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.

SB Land Ain't Got None

12 is the number of times Shreveport is mentioned in the Winter 2008-09 issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas (the magazine of the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities). The publication focuses on the state's culture, arts and history.
How many times is New Orleans mentioned? By page two we'd counted 20. We didn't have the heart to wade through the remaining 94 pages. If you'd like you can go here and count for yourself.

December on the Red

We love the drawing! It warms us down to our freezing crawfish pincers when we see SB Land art.

December on the Red started in October and wraps up in January when the Toy Train Extravaganza closes its run at Sci-Port. Get ready for tasty holiday treats like Christmas in the Sky and the Sugar Plum Fairy Luncheon. If you missed Rockets over the Red you'll want to dive to Oil City this weekend for the Christmas on Caddo Fireworks Festival. Eggnog for everyone...if your not driving you can even make it a frozen eggnog daquiri from Tony's Discount Beverage on Line Avenue.

Ouch!

SB Land didn't look good as the lead story on last night's ABC World News. The story focused on the anger of the Hurricane Gustav evacuees housed in state shelters in Shreveport.

Those shelters run by the state of Louisiana didn't have enough "wrap-around services." That's according to Sandy Davis, director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Homeland Security. We saw him on KTBS speaking sometime during the storm. By the way, didn't KTBS have great coverage? They stayed with live and locally produced programming as the storm moved through our area.

SB Land fares better in this AP report and it even shows that the evacuees are grateful. Evacuee Charles Lucas seems to understand the situation. And even seems more level headed than a lot of folks leaving anonymous comments at local media sites.

Vote Yes for the Red River

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities wants to hear from you about a new reading program focusing on North Louisiana. The article appears on page 6 of the Summer 2008 issue of the Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine.

The big turnout during the recent Readings in Literature and Culture (RELIC) series on Elizabeth I of England brings this attention to the other side of Louisiana. Shreveport artist Tama Nathan documented the success of those Elizabeth sessions in Shreveport.

RRBJ says vote for Tracey Laird's book Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music along the Red River. Email your comments about the books they are considering to LEH RELIC director Jim Segreto at segreto@leh.org.

Vanishing Landscape

One of the best things about living in urban part of SB Land is the nearness of country. Dr. Patrick Colyer gave us a grand tour out at the Red River Research Station. Not many folks are growing cotton these days. Most are planting corn.



P.S. RRBJ doesn't know why we haven't blogged in forever (we started this post on September 19 and it's already October so we figured we'd better finish it). It might be the recent on the job injury we suffered or it might be someone has stolen all our words or it might be the fact we can't stop taking photographs. Maybe we'll just post photos for the next few weeks and see if the words catch up to us.

Shreveport Words

SB Land fills the current edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas, the quarterly publication of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The front cover is a 1940 painting of the Texas Street bridge. Inside there are photos from Burch and Bill Grabill and excerpts from Joshua Clark's Louisiana in Words.

Pictured above is Tara Schemer de la Fuente's vignette of 2:30 PM on Fannin Street from page 75 of Louisiana Cultural Vistas Summer 2007.

Sell the Sizzle

Here's your chance to tell the world why you love where you live. The Times reports that the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau needs your help in creating a marketing brand for our area. The survey takes about five minutes to complete.

By the way, the reporter of the story, Donicea Pea, is a team blogger for The Times blog Link 222.


For more inspiration go to Flickr and type in Shreveport. You'll fall in love with the Red River area all over again and be amazed by all the groovy "shooters" in our area.