While BP officials labored Thursday to seal off the leaking Deepwater Horizon well, new government estimates suggested that the amount of oil already spilled could be more than twice as much as the Exxon Valdez leak two decades ago.
Once the nation’s worst oil spill, the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez tanker dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. But revised U.S. Geological Survey estimates of the Deepwater Horizon spill have pegged the release of oil at between 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day, or up to 684,000 barrels since the well exploded one month ago.
Oil is seeping into Louisiana’s fragile marshlands, which serve as critical wildlife as well as a natural buffer against Gulf storms. But the soft soils in the marshlands pose a challenge to cleanup efforts, since the rakes and pressure hoses used to clean rocks and sand during the similarly devastating Alaskan spill would tear the marshes apart, according to NPR. Officials are considering controlled burns of the oil to clean out the marshes, though that could prove just as lethal to the plants.
Some 32 National Wildlife Refuges along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are at risk from the spill, according to The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One of the most threatened areas is the Southeast Louisiana (SELA) Refuges Complex, which includes the country’s second oldest refuge: the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. Breton is home to nesting wading birds and seabirds, songbirds, birds of prey and wintering shorebirds, as well as waterfowl.
Wetlands in these coastal regions also support a wide variety of fish and shellfish, and serve as nursery areas for both fresh and saltwater fish species. Endangered and threatened species including the West Indian manatees, whooping cranes, Mississippi sand hill cranes, wood storks and four sea turtle species are all vulnerable to the spill.
Meanwhile Louisiana officials have been using freshwater from the Mississippi River in an effort to push the oil slick farther offshore. The state’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration opened six freshwater diversion structures and a navigational lock along the lower Mississippi to try and prevent oil from seeping into sensitive coastal wetlands on either side of the river delta.
The combined flow of the diversions has added 22,500 cubic feet of water per second to the river flow, or 600 million gallons per hour.
The rain-swollen Alabama and Tombigbee rivers flowing into Mobile Bay may be helping to keep the oil slick from washing ashore in Alabama, the Mobile Press-Register reported Wednesday. As a result, Alabama Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources Barnett Lawley proposed increasing the water flow through dams along the rivers just a few days after the Deepwater Horizon’s April 20 explosion.
Lawley told the newspaper that his proposal has drawn little support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Alabama Power, which control the dams. An Alabama Power spokesman told the newspaper that releasing additional water isn’t a guaranteed solution and that it risked the ability of nearby communities to draw drinking water from the river.
EPA water tests along the Golf coast last week found elevated levels of nickel—a chemical usually found in oil—at levels that may harm aquatic life. The results seem to correlate with where the oil has reached the Louisiana coastline. Since the laboratory analysis and data verification take about seven days, the EPA’s most recently available results do not reflect current conditions.
Federal officials do not expect the spill to affect drinking or household water in the region.
Sounded to good to be true at first, but turned out to be ear candy galore. Clapton and Beck touring together. Ahhhh. Like butter. I was asked to go to Madison Square Gardens for both shows to give complimentary massages since I am the boss; to heal a few band members and it was insanely cool, as usual. Being in Jeff Becks presence is always FUN and I talked to Eric in the hallway a minute about “the fussball match” we had in Berlin years ago. He remember and laughed (well I got the first four goals, then he wiped the floor with me, I never got another goal in three straight games). He was looking as handsome as ever. Like a fine wine he just gets better.
One thing about MSG is it’s like fort knox- takes FOREVER to get in, even if you are on the list and WORKING there. But I guess they have to be that way, since 9/11 and all.
Also, stars are not as personable when they are backstage at MSG. Everyone acts like a machine there, like they are on stage, even when they are backstage, but then again, it IS Madison Square Gardens. I prefer when they play smaller venues; then they relax more, let their hair down and really have fun and let loose. It seems they are surrounded by press at MSG and have to keep their “star suit” on you know?
I was there for the Jeff Beck camp so I didn’t see much of the Clapton show at all but I HEARD it all. I am partial to Beck, I feel he stole the show, but that’s just me.
I don’t have the Clapton set list, sorry. This pic below is from the time Eric whooped my ass at fussball (table soccer). He is a wizard at that game. Hardly anyone has ever scored against me let alone won, but Mr. Slow-hand WILL win against anyone, it seems. He is the best at it. Seriously. Not sure about this tour, but last time he had a fussball table on tour with him, a really professional one, had a leveler and all.
Enter Rhonda Smith, Becks new choice for BASS. Let me just say she is MILES better and cooler, kinder, funnier, funkier and more talented then his last bassist. I don’t wanna hear how “young and cute” his last bassist is. She isn’t that young; she is 26, she is just SHORT which makes all of the horny fucks in the audience think she is “so young” and cute. Age and appearance don’t matter when it comes to playing bass and Rhonda, in my opinion, is AMAZING. Nice choice Jeff!! Rhonda toured with Prince for YEARS. Check her out:
One of the highlights for me those two nights was seeing and talking to Mr. Roger Waters again. He stood near me while watching the last few songs of Jeff Becks set at the 2nd show. Seems no one else recognized him but me when he came out to watch. We talked after the show and I asked him if he remembered the massage I gave him in Berlin and he said “how could I forget that?”. Gave him my new laminated flyer. SWOON!! I was massaging the drummer in one of the backstage lounge rooms and Roger walked in and joked “Oh I see you’ve no time for my massage Dot. Cheeky git” and we all just had a giggle. Told him it would just be five more minutes but Roger left. Ugh. I wish there were two of me.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to express in words the excitement of touching certain people. This doesn’t happen often. Last week, June 8th and 9th to be exact I was in heaven and it has taken me a few days to get my feet back on the ground. For some it may be hard to grasp being so excited about a musician, but I could tell you, it would be the same for a boxer to win a match, a soccer team to win the world cup, you get my drift.
I have met Roger Waters several times over the years and each time I am over the moon with glee. He has always been an object of my desire since the first time I heard his music. The fondness grew stronger when I first laid eyes on him in the film the Wall when I was in the 7th grade. Such a talented mastermind and so attractive and on top of that, he is the coolest. If you have any doubts, please watch the film “Pink Floyd: LIVE AT POMPEII” and after you watch it, think of me saying “I told you so”.
It may sound odd to some but for me, Roger is the UK version of Zappa, but probably just to me. His lyrics are so deep, so meaningful, they teach. Waters and Zappa wrote lyrics that I studied more than any subject in school. Ditto with the Beatles, but Waters (as well as Zappa) did many concept albums and they are not just entertaining, they really changed my way of looking at life. Animals, Dark Side of the Moon and The Pro’s and Cons of Hitchhiking are 3 albums I could not live without. I know, sounds obsessive, but we all have our cravings.
Roger wrote 98% of all Pink Floyd lyrics and music, (for example, Roger wrote the Wall and The Pro’s and Cons ALONE, and then presented them to the rest of the band and said “I will do one of these as a solo project, which one would you all like to do as a group. They chose the Wall. The Pro’s and Con’s is just as good, if not better, than the Wall. “Reg” is beyond AWESOME. He IS Pink Floyd in my opinion. I can not go see “Pink Floyd” if Roger isn’t there. I have videos of Floyd when Gilmour wasn’t even in the band. I do love Gilmour and the rest of the band, but I am a Roger fan and stand by that 100 %. Once in 1987, Roger was on tour and so were Pink Floyd. In Providence, RI, “Pink Floyd” (without Roger!) played and the very next day, Roger played ( I went to the show). There were so many fools walking around wearing shirts that said “Fuck Roger” I wanted to hurl! They bought them at the Pink Floyd show and they were black with the same writing as there is on the Wall album. How tacky. Enough ass kissing you say? Bollocks, don’t get me started, I could go on and on about “Reg” (Roger’s nickname). My 4 musical favorites are Beatles, Zappa, Floyd and the Stones; sometimes it changes, as in, some months it’s Floyd, Beatles, Stones and Zappa, and other times it’s Zappa, Stones, Floyd, Beatles; know what I mean? Those are my top three, and just like you shouldn’t choose your favorite child, don’t press me to choose just one favorite. Although over the years I have sort of loved the Beatles way more than the Stones. Long story..
I remember driving around NH, in between Grateful Dead tours, with my younger brother and sister, CRANKING the cassette: Ummagumma. I made them listen to it repeatedly. Then it was onto Meddle, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, Obscured by Clouds, Relics, a Nice Pair, even Barretts INSECTS album. I raised my daughter on great music although I never played Zappa for her until she was 18. His lyrics are rated PG. heh heh.
Jasmine can play ‘Wish you were here’ and some Beatles tunes on her guitar, which is so satisfying to me.
I have seen over 3,000 shows now, all for free. The only time I have bought tickets was before I turned 15 and for a Roger Waters benefit show in 1990 here in Berlin, his WALL show and then again for the Zappa plays Zappa show and more recently the June 8th Roger Waters show here in Berlin. Those shows were so important to me, that I didn’t want to risk it, what if no one wanted a massage? I had to be sure we were getting in. I ended up getting backstage for Zappa plays Zappa and gave my tix away to Jasmine’s pal and luckily, the same happened at the Roger Waters show.
It was looking like Jasmine and I would just be in the audience to see the show, but in the last minute, I decided to just try- I called Simon, a tour manager turned friend, whom I have known for a few years now. He worked with Dave Gahan and I saw him backstage at Live 8 with Roger Waters. He called me and he said “Dot, where are you? Can’t believe we are in Berlin and you’re not backstage”.
Um, say no more, Jasmine and I grabbed a cab and were bouncing off the taxi walls with insane excitement. The taxi driver was about 70 years old and took the longest, slowest possible route which made me want to explode, but nevertheless, we got there as the show started as we ran towards the stage singing the first song “In the Flesh” out loud (all of the Germans were looking at us like WTF??!!), but we didn’t give a flying fuck.
I was wearing an English Football (er, soccer for you yanks) shirt and this made me the object of hateful glares all night from the German football fans. They kept saying to me in amusing English “You are VEARING zeeee VRONG SHIRT!”. heh heh, we’ll see mates, we’ll see.
Jasmine wanted to watch the show from the side, but I dragged her backstage as I wanted to thank Simon profusely for the backstage passes. He was super happy to see us and insisted we watch the show ON the stage in the VIP section. Jasmine was basically hyperventilating at this point from too much joy at once. She and I have watched Live at Pompeii an unhealthy amount of times and she has never seen Roger live before. *sigh*.
Simon bring us drinks on stage, hello, could he be any fucking nicer? Simon is the bomb!!!! ^
Please don’t read me the riot act here, yes, Jasmine had a beer. She will be 17 on Monday (June 19th) . Hello! They all start really young here in Europe, enjoying their beverages. If you try to prevent/forbid it, they just do it even more. I just go with the flow and trust her judgment.
The sound was amazing, I haven’t head such amazing sound quality since last years Live 8 when Pink Floyd reformed.
Roger is a perfectionist and I am grateful for that. My ears were smiling all night long. Jasmine started to weep during Wish you Were Here. You know how certain songs remind you of a certain person/time, well, that song had a lot of folks bleary eyed. I love how Roger goes to the edge of the stage and sings, even when he isn’t in front of a mic. I told him that I like that and he said he likes to encourage people to sing along and it works. The whole place seemed to know every word to every song, even though English isn’t their mother tongue.
^ Has been playing guitar for Roger for ages. Mr. Andy Fairweather Lowe, the Great!
I am wearing the RIGHT shirt! ^
< Jasmine and I in heaven!
The set list ^ which Roger Signed the next day after his massage. So, I massaged Simon after the show and he said that Roger wanted a massage the next day at 6pm, You know I was there early, with bells on, so to speak. Simon brought me to Roger’s room to set up and get prepared for when Roger returned from Golfing. It was the first warm and sunny day in ages in Berlin, great for Golfing. Funny how so many rock stars go Golfing in Berlin (Alice Cooper is one of many).
The TV was on and the first game of the World Cup was on. Germany vs Costa Rica (Germany won that game 4 – 2 by the way). Roger arrived and was in a great mood. He remembered me and was really sweet. I started his massage with my special invention (started doing this method when I was 5 years old on my mom) the “Bite Method massage”. He was keeping one eye on the game most of the time and he loved the massage. I was paid in advance for 90 minutes but I massaged him for 2 and a half hours ( I was making it last as long as possible
We had some small talk, I usually don’t speak during a massage, but we had tiny breaks to have a sip of water etc, and I asked him why he has never done “Across the Universe” live. He didnt recall ever doing that song and I said “I have it on video, you and Andy Fairweather Lowe on guitar”. “ah yes”, then he remembered. He said that he never thought about doing it live, but hey, if he ever does, feel free to thank me. He does an AMAZING version of that song. I asked him about the gorgeous turquoise/silver ring on his right hand. He said he has had it on since 1969. He banged it once and it bent and he can’t get it off. I found that to be really cute. By the way, no need to ask me “Did you ask him if Pink Floyd will ever get back together” because I would NEVER fucking ask him that stupid question. Don’t ask Sting about the Police; Eric about Cream and don’t ask Roger about Pink Floyd, it’s insulting and fucking annoying.
I love his work with Pink Floyd but I also love all of his solo albums, so we talked about those instead. I asked him why there is no dvd for the Pro’s and Con’s tour, He said they didn’t video tape that tour or Radio Kaos tour either. I find that VERY unfortunate. I own the “In the Flesh” dvd, it’s from Roger’s 2002 solor tour, it has Doyle Bramhall on guitar and it fucking ROCKS!!!! If you don’t have it yet, I highly recommend it. I have two copies, one for my NYC place and one for my Berlin place. Can’t be without that. Doyle isn’t on this tour, he is cheating on Roger with Eric Clapton (so all is forgiven). Clapton played the night before here in Berlin, so Roger and Doyle were up most of the night chatting and having a drink or two. Roger waited as long as he could for Eric to return from a recording studio, but he had to hit the hay eventually and they missed each other by minutes. Clapton played guitar on Rogers ‘Pro’s and Cons of Hitchhiking’ album, oh GOD, it’s AMAZING!!!
Note: I asked Roger (as I do every musician I massage) what he thought of Zappa. He said ” I used to hang around Frank a lot in the 60’s and even stay at his house for a long while, and ended up breaking Suzy Cream-cheese’s heart, unforunately.” He almost forgot about jamming with Frank until I reminded him. He said “are you sure?” Yes, I am very very sure:
Pink Floyd jamming with Frank Zappa ^
< THE ring
Rubbing Roger’s feet ( me= happy)
Roger said, even though there was no live footage for the Pros and Cons tour, he had JUST received a dvd the day before of never before seen videos he made back in the day for the Pros and Cons Album, Radio Kaos and even Amused to Death (“What God wants, God gets” with Jeff Beck on Guitar).
He said “after the massage you can see them if you like”. Uh, ya think? YAY! He set up the videos on his lap top for me to watch and HE put the head phones on me and headed for the shower. I sat there for almost 30 minutes with my jaw open, one constant “WOW”. The videos he made simply MUST be released. I told him all of his fans would buy them. He seemed open for comments/feedback. Looking into his eyes is so exciting, I am still smiling. Bad news is, he is engaged and very much in love. I told him I find that to be a pain in the ass and extremely unfair. He is ALWAYS taken. I told him him it’s not fair and he should give other girls, like me for example a chance. He just grinned, never said a word when I was talking that shit. I did tell him his ass was in GREAT shape and he is still HOT. Again, just a grin
Face the facts, I have the balls to say what you want to say, it’s as simple as that. heh heh. Jasmine didn’t make it to school that day (day after the show), we both slept until 2pm (already has those rock star habits). I wrote her yet another rock and roll excuse note “sorry, Roger Waters was in town”. The last one was “Zappa plays Zappa was in town”. Her home room teacher smiled and said “Jasmine, you are lucky I am your homeroom teacher. Tell your Mom I am jealous”.
She made an incredible portrait of Roger and I brought it for him to sign. He was really flattered and signed it “To Jasmine, love Roger”. She is gloating.
^ This is now one of my favorite photographs. He is smiling at me. Not the camera. I can die peacefully now.
< Jasmine and I in heaven!
< THE ring
