Hello From Linz Austra,   I'm on the road again with an Austrian Dixieland Band called New Ohr Linz,  playing the roots of Jazz and blues from the once beautiful city of New Orleans.   Katrina has dominated the headlines of Europe and they are very supportive and are helping so much.  I am so blessed to be performing this music,  it means more now than ever that New Orleans has gone through so much  My parents took me to hear the Preservation Hall Jazz band as a young child, and it has stayed with me always.

The tuesday morning after the Hurricane hit,  I knew God had put something urgent on my heart.  I coun't fix levees, but I had a DSL connection, and knew who to call.

I grew up in Monroe Louisiana which is 300 miles from New Orleans.
My father was chosen to head the State Farm regional office located there in 1968.
In June of this year it closed due to downsizing, leaving about 3,000 employees out of work or early retirement.  The first thing on my mind that day was to contact the Red Cross and see if we could arrange the powers that be to use it for a temporary shelter.
Well.....I am amazed the way God works in peoples lives.  
here is an email I recieved today from a former employee of State Farm, Jimmye Allen

You may already know this but our old building is now the new "community residential home" for the displaced New Orleans families.  About 700-1000 are there now.  Classroom B was turned into a daycare...classroom A and other conference rooms around the building have become "computer rooms" for the folks to use as their needs dictate...many are using the computers to look for lost family members....Reba is coming in to volunteer as the "head nurse" for the "Infirmary" and the executive suites were turned into a mini hospital with hospital beds, etc. this will be for folks to ill to go back out into the general area.....they have set up a post office area in the old credit union....along with bank....and other conveniences.   Pops, Keith Leaphart, Larry Smith, Buddy Cork, Carlos Brown and countless other "retirees" worked out there to get the building ready for the folks to move in. Guy Barr worked with ARC and United Way folks in getting things ready at the building.  He knew who to call that knew how to get the building up and running.  I thought about going out there to volunteer BUT I just can't take the chance of being around that many people and "germs."  My immune system is minimal at best so I'll have to find another way to help.    ARC is going to offer job counseling, emotional counseling (in fact I'm told my office has a sign on it that just says "Crying Room."  How did they know many tears had been shed in that room over the years).  Cubicles have been set up so each family unit has their own private space.....there are designated areas for families, single men, single  women, etc.  They are going to "elect a mayor" and let the folks take on responsibilites of cleaning their own restrooms, keeping the living areas clean, just taking ownership.  Busses come to State Farm to pick up the children for school.
We all wondered why our building was empty and everything was moving so slowly to get it ready for Delta Community College....GOD knew why as HE knew Katrina was on the way...From: jallen3579@jam.rr.com [mailto:jallen3579@jam.rr.com]

 

My friend and great blues musician, who I've been music director for many years,  Long John Baldry passed away on July 21.  His longtime partner of 27 years, Oz Rex was by his side.    Judy and I had been with him the day before, as she had worked on him for 4 months using Reiki, Quantum Healing, Shiatsu and many other God Given Gifts.
Thanks so much for the support of Vancouver General Hospital for their love and dedication.  We held a memorial for Long John at the Vancouver Arts Center the following Sunday,  with people who had loved and worked with John over the years.  Kathi McDonald, Colin James and I performed one of John's favorite songs,  "Black Girl" in an emotional rendition.  John,  we love you and wish you eternal peace and rest in the love of the eternal loving father who watches over us all.
       
The day after the LJB memorial,  Judy, my fiance, her son Cale and I set out on a journey by Auto from Vancouver to Birmingham Alabama,  back through Las Vegas.
My nephew Dean Sanders married a wonderful girl named Crystal in the church I was raised and baptized in.  I performed at the reception along with PBS,  who are 3 of the funky Meters. They are all well after Katrina,.  I was honored to sing the first Dance with them, "All these Things",  by Aaron Neville and Alan Toussaint.   I wish Dean and Chrystal much happiness in their new life together.   (The Original Meters with my friend Zigaboo  will be performing on David Letterman this thursday night, the today show Friday Moring and with Elton and Rod at Madison Square Garden at the Katrina benefit.

We then headed for Vegas,  where we attended the Star Trek convention at the Hilton where we saw all three captions of the Star Trek series, Captains Kirk, Janeway, and Jean Luc Piccard.    I was not much of a Trekie, but it was an exciting time to see such icons of science fiction.

 My brother and Sister are in Mississipi and Louisiana and made it fine through the storm, and I am grateful.  We will be doing a benefit here in Linz Austria for the hurricane victems, with 3 of the great bands here playing New Orleans Music.  Check back for furthur details.

 

Chris Caswell and I are working on a musical based on a best selling novel, which I'll fill you in on, as soon as the deal is made with the publisher.  Chris and I have written most of the tunes together on my new Cd,  we've probably got about 40 songs so far, all kinds of stuff,  Blues of course, and country,  stuff that sounds like standards,  and everything in between.   The non bluesy stuff will go on another CD that's a little more introspective, singer songwriter stuff.    I just signed a distribution deal with a company called IODA,

Who is an online distribution of music in digital form,  with companies like Itunes,  Napster,  Rhapsody, etc.    Soon you'll be able to legally download most of my Cds online,  and the deal is pretty good for all of us. 

 

Thanks to all of the fans in Austria coming to the shows,  It's a blessing to perform in your country.  For hundreds of years Austra was the center of all things musical and is still the home to some of the greatest musicians in the world.  

 

Thanks so much for coming to my website.  Love and peace to all of you

John Lee Sanders