Sound and Vision Saturday

Plenty of delights for all of your senses this Saturday. After you pick up your free t-shirt for helping with the Highland neighborhood clean-up, fill the rest of the day with art.

Steven Soffer's Sound and Vision Show opens with a reception at 1 pm at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 3201 Centenary Blvd.

Also there's all day long Lead Belly Blues Festival at Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport. Wrap up your night with Katfish and Kocktails at 6 pm at artspace.

Remembering Maggie

Just east of the main gate of the Greenwood Cemetery in Shreveport is the grave of Maggie Lear. And 100 years after her murder, folks still visit her monument and leave tokens of love.

Shreveport historian Eric Brock wrote about Maggie's death in a February 9, 2005 article in The Forum. Magaret Bauman Lear was just 16 when she was killed in 1906 by Charles Coleman. After her funeral the Shreveport Journal and the First National Bank began taking up a collection to purchase the very monument that stands over her grave today and is inscribed "A Tribute of Sympathy from the Citizens of Shreveport."

Spring Sprung Sprout

What is it about warm weather that makes us want to eat at Counter Culture? We stopped the other day and got an avocado sandwich and a baby yogurt. Tasty!

We feel green when we eat there. As long as we don't idle in the drive through. Get out and go in. Better yet, go to the 203 E. Kings Hwy location and dine on the patio. P.S. Wish they had a website or blog. We have to settle for this information about Counter Culture from the Shreveport Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau.

Free Mustard Greens

Why is it when times get tough we want to hunker down and wallow in isolation? Play 2009 in a different way. Join the folks in your neighborhood and create abundance. One of the best places to do that is at the many community gardens in Shreveport.

In fact tomorrow morning you can get FREE mustard greens at the Highland Community Garden. Free food and new friends. The world is a bright shiny place. And dirt is sexy. Even The Shreveport Times thinks so with its new gardening section.

Birthing New Music

The folks in Shreveport's Blanc et Noir Marching Society know a good thing when they hear it. They are terrific supporters of The Red and Black Brass Band from Grambling.

This week's show (February 25, 2009) on American Routes features young musicians in brass bands who are taking Louisiana's roots music into the 21st century.

Mardi Gras may be over for now but there's always next year. By joining Blanc et Noir Marching Society in Shreveport you can help this new/old form of marching band music continue to grow. Imagine that. Shreveport is a part of the vibrant Louisiana music scene and not just the Other Side.


Thank you Talbot Hopkins for the cool video of The Red and Black Brass Band in the 2009 Krewe of Highland parade.

Porch Art

Porches + art + Highland = funky!

Mardi Gras Parade Season

Krewe of Centaur info. Krewe of Barkus and Meoux. Krewe of Gemini website.

And our favorite is the Krewe of Highland. That parade is set for Sunday February 22, 2009.

24 Hour Church of Elvis

Is there space downtown or in Highland for something like this? Stephanie G. Pierce created the 24 Hour Church of Elvis in downtown Portland. You can now find it on the Internet.

This fun Elvis info brought to you by RRBJ, where 2009 is the year of The King.

What Does Your Mardi Gras Costume Look Like?

Join a krewe this Carnival season. Two of the best outfits in SB Land are Blanc et Noir Marching Society and Krewe of Highland.

Fat Tuesday is February 24 in 2009.

First Day of Winter

Critical Mass Bicycle Ride in Shreveport

There is no phone number on the flyer. All it says is "A city-wide bicycle ride Saturday, November 29th 3:00 PM SHARP! Betty Virginia Park."

We are intrigued and wondering 1.)Are we in shape enough to ride city-wide? 2.)Goddess knows we need the exercise since the holiday eating has started. 3.)Do we bike to the park or drive the van with the bikes strapped to the back? 4.) If we participate will we have enough energy for Rockets Over the Red Saturday night?

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

"The planting of a tree shows faith in the future."
Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip

Shreveport Green and The Renzi Education and Art Center say buy a living potted Christmas tree and plant it. They are offering Live Oak, Southern Magnolia, Mary Nell Holly and Leyland Cypress trees for sale for only $100.

How to decorate your house without a dead or plastic tree in your house? Decorate your firewood and celebrate with a yule log.

Shreveport's Highland Community Garden

Want to be a part of the Highland Community Garden? This Saturday, November 8 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Dorothy McDonald says it's a meet and greet for folks who were a part of this year's garden and for folks who want to participate next year. Dr. Grace Peterson with the LSU AgCenter will be on hand.

The garden is at the corner of Stephens and Herndon Street, just across the way from Noel Memorial United Methodist Church. For more information 222-3678. Also this Saturday is the Shreveport Fall Farmer's Market. How cool would it be if you go to the meet and greet and by this time next year you're growing enough produce to sell at the market?

How many folks will bike to both events? Maybe more now that there's this money incentive for folks commuting by bicycle.

Highland Jazz and Blues Festival

November 15 is the date for this year's Highland Jazz and Blues Festival. Like Trudeau recommends bring a blanket or chair.

The one day Saturday fest is packed with live music and local visual artists vending their wares.

Big Eye Ball Says Vote

Election day is Tuesday. Not sure where to vote? You can find your polling place here.

For a behind the curtain look at the election process in Shreveport, The Caddo Parish Registrar of Voters, Ernie Roberson has a blog on The Shreveport Times website.

Meet Artist Debbie Buchanan Engle this Saturday at 1:00

The opening reception for Debbie Buchanan Engle's show Mercy is this Saturday at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 3201 Centenary Boulevard, from 1:00 - 3:00. The opening is mentioned on this page at The Shreveport Times along with Su Stella's jewelry making workshop Saturday at The Barnwell Center.

P.S. We Googled Debbie Buchanan Engle, Artist, Shreveport and got these hits: She's on the ShreveportBossierfunguide. We rediscovered this video of her. We'd forgotten we made it earlier this year. There are even pics of her work from a Gender Studies Conference at Centenary College back in 06.

Centenary College's Bruce Allen to Perform Live

If the idea of locally grown produce isn't enough to make you load up the station wagon and head down to the Shreveport Fall Farmers' Market Saturday morning how about some performance art (sorta...work with us we're getting our creative on...)? Who needs Martha Stewart when you've got Bruce Allen to show you how to slice and dice your jack-o-lantern? Allen chairs the art department at Centenary College.

You can make your entire Saturday about fair trade and sustainability if you shop the fall market and then swing by the The Greater Gift Market in Highland.

Katfish 4 Kids

Mufasa by Josephine Carmody. Spotted near the fountain at Columbia Cafe in Highland. Part of the Volunteers for Youth Justice Katfish 4 Kids project.

Eric Brock and Neil Johnson

Noma gave us the heads up on the smashing article in the Fall 2008 issue of the Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine. We were whining because there's never enough about SB Land in there.

Historian Eric Brock covers the Highland-Fairfield area with words and Neil Johnson fills in the visuals. If you click on the above link you go to a web version of the magazine. Eric's story starts on page 24. A yearly subscription to the printed version is only $16.

Speaking of Highland... have you read the Highland Restoration Association blog lately? It's a good place to find out what's happening in the best place to live in SB Land.

Business Week Says Buy a House in Highland

Shreveport's Highland neighborhood is HOT. Business Week says so.

From the article:
"Artists turned around Soho and the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, and then Brooklyn's Williamsburg in the 1990s...Similar trends are occurring...BusinessWeek.com selected 15 urban neighborhoods that artists have discovered and where homeowners could see returns in coming decades."

The cities (followed by neighborhoods)

Atlanta Castleberry Hill neighboorhood
Austin East Austin neighboorhood
Boston Jamaica Plain
Chicago Pilsen
Los Angeles Echo Park
Miami Wynwood
Minneapolis Northeast
New York Bushwick, Brooklyn
Philadelphia Northern Liberties
Portland Alberta Street Arts District
Raleigh/Durham, N.C. Downtown Durham
San Franscisco Mission District
Seattle Georgetown
Shreveport Highland
Washington D.C. Atlas District (H Street)