Southern Breeze 2007 Fall Issue

Tab Benoit sings the blues for a homeland slowly slipping away. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MACGILLIVRAY FREEMAN FILMS Under the ceiling of chalked love notes in Ruby’s Roadhouse in Mandeville, Louisiana, Tab belts the blues in a soulful jag of gutsy guitar riffs. Scars of a worn, torn Fender bear the battle cries of life on the bayou as Tab roams the country’s backroads preaching the perils of coastal erosion. Before the gig Tab and I sneak away from the rowdy crowd inside to the dreamy shadows of his new RV bus. We chat about the universal language of music and Tab’s crusade to save his homeland. Southern Breeze: You’re more than a musician, you’re a preacher, preaching the perils of coastal erosion. What has been the response? by DEBORAH BURST Tab: Where I live we see it every day. A lot of us are way ahead of everybody else in talking about it but not outside the (Terrebonne) parish. Just from flying in the air I see the changes. Over New Orleans East and Chalmette every day for a year working as a pilot at Lakefront Airport teaching people how to fly. I kept thinking “this doesn’t look right.” From the air, the perimeter levees may be category 3, but the interior levees that broke aren’t. You see the water surrounding the bowl. You see the weaknesses. The more land that disappears, the more those levees are the only thing keeping the city dry. As bad as we have it where we live, New Orleans has it worse and they have no idea about coastal erosion. I went to the FEMA meetings, no mention of people, or rescue, it was all infrastructure things, getting the oil running again, patching the levees. Walked out of there with Corps of Engineers, levee board people, politicians…they all looked at me. I thought, let me use what I already have, play music and focus in on this. Water flooded the bowl of New Orleans (above) in the days after Katrina—a natural disaster brought on by coastal erosion that singer/ songwriter Tab Benoit (above) has been warning about for years. In a twist of irony, Tab had just concluded shooting for a MacGillivray Freeman documentary on the subject right before the hurricane hit. He is shown on the bayou in a film still (opposite). Fall 2007 55

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Southern Breeze 2007 Fall Issue

Editor's Letter Contributor Gumbo Words & Notes Accessories Coastal Calendar Storefronts: French Flair in Fairhope Sweet Dreams: Smooth Sailing Art of Living: The Colors of Hope Fixtures: Shake It Up! Live Here: Filled to the Brim Our Backyard: Just Add Water Make Yourself at Home: Open Invitation Pierless Pleasures Always Biloxi Spirited Away Reef Madness Louisiana Love Cheers: Fall Freeze Dish: Java Servers Reader Services Chef's Table: The Kid Inside Let's Eat: Cornbread, Catheads, and Calas Last Bite

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