Date: Fri Oct 28

Place: High Dive, 513 N 36th St

Time: 11:10 pm

Along with arresting good looks and an impressive singing voice, Emilia Sosa has some intriguing stories to tell. Exactly two months ago the High Dive bartender moved away from her hometown, leaving behind a burgeoning massage business and numerous family members and friends. The impetus for her move was quite different than most new Seattle residents. "Our rental house had 10 feet of water in it when we left," recalls Sosa as we stand on the Fremont club's back porch during one of her breaks. She and her boyfriend made the decision to leave New Orleans when the 17th Street Canal broke. "The levees weren't supposed to break—that's when we knew it was time to make other plans." The couple stayed in a Houston hotel until their money began to run out. High Dive booking agent Brent McCrossen was the childhood friend who hooked Sosa up with her current job when she decided to head west. "We had been here a couple of times and loved the city," she explains. She appears remarkably relaxed and content for someone so recently and violently uprooted, but admits that it's been difficult. "You get sad about it, but that's not our home anymore. I haven't seen a lot of my friends since before the storm hit—it's been surreal to say the least."