Many of his friends have lost their houses. He is busy calling friends and family, finding out what they need and driving around to get what he can to them. They don't expect to have electricity or water there for 6 weeks.
I couldn't reach him yesterday because there is no cell phone coverage anymore (probably no power to the antenna towers or perhaps damage) and I suspect I couldn't reach his land line because they usually ration calls to prioritize for local emergency-related phone traffic. If
you are having difficulty reaching friends and family in that part of the world you may just have to patiently wait for them to call you.

Although houses will no doubt be rebuilt the landscape is changed forever because so many trees were torn out. Scott said that as he drove from the airport last night he saw many houses he had never seen before because all the trees that were around them are gone.

This time it's truly serious. Scott has been house shopping for months, but I would imagine that the housing in this area will be impossible for the forseeable future.

Based on my limited contact with Scott via the web and email, I know he's doing everything he can to harness his energy and spirit to help everyone around him. And I'm sure he's making a big difference.

If he has any specific suggestions/recommendations for support and aid, please let us know.

My last cell phone calls from Port Charlotte to Chicago seemed to indicate that Charlotte County had taken the brunt of Hurricane Charley. The fact that all the CNN field reporters were sitting quietly in Tampa and unable to give more realisitic information to the south was a truly ominious sign. The fact that I couldn't reach anyone all the way from Ft. Myers to Port Charlotte confirmed my worst fears. By Saturday morning they were showing the destruction of my hometown and saying that 60 body bags had been ordered. Three of the largest hospitals in the county were destroyed (I live across the street from two of them) as well as several fire and police stations. 1.2 million were described as being without power.

Upon arriving to the Ft. Myers Airport after a three hour mechanical delay I noticed that my cell phone stopped working entirely. I waited 30 minutes for gas in Ft. Myers while one woman said that she had heard that there were over 200 dead in Charlotte County! Almost immediately after crossing north of the Charlotte County line you start to notice the difference in landscape: Giant freeway lights bent down to the ground, freeway signs ripped to shreds, forrests of trees flattened, houses and canals now visible from the freeway, demolised houses and boats half sunken into canals. Upon turning off the freeway I drove past National Guardsmen and then zig zagged my way past over and around down powerlines, over-turned trucks, and mobile home debris. Turning north onto Highway 41 (yes, the one mentioned in "Ramblin' Man.") it starts to look like the DMZ of North Korea. Punta Gorda to the south is just as bad if not worse.

My apartment complex did OK. Pretty much every big beautiful oak tree that once provided shade was flipped on their sides and the drive way was littered with thick spanish barrel tile from the roof. The glass elevator entrances were ripped to shreds with piping jutting out at odd angles and glass was strewn throughout the first floor parking area underneath. My key chain flashlight got me up the three flights of stairs in the dark and was surprised to find all my patio furniture in my bedroom. Apparently the management took the time to do this for me or I might have lost my entire apartment had the large patio window been shattered by flying furniture. A window in the bedroom had been broken resulting in minimal water damage and may have ruined my new Roland AC 60 Acoustic Amp that I use for gigs. I consider myself extremely lucky. Cardboard, garbage bags, and duct tape fixed the window. I emptied the fridge, gathered a few more guitars, and grabbed some extra clothes before heading down to my mom's in Ft. Myers. I drove down Edgewater Blvd and was dumbstruck at the devastation. A side trip through Punta Gorda at dusk brought tears to my eyes.

Upon arriving in Ft. Myers I found that my mother's place had been without power since the hurricane hit. I knew more about it than her and then spent the next hour describing what they were showing on CNN. I spent Sunday basically driving around and checking on friends and performing "emotional triage." The sobbering anecdotal survey so far is that about half to a third of my friends have lost their homes, buisnesses, or both. Initial reports of 16 deaths have now dwindled to only four as a direct result of the hurricane. Many of the others are now being attributed to natural causes as we have alot of elderly in the area. Some are calling this a miracle.

Unfortunately, we still have over 800,000 people without power or running water. The temperatures in the daytime are pushing a hundred degrees. Deaths are now occuring from carbon monoxide poisioning from poorly vented generators. The resulting third world conditions will likely generate third world mortatility rates. This disaster is of epic proportions as it has caused major devastation to over thirteen counties as it went right up the center of the state, the worst feared kind of hurricane strike. The majority of the citrus crop was destroyed as well.

Adrian has left several messages on my cell phone wanting to know what can be done to help. I can check my voice mail via working land lines or when in areas that have restored power (like when I'm at mom's typing to you on the web). Since I'm somewhat challened in time and resources I'll have to go with Adrian's above recommendations. What we hear on the radio down here is that FEMA and the Red Cross need money. Granted we need ice, water, and able skilled people who are able to help, but its just as easy to send money to the appropriate organizations. Send beer, ukes, and cheerful women too, if you can.

Luckily the clinic in Englewood that I was scheduled to work at today is one of the few working animal hospitals in Charlotte County. Most of Englewood and North Port were left untouched and is now being overwhelmed with folks looking for ice, food, and water. Of course, since its relatively untouched, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see, on my way to work today, people actually golfing! I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. A little bit of both, I think.

Glad to hear you're OK! Talk about a "Force of Nature"!! Probably a good thing you hadn't bought a house yet, right?

That's great that the clinic is still open so you can help heal the animals. Take care of yourself and your friends. Call anytime you feel like talking.

David

-"Send beer, ukes, and cheerful women too, if you can."

Right on bro!
I'm sure you will be a "light" for many folks there who now need a sense a security in the midst of the devastation!

Brian

Glad to hear you made it back safe and sound but saddened to hear that PG and PC were devistated.
My 2 1/2 hr jaunts from West Palm Beach were always made better when I saw you pull out the blue uke and wow the audience and players of the Punta Gorda Guitar Army and Neo-Beatnik Revolutionary Ensemble (I never knew it had a full name like that!)

I won't be making the trip this week as my wife is having her tonsils and adenoids out (remember how much I complained a few months ago when I had mine out.)

Please keep this forum updated as to Punta Gorda's status as the only weekly jam session south of North Carolina (I checked!)

To all other jammers: put a jar out for the PGGA & N-BRE relief effort. When we get back to playing (hopefully soon) Doc can handle collecting and distributing contributions (maybe Michael Haymans can help)

The press has been surprisingly quick with acurate and helpfull information. We seem to be reaping the benefits of many lessons learned from Hurricane Andrew. We saw a few working traffic lights today up in Port Charlotte and even some areas of downtown Punta Gorda are starting to get running water! The resiliancy of the people of Charlotte County has been awe inspiring. Its amazing to see complete strangers stopping their cars and asking if people need food, water, help clearing debris, etc. Its amazing what people can accomplish when they act together. Worker ants! I've never been prouder to be part of this small lively county.

Also: I don't know if the curfew would make it impossible to get in and out of the county anyway: http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/081804/tp3ch3.htm?date=081804&story=tp3ch3.htm

I will be there in spirit.

Michael

Glad to see that you are OK! Luckily I got the idea to do a google search on your name which led me here. Having gone through a few hurricanes in FL myself, I know what a mess it must be. Glad your mom is OK too!

Seiously, blood banks usually run short in the summer. The folks at the Red Cross tell me it's even worse this year. I'll bet some blood supplies were lost when those hospitals Scott describes were destroyed.

Press releases went out last night for tonight's jam in Gilchrist Park. The Punta Gorda Guitar Army and Neo-Beatnik Revolutionary Ensemble has been sharing their music freely with the people every thursday night for almost nine years. Thunder, lightning, mosquitoes, the threat of Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus, heat and humidity, tropical storms, frost warnings, flooding, and the like have not kept us from sharing music, comraderie, and good cheer with each other every week. We're not going to let something like a Hurricane stop us either!

Scott: if you get a chance, drop me a line via email.

Ralph Houseman is the stogie chompin' banjo-guitar player. He is a fantastic singer and is becoming a fine songwriter. He can play just about every song that Fred Eaglesmith has recorded. He considers himself mainly a bass player and plays lots of stringed instruments like a bass player would. He has taken to a Saga Gitane Selmer-Mac copy as his main guitar and plays it by strumming his fingernails down the top and resting his thumb on the bass string. A band that he was in once opened for Blackfoot. I believe he's from upstate NY.

Took me awhile, (thanks to google) but I finally got news about the Guitar Army and that everyone is safe. Glad to hear it's jamming again. We survived Charley in Englewood with just a few trees down and a basketball-size hole in our roof. Never found the basketball though.

If I can do anything ... don't know what... See you Thursday... I have beer...

So glad to hear you are all safe and somewhat sound.

All will be well. Her son, (my cousin) and his wife made it down from South Kakalakee earlier today. She now has a generator. Although condemned, she said they aren't going to do the demolition for almost a year!! Talk about a backlog. They are gathering her 'stuff' and moving her into a residence near Tampa. FEMA, and insurance will get her a house again, albiet in about 2 years evidently. With so much water in the house, mold is already rampant. I guess that's a known problem in those environs. She handles it very well. I talked to her yesterday for the first time since the hurricane. She spoke of the incredible 'awesomeness' of the storm as it approached. She couldn't get the sheer power of the event out of her thoughts as it came down on them. Kind'of like watching the apocalypse if you ask me. She described water as pouring out of the smoke detectors (mounted on the ceiling) as it went down. Like so many there, she is glad to be unscathed physically. A house is a bunch of dry-wall, as she said.

Thank you for your offer. I live in Santa Cruz Ca. and am a long way away from Florida. The fact that you would offer means more to me than I can express. As it is, she is fine.

You Scott, need to go find another cage. There are matches to be played.
People like you make this world a little better place.

Go in peace, and I'll see you at IGS next year!

I moved back into my place today and feel incredibly lucky to be doing so. I've been so busy the past few weeks that I'm only starting to reflect on some of it. Its amazing to me that this thread ended up serving as the only way of communication for at least three personal friends who wanted to contact me. When I explained this to my mother she was quick to demonstrate her own resourcefullness by stating that she had googled me before to find this forum. Apparently she occasionally reads it too.

I did find time to write a Hurricane Charley song this week that I ended up playing at the park. Its kind of a sing along and its definitely an example of "write what you know."

HURRICANE CHARLEY BLUES © Scott Jacobs 2004

(1st Verse)
(I)Mobile home wreckage in my pool.
(IV)Hurricane (V)Charley (I)Blues
I'm low on beer and losing my cool.
Hurricane Charley Blues

I itch all over from the fiberglass.
Hurricane Charley Blues
Now it takes two hours just to get some gas.
Hurricane Charley Blues

(I)I never thought it'd be so hard
(IV)cleaning drywall from my backyard.
(I)I got a right to be grumpy
and wearing a frown
(V)but I ain't letting Charley
bring me down.

(2nd Verse)
The summer sun's been a baking my brain
Hurricane Charley Blues
as I tarped the roof just to beat the rain.
Hurricane Charley Blues

Now I'm spraying bleach to fight the mold.
Hurricane Charley Blues
This daily routine is getting old.
Hurricane Charley Blues

My ceiling is starting to crumble down.
I've got water damage all around.
I've got a right to be grumpy
and wearing a frown
but I ain't letting Charley
bring me down.

(3rd Verse)
Strangers all over from out of town.
Hurricane Charley Blues
Some are here to help, some to gawk around.
Hurricane Charley Blues

The Red Cross brings free food and ice.
Hurricane Charley Blues
Please bring some more, I think I've paid the price.
Hurricane Charley Blues.

I'm sleeping in the kitchen by the patio door
'cause its so much cooler on the tile floor.
I've got a right to be grumpy
and wearing a frown
but I ain't letting Charley
bring me down.

(Harp Solo Over The Changes)

(4th Verse)
Humming generators driving me mad.
Hurricane Charley Blues
They cost much more than they ever had.
Hurricane Charley Blues.

All the home inspectors have come and gone.
Hurricane Charley Blues.
'Said I've two more years of singing this song.
Hurricane Charley Blues.

Ain't had a hot shower in over a week.
The heat stroke's got me feeling weak.
I've got a right to be grumpy
and wearing a frown
but I ain't letting Charley
bring me down.

(Tag)
(I was going to print the tag ending to this song but I decided against it since its basically X-rated. You'll have to come to the park or a gig to hear it.)

Thanks for all the concerned and well wishing E-mails that I've received from the lot of you. I plan to respond to all of them when I get a chance. In the mean time, although things are moving along much faster than the after-effects of Hurricane Andrew, there are still lots of folks in need.

P.S. Hi Mom!

RJ was kind enough to bring a large iced cooler stocked full with various refreshments. Besides being very generous with libations, it turns out that he's a pretty interesting guy to boot. He's apprenticed luthiery skills under Bob Benedetto, is a former concert violinist, and has made a couple violins for Stephane Grappelli! Perhaps I'm embarrasing him with all this but the PGGA now has a much hipper march thanks to him. Perhaps some Swing Djammin' is just around the corner?

There is no realistic way for us to prepare for Hurricane Frances as we are still trying to clean up from Hurricane Charley. The unsecurred piles of debris that have yet to be taken away would cause severe damage in hurricane force winds. We all hope that Frances will weaken and avoid EVERYONE entirely.

Michael, I hope you and yours are doing OK over there on the east coast. Be safe, brother.

The core players assembled in what's left of the pavilion in the park: Ralph, Joe, Mike and his cousin, Kilo, and (forgive me) several more whose name's I can't remember (but I know their music well). A small group of the faithful also came out. Frances and the Peace river had flooded the park and there was silt on everything. The night was a miserable rainy, windy, dripping mess. Lightning was crackling all around and a damp chill blew through us.

But you couldn't tell from the music. I still have Mike's "Sugar Mountain" playing in my cortex.

Everyone is tired. When I first got there I didn't see many smiles, just dead tired faces. We talked about Ivan, which as of this morning is coming right at us. People can't decide what to do. Evacuation sounds like a good idea but few gas stations have any fuel left and there are no hotels from here to the Carolinas. US 75 and US 95 going north are big parking lots. Most of our homes are weakened from Charley and Frances. Will they, can they survive Ivan?

There was a lot of hugging and hand shaking and well wishing through the evening as the music began to have its effect. I swear that music is magic. Each song and each player raised us up a small notch. As the night wore on, small drops of water began finding their way through the roof of the pavilion and onto our heads. No one seemed to notice or care. By the time the last of us wandered home there were smiles. I even heard laughter. Guitar players are a resilient bunch.

As each of us left, we went to the others and wished safe passage. It is the bright soul of the PGGA and why we come back week after week.

Keep us in your thoughts and we intend to be playing again next Thursday night. NO stinkin' hurricane can ever stop us.

Perhaps I should make that "ashamed" in addition to "disgusted ..."

Thanks for the kind words. The bio sheet that I was passing around at Berkeley in January is made to look like I'm playing ukulele in the middle of a Hurricane. How's that for foreshadowing? I've also written four songs now that mention hurricanes and am in the midst of writing a fifth. Perhaps I should stop.

I still find myself struck with the realization of places and things that are now gone. Immediately after the aftermath you are too busy attending to basic needs and cleanup that you fail to notice a lot of things. And water damage isn't something that you can see from the outside. Everyday it seems that I notice something that I didn't notice before: a favorite place to eat that is now vacant, the Wendy's that now can only serve drive-thru, the Radio Shack and Floral Shop that is no more, the homes that are now condemned, the RV dealers that have suddenly appeared on every other corner, the signs that say, "will buy your hurricane damaged home for cash," the vacant lots where once stood a building, the change in light patterns at night due to the absense of street lights... A lot of what I notice is sad but everytime I notice a tree that survived I smile.

I now feel a sense of despair that more folks will suffer similar experiences where ever Hurricane Ivan decides to land as that storm has killed 68 people so far.

You can't ever know the joy without knowing the loss.

Life is chaos. A constant cycle of building, destruction, and rebuilding. It is not about winning and losing but about knowing and learning.

Charley and Frances turned my life upside down. It wasn't the first time, and it certainly won't be the last. I'm still here. There are many things that once were that are now not.

But the joyous feeling of life that comes from friends, music, and community is stronger than it ever was. No combination of wind, rain or surf can stop it. It only makes that feeling of joy stronger. Just to know that someone is thinking about me in times of stress and trial is a great gift. Just to turn a face I see on Thursday night into a friend I now talk to, and care about their success is an even greater gift. Just saying hello to someone as they climb the concrete steps into that ruined pavilion in the park is unique, powerful and filled with untold wealth. Experience it.

When I pass someone on the street I smile, and if they smile back, I am enriched. I notice that I get a lot more smiles today then I did before, so the past month, in the end, is a good thing after all.

I'll miss the coffee shop. I'll miss the art walk, the flower shop and the galleries. I'll miss the casual, soft life of evenings walking on Marion Ave. I'll miss that ancient palm tree in the park where I first sat with my daughter and listened to the PGGA play. The poets and the song writers are even now busy preserving these things in rhymes and tones. That is as it should be and how it has always been.

Yet, I can't wait for tomorrow. The unknown yet to come fills me with expectant joy.

So cheer up, tune up, and get on with it.

RJ