August 30, 2005
Katrina relief could honor area's historic role in American music
No one knows how exactly how bad the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will prove to be, but at this hour of the early morning, the news from the Gulf Coast is getting worse, with at least 55 people dead, flooding everywhere, houses and businesses destroyed.
Relief efforts are already in full swing in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and no doubt will continue for some lengthy time to come. Those of us who've lived through hurricanes can feel nothing but sadness and empathy for our fellow citizens now enduring this terrible catastrophe.
These things are a tragedy wherever they occur, but I think there's a chance here for a special kind of helping-hands initiative. I'm not going to be able to do anything at this point, except perhaps make a Red Cross contribution (here's a link to help out), but I've got a proposal that might be attractive to someone with some money and muscle:
Simply put, the area of the country that has been pummeled by this pitiless storm is the birthplace of the music the world knows as American. The blues came from the Mississippi Delta, and jazz was born in the Crescent City. (And the blues had a baby, and they named it rock and roll.)
So wouldn't it be wonderful if musicians with real means stepped up and helped out, if only to honor the place where the colloquial style that came to dominate the world's music first saw the light? Perhaps that sounds unnecessarily gimmicky; perhaps it sounds as though I mean that in order to help in an authentic way it be critical that the place being helped be historically significant.
Not at all. I just think that in the days to come we'll be seeing all sorts of heart-rending images from this part of our country, and if there were a relief effort that also reminded people of the area's musical significance, we might be able to more carefully preserve the monuments and special places associated with the rise of American popular music.
This part of the Gulf Coast is sacred to American musical art, and I think a charitable plan that recognized that while at the same time attending to the immediate needs of the people who've lost so much would bring us closer to the secular sacred; in other words, it would at once point out our obligation to our fellow man and point out that our fellow ancestral man did some remarkable things to deepen American culture.
Maybe it will be just for me to make out a check and write in the memo space that I'm giving for immediate need and in honor of our shared culture, too. It's just that I can't help thinking of all the history up there that also took a beating when the big winds rolled in.
Anyway: May good fortune revisit the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in this time of need. Hang in there. We're all pulling for you.
Posted by at August 30, 2005 1:07 AMThank you Greg. You, along with Mr. Tully, are two bloggers who obviously are looking at the BIGGER picture this week.
Posted by: pepper at September 1, 2005 4:19 PM
I think it's only now dawning on people outside the area just how much help the folks there need.
This thing is widening into a greater tragedy by the hour; I don't think anyone who's seen the pictures from flooded New Orleans or obliterated Gulfport could think any differently.
I think you'll see quite a bit more action on the part of people outside governmental and charitable institutions to lend a hand. Our fellow citizens on the Gulf Coast are really going to need it.
So I'll echo what you say: Please help!
It is not only the music, although I appreciate the significance, it is everything!! Think of the pictoral history, the museums, the culture, the life, THE PEOPLE!! Please Help!!!
Posted by: pkt at August 30, 2005 9:03 PM
