Shelter from the Storm: a tale and an artist's offer

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We've corrected problems from earlier attempts to publish today's post. Please read it now that it is all here, as intended.
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And all the music events are in the latest edition of the Acoustic Americana Music Guide 's Spotlight Events, available just below or in the sidebar at left, depending on which edition you are reading.
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Hurricane Sandy's landfall "is so massive, so unlike anything we've seen before." That's just one of many similar news leads today. The hurricane will impact 60 million people from the Carribean to the Arctic Circle -- the entire eastern seaboards of the US and Canada, reaching far inland with flooding and even heavy snowfall, plus hurricane-force winds and full-moon high tides hitting the mainland, many islands, and ships at sea.
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The news will be filled with tales of heroism and stupidity, of loss and the vital role of government in rescue and relief and recovery, and that will be the lead story for weeks or months in a dozen states and thousands of communities.
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"The election will take care of itself," said President Obama in response to a reporter's question this morning. But states that use electronic voting or electrically powered machines may find themselves with no power on Election Day, next Tuesday.
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Could we have imagined that climate change would assert itself in freakish weather at election time?
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All of us can keep friends and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, even as we may lose the ability to communicate with them for days or longer. And artists, producers, and presenters of concerts can start planning to do benefits to raise money to help those in places that will be hit hardest.
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Meantime, we mentioned ships at sea. The editor found himself smacked with a point of tangency this morning.
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News came -- buried amidst the flood of news (no pun intended): the tall ship HMS Bounty sank last night in the storm, off the coast of North Carolina. The editor has vivid memories of a good dinner and wine and athe surreal experience in the Captain's cabin of the Bounty, the gallery with the prominent windows across the ship's stern.
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On the original Bounty, it was the prime space with plenty of light that was occupied by the ship's cargo, collected in Tahiti: breadfruit trees, proposed as cheap food to feed slaves in the New World. That history of the Bounty's mission that went unfulfilled because of the famous mutiny? It could still resonate and it did.
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It was dinner for three, cooked by the captain's wife. They were a couple from South Africa, thoroughly charming until the issue of apartheid was breached. Sadly, but predictably, their beliefs were a product of the society there at the time they grew up.
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That has always made that evening especially memorable. At least as much as what preceded dinner and singing sea chanteys and hearing their fiddle and guitar and Irish whistle before that conversation.
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Yes, it was thrilling to go aloft, and to hear the Nova Scotia-built three-masted vessel creak while her wood hull adjusted to the undulating waves and the physics of masts trying to stay in the same place as the ship moved beneath them on the gentle waters of a Florida anchorage.
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But that conversation, the reactionary, deep-seated, lifelong views on apartheid -- had electrical shocks going through my head as I was rowed back to the shore, and long after.
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The captain and crew changed after that, more than once. But I always had my own sense of Mutiny on the Bounty, the 1962 MGM film for which she had been built.
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Certainly, others have had different ways to relate to that 180-foot sailing ship. She has toured US ports for decades on an educational mission that has now ended with her loss at sea. And many saw her featured in Disney's weird "Pirates of the Carribean" movies.
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Some will wonder why she was at sea with the hurricane know to be approaching. Ships always put to sea to weather severe storms. They could be crushed against the docks if they remained in port. (The key exception is to seek safe anchorage in a protected harbor, clear of anything the ship could hit.)
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When the Bounty sank, she had a crew of 17 aboard. They donned cold-water survival suits and took to the lifeboats. The heroism of the US Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 17, one plucked from the sea. Three are still missing.
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The editor is preoccupied today, thinking of mariners he has never met.
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AN ARTIST'S OFFER, THINKING
OF CHILDREN IN THE STORM
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Of course, others here on the West Coast are emotionally involved in the storm. Singer-songwriter and children's book author DARIN BENNETT is offering something to help those in storm-effected places (geographical or emotional). Here's his message ...
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Darin says, "We are sending good thoughts to anyone who is affected by the storm. We know how restless the little kiddies and their adult counterparts can get - even if they are safe and dry in their homes.

"We would like to offer a FREE digital copy of 'The Trick or Freaks' to anyone who is expecting "Sandy" close to home, as she is a most unwelcome guest.

"Please send any number of e-mail addresses to: trickorfreaks@gmail.com

"We will send a pdf version of the book and the link to download the theme song.

"Feel free to forward this message to anyone you know who could use an indoor activity...or just a smile.

"We're happy to announce that we sold out of all of the handmade first editions of The Trick or Freaks! That said, the digital e-book is still available!"

"Wishing a safe few days to everyone.

Take Care,

Darin Bennett + Tiffany Winget & Friends www.trickorfreaks.com www.darinbennett.com