David M. Breznicky: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)

A resident of Gretna, Louisiana, Joanie Guidry, contacted our accounting office, Breznicky Associates, P.C., on September 29, 2005. We had just met with her employer, Skilled Nursing Inc., located in a town near ours in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joanie is their "long-distance" administrative assistant. The phone connection was poor which prompted her to explain that she was calling from Louisiana. Upon hearing her location, five miles outside New Orleans, the conversation progressed to inquiries regarding her and her family's physical and emotional welfare in the aftermath of Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. Joanie has a very loving soul and before long our business correspondence, primarily via email, evolved into a genuine and precious friendship.

Joanie continued to update us on the progress of recovery efforts. We were continually taken with the manner with which she wrote. Within each correspondence, chronicling despair and heartache, Joanie never failed to include comments about the good that this tragedy brought out in people, the blessings that she witnessed each day and the humor that could still lift her spirit. She wrote jokingly about a bull that had made her neighborhood its home. She went on to name the bull "Karita" (combining Katrina & Rita), routinely offering us the fresh fertilizer that was now abundant in her backyard ! In October, four weeks after we had "met", Joanie shared her "Recovery Journal" with us. Joanie had been recording the weekly recovery efforts for her family and friends to keep everyone abreast of current conditions, sharing the good, the bad and the ugly with those who were so concerned. Again these journals reflected Joanie's optimism, faith and dedication to finding light amid so much darkness. When we originally offered material assistance, clothing, blankets, boots, and/or money, her response was a request for only prayer. When at last the banks reopened and we did send a check to her, she passed it along to a family in greater need. Both Joanie and her husband, Joe, are cancer patients/survivors. Their trek through these last four months has not been easy. Their son, Jon, working as a State Parole Officer, participated in some of the most emotionally and psychologically challenging cleanup efforts. Upon reading Joanie's recovery journal, in combination with her emails, David Breznicky, was moved to bring Joanie's eloquent expressions of the effect of Katrina on the towns of Louisiana to life through his music. David is a singer/songwriter when he is not providing financial assistance to his clients as a respected CPA. Within twenty four hours David had written both the music and lyrics to this song, naming it, "Louisiana". Our concept to dedicate the song to Joanie and incorporate it into a project to raise significant funds for Louisiana was the natural progression of befriending a woman who is a vessel of strength and inspiration. It is our hope that this song, reflecting the collaboration of Joanie's expressions and David's music, can serve as the beacon of light that illuminates to the rest of the country the devastation that Louisiana has sustained, the obstacles that Louisiana has overcome and the challenges Louisiana continues to face. And with everyone's help - Louisiana will rise again !

The Breznicky Project
LOUISIANA
November 2005

Music & Lyrics by David M. Breznicky
Copyright 2005
All Rights Reserved
Kayak Music Company


Louisiana, storm's gone through
What's the state going to do ?
No water, no supplies
Where's the help in the sky
Louisiana, what are you going to do
Your people will make it through

Chorus 1
You can stand and stare, you can look in the air, where did these people go?
They have no homes, have no jobs, some living on the road
We will rise, rise again. We will rise, rise again

Gretna's, a one bull town
Karita has run of it now
Hope She doesn't run us down
Storm destroyed our towns
Now look for simple things
Anything the postman brings

Chorus 2
Things just ain't the same, no one's to blame, where do we go from here?
No hospital care, people try to share, spirit provides the cheer
We will rise, rise again. We will rise, rise again


This storm, this storm can destroy our things
This storm, this storm can not destroy our inner beings
We will survive, will survive, our towns will thrive
This torture can not last, this day will be in the past
Louisiana, we're cheering for you, your people will make it through
Louisiana, we're here for you, Tell us what we can do