How high's the water, Mama?

Changing key up the musical scale marks the progression of the rising waters as Johnny Cash sings his way through two, three, four and finally Five Feet High And Rising.

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Labor Day Hurricane of 1935:


Hurricane Camille:


Hurricane Andrew:


The Great Storm of 1990 - Galveston:

Flooding tops the list of natural hazards in the U.S. and occurs in all 50 states.

For the years 1929 through 2003, the annual national average cost of damages due to flooding was $3,708,792,000*, with a high in 1993 of $16,364,710,000*.

Expect the figures for 2005 to be much, much higher.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Mississippi delta region of the Gulf [of Mexico] Coast. Hurricane Katrina was the first category 5 hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

While the hurricane caused considerable flooding on its own, the wind and rain took their toll on the levee system that surround New Orleans and hold back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Additionally, the majority of The City of New Orleans is below sea level.

On the Saffir-Simpson scale, category 5 is the most intense, with winds exceeding 155 mph. There have previously been only three category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States since records have been kept. The Labor Day hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew.

While Hurricane Andrew is currently the costliest hurricane on record at $26.5 billion (including flooding), "The Great Storm of 1900," a category 4 hurricane, killed at least 6,000 and left over 8,000 homeless in Galveston, Texas.

Hurricane Katrina will likely be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. At present, there are at least 60,000 people attempting to evacuate New Orleans amid widespread flooding, devastation and chaos. With a population of 1.3 million in New Orleans and its suburbs alone and almost the entire city under water, the number of those left homeless is sure to outpace the figures set over 100 years ago. The number of dead from Katrina is speculated to be in the thousands. The cost? Currently unknown.

"How high's the water, Mama?" In some parts of New Orleans, over twenty feet deep. I don't think Johnny ever could have sung that high.

*current U.S. dollars

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For Every Last One Of Them That's Over There

Here is Johnny Cash paying tribute to those who were fighting in Vietnam.

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The geography may have changed, but the sentiment is the same.

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There'll Be No Sadness, No Sorrow, No Trouble I See

Known literally for decades as "The Man In Black," the life of Johnny Cash ended today of diabetes related complications.

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Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1997 and later with Shy-Drager syndrome, Cash continued to sing and write the music he loved until the end.

As a testament to Cash's ability to weather music's ever-changing eras and trends, his first Number 1 country hit came in 1957 with "I Walk the Line" and his latest video "Hurt" received a 2003 MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography.

The 46 years between held a freight train's load of ups and downs which gave Cash his unique character.

Cash's wife, June Carter passed on May 15th of this year. Let "The Circle Be Unbroken".

Casey Jones - The Story About A Brave Engineer
Oney - The Working Man That Put His Point Across
San Quentin -What Good Do You Think You Do?
Big River - I'm Gonna Sit Right Here Until I Die
One Piece At A Time - It Didn't Cost Me A Dime
See Ruby Fall - I Let Her Go When I Saw What She Wanted
Without Love - There's No Denying
Jackson - We Got Married In A Fever
Singin' In Vietnam Talkin' Blues - For Every Last One Of Them That's Over There
Five Feet High And Rising - How High's The Water, Mama?

Also, today, John Ritter, youngest son of country-western singer Tex Ritter, died of heart failure.

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It Doesn't Seem To Me Like It's Enough

Barry White, a two-time Grammy winner whose smooth baritone voice became synonomous with seduction, succumbed to a string of complications over the holiday weekend. White was 58.

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Born in Galveston, Texas, White was a frequent juvenile offender. In 1960, Elvis Presley's hit recording of "It's Now Or Never" inspired the young man to change his ways.

White sold millions of albums with 106 going gold and 41 attaining the stature of platinum.

In the late 1990s, White's career experienced a resurgence thanks to the television sitcom Ally McBeal, with White eventually making an appearance on the show.

Ironically, the man, whose music played during the conception (or, at least, attempts) of more children than any other, died alone at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

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We Got Married In A Fever

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash won a Grammy award for their duet of Jackson, in 1967.

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When June was born on June 23, 1929, her mother, Maybelle, was part of a musical trio known as the Carter Family.

The Carter Family is recognized as one of the founding acts of the country music industry.

After the Carter Family broke up, Maybelle, June and June's sisters, Helen and Anita, continued the family tradition as Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters.

Johnny and June were married in 1968.

June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, after complications arising from heart valve surgery.

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People Think I'm Insane Because I Am Frowning All The Time

Long before Ozzy Osbourne entered the living room of the average American family as the befuddled centerpiece of MTV's "The Osbournes," average American teenagers allegedly lost brain cells and became purported satanists to the tunes of the acid rock forerunner of heavy metal, Black Sabbath.

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As Ozzy howls his way through the lyrics of Paranoid, I have to wonder if the subject is actually afflicted not with paranoia but some other form of mental anguish.

Those with Paranoid personality disorder harbor a distrust of others and place excessive trust in their own knowledge. They constantly seek hidden meanings in everything and read hostile intentions and sinister motives into the actions of others.

Virtually nothing in the song expresses this.

Instead, Ozzy remarks, "I am frowning all the time," "happiness I can not feel and love to me is so unreal" and "I wish I could [enjoy life] but it's too late," which might point more to depression and perhaps a schizoid personality disorder than paranoia. Those with schizoid personality disorder tend to avoid relationships, do not show much emotion, are considered humorless or distant and often are termed "loners."

The singer also mentions, "finished with my woman 'cause she couldn't help me with my mind," "all day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy" and "can you help me occupy my brain." These statements might indicate a schizotypal personality disorder which includes odd forms of thinking and perceiving, seeking isolation from others and difficulty concentrating for long periods of time.

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Sometimes My Mind Plays Tricks On Me

Green Day became overnight pop chart toppers with their 1994 album "Dookie."

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In the song's chorus, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong ponders whether the paranoia he is experiencing from a true mental disorder or the result of having smoked too much.

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I'm Not Going To Spend My Life Being A Color

After two very successful albums with producer Quincy Jones, "Thriller" and "Bad," Michael Jackson went with Teddy Riley as the main producer for his 1991 release "Dangerous."

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Change for Jackson, by this point, was becoming old hat. At the same time, some say he was becoming increasingly dangerous to society.

No longer bearing any resemblence to the child performer that captivated a nation with the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson's epistle, Black Or White, attempts to set the record straight.

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Take A Look At Yourself And Make The Change

Almost every song on Michael Jackson's 1987 album "Bad" received considerable radio play, including Man In The Mirror.

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"Bad" was hailed as a great album but paled (no pun intended, or is it?) in comparison to its predecessor, "Thriller".

Jackson did his best to nuture the transformative theme he began with the Thriller video as he donned a black leather jacket complete with excessive buckles and zippers. The "Bad" image he tried to portray, however, was a little hard to swallow. Apparently very few people actually felt threatened by Michael Jackson.

Of course, that would all soon change as allegations of inappropriate relationships between the singer and child guests of his Neverland Ranch would begin to surface.

Man In The Mirror continues to hint at Jackson's obsession with his looks and his quest to alter them. Jackson's skin is many shades lighter on the "Bad" album cover than it was on "Thriller" and his nose is a couple of sizes smaller.

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You See A Sight That Almost Stops Your Heart

The video for Michael Jackson's Thriller was a 14 minute short film.

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Thriller was the title track from Jackson's 1982 album with 45 million worldwide sales, seven Top-Ten U.S. singles and eight Grammy awards. Thriller is also the best-selling album of all time.

The video is a micro horror flick in which Jackson, clad in a zipper-adorned red leather jacket, transforms into a werewolf and chases, with an accompanying horde of decaying zombies, his screaming date through a classic 50s horror film setting.

In the end it is revealed that Michael and his date were instead just watching a horror movie in a theatre which she transposed herself and Michael into.

Upon leaving the theatre, Jackson turns around to reveal his greenish-yellow eyes and fangs, leaving us to wonder, was it really just a dream?

Vincent Price, the Master Of The Macabre, provides a spooky narrative for the song.

Proving that reality is stranger than fiction, Jackson himself has transformed over the years. No longer the dark-skinned child that sang with the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson of today is at least as scary as the werewolf of the Thriller video.

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The Kid Is Not My Son

Sixteen years before the birth of his first child, Prince Michael I, Michael Jackson released Billie Jean, a song in which the singer claims he is not the father of a child at the center of a paternity suit.

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Ironically, in 1985, three years after the release of the record, Jackson was involved in a paternity suit brought against him by Lavon Muhammad who claimed to be his wife and the mother of his children.

The "King Of Pop" now has four children, Prince Michael I, Paris, Prince Michael II and an infant known to the world only as "Blanket." When the children are in public, Jackson has them wear masks to hide their identities "for their protection." Except for Blanket, whom Michael hides beneath a blanket and dangles over hotel balconies.

Billie Jean was released on Jackson's "Thriller" album. The song's video gave us the first glimpse of Jackson's trademark "Moonwalk" and the "white glove."

The Billie Jean video was also the first video by a black artist played on MTV. This was, of course, before Jackson became the pale-faced ghoul we see today.

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Now It's Much Too Late For Me To Take A Second Look

From Gary, Indiana, and managed by their father Joe, came the singing and dancing quintet of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- The Jackson 5.

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I Want You Back was their hit song from the 1969 album, "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5."

The troupe's early success was an industry phenomenon with 10-year-old Michael capturing the hearts of the America.

Within a year, however, Michael and Jermaine would leave the band to pursue solo careers, as would others of the Jackson family.

Now some 33 years later, Michael has dubbed himself the "King Of Pop" and his successes and foibles have been well documented.

In retrospect, is Michael singing about a losing a girl or the tip of his nose?

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Un Chien Andalou/Andalusia

Salvador Dali, perhaps best known for his landscape paintings featuring melting pocketwatches and other distortions, collaborated with Luis Bunuel on a short film of nightmarish proportions, "Un Chien Andalou" (1928).

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The title, which translates to "An Andalusian Dog," is meant to be as meaningless as the entirety of the film itself. Still, human nature is to find patterns and meaning even where none exists and countless analyses using Freudian, Marxist and Jungian formulas have been applied to the film.

In Debaser, Black Francis sings "I am un chien andalusia," taking poetic license with the film's original title which he thought sounded too French.

Andalusia is an autonomous and historic region of southern Spain with a population of over 7 million across 33,694 sqare miles. Andalusia's capital is Seville.

Because he supported the Fascist Franco in the 1930s and for pursuing fame and fortune in the U.S., Dali was expelled from the Surrealist movement by Andre Breton. Breton coined the anagram "Avida Dollars" -- "Greedy For Dollars" -- out of Salvador Dali's name and became a lead Debaser of Dali's art.

Luis Bunuel died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 83, in 1983.

Salvador Dali, oft recognized by his handlebar moustache, died in 1989 of heart failure at age 84.

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Girls Could Not Resist His Stare

Born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881, Pablo Picasso completed the qualifying examination for the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day when he was 14. The examination typically takes one month.

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Throughout his artistic life, Picasso was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer. His father, Jose Ruiz, was also an artist and gave young Pablo his first training.

In the early 1910s, Picasso, together with his friend and fellow artist Georges Braque, furthered the Cubist movement which Paul Cezanne had begun in the prior century.

Pablo Picasso, written by Jonathan Richman, was performed by Burning Sensations for Repo Man (1984). Alex Cox’s feature-film debut, starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, is the story of a Los Angeles punk with no direction and no role models who discovers a code of honor and higher purpose when he takes a job repossessing automobiles.

Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973, at the age of 91.

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He'll Think About Paint And He'll Think About Glue

After attending Carnegie Institute of Technology, Andy Warhol became a commercial artist in the 1950s.

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In the 1960s, Warhol began developed a silkscreening process which he would incorporate into a series of mass-media images depicting commercial products and celebrities. Best known among these are the Campbell's Soup Can and Marilyn Monroe.

The notoriety he gained from these works also earned his work the often less-than-flattering label of "Consumerism."

Warhol also made a collection of underground films known for being plotless, of inordinate length and focusing on such topics as boredom, time and repetition.

On June 3rd, 1968, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanis, who had been featured in the Warhol film, "I, A Man." Warhol was pronounced dead at the hospital but was revived after receiving a heart massage.

Solanis, the founder and sole member of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) turned herself in and was placed in a mental institution.

Warhol died in New York on February 27, 1987, after a gallbladder operation.

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He Loved Color And He Let It Show

Vincent Van Gogh wrote on the 19th of November, 1883, in a letter to his brother and benefactor Theo, "And my aim in my life is to make pictures and drawings, as many and as well as I can; then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking, 'Oh, the pictures I might have made!'"

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While it would be interesting to speculate on what else the post-impressionist Dutch painter might have produced during a prolonged life, he did leave behind some 2200 artistic creations including 870 paintings, 1,037 drawings, 150 watercolors and 133 letter sketches.

Considering that Van Gogh decided to become a painter only ten years before his death, those were ten very productive years.

Van Gogh's work is generally better known than that of any other artist and he is considered to be the second greatest of the "Masters" behind Rembrandt.

Van Gogh is also remembered for his struggles with mental illness. Due in part to poverty and ensuing malnourishment, Van Gogh endured a myriad of physical ailments. He was addicted to the narcotic beverage absinthe whose toxic element "thujone" has been reported to cause hallucinations, convulsions, and permanent damage to the nervous system. It is also speculated that he suffered from a form of epilepsy, syphilis, tinnitus, Meniere's syndrome and lead poisoning. It is quite possible that the lead poisoning came about from the lead ingredients in the paints he used.

Ironically, the lead pigments in the paint may have played a role in Van Gogh's degraded mental state as well as have been helped inspire some of his greatest works. Over-exposure to lead can to depression and paranoia. Not only did Van Gogh use gobs of paint in his compositions, he was also known to ingest the lead containing pigments. The whites and yellows of the day and of which he particularily fond contained high concentrations of lead.

Lead poisoning also causes swelling around the optic nerve. This would cause a distortion of vision such that one would see a glow or halo around lights. Interestingly, his later works feature glows around lights and stars. "Starry Night," which he painted in 1989 while at the asylum at Saint-Remy, prominently features this effect.

If you were Freud, you would probably also attribute much of Van Gogh's mental anguish to the fact one year to the day before he was born, his mother gave birth to a another son, also named Vincent, who was stillborn.

Van Gogh's most notorious display of his mental anguish came on the evening of December 23, 1888, after an altercation with his friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin. It is said that Van Gogh, who was susceptible to wide mood swings (another side effect of lead poisoning), threatened Gauguin with a knife. He would later return to the "Yellow House" in Arles where he lived and once roomed with Gauguin and, using an open razor, would cut off the lower portion of his left ear. He then wrapped the ear in cloth and took it to his favorite brothel where he presented it as a "gift" to a prostitute.

While it may have been another bout of tinnitus, a ringing, whistling, or other imaginary noise perceived in the ears, which prompted Van Gogh to severe his ear, only sheer madness could have brought him to the conclusion that it would help him score.

Van Gogh would paint two self-portraits after the incident which featured his bandaged ear. In those self-portraits, it would appear that it is Van Gogh's right ear which is bandaged until you realize that Van Gogh must have been looking at himself in a mirror.

In the end, and most importantly, it is Van Gogh's extensive use of color and bold brush strokes that define his unique style.

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The Father Of Cubism

During most of his life, Paul Cezanne's art was misunderstood and discredited by the public.

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Though Cezanne primarily influenced the development of Cubism, he also painted in the Impressionist style in the early 1870s.

The Five Chinese Brothers consider Cezanne to be the "Father Of Cubism," but he has also been more broadly categorized as the "Father Of Modern Painting."

The Cubist style emphasizes a flat, two-dimensional surface while discarding the traditional notions of perspective and the imitation of nature while stressing the abstract. The style typically utilizes transparent geometric shapes intersecting with one another to complete the composition. It is from this technique which Cubism draws its name.

Cezanne died in 1906.

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I'm Neither Left Or Right

Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1934, Leonard Cohen's first poetry collection, "Let Us Compare Mythologies," was published in 1956.

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Cohen left his life as a novelist to become a songwriter. Judy Collins recorded two of his songs on her 1966 album, "In My Life" By the end of 1967, Cohen's first album, "The Songs Of Leonard Cohen," was relased under the Columbia label.

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Long Before You Miss Me

Elvis provides a prefacing story of a man on his deathbed in this live in Las Vegas recording.

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The song is performed as a duet with Shaun (a.k.a. Sherrill) Nielson.

Nielson sang tenor with The Imperials on Elvis' gospel album, "How Great Thou Art."

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Death Needs Time For What It Kills To Grow In

The writer and poet William S. Burroughs lived a purposefully varied and sordid life.

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Of the Beat poets, Burroughs takes an easy first as the creepiest and darkest of the bunch with his recurring apocolyptic themes.

Ah Pook The Destroyer, as recited here by the author, proffers an answer to the posed the question of "Who really gave that order?" in regards to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

William S. Burroughs died on August 2, 1997, at the age of 83. Pretty good considering that the "Gentleman Junkie" was a regular user of heroin for over a decade.

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