One week ago and only six days after my Premature Evacuation show, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin put New Orleans under a mandatory evacuation order and declared Hurricane Gustav was the "Mother Of All Storms."  FEEL THE FEAR!  In response, New Orleanians had lightening bolts shooting out of their eyes as fled the city.  The fear made people so goofy that about a third of my friends went to Lafayette and Baton Rouge which put them closer to the eye of Gustav.  EMBRACE THE FEAR!  They had a rough time of it.

 

Well Gustav was dinky hurricane and without an eye or much of a wind field or surge.  As predicted, it landed 70 miles away so New Orleans experienced a nothing storm.  The city had an embarrassing Premature Evacuation caused by an irrational fear.

 

So tonight's show will be another completely ineffectual musical blow against FEAR! as we celebrate with "The Mother Of All Radio Shows" featuring songs about "mothers, mama, and mom".  Those little piece of audio between songs are over-the-top emotional, shouting, fear mongering from old horror movies and the a similar documentary about fundamentalist Christian training.  But the treat of all treats are the video links to my Dan Rather Hurricane Report Invitational.  Must be a dozen youtube send ups of the hurricane reporter.  Rather nailed it decades ago and the imitators who invaded New Orleans last week are self-satires.  

 

Me?  For Katrina I left New Orleans a day before anyone else and stayed for Gustav.  My best tips come from www.wunderground.com - the internet version of Nash Roberts (although wunderground is getting screechy).  Next time, stay or leave but use your common sense and don't be influenced by the bad experiences of Gustav's premature evacuation.  Regardless of whether you start driving to Montana right now or stay for a Cat Five, know that any politician who used the "Mother of..." phrase is bluffing.  

 

FEAR!!!!   Ray Nagin quotes iconic Saddam to motivate us to evacuate New Orleans.  Video links begin with Nagin and Saddam followed by the Dan Rather Invitation submissions.  The music is New Orleans R&B with emotional interstitials from the corny science fiction movies that so replicate the feeling of an evacuated New Orleans.  

 

In contrast, at this year's Olympics the Chinese seemed so hopeful and looking to the future.  They have a "we can overcome anything" and "the future is ours" attitude where we in the US seems so fearful of, well, everything.  

 

I usually end my show at 3am with a plea for rationality and common sense in the face of fear.  So much for injecting a serious moment into the drunk drive-time slot. 

 

 

 

Before Saddam and C. Ray, the mother satire peaked with K Doe's Mother in Law song.   In a look back to the time, we play the K Doe hit and riff on the Mother in Law theme with his answer song "Get Out Of My House."

  

 

My octogenarian mother who started with Jack LaLane and still works out at the YMCA doesn't like the implication!  Songs that might have started the big, giant, huge" association with "Mother."  I'm sure Bullmoose Jackson, Taj Mahal, and Lucky Millinder's mother would take out the wooden spoon of discipline had they known their kids penned these endomorph mother songs.  

 

Chapter Four: Listen to Your Mother 

 

Why is it that men write satirical songs about their moms while Jan Bradley and the girls write songs about their mother's wisdom.  Probably because that wisdom is about not trusting those XY chromosome types.  

 

 

A reminder that we're dealing with hurricanes not just moms or fear.  The Persuasions start talking about storms and then we get to the classic Stormy Weather.  Can't make up my mind whether to use Hurricane Ike and Tina Turner's version or Phil Phillips version of the song - give me a call and push me over.  We'll conclude this chapter with rockabilly from Jerry Lee Lewis and Rev. Billy C. Wirtz.   

 

Chapter Six: