Great idea, andrews !


Ten years ago today, I was sitting in a Jackson, Mississippi hotel room watching the Taylor Hackford film Ray, when afterwards I turned on the news and realized my hometown was going under water.

My experience was nothing compared to those who lost so much and those who lost everything.
My home was relatively unscathed, while just a short distance away life and property was destroyed.
For the next month, I stayed with relatives in Atlanta and friends in the suburbs of New Orleans until I could get back into the city proper.

On the first day the city was open to residents, I went back home.
The highway was still closed for the most part, so I had to take the side streets into town and began seeing first-hand all the destruction, those markings painted on all the buildings by the rescue workers, etc.

When I made it to my neighborhood, there were very few residents there.
The military and other rescue operations had set up close by and accounted for most of the population at that time.
There was a 6PM - 6AM curfew.

Before I left for Jackson prior to the storm, I had pre-ordered A Bigger Bang, which found it's way to my temporary address in Atlanta.
Without a CD player in my car at that time, I had to wait until I got back home to listen to the new Stones album.

After arriving home, I found only some minor wind damage and a few dead cockroaches on the floor.
Before starting the cleanup, though, I had to see if my CD player still worked, so in goes ABB.

The CD player worked and I cranked it up LOUD since the neighborhood was still mostly empty.
Turns out it was a good decision as a few neighbors and a military patrol stopped outside to enjoy the music for a while.


So here it is, the first music I heard after returning home from a month-long odyssey: