As I was driving out of my cul de sac in St. Pete, ready to brave Tropical Storm Fay and — fuck it — drive across the bridge to the CL office in Tampa, I had to make a hard right turn to avoid a downed palm branch! Phew. A few blocks later, another downed palm frond. I made it to the office and am hunkered down here for the duration. Where's ABC Action News and Don Germaise? I want my on-camera!

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2008.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...