Hurricane Ike took a toll not only on the living, but also on the dead. Celebrated Bluesman Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was one of the disturbed. Here is an excerpt from the story:
Debris from the storm littered the ground, mingled with “graveware” trinkets left behind by mourners — a toy car, a plaster angel, a black doll lying on its back, its eyes staring blankly heavenward.
The top of Brown’s vault had popped off, and his bronze casket had floated away. But three jars of Bama grape jelly remained by his aluminum marker, no doubt left by a fan of his instrumental classic “Grape Jelly.”
Brown, who reportedly got his nickname from a teacher who said he had “a voice like a gate,” was born in Vinton, La., but grew up here. He started out as a drummer but switched to guitar, developing a freewheeling blend of blues, swing, bebop, country, jazz and Cajun music that he called “American music, Texas style.”
Indefatigable, he once joked, “I started off at 300 (gigs) a year, and then I backed off to 250.” He won the Grammy for “Alright Again!”, which was considered a comeback album.
The 81-year-old musician was living in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell when Hurricane Katrina inundated that city. Dying of lung cancer, he evacuated to Texas and never got back.
He died on Sept. 10, 2005, not two weeks after the storm.
Read the full story here: Foxnews.com