Would You Like Fries With That? #2

I'm sitting here typing this wondering how much longer I'll have power.  I've already lost it once today for about two hours.  Isaac is bearing down on New Orleans almost exactly seven years since Katrina.  There's no comparing the two hurricanes.  Isaac I'm sitting in my home, intending to ride out the storm.  By this time in Katrina's path I was up in Tennessee staying at my Uncle's house.

It's always a decision on whether to leave for a hurricane.  For those that don't live down here you might be sitting there scratching your head and wondering what there is to think about.  There's a hurricane coming, get out of town.  For those of us that call New Orleans home (and even though I'm not in the city proper but live across the lake on what is called the Northshore I consider myself from New Orleans) hurricanes are part of our lives.  It's not a perverse sense of courting danger, even though it might seem that way with Hurricane Parties and such going on as a storm advances towards the city.  You don't live in this area for long without realizing that more so than in a lot of other cities and states the weather is part of your life here.  You consider the weather to be part of the city and something you have to live with and just learn to accommodate.  I've lived elsewhere and while you talk about the weather somewhere else you live with the weather here.

So when word comes that there's a storm brewing out in the gulf you start wondering if it will come here.  Even when they start out heading towards Florida and are projected to come on land in that state you know that hurricanes never follow the path expected.  Isaac was not supposed to be a problem for us, maybe some rain, but that was the extent.  Now it's bearing down for the mouth of the Mississippi.  Luckily it is a fairly weak hurricane, as far as that goes.  Weak being relative here, any wind that comes through at 100 plus miles and rainfall of perhaps twenty inches is still more than strong enough to cause a lot of damage and destruction.

Right now the wind is whipping through, every now and than you can feel it shake the house.  Looking outside the trees are bending to the strength of the wind.  Still the wind is nowhere where it'll be, maybe at the moment around forty miles an hour, double that coming.  The hurricane is coming ashore and heading towards us.

At first I was going to ride Katrina out.  I went to work that Sunday morning to finish preparing the store where I worked as best as possible for a hurricane and boarding up the last of the windows and doors.  When I went to bed the night before I had resolved to stay.  My parents were going to head towards Tennessee to stay with relatives of my Mom.  That morning the news was reporting that Katrina was likely to be a category 5 and heading right towards the city.  As I worked getting the store prepped I decided that I should head out and not risk it.  I called my Mom and Dad and told them I would be coming with them.

Even though I've decided to stay for Isaac and the strength of this storm will be nothing like Katrina there is always that moment when you stay that you second guess yourself.  I've stayed for most hurricanes, only leaving for a few and there is always that moment you wonder.  You're sitting there, more than likely in the dark because the power is gone, and the walls are rattling from the wind and you can hear the roar of the wind from outside and you think to yourself that maybe this was a mistake.  It goes, but there is always that moment you have to wonder.

After Katrina there was a lot of music made from the storm and the negligence of aid afterwards.  I've written on this site before about Bruce Springsteen's show at the first Jazz Fest after the storm.  Listening to John Boutte take the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927" and remake with the truth of Katrina is enough to bring tears to the most hardened of hearts.  But of all the songs I've heard about the storm my favorite is "Washed by the Water" by Will Hoge.



This version of "Louisiana 1927" features Paul Sanchez, John Boutté, John Thomas Griffith, and Sonia Tetlow perform an updated version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 at Schuba's Tavern in Chicago, July 24, 2006. 

Take care.

Would You Like Fries With That?....1

Upfront I’m not going to promise any sort of time table for this.  What this is will be a column that acts as a sort of clearing house of whatever my mind has sitting about.  It may appear once a week, it might not appear for a month or more.  I know the danger of promising a regular schedule and than not being able to fulfill said obligations.  Too many things can happen to get in the way, so no promises upfront but hopefully this will be the start of a regular column.

So what will the column be about?  Whatever I’m thinking of when I sit down to write it, so basically I’m saying it could be about anything or nothing.  What I’m listening to, what new records I’ve received in the mail, what news I’ve heard…heck it might even be what comic book I’ve just read.

Last week two of the best albums of the quickly vanishing year were released.  Alejandro Escovedo’s Big Station is another example of his superb writing and singing.  This man consistently puts out some of the best music.  A few years back I happened to have the privilege of seeing him perform live in a small acoustic setting.  Of all the shows I’ve been to I would count this one in my top ten.  He sat on a stool on the stage and with just one other guitar accompanying him he sang and talked about his life and music. 

The other album is Kelly Hogan’s I Like To Keep Myself In Pain.   Her absence between albums is way too long, so when I saw that she has a new album out I was over joyed.  How good she is is evident by how much time she spends singing with other artists and how much others want her to add her voice to their music.  For the last few years Kelly has been part of Neko Case’s band. 

While writing the above two paragraphs I initially paused when it came time to write Kelly or Alejandro by name.  How do I address an artist when I’m talking about their music?  Do I call them by their first name, as if we’re old buddies or do I go the route of referring to them by their last name and come across more indifferent to them.  Little things like this cause me worry and make me re think my words as I type them.  I’ve decided to err on the side of familiarity and speak of them as if we’re all friends, since that’s how I like to imagine this site filled with friends and lovers of music.

I’ve heard that Will Hoge is working on a new album with the title Modern American Protest Music and let me tell you, just that title alone makes me impatient to hear it.   On Memorial Day he put a song up for the day, “A Folded American Flag” and if this song is any indication of the rest of the album, it may be one of his best.

Recently received here at the sprawling Voices estates was Sam Cooper & The Sleepwalkers newest and it’s went a few spins in the car CD player.   Enjoyable music.

I’m currently reading big day coming by Jesse Jarnow.  The subtitle of the book is “You La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.”   I’m on page 96 and the group just played their first show, so it’s presenting a lot of background information.  The book opens with a brief history of baseball and the field played on in Hoboken New Jersey.  It’s presenting a fascinating history that I was not that familiar with, and definitely did not realize the importance of Hoboken in music circles.  Recently I finished Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm.  This is an oral history of grunge.  This is the history besides Nirvana.  Of course that group is in the book, but it is so much more than that.  One of the better books I’ve read in a long time.  Also been on a music biography kick lately, reading bios of Ronnie Spector, Greg Allman and Ozzy.  All were interesting and gave me new understandings behind the singers.

I just purchased a new Ipod, one of those new fangled touch screen ones.  My old Ipod is a classic, bought so I could fill it up with as much music as humanly possible.  Unfortunately the touch versions don’t hold as much, still I bought the 64 gig version.  I thought I was going to be smart and use my music from the cloud and I wouldn’t have to download anything, but forgot when I’m not close to a Wifi connection the music stops.  I was driving down the highway yesterday and surprisingly it continued to play for quite awhile, but suddenly stopped and I was in a mini panic, thinking the device had broken until I realized that I was out of Wifi range and was not going to get any more music from any cloud.  So I’ve been taking some of that 64 gig and turning it into music since. 

First up was just about everything I have by Shannon McNally, than some Will Hoge.  Have to have those two in the Ipod.  After that it’s been a cross selection of music that such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Mahalia Jackson.   As I’ve stated before on this site I’m not a religious person, but this music moves me and I love listening to it.  After the church services I’ve put some Gaslight Anthem, Patty Griffin, Hank Williams, Grace Potter, J Geils, Amanda Shaw, Richard Thompson, Dave Alvin and the list continues to grow.  If you think there’s someone I just have to have in the Ipod let me know.

Last night Elizabeth Cook appeared on Letterman.  (I’ve put a video of part of the show she did with Jason Isbell on The Late Show on the site.)  Elizabeth is an amazing singer and writer, each of her albums just gets better and better.  Her newest is an EP of gospel music.  Besides her music Elizabeth hosts a morning show on Sirius XM radio, that besides some good music she plays is fun to listen to for her comments inbetween the songs.  I’ve read somewhere that after her first appearance on Letterman the host was so taken with her that he has his production team trying to develop a sitcom for her and she’s been spending a lot of her time in Hollywood instead of the music studio.  I’m happy for whatever makes her successful but I’ll miss some of the music she won’t be able to make if she’s doing tv.

I think we’re at the end of this first column.  Like I said at the start there is no format or formal structure to this endeavor so no two columns will read much the same.  Hopefully it’ll be more of a chance for me to talk more directly to all of you out there and feel free to leave comments.  We can turn this into a dialogue and not me just talking at you. 

This is where I need a catchy sign off phrase.  I used to sign my letter peace until peace out became such a catch phrase.  I don’t want to jump on any bandwagon and try to come across as cooler than I am, so I think I’ll just end with a simple statement and hope.  Take care.