Robideaux Pro Temp

Lesile Turk reports for The Independent that Joel Robideaux became Louisiana's first Speaker pro tempore, as a registered independent. That's pretty amazing, especially in Louisiana. Robideaux was also featured last week's cover story for The Independent here. To be fair, I've known Joel most of my life, he's a good friend, and my CPA, so him doing something "historic" is pretty cool. I'm sure other friends of mine have done something historic as well, but nothing is coming to mind at the moment. One friend used to run a lot, not fast, but really, really far; another can whistle super loud and make cool farting noises with his hands.... both awesome but not "historic". I'll get back to you if I think of anything else.

Mais, Clean That Bayou!

Volunteers are needed to participate in a cleanup of the Bayou Teche between the Cecilia Bridge and Poche Bridge THIS SATURDAY! Trash bags and trash pickers are provided, volunteers with motor boats are needed and kayaks and canoes also welcomed. Gumbo provided. Let's clean up Bayou Teche!

WHEN: 9:00-2:00; Saturday, March 27

WHERE: 2085 Hwy 31, Arnaudville

WHO: Cajuns for Bayou Teche/ Shane Seneca Welding & Fabrication/ Keep St. Martin Beautiful/ St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Department + all volunteers welcomed

WHAT: Bayou Teche clean-up

A new section of Bayou Teche has been adopted by Shane Seneca Welding & Fabrication in the Keep St. Martin Beautiful program. This section from the bridge in Cecilia south toward Poche Bridge extends the adopted areas of the Kiwanis Club and Cajuns for Bayou Teche in the Keep St. Martin Beautiful program. Mr. Seneca is a neighbor to Blake Couvillion of Cajuns for Bayou Teche and was inspired by his efforts to clean up the Teche. Mr. Seneca, in conjunction with Cajuns for Bayou Teche, is coordinating a public clean-up on Saturday, March 27th with the launch point from his own back yard at 2085 Hwy 31, Arnaudville. Boats will be able to launch from his backyard. Due to the location of his adopted area, it was determined this is the optimum launch point. Gumbo will be provided to volunteers and those who attend to cheer them on.

Blake Couvillion says, "We are happy to have Mr. Shane Seneca join our efforts to restore Bayou Teche. He is a great welder and a valuable asset to our project. Mr. Seneca's area connects two other adopted stretches of bayou to form an unbroken chain of adopted waterway. We hope others will take interest in our project and volunteer to adopt an area as Mr. Sencea has done." Jacques Privat, director of Keep St. Martin Beautifu says, "St. Martin Parish Government and Keep St. Martin Beautiful applaud Mr. Shane Seneca for his dedication to our environment. We are encouraged and excited that he and so many more people are joining this fight to clean up our parish. Any person, family, neighborhood, business, club, church or other organization can adopt a remaining portion of the Bayou Teche, a road or other area in the parish by calling 442-1016."

Additional clean-up dates set by Cajuns for Bayou Teche include May 8th in Port Barre and September 25 in Breaux Bridge.

VOLUNTEERS WITH MOTOR BOATS ARE NEEDED. Kayaks and canoes are encouraged to come out, as well. Supporters who do not have a boat are also invited to join in a gumbo and to show their appreciation for the clean-up effort.

Cajuns for Bayou Teche will be out with their boat, the "St. Michael" and invites the community to join in the clean up effort or to enjoy some home-cooked gumbo and cheer on the volunteers!

This Never Gets Old

I could do without the "voice of terror" narration, but this is an excellent accounting of the day Lake Peigneur drained. Hard to believe it was caused by an accidental oil rig drilling. Big oil has been so good to our environment in the past. "Drill Baby Drill....oh wait, the lake is getting sucked to the bottom of the world! Un-drill baby Un-drill!"

Good Luck Coach

UL will announce today at noon that they have hired a new basketball head coach, Bob Marlin. Marlin most recently led the Sam Houston State Bearkats to an overall record of 225-131 over the 12 years that he was there. The Tupelo, MS native has also been named 'Coach of the Year' twice by the Southland Conference and graduated from Mississippi State in 1981. To learn more about the new coach, you can see his bio page on the Sam Houston website here, and Joshua Parrot with the Daily Advertiser has a full story here.

James is Out

Well...that was short-lived. Even though James managed to survive last week's Tribal Council with his leg in a cast, he just couldn't hang on, so Lafayette's Survivor is out. Poor James...didn't even make it to the merge this season. Ahhh well.....at least Russell, arguably the greatest Survivor strategist ever, is still in it. So my loyalties now lie with him....go Russell! :)
- jill

This week's People Magazine has a Q&A with James here.

He Ain't Got The Queen Yet

There's no story here. Just a cautionary tale of woman, a car and a swarm of bees. The moral? When the cameras are rolling (and they are always rolling....everywhere) gather your wits about you and avoid saying things like "he ain't got the queen yet". Who do you think is having a worse day, the "victim" or the beekeeper doing his job in front of a live audience?

What's That Song?

Alex Chilton passed away last week. You may have seen/heard the many tributes on various news outlets. Most of those reports focused on his work with Big Star, and The Box Tops. I encountered him in the 90's when we opened a handful of shows for him. He seemed like a reluctant legend, sort of a cool, curmudgeony English professor. We all worshiped the ground he walked on. His status was cemented for me during a show we played together in Denver. The audience brought him back for several encores, the last couple of which he performed entirely in Italian. No one could understand a word he was singing, but we loved him all the more for it.

This song isn't his best, or most famous, but I always loved it because it' shows his wicked humor and power with double sided words. And, check out the guitar solo. Straight out of the Tax Man handbook, this is what a solo should be in a pop song. Never in my worst nightmare would I have dreamed we would lose both Bobby Charles and Alex Chilton in the same year, and with so much music left in them. Bummer.

TDM is Cool!

Check out this week's Independent Weekly for a really fun list of things they think make living in Lafayette cool. We were surprised and excited to see that they included The Daily Meaux in the same company of so many way cool things. Yep.....listed right under Poo Poo Broussard and before Old Gold there we are. Yea! :)

Les Blank Tonight

The Acadiana Center For the Arts is hosting acclaimed film maker Les Blank tonight as he presents three of his documentaries on Cajun Music and culture. Blank will present three of his films J'ai Été Au Bal/I Went to the Dance, Hot Pepper and Yum, Yum, Yum! in the Main Gallery of the AcA March 24 and 25 beginning at 7 p.m.

When I first saw these films I was taken by the raw power of the musical performances by all the artists, but I was under the impression that the future held promise to equal and build upon their work. That was naive of me. It's obvious now, that Blank captured the "golden age" of Cajun music and Zydeco. No artists have come close to matching the accomplishments of Dewy Balfa, Clifton Chenier, Canray Fontenot...etc. Seriously, check out Hot Pepper and tell me if the music of Clifton Chenier bears any resemblance to what passes for Zydeco today. These were the giants of our culture, and Blank presented them brilliantly. This was our music before tourism, before commercialism, before cliche'.

Now, get off my lawn!

Festival International in Your Pocket

How cool is this.....Festival International has an iPhone / iPod Touch app that has everything you could possibly want to know all in one handy, and best of all, FREE app. Stage maps, band bios, create your own schedules and more! Click here to check it out. Sadly, no Android app.....yet?

March Film at the Center

Remember that really fun James Tancill / Preservation Hall Jazz Band video we featured last October? (To refresh your memory, click here)...well it turns out that the powers that be at the Acadiana Center for the Arts must be Daily Meaux readers (well...maybe they are, or maybe they just know good talent...) but either way, they will be featuring a viewing of that video prior to their next movie screening this Sunday. Here's the info on the event.

March 21, 2010, 2 p.m. at the AcA
American Creole (2006)
60 min. No Rating
Louisiana filmmakers Glen Pitre and Michelle Benoit present this film on New Orleans jazz man Don Vappie. His sidemen are scattered by Hurricane Katrina, his flooded-out mom is sleeping on his couch, and his 8-year-old grandson is clamoring to join the band. Tour the front lines of a devastated city's cultural rebirth: offstage, where race is infinitely more nuanced than black or white; backstage, where which instrument you play can be a political statement; and joyously onstage, where the only thing that matters is music.

Prior to the showing of American Creole, Film @ the Center will be debuting a brand new, locally produced animated music video "St. James Infirmary," presented by Preservation Hall Recordings. Directed by Lafayette-based teacher and animator James Tancill, the music video for the Preservation Hall / King Britt remix of "St. James Infirmary," by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is an animated romp in the style of Max Fleischer (Betty Boop, etc.) that plays out like a storybook caper set against a backdrop of beloved New Orleans characters and institutions both old and new.

For more information on Film @ the Center call 233.7060.

New Music!

Mark is in Austin today getting ready for his show tomorrow at the Continental Club so if you are in the area, print the eflyer off his Facebook page so you can get free entry to the club plus FREE crawfish and beer! He plays at 2pm so don't be late.

If you can't make it to Austin, here's a sample of what you'll miss.... All songs are FREE downloads, so feel free to save them and email them to all your friends. :)
jill

ps - you can also sign up for the Sam Rey email list on the player below, and that would be really neat if you did...thanks!

pps - "Everything" is a brand new song so check out that one first. Special, special thanks to Ivan Klisanin, Michael Juan Nunez, Chad Willis and Jeff LeBlanc - you guys did an awesome job!

Don't Drink the Water

No one seems to know what happened to the water in Rayne yesterday, but apparently *something* caused a yellow, grimy residue to change the color of Antoinetta Cormier's hair while she was at the hairdresser. Cormier was getting her weekly set and style at New Attitudes Hair Salon when they noticed the yellow film coming out of the faucet. In fact, it was so sticky that they had to wash poor Antoinetta's hair five times and it still wouldn't come out. According to the story, the Rayne Volunteer Fire Department was flushing the hydrants while at the same time, residents noticed that some kind of slimy residue was in their drinking water. In fact, another Rayne resident, Marjorie Baptiste, had the same issue, except the yellow slime finally did come out...when her hair fell out. Yikes. KATC has the full story here.

In other news - there was a victory in court for fake giraffe storytellers, Hammond Action News, recently. Hammond Action News is a satirical website, a la The Onion, that focuses on fake local news stories in Tangipahoa Parish. After the national story about the attack of the killer shark, they wrote a story about a rogue giraffe at Global Wildlife Center, who didn't think it was too funny. Global Wildlife sued the website, but the court ultimately sided with Hammond Action News citing the website clearly has posted a disclaimer stating they are satirical, for entertainment purposes only. Full story here.

Photo by: tehbieber

Dick Dale Tonight At the Moon

This is a special show you won't want to miss. And this is the best video I've ever seen. I know it's Tuesday, but Dick Dale puts on a show you'll never forget. Folks are still buzzing about the last time he played the Blue Moon Saloon a couple of years ago. He's the "Big Kahuna Burger" of guitar gods.

He Wears His Heart On His Sleeve....And His Face

Last week's round up of noteworthy mugshots from The Smoking Gun had this entry from our beloved home state. To know us is to love us. Yeah, he's got some devil horns too, what's your point?

I Almost Feel Bad For Them

I believe this is what the kids refer to as a FAIL. Or more accurately, an EPIC FAIL.
Saints 31 Vikings 28.

Pleased To Please You

Here's Anders, doing his thing at a festival in S. Carolina. His guitar playing speaks for itself, but he's also an Grammy award winning songwriter, scoring hits for artist as wide-ranging as Keb Mo and Tim McGraw. And, I'm talking hits....like numero uno on the charts, as was the case for Watching The Wind Blow By, for McGraw. So, a Grammy, a national number one, yeah, he's done OK for himself. Catch him tomorrow night at the Blue Moon Saloon. Oh, by the way, I'm opening the show. Almost missed a chance to make an awkward attempt at self-promotion.
Keewden satrst won!

They Went Postal On The Mailman

Talk about a rough day at work, a postal worker was robbed and stabbed while delivering the mail on the 100 block of Ransome Street (oh the irony). Jason Brown wrote this story for the Advocate, based on a press release from Lafayette Police. From the article:

Lafayette police said the victim was walking his route at about 3:30 p.m. Monday when two black men approached him and asked for money.

The victim told them he did not have any money and continued on his way, the release says. Shortly afterward, the two men demanded mail from his bag.

The victim began running but was tackled by one of the men. During a struggle, one of the suspects stabbed the postal worker in the abdomen with a pocket knife, the release stated.

The robbers left with an undisclosed amount of money taken from the victim's wallet, the release said.

What a drag for this poor guy. What kinda money does a Mailman carry on his route? I'd be looking for some Thera-Flu samples or maybe some free pantyhose. I actually got some of those in the mail one time. Yep, in a big egg.

More here.
Photo by eviloars

At Least They Got "Louisiana" In The Article

I found this on Mother Jones, but it's on several blogs, and I think it originated on Funnyjunk.com. (NSFW) It seems a Walmart store "somewhere in Louisiana", was found to be selling Black Barbie Dolls (actually named "Ballerina Theresa") for almost half the price of White Barbies. There are obvious negative implications with this, but it may not be as sinister as it appears. It may be....but there's no proof of that. In fact, Walmart says they simply put the dolls on clearance to make room for spring inventory. The dolls in the photo have a red tag indicating they are, indeed, on clearance. The photo in question was taken in an unidentified Walmart store in Louisiana. Why here? The flap about the Justice of the Peace who wouldn't perform a marriage for an interracial couple was finally dying down. Now, we're caught in the middle of the Black Barbie/White Barbie controversy. And don't even start about Sugar Daddy Ken. Ken's dog apparently is named Sugar, hence the doll named Sugar's Daddy Ken. Whatever, just sell him in Texas, or Mississippi.

More here.

Wildcatters In Cajundome For '10 Season

Lexie Iskander posted this announcement on lafayettewildcatters.com

The Lafayette Wildcatters is proud to announce that the team has made an agreement with the Cajundome to play football in its arena for the 2010 season.

"We are very excited to bring the city of Lafayette an arena football team that can play at such a high-technology, high-performance arena," said President Ray Ronquillo. "The technology that the Cajundome offers, such as the LCD lighting, the big screen replay, the capability of having piro fire and the laser lights, is going to make the games an exciting experience.

"Ultimately, it gives us a upside capability of entertaining close to 11,000 people."

The Wildcatters open up at home against its rival, the Louisiana Swashbucklers, on Saturday, May 1 at 7:05 p.m. Season tickets are still available by calling the Wildcatters office at (337) 704-2897. They will also be available at the Cajundome Ticketmaster Box Office.

Chilling

Elliot C. Mclaughin wrote this story for CNN, about convicted murderer Lee Boyd Malvo's letter of apology to John Geata, a man he shot, but did not kill in Hammond, Louisiana. Malvo and John Allen Muhammad went on a killing spree in 2002 that spanned from Louisiana to the Washington D.C. metro area. This is the part that creeped me out the most:

Malvo and Muhammad arrived in Hammond, about 40 miles east of Baton Rouge, on a Greyhound bus in August 2002, McCormick said. Gaeta became the snipers' mark when he arrived at the mall about 8:20 p.m. August 1, McCormick said.

"The mission was to kill him," he said.

It was almost closing time, so Gaeta parked quickly and rushed into Sears to find a new pair of shoes, he said. Malvo or Muhammad slashed one of Gaeta's tires while he was inside, according to police.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Gaeta returned to his truck and started it up. He realized he had a flat and pulled under a streetlight in the mall parking lot to change it.

Two men in dark clothing soon approached him and asked whether the mall was still open. Gaeta responded that some stores were still open. The men walked off but returned about five minutes later, Gaeta said.

"Do you need any help?" one of them asked.

"No, I'm OK," Gaeta replied.

"Looks like you have a flat tire," the other man replied, chuckling under his breath. The men walked off again, and Gaeta didn't see them for several minutes until he went to the bed of his Chevy Silverado to retrieve the spare tire. From there, he saw a shadow slinking alongside his truck. Gaeta looked closer, he said, and saw a figure dart to the front of his vehicle. Thinking teenagers were playing a prank, he met the figure on the other side of the truck and asked flatly, "What are you doing?"

Read the rest here on CNN.com It's better than the video below. But for those who like the shiny, moving pictures, I posted that too.

I Guess Daisies Will Have To Do

Yeah, it's a little touristy, but I'm a sucker for the NOLA streetcars, and St. Charles Avenue. The only thing wrong with this video is it doesn't do the amazing houses justice.

Street Cars in New Orleans Louisiana

The Lawyer Who Stopped Talking

No problem finding things to do downtown tonight. Geronimo Fest kicks off it's Indie Rock extravaganza at several clubs. It's an awesome event, and well publicized elsewhere, so I won't repeat all the details here. However, over at Cite' Des Arts, an under-hyped theatrical production is also having it's opening night.

The Lawyer Who Stopped Talking, an original comedy in one act written by Jim Phillips and directed by Christy Leichty. She wants a divorce. He is obliged, but wants to keep his money. Her lawyer, although a pain for her soon-to-be-ex, is simply trying to do his job. She turns to her guru for help. A squirrel in Central Park sparks a spiritual revolution. A media circus ensues. The detective – oh yes – the detective proves to be very helpful. In the end – the lesson to be learned: silence is golden.

Here is their Facebook page. And you can now order tickets online at the Cite' site. The play will run this Friday and Saturday night, and again next weekend. Support local theater!

Cracked Maps And Blue Reports

Rotary Downs @ Geronimo Festival
Saturday, March 6th
Artmosphere 7:45

Rotary Downs is currently rolling out its spanking new collection of songs, Cracked Maps & Blue Reports, with a nationwide release date of March 9, 2010. The record was produced and mixed by long time collaborator, Ivan Klisanin at Opaltone Studios in Lafayette. Klisanin produced and mixed the nationally acclaimed 2006 release, Chained to the Chariot.

On March 6th, Rotary Downs is returning to Lafayette as part of the 2nd Annual Geronimo Festival. The festival is held at various locations in the downtown area, and is an all day event.

The band is currently booking West Coast dates for the early summer, after its 4th Jazz & Heritage Festival appearance. In the late summer and fall, Rotary Downs will tour the East Coast, including stops in New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. Catch them at Atmosphere during Geronimo.

Check out their website here, which has links to all the places you can get your Rotary Downs fix.

Here's a video from their last record Chained To The Chariot: Body Of An Outlaw

Lots 'o Links

Hey Everyone! It's jill.....mark's running late today so I thought I'd share some of my new favorite local links.....

Sugar Magnolia Landscaping - Cindy Jordan is a licensed landscape horticulturist, Master Gardener and a La. Gardener Magazine columnist, writer, photographer, AND she's a giant Saints fan and a super cool chick so check out her new facebook page here.


Sam Rey - Can't leave out my new favorite one man band's page. He's got a couple of gigs coming up:
Friday, March 12th at the Blue Moon opening for Anders Osborne
Friday, March 19th at SXSW in Austin
and Saturday, April 3rd opening for Michael Juan Nunez.
So, come to a show and friend Sam Rey on FB here.

Riversbend Beads - Etsy Local....one of my favorite places to visit. This Etsy site features tons of awesome hand-crafted beaded jewelry....Check it out here.

2 Paul's BBQ - 1 word....YUM! Mark and I ate there recently and were blown away by how good it was. I had bbq brisket, potato salad, and baked beans and Mark had brisket, homemade onion rings and rice dressing. The sauce was amazing, so ask for extra! Give 'em a taste and check out their website here.

And finally, Alice.com - Technically, this isn't Acadiana, but I heard about it while listening to NPR on KRVS so I think that's close enough..... Alice.com is an awesome new website that lets you buy everything you need to run a house (a la Alice from the Brady Bunch) directly from the manufacturer, thus avoiding middleman mark-ups. PLUS - they offer free delivery....sit back, click away and enjoy NOT having to go to Wal-mart. :)

Purple Coneflower Photo by Cindy Jordan.

They Should Check Out Community Coffee Too

Here's a cool story from Publicola.net about Seattle, Washington looking at our high speed fiber network for tips on implementing a similar system in their city. Huh? Isn't Microsoft up there? Glenn Fleishman wrote the article, and interviewed Lafayette's own Joey Durel about the fiber system and the hurdles he faced bringing fiber to homes and businesses here. Not surprisingly, the biggest opponents were the Cox and Bell South. In Seattle, it's Qwest and Comcast spreading the misinformation about fiber (damn you soulless, corporate gougers!). What I didn't know was Durel actually went to Cox and Bell South first to include them in the fiber project.

Over what he described as “endless meetings over coffee,” Durel courted both BellSouth and Cox to build an advanced network, telling them, “Nothing would make me happier than if you were to bring fiber to every home in Lafayette and we don’t have to do it.” Finally, though, it became clear that the incumbents were just trying to delay. “I’ve had enough coffee, thank you very much,” he said.

Durel also recognized the importance of providing fiber for all parts of the city, not just the affluent sections.

There was also the question of equity. When Verizon and other firms build out fiber to homes and neighborhoods, the companies go where they think people will pay. “Verizon has made a commitment to fiber on all new developments and into areas that will pay for them, the more affluent areas. I can understand that,” Durel said. But that’s not the goal of a city. Every home in Lafayette qualifies for this service, which isn’t subsidized. “The poorest parts of town are not going to get it any cheaper than anyone else,” Durel said, but he noted that some homes paying for television and phone service would be able to switch to the city network, add broadband, and pay the same amount or less.

Yeah, we got this right. Place that feather firmly in Joey Durel's cap.

Good Morning Monday

Well, today's search for Louisiana stories pulled up two that are very disturbing, and not really the way I want to start my week. That's OK, the world doesn't care about my week. On to the news.

Residents of Mossville Louisiana (right outside Lake Charles/Westlake), were featured in this CNN story about their high rate of disease possibly linked to the massive chemical manufacturing complex located in their backyard. There's a major racial component to the story too. Mossville was founded by African-Americans in the 1790's. "African Americans are more than 79 percent more likely to live in communities where there are dangerous facilities that pose health threats," says Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. Residents have complained for years to industry and State officials about the chemical plants to no avail. Now, Lisa Jackson, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the first African-American administrator of the EPA, has begun a study to determine if Mossville qualifies for designation as a Superfund site, reserved for the most polluted places in the United States. Superfund site designation would bring federal funding for cleaning up Mossville.



OK, let's turn our attention to our cousins to the north, in Bossier Parish. Drew Pierson, writing for the Shreveport Times, reports that the Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Sheriff Larry Deen formulated the plan himself, and enjoys referring to himself in the third person as evidenced in this quote:

"The buck stops with Larry Deen," said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. "The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."

Check out the story here. But I'll tease it with another quote:

These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff's office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in "support roles," Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity.

Sorry ladies, no shotguns or riot shields for you.

Pr