Bluerunners Open 11th Season of Louisiana Crossroads

So since Mark has been crazy busy with the Louisiana Crossroads series this week (in case you missed this week's Times of Acadiana - check it out....cover story on the Bluerunners reunion Crossroads events) I thought I'd do the music post this week. And because it has been a rather nostalgic couple of days, I thought it only appropriate that I sneak in and post this....the video that accompanied "I Can't Help You" from the Bluerunners Island Records debut. Saturday show at the AcA is sold out, but good tickets are still available for the Lake Charles show tonight.
Happy weekend!
jill :)

Guns for Gas

I don't really think this is the reason they created the "it's ok to bring your gun to church" law, but in Baton Rouge, 4 churches are not only encouraging it...they're paying you for them. In light of several recent shootings in the capital city, Circle K convenience stores and the churches are partnering to promote a gun trade in event. For every gun they collect, no questions asked, they will give back a free gas card. They have $40,000 worth of gas cards to pass out and the denomination is determined by the class of gun turned in. Assault rifles will earn the highest - a $200 card. HoumaToday has the whole ironic story here.

Shop Locally

This is pretty nifty...on the heels of the increasingly popular 'Eat Lafayette' campaign, some local business owners have now formed their own group. "Shop Local Acadiana" has just kicked off their advertising campaign to encourage people to spend their money with locally owned businesses instead of national retail chains. They say that when we do, 3 times more of our money stays right here in our local economy for local businesses to hire, invest and contribute more.

Shop Local Acadiana also has a really nice website. On it, shoppers can sign up for 'Local Finds' email specials and text messages and see a directory of participating businesses. Each business also has it's own page on the site so you can learn more, see photos and get links to their websites or facebook pages. Merchants can easily learn the benefits of participating and find out how to join. The concept is pretty simple - business owners pool their money and together they can afford an impactful advertising and promotional campaign.

I say Bravo Gina Girouard Babineaux and Shannon Broussard Lynd. Check out their Facebook page here.

Easy Post Monday

The joke's on us.

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Don't Touch My Duck

This is from 1981. I'm pretty sure I attended that year's Festival Acadiens, though, much like the average festival goer who can't tell one Cajun song from another, it's hard for me to remember one year's fest from any other year's. I mean, was it the one when it rained? Or the one where it was super hot and dusty? Or the year when it was super hot and dusty, then it rained and it was super muddy? See what I mean?

However, that would be missing the point. This festival is a party that starts somewhere around Friday, and ends, mostly on Sunday night (maybe a little Monday morning breakfast and farewells). In between, is lots and lots of music, dancing, eating and drinking. It's what is great about living in South Louisiana. Much like the people and culture it celebrates, Festival Acadiens just keeps rolling on, bigger and better every year.

Two Lafayette Community Leaders Pass

We don't generally run obituaries but when two prominent, life-long Lafayette pillars of the community pass away, we can't not share our sadness. Our condolences go out to the Naomi and Alesi families who are each dealing with the sad passing of the heads of their families. On Sunday, Theresa Begnaud Naomi died at the age of 84. She and her husband of 56 years, Paul, founded Paul's Jewelry store back in 1954 and today that business has grown to two locations and is run by her surviving children, PJ, Patty and Nancy. Her full obituary can be found here.

On Monday, Mike Alesi, patriarch of the famous Alesi Pizza family and forever immortalized in that iconic sign on Johnston Street, passed away at the age of 90. He opened the doors of Alesi Pizza in 1957 on the corner of Cameron and Bertrand streets and just 5 years later moved to it's official home on Johnston Street, where it still thrives today. KATC has a nice remembrance story here.

We wish both of these families peace in their time of sorrow and thank them for all the wonderful contributions their loved ones made to our great community.

Fox....Meet Hen House

I hate stories like this. When you do a search of Louisiana stories everyday, you see this a lot. Our state sells out to big business at every turn. Who in their right mind would allow BP executives into our elementary schools, for anything other than to write one of those giant checks? It's bad enough they're on TV 24/7, rolling out their saccharine (sweet enough to make me puke) public relations campaign about how responsible they are. Does anybody really fall for this?

Well, officials at Oaklawn Junior High School apparently do. This article by Brian Merchant, for Treehugger.com reveals that the school allowed BP and the National Atmospheric Administration to conduct "science demonstrations" to dispel "myths" about dispersants used in the clean up of the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Relevant fact: It was BP's spill! In case anyone has forgotten. From the article:

"The primary purpose [of the demonstration] is to inform and educate students on the methods used to clean up the oil in the Gulf and the wetlands and marshes," Janella Newsome, BP media liaison said in a press release. "It's also to dispel myths about dispersants, subsurface oil and seafood safety."

Photo by xtinaaskew

Tracking Tweets

I find it difficult to see the usefulness in Twitter...I don't understand all it's special secret codes (RT, #, @) and don't particularly care what everyone in the entire universe is doing at that exact moment, however, a computer science expert over at Southeastern University in Hammond has announced the findings of a study that prove it really can be a useful tool. He and his students studied Twitter and found that it is a pretty good indicator and predictor of flu outbreaks. They found that they are just about as accurate as the Centers for Disease Control and it's a whole lot less expensive with no paperwork or forms to fill out and process. Neat....and kind of scary I guess. Next time you tweet "I'm getting sick" someone is watching and recording. Complete story and technical details here at Science Daily.