Ok.

So there’s this Japanese band from back in the ’80s called YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). It was fronted by Ryuichi Sakamoto who has some fame outside of Japan for film soundtracks that he’s done. Anyway the members of YMO started doing these little interstitial “skits” on their albums under the moniker Snakeman Show. Snakeman Show went on to have a life of it’s own and quite a cult following, but on the first YMO album that includes Snakeman Show material there is this rather catchy cover of “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell and the Drells. A couple of times on the album when there’s a lull, there’s this heavily Japanese accented voice that says very low and slowly “Here we go again,” and the band swings into a reprise of “Tighten Up”. It’s really very funny.

So for the last 48 hours I cannot escape the sound of that voice saying “Here we go again” in my head.

I made a little MP3 so you could hear it in your head too:
[Click here to hear.](http://www.leon.ingulsrud.net/WebDaVfiles/Here%20We%20Go%20Again.mp3 “Here We Go Again”)

I’m lobbying to call it the meter-maid hurricane but that’s just a Beatles reference so… Lovely.

Rita seems like it is going to lose the distinction of being the first second Category 4 to make landfall in almost a century (I actually think that sentence is grammatically correct despite it’s appearance). A strong Category 3 they’re saying now. Of course it might stall and then just unload all it’s water onto whatever is under it at the time. The thing about it is that it’s just so freaking huge.

Texas looks like it will take the brunt of it. Port Arthur, which gave us our beloved Mr. Rauschenberg looks like it’s in big trouble. The last report I heard was that they were evacuating EVERYBODY out of Port Arthur. Galveston will take a good hit. Historical deja-vu. Talk about “Here we go again.” I’m not playing the blame game, but if you want evidence of how effective the evacuation of NO was before Katrina, take a look at Houston (home of Archie Bell and the Drells). 100 mile traffic jams. That sounds like fun. It’s the apocalypse folks!

Of course the big story down here is that an awful lot of the people who escaped Katrina were camped out in the path of Rita. Double evacuation. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE FEELING? I can’t help but think of that Tom Waits lyric: there ain’t no devil, it’s just God when he’s drunk. I know of people from NO who spent the last couple of weeks in Texas who are back in Baton Rouge trying to get to Atlanta.

After my raquet-ball game this morning I went and got gas and groceries. I went early to beat the “We’re all gonna die” rush, but the feeling at the Albertson’s was already getting grim. It’s a bit like winter in Minnesota where there’s just this sort of stoic sense of you have to do the things you have to do and everyone deal with it. Outside in the parking lot there was a guy who just looked up at the sky and yelled in a hispanic accent “He’s coming”. Now that I think about it, I’m not really sure what he meant by that.

Here’s the deal for us here in BR. We are, most likely, going to get hit by more of Rita than Katrina. this is because we are being hit by the savage “east side” of the storm. More wind. More rain. Very possibly tornados. Under normal conditions this would not cause much of a problem for even NO but, the pumps and levies are not working. Too much rain or storm surge at this point and it’s “Here we go again.” That’s why the people they just let back into NO are now having to leave again. As for me, I live in a low-profile brick house on high land. I’m pretty secure. If a tree falls on us we’re in trouble but I think we’re sheltered enough (famous last words).

On the topic of people I wouldn’t loan my car to: LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe (those of you keeping score at home will remember him from his recent job presiding over the last time NASA lost astronauts… not to mention the shuttle they were riding) has cancelled all activities at the University after 2:30 today. In the meantime the buildings are already being locked down. This move by the Chancellor is widely being seen as late.

I am writing this from home. I hope we don’t lose power. That was a bummer. I know you’ve got to be pretty fortunate in these situations for that to be your main problem but I’m sorry. It sucks and I want to watch DVDs.

Katrina has definitely changed the way people evacuate. Apparently, before Katrina, you would pack up cloths and food and survival supplies. Now people are packing up photo albums and other non-replaceable objects of a personal nature. Also, officials are not having as hard a time convincing people to get going.

There’s already a lot of wind and rain outside my window…

So the joke for today is: This hurricane season is really blowing me away.

We’ll see how this turns out…