Carnival Triumph...Martin Savidge...Rob Kenney

CNN reporter Martin Savidge is catching a lot of flack for mentioning Hurricane Katrina to passenger Rob Kenny as a comparison to their ordeal on the Carnival Triumph.  I agree that it was an unfortunate comparison, but I understand where Mr. Savidge was coming from.

We didn’t evacuate after Hurricane Ike and several times during the Carnival Triumph event, I thought their situation was comparable to our situation.  They had no power.  They had long lines for food, as we did for gas and water.  They were disconnected from the outside world. 

Although the cruise ship passengers didn’t lose their homes as some did in Katrina, when I compare their situation to the aftermath of other unfortunate events (snow storms, tornadoes, hurricanes), they also had the added elements of possibly dying at sea while surrounded by 4000 strangers and occasionally stepping into urine and poo.  Other than dog accidents, our hurricane event was mostly urine and poo free.  We were also in the relative comfort of our own homes rather than on the open sea sleeping in a hallway...with 4000 strangers.

Good for Rob Kenny keeping things in perspective, but Martin Savidge shouldn’t beat himself up too much.  The analogy was apt.  He just chose the wrong natural disaster for his comparison.

Stingaree/Crab Festival 2009 - Bolivar Peninsula - Crystal Beach, Texas

In September of 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the Bolivar Peninsula. This weekend Crystal Beach put on a combination of their two biggest festivals to bring people back to the beach and raise money to rebuild the baseball park.

My niece Katie, her best friend Chloe and I have never missed a Stingaree Festival and we were thrilled when we heard Hayes Carll was going to have a festival this year. We loved Ryan Bingham, the Magpies closed out there set with a cover of a song by The Clash, the John Evans Band streaked (in their underwear) during Hayes Carll's set and Hayes and John both got in the dunking booth to raise money.

Upcoming blog posts: slideshow of all the videos and pictures (they're still uploading to Flickr) and an unusual little video of two beach folks...um...we'll call it "dirty dancing."

Katie and Chloe

Ryan Bingham

John Evans

Jesse Dayton

Hayes Carll

John Evans Band bass player with Katie and Chloe

The Magpies

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Enjoy!

Hurricane Ike

My niece Katie as the Westbrook Mascot (pictures and videos)

Sunday with Ava

Save the Old Quarter in Galveston

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Abbey Luckenbach Texas

830-997-3224 x 29

abbey@luckenbachtexas.com

http://www.myspace.com/savetheoldquarter

http://www.oldquarteracousticccafe.com/

Radio Free Texas and Concert for the Coast Benefit Presents

“Save the Old Quarter Acoustic Café”

Fredericksburg, Texas -

On Sunday, October 26th, Radio Free Texas along with notable members of the Texas music community will host a “Save the Old Quarter Acoustic Café” benefit. In September, Hurricane Ike destroyed the historic Galveston venue and later this month musical friends of Old Quarter will gather to raise money for owner Rex “Wrecks” Bell to rebuild in an all-day event.

Austin’s Band of Heathens will headline the benefit at Luckenbach Texas, another of Texas' historic music venues.“Wrecks’ Old Quarter is a unique listening room that we’ve enjoyed playing for a number of years," said Gordy Quist of the Band of Heathens. "Few people have taken so much interest in seeing artists grow as Wrecks has, and it seems that few venues exist specifically for the love of song as the Old Quarter. Hopefully we can help Wrecks get the place up and running again.”

Some of the performers who have offered to donate their time to this event include Gary P Nunn, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Owen Temple, Jason Eady, Adam Caroll, The Gougers, Liz and Lincoln, Quincy Harper, Susan Gibson, The McKay Bros and more. The event will run from noon until 8PM and will include a silent auction, exclusive merchandise and opportunities for patrons to give donations. All proceeds from the event benefit the Old Quarter and rebuilding efforts.

This show is part of the overall Radio Free Texas "Concert For The Coast" (http://www.concertforthecoast.com/) event which will include concerts at more than a dozen venues with over 100 artists held simultaneously throughout Texas.“It is very important to Cheatham St. Warehouse and Luckenbach Texas to help The Old Quarter in this manner," said Abbey, Event Manager for Luckenbach. "There are very few truly historical LIVE music venues left. Each of the venues have helped raise or spawn a unique type of Texas Music, The Old Quarter had Townes, Cheatham St. had George Strait, Luckenbach is home to Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie and Waylon. The relationships, careers and tremendous history that these LIVE music venues represent cannot be reproduced anywhere.”

The Old Quarter Acoustic Café and owner Rex “Wrecks” Bell has hosted the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blaze Foley, Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and many more. The club took on nine feet of water from Ike’s surge. Although the building remains, everything inside was completely lost including Wrecks’ collection of musical memorabilia. Bell, a musician himself, played bass guitar for Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Lucinda Williams. Having been a vocal supporter of many Texas musicians early in their careers, the outpouring of support and numerous offers to lend a hand to help Wrecks rebuild has, at least in central Texas, culminated in this special event at Luckenbach.

Sponsored by Cheatham St Warehouse, Luckenbach Texas, Shiner Beer, The Band of Heathens and Friends

**All proceeds to help rebuild the Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston, TX**

Edited to add:

Click here for information on Beaumont venue for "Concerts for the Coast."

Hayes Carll Houston Chronicle Article

Click here to read a Houston Chronicle article about Hayes Carll and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Is it the legs?

I lost a big patch of shingles on my roof in the storm. I don't have any leaks...yet. Luckily, we haven't had anymore rain since the hurricane and subsequent cool front a week ago and no rain is predicted for at least the next five days.

I have no idea when my homeowners' association will be able to come together to get the roof fixed, since our current president has no interest in being president. She took the position under duress with the assurance of our past president that "The odds of having another hurricane so soon after Rita are zero to none. You really won't have to do anything at all."

So, since I might be without shingles for a while, I signed up for the Corps of Engineers to put a blue tarp on top of my house in case the roof decides to spring a leak. When you ask the Corps of Engineers to put a tarp on your house, they give you a big pink letter which must be attached to the front of your house facing the street.

Since my front door is hidden behind my wooden fence, I had to figure out a way to attach the piece of paper to wood, keep it visible and keep it dry. I put the pink page in a Ziploc bag and taped the hell out of it to the fence with three different types of tape. The tape lasted a day before it started peeling away from the fence.

Today, I went out to the fence with a hammer and nails and began hammering the glob of Ziploc and tape to my fence. While I was hammering, I felt something on my leg and swatted at it without looking down. I assumed it was one of the canary sized mosquitoes Hurricane Ike blew in. When I felt it again, I looked down and saw a three inch long gecko crawling up my leg toward my nether regions.

Ordinarily, I would have freaked out and done the dance of the horrified. Instead, I reached down, swatted the slimy bastard and kept hammering. Hurricane Ike seems to have stifled my panic reflex.

Now, if the thing crawling up my leg had been a snake or even a worm, I would still be running with a fully functional panic reflex. As long as lizards, newts and geckos stay outside, they don't bother me. Snakes and worms, on the other hand, must be terminated with extreme prejudice.

The only difference I see between geckos and snakes are the legs or the lack thereof. So, why are snakes universally despised while geckos get television commercials? Must be the legs.

Hayes Carll and Crystal Beach

From Hayes Carll's website:

Hayes Carll, who spent four years honing his songwriting in the bars of Crystal Beach, is currently in England where, manager Mike Crowley says, “he’s devastated about the complete destruction of Crystal Beach.” Crowley says Carll is writing something that he’ll post soon on his web site. We’ll publish it here when it’s available.

“It’s all gone,” Crowley says of the working class town on Galveston Bay’s Bolivar Peninsula. “I’ve seen the footage and it looks like a tornado hit. It’s just concrete slabs.”

Carll hosts the Stingaree Music Festival on Crystal Beach each April. His Highway 87 label is named after the road that takes you to the seaside town, “where the cops all know your number and the bars all know your name.” Carll’s three albums are inhabited by the roughhewn characters, the shrimpers and oil workers and beach bums he met while playing at places like Bob’s, which are no longer there.

Now, virtually all that’s left of Crystal Beach are those songs.

Hurricane Rita Anniversary

Three years ago today, most of my family and I were in Arkansas at my brother's house evacuated for Hurricane Rita. Today, southeast Texas is in the very beginning of its recovery after Hurricane Ike. My brain is still fuzzy from Ike and also still has a few cobwebs left over from Rita.

Soon, the constant worrying that is on the edge of my thoughts will gradually recede and I will go back to being the non-worrying, always in denial Laurie that I was before Rita and that I was in those brief three years between Rita and Ike and before Humberto...and Eduoard...and Gustav...and let's not forget Katrina.

Luckily my brain has a low tolerance for seeing the possibility of doom and gloom in every possible situation and the backhoe of optimism will scoop away the dark thoughts of negative possibilities lurking around every corner and replace them with the bright happy thoughts of the perpetually blooming dimwit, nincompoop that is the real me.

Come on backhoe of happiness. Sock it to me.

Crystal Beach Texas and Bolivar Peninsula 2007

I can't bear to post "after" pictures of Crystal Beach Texas and Bolivar Peninsula showing Hurricane Ike's heavy hand. Here's a slideshow of pics I took while driving around Crystal Beach in April 2007. Crystal Beach will be back. Definitely.

I'm home

If I remember correctly, "I'm Home" was the title of my first blog post after Hurricane Rita. We're all fine. All of our houses are fine (including family in Port Arthur). Things didn't go so well for my beautiful Crystal Beach or the lovely Galveston or the delightful Orange, Texas and Bridge City, Texas. My mom had more back surgery four days after the storm and she's doing great, too. We're truly blessed. I'm on my way to meet a friend for my first after hurricane cocktail. More later.

Ike...I No Like

It occurs to me that some might be curious about our hurricane plans. We were just alerted that the storm surge could possibly overtop the levee system in Port Arthur. We should be fine here in Beaumont (we're riding out the storm at my mom's house), but I have lots of friends and family in Port Arthur and the mid-county area who will probably get water in their homes.

Cory and Jamie are headed back to Alexandria, since we're possibly going to be without power for a week or so. The Grand-Fabulous Ava needs her air conditioned comfort.

Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers

Every time I go to sleep, bad things happen...in the Gulf of Mexico. I go to sleep and wake up several hours later and everything has changed. I hate hurricanes. I don't want to go to sleep.

While I'm Obsessing Over Hurricane Ike...

...here's a little something to keep you busy.

Click here.