Backwater Blues: Katrina
Irma Thomas-one of the reasons I love New Orleans
Thursday evening, I questioned do I leave for a vacation in Los Angeles?
Friday morning I dropped my dog at my neighbours house
And “caught the cab” to the airport
At the airport everything was normal
There was the cover of the Times Picayune
And the whispers from other passengers that a hurricane was coming
I landed at LAX at 11:45
We drive in his silver Volkswagen Beetle to The French Quarter Restaurant
I order a cheeseburger
He orders a fried shrimp poboy
The skies were blue and still and no humidity was in the air
We watch the boys walking in front of the restaurant
Across the street is the Yukon Mining Company next toTrader Joe’s
Saturday, I wake up to a phone call saying the mayor has issued a warning
They had started boarding up the Arthur’s House of Glamour
Nothing ever becomes of hurricane and after all the hoopla
New Orleans has always been there
Katrina will be nothing
Saturday afternoon we leave for the music festival
Sunday, I turn on the television
I turn to the live broadcast on WWL
A deluge of rain is pouring down on JAX Brewery
I sat on the edge of the bed
Reality hit
This was the hurricane they had been talking about for five years
Monday, WWL says that due to Katrina, the city of New Orleans is shut down
Even the airport
I will stay in Los Angeles for a couple of days
My friend left to go back to work and to care for his elderly parents
I didn’t have the “what abouts” to figure out what to do next
I knew no one in LA
It wasn’t New York City where on the corner I could get a coffee
I took a bus down to Hollywood to look at all of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
I saw Marilyn’s, Jayne’s Diana’s, and even Joan Crawford’s
On Thursday, Kim drives me up to San Diego
She was house sitting for a family there
On the way, we stopped for her first date with a GW Bush doppelgänger
She met GW3 on one of those date a millionaire apps
He was golfing at one of those exclusive fancy golf clubs where I assume other millionaires golf
The golf course was perfectly landscaped with those colourful plants that were indigenous to California
It was like being in beautifully surreal scene right out of David Lynch
A “non sequitur scene” that appears without a logical connection to the story that preceded it
Ann Miller was going to appear soon tap dancing on top of a Campbell’s soup can
As they went through GW3’ s questions during her interview
I kept thinking about what I saw on the news that morning
A woman had given birth walking through the flooded waters trying to get to Big Charity to have her baby
I looked down at GW3’s shiny loafers, the beautiful landscape, her trying to flatter some guy in a starched golf uniform,
How did I wind up here?
I in some sort of dream
We arrived at the house Kim was house sitting for
It was obvious that the lady of the house loved Martha Stewart
Martha was obviously her heroine
It seemed she made her decorating choicesbased on something Martha Stewart told her to do
Kim had me set up to stay in the room with a pillow that said Tina that lay in the center of the bed
Everything in Tina’s room was matched to yellow
A comforter with spring florals and a yellow background
The curtains were solid yellow trimmed with a white ruffle with holes trimmed in yellow thread
The window bench was covered in a yellow checkered fabric
The next day I sat on Martha’s beautiful plush leather sofa in my boxers
I watched Nancy Grace scream about the hurricane from her television studio
A week later, I made my escape from the Betty Crocker home
Kim dropped me off at the train depot
What a beautiful ride back to LA that is
My handicapped room at the Silver Lake Ramada Inn welcomed me with open arms
Maybe I had a home in LA
No matter, I was only there for a couple of days
I used my ticket to New Orleans to fly to Houston where I was to meet my friend and her kids
They were doing ok even though their house in Jackson Barracks had washed away and only the debris remained
I rode the bus back downtown to wander aimlessly around Sunset Boulevard
I saw the backside of Johnny Depp as he put his hands into the cement at Grauman’s
I then walked down to the corner where Target was
I had my $500 FEMA card in my pocket
I finally bought my first digital camera
Nothing fancy and it only took so many photos
But I found my freedom in it and a way for me to create
I called a cab to get to the airport for my trip to Houston
But Rita stopped flights for the Houston airport
My friend offered his sofa, so I got a flight to Atlanta
He drove me back home to New Orleans
When we got to the French Quarter, it was a battle zone
Helicopters were flying over head
Big army tanks drove down Royal Street
My apartment was fine
Some kid had rummaged through to find any change I may have left
That night we drove through the Financial District - St. Louis Street
None of the kids were on the street
Not even to make some cash for food or a place to stay
We turned onto Burgundy Street when the cops pulled us over
We were not incognito
We were in a sports car with a Georgia plate
They let us go after checking to see what was in the trunk
We slowly drove our way to turn on St. Ann to go to the gay bars on Bourbon Street
Where nothing was happening
Yet the French Quarter survives
Cut to the non-sequitur scene
Hanging out with Irma and Emile Thomas at the Orpheum Theatre, New Orleans< July 22, 2018
Backwater Blues
The song "Backwater Blues”was written by Bessie Smith as a response to the flood that struck Nashville on Christmas Day 1926. The Cumberland River which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17 m) above its normal level.
“When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night
When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night
Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
There's enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she wanna go
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
I packed all my clothes, throwed 'em in and they rowed me along
When it thunders and lightnin', and the wind begins to blow
When it thunders and lightnin', and the wind begins to blow
There's thousands of people, ain't got no place to go
And I went and stood up on some high old lonesome hill
And I went and stood up on some high old lonesome hill
Then looked down on the house where I used to live
Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go
Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go
'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more
Mmm, I can't move no more
Mmm, I can't move no more
There ain't no place for a poor old girl to go”
Kim
Irma
Originally recorded it on February 17, 1927, by Bessie Smith in New York City, Irma recorded her original version for Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast shortly after the failure of mis-designed levees flooded New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. With the destruction of their hometown fresh in their minds, New Orleans artists set about making music that directly acknowledges the city. Funds from the sale of the record is donated to Habitat for Humanity to aid those affected by the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
From the Big Apple to the Big Easy concerts took place simultaneously at Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall took place on September 20, 2005. Proceeds reached approximately $9 million, which was directed to the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund, Habitat for Humanity, MusiCares, and the Children's Health Fund.
Irma Thomas, Lenny Kravitz, Ry Cooder, and Buckwheat Zydeco
Seeing Irma at Joe’s Pub, in August, 2008