stuff, that's not the greatest thing to mention to a girl when you're at the club. It -- it doesn't work. If someone asks me what I do, I'm like, I'm in the Army infantry in Iraq, you know? But it's something I try to avoid from saying, just because it starts a whole conflict.

RAMAN (on camera): When you're out on patrols like this and you talk to soldiers about the fight here, it's less about the war on terror or building a democracy in Iraq. It's much more about getting home.

(voice-over): Over the past nine months, this squadron has lost 18 men. They know that number may rise every time they go out.

JOHNSON: You don't know when you're going to get shot at. It's very unexpected. Firefights come from across canals, across open city areas and stuff, where you can't get to.

RAMAN: But, on slow days, it's rarely politics and strategy that pass the time. Sometimes, the conversation turns the worst of Army rations.

JOHNSON: Oh, I don't like the chicken breasts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love the jambalaya, because I'm from Texas.

RAMAN: While, in Washington, the arguments rage over whether America's soldiers are risking their lives for a noble goal or a hopeless cause, the distinction means little on the front line.

PARSLEY: Most of the people out here probably wouldn't even want to say anything.

RAMAN (on camera): Why?

PARSLEY: Just -- you want to just do your job.

(CROSSTALK)

PARSLEY: The true story is not what happens behind a desk. It's out here every day.

RAMAN (voice-over): Aneesh Raman, CNN, northern Babil Province, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: A developing story and live pictures -- a workplace shooting.

Fredricka Whitfield has more from the newsroom -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, this shooting taking place just outside the D.C. area in Glen Burnie, Maryland. One person has been allegedly shot while inside this food service distribution center called H&M Wagner and Sons.

And police say the shooter also has a gunshot wound, but that one, according to police, is self-inflicted -- no work -- no word, however, on the condition of that alleged shooter, as well as the other shooting victim.

Of course, when we get that, we will be bringing that to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Fred, thank you so much.

We're working a number of stories for you. Obviously, Fred is in the newsroom working that developing story. We have been talking about stories here -- or overseas, and also -- oh, good. This is what's coming up next. I'm -- I'm so glad we're going to talk about this now.

Hurricane Katrina may have wiped out some of the buildings in New Orleans, but the storm did not take the city's soul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Can you figure out who that is? He's a famous Indian chant leader. You see him almost every Mardi Gras. We are going to explain what that means and how all these musicians and a special foundation are trying to get the music and the musicians back into New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Under the sea, under the sea, darling, it's better down where it's wetter. Take it from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now back to the world's largest fish tank, just opened to the general public.

CNN's Chad Myers soaking it all in, all day.

Hi, Chad. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, it sounds so anti-climatic, world largest fish tank.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right, really cool sharks...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: ... and whales and penguins and...

MYERS: Oh, man.

PHILLIPS: Is that better?

MYERS: They have done such a fabulous job with -- with warm water fish. We saw the oceans. We saw the beluga. We saw the cold water fish, the penguins. Now we're actually in the river display, from the Amazon to the Mississippi, all of the fish of the rivers across the world -- the number of fish, 100,000 different species, maybe 500,000 different fish.

We don't know, because, actually, some are eating other fish. But I guess that's just kind of natural selection, isn't it? They can always restock.

What we have here is a river below and a river above. Can you see that catfish right there? There you go. He's actually -- you can actually see him from upside down. And people kind of look up, thinking it is just a ceiling. Then, all of a sudden, they see something moving. The same type of thing is over in the other large water exhibit, where the tunnel is.

It's the tunnel where you can actually swim under the whale sharks. And you have seep tunnels like this in other aquariums. But this is how Bernie Marcus, the founder of this place -- he put $250 million of his own money in here, donated it -- and now it's nonprofit.

But this is one of things that he found when he went to some of the best aquariums across the world. He found that people loved being under the water, in the water, almost, if you will. Kind of like a scuba diver, you can look 360 -- or almost, I guess -- 180 degrees around you, up and down, back and forth.

And, as he visited the top 30 aquariums in the world, he picked the best 30 things and put them all into this place here, downtown Atlanta, Georgia, giving back to the city that gave to him. If you don't know the name, Bernie Marcus is actually one of the co-founders of Home Depot. He made a lot of money at Home Depot. But Atlanta was his first store.

And he gave Atlanta credit for making him the success that he was and gave $250 million of his own money back. This place walks into today, the grand opening, debt-free. So, every dollar that comes in -- and there's a lot of dollars -- $22 to get in, $17 for kids, but every dollar comes back into the community and back into this for rescue, for -- we -- we talked about those belugas that were rescued a little bit ago.

They are going to rescue an awful lot. They are going to use that $40 million, they suspect, from the gate alone to rescue plants, animals, fish, whatever, sharks, from across the country and across the world -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chad, we will talk more about that. We are going to see you again towards the end of the hour. We will talk about all the cool stuff around the aquarium, too, restaurants and movie theaters and all that fun stuff. All right, Chad, see you in a little bit.

Well, you can log on to CNN.com any time to meet the fish and the other inhabitants of the Georgia Aquarium, or even get a virtual tour -- that address, CNN.com/science.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if there's an iPod on your gift list, you may have to move fast. Stores are already worried that they won't have enough of the red-hot music and video players to meet the Christmas sales rush.

"BusinessWeek Online" reports that retailers say that they have they asylum -- they are already getting fewer video iPods and iPod nanos than they have requested. Some stores worry that Apple is keeping some of the harder-to-get products for its own stores.

Harry Potter used to facing danger, but he could have fewer problems from Internet pirates. The creator of the popular BitTorrent file-swapping technology has agreed to make it harder to download movies illegally. BitTorrent speeds up file -- or speeds up file transfers by letting users download small chunks of a file from different computers at the same time. The agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America says that the Web site will speed up the process to remove links to unauthorized -- unauthorized content.

Well, the NBA's new dress code for players could spur some endorsement action off the court.

Susan Lisovicz has more from the New York Stock Exchange.

Susan, you're holding up pretty well for a late night at the U2 concert.

(LAUGHTER)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know how exciting that is, Kyra.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: No doubt.

LISOVICZ: And it was -- it was worth the sore throat and the red eyes and all that. And it's a -- actually a great day on Wall Street.

But, in terms of this particular story, this really could be called a good fit for both the athletes and the clothing manufacturers, some who have reportedly offered players free clothing in exchange for endorsements. According to "Advertising Age," Levi's Dockers brand has offered to outfit all 450 NBA players with business casual clothing.

Joseph Abboud, who makes high-end suits, has sent a letter to more than 100 first- and second-year NBA plays, offering a clothing- for-advertising deal. And Italian fashion house Valentino has also reportedly contacted the league.

They all want to get ahold of those clotheshorses. The new rules instituted this summer require players to wear business casual clothing while traveling with the team or arriving and departing from games and practices.

Let's look at the markets now. Talk about endorsements. The bulls are certainly endorsing the action we have seen on Wall Street this week, has been nothing but rallies. Today, it has been solid, solidly higher -- the Dow industrials up 57 points right now, very close to its highs for the year, the Dow coming off four days of wins. So are the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, which closed at four-and-a-half year highs yesterday -- the Nasdaq right now up a quarter-of-a- percent.

But shares of Research in Motion bucking the trend. They're down 4 percent, this after the maker of BlackBerry wireless devices lowered its subscriber outlook for the rest of the year because of new product launch delays.

And that's the latest from Wall Street. Join me at the end of the hour with the closing bell and a wrap-up of the trading day.

LIVE FROM continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, checking some news from around the world now, violence in the South Asia earthquake zone, it happened in Srinagar, on the Indian side of the Kashmir line of control. Two people described as militants threw grenades into an Indian paramilitary barracks. And the attackers were killed. So were three Indian security officers in that firefight that followed. Tension there remains high, despite peace efforts on both sides of the line.

The border between Israel, Lebanon is still a very hot zone, after several days of clashes between Israeli terror and Hezbollah guerrillas. New firefights erupted today, after an Israeli hang glider accidentally drifted over the border into Lebanon and crash- landed. Such is daily life on one of the world's most uneasy borders.

And a dozen anti-war protesters were arrested after setting up camp near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. The local sheriff warned them that they were violating a new ban on roadside camping and parking. Other protesters moved after getting a warning.

The group gathered because President Bush and the first lady are spending the Thanksgiving Day holiday at the ranch. Activist Cindy Sheehan was delayed by a family emergency, but she said she would be there later this week.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will drop at some unspecified point in the not-too- distant future.

Rice sat down with CNN chief national correspondent John King, who asked when Iraq's military might take over the task of defending that country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm quite certain, John, that what -- what is happening here is that Iraqi forces are getting more capable. They are able of carrying out more functions.

It doesn't mean that coalition forces are no longer needed, because there are still certain functions that they're not capable of doing. But the number of coalition forces is clearly going to come down, because Iraqis are making -- making it possible now for -- to do those functions themselves.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Clearly going to come down when? Senator Biden says bring maybe 50,000 home next year. I understand there's a plan circulating within the administration that could bring, assuming conditions on the ground -- ground improve, as many as 60,000 home next year.

How many and when?

RICE: I think what the president will want to assess is when can we safely bring down our level of forces so that Iraqis are really capable of achieving the results and the effects that you want, rather than having some artificial timetable.

I suspect that the -- that American forces are not going to be needed in the numbers that they're there for all that much longer, because Iraqis are continuing to make progress, in function, not just in numbers, but in their capabilities to do certain functions, like, for instance, holding the highway between the airport and the center of the city. Something that our forces were doing just a short time ago, they are now doing.

And I think that's how the president will want to look at this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Airports, highways, snowstorms, Thanksgiving.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, "we're blues people and blues never lets tragedy have the last word," those thoughts from New Orleans native and acclaimed musician, Wynton Marsalis. He is not the only one determined to bring the beat back to the streets. Also taking note in New Orleans, Bill Taylor, director of the Tipitina's Foundation, and Monk Boudreaux, he's a vocalist, an Indian chant leader, they join me both live today.

Hi, guys.

MONK BOUDREAUX, NEW ORLEANS VOCALIST: Hi.

BILL TAYLOR, DIR., TIPITINA'S FOUNDATION: Hello.

PHILLIPS: Great to have you with you (sic). And I think we should probably set up, you both will agree, Tipitina's, one of the most famous clubs in the country, based right there in New Orleans, where every incredible jazz musician has ever played. I'm curious, is it up and running, Bill? Is it doing well now? Are there a lot of performances on weekends?

TAYLOR: Well, we actually -- we opened up two weeks ago with a performance from a brass band. And just on Sunday night we had Monk and some Mardi Gras Indians there. And moving forward into December we're going to be doing shows on a more regular basis.

So yes, we're up and running, slow but sure.

PHILLIPS: Good, that's good to hear. And we're going to talk more about the Mardi Gras Indians in just a minute. Monk, I'm going to have you, you know, tell us about the culture there.

But, Bill, 80 percent of the musicians from that area are from the destroyed areas. I mean, that's a tremendous impact. How has that affected the culture, the music and nights at Tipitina's?

TAYLOR: Well, I mean, the biggest effect is that a lot of those musicians are no longer in New Orleans. Those neighborhoods that many of the musicians lived in were decimated. So we now are in the process of trying to get these musicians back to the city, because they're scattered absolutely everywhere all over the country.

PHILLIPS: Now, Monk, when I lived in New Orleans, and I know you are one of the most famous Mardi Gras Indians, you're an incredible chant leader. Tell me what happened to you. Did you lose your home? Did you lose your tambourine? Tell me what happened.

BOUDREAUX: Well, I lost just about everything in the house except my Indian suit, because the firemen told me that they were going to have five feet of water in the neighborhood. So I took my Indian suit and the kids' Indian suit and put it up high as I possibly could because I didn't have nowhere else to put nothing else. So just about everything else is destroyed.

PHILLIPS: Well, and you have part of the suit with you, right? Do you have your headdress?

BOUDREAUX: Yes, yes. PHILLIPS: Show it to us.

BOUDREAUX: OK.

PHILLIPS: And give us a little explanation on, you know, tell us about the Mardi Gras Indians. Not everybody knows about this culture and why it's important and the importance of the chanting. Tell us about it.

BOUDREAUX: Well, Mardi Gras Indians, they've been going on through New Orleans over 100 years. And the older people, when we was kids, they taught us the tradition and they told us to keep it going. And like we have been doing it ever since I was a kid. And like now I have my grandchildren with me, also bringing them up the way I came up. So we could never lose this, you know? Because it's important to the city.

PHILLIPS: Well, your headdress is beautiful. Did you make that or was it made for you?

BOUDREAUX: No.

PHILLIPS: You made it?

BOUDREAUX: You've got to make your own.

PHILIPS: Oh, I love it. Tell me about it. Tell me about the feathers and give me a description.

BOUDREAUX: OK. The feathers are ostrich feathers that we get from Jefferson Variety. And that's a place where we get the rhinestones, the rhinestones, canvas, beads, and the feathers, and velvet. And we take it and cut the velvet in little strips, make ruffles. And it's hand-sewed, everything is hand-sewed.

PHILLIPS: It's incredible, Monk, it's gorgeous.

And, Bill, let's talk now about the Tipitina's Foundation, of course this existed prior to the storm. But now, when you look at the Web site, we thought this was terrific, you can donate instruments, housing, clothing, you can advertise a gig. If you're a musician, you can register for a gig, for an instrument, for housing, clothing. You can browse the list of lost artists. I mean, this is incredible. How effective has this been? I mean, obviously you've been able to help out Monk, right?

TAYLOR: Yes. We helped out Monk, he was one of the first people that we reached out to.

PHILLIPS: Well, and I notice Daryl Adams, famous brass player there, he got a mint condition vintage King Super 20 alto sax, that's incredible. Does he like it?

TAYLOR: Oh, yes. I mean, a lot of musicians lost their instruments. So, you know, being able to put an instrument in the hands of an incredible professional musician and allow him to make money doing what he loves as well as preserving the culture of New Orleans is -- I mean, it's an honor.

PHILLIPS: Well, and I know Benny Jones Sr., he got a new snare drum, so he can play in his brass band, right?

TAYLOR: Yes. The Treme Brass Band.

PHILLIPS: So where are all of the donations coming from? Are they all over the country?

TAYLOR: All over. We just had a group of people arrive at Tipitina's last night from Chicago. Tonight we have a group from Minneapolis showing up with instruments. Asheville, North Carolina, a group that's coming from there in about a week with a whole truckload of instruments. It's truly overwhelming the amount of support we've gotten from all over the country and really all over the world.

PHILLIPS: Monk, why -- you know, why is it so important to make a tremendous effort? I mean, you know, we have been covering the housing situation and the rebuilding of New Orleans, but we haven't forgotten the culture. And I know that, Bill, you've even said, so much about saving New Orleans is saving the culture. And that involves the music and it involves people like you, Monk, and what you've done for so many years and your family. You know, among everything, and everything that you've lost, I mean, this seems to be one of the most important things to you. You know, why?

BOUDREAUX: Well, because, you know, like, I came up in the city of New Orleans, you know? And Mardi Gras was the thing that you know was handed down to us from the older people, like I said before. And, like I had to come back home to get it together. I mean, because you know if we stay away from it, then it may be lost forever because where else could Mardi Gras be at?

PHILLIPS: Yes, you are absolutely right. All right. Give me about 10 seconds of a little chant, Monk. I've got to get you to do it for me live.

BOUDREAUX: OK.

(CHANTING)

PHILLIPS: Outstanding, Monk Boudreaux, I can't wait to come back to Mardi Gras and see you again. And, Bill, what a fantastic foundation. Bill Taylor, director of Tipitina's Foundation. Log on, get involved, help out. Monk Boudreaux, I'm glad you're hanging in there. It's great to see you both.

TAYLOR: Thank you.

BOUDREAUX: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

Well, musicians are not the only creative people trying to express what the hurricane did to their city. One displaced family wrote a book and they hope that their simple story of a New Orleans cat, squirrel and a few gators will help kids communicate about the storm. The authors join us live tomorrow right here on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Let's take one last peek under the sea, well, at least today anyway. Just another cool exhibit that's opened up at the Georgia Aquarium. Chad Myers, as usual, front and center, telling us all about it -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kyra. We are now moved to the coral reef exhibit behind me, the largest coral reef in an enclosed system. Now clearly, we have heard of the Great Barrier Reef and the reefs just south of Marathon, Florida, to Key West. Those are open reefs. Those are natural reefs. It's very difficult to make an interior, an inside reef that actually lives, and this is a living reef. About 20 percent of it is living, 80 percent is the fiberglass that they built the reef around.

As the reef grows, and if we get more pieces of reef, we're actually going to see this thing turn into 100 percent reef according to Kim Hall, we hope 100 percent reef, right? We had pictures of you earlier swimming around in there. What were you doing?

KIM HALL, SENIOR BIOLOGIST, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: I was actually getting the exhibit and the habitat ready for opening with the natural sunlight coming down and all the artificial lighting it causes a lot of algae growth across the window. And so every morning I actually get in, it takes me about an hour or a little bit more to actually wipe down and clean the window before opening and just doing general maintenance, and checking on all of the animals.

MYERS: They call you senior biologist. What does that mean?

HALL: Basically, my role here is animal care. I work in the Zoological Operations Department. And I work with a team of people that comprise senior biologists, biologists and entry-level biologists. And we're a team that takes care of the exhibits, maintenance, cleaning, feeding the animals. And I work very closely with the Vet Service Department.

MYERS: This is very dependent, this reef, very dependent on the sunshine coming in through the big skylight. Tell us how all of that worked out. I hear it was a lot of work to even get this worked out in this building?

HALL: Yes, exactly. This reef is an Endo-Pacific reef, to represent. A lot of the animals are from the area. And so the sun and the lighting in that area is a lot different than what it is here in Atlanta. So we had to build a very large skylight over the exhibit to allow natural sunlight to come through, but then also supplement it with artificial lighting, too. It took us months to try to get a fine balance of what the animals need here in Atlanta.

MYERS: There's a lot more to this reef that we can't even see, right? This is 180,000 -- 160,000 gallons, but a lot of it is over the top of the reef, describe why. HALL: Correct, basically there's an area above the exhibit, above where you see the highest point here on the exhibit path that's a shallow area, it's only about three feet deep. And then beyond that is an area where we have a mangrove area. And that area is going to be use for educating the school groups that come through.

And so they'll actually be able to experience the mangrove area, learn about the animals that live in that area, and learn about the entire ecosystem of a living reef.

MYERS: Now, it looks like this is a real reef. Looks like we're deep sea diving and looking at it. But some of this isn't real yet. Some of the brighter things are real. How long is this going to take to grow?

HALL: Right. It's actually going to take a really -- it's going to be a long process, to actually turn this entire habitat into a full living reef. It's going to take years. We'll be constantly adding more corals as we acquire them, and more fish as time goes on. And as the corals grow and expand, we'll be actually removing the artificial coral pieces and to allow them more space to grow.

And within a few years hopefully, if not longer, we'll have this entire habitat full of live coral and no artificial coral.

MYERS: Kim, thank you very much for your time.

Kyra, no coral was harmed making this reef. This is all cultured coral. So we don't have to worry by anybody going out there, breaking a piece of coral off a reef and bringing it in here. This is what an absolute natural coral is going to look like, but it's going to be grown in other places, actually grown in laboratories, brought here and planted into the reef. So you don't have to worry about anybody doing any harm to the natural reefs out there for this one. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's beautiful. Chad Myers, thank you so much.

We're going to talk entertainment news straight ahead on LIVE FROM. The ladies rocked the house at the American Music Awards. We're going to tell you who won. And of course some of those interesting wardrobe choices. Hello!

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PHILLIPS: Sometimes even senators can't avoid jury duty. Former presidential candidate John Kerry spent a couple of days as a jury foreman this week in Massachusetts. The jury considered a case involving two men who sued for injuries in a car accident. The jury awarded no damages. Kerry says that he was surprised that he wasn't excused but he called the experience interesting.

Girl power was the prevailing theme at the American Music Awards. The 33rd annual awards show was held in Los Angeles last night. And our entertainment correspondent, Sibila Vargas, was there, front and center on the red carpet. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From country to pop to rock to hip-hop, a who's who of who's hot on the music charts came together in Los Angeles for Tuesday night's American Music Awards.

(on camera): While things were hot outside on the red carpet, all the action was on stage inside the Shrine Auditorium.

(voice-over): Cedric "The Entertainer" may have held center stage.

CEDRIC "THE ENTERTAINER": You saw me come out. This was the first iPod.

VARGAS: But the night really belonged to the ladies.

KELLY ROWLAND, SINGER: I miss my girls Beyonce and Michelle. Wherever you are, I love you so much.

VARGAS: Destiny's Child Kelly Rowland accepted two awards for her girls who received honors for both favorite soul and R&B group and favorite R&B album.

MARIAH CAREY, SINGER: Thank you so much for the warmth and the love!

VARGAS: Mariah Carey, who led the nominations with a total of four, surprisingly only picked up one for favorite female R&B artist.

GWEN STEFANI, SINGER: What did I win?

VARGAS: That would be the award for favorite top female performer from Gwen Stefani and her "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" CD.

Shakira was named favorite Latin music artist.

SHAKIRA, SINGER: When people from different countries relate to a song in a language that they don't even speak, you know, that means so much.

VARGAS: But the boys weren't left out in the cold by any means. White hot Tim McGraw great named favorite male country artist. And his "Live Like You Were Dying" was chosen favorite country album.

TIM MCGRAW, SINGER: And I'm proud to be a part of an industry, country music industry, that carries itself with character and has respect for other people.

VARGAS: Green Day's "American Idiot" won favorite top rock album and Will Smith was named favorite male top performer.

WILL SMITH, SINGER: I made a commitment a long time ago to my grandmother, the type of person I was going to be, the type of music I was going to make, the type of movies I was going to make. I made a commitment to my grandmother. And y'all supported me in that and I want to thank you for that.

VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, you know the expression tequila can kill you? Well, a Norwegian bartender will never forget it. A court near Oslo has sentenced a bartender to six months in the slammer for serving a man so much tequila he fell into a coma and died. The man had 19 shots in 90 minutes. The court said the bartender drank shots of water, tricking the victim into thinking he was in a drinking contest.

Well, last call will be heard for last time tonight in Britain. A new law taking effect tomorrow will allow pubs and other drinking establishments to stay open around the clock. And right now, drinkers are tossed out at 11:00 p.m. and even earlier on Sundays. Critics fear the change will lead people to drink more but others think it will ease the problem of drunks feeling obligated to drink even more before closing time.

Good night and good luck, as a veteran newsman vacates his chair, he tells viewers to stay tuned or else. More on Ted Koppel's parting shot coming up on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Well, since it's such an overused phrase, we restricted calling last night the "end of an era" for ABC's "Nightline." But after more than two decades, it's hard to describe the departure of Ted Koppel as anything else, of course. And since its 1980 debut, "Nightline" stayed defiantly serious while other networks cut loose with of course the stupid pet tricks, and sitcom reruns, and old movies. And in his sign-off, the veteran journalist took a parting shot at the industry that increasingly values entertainment over news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED KOPPEL, ABC ANCHOR: Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. Cronkite begat Rather, Chancellor begat Brokaw, Reynolds begat Jennings. And each of them did a pretty fair job in his own right. You've always been very nice to me, so give this new anchor team for "Nightline" a fair break. If you don't, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot, and then you'll be sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Ted, tell it how it is. But don't forget, we've got our show at 10:00, too. 10:00 to midnight, actually, two hours of incredible and riveting news and interviews, "ANDERSON COOPER 360," of course, at 10:00.

Now this just in. Developing news. Breaking news. Oh, that was kind of cute. Sonia (ph), I think your gobble-gobble is a lot better. Give me a little gobble-gobble. (GOBBLE GOBBLE)

PHILLIPS: There. See?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Sonia, my segment producer, a much better gobble. Thank you very much. Hit the bell on that one. That segues into the Thanksgiving menu at Prairie Chapel Ranch. Yes, we're talking about the White House menu. Here it is: stuffed roasted free range turkey, fresh milled cornbread dressing, pan gravy, chipotle maple whipped sweet potatoes.

Sonia, that sounds good, sounds like something your mom would make.

Roasted asparagus, red peppers, green beans supreme, fruit ambrosia, fresh yeast (ph) rolls. orange cranberry relish, Texas -- is it PE-can or pe-CAN?

What do you say, you're a Southern girl?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: PE-can.

PHILLIPS: Pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. All right. There you go.

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