I couldn’t have said it better myself.
While I’m very glad that Sean Penn isn’t here in his ridiculous white “life jacket” pretending to help for the cameras, I’m still flabbergasted a bit that a major American city is underwater and shut down and nobody noticed. While I’m no fan of Jon Stewart, it did warm my heart that we at least made the Daily Show.
This is a State Capitol. And the power is out! For a week!
A major convention space, used by nearly every business in the country is under water–up to 10 feet in some places.
But as he said, we’re taking care of ourselves. We aren’t looting, we aren’t raping, we aren’t killing people in nursing homes.
We’re just mourning our losses, cleaning up and moving on.
But I would like to just say to all the Celebrities and movers and shakers that y’all better think next time you want me to send money to your sing-along for Haiti or Whereveristan. Because I saw how much you cared when it was in your own damned backyard, poseurs.
DITTO.
It’s pretty jacked up when the only celebrity you hear about having helped is Ke$ha, who awesomely dropped off 1,000 pounds of dog and cat food at a local shelter.
Where’s country music??
Love the Sean Penn reference.
In defense of Nashville’s music community, they are kicking into action tonight on WSMV with a telethon that should raise a LOT of money. I’m certainly not going to discount that – many were traveling and got back as soon as they could to help out. Some are jackasses (cough…john rich..cough), but most are decent people.
The immediate need was for rescue, and I really don’t want camera-hogging celebrities to get in the way. Their job is to raise awareness and money once the rescue phase is over.
Titan Kevin Mawae, soon, possibly, to be an ex-Nashvillian, has used his considerable braun, working his butt off helping in the cleanup.
Kenny Chesney’s house was underwater, so he can be excused for tardiness
It’s way too early to accuse Nashville’s celebrities of not caring or helping (except John Rich
)
A lot of the bigger country music names lived in highly floodable places. Chesney isn’t the only one whose place is under water. And a lot of the smaller groups have been doing benefit shows since Monday, and are kicking into higher gear this weekend. And I would kind of imagine that Vince Gill has made some sizable donations anonymously, since that’s what he does.
That said, I repeat here what I’ve written elsewhere: the conditions that might prompt looting, etc., haven’t occurred here, so patting ourselves on the back for not doing it is sort of beside the point. We are coping, and doing it with style, and I’ve been really proud of folks around here the past few days. But we’re in a situation, most of us, where the distress is going to kick in down the road, since so much of the area’s economic generators (farmland, tourist attractions, hotels, some hospitals, office buildings) are going to be out of commission for a long time. We ought not to compare ourselves with places where large proportions of the population have been displaced or large proportions of the service-distribution network have been disrupted. IMO, anyway.
The first coverage I saw fro the national news was Keith Olbermann, on Monday. His point was you may be slammed all to hell but if the press likes the oil spill story more, you’re in trouble. It was brief, but it meant a lot to me ..and…he gave Red Cross info for people to make donations. He had a longer story the next day with a Tennessean reporter. Rachel Maddow did a story, also.
I think, finally…after Tueday there was more media coverage elsewhere.
I saw something about a fund rasier with some local music people so it’s not as bad as stated.
Yep..found it. a telethon is today.
One snippet….
*Radio fundraisers are taking place, and star-studded benefits are in the works after 19 people died in weekend storms in Tennessee.
Among the events is a telethon Thursday with Vince Gill for NBC affiliate WSMV-TV to benefit the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Second Harvest Food Bank.
“Nashville is a community of great spirit,” country superstar Keith Urban told CNN’s Rick Sanchez via Skype from the Nashville-area home he shares with his wife, Nicole Kidman, and their daughter.
“I went through this in Australia in 1974. I was very young, but we had this kind of 100-year flood in my city, and it’s just unfathomable,” Urban said. “It’s possible that as much as I haven’t lost what everybody else has, I’ve probably lost all of my road equipment, and all my guitars, and amp and everything.”
*
Read it – I hope that helps.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/05/05/nashville.stars.flooding/index.html
And let us all remember, as I hope you are all safe, that this extends to 52 counties in Tennessee; Dyersburg is still underwater.
I need to clarify that my gripe isn’t so much with the Country Music stars, even though it is in their LITERAL backyard.
My issue is with the Clooneys and the Roberts’ and the other bi-coastal hoi polloi who can’t be bothered unless there is some sort of Otherness involved.
I, for one, don’t want the Clooneys and the Roberts here grandstanding.
KatCoble, I know what you meant. I was shocked by all the losses at Soundcheck, though (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100506/ap_en_mu/us_tennessee_floods_musical_mess) — I had no idea how many people stored their gear there. And that’s not even mentioning the people in the biz I happen to know of through work who are pumping out this week, or my own personal hero Jeannie Seely, whose house is under water.Good heavens. Taylor Swift can’t carry a tune. And although her songs are brilliant distillations of lived experience, they distill the experiences of teenaged girls, so I don’t care much. And her stardom leaves me bemused. But that kid has a heart of gold, I tell ya.
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