Floodwater Running Through My Veins

The New Orleans legends and contenders for "most sampled band ever" The Meters played New York last night. There was some announcement how New Yorkers truly understand, what the people in New Orleans are going through, because somehow Katrina was like 911, which didn’t really make sense, but didn’t matter either, because they jumped right into one of their legendary grooves. Not that they ignored the anger and frustration of their hometown. Art Neville inserted some new lyrics into their old songs, it was hard to understand, but there was definitely something about CNN and rising tides and „Fire on the Bayou“ featured the new line „There is floodwater running through my veins“.

It’s easy to forget that The Meters are not just New Orleans legends and raw material for beats by everybody from the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest to Ice Cube and Public Enemy. For quite a while they were the blueprint for everything Rock music wanted to be. After all it was New Orleans that was the ultimate destination of Dennis Hopper’s and Peter Fonda’s quest for the American soul in „Easy Rider“. You can hear Meters inspired songs on countless albums by people like the Allman Brothers, The Band and especially Little Feat. Robert Palmer didn't even try himself and hired The Meters to play on his '74 album. The following year Paul McCartney cut a Mardi Gras track with the Meters that closes „Venus & Mars“. When they played at a party he gave on the Queen Mary, the Stones were there and immediately hired them as their support act for their next tour. But only the Feat’s Lowell George was invited to play on a track of an actual Meters album.

Last night they proved to be still true to form. Only the venue was a downer. They call it the Nokia Theater and this strange fear permeates these large rooms with those towering logs of all these sponsors. Goons man all the strategic points of the subterranean complex, there are color coded lines, wristbands and the drinks are rationed - one per wristband only, if you want to get your company one too, you have to give up your place in the actual theater and bring them. It's as if they are afraid of the very culture they're hosting here. Well, just to satisfy my prepubescent problems with authority I just ended my longstanding brand loyalty and exchanged my Nokia for a nifty looking Samsung fliphone.