Hurricane Watch: Galveston Island, Texas and Louisiana

So sad to think back to past hurricanes, remembering how they can cloud histories for a century. Tonight as Hurricane Ike hits the Texas coast, I'm thinking of all the stories I've read about the storm in Galveston back in 1900 when so many thousands died, and all the frightened, endangered and doomed people facing down the hurricane tonight along the coast of Galveston Bay and beyond.

Randy Newman's song about the Louisiana storm of 1927 is the best, used much in the wake of Katrina, but apt and poignant far beyond.