March 12, 2015 • Volume 6 • Issue 24
715 Kirby St. Lake Charles, LA 70601 Phone: 337-436-7800 Fax: 337-990-0262 www.thejambalayanews.com
On cover: Flea Fest is back!
COVER STORY 22 Flea Fest
Publisher/Executive Editor Lauren Abate de Albuquerque
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Doyle’s Place
lauren@thejambalayanews.com
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The Dang Yankee
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Adoption Corner
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Bayou Pickers
12
Huntin’ Tales
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A Ruff Life
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This Functional Family
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The Pirate’s Platter
Contributors Lisa Addison James Doyle Dan Ellender Jason Machulski Mike McHugh Roger Miller Justin Morris Russell Pawlowski Brian Pitre Britney Blanchette Pitre Terri Schlichenmeyer Jody Taylor Karla Tullos
FEATURES 4 Inspiring Art 18
Growing the Community
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Pet Friendly Gardening
Sales sales@thejambalayanews.com Graphics Art/Production Director Burn Rourk
THE SPICE OF SWLA 26 Events Guide
Business Office Manager Jeanie Taggart
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30 Awkward Family Photos Exhibit at Old City Hall Assemble’ 2015
32 Family Fun Night at the Movies 3 3 Bookworm Sez... 3 4 The Bottom of a Cocktail Glass 36 Nightlife Guide
Legal Disclaimer The views expressed by The Jambalaya News columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Jambalaya News, its editors or staff. The Jambalaya News is solely owned, published by Jambalaya Media, LLC, 715 Kirby Street, Lake Charles Louisiana 70601. Phone (337) 436-7800. Whilst every effort was made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers cannot accept legal responsibility for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility of the standing of advertisers nor by the editorial contributions. The Jambalaya News cannot be held responsible for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations, even if they are sent to us accompanied by a self-addressed envelope. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Copyright 2014 The Jambalaya News all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is prohibited.
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REGULARS 6 We Are SWLA!
3 8 Atomic Heart 40 Justin Morris’s Lake Charles 43 Vinyl Swap Meet 44 Society Spice
10 17 31 34 38
47 Funbolaya
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A Note From Lauren on his page and bullyMe, Myself and Facebook things ing him. He goes on and on
Facebook is probably the last thing I look at before I go to bed and the first thing I look at in the morning. I have to pick up my phone anyway when the alarm goes off, so I can hit that “Snooze” button. And then hit it again. And again. Because I’m one of those people who simply cannot get up in the morning. It’s painful. My eyes can’t focus. The bed is so comfortable. So are those pillows. It’s all so cozy. Why do I have to drag myself into the cold, cruel world? My mother was in labor with me for 24 hours, so that should tell you something. I just wanted to stay inside, where it’s nice and warm. After over an hour’s worth of snooze alarms go off, I’m finally ready to open my sleep-filled eyes and rejoin the world. The phone is under my pillow, so I check email messages and, of course, Facebook. I’m on it a lot. It’s a good thing. You can get breaking news, reconnect with old friends, make wonderful new friends, do business, learn something new. And look at people’s posts.
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When you get on someone’s Facebook page, you’ve essentially received permission to get inside that person’s life in a way that wasn’t possible before social media. You may find out what they had for breakfast, that their son has the measles, that they’re heading to Tahiti, that it’s their grandfather’s birthday-- random stuff that makes up a person’s life that in the past, was only known to close friends and family. Now, if you friend someone on Facebook, you’ll know it, too, even if you don’t really know them at all. I’m Facebook friends with a lot of people that I’ve never met. If someone sends me a friend request, I’ll check out their page to see who our mutual friends are, and make sure they’re not too crazy. If they pass muster, I may friend them. If they act up, it’s very easy to unfriend or even block them, if need be. Or just unfollow them, so their posts don’t show up in my newsfeed. Some posters are--interesting. There’s the guy who seems to think people are posting bad
about it. When I’ve checked his page to see what all the fuss is about, I’ve found nothing objectionable. He talks about being hacked; then he says that he can put whatever he wants on his page and that he’s not backing down. Has he really been hacked? Is he hacking himself? Does he even know what it means? In the next post, he’s praising the Lord and everything is fine—until a few posts later, when he goes on another rant. Hmmm. Then there’s the woman I met years ago that I’ve reconnected with recently. I recall her as being extremely vain, but she’s gotten worse. I know she went through a bad time in her life and I guess her self-esteem needs an even bigger boost now. I would say 85 percent of her posts are selfies, and 85 percent of her Facebook friends are men, who routinely post “Hot!” “Gorgeous!” “Sexy!” and so on, under each photo. She thanks each and every one individually, flirts with all of them, and I guess takes another selfie,
because a new one will show up shortly. There are hurting couples and fighting family members. There are cryptic postings, such as “I’m done!” or “Karma’s gonna get you!” There’s misinformation and stupidity and namecalling and hypocrisy, especially when politics and religion are involved. People break up and get “In a Relationship” and have babies and leave their jobs and do all sorts of things and the whole world is watching. Yes, everyone. Last quarter, Facebook had over 1.23 billion monthly active users. That’s a lot of people to get to know. Say what you want about Facebook, it’s here to stay. So excuse me while I post another photo of my cat. You’d better tell me she’s hot.
Lauren Abate de Albuquerque
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By Lauren Abate de Albuquerque Amazing art has been created at the Sale St. Baptist Church in Lake Charles. Murals cover much of the wall space on the two-story children’s building adjacent to the church, which was designed for Sunday school. “This project was inspired by scripture and designed to share Biblical truths through visual art,” say artist Erica Shaw, who created the murals. “Each element in the murals has a direct scripture reference.”
First Floor The first floor is for nursing mothers, infants, babies and toddlers. With a theme of town and park, this floor is all about nature and includes street signs and campground scenes. “A key element is the tree of life, located outside the nursery,” Shaw says. “It embodies elements of Louisiana culture, such as native animals, a lab retriever and a special bird, who is looking left with open wings, representing a thankfulness to the murals that were previously in the building, open arms to the present, and pointing right towards the future and what is to come. “ Telephone lines serve as a transition. They symbolize communication, a key concept of spreading the gospel. Each of the poles is numbered, and the numbers are actually scripture verses that are part of the bigger picture, and explain where each element of the project came from.
Second Floor The second floor is designed to be an urban city. “This floor is laden with arrows,” Shaw continues. “These arrows represent the path of life to encourage and show the children that life is not a straight and easy journey, and that its good to expect change and challenges.” There are elements of real street signs, and the telephone wire on the poles is actual wire used on telephone poles.
Art That Unifies Themed rooms, along with more generic Sunday school rooms, distinguish each floor. “These Sunday school rooms are often used by other groups, so the challenge was to include art that unifies the room with the overall theme, but also allows it to be used independently,” 4 March 12, 2015
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Shaw says. “We accomplished this on the first floor by hanging custom art with animals and scripture verses. The animals and verses correspond to the name of the room. For example, the ‘jumpers’ room has paintings of frogs and rabbits.” Upstairs, a shoe print cutout was utilized to create dynamic patterns and movement on the Sunday school room walls. “The specialized rooms were designed with a Disney feel to them,” Shaw explains. “My hope was that visitors would feel as if they were walking into a whole new world. The first floor has two camp rooms that embody this idea: the daytime room and a nighttime room. Both have large and detailed murals of scenes you would find in those locations. The nighttime room is especially fun because there are teepees with lights, star curtains, and lights on the ceiling. When you walk in and turn off the main lights, you really feel like you’re at a campground at night. We even took the excess from the telephone poles and finished them, turning them into small wood benches.” What was her favorite part of the project? “Recycling a set of outdated lockers and trash cans,” she responds. “I used a pointillism-inspired technique to make the vibrant and colorful firework patterns, and then layered them with stars.” Phoebe Thomas assisted with the custom art hung on the first floor. “She hand-painted the scripture verses on the animal paintings in each classroom, and also painted the letters on the alphabet in the nursery,” Shaw says. “She is a very talented calligrapher and works in a ton of mediums. It was a joy to work with her. I want to mention it is a big Vol. 6 • No. 24
deal to collaborate and trust someone with original art, and after seeing her work I couldn’t wait to see what she would do with it. I am so pleased with the results. In fact, we are in the process of getting prints available.” The project was conceived midNovember of 2014, and was created in an incredibly short time period. “The directors, Carrie Moreau and Jessica Minton, came by my home to ask my opinion on color schemes for accent walls, and it grew from there,” Shaw explains. “We took time off for the holidays, about two weeks around Christmas.” The murals were completed February 24. Shaw admits the artwork can be a bit overwhelming at first. “So, we are in the process of recording explanations and making them available through a cell phone app. Just like in a museum, visitors will be able to scan a label and hear in detail the background behind the inspired paintings.” Much of history utilized art to share the Gospel of Christ, so this is just a modern take on an old tradition, Shaw says. “What is special about this building, this art, is that it is telling the story of both scripture and local Louisiana culture. I worked alongside the builders and heard their stories, their passions, their lives, and I did my best to incorporate the wildlife culture into the lessons of the Bible. For although the Bible is timeless, it is also deeply intimate. In that sense, I believe this was the Lord’s gift to the Lake Charles community. I am so pleased to be associated with the paint and brush, which are mere tools in God’s hand.”
A B O U T
T H E
A R T I S T
Originally from New England, Erica Shaw studied drawing and painting at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art in Old Lyme, Conn., and went on to Boston Architectural College. In 2008, she moved to Chico, Ca., where she learned graphic design at Butte College. She was then baptized for the second time in her life and rededicated herself to Jesus Christ, which changed the way she pursued her art. Her work in Los Angeles showed her how murals can become a part of the cultural identity of a town. She and her husband moved to Lake Charles in February 2014. Charity is a very big part of Shaw’s life. She donated a painting to the Abrahams Tent Love Auction, which will be held March 21. At the American Heart Association Gala on May 30, she will be painting live from 6-7:30 p.m. Her painting will be auctioned off with the proceeds benefitting the America Heart Association Shaw’s home studio is almost complete, and she’s preparing to take on students for private lessons with a focus on drawing and painting. Her passion is to encourage and grow individuals by developing basic skills and encouraging creativity.
www.ericashawart.com, www.facebook. com/ericashawartist, #ericashawart
March 12, 2015 5
City Savings Bank Announces Promotions
IBERIABANK Names Mid City Branch Manager
Regina Buller
IBERIABANK the 127-year-old subsidiary of IBERIABANK Corporation, is pleased to announce the recent naming of Regina Buller as assistant vice president and branch manager for the Mid City location in Lake Charles. A graduate of McNeese State University, Buller joined the company in September. She is located at 2901 Ryan Street in Lake Charles and can be reached by phone at (337) 312-7135 or by email at Regina.Buller@iberiabank.com.
City Savings Bank is pleased to announce the promotions of Stephen Benoit in the Sulphur branch and Jamie Harris in DeRidder’s Countryside branch. Benoit has been promoted to vice president. He has been the branch manager of City Savings Bank’s Sulphur Jamie Harris location at 1520 Ma- Stephen Benoit plewood Dr. since July 2013. Benoit has worked with City Savings Bank since 2008 and began as the branch’s assistant manager. Harris has been named assistant branch manager of City Savings Bank’s Countryside location at 2197 Hwy. 171 in DeRidder. He has extensive experience in lending and has worked for City Savings Bank for the last two years as a lending officer. For more information on City Savings Bank, visit www.citysavingsbank.com.
L’Auberge Sponsors Family & Youth Event Family & Youth Counseling Agency received $5,000 from L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles for sponsorship of the 17th Annual Connections Count Conference. During the conference, professionals from the four corners of Louisiana and beyond came together to explore, expand, and share critical knowledge and expertise for the benefit of children, youth, and families in our collective communities. For more information on Family & Youth, call (337) 436-9533.
CHRISTUS Health Reorganization CHRISTUS Health has reorganized to ensure growth and operational efficiency. CHRISTUS North Louisiana, CHRISTUS Central Louisiana, CHRISTUS SWLA and CHRISTUS Southeast Texas have joined together under the leadership of Stephen F. Wright, who will serve as Stephen Wright Donald Lloyd II CHRISTUS Health’s senior vice president, Group Operations. Donald Lloyd II, who has served as administrator and COO for CHRISTUS since 2012, will now assume the new role of CEO for CHRISTUS Southwestern Louisiana. Lloyd, who has over 30 years’ experience in the health care industry, is actively involved in many professional societies and has served numerous community service organizations.
Johnson Elected to LTPA’s Board of Directors
Shelley Johnson 6 March 12, 2015
Shelley Johnson, executive director of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB was installed as a board member of the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association (LTPA) Board of Directors at the association’s annual meeting. In addition to being a board member, Johnson is also a past chairman and past president of the board of LTPA.
(L to R) Keith W. Henson, Sr. VP and GM of L’Auberge Casino Resort and Julio Galan, president and CEO of Family and Youth.
Lannan Elected 2015 President of WCCH Medical Staff Maureen Lannan, MD, family medicine physician, was recently elected president of West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital’s medical staff. As president, Dr. Lannan will work to ensure the quality and efficiency of clinical services and performance within the hospital. In her term, she will serve as chairperson of the medical executive committee and organized general medical staff, and will actively
Dr. Maureen Lannan Vol. 6 • No. 24
participate on the board of commissioners of WCCH. Dr. Lannan practices alongside Dr. Ken Thomas and Dr. Amy Soileau, family medicine physicians, at Cypress Medical Clinic, 622 Cypress Street in Sulphur.
Marty DeRouen Named Wealth Management Advisor Northwestern Mutual is pleased to announce that Marty DeRouen has recently been appointed as a Wealth Management Advisor, extending the scope of services offered through his practice. DeRouen is associated with Northwestern Mutual of Lake Charles. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from McNeese State University and is a former officer in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Operations Desert Shield Marty DeRouen and Desert Storm. Currently, DeRouen is an active member of the McNeese Alumni Association Board of Directors. He resides in Lake Charles with his wife, Julie, and their two children.
Offenders Task Force for 10 years. He finished his career as the Lake Charles Police Department SWAT Commander.
Horse and Rider Statue Winner Brett Gaspard is the winner of the 4-foot horse and rider statue that was raffled to support endowed scholarships at McNeese State University through the McNeese Foundation. The McNeese student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management helped sell the raffle tickets during home football games for the statue, which was designed for McNeese by Bernadette Navarre.
SOWELA Hires Marianne White SOWELA Technical Community College announces the addition of Marianne P. White as the Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, Alumni Affairs and Community Engagement. White will work with SOWELA’s executive leadership team, the SOWELA Foundation board of directors, business and industry partners, donors and friends to advance the mission of the College. She has a master’s degree in business administration from McNeese and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Texas A&M University in College Station. She has twelve years of experience working in the field of development. For information regarding support to the SOWELA Foundation, visit www.sowela.edu/give or call Marianne P. White at 337-421-6903.
Robert Prehn Joins Memorial Administration Robert Prehn, PhD joins Lake Charles Memorial Health System as the Vice President for Specialty Services. Prehn will oversee Memorial’s psychiatric services and long-term acute care facility (LTAC), Memorial Specialty Hospital. A native of New Orleans, he most recently served as the Senior Associate of the Cawley Johnson Group, a national behavioral health consulting and hospital management company. Prehn has 35 years of specialty and general hospital leadership experience, focusing on Louisiana.
L to R: SHRM member Jo Waite, Gaspard and Jennifer Leger, McNeese Foundation. McNeese photo
L’Auberge Promotes Hoke L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles recently promoted Darrin Hoke to Vice President of Operational Protection. Hoke joined L’Auberge in 2004 as part of the resort’s grand opening team, serving as Director of Surveillance. He is an accomplished professional, well-known gaming speaker and industry expert with 28 years of experience. In his new role, he will oversee security, surveillance, risk and IT to ensure the safety of L’Auberge team members, guests and company assets.
Darrin Hoke
Dr. Robert Prehn
Lieutenant Welch Retires Lake Charles Police Chief Donald Dixon announces the retirement of Lieutenant Charles Welch. Lieutenant Welch joined the police department in 1989 as a police cadet and completed his career on February 27, 2014 after 25 years of service. Welch graduated from LaGrange High School in 1986 and received his BA in criminal justice from McNeese State University in 2007. His police training includes graduation from the 42nd session of the Calcasieu Parish Training Academy, advanced training in Police Management, Detective Division and SWAT Supervision. Lieutenant Welch also served on the U.S. Marshal’s Violent Vol. 6 • No. 24
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Of Mockingbird Memories and Civil Rights Weekends belong to me. I’m not alone, though; my faithful Mastiff Cleopatra is always at my side, sleeping, snoring usually. I usually watch movies. Today I saw To Kill a Mockingbird. Like most of us raised in the South, it awakens great depths of feeling, instincts we were taught by the society around us in the 1950s and ‘60s, lines which existed and couldn’t be crossed. Signs on water fountains. Three bathrooms: men, women, and colored. I still had relatives born during the years of Reconstruction following the War Between the States (a Southern term, by the way; the Yankees called it The Civil War to bolster their view that they fought only for freedom). I’m assuming you all know the basic plot structure of Mockingbird. Atticus Finch is a brave trial lawyer, a widower with two children in a small town in Alabama. He defends a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. No medical or other proof was offered as evidence establishing a rape even occurred.
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It boiled down to a swearing match between the white folks and the black defendant. An allwhite, all-male jury convicted him of this capital crime in two hours. He died trying to escape. The book on which the movie is based was written by Nelle Harper Lee. She is a native of Monroeville, Alabama, about 75 miles northeast of Mobile. Her father A.C. Lee was a lawyer. I grew up in Bolivar, Tennessee, a town of about 3,500 souls at most during my childhood, the central feature of which was a traditional Southern courthouse built in 1868 with a large clock tower dominating its construction. In my town, I was allowed free reign at the age of 6 or 7 and I walked or rode my bike everywhere I went, including to the theatre every Saturday to watch the latest Flash Gordon followed by a Western. It cost me a quarter. Ten cents to get in and 15 cents for a bag of popcorn. My parents were independent insurance agents whose best friends included three lawyers. When I was about seven, Daddy went to one of the
oldest houses in town with Mr. Savage, one of those lawyers, to witness a will signed by Miss Lizzie Miller, heir to an original pioneer family which had its roots in Bolivar dating back to the city’s founding in 1824. I was playing in Miss Lizzie’s front yard, riding on the back of one of the two lion statues at the end of the estate looking out on Main Street. A servant called me to the sunroom because Miss Lizzie wanted to see me. “James Buckner,” she said, “you remind me of our brother. He used to play on those lions with his friends and they’d throw rocks at the Yankee soldiers as they marched through town.” My grandmother lived with us until I was eight in a house built before that war, and was a silent witness to the 40,000 Federals who occupied my hometown. She was six years old at the time of Custer’s Last Stand. Her mother, who lived with my brothers, mother and father until she died in 1942 at the age of 95, had a clear memory of that war and our local occupation. The Yankees, she said, “stole our pigs and chickens.” Another living memory, another connection to Mockingbird society. One of the family’s closest friends was our yardman Sidney, whose parents were slaves. I never understood why he stopped calling me James on my thirteenth birthday and why I was thereafter known to him as “Master James.” My Daddy hired Sidney almost every day to landscape the family plot in Union Cemetery. When my brother and I speculate on which side our family had been on during the
War, I always remind him where they’re buried, and that they were Methodist when that meant being against slavery. None of my direct ancestors owned other humans. Although he was 22 at the outbreak of the War, my great grandfather never fought on either side. He did drive a wagon during the Battle of Shiloh, ferrying injured and dead soldiers to Bolivar, where the Presbyterian Church (still there) operated as a field hospital. Oral history taught me that amputated limbs were stacked up in that church high enough to be seen through a series of windows four feet off the ground. General Grant was in charge of the Federal troops and once stayed in the Miller home with his second in command William T. Sherman. The generals had an argument at the dinner table, which led to Sherman angrily marching up the stairs, hitting the banister with his sabre every couple of feet. The marks are still there. Segregation was a fact of life. My school was all white until my junior year. Summer was over around the first of August. We went to school six weeks and then had six weeks off, a vacation prominently known as “cotton pickin’ ” and officially called “harvest season,” time off for the farm kids to help get in the crops and the townies like me to swim, ride our bikes, play football, and get into mindless mischief. The story of Mockingbird first appeared in print in 1960 and the movie, which won Gregory Peck his only Best Actor Vol. 6 • No. 24
Oscar, came out in 1962. I had little knowledge of either, but found out later just how much it described my life. Daddy was foreman of a jury once and I vividly recall sneaking into the courtroom to watch the trial. It was only later, in about 1974 when I was a junior at LSU Law School, that I first realized how much that story told about the all-too human narrative of the South of my youth. That year, I was working as a sportswriter at the Baton Rouge Advocate. I bought the book at a yard sale and read it in one sitting. By eerie coincidence, the movie was playing at the Varsity Theatre on Highland Road just outside the gates of LSU (now home to the Chimes restaurant) and I eagerly watched it, hoping someday to be an Atticus-type lawyer. My first jury trial was in October 1976, two weeks after my admission to the bar. It was in Donaldsonville in a courthouse built with a balcony for the “colored folks.” That was the first year women had been allowed to sit on a jury in this state, by ultimate order of the United States Supreme Court. During my time as a lawyer in Baton Rouge, I often visited and worked in the antebellum courthouses in Clinton and St. Francisville. In 1969, I played saxophone with a garage band in southern Alabama. One of our venues was Monroeville. We played in the community center, which bore a strong resemblance to the one in Mockingbird where Scout and her brother Jem went to the Halloween party. We also played Selma and usually spent the night in a motel located at the foot of the Edmond Pettus Bridge. Twenty years later, I represented a black man named Thaddeus Edmonson in a civil trial in Lake Charles. The opposition struck as jurors the only two black men eligible to serve. I objected and that case was ultimately decided in our favor by the United States Supreme Court. I quoted Dr. King in my argument before the Court, which earned me a wink from Justice Thurgood Marshall. Vol. 6 • No. 24
Years later, a documentary film was made about the case and Justice Kennedy was shown in a discussion group still quoting from my argument. Dr. King was killed in Memphis April 4, 1968. I had been in Memphis that whole day as a high school senior. The Lake Charles Little Theatre produced the stage version of Mockingbird in 2001. I was playing Atticus. Unfortunately, I had to drop out due to family obligations and a wicked bad case of laryngitis. Looking back on all those things today from the relatively ancient age of 64, it is eerie how much my life and career have touched on race. I am grateful to have had this experience, proud for the many times I heard my son Stratton pausing in his gig as a traveling band member—much as I was when we played Monroeville all those years ago—and reciting in detail the role I had fighting for my own Tom Robinson and ultimately changing the law. I’m prouder still for the man Stratton is; totally blind to race. I treasure those moments and always will, particularly since I haven’t seen him play in a year. I pray that changes soon. I love the South, today as well as the Mockingbird memories of my youth. I love the progress we have made in my lifetime. Let’s hope politicians don’t hinder that progress by using race in a cynical way to gain a momentary advantage. This column is getting dangerously long. Let me end it by acknowledging many of you have inquired about my health. I’m hanging in there. Hoping to get a transplant from my donor in May. By the way, about that donor. He was discussing his convoluted story a year ago with a lawyer acquaintance of mine. “Where can I go to get justice?” he said. I’m also proud to say that lawyer handed him my cell phone number and address. We filed a civil rights suit for him which is still pending. There are worse things to be known for. Keep praying, and I’ll see you on the flip. March 12, 2015 9
It’s Not About the Tablecloths As much as people in Louisiana love to celebrate Mardi Gras, if you’ve ever hosted a table at a ball, you can understand why they’re just as relieved when the whole thing is over. When preparing for the D-Day invasion, General Eisenhower never had to contend with the degree of logistics involved in being host at a ball. That’s because he didn’t have to be concerned with tablecloths. If he did, I’m sure he’d do as any man would and just spread out some newspaper. This is why the women usually take charge of table decorations, while the men’s responsibilities are restricted to showing up on time in a tuxedo, preferably sober. This in itself could pose a challenge should an afternoon basketball game drag into overtime. My wife had strict requirements for the tablecloths at our last ball. They had to be of a certain length, a certain texture, and of just the right color to match the ball’s theme. They had more
specifications than the Space Shuttle. I questioned whether such a tablecloth existed anywhere in the world. It was no problem for my wife, however, as she simply plugged into her extensive network of linen enthusiasts. In this way, she found that Darlene, another lady in our Mardi Gras krewe, had just what she was looking for. Darlene, who I surmise has a linen closet big enough to park a Stealth Bomber, was all too happy to let her borrow them for the evening. Our guests had a splendid time at the ball, due in no small part to the tablecloths, I’m sure. Still, I had to think that the Crown Royal had at least something to do with it. When the time came to return the linens to Darlene, my wife approached me with an idea. “We should really get to know Darlene and Carlos better,” she told me. “Since I have to see her to return the tablecloths, why
don’t we use the opportunity to have dinner together?” The idea sounded fine with me, especially since it involved food. So off we went one evening to meet Darlene and her husband, Carlos, at a local restaurant. We came within a few blocks of the place when my wife realized that she’d forgotten the tablecloths. I promptly eased the car into the left lane and signaled to turn. “What are you doing?” she asked. “What do you mean?” I replied. “I’m turning around to go back home and get the tablecloths.” “But we’re almost at the restaurant.” “I know, but wasn’t returning the tablecloths the whole point of us getting together?” “No, silly,” she answered. “The point was for us to have dinner and get better acquainted. It’s not about the tablecloths.” “So the tablecloths were just an
Greta is an 18-month-old lab mix and weighs 45 pounds. She is crate-trained, doing great with house training and is up-to-date on vetting. Greta is very smart and learns quickly. She is very social and would be a great addition to any family. She just wants to be included in someone’s life. She is dog friendly, cat friendly and loves children, too. She 10 March 12, 2015
excuse,” I observed. “It’s okay. I can just return them the next time we all get together.” It makes no sense to me why women feel the need to come up with these kinds of schemes. Men never need to find excuses for getting together with each other. That’s what things like golf and hunting are for. In fact, if it weren’t for golf and hunting, men would probably become hermits. We had a nice dinner with Darlene and Carlos and have since met them on several occasions. My wife, however, still has the tablecloths, and I figure we might be holding on to them for a while longer. If she gives them back now, Darlene might be afraid that we no longer want to be friends. Mike McHugh’s column has appeared in the Jambalaya News for over five years. If you can’t get enough of The Dang Yankee, you can read more on Mike’s website, thedangyankee.com
loves car rides, the outdoors and would make a great running buddy for someone. She also loves to play with balls and toys. Greta is sweet and loving and eager to please her human family. If you are interested in adopting Greta and giving her a forever home of her own, please contact LAPAW at (337) 478-7294 or email lapaw@bellsouth.net. A vet check and home visit are required. Vol. 6 • No. 24
I was asked the other day why I do what I do. In short, I do it for the learning, to preserve items from the past and to teach my kids the importance of history. The response was, “Well, you must know a lot about history then, since you’ve been doing this so long.” I smiled. “No,” I replied. “I know a little bit about a lot, but I know a lot about the little bit I do know.” There is so much you can learn from an item. Sometimes, there are great stories attached to the object, such as who made it or how it came to arrive at its final destination. Take, for example, a piece I was lucky enough to acquire. I have a Victorian-era scrapbook, circa 1883, filled to the brim with die-cuts, advertisements, handwritten notes and greeting cards. This is one of those historic finds that tell a story with every turn of the page. Let me share a little history behind this item. During the Victorian era, middle-class households would often have a family scrap album, where the bits of paper collected
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each day could be put onto its pages. Ticket stubs, brochures, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, paper dolls, postcards, business cards, ribbons, literary excerpts, and eventually photographs were all preserved. Nineteenth-century bookmakers designed blank albums with elaborate, tooled-leather covers, gilt paper edgings, and engraved clasps. By the late 1800s, Britain, Germany, and the United States had become the leaders in scrapbook production. Companies like Currier & Ives and Raphael Tuck & Sons and smaller brands like Allen & Ginter and Littauer & Boysen created beautiful scrap pieces. Scraps, also called reliefs, chromos, or die-cuts, were sold in large sheets connected with small paper strips and gummedbacking, making for easy removal and pasting. These pre-cut shapes often featured the romantic themes so popular at the time, such as lush floral arrangements, domesticated animals, angels and cherubs, exotic birds, fashionable women, and holiday themes like Valentine’s Day or Christmas. Now that I have this in my collection, I will learn
all I can about the items inside and be able to get a better understanding on why this book was laid out the way it was since it is more or less a time line of a Victorian family’s life. The artwork in the ads and items is really second to none, and the colors used in each piece tell a story of the time and patience one had in those days and are so unlike the mass produced items of today. Of course, I will preserve and protect the scrapbook, so that it can be passed on so that someone else can learn from it. So just remember that every item anywhere has a history behind it. The next time you get a chance, grab a random item and start searching--there is no telling what stories will be unearthed. And share a small story about an item with a child
or family member and encourage them to do the same. History needs to be shared. Here’s a quote from the Bayou Pickers: “History has no joystick.” Start sharing today! Jason Machulski grew up with an appreciation for antiques and vintage artifacts. He has made a profession out of “picking” through craft shows, flea markets, trade fairs and garage sales for relics with historical value. Contact Jason on his Facebook page at www. facebook.com/pages/BayouPickers/160113244006075.
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Gangsta Rap Goose Season First of all, what’s with this “light” goose business? It’s a snow goose, goofus. Is the blue goose no longer an immature snow but a “Bleu Pale?” The eagle head goose, an older but not yet fully grown snow, an “Aigle Tete Blanc?” The Ross’s goose abominated into a “Petite Pale Oie Lite?” Not only have the nom de plumes been altered with the light goose conservation season, but everything normally illegal becomes legit. No plugs in
the shotguns. Electronic boom boxes blare out the sounds of feeding geese. No bag OR possession limit. Shoot for half an hour AFTER sunset. Sounds like “Gangsta Rap” goose season to me. When this special season was first introduced years ago to harvest as many snow geese as possible, I was truly excited. The point was to lessen snow goose nesting and feeding ground devastation in Canada by reducing their over popula-
tion. As luck would have it back then, I had a sweet spot south of Thornwell, Louisiana that was one of THE spots to be for goose hunting during the regular season. All I had to do to adjust was set up after the regular waterfowl season for the massacre I KNEW was to come. The time had come for me to be a legal outlaw. My blind always brought me 30 to 40 geese a season. Following the regular season’s demise, I gathered my decoys from three
other leases. Then I begged, borrowed, and bought even more. I collected over three hundred full-bodied, shell, big foot, robo-goose, kite, flag and rag snow goose decoys. Next, I added two remote controlled boom boxes that blared what was once an illegal-to-use recording of geese in a bodied up feeding frenzy. With the opening of the special light goose harvest season, luck would have it that there were concentrations of snow geese north and east of me. Even better, there was to be a foggy opening morning that would confuse and befuddle goose flights back and forth between the bodied up flocks. Snow geese are hard enough to take during the regular season. Late in the year, they tend to body up in the middle of rice fields, making them damn near impossible to hunt. With the fog they could hear but not see where they wished to go and thus, could better respond to our calling and be less wary. Or so I thought. We stealthily set out the massive decoy spread the afternoon before the hunt. To do it opening morning in the dark would have taken us hours and disturb the settled flocks. As it was, it took us all afternoon to haul, set up, and deploy our decoy armada. That done, we had to make sure the never-before-
Photo: Theresa Lyons
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tried electronics worked. I took special delight in hiding the boom box speakers in hollowed out snow goose shells, and oh what a joyous noise they made! The next morning, we trekked down the rice field levee with the barely audible geese body’s honks carrying in the thick-fogged light breeze. Stepping down into the pit blind, we readied ourselves for the hunt. I’d never held an unplugged shotgun before. Five shots rather than three were now ready for me to blast our quarry with. A friend had even loaned me a pump shotgun for the special hunt. I was a goose hunting Rambeaux! With a flip of a switch, I did a sound check. I could bounce the sound of geese feeding from speaker to speaker and adjust the base, treble and volume. “Light” geese beware; I was primed, locked and loaded. So we snuggled into a freshly brushed rice field pit and waited. Daybreak came in a blanket fog that dissipated slowly. An occasional plaintive mallard hen
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call, a sprig’s whistle, or a grayed flash of teal wings were as close as we came to fowl. No geese yet. I hit a few begging goose calls on my own call to no avail. Two of what we thought were geese sailed into a fog break. Snow geese or Photo: Billy Jones snowy egrets, they were taken as our patience was thinner than the fog. My Golden Retriever Prez disappeared in the mist and returned one goose at a time. We could hear but couldn’t see the snow geese until they flashed in and out. Frustrated, I switched to the speakers. Three snows just appeared in a mute sail in and our too-loud shots shattered the quiet. We could even hear their ground-slamming thuds. Prez was off again, lost in the haze, returning only when he found a bird, his tawny head held snow-goose-carrying high. The mostly silent but faint goose
cackle call morning wore on, broken only by the shrill “Yeek! Yeeks!” of snipe hurtling about. There was the occasional whisper of wings, a flash of white geese against the fog followed by vain calls and boom box honked attempts to lure them back. Nothing could be heard of the body of geese that had been to our east. As the fog lifted into a blue bird marvelously cool calm day, we could see azure skies, black birds, snowy egrets and an occasional sky-high, elusive “light” goose V. So there we sat, three shot-
guns loaded with five unplugged shots apiece, an armada of decoys and boom box speakers in “Oie Blanc” country. Having outlawed to the hilt for our five light geese, we had saved little of the Canadian tundra. Then. two more snows blundered in, but their demise did little to diminish the light goose overpopulation. Hunts can be booked from commercial outfitters, but light goose season is a bust for most. It’s even worse today with Louisiana and Texas’s fast diminishing rice fields--what it takes to hold the geese. Spring hunts in Arkansas up through Missouri and into the Dakotas last through May 17. They yield better but the crises in the tundra is still just that. Next year, I plan to head to Pluck-A-Duck Lodge in Arkansas to make my contribution. Not even turning Cajuns loose with no laws and no limits is enough.
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Busting Myths Part 2: Humping/Mounting Many clients are very concerned when they see their dogs displaying the behavior of humping. It can be quite embarrassing to witness your furry family member humping another dog, toy, human, etc. Most of the time, however, humping is not related to sex. There are many reasons why dogs display this behavior. It is very important that you never use any sort of fear-inducing or physical punishment to stop this behavior. That will only create other unwanted behaviors, and can cause aggression and/or high anxiety.
Why Do They Do It? Puppies: Humping is a completely normal behavior with dogs, and it begins as play between puppies at a young age. When they play, they can get over-stimulated/aroused and excited. Humping is a normal way for them to release this energy and excitement. It does not mean that they are display-
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ing any sort of dominance or are intending to initiate sexual behavior. Simply redirecting the puppy’s attention is all you need to do when you see this behavior. You could have a potential problem if the puppy has targeted and singled out one particular puppy that he keeps displaying this behavior with. This usually means that the puppy displaying the behavior has become stressed, and simply needs space. The best thing to do at this point would be to end playtime. If not ended, the stress could grow and eventually lead to aggressive behaviors. Adult play: Many times, dogs that were not socialized properly do not know another way to show their excitement during play. They simply have not been taught how to signal that they want to play in a different manner. Proper socialization should start from a very young age, so that dogs learn from each other how to play politely.
Excitement: Some dogs will display this behavior when they are over-stimulated and excited—not in a sexual manner. My mentor Sally Stride Sell’s had two dogs named Boudreaux and Aslan, and I would dog and house-sit for her when she would go out of town. These dogs lived their entire lives without humping any human (Boudreaux had a thing for other dogs’ heads, however) except for me. Sally was a bit embarrassed and a little alarmed when she first saw them jump on my legs. The embarrassment did not last long at all, and we still laugh about it today. Boudreaux and Aslan were not trying to dominate me, or anything remotely like that. This was not aggressive behavior, either. To them, I was viewed as “the fun treat lady.” When they saw me, they associated me with toys, balls, walks, and lots of treats. I was the only person in their lives at the time who was 100 percent fun all of the time. So, that was their way of showing how overjoyed they were to see me. Stress and compulsive behaviors: Sometimes, dogs will hump other dogs, people, or things to relieve stress. If the dog constantly feels stress or frustration, this behavior can become a compulsion. Pleasure: Sometimes, dogs just simply get pleasure from displaying this behavior. So,
they continue to do it when they want to feel good. Medical reasons: There are several medical issues that could cause a dog to hump. UTIs, incontinence, allergies, yeast, etc. are all possibilities. If it is medically related, there will usually be lots of licking and chewing of the genital areas.
What You Can Do About It First, rule out what is causing this behavior. If she is not harming herself by humping a toy, then you really don’t have to do anything about it. If it happens every now and then, and is not bothering you, other dogs, or people, don’t worry about it. If it is bothering you, try to prevent it from happening. Notice the body language that your dog gives right before he humps. As soon as you do, immediately redirect your dog to a toy or play a game or work on training commands. If your dog has already started humping, make a sudden noise, such as clapping your hands or say, “eh-eh” to get the dog’s attention, and then redirect him to a toy or other activity. If your dog does this when he is really excited to see someone (and it’s a problem for you), teach him a sit/stay or a down/stay as an alternate behavior when people come over, and highly reward for maintaining a stay during this time. If the behavior continues, just simply separate
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the dog for a few minutes—similar to a time out. If your dog humps in stressful situations, try to make them less stressful. For example, if your dog stresses when meeting new people, start pairing meeting people with really good stuff. I use Easy Cheese a lot when working on this. As someone goes to greet your dog, squirt some yummy cheese on the floor near the person’s feet. If your dog gets yummy cheese every time he meets a new person, his perception of new people will eventually change. If your dog is not spayed or neutered, definitely take care of that situation. Even though humping is not always caused by sex, it does occur in intact dogs more often. Having your dog spayed or neutered will also reduce the number of homeless and euthanized dogs and will prevent your dogs from developing medical issues such as mammary, ovarian, and testicular cancers. Immediately separate your dog when you witness her humping another dog. Remember, don’t use physical force or punishment. Just give her a while to relax before bringing her back around other canines. If you do not immediately separate, it could quickly turn into a bad situation. Be proactive and try to stop it before it starts by noticing your dog’s body language before she actually humps. Be sure you are walking your dog every day and providing many other mentally stimulating activities and toys. Humping is less likely to occur when a dog is mentally and physically exhausted. Last, if your dog has a humping compulsion (meaning it is disrupting his daily life) or if your dog’s behavior has become aggressive while humping, I would highly recommend seeking out the professional help of a dog expert and trainer. These instances can be very dangerous for your dog and for you, and can escalate. Until next time, Happy Training! Britney (Blanchette) Pitre, CPDT-KA
BONS CHIENS Dog Training, LLC 337.422.4703 www.bonschiens.com Facebook.com/BonsChiensDogTraining Vol. 6 • No. 24
The Junior Deputy Program Ever since my son was around two, he has had a fascination with law enforcement and by the time he turned six he was talking about wanting to be a SWAT team officer when he grew up. So when his elementary school recently sent information home regarding the Junior Deputy Program, I knew that it would be perfect for him. Like many other parents, I’m always looking for new ways to get my children involved in things that they enjoy but that also teach them something and help them grow into productive citizens who will make a difference. A free nine-week event held throughout the parish on Saturday mornings for students ranging from ages eight-11, the Junior Deputy Program was developed to provide general information pertaining to law enforcement and other local government agencies. A couple of field trips are provided, including a tour of the Calcasieu Correctional Center. Two weeks of the class are devoted to the Hunters Education Program for kids 10 years of age and over. At the end of the hunters’ portion of the program, participants will receive a certificate for their hunting licenses. Last Saturday as I arrived to pick up my son from his first class, I saw a bunch of excited boys and girls including my 10-year-old. It was the first official day and the kids had learned a lot about various programs and agencies and then went outside and took turns sitting in patrol cars and turning on the sirens and flash-
ers (super cool!). They went on fire trucks, saw the inside of an ambulance and heard information from a paramedic, met a sheriff ’s deputy who patrols on his motorcycle, and also took turns sitting on his shiny motorcycle. My son hasn’t stopped talking about the experience, but I have a feeling that next Saturday is going to be even more exciting for him since that day, the class will be focusing on the SWAT team. Greg Gill, a fellow Barbe High School graduate and one of my more interesting Facebook friends, is in possession of what he says is the first Junior Deputy Program badge. “My father was instrumental in developing the program when his uncle Red Gill was Civil Sheriff,” Gill told me. The program does go way back. A September 1963 American Press article that I came across talked about the 10th class of the Junior Deputy Program which included approximately 200 junior high youths who were taking part in what was then a 15-week course. Under then-Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Henry A. Reid, the program was judged tops in the United States at a convention of the nation’s sheriffs in Seattle. We are fortunate to still have this gem of a program in Calcasieu Parish and if you have children who fit the age criteria, you may want to look into enrolling them in the next class. After just one Saturday, my son is standing taller, talking non-stop about all things to do with law enforcement, being more respectful, and dreaming even more about becoming a
future SWAT team officer. Not all kids who go through the Junior Deputy Program will end up in law enforcement and who knows if my child will, but I’m all for anything that teaches kids about being upstanding citizens, giving back to their communities, respecting others, doing something positive with their lives, and having a plan for their futures. Recently, my son wanted to tell me about something that he had just remembered from the class: “Mom, the sheriff lady said that we’re going to be going on a tour of the Correctional Center soon. She said we will be seeing what it’s like inside of a jail and that the goal is that none of us ever end up having to be in jail someday.” Or, as the CPSO website puts it, “One of the field trips involves a tour of our jail facilities in order to see incarceration in an entirely different manner.” Approximately 100 cadets attend each Junior Deputy Program and there is a graduation ceremony at its conclusion. The program is scheduled annually at three different periods during the year. Each session is nine weeks and is held at various locations. For more information about the Junior Deputy Program, contact the Youth Division of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff ’s Office at (337) 491-3621. Lisa Addison wrote her first short story when she was 7 years old and hasn’t stopped writing since. She has two young children, enjoys trying new recipes, and loves going on adventures with her kids. She blogs at: http://swlamama. wordpress.com. March 12, 2015 15
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Redfish on the Half Shell
We traveled to our own backyard for this wonderful dish that is perfect to serve during Lent. Ah, the joys of living in Louisiana, when you can take this beautiful fish caught right out in Big Lake and turn your backyard grill into a gourmet restaurant in 20 minutes or less.
Ingredients
At the Hackberry Rod & Gun Club
½ bunch parsley leaves, picked 6 sprigs mint, picked 2 sprigs basil, picked 2 cups olive oil 3 each garlic cloves, smashed 2 lemons 1 teaspoon red chili flakes 1 tablespoon Cajun Red Head Season All 6 tablespoons olive oil 6 each red fish fillets, skin and scales on (If not freshly caught or you don’t know anyone to give you some, then go to JT’s Seafood on Lake Street in Lake Charles. He has the freshest fish in town.) Season to taste 2 more lemons, cut in half
and pepper. Grill the fish for three minutes flesh sides down, making sure to mark the flesh with the grill. Flip the fish so that the scales are now on the grill, and allow the fish to cook approximately six-eight more minutes or until just cooked through. Squeeze the lemons over the fish, making sure to discard the seeds. Remove from the grill. Spoon the remaining garlic-herb oil over the fish and serve. Serves six. Enjoy!
Preparation Preheat an outdoor grill. Chop the parsley, mint, and basil. Add the herbs, garlic, and chili flakes to a small food processor. Turn on high, and puree. Slowly add the olive oil until all incorporated. Season with Season All. Separate into two bowls: one to brush on the fish before grilling and one to top the fish after grilling. Brush the red fish fillets with olive oil and season with salt Vol. 6 • No. 24
Herb Butter Redfish March 12, 2015 17
By Brian Pitre Prices on produce seem to be increasing by the month. One day you’re buying your children bags of fresh oranges and lemons to squeeze their favorite morning drink and the next, you’re impressing your high school math teacher with your remarkable budgeting skills. Tuesday taco night just hasn’t been the same without the fresh-roasted jalapeños and vine-ripened tomatoes that once filled your grocer’s shelves. It’s no secret the decline in local produce is due to a decline in local providers. The drive to create a longer shelf life for produce has, unfortunately, led to foods that are teeming with chemical preservatives and insecticides. In efforts to reduce your family’s consumption of icky chemicals and buy products, you may find your upper body strength gradually increasing from lugging heavy bags of canned fruits and vegetables into the house. Let’s face it… fresh is fading, and only we can keep it alive. That is why the dedicated staff at Dolby Elementary and the wonderful members of Our Garden Grows are teaching students to “turn a new leaf ” by starting their own community garden. Last year, Jordan Rupert, Pre-K teacher at Dolby Elementary, reached out to the community with aspirations of creating a true “Teaching Garden,” with ways for children to not only learn about where food comes from, but to provide a foundation of service that would allow children to see the value of working together to provide for one another.
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The community saw Rupert’s vision and responded ten-fold. The American Heart Association welcomed this program with open arms, and has been a driving force behind the promotion and funding of the Teaching Garden. Our Garden Grows, LLC also responded to Rupert’s call to arms by breaking ground on the garden project, and has continued to partner as primary consultant. With an all-star team in place and a fast-growing garden planted, Rupert set out to change school history, unaware of just how much of an impact she would make. Once the students were introduced to the science and math required to maintain and sustain a successful garden, they became obsessed. Learning class material quickly became a tangible resource they could apply to goals set, not just as individuals, but also as a community. “Students took a deeper interest in their health when they were allowed to touch and see what their food eats,” Rupert said. “They noticed how the garden helped the school and wanted to help their own families, so many started
planting gardens of their own at home.” The children began tasting fruits and vegetables with a different view. This was more than food. This was the product of children of all ages and walks of life, unifying their efforts for the sake of each other. This is what humanity is all about it. We are here for each other, and that message did not go without recognition. Dolby was awarded the National Network of Partnership Schools Award for excellence in uniting parents, teachers, students, and their community to provide lasting educational opportunities—twice! This year, the team is replanting with plans to provide more year-round produce such as strawberries, blueberries, and spring-to-fall tomato varieties. There has even been talk of introducing the kids to long-term planting such as citrus trees, and other fruit -bearing shrubs and trees. The school welcomes donations of potting soil, mulch, and other organic garden products. If you wish to donate or help out in any way, contact Jordan Rupert at (337) 217-4731, and help kids grow up green! Vol. 6 • No. 24
By Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter Horticulturist Your landscape is there to be enjoyed by you and your family. It’s the setting for your home and provides a space for outdoor activities. Lawn areas offer a wonderful place for kids to play, and family get-togethers and parties take place on decks and patios. If your family includes pets, your landscape will likely be used by them as well. In some ways, having pets in your landscape is like having young children. Although pets are less likely than a young child to get hurt in a landscape, you must still take some similar precautions, such as watching out for poisonous plants. Pets can also cause problems in the landscape. Pets still raise two major issues – keeping your landscape from harming your pet and keeping your pet from harming your landscape.
Hazards
All of us likely grow plants in our landscapes that could be toxic to dogs or cats. The good news is, despite the abundance and ready availability of these plants to pets, incidents of plant poisoning are not especially common. For example, azaleas can be fatally toxic to dogs – and people, too. As they bloom this spring, look around at how many azaleas are in people’s landscapes. Obviously, dogs don’t typically eat azaleas and get poisoned by them. There is one plant, however, that dog owners should be very aware of. The sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is not actually related to palms. It is a gymnosperm related to conifers like pine trees and bald cypresses. As such, the reproductive structures are cones. Sagos come in male and female, and the females present the more dangerous situation. The females form large, domeshaped cones on top of the plant during summer. The seeds mature in January and February and drop to the ground sometime thereafter. The seeds are covered with a fleshy red coating that dogs must find tasty, because they will eat them. Although all parts of the sago are toxic, the seeds are highly toxic to dogs, and I’ve heard of numerous fatalities over the years. Seeds from female sagos should be gathered up and disposed of as soon as you see them in late winter or early spring. Learn which plants are especially toxic to animals – lilies, for instance, are highly toxic to cats – and avoid planting them in your landscape. But I’m not sure how far I would go to radically change an existing landscape – like rip out all of the azaleas – to eliminate all potentially toxic plants.
dead spots will usually fill in with new grass eventually but still look unsightly in the meantime. This can be reduced by flushing the area where dogs urinate with water right after they finish. Cats will use garden beds as litter boxes. They are especially attracted to freshly turned, dry soil. Never leave a turned bed bare. If you aren’t ready to plant, cover it with a thick layer of mulch, tarp or plastic if cats are a problem. Cats seem to be less likely to use beds mulched with pine straw compared with chopped or shredded mulches like bark and cypress mulch. It may sometimes be necessary to discourage a pet from an area. Repellents will help, but must be reapplied fairly frequently over time to be effective. Fences, temporary or permanent, may be necessary to keep dogs from getting into garden areas, such as your vegetable garden, if they have been doing a lot of damage by digging. Cats generally won’t bother decorative ponds or aquatic features in a landscape. But dogs can be a major nuisance. Some breeds are worse than others about getting into the water – labs are especially fond of swimming – so if you are thinking of getting a dog, choose a breed that isn’t so drawn to the water or fence off the feature for existing pets.
Other Tips Dogs and cats will both use the yard when they relieve themselves, and this can create problems. Larger dog breeds may produce enough urine in one spot to kill the grass. These Vol. 6 • No. 24
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The Southwest Louisiana Garden Conference & EXPO inside the Burton Coliseum presents its 16th Annual Show and Plant Extravaganza. It’s all about gardening: flowers, trees, shrubs, garden accessories, books, demonstrations, educational lectures, and general garden tools. Area, regional and interstate exhibitors and vendors will be there to assist you with your plant and garden needs. The Federated Garden Clubs of Southwest Louisiana will present “The Spirit of Adventure,” their 2015 flower show theme and will be displaying their floral design and horticulture talents. There will be new and exciting educational programs about garden topics of interest by LSU AgCenter specialists, as well as regional, and state guest speakers. A Plant Health Clinic will be staffed with professionals from the LSU AgCenter as
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well as Master Gardener volunteers who will help diagnose plant problems and answer garden questions. Educational garden seminars will be ongoing throughout the two-day event,
including Home Vegetable Gardening and Fruit Production on Friday, and Ornamentals and Landscape Gardening & Herbs on Saturday. The SWL Master Gardeners will present their Garden EXPO Preview Party with a Gumbo Supper and Silent Auction in the Chalkley Room of the Burton Coliseum on Thursday, March 26 from 6-8 p.m. Fee is $10 in advance for admission; tickets can be purchased at the LSU AgCenter, 7101 Gulf Hwy., Lake Charles. Attendees will enjoy the gumbo supper, participate in the silent auction, preview the Garden Show and purchase from the participating Garden EXPO vendors that evening. Regular Garden EXPO hours are Fri., March 27 and Sat., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults and free for children 12 and under. For more information, visit www.gardenfest.org.
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E-RECYCLE DAY
CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex is partnering with the City of Sulphur, Team Green of Southwest Louisiana, Keep Calcasieu Beautiful, Stine, and Waste Management to host the seventh annual E-Recycle Day, where community members can bring their electronics for recycling, on Saturday, March 28, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Stine parking lot in Sulphur. Only residential deliveries will be accepted. Acceptable items include: computers, computer monitors, computer peripherals, printers, fax machines, keyboards, photocopiers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, home and office phones, cell phones and consumer electronics. Mercury items accepted include: lamps (fluorescent, high intensity discharge, neon, mercury vapor, high pressure sodium and metal halide), and thermostats and thermometers containing metallic or liquid mercury. Unacceptable items include: smoke detectors, fire alarms, dehumidifiers, large appliances (refrigerators, etc.), medical equipment, and units with sludge or liquids. For more information, please call 337-491-1481.
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and fall, they come to Lake Charles from as far as It is one of the South’s fastest growing Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida for one fantastic festivals. In fact, Flea Fest, the oversized weekend of selling, deal-making, fun and friendsemi-annual flea market and festival that ship. bills itself as “a bargain hunter’s dream” is Vendor Liz Bergeron, a Houma native, can rapidly becoming a major tourist attraction certainly claim one of those unique stories. When for SWLA. One look at Flea Fest’s 13,000 Bergeron traveled to Africa in 2013 on a mission fan-strong Facebook page is evidence of the event’s popularity. With a fan base larger than trip with a child sponsorship organization, she witnessed many of the women from the Emarti even the most established festivals in Southwest Louisiana and boasting between 300-400 village meticulously beading all sorts of items, like earrings, baskets, and necklaces. When she vendors, the festival definitely has something returned home, Bergeron began selling some of folks crave. the beautifully beaded items brought back from Ask any fan of Flea Fest and they’ll tell you her trip. Soon, Bergeron placed an order to purit’s the thrill of “the hunt” that gets their heart chase more of the women’s items. racing, the anticipation that just around the corner, sitting on a shelf or tucked away in a nook at the next booth, is that one hidden treasure they never knew they couldn’t live without. So it’s no surprise that much of Flea Fest’s success can be attributed to the individual vendors that supply those treasures – each with their own unique story. They are an eclectic mix of small business owners, artists, re-purposers, crafters, weekend-warrior garage sellers, and general makers of all things wonderful and whimsical. What started out as a relative handful of local vendors at the very first Flea Fest in April 2013 has exploded to over 300 vendors from across the South. For one weekend each spring Liz Bergeron with women from the Emarti village 22 March 12, 2015
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Right: Patricia Bruns’s workshop Below: Patricia’s unique jewelry, for sale at Flea Fest!
“I sent them pictures of things and had them recreate them,” she said. “Anything that can be beaded, they can do it.” “By purchasing their items, and selling them here in America, it provides employment- a source of income for them- in a place where income is not easily found.” Patricia Bruns of Lake Charles was making custom jewelry pieces for herself and friends before her husband finally convinced her to open her own Etsy shop. She, along with her young daughter, creates one-of-a-kind pieces that are usually made from re-purposed and eco-friendly materials. “I take something old and dirty, and turn it into something beautiful, much like God does with us,” Bruns says. “My pieces have an organic and rustic, yet modern feel. My goal with my jewelry is to inspire, encourage and minister to all who wear it.” And it’s difficult to overlook vendor Larry Binford’s booth at Flea Fest. The Sulphur resident’s booth is festooned with cherry red vintage Coca-Cola vending machines and glowing neon beer signs, along with a cornucopia of all things retro. Binford has spent decades amassing a collection of vintage soft drink vending machines and beverage-related paraphernalia to rival any museum. As an endless line of attendees walk wide-eyed through his booth, Binford takes particular pride in assuring each potential buyer that “Yes! The vending machines actually work”. For these, and indeed all its vendors, Flea Fest provides an experience that goes Vol. 6 • No. 24
far beyond the financial rewards, whether it be a chance to make new friends, tender some much needed encouragement, or even improve the lives of a small group of Kenyan women on the far side of the globe. The spring Flea Fest is set for March 21-22 at the Burton Complex Event Barn. For more information on shopping or becoming a vendor, visit www.FleaFest.com.
Larry Binford’s booth
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Food for Library Fines Program Benefits Local Food Pantry
The Calcasieu Parish Public Library is partnering with the Faith and Friends Food Pantry to gather much needed items in exchange for removing library fines. Patrons can bring in any non-perishable food item starting Sunday, March 15 through Sunday, April 5 to receive a coupon that is good for $5 off of any library fine. The coupon is not valid for copies or prints and cannot be used for lost items. There is no cash value to the coupon and no remaining balance on the coupon will be accepted. The coupon is only good for a one time use, and once a coupon is used, it cannot be reused again, regardless of fine amount. One voucher per account will be handed out and a maximum of 1 voucher will be given regardless of size of donation. The coupon will expire at the end of the year on December 31, 2015. The Faith and Friends Food Pantry was established in 2000 and is the only organization of its type that serves the entire Calcasieu Parish area. It is located at 4009 J. Bennett Johnston Avenue in Lake Charles (on the corner of J. Bennett Johnston Avenue and Main St.) and those interested in learning more about them can call (337) 4399494, Monday through Thursday from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. For more information on the Food for Fines program, visit the library webpage at www.calcasieulibrary.org or call Central Library at 721-7118.
If you’re interested in feasting on savory dishes prepared by various cooking teams representing businesses, industries and individuals who enjoy hunting and fishing, then you’ll want to purchase tickets for the Lake Charles Symphony’s 14th Annual Wild Beast Feast fundraiser. This event will be held at the Historic Cash and Carry Building on Saturday, March 28 with doors opening at 5 p.m. This year’s variety of culinary options includes quail breast in green curry with jasmine rice, watermelon rind and etouffee with soul rolls, duck and venison sausage gumbo, and wild shrimp, crab and corn bisque, to mention a few. Epicureans will find something unique to savor at every table. Where else but in Louisiana can you cherish a part of our culture through the celebration of food? Prizes will be
SWLA Students to Compete at State Poetry Out Loud Competition On February 26, high school students from across the region competed for the top three honors at the Arts Council of SWLA’s annual SWLA Regional Poetry Out Loud Competition at Central School. Poetry Out Loud is a national pyramid tier contest that challenges high school students to memorize and recite poetry in a competitive setting. Leah Worley (16), a junior at DeRidder High School, won third place with her performances of “The Affliction of Richard” by Robert Bridges and “The Cities Inside Us” by Alberto Ríos. Reigner Kane (15), a home-schooled student in the 10th grade, was awarded second place for his recitations of “In a London Drawingroom” by
awarded to the winning teams from a panel of judges. Attendees will enjoy the rock ‘n roll styling’s of 3 Hour Tour featuring Al Touchet, Jay Ecker and Bob Landry and be able to take part in the silent and live auctions featuring trips to the beach, jewelry, gourmet dinners, hunting and fishing trips and more. Tickets are $50 (14 years and up); $25 (7-13 years); and free for
George Eliot and “The End of Science Fiction” by Lisel Mueller. The first place spot was given to John Williams (17), a senior at Alfred M. Barbe High School, for his powerful performances of “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins and “Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare. Worley, Kane, and Williams will continue on to the State Poetry Out Loud Competition in Baton Rouge and compete to be the Louisiana State Champion who will travel to Washington, D.C. for the National Competition. Over $50,000 in stipends and awards are given at Nationals. For more information on Poetry Out Loud, contact the Arts Council office at (337) 439-2787 or visit www.artscouncilswla.org.
those 6 years and under. Gator Chompers are available for $1,000 for a reserved table of eight and Gator Bites are $500 for a reserved half table of four. Both entitle the purchaser to reserved seating and signage at the event. Tickets may be purchased at Gordon Drugs and Fine Gifts, 2716 Lake Street, and Crave Gourmet Baskets and Gifts, 2801 Ryan Street, Suite 100 or online at www.lcsymphony.com. For more information, call (337) 433-1611. 2015 Major Sponsors include Citgo Petroleum, The Stream Family, Iberia Bank, Walnut Grove and Calla Restaurant along with Empire of the Seed, Lake Charles Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Southwest Beverage. Wild Beast Feast is a major fundraiser for the Lake Charles Symphony, raising money to support its educational and outreach programs. Generous contributions by volunteer cooks, ticket buyers and corporate sponsors are valuable components of this fundraiser.
Leslie Bass Abraham (participating chef), Maestro Bohuslav Rattay and Sam Wilkinson (participating chef) Photo: Romero & Romero Photography
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Christian Howes in Southern Exposure March 12 Inspired by his discovery of jazz in his late teens, jazz violinist Christian Howes brings a brilliant twist to live music and inspires crowds with his interpretation of the traditions of many cultures. Bulber Auditorium at McNeese State University March 12 at 7 p.m. Admission: $20 adults, $5 children. Free to McNeese and Sowela students with ID. (337) 475-5123.
Celebrate Orchids March 12-14 Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center will be filled with breathtaking orchids in an amazing array of colors, shapes, sizes and textures. Learn about the orchid through daily Exhibition Greenhouse tours, orchid-related lectures, workshops and activities the whole family will enjoy. March 12-14, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 2111 Park Avenue, Orange, TX. For more info, (409) 670-9113.
Dan Kamin’s Comedy of Charlie Chaplin March 13 Dan Kamin will take audiences on a magical adventure through the world of Charlie Chaplin. He will deconstruct Chaplin’s comedy with film clips, live performance, audience participation and the screening of a newly restored version of The Pawnshop, Chaplin’s short 1916 masterpiece. Bulber Auditorium, McNeese State University March 13 at 7:30 p.m. Admission: $20 adults, $5 children, Free to McNeese and Sowela students with ID. (337) 475-5123.
Sulphur Mines Festival March 13-14 Head to the West Calcasieu Arena & Events Center March 13-14 for the Sulphur Mines Festival, where the city celebrates Sulphur’s heritage! Enjoy carnival rides, food and craft booths, entertainment, a beauty pageant, cook-off and more! Fri. 5-10 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.10 p.m. www.brimstonemuseum.org.
2015 Sulphur Mines Festival Lecture Series Lecturers at this year’s festival include: Friday, March 13th: Noon: Calvin Sharpe - Memories of the Sulphur Mines 1:30 p.m. - Jason Machulski - Pickin’ SWLA 3:00 p.m. - Linda Gill - The Neutral Zone: Not a Part of Louisiana Statehood
Saturday, March 14th: 10:00 a.m. - Thom Trahan - The Sulphur Mines, Lost Landmarks of Sulphur 11:30 a.m. - Danielle Miller & Jim Bradshaw The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson 1:00 p.m. - Bill Sutton - Herman Frasch: The Sulphur King 2:30 p.m. - Adley Cormier - Myths & Legends of SWLA TBD - Mary Ann Redd - A Brief History of Maplewood
Black Heritage Festival March 13-15 Black Heritage Festival will be held at the Lake Charles Civic Center March 13-15. Enjoy live entertainment, food booths, the vendor marketplace, Kids Zone, games, Zydeco aerobics, and Baby Expo/Healthy Baby Contest! Tickets are $5 before 2 p.m. and $10 after 2. www.bhflc.org.
Arbor Day Celebration March 14 The City of Lake Charles and Friends of Tuten Park are sponsoring an Arbor Day celebration on Sat., March 14 from 9 a.m. to noon, at Tuten Park, 3801 Nelson Road in Lake Charles. The free event will include games, entertainment, educational projects and fun hands-on activities for kids and the entire family. (337) 491-9199.
Death by Chocolate March 14 The Sulphur Mines Community Theater presents Death by Chocolate, a Murder Mystery Dinner at the West Calcasieu Arena & Events Center in Sulphur starting at 6:30 p.m. on March 14. Admission is $50 per person and includes dinner and show. (337) 215-1301.
Boys Next Door/CARC Exhibit Through March 15 Members of CARC’s Lifestyle classroom will exhibit 20 pieces of art created in CARC’s Lifestyle classroom at ACTS theatre during
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the performances of The Boys Next Door at ACTS One Reid Street Theatre. The Boys is the hilarious and heartwarming story about four men with various developmental disabilities living in a group home in Boston. The artwork will be available for purchase during the run of the show. All proceeds from the sale will benefit CARC, which provides services to citizens of SWLA with developmental disabilities. (337) 433-ACTS.
Good Shepherd Sale March 20-22 The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd is holding its annual book sale March 20-22. The sale will be held in the EDS gym at the church, 715 Kirkman Street, Lake Charles. Over 15,000 books, new and used, as well as audio books, CDs, and DVDs will be for sale. Hours are Fri., 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Sun., noon-3 p.m. On Sunday, fill a bag for $5!
Itenerant Theatre Presents Race March 21-22, 27-29 David Mamet’s Race will be presented by Itinerant Theatre. Suitable for an adult audience, this hard-hitting play is set in current times and explores issues of identity, race, racism and sexism. Performances are at 7 p.m. March 21, 27, and 28 and at 2 p.m. March 22 and 29 at the Central School Arts & Humanities Center, 809 Kirby Street, Lake Charles. Tickets are $15, or $10 for students. Purchase tickets at the door, at www.itineranttheatre.com, or by calling (337) 436-6275.
are on sale now by contacting The Civic Center Box Office/Ticketmaster at (337) 491-1432 or www.ticketmaster.com.
Families Helping Families Clay Shoot March 27 Families Helping Families of SWLA announces their inaugural “Pull for Families Helping Families” Clay Shoot hosted by Team Mary Elizabeth. It will be held on Fri., March 27 at the Lake Charles Gun Club located at 6601 Ward Line Road in Lake Charles. Event times are 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. There will be food and drinks for all registrants and golf carts, Gators and 4-wheelers are welcome. Funds will be dedicated to providing coaching and support for parents of newly diagnosed children with any type of disability. Register at www.fhfswla.org.
SWLA Garden Conference & Expo March 27-28 Whether you have a green thumb or are just green with envy by your neighbor’s garden, the SWLA Garden Conference & EXPO’s got you covered. With gardening experts on hand, exhibitors and vendors selling plants, garden products and accessories, the EXPO has everything you need to start or maintain your garden. It will be held at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles on March 27-28 from 9 a.m.-5p.m. Admission is $3 per person, and kids 12 and under get in free. www.gardenfest.org.
Beats & Eats March 20 Volunteers of America will hold its Beats & Eats fundraiser on Friday, March 20 from 6-9 p.m. at Treasures of Marilyn’s in Lake Charles. The casual event features a dinner buffet and entertainment by Tommy Shreve & Friends. Products and services donated by area businesses will be auctioned. Additionally, there will be a raffle for a Gift Card Bundle valued at $525. Raffle tickets are being sold in advance for $5, and you do not have to be present to win. Event tickets are $40 per person or $300 for a reserved table of 10 before March 6. (337) 497-0034.
Awkward Family Photos March 20-May 15 Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center will host an opening reception for “Awkward Family Photos” on Friday, March 20 from 5:30-8 p.m. There is no admission, and refreshments will be served. The website, www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com was launched in 2009. After receiving millions of visitors and submissions, the creators organized the traveling exhibition which includes over 200 classic “best of the worst family “portraits along with hilarious behind the awkwardness stories from the actual families. Historic City Hall is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Assemblé 2015 March 21-22 The Lake Charles Civic Ballet presents Assemblé 2015 featuring collaborative works with other local arts organizations and individuals. There will be a broad variety of dance and art performed at this year’s event, so there will truly be something for everyone! Performance dates at the Rosa Hart Theatre in Lake Charles are March 21 at 7 p.m. and March 22 at 3 pm. Ticket prices start at $30 and Vol. 6 • No. 24
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Glad Tidings Church Easter Egg Hunt March 28 Join Glad Tidings for train rides, puppets, inflatable jumps, balloons, and food on March 28 from 10 a.m. – noon. Candy and prizes for all children through age 11. Egg hunt schedule: 0-2 years @ 10:15 a.m., 3-4 years @10:35 a.m., 5-7 years @ 10:55 a.m., 8-11 years @ 11:15 a.m. Bring your own basket! 3400 Texas Street, Lake Charles. (337) 477-7774.
Wild Beast Feast March 28 The Wild Beast Feast, the annual fundraiser for the Lake Charles Symphony, will be held at the Historic Cash and Carry Building in Lake Charles on Sat., March 28 with doors opening at 5 p.m. Enjoy 3 Hour Tour featuring Al Touchet, Jay Ecker and Bob Landry and take part in the silent and live auctions. Individual tickets are $50 (14 years and up); $25 (7-13 years); and free for those 6 years and under. Reserved tables available. www.lcsymphony.com, (337) 433-1611.
Tour of Homes March 29 The 40th Annual Palm Sunday Tour of Homes will feature homes throughout historic Lake Charles with gracious homeowners sharing their gardens and interiors on Palm Sunday, March 29, from 1-5 p.m. Homes will display a variety of distinctive exterior design styles, lush sub-tropical gardens, and exquisite interiors. For more information on tours, prices and schedules, visit www.calcasieup-
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reservation.org or call (337) 433-2385.
Tim Tebow April 10 Tim Tebow will host a “Night of Inspiration” on Fri., Apr. 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lake Charles Civic Center. Sponsored by MaciFest, funds raised will benefit autism organizations in SWLA and McNeese athletics. Tebow will speak in a question-and-answer format. General admission tickets are $35; group discounts are available. For $150, event patrons will receive ground-floor table seating and dinner. Contact Nikki Fontenot at (337) 802-7932 or macifest15@gmail.com, or visit the MaciFest Facebook page at www.facebook.com/macifest.
Jazz in the Courtyard April 17 Jazz in the Courtyard is an open air concert and dinner event featuring the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra, along with the Jazz in the Arts Student Combo and the Westlake High School Jazz Band. It will be held Fri., April 17 at the Calcasieu Marine Bank Building. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $400 for VIP tables of 8. VIP tables receive catfish dinner, complimentary wine and beer, and a private reception with the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. Catfish dinners and cash bar will be available to general admission ticket holders. Doors open and dinner starts at 6 p.m., concert begins at 7 p.m. www. jayecker@hotmail.com, (337) 853-8800 jazzinthearts.webconnex.com/jazzinthecourtyard.
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Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center will host an opening reception for “Awkward Family Photos” on Friday, March 20 from 5:30-8 p.m. The event is open to all ages, with no admission, and refreshments will be served. The exhibition will continue through May 23, 2015. “Awkward Family Photos” aims to explore the perfectly imperfect moments that come with the family experience and provide a place for people to celebrate the awkwardness while taking comfort in the fact that their family is not alone. The exhibition explores ten family themes: The Family Portrait; Siblings; Vacation; The Kids; The Holidays; Weddings; Dad; Mom; The Grandparents; Birthdays; and The Family Pet. The creators of the exhibition hope to “bring all our families a little closer together as we acknowledge those special times when we wished we were a lot farther apart.” When Mike Bender saw an awkward vacation photo hung in his parents’ house, he realized there were probably plenty of other people with their own awkward family pics. As childhood friends, Mike and Doug Chernack set out to create a friendly place where people could share their own odd family moments. Awkward-
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FamilyPhotos.com, the website, was created and launched in 2009 and became an Internet sensation. After receiving millions of visitors and submissions from around the world, the two friends curated the traveling exhibition which includes over 200 classic best of the worst family portraits along with hilarious “behind the awkwardness” stories from the actual families. All the photos are framed in “awkward frames” from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. As far as which photos appear in the exhibit, Bender said, “We chose the photos that have received the biggest response on the site along with personal favorites and a few surprises as well.” Historic City Hall invites locals to join the AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTO WALL. All photos must be submitted via e-mail to artsandculture@cityoflc.us. The staff will make 5x7 prints to be hung on their photo wall and will accept jpg images no larger than 2MB. In the body of the e-mail, please include your story behind the awkwardness. The venue reserves the right to final selection of photos. Photos will not be copied or shared for any purpose other than the Photo Wall for the duration of this exhibition. Historic City Hall is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are gladly accepted. Charlestown Farmers’ Market is open on Bilbo Street behind the center every Saturday 8 a.m.-noon. For more information, call 491-9147 or visit www.cityoflakecharles.com. Vol. 6 • No. 24
March performance creates a complete theatre experience by fusing classical dance with our region’s rich art and music through unique and exciting choreography and artistic collaboration The Lake Charles Civic Ballet is proud to present Assemblé 2015. Assemblé* 2015 features collaborative works with other local arts organizations and individuals. Among the pieces featured are John Ieyoub as The King with choreography by Damien Thibodeaux; LCCB’s original Ou est La Fox?, with live music composed by Sulphur native Jeffrey Roy and conducted by Bill Rose; excerpts from Oklahoma accompanied by Chris Miller and various musicians and singers from the Lake Area; Brahms Suite featuring the vocal accompaniment of soprano Laurie Robertson; and, contemporary pieces staged by Golden Wright. Assemblé 2015 seeks to reach across the bounds of ballet and dance to fuse together a wide range of talent in our local artistic community.
With such a broad variety of dance and art performed at this year’s event, there will truly be something for everyone! Performance dates for Assemblé 2015 at the Rosa Hart Theatre in Lake Charles, LA are Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. Ticket prices start at $30 and are on sale now by contacting The Civic Center Box Office/Ticketmaster at (337) 491-1432 or www.ticketmaster.com. *The name Assemblé [a•sahn•BLAY] is French for “to come together” and a ballet term that denotes a particular jump ending with both the legs and feet coming together. The name was carefully chosen as it also aptly describes the spirit and goal of LCCB’s collaboration with the Southwest Louisiana arts community to create a show that will fuse ballet, music and original choreography into a memorable experience for all audiences. LCCB is graciously supported by the following sponsors: L’Auberge Lake Charles, Fox 29/ The Lake Charles CW7, Iberia Bank, T-Claude Devall and Romero & Romero Photography.
west Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau as Administered by the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana.
More Information For more information or to become a sponsor visit www.lakecharlescivicballet.com, follow @LC_CivicBallet on Twitter, visit www.facebook.com/ lakecharlescivicballet, email us at info@ lakecharlescivicballet.com or call Kelley Saucier at (337) 513-5808.
About LCCB The Lake Charles Civic Ballet (LCCB), a 501c3 non-profit organization, has served the region for more than 45 years and is governed by a board of directors. LCCB is supported by grants from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts, the City of Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, and the SouthVol. 6 • No. 24
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McFarland, USA (Disney, 2015) As small towns go, Mcnowhere else to go, taking a Farland isn’t what you would position as assistant coach call typical. Situated south of and teacher. If you want a Bakersfield, California, it’s more depressing start to a an arid patch of squalor that movie, I challenge you to find looks more like Mexico than it. Jim and his daughters and the U.S. Families stick togeth- wife move into a “house” that er as they rise early and go to is one step up from tenework picking cabbages, shell- ment housing. The neighbor’s ing almonds, and heading chickens wake him early home at dark. The kids go to every morning. work before school, starting McFarland High School is age 11, to help their families situated across from a penisurvive. tentiary, to which many of his This is the perfect place for students graduate. Demoted Jim White (Kevin Costner), a quickly from coaching to PE hot-tempered football coach. teacher, Jim has his classes After throwing a shoe at a of poor Latino students run sassy quarterback in Boise, laps. Having no cars, the boys Idaho, he gets fired. White then run home. It turns out arrives at McFarland with they run everywhere, even
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from the cabbage fields to school in the morning. And when Jim follows one of the boys, clocking him with a kitchen timer, he measures a pace of five minutes a mile. That’s fast. So Jim White gets an idea for a new team at McFarland. Based on a true story, McFarland USA doesn’t try to be funny, and is about as laid back as a movie can be. The drama of team sports is part of the story, but it’s really about conviction and what motivates us. Most amazing, it shows many of us a part of America you never knew existed. Compared to McFarland, CA, we really live in a tropical paradise here in Louisiana. But like so many people in our area, the folks in McFarland have a friendliness and devotion to each other that makes it a special place. Although the story is a little rough, the scenery, extensively filmed, is beautiful. McFarland is in Kern County, which has rolling areas of chaparral punctuated by mountains. The families live rough lives working as pickers, and in 1987, few got a chance to complete high school, let alone attend col-
lege. White wants to change that. Truly a family movie about families, some scenes will break your heart. White stops at a store and finds four of the boys in his class drinking out of a water hose. With a coke in his hand, he asks why they don’t get a cold one inside. Their laughing sarcastic answer is “This is free, White.” Costner is supported in the leading role by a strong cast, as White’s daughters contend with a new culture and schools. The boys White coaches all shine in their roles as teens coming of age. As he comes to understand how McFarlanders live, White develops a respect and admiration for his students and their families. Yes, it’s a story told before, but the authenticity of McFarland is amazing, and becoming a hallmark of Costner’s latest films. Most amazing is the credit roll, showing the real life people the movie is based on, a “where they are now” segment that truly shows the difference one person made in a town, a state, and a country. It all comes down to people. McFarland USA is rated PG for a gang attack. Enjoy!
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1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
You turned up the volume – again. Surely, the guy in the car next to yours must think you’re weird. There you are, groovin’ to your tunes, seat-dancing, singing along like you were in-concert. Really, is there such a thing as having the music too loud? No. There’s not, so turn up the volume one more time and read 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music by Andrew Grant Jackson. As the year 1965 began, more than 40 percent of Americans were under 20 years old. Teens emulated their parents then: boys wore short hair, girls wore long skirts. Segregation was common, color TV was new, 80 percent of America was white, and the country’s youth had tasted The Beatles and loved them. Bob Dylan did, too, though John Lennon had once dismissed his music. The Rolling Stones were singing “puppy love” songs, while Barry Gordy hoped his Supremes might follow in Dean Martin’s footsteps since the “big money” was in nightclubs. Marvin Gaye, meanwhile, wanted to be “singing Cole Porter,” Malcolm X (who would soon be assassinated) met Martin Luther King, and thousands marched to Montgomery. As winter turned to spring, Roger Miller captured six GRAMMYs; Charlie Pride struggled with recording deals in a segreVol. 6 • No. 24
gated music industry; and Johnny Cash accidentally, drunkenly, set fire to 500 acres of California forest. The Byrds’ music “gave birth to the West Coast hippie dance style…” Girls wore shorter skirts and boys wore longer hair, which “angered” future presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who gave a classmate an impromptu haircut. By the summer of 1965, President Johnson launched Medicaid, Medicare, and escalated America’s presence in Vietnam. Sonny and Cher got you, Babe; everybody was dancing at discotheques; Barry Gordy hired “a charm school teacher” to prepare the Supremes for stardom… and Watts burned. With 1965 winding down, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’s album whipped up interest. Frank Sinatra insisted that Sammy Davis, Jr. be allowed to stay at Rat Pack hotels, and Paul McCartney allowed a string quartet on “Yesterday.” Cass Elliot became a Mama, John Lennon insulted Carol King, and drug songs were hip. And so, at years’ end, was the premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I looked it up: time travel remains merely theoretical. Still, you can have the next best thing by reading 1965. This book will have you humming along
with songs you remember (or recognize, if you weren’t around then). Author Andrew Grant Jackson melds history, music, and little-known anecdotes as seamlessly as butter, but what’s most fascinating about this book is seeing how times changed so completely in one year: we went from flattops to Beatle mops, from black segregation to Black is Beautiful, from “I Feel Fine” to “I Feel Good.” And, indeed, it was. So is this book, and I think 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music is what you should reach for next. If you’re an oldies fan, a follower of culture, or if you remember the year with fondness (or regret), how could you turn it down?
“1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music” by Andrew Grant Jackson ©2015, 2015, Thomas Dunne Books $27.99/ $32.50 Canada 352 pages March 12, 2015 33
I’d had enough. The craziness of the day, the stress of the week, all of it. Even for one who tends to thrive in the madness and insanity of the world around him, limits are reached and resolutions are hunted and sometimes those resolutions turn up in odd and unusual places. I knew that, on this night, no great answers would be found. The best I could hope for was a little repose, a quite place for my mind to spin and be unfettered and hopefully something that could calm and inspire this wayward soul. I needed art and I wanted mine on the rocks. The cool damp of the evening wrapped around me as I trod the streets of downtown Lake Charles. I walked, looking for a place to hide, a place to curl up inside of a highball glass and drown in the sweet nectar contained within. The sights, sounds and smells of this Saturday evening invaded my Bourbon senses with the kind of energy that I usually look for: people, music, food... But not this night. It instead pushed me away like poles of a magnet and drove me through the crowds and sounds and guided me further north, past the edge of their din to a quiet corner that would hopefully offer the solace I was looking for. I found myself standing in a room that looked like the intellectual offspring of Frank Lloyd Wright and Andy Warhol. There was some kind of strange intensity in its abstract elegance that appealed to me, but it certainly wasn’t what I was here for. A bit of exploring led me up a spiral staircase to finally find the small, dark bar crammed in the back of the balcony overlooking the opu-
Smash
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lence below. I somehow was still able to get a seat, a rare commodity on busy night, to be sure. The bartender was a distracted young man who was busy making drinks and conversing with other patrons about the frat bar he used to work for which was all the better in my book once I finally got that first drink in my hands. The only company and conversation I wanted would be muddled, mixed, shaken and left sitting on the bar in front of me while he and the other patrons carried on and quickly faded off into the background. Enter the infamous Bourbon Smash, whose family origins are purported to date back to the late 1860s. Within was muddled blackberry puree, lemon juice, and fresh mint shaken with and left to float amongst a healthy pool of Bulleit Bourbon. The depth of bourbon coupled with the sweet tart of the fresh blackberries The 10 was a conundrum on my Bramble palate but one that would soon feel like a long lost lover, as a deep warmth and comfort soon began to swell from my guts. It was powerful, not in that it was overtly alcoholic as much as it was powerful in spirit and in the poetry that been crafted together and poured into a fancy bar glass. It was almost as powerful as the intensity
pouring off the beautiful blonde eying me from across the bar. Shame. Another night maybe, but my mission was not complete and I had many drams to drink before I could sleep, so I paid the lad and moved along before more primal inclinations took hold. Back on the streets as the downtown din continued, I decided it was time to move. I headed south trying to follow my instincts to something else. Somewhere else... I soon found myself bathed in the evening lights of a local casino. I made my way past the one-armed bandits and beat a straight path to the steakhouse bar where I found a seat near a mustached man in a porkpie hat quietly tinkling away at a strangely colored baby grand piano. Easily a more fitting environment for my current state of mind. An exotic-looking bartender arrived. This time, I surrendered myself to chance.
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“I want something different. Something by me outside the passenger windows of the tongue. As I savored this legend in a glass, craft. Something creative. Something implic- cab. I had no idea where I was going and had the first strains of The Coasters “Down in itly you.” starting forgetting why I had embarked on Mexico” hummed through the noisy bar and The Old With a coy this maddening ride to begin with. Trying it was at that point something finally started Fashioned smile, she turned to keep a grip on my intent was growing to make sense. and set about more challenging every minute, but my Our lives and the things we love in it are her task, pullintensity of purpose was only growing born from and strive to be boiled down to ing various postronger as the ethanol crept through two broad concepts: Where we’ve been and tions and potables my veins taking hold on what was left where we’re going. and putting each of my tortured mind. I knew there was It’s the thoughts, actions and ideas of piece in place to something I was looking for out there. Some- yesteryear that have brought us to where produce a perfectly thing more than drink or an escape. There we are and it’s those same facets of our lives poured piece of was meaning out there somewhere and I was today that determine where we will go and palette-pleasing art. running out of time to find it. who we will be in the days yet to come. Be it The result? The 10 The sign of a familiar diner cut through in the art we create, the business we run, the Bramble, a strikingthe fog of my vision and offered the promise music we listen to, the people we love or the ly similar concocof one last shot to pin down whatever specter ways that we pass our days, the classics and tion to the one that was waiting for me this night. The neon the new innovations are interdependent and started off my evening. A bramble is of the lights of an adjacent bar pulled me in to give they will cease to be or will never be realized same lineage as the aforementioned smash, it one last go. Inside, it was busy, full of lateif one is separated from the other. but this gin-based variation on the theme nighters and host to a number of the servers Who’s to say that The Coasters would features Tanqueray’s exquisite “10” (named and bartenders I’d seen that very night, now have ever gotten around to hits like “Yakkity for the #10 still at the distillery that it is finished with their shifts and seeking solace Yak,” “Charlie Brown” “Along Came Jones” created in), blackberries and fresh lemon and “Poison Ivy” had it not been for that “I want something different. and lime for a lighter brighter quaff than first single about a honky tonk down in the woody bourbon character of the Smash. Something craft. Something creative. Mexico or that any of them would have Still, despite is fruity / summery feel, it had Something implicitly you.” happened at all without the Glenn Milla depth and complexity that resonated with ers, Al Jolsens, and Satchmos of the day? me and with those dark troubled recesses of or release in a drink of their own. It takes one eye rooted in the past and the my mind that sent me out questing for these Taking the last open seat at the copperother focused on the future to make the great mad drinks in the first place. topped bar, I waited for the raven-haired things that we want to happen in our lives As I sat communing with the spirits as ingénue to make her way down and ask what finally happen. it were, I noticed another lovely barmaid my next libation was going to be. The truth So I guess I was wrong when I said that decorating her canvas of choice with a thin of it was, I didn’t know and when I asked for there would be no great truths to be found lengthwise cut of fresh cucumber. My brood- something different or unique to their bar, I that night. The answers were out there just ing briefly gave way to a bit of curiosity and was met with a blank stare and the growing this time but, for me at any rate, they were I began asking her what she was working on. impression that she had no interest in my waiting at the bottom of cocktail glass. Many Soon, before me sat her signature creation, quest and simply wanted to make me a drink seek answers there and never find it beThe White Linen, an unusual yet inspired and move on to the next patron. I was in cause they are asking the wrong questions or concoction of Bombay Sapphire Gin, St. no condition to argue or explain the gravthey’re seeking an answer that’s simply not Germaine, fresh lemon juice and cucumber. ity of the truths I was seeking to this young there. Oddly enough, this strange amalgamation woman, so I told her to make me something It’s like going to hear a symphony and exhad something akin to the smell of freshly classic or old fashioned and, incidentally, I pecting to find a way to make a better mixed cut grass about it that somehow, wasn’t got just that. drink. There are great truths off-putting in the slightest. It was light and Dating back over 200 years, and brilliance there, but unThe Sidecar clean and, though not at all the type of drink the mix of whiskey, sugar, less you are realistic about my mind was crying out for, I found myself bitters and citrus rind that the questions, you’ll just actually beginning to relax and enjoy myself. would eventually pick up the find yourself a drunken maWhich meant it was time to move on. name The Old Fashioned in niac prowling the town looking I bade the booze-bringing belles my the 1880s is still consumed by for answers that aren’t there. As for goodbyes and caved in and decided to try many the world over and is considered myself, I found something I wasn’t my luck on the floor before striking out once one of the most fundamental cocktails to exactly looking for but craved with all again. Cursed machines took me for a ride have ever been crafted. This was a flavor of my being. Knowing and fully underbut it was exactly what I needed to get my that was no stranger to these lips. The bitter standing where we’ve come from and perspective for the evening back. That, and and sweet and boozy flavors danced a crazy where we’re going is a wisdom that any the Bayou Spiced Rum and Cokes I was fed dance that could only fit the jagged pace and human anywhere can only hope for. I was in the process stoked that beastly fire yet a timbre of my evening. very lucky this night. A man much wiser bit more and gave me the fuel I needed to get I followed it with another century-plusthan myself once said, “I hate to advocate back out there and face the harrowing night old recipe, the Sidecar, yet another of the six drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to once again. classic cocktails. The combination of coanyone, but they’ve always worked for The streetlights had begun to take on gnac, Cointreau and lemon juice that me” and as much as I am inclined an eerie glow and the shadows of the night has also found some way to sustain to agree, yeah.. this time, somelooked evil and menacing as the world swam itself over the decades dazzled my how... they worked for me too. Vol. 6 • No. 24
March 12, 2015 35
Thursday, Mar. 12 Happy Hour 4 p.m.-1 a.m. @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC
Rusty Yates
DJ Crush
7 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar
11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC
L’Auberge Casino Resort
Rusty Yates
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
6 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar
Street Side Jazz Band
777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC
7 p.m. @ Luna Bar and Grill 710 Ryan St., LC
Bernie Alan 7 p.m. @ Mikko Live
David Locklear
Coushatta Casino Resort
7 p.m. @ Loggerheads
777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
3748 Hwy 305, LC
Karaoke Night
Frayed Soul
9 p.m. @ Crystal’s
8 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
112 W. Broad St., LC
L’Auberge Casino Resort
Saturday, Mar. 14 Rusty Yates 7 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar 777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC Ladies Night—DJ Crush 11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark L’Auberge Casino Resort 777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
At Fault 9 p.m. @ Mikko Live Coushatta Casino Resort 777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
3 Hour Tour 7:30 p.m. @ Loggerheads
Friday, Mar. 16
Josephine
3748 Hwy 305, LC
9 p.m. @ Gator Lounge Delta Downs 2717 Delta Downs Drive, Vinton
Vince Vance & The Valiants 8 p.m. @ The Center Stage
Mr. DJ
3426 Ryan Street, LC
9 p.m. @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC Jessie Taylor
36 March 12, 2015
At Fault 9 p.m. @ Coushatta Casino Resort 777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
Live @ the Lakefront Gal Holiday & the Honky Tony Review and The Yams
9 p.m.- midnight @ Cigar Club
Dance Night
9 p.m. @ Gator Lounge
6-10 p.m. @ Arcade Amphitheater
9 p.m.- 4 a.m. @ Crystal’s
Delta Downs
Lakefront Promenade, LC
112 W. Broad St., LC
1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC Josephine
2717 Delta Downs Drive, Vinton Vol. 6 • No. 24
Mr. DJ
Special Event Night
9 p.m. @ Bourbonz
9 p.m. – 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s
3436 Ryan St., LC
112 W. Broad St., LC
Sunday, Mar. 15 Street Side Jazz Band 11 a.m. @ Luna Bar and Grill 710 Ryan St., LC
Ellis Vanicor and the Lacassine Playboys 3-7 p.m. @ Wayne & Layne’s Deli 3906 Hwy 27 S, Sulphur
Watchers 10 p.m. @ Luna Live
Tuesday, Mar. 17
710 Ryan St., LC
Guys Night @ Bourbonz
Eric John Kaiser/ Cesca Waterfield 8 p.m. @ The Center Stage 3426 Ryan Street, LC
3436 Ryan St., LC DJ Crush
Brian Racca, Jr.
11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
Jazz Night
Two for Tuesday on Everything!
9-midnight @ Cigar Club
L’Auberge Casino Resort
6:30 @ Loggerheads
9 p.m. - 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s
1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
3748 Hwy 305, LC
Vol. 6 • No. 24
112 Broad St., LC
March 12, 2015 37
Wednesday, Mar. 18
Talent Night
Chris Miller & Bayou Roots 6:30 @ Loggerheads
9 p.m. - 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s
Willie Tee, Warren Storm & Cypress
112 Broad St., LC
3748 Hwy 305, LC
7 p.m. @ Mikko Live
Thursday, Mar. 19
Coushatta Casino Resort
Happy Hour
777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
4 p.m.-1 a.m. @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC
Funeral House/Aurum 8 p.m. @ The Center Stage
Kay Miller & Aaron Horne
3426 Ryan Street, LC
William Christian
6 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar
Karaoke Night
8 – 11 p.m. @ Cigar Club
L’Auberge Casino Resort
9 p.m. @ Crystal’s
1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC
777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC
112 W. Broad St., LC
AT O M I C
H E A R T From as far back as we have discovered, man has been decorating his body with a variety of mediums, all serving a different purpose. Ötzi is a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived on the border between Austria and Italy. He lived around 3105 BCE and was found with a number of carbon tattoos all over vital parts of his body. Religion, medicine, societal status, mourning, etc., are just some of the reasons man sought to mark his flesh with the patterns he felt in his heart. However, we as a people have come a long way from the Iceman discovered in the Alps, and so have our methods and reasons for body art. Ink in the Lake Area has been building in popularity in recent years with a multitude of shops popping up all over the city. One shop in particular is buzzing with business, and the artistry rolling out the door has really made the name stick. Atomic Heart Tattoo has been open and operating for over six years. Letting their work speak for itself,
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Vol. 6 • No. 24
Ladies Night – DJ Cage 11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark L’Auberge Casino Resort 777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
Friday, Mar. 20 Live @ the Lakefront Feufollet and Sinners 6-10 p.m. @ Arcade Amphitheater Lakefront Promenade, LC Kay Miller & Aaron Horne 7 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar L’Auberge Casino Resort 777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC
Isis 7 p.m. @ Mikko Live Coushatta Casino Resort 777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
BB & Company 9 p.m. @ Gator Lounge Delta Downs 2717 Delta Downs Drive, Vinton
Bluesiana Red
Karaoke 9 p.m. @ Coolers 3622 1/2 Ryan St. LC
8 p.m. @ The Center Stage 3426 Ryan Street, LC Street Side Jazz Band 7 p.m. @ Luna Bar and Grill 710 Ryan St., LC Casey Chesnutt 7:30 p.m. @ Loggerheads 3748 Hwy 305, Lake Charles
they continue to produce some of the city’s cleanest and most professional art. A tattoo is not just a picture on your skin; it’s a memory, a journey from start to finish with you and the artist you select. The crew at Atomic Heart recognizes this and strives
Backyard Cowboys 8 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
Wayne Dylan 9 p.m.- Midnight @ Cigar Club 1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC
L’Auberge Casino Resort
Dance Night 9 p.m. – 4 a.m. @ Crystal’s
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
112 W. Broad St., LC
to implement that mentality into every customer interaction. When shopping for your next tattoo, bring your ideas to the couch at Atomic Heart and let one of their skilled artist turn your vision into a piece that is nothing short of INKredible.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Atomic Heart Tattoo 4303 Common St., Lake Charles, LA 70607 Mon - Sat: noon - 8 p.m. •Clean Comfortable Environment •Experienced Custom Artists; Our Work Does The Talking! 337.480.4007 www.atomichearttattoo.com
Vol. 6 • No. 24
cover-up
March 12, 2015 39
Saturday, Mar. 21
Sinners 10 p.m. @ Luna Live 710 Ryan St., LC
7 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar
Public Cruise
L’Auberge Casino Resort
on Lady of the Lake with Acoustic Pie, departs Loggerheads @ 6 p.m.
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
3748 Hwy 305, LC
DJ Cage 11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
Yesterday History. It’s just one of those things. Every place and every person has their own and it serves as a guidebook for what has brought us or it to the here and now. We memorialize, honor and remember those significant points and people in various ways. Monuments, museums and other tributes give us not only the opportunity to reflect on such things, but they provide us tools to share them with our children, their children and so on. But, what would happen if these things ceased to be? If the lakefront Veterans Memorial Park became nothing but a grassy lawn overlooking our namesake lake? If the pages of all the history books at Carnegie Memorial Library went blank? If the Imperial Calcasieu Museum was nothing but an empty room in the shade of the regal Sallier Oak? What if it all just went away? The phrase “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” has been repeated and rehashed by many since they were first penned by George Santayana some hundred years or so ago. Despite its elegance and quotability, it does, to this writer anyway, leave off the very important other half of the equation. There are plenty of facets of history that are worth repeating. Great deeds and great minds are the template of the things we 40 March 12, 2015
Kay Miller & Aaron Horne L’Auberge Casino Resort 777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC Flashback 7:30 p.m. @ Loggerheads 3748 Hwy 305, LC
should all aspire to. Knowing our roots and the legacy of our families, our towns, our states and our countries is a vital part of figuring out who we are, why we live where we do and what made the world around us the big crazy spinning blue marble that it has come to be. Preserving those stories, those songs and the legacy of those pioneering spirits of the past is vital, both for us and for generations to come. One such bastion of the remnants of yesteryear is Sulphur’s Brimstone Museum whose own history spans back to the nation’s bicentennial. It not only tells the story of the city’s now 101 years of existence, it is also tells of the origins of the revolutionary mining process developed by Dr. Herman Frasch used to extract the precious sulfur from the ground that brought the first geologists and settlers to the area dating back to the 1860s, the only such tribute in existence. Ingenuity, tenacity and persistence are all represented here in golden form and are the elements of history that we most certainly do want to repeat. So how do we keep such things alive? Well, visiting and patronizing are certainly important, but finding ways to support and maintain these things in other ways are equally necessary. It just so happens that I know of a great way to do that and see some great musicians while you are at it! The Sulphur Mines Festival has been a tradition for many years and is back for the 2015 edition on Friday and Saturday, Vol. 6 • No. 24
Large Marge/ Viridian/First Jason Vection/They Will Fall/Brother Wolf
Isis
Kory Fontenot
7 p.m. @ Mikko Live
9 p.m.- Midnight @ Cigar Club
Coushatta Casino Resort
1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC
Sunday, Mar. 22 Street Side Jazz Band
777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
8 p.m. @ The Center Stage 3426 Ryan Street, LC
777 Ave. L’Auberge, LC
Fortunate Youth
11 a.m. @ Luna Bar and Grill
10 p.m. @ Luna Live
710 Ryan St., LC
710 Ryan St., LC
BB & Company Special Event Night
9 p.m. @ Gator Lounge
DJ Cage
Ellis Vanicor and the Lacassine Playboys
9 p.m. – 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s
Delta Downs
11 p.m. @ Jack After Dark
3-7 p.m. @ Wayne & Layne’s Deli
112 W. Broad St., LC
2717 Delta Downs Drive, Vinton
L’Auberge Casino Resort
3906 Hwy 27 S, Sulphur
March 13-14. This year, things are getting a little bigger. Relocated now to the West-Cal Events Center, the 2015 festival will feature arts & craft vendors, food booths, a carnival and, for the first time, live entertainment. Things kick off at noon on Friday with the opening of the vendor floor and the music starts at 4:30. Saturday’s fun begins at 10 a.m. with music from 2:30 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person with all proceeds benefitting the beloved Brimstone Museum and their continuing efforts to keep the history and legacy of Sulphur’s fair city alive now and for the generations to come. For more information, visit them at www.brimstonemuseum.org. If a different type of show is what you are looking for, the second and final performance of The Mines Dinner Theater Death by Chocolate will be taking place in the adjacent West-Cal Ballroom and promises a night of interactive murder-mystery madness with a delicious meal to boot. Tickets are $50 and seating is limited, so tickets must be purchased in advance online at http://theminestheatre.org/ or in person at the Brimstone Museum.
Advanced Class March 14, 9-noon Paint Your Own Piece March 28, 1-4 Basic 101 Class April 11, 9-noon Paint Your Own Piece April 25, 1-4 Basic 101 May 2, 1-4 Paint Your Own Piece May 16, 9-until Stencilings/Frostings May 30, 9-noon
For questions or more info on pricing and availability of our classes, give us a call!
Something’s Happening Here...
Sulphur Mines Festival Music Lineup Friday, March 13 4:30 – Cajun Playboys 6:30 – sinners Saturday, March 14 2:30 – Pookie Marceaux Band 6:30 – Zydecane 6:30 – Wayne Dylan It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday... So don’t. Get out there and throw some historical love around, enjoy a great family-friendly weekend and GO SEE THESE talented musicians. If you see me out there, come let me know what ya think! Until next time, I’ll see you at the show! Vol. 6 • No. 24
March 12, 2015 41
12 Stones 10 p.m. @ Luna Live 710 Ryan St., LC
Tuesday, Mar. 24 Guys Night @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC
Sera Buras 6 p.m. @ Ember Grille & Wine Bar L’Auberge Casino Resort
7 p.m. @ Mikko Live Coushatta Casino Resort 777 Coushatta Drive, Kinder
777 Avenue L’Auberge, LC Karaoke Night LeRoy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners
9 p.m @ Crystal’s 112 W. Broad St., LC
Jazz Night 6:30 p.m. @ Loggerheads 3748 Hwy 305, LC Dancing 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s 112 Broad St., LC
Wednesday, Mar. 25 Karaoke with DJ Cornbread 7 p.m. @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC Chris Miller & Bayou Roots 6:30 p.m. @ Loggerheads 3748 Hwy 305, LC
Tonight By Moonlight 8-11 p.m. @ Cigar Club 1700 E. Prien Lake Rd., LC Karaoke with Avid Sounds 9 p.m. @ Coolers 3622 1/2 Ryan St. LC Talent Night 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. @ Crystal’s 112 Broad St., LC
Thursday, Mar. 26 Happy Hour 4 p.m.-1 a.m. @ Bourbonz 3436 Ryan St., LC 42 March 12, 2015
Vol. 6 • No. 24
By Jody Taylor Record collectors of LA/TX unite! It’s time for another round of the Vinyl Haul Swap Meet (Ides edition), in Lafayette, LA. Make the drive eastward on Sunday March 15 for great records at cheap prices (or your gem in the rough), meet fellow collectors, and “get all excited about music.” This twice-yearly event is free to attend, and sellers are still welcome to sign up for a small donation. Blue Moon Saloon hosts (itself a Louisiana treasure), and a live DJ will be spinning real deal black circles. Major vendors are expected from Mobile and New Orleans, to Pineville in north Louisiana, and of course Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. The fellows responsible for staging this grand comingtogether are the founders/admins of a Facebook group over 600 strong known as The Acadiana Vinyl Haul. I spoke with Travis Gauthier, an “everyday photographer” by trade, to gain some background on the influential community. Back in July 2011, Gauthier and a handful of friends (Sean Landry, Michael Gremillion, and Scott and Donny Gallagher) decided to start a Facebook group where they could show off their finds and give each other a heads-up on new stores and shipments. Since then, word of mouth and a national resurgence of interest in collecting records has kept the group’s numbers steadily rising. Some backstory for interested non-collectors: the music industry is changing. Record sales are on the rise (for whatever reasons given), and there’s a bunch of reasons to choose vinyl over digital files and portable devices, such as ”It sounds better/warmer, The cover art is bigger” or “Collecting records makes me hip.” All of this is true. But these things add up to a stronger bond with the music we consume. It’s Burger King vs. Ruth Chris. We savor records, spend time with them, dig for subtleties. Plus, Little Richard at high volume is the absolute best for cleaning house. It’s a perfect storm for us here in Louisiana. We have strong cultural ties and the beat runs in our veins. These passionate hobbyists of the Acadiana Vinyl Haul generate enthusiasm and sales. “We drive a big consumer base to the local stores,” Gauthier said. “I get shop owners that say 90 percent of [their customers] find out about them from the group.” The savviest shop owners recognize this marketing power and post photos of new shipments or offer discounts to group members. As Gauthier said, “The group is focused on the buyers, but it Vol. 6 • No. 24
helps the sellers.” A recent study going around on Facebook (based on data from the website Yelp) showed “the most disproportionately popular type of store” for each of the 50 states, and Louisiana apparently has 404 percent more record shops than the national average. Of course, Louisiana loves its music but it’s tough not to credit at least some of this regional interest to the Acadiana Vinyl Haul. So what keeps group members coming back to participate? On an average day, you’ll see 10-20 user-submitted posts of fresh acquisitions and where to find ‘em, playlists for the day, sound system/listening room swagger, and links to big online sales. All of this paired with an extensive directory of vinyl shops in the region makes the Acadiana Vinyl Haul an invaluable resource for the Louisiana collector. But being informed isn’t the only reason for such an active group. There’s a sense of community in acts like what Gauthier called “hauling it forward,” or giving a heads up to another group member of a supply they’d be interested in. Every taste of music is encouraged and new collectors stand to gain a better sense of value, etiquette, and jargon simply by lurking. No one profits from the group. It’s simply driven by the thrill of a good find, the love for a great melody. There is a downside: “You definitely start being more active about finding [records] because you see what other people are getting, or you find out about sales or new shops,” Gauthier said. “Being a member of the Acadiana Vinyl Haul could be hard on your wallet.” That being said, it’s been a whole six months (and many, many hauls) since the last Swap. The crates are fresh. Soon the hunt will be on…and as in real hunting (like with a gun), we gauge our success by what we take home. “Even if you bring stuff to sell, you’re lucky if you break even,” Gauthier said.
The Blue Moon Saloon is located near the heart of downtown Lafayette, at 215 E. Convent Street, and the sales run from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, March 15. For more information about the Swap Meet, or to join the Acadiana Vinyl Haul group, go to www.facebook.com/groups/AcadianaVinyl. Sellers should contact one of the hosts prior to event day. Happy hauling! For further hauling, check out the next Record Raid event on April 4 at Zeitgeist in uptown New Orleans. For more info, point your browser to www.facebook.com/record.raid. March 12, 2015 43
BOAT, SPORT AND RV SHOW The Boat, Sport and RV Show keeps getting bigger and better each year! This three-day event lured in the crowds. Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast or not, there was something for everyone, from boats, jet skis, scuba gear fishing tackle--and even a large aquarium for the kids! Camping enthusiasts checked out the amenities of RVs and cool camping gear. Let’s hear it for the great outdoors!
Kaden Mott with Mesonie and Buck Halley
Barry and Bryn Painter with Emily and Lance McFarland
Angie Bellow, Christy Clark and Jottie Allison
Alesea and Jeff Baker
Karen Henderson with Harper Henderson, Harrison, Briggs, Kelly and Reid Hurt and Kelly and James Henderson
BOWL FOR KIDS’ SAKE Bowl for Kids’ Sake is the biggest fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lake Charles. Held at Petro Bowl, organizations, businesses and supporters created teams and bowled for a great cause! Lots of good fun for the whole family! See you next year!
Kimmie Saucier, Hollie Zimmerman and Sarita Schoufeins
Bryan Armentor and Emily Doty 44 March 12, 2015
Matt Simon and Carolanne Taylor
Sara Dupre and Taylor Morrell
Kalil Reynolds, Latressa Gregoire and Nick Moss
Vol. 6 • No. 24
GIRLS BASKETBALL MARSH MADNESS The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Girls Basketball State Championships were held at Burton Coliseum Complex. Basketball fans, rom all over the state were there to support their high school teams and cheer them on! Finals are next! Go teams!
Casas Prudhome, Mary Craig and Sara Arbuckle
Anita Dunnehoo and Brandy Estey
Vol. 6 • No. 24
Derreka Spencer and Riyana Fields
John IV, John, Ja’Lia and Jabari Hall
Hannah Miller, Maddie and Dalby Augustine, Izzy Courville and Molly Daigle
March 12, 2015 45
MARDI GRAS CARNIVAL The last of Mardi Gras fun was the carnival held on the Lake Charles Civic Center grounds. There were fast rides for the daring, kiddie land for the little tykes, and all that carnival food that we love so much, like fried anything on a stick, funnel cakes, caramel apples, corn dogs and soooo much more to stir your appetite. Perfect ending to a perfect season!!
Raylon Harris, Journee Washington and Keyonee Williams
Cassidi Melson, Desiree Blakley and Courtnee Melson
46 March 12, 2015
Kyren Richard, Angela Joubert and Alayah and Ronald Gilmore
Julie, Billie and McKenzie Hagen
Keisha and Keyon Guillory
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Vol. 6 • No. 24
March 12, 2015 47