He s here to fulfill some other obligations for Read Across America - some PSAs and things, said Brooks spokeswoman, Karen Byrd, reached on her cell phone in New York. We were on our way to the studio where he s going to do the PSAs, she said. It s chaotic, Byrd added. Traffic s at a standstill. I ve been able to make some calls on my cell phone.
Nobody knows what s going on.
Everybody s all right, she said. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers were to present him with their Golden Note Award. Byrd was uncertain about when Brooks and his party would be able to leave New York. Mary Chapin Carpenter saw the burning World Trade Center towers as she made her way into Manhattan after a 7 a.m. flight from Washington, D.C., to New York s LaGuardia Airport. Carpenter and her band members went to an Upper Manhattan hotel.