The response to the destruction of New Orleans bears some resemblance to the leathal Chicago heat wave of 1995. The article includes an interesting slam of Clear Channel, whose past track record includes a failure to alert their listeners to a leathal poison cloud descending on one community, and their lack of local news coverage. Incidentally, a book about the Chicago heat wave came out in 2002, and sounds fascinating.

I watched the flood concert on NBC tonight. Randy Newman wasn't there; Aaron Nevill sang "Louisiana 1927," quite movingly. Not as good as Randy, of course; the way he doesn't try to sell the lines, "The river rose all day/the river rose all night,/some people got lost in the flood/some people got away all right," is what gives the lines their power. He changed the word "crackers" to "people," which seemed appropriate, given that it's the poor blacks bearing the brunt of this flood. And Kanye West's outburst was a nice change of pace from the annoying celeb talking-head moments, that resembled hackneyed Academy Award celebrity presentations. And my poor name-sake Mr. Myers standing beside him, stunned. West's point was valid, but I'm afraid it just came across as comic relief. But I'll settle for that.