s skippy the bush kangaroo: our prayers for nashville

skippy the bush kangaroo



Thursday, May 06, 2010

our prayers for nashville

skippy was lucky enough to have a gig in nashville for a few days back in the 80's. he found it to be a pretty town, with welcoming and friendly people.

it breaks our hearts to see the devastation that the flood waters have wrecked upon that great city. apex news:
around 31 people were confirmed killed in the united states after rains caused heavy flooding. among the 31 killed, 21 were from the state of tennessee. thousands were evacuated from homes, restaurants and even from nursing homes around the state. to say that the state of tennessee has been ravaged by floods would be an understatement of similar proportions to the 2010 tennessee storms.

floods have left roads and parking lots destroyed and caused the shutdown of some highways, making transportation in the area difficult for everyone, but particularly for those from out of town.

the heavy tennessee flooding has also caused the employees of tennessee department of labor and workforce to vacate their building. there are many people in nashville who have lost jobs in recent months, and will be many more following the 2010 floods in tennessee. however, due to the flooding, the nashville claim center is closed and cannot accept new unemployment claims. this means the unemployed in nashville will need to drive to another unemployment center to make their claims — a task that’s easier said than done for the cash-strapped jobless.
and nashville's two most famous venue, the grand ole opry house and opry hotel, have been ruined:

Photobucket
people magazine, via

the 9513 country music blog tells us:
on saturday and sunday, middle tennessee experienced more than 13 inches of rain—shattering the previous two-day record of 6.68 inches. tens of thousands of families have been displaced and state representative jim cooper called the event a “multi-billion dollar disaster.”

in addition to that, nashville landmarks took crippling blows. the opryland hotel, including the grand ole opry house, has experienced millions of dollars worth of damage. irreplaceable exotic plants from asia were swept away. flood waters from the cumberland river cover the infamous pews at the opry house.

downtown nashville has also taken a hit. riverfront park, where the cma fest is held, is completely engulfed. the waters have taken over 1st and 2nd avenue. the country music hall of fame’s ford theater is three feet deep in water. a 2.5 million dollar organ at the schermerhorn symphony center was destroyed.

more important is the residential areas. bellevue, goodlettsville, and antioch are hurting badly. historic downtown franklin and lebanon are completely underwater. cities are lakes and streets are rivers.
Photobucket
vincegill.com



the 9513 sends those of us who want to help to this page for a listing of organizations that can use your money, your stuff or your time to help clean up and rebuild this amazing american city.

and there's the middle tennessee red cross chapters which will take donations as well.

addendum: vince gill will be hosting a country spectacular telethon to raise money for nashville relief tonite @ 7 pm eastern.

the good news is, it will feature such stars as keith urban, carrie underwood, lonestar, alison krauss, bo bice, amy grant, lorrie morgan, half of montgomery gentry, naomi judd, and many, many more.

the bad news is, it's only being broadcast on nashville's channel 4, wsmv-tv, and on the internet site wsmv.com.
posted by skippy at 9:11 AM |

1 Comments:

i've had the great pleasure of playing the fabled ryman. granted, a lot of it was more fable than fact. the "dressing room" for the help (like being a backing musician) was a folding table set up in the wings, the "green room" was like a closet, still, i found the folks from other acts, and the great roy acuff to be warm and generous people.

the crowd was there to be entertained and they were very receptive and responsive.

i have some very fond memories of that place. if it's gone for good it will be an irreplacable loss.
commented by Blogger The Minstrel Boy, 9:57 AM PDT  

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