Well...I'm Nothing if Not Metal

Houston's Rock the Bayou music festival starts in two days. I leave Ohio at 5 a.m. on Friday and am scheduled to be in Houston before eight. In theory, I'll be situated and in place in plenty of time to see the first act take the main stage.

Now, I'm a native Buckeye. In Ohio, we don't get hurricanes. We get tornadoes and earthquakes. I'm not a fan of either, but at least I know how to react to both situations. Currently, Hurricane Gustav is tracking just past Haiti and into the Gulf. As of midnight, the hurricane looks like it is headed right toward Houston.

How fast do hurricanes move? That depends. I spent a lot of time last night reading about Gustav. Turns out, this hurricane is packing a punch and moving quite rapidly.

What happens if Gustav inches toward Houston during Rock the Bayou? I have no idea. Quite frankly, I hope the festival organizers have an evacuation or shelter plan in place. Again, I don't know what do in a hurricane - except stay out of the storm. That's all well and good unless you are in an open field, watching some Glam while the rain pelts your back.

I can deal with rain. I went to the local shops last night and purchased a couple new ponchos and a travel umbrella. Of course, I'll assume my Bring Back Glam! pink umbrella won't be much of a match for Gustav. Needless to say, I also purchased rubber boots. All items are safely packed in my suitcase.

I'll be at Rock the Bayou come hell or high water (yes, the pun was intended here). If there's a hurricane at the fest, I'll report on it here. I mean, hell, Rocklahoma had a crazy storm - why shouldn't I endure a hurricane for Glam too?

***All this talk of storms has me wondering: What is the most dangerous situation you ever endured in the name of Glam?

Now...some inevitable songs about rain. Enjoy!

Here's Warrant performing "Let it Rain" at Gazzaris back in 1987:

Here's Jackyl with "When Will it Rain:"

Here's Nelson performing "After the Rain" live earlier this year:

Comments

[Billykiss]

Hey Allyson having read this I guess an appropriate title to your upcoming article on Houston's Rock the Bayou music festival would be that it really "Rocked you like a Hurricane" yes pun intended.

Have a great time and stay safe

[Billykiss]

oops forgot to post you a link to the song by the mighty Scorps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB8HudfbaTE

[red6ixx]

i endured the monsters of rock festivel at Donnington in 1988 to see GnR / Kiss and Dave lee roth - surrounded by big hairy bikers while i had on my cowboy boots, spandex trousers and my hair a mile high up in the air.
That was an experience.

[kari]

Being someone who has lived their life dodging hurricanes, let me try and set your mind at ease a bit. Yes, everyone is watching to see what hurricane Gustav will do. Most likely it won't make US landfall until Tuesday. If by some chance it happens to hit Houston, the safest thing would be to just hang at your hotel. You might have to deal with power loss, rain and heavy winds, but for the most part Houston is enough inland that I don't foresee massive damage being done - they really just don't want people out on the roads. It will also be up to houston city and gov't officials to direct if evacuation is necessary. I think HOuston will be just fine, we might have an alteration in festival plans MOnday but we just have to wait and see what this storm will do. DOn't worry, we won't let you and Eric ride the storm out by yourselves. YOu can just come to the marriott with me and my friends and ride it out with us. We'll take care of you. SOmetimes riding out the storm can actually be a lot of fun!

[jay]

Living in Houston I'll say this Ally. The good news is that you will literally be right across the street from the main staging area when disasters hit, Reliant Park-very safe. The bad news is that even with just heavy rains, HTown floods dramatically. And that's with normal storms...imagine what happens when the bad stuff hits. Yes, we are inland, but we are also flat and really close to sea level-it doesn't drain well.

The festival is in a great spot and it is much higher than the surrounding areas, so if it is just rain, then everything is cool. But they will keep an eye on it and keep y'all safe: since Rita they don't mess around with safety here. They are telling us locally that we should be expect something on M or T, but you never know with these things. We had a TS supposed to hit us last month and it just rained all day, not bad at all. I mowed the lawn the next day.

The event planners seem prepared. After seeing youtube of Rocklahoma, I wouldn't think they would let anything close to that happen here.

So as a midwestern transplant, I say listen to the lOCAL news when you get here (click2houston.com) and just plan to enjoy the music and Bar B Q. Bring a poncho and a cheap umbrella-it works for rain, but it also keeps the Tx sun away if need be and get ready for the heat - it's hot!!

The festival is getting lots of hype here and is pretty high profile-it looks to be a great endeavor!

[aXe mAn]

Hey Allyson, I hope you have a great time at Rock The Bayou! You are so lucky that you get to go to all of these great concerts and festivals! I'm happy for ya though. Take care, and I look forward to your reports.
I hope it doesn't storm too much...