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HEART &SOUL
Arts CouncilofGreater BR’s Jonathan Grimes is as ‘adaptable as possible’
BY JANRISHER Staff writer
BATON ROUGE CLASSICS
Jonathan Grimes, the presidentand CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge,met me at lunch at thenew Tsunami on Highland Road —where the sushi was delicious and the spicy edamame reached anew level of spiciness on that particular day The restaurant’sbeautiful, artsydecor was an appropriate settingfor our lunch chat. Grimes, 38, is afellow who wears manyhats. He was appointed to his new role at the Arts Council in May 2024, which makes him newtohis job butnot new to the local artsscene. Not only is he an arts administrator,heis also the equivalent of afull-time musician —adrummer who is on theroad doing weekly musical performances. “Music has been in my blood my whole life. Ilove that Iget to work at aplace that empowers artistsand
ä See CLASSIC, page 3G
Wasthe
first workinghelicopter invented in Alexandria?
BYROBIN MILLER Staff writer
Paul Leo Ortego never said hisversion of the helicopter was fancy
It wasn’t. But that didn’tprevent the Alexandria resident’smachine from flying with apilot onboard. Which is something Igor Sikorsky couldn’tclaim when test-flying his first helicopter in 1910.Sikorsky is credited
ä See CURIOUS, page 2G
BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer
Senior pranks —if you weren’tthe mastermind behind one, you were probably laughing from adistance at one during your high school days. For most, theseteenage antics arejust memories. For young Louisiana-born filmmakersBailey Wax, 29, and Gray Fagan, 27, the memories steer theplotfor thelongtime friends’ first feature film.
The comedy “Senior Prank” wrapped a20-day shoot in Baton Rouge in early August
On theset
On Day 18, the40-member cast and crew converged in the musty bowels of The 13thGate in downtown Baton Rouge to film scenes involving aclandestine drug operation.
Fagan’sliteral blast-from-thepast prank, which unfolded at the filmmakers’ almamater,The Dun-
hamSchool,had him tossing stink bombs intoafew classrooms.
“It wasnot received well,” Fagan said. “I got in trouble.”
That said, whenever the filmmaking duo took the script back to the same headmasterwho dealt out Fagan’spunishment back in 2015, the school administrator remembered.
Fagan says the movie’sprank is moreintensethan the one he pulled.
“The opening scene is based off
aprank my dad pulled when he was in high school where theyput crickets in the school library at Jesuit (an all-boys Catholic high school in New Orleans),” Fagan said. “So a lot of real-life pranks have been weaved into this story.”
In additiontoco-directing, Waxand Fagan also have roles in the film and co-wrote thescript.Fagan sumsitup like this: The movie is about four friends who commit a harmless senior prank that goes horribly awry. From there, it’sasnowballeffect. At its core, the movie is about friendship and the discovery of self before that last chapter of high school closes. In this case, abunch of kids try to cover up their tracks, but in doing so, they make friendships that will last them hopefully long past high school,like atrauma-bonding moment.
The twists include acamerafrom agas station across the street that recorded the prank footage, the
STAFFPHOTOSBYJAVIER GALLEGOS
Megan Guthrie, left, and Alexis Trahan practice their screams in between takes at The Dunham School during the filming of ‘Senior Prank’ on July 20.
STAFF PHOTO BY JANRISHER
Jonathan Grimes, president/CEO of Baton RougeArtsCouncil, at lunch atTsunami Highland
Director Gray Fagan, left, works with actors Nicole Prunty,center,and Chase KeithatThe Dunham School during filming
An eaglereminds me that bigproblemscan be solved
In 1987, Idrove to Slidell to get aglimpse of abald eagle that had nested near the highway.Iarrived in early afternoon, which isn’tthe best time for birdwatching. Ididn’tsee much —justa dark spot in the distance, like afleck of ash in the wind. The fringed silhouette was unmistakablyaneagle, but other details escaped me.
CURIOUS
Continued from page1G
with being one of the originators of the helicopter,but his first effort didn’tsupport the weight of apilot.
Ortego’s1924 machine could
Which answers Andrew Miller’squestion about the Alexandria inventor
The 11-year-oldSlaughter resident has an interest in cars and airplanes and has recently learnedsome of the history behind these inventions.
One of those histories is the story he was told about the possibility of aLouisianan who played apart in the helicopter’shistory
“Was there aman from our state who invented the helicopter?” he asked.
Well, not exactly.The concept for ahelicopter was on the drawing board long before Ortego’sbirth in 1895. When he wasn’tpainting the Sistine Chapel’sceiling or creating the mystery behind “The Mona Lisa,” Leonardo da Vinci was studying human anatomy and making technical drawings for mechanical devices
One of these drawings was the concept of ahelicopter,
Da an AT RANDOM nn Heitm DannyHeitman
Along drivefor not very much taught me my first real lesson about wild birds, which is that they can’toften be seen by appointment. I’d made the trip as part of astory Iwas writing about eagle populationsinLouisiana. After years of decline, eagle numbers across the country were rebounding. Because DDT and similar pesticides often prevented eagle eggs from hatching, there were only alittlemore than 400 known nesting pairs of bald eagles in the country by 1963. The federal government banned DDT and related poisons in 1972, and slowly,eagles began recovering. When Ichecked withLouisiana
that he called an “aerial screw” —that was about 1480.
Russian-American aviation pioneer Sikorsky’sfirst effort appearedin1910, built while he was living in Russia. It could fly,but it couldn’t transport apilot. So, did Ortego know about Sikorsky’swork before he started his own? Maybe. Or maybe he was just interested in the ideaofacraftthat
wildlife officials in 1987, they had recorded about 30 active eagle nestsinthe state. Today,there are morethan 350. All of this cametomind last month when theLSU School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge announced that it was releasing abald eagle it had treated back to thewild. The female eagle had been brought to the vet school after someonefound it sick and alone. “This was ajuvenile eagle. She was found down. She was dehydrated and anemic,” Dr.Mark Mitchell, aprofessor of zoological medicine, told me. “It took about 2½ months for her to rehabilitate.”Young bald eagles lack the distinctive white cowl
could lift itself vertically withnoneed for arunway
“First, you need to know alittle bit about Paul Leo Ortego,” said Alexandria historianMichael Wynne. “He was born in Avoyelles Parish, just south of Alexandria, and his family moved when he was young.”
Wynne wrote about Ortego in his 2020 self-published book, “Charles Frederick Page and Paul LeoOrtego: Heroes in the Birth of AviationinAmerica.”
Ortego,Wynne writes, was called “Leo” by those who knew him.His family lived at 1204 Elliot St
“That siteisnow avacant lot,” said Wynne. “Leo Ortego servedinWorld War I, where he flew biplanes in the first Aeronautic Squadron for the United States. He wrecked his plane acouple of times, and according to later accounts in interviews, he said he realized thatifhis plane could go up and down, as well as left and right or horizontal, pilots wouldn’t be running in the mountains and other things.”
Meanwhile, Ortego surprised his family by bringing home aGerman bride at the war’send. But being home and even the prospect of starting afamily didn’tdeter him from his idea for invent-
they display as they get older,but they’re still impressive birds. When the vet school scheduled asmall release ceremonyfor the eagle on Aug. 9, Iknew Ihad to go. On that bright day,ahandful of journalists joined vet school faculty and students to release theeagle in aquiet spot near the Mississippi River levee.
“This is the seventh eagle we’ve released this year,which is arecord number,” Mitchell told me. “This means people are encounteringthem more. There’sanincrease in the population. We find them all throughout southeast Louisiana.”
While waiting in the press gaggle near the release cage, Igot an-
ing anew kind of plane.
“He getshome and starts building ahelicopter,” Wynne said. “Sikorsky is often credited with the first helicopter,but his helicopter —his first helicopter in 1910 —was operated by remote control. It went up afew feet,then came down.”
Again, there is no documentation as to whether or not Ortego knew this —and even if he did, Sikorsky’s effortsdidn’tinfluence Ortego’s work.
He was simply driven by his interest, which eventually led him to acareer at RyanAeronautical Corp. in San Diego, the same company thatbuilt Charles Lindbergh’splane, the Spirit of St.Louis.
But first, his work would take him to the shedbehind his family home. That’s where he built his skeletal, airplane-shaped contraption topped by rotary blades.
“Leo Ortego was not aman to stand idly by and wish for something,” Wynne writes in his book. “He went to his tool kit,dug up some aluminum and boxwood and invented the helicopter and his invention was original enough to get him apatent on his device, though he never got acent for this particular invention.”
It wasn’t sleek or pretty, but that wasn’t the point.
other reminder that birds have a mind of their own. After the cage wasopened, the eagle refused to come out. Eventually,astudent with heavy gloves coaxed her into the open. The eagle landed on the ground in abouncing blur,then quickly flew away.Within seconds, she was little morethan a bit of fine print on the blank page of the morning sky Eagles have other challenges these days from habitat loss and avian flu. Even so, it was nice to see an eagle soar and be reminded that decline doesn’thave to be inevitable.
Email Danny Heitmanat danny@dannyheitman.com.
Ortegotested his invention on thesouth corner of Alexandria’s Bolton andRapides avenues, wherethe machine vertically lifted him between 10 and15feet off theground long enough to secure the patent.
“Itdroppedtothe ground due to somemechanical failure,” Wynne said. “The test site is nowthe site of the AlexandriaGlass Co., which is closed.All theneighborhood children were there. Now,whatproof do we have of this?Well, somebodytook five photographs of it going up in theair.”
The patentwas granted on Jan.5,1926.
Meanwhile,Ortegotried to re-enlistinthe ArmyAir Corpsatthe United States’ entrance intoWorldWar II but wasdeniedbecause of his age.
“That’swhenheturnedto theRyanAeronautical Corp. in California,” Wynne said. “He went there to work with airplanes, andwhile there, he was recognized in oneof theissues of thecompany’s magazine,the ‘FlyingReporter,’ as one of theearliest designers of thehelicopter.”
Butthe helicopter wasn’t Ortego’sonlyinvention.
Wynne saidthe inventor’s
secondwife,Verda, who died on Aug. 20, 1978, still had the plans forother inventions on which he wasworking shortlybefore his death. “Hisplans were forthe OrtegoHeli-Car, an automobile that could fly,aswellas move along streets andhighways,” Wynne said. “He also wasworking on aplane that reliedonhelium in storage tanks foraddedbuoyancy.”
Ortegoand his wife are buriedinthe Alexandria National Cemetery,whichis actually located across the Red River in Pineville As forthe helicopter, Sikorskynever gave up his pursuit of theflying machine.Hemigrated to the United States in 1919, and within four years, founded theSikorskyAero Engineering Corp. on Long Island NewYork Sikorskykept tweaking his inventionuntil 1942, when theSikorskyR-4 became the first helicopter to reach fullscaleproduction.
Do you have aquestion about somethingin Louisiana that’sgot you curious?Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.
theft of said camera footage, getting caught mid-theft, working out adeal thatincludesdrug delivery, and hallucinogenic drugsgetting switched with prescription Adderall back at the high school.
“But it’sgonna be afun day,” Fagansaid withagrin.
Howtheymet
In making the movie, Fagan and Waxcame full circle —meetingat Dunham and yearslater,spending two weekends at theschool shooting “Senior Prank.”
“My mom was our dramateacher, and we met doing theater and then just kind of realized thatwehad a passion for filmmaking,” Waxsaid.
“Westarted to make little movies andwoulddoclassprojects with ourlaptops.And then once we graduated high school, actually that summerbefore college, Graywas like, ‘Let’sstart doing the “48-Hour Film Project” in New Orleans.’”
From 2016 on, they made short films, including one shotatthe LSU Rural Life Museum lastyear called “The Ballad of Rose.”
“Rose” received national recognition as one of 25 independent shorts selected for the PBS Short Film Festival July 15-26
Securing funding for ashort film like “Rose” is challenging, Fagan said, as there’snot really apotential for return on investment.
Show us themoney
Fagan, who graduated from Chapman University in California, and Wax, who earned her degree from LSU, used their connections on the West Coast and in Louisiana, presentingpotential investors with acommerciallyappealing script and added incentive.
“Wealso promised thatwe could do it for very cheap because we’re not shooting in Los Angeles. We’re shooting in Baton Rouge where there’samassive community of support,” Fagan said. “The idea is that we can give the people providing funding for this amovie that looks way more expensive than what it is —and so far that’s the case.”
Using The 13th Gate, for example, makes it appear that great expense went into building adetailed haunted house.
The $370,000 budget did qualify
the project for Louisiana’sfilm tax incentives, Waxsaid. “A lot of it is out of the kindness of the hearts of the people in BatonRougewe’re getting so many favors,so manythingsthat are gifted to us,” Waxadded. “We’ve been very welcomed in everysingle space we’ve been into. So it’s been really,really lovely.”
Cast andcrew are amix of Louisiana-basedartists andonesFagan recruited from Los Angeles.
Take Hadley Rinaudo,who, dressed as aghostlybride-to-be, was awaiting her cueatThe 13th Gate that day
At 17, the Baton Rouge actress already had feature film experience before “Senior Prank,” havingbeeninvolved in projects with Baton Rouge filmmaker Jency Griffin Hogan.
The homeschooled Rinaudo graduated in May and is beginning further studies at TheNew School, asmall liberal artscollege in New York.
Fagansaid having the Los Angeles crew experience the hospitalityofBaton Rouge has been another boon for the overall experience.
Othershooting locationsincludedthe Frostop diner, the Manship Theatre, ahouse in Old Goodwood andone near LSU —and Denham Springs’ Antique Village.
That’s awrap
Fivedaysafter they completed shooting, the filmmakers grabbed aflight to LosAngeles,where Wax, Fagan and his roommate, Jonah Rubin, dove into the editing process.
The goal is to have apolished rough cut done intimefor some festivaldeadlines Oct. 2, includingSouthbySouthwest, Sundance and Tribeca —and later have premieres in both Baton Rouge and LosAngeles
From there, they plan to tryto getthe filmonHulu or Netflix.
“Because there’skindofalack of those right now, thenostalgic-type high school movie,” he said.
Waxand Fagan saidthey went into this adventurethinking they wanted to just make areally good movie
“But it would be great for someone to watch us and go,‘Yeah,a bunch of new filmmakers didnot make this.’ And so farI think that might be the case,” Fagan said.
Email Judy Bergeronat jbergeron@theadvocate.com.
CLASSIC
Continuedfrom page1G
creatives. It’sspecial,” he said. “I’mnot working at abank and playing music on theweekend. I’m dealing with art and artistsall day, every day.”
As athe son of longtime-LSU music professors and amusician himself, Grimes’ musical gigs run thegamut. Grimes plays in avarietyofhouse bands —often with his father.Hebacks up well-known singers. He has gigs all over Louisiana and beyond —which leads to alot of windshield time, especially between Baton Rougeand New Orleans.
“Any opportunity Ican get to express my craft, I’m there,” he said.
He puts his time in the car to good use by studying the music he’sworking on, listening to music he loves and discovering new music as well.
“Friday is my favorite day on Spotify because that’swhen all thenew music is released,” he said. “I listen to everything, from jazz to classical to rock to country to rap, R&B, everything —Christian music.”
He loves theStrike(who’sbringing back “’80s sound”), Phil Collins, Toto, Jacob Collier,Cory Wong (a funk guitar player) and more.
He’slistening to find music he loves but also music he can play withthe band. On theway to work, he shuffles through Spotify’sRelease Radar to find music he likes personally,but also music to play with the band.
“What’sthe latest and greatest?What are the cool kids talking about?” he said about his quest to find and listen to great music.
For fun, we compared our Spotify ReleaseRadars. Ihad afeeling they would be quitedifferent —they were.
We ordered spicy edamame to share. He ordered atuna roll. Iordered theCaterpillar —and added cream cheese.
Adaptive drummer
As adrummer,Grimes says he tries to be as adaptable as possible
Listeningtoall the worlds he lives, plays and works in, Igot the feeling that he does just that in life in general —works to be as “adaptable as possible.
“Being flexible as amusician meansyou’re going to get moregigs, you’re gonna be in morebands,” he said. “I’ve had alot of great teachers over the years.”
Which takes him back to his LSUdays. He went to LSUfor three years and then started working at theArtsCouncil, when it was in the Firehouse, as theeventsmanager
We shared apast in organizing and managing events, which Idid for 17 years. We agreed that organizing eventsteaches aperson things one might not have had thechance to learnyet —how to interact with people, how to be flexible, how to deal with difficult personalities.
For Grimes,what drew him in was being able to
work with artists he may nothaveotherwise been able to see.
“Now I’mconnecting with them on apersonal level,showing them what Baton Rouge has to offerand howmuchwevalue hospitality,” he said. “When they leave, they’re like, ‘Man, that is acool place. Ireally want to come back.’ And that makes me feel good about how we treat people.”
At this point in our lunch, our Tsunami waiter brought over acomplementary mochidessert, wishing us ahappy Tuesday
Anything they do,wecan do BTR
We talked about the wayBaton Rouge often sells itself short, located between NewOrleans and Lafayette —two places that have such extreme senses of place pride.
“I think the people wholive here love it, but I think we need to publicly tell people how much we love our city,” he said.
Grimes says he recognizes the importance of educating the public on the importance that the arts plays. We chatted about the changes on the local arts scene beyond his appointment earlier this year,including anew conductor forthe symphony and Mark Tullus as the new director of the LSU Museum of Art.
We talked about his mother,Jan Grimes, whowas diagnosed with Parkinson’s20years ago. Since my younger brother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was only 42, I’ve followed Parkinson’s newsclosely.Grimes’ mother,Jan Grimes, was the staffaccompanist at LSU.
“So if you’re avocal major,trumpet major,whatever and you do arecital, she accompanied you. She did something like 800 or 900 concerts over her tenure,” Jonathan Grimes said.
Achance meeting with aformer student whois now aneurologist led his mom to being an ambassador forthe Davis Phinney Foundation forParkinson’s.
Through his mother,heand his family have learned about the therapeutic effects of music for people with Parkinson’s—insights that came easy forthis music-loving family
Refreshing funfact: Jonathan Grimes’ summer obsession has been cucumber water.Heslices a cucumber into azipper bag each morning, grabs his Yeti, fills it with water and then adds five or six slices of cucumbers.
Email Jan Risheratjan.risher@theadvocate. com.
STAFF PHOTO BY JANRISHER Tsunami’scaterpillar roll, with cream cheese added forfun.
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