Alan Day Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina is going to,or has seriously effected some of our good friends who write on this site.Please let us know if you are OK. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Tedrow Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 We will get some nasty rain and wind here in Birmingham Alabama, but nothing like the coastal cities are getting right now. I expect I am one of the very few people who have played concertina in the French Quarter, I sure hope it survives. There is no place quite like NOLA, for better or worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unca Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 Here near Panama City, Fl USA things are OK.. the Poor Cajuns are getting it though... Unc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_mchale Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 Well New Orleans is getting the worst of it right now. We should know in a couple of hours how bad its been hit. Fortunately it was hit by the west part of the eye so while its getting punished by wind, it will be spared the worst of the storm surge. Mississippi will get the worst storm surge but its got more higher ground. Still I pray that the losses will not be too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Worrall Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 (edited) Alan, Kurt Braun is one player who lives along its path. He is an excellent Crane duet player (and ICA member) living in Baton Rouge...those of us who were at the Southwest concertina workshop in Palestine last spring were treated to his playing. I emailed him earlier today but understand that power is still out in that city. From what I hear, the damage there is mostly wind (Baton Rouge is 80 miles or so inland); N.O. and coastal Mississippi/Alabama got most of the catastrophic surge flooding. And Bob, you are probably indeed one of the few who have played concertina in the French quarter, but not the only one. I lived in N.O. for several years, and played in many a session in one of the Irish bars in the Quarter. I also remember seeing an itinerant musician playing in Jackson Square for coins. His anglo bellows were held together by duct tape! Of course, with all the heavy waves of Irish and German immigrants that arrived in N.O. in the mid and late nineteenth century, it seems likely that there were many others who left no record. Tha attached picture shows a German immigrant "near the mouth of the Mississippi" in 1871 with an "old type of accordion" without the stops on top. I would guess from the square shape that it is a German concertina, not a two row but likely with multiple rows, judging from its size. Edited August 30, 2005 by Dan Worrall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Braun Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Baton Rouge is good. We even got back on the internet a few minutes ago. Lots of distraught New Orleans refugees are here and we are anxious about a few others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Worrall Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Good to hear Kurt is fine. I don't know what you folk in places outside the US are hearing about this storm. Today, the day after the storm, a levee broke along Lake Pontchartrain sending huge amounts of water into N.O. The mayor says 80% of the city is now underwater. Pictures from helicopters show that the roads into the city...most of which have to cross the Lake or some large swamps....are shattered and impassable. They are now trying to evacuate any still there in the city, so that means really hundreds of thousands of refugees. Even here in Houston the hotels and shelters are full or filling....many have lost everything, and things will take months to get back in order, it seems. New Orleans is a real gem of culture....much of our popular music today roots back there one way or another....and it is painful in the extreme to see this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted August 31, 2005 Author Share Posted August 31, 2005 This catastrophe is being shown in great detail over here.It looks as though millions have lost their homes.I have read on another site that the positioning of the pumps for New Orleans area actually lie in the path of where the water surge would be and they have announced that these pumps have now failed.There will be a lot of questions and answers required when all this damage is sorted out. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 An interview on NPR this morning with the Army Corps of Engineers said there is one large pumping station ready to come on line once the largest of the breeched levees is repaired. Perhaps the water level should start to flow back into the lake. There is no getting around it...The Big Easy will never fully recover. My heart is broken for the loss of life, lives forever ruined and the mortal wounding of one of the earth's most unique cities. Mississippi is perhaps under reported. They took the worst of it and cities like Gulfport and Biloxi (where I spent a good amount of time as a child) in all but a few cases are simply not there. Many have lost their lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomylly Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 My thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by the storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellowbelle Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 (edited) The news has been very upsetting, for sure. Especially since the levee broke. I have been wondering a bit about 2 set of people -- besides those of you on concertina.net, too! I have some old friends/acquaintances who were, I believe, living in what WAS the French Quarter. I don't keep in regular touch with them, tried once by e-mail but never got a reply, so....could be years before I know about them. But, I regularly get (and try to reply to!) e-mail from a relative (one that I've never actually met, in fact) who lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and I know the storm hit there pretty hard, too. I'm sure she must be without power, but, I hope it's not more serious than that! I did see news reports about the damage there, too. Update next day: I managed to find out that my 'old friends' evacuated safely from the French Quarter....have yet to find out about my relative, though! Edited September 2, 2005 by bellowbelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 The disaster is being covered in detail over here. It is distressing. New Orleans was on my list of "to see" cities in the world. I hope something survives. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsqueezergeezer Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 My ex Morris side (Victory Morrismen) had just begun the process of organising a tour to New Orleans, our thoughts are with everyone there and hope that one day we will indeed visit. Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted September 1, 2005 Author Share Posted September 1, 2005 I have had Emails from Daniel Bradbury and Paul Groff to say they are OK. Paul is without power at the moment. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Al, Thank you for this thread to keep us informed. My prayers are with everyone struck in any way by this storm. Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Worrall Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 (edited) Just a small footnote from Houston....my son and I just finished a second day volunteering over at the Astrodome which now holds, in three large buildings here, about twenty thousand folks. Everything is in excellent order; there are thousands...literally....of volunteers. They've built cots, unloaded mountains of food, water, clothes, and blankets; served food, picked up trash, you name it. People get off the buses in just a horrible state....yesterday most of the buses had had people on them for thirty hours, without food and water (don't ask me how) after four days of unbelievable hardship. Today all is much, much different; a shower, a change of clothes, some hot food and a quick medical checkup, and the smiles are beginning to return, although everone looks a little dazed yet. I don't know what Houston will do with all these folks...there are reportedly around 200,000 evacuees here in this city now (Kurt Braun tells me there are even more in Baton Rouge), and they won't be leaving anytime soon. But those in this particular area are starting to leave the Astrodome for day trips to the libraries (internet hookups) and to take the kids to the zoo. The mayor (and the citizens) have welcomed them for as long as it takes. I wish some of these guys had brought their accordions; a little zydeco would help about now! Edited September 4, 2005 by Dan Worrall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animaterra Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 The horrific news has gripped us all across the planet. I just received an email from an Iraqi of my acquaintence, offering his condolences to the American people. I hope and pray that some good may come from this disaster- that we learn something, that some of us become better people somehow, that we find out just how interconnected we all are. Meanwhile, I ache for those who have lost homes, loved ones, livelihood, pets, beloved possessions- above all, a beautiful, legendary home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 New Orleans is the city I love the most in all the world, for her grace and charm, and all the wonderful music she has given us. I have long been aware that such a catastrophe could befall her, but I am now very distressed to see it actually happen. My thoughts and prayers go out to all her people, especially those I've encountered there like Ernie Elly (fomerly Ray Charles' drummer), the trumpeter Leroy Jones and all her other wonderful musicians. I hope you're all safe guys ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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