Before The Roots paraded into Verizon Hall second line style Friday night, I was not 110% on board with physically rebuilding the city of New Orleans. I know that sounds like something a conservative congressman said recently, but witnessing the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina really made me question the wisdom of building a city below sea level.
To my mind, nature has to do its thing whether or not humans are in the way. What we consider disasters – hurricanes, floods, earthquakes etc. – are part of the natural flow of life. They become “disastrous” from the punishing toll they take on the humans in their path. Like most everyone else on the planet, my heart was deeply moved by the plight of all the people along the Gulf Coast whose lives were completely uprooted by Katrina, especially the thousands upon thousands in New Orleans who were stranded in hellish conditions because they were too poor or infirm to evacuate before flooding made a mockery of manmade attempts to contain the Mississippi. Rebuilding the devastated city and putting people in harms way again just defied logic to me.
However, music is the animating force of my life. Having grown up on Motown, Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire, my personal preference leans heavily toward creative improvised music, aka avant garde or free jazz. I’ve long cherished New Orleans’ role as the birthplace of the music I love. I’d come to see it as the somewhat world weary (and neglected) soul of this nation. Listening to The Roots collective and songstress Jill Scott, I heard alla that and more! For more than two hours, they channeled the spirit of New Orleans with so much energy and love that I was ready to hop onto the “reNew” Orleans bandwagon. Kudos to The Roots for donating their fee to the relief effort and inspiring the Kimmel Center to devote its opening weekend to the cause.
Peace & love.