Scribble This

Big culture comes to town this weekend with the annual arrival of The Red River Revel. How scary is it to be an artist-vendor selling your work while folks walk by shouting out critiques?

Why not just offer the lookers a marker and let them just scrabble all over your work? That's what Bette Kauffman's done with her Waterline interactive photo exhibit in artspace. It hangs until October 18.


P.S. We confess. We're the ones who tagged "700 Billion Dollar Bailout Socialism Works in America For the Rich Not For the Middle Class or the Poor or New Orleans Save U.S.!!"

Picture of the Day

...is a video from from Christoball.

Flickr now has a video feature for short films. Make a shorty and let us feature it as a Picture of the Day. We also like short fiction, non fiction, poems or other types of creativeness that tell us about life in SB Land. Can't pay you but you do get a lovely publishing credit to put on the resume.

Recycling Shreveport Farmers' Market

Think the market can't get any greener? Shreveport Farmers' Market Manager Noma Fowler-Sandlin says tomorrow is "...the annual Cookbook Exchange, this year joined by a Tote Bag Exchange, too. So bring out your tired old cookbooks and tote bags and trade them for new ones you like better."

Also just in are reusable Shreveport Farmers' Market totes. The bright red bags feature the market logo in black. Only $10. The money raised will continue special events like the musicians on Tuesdays. Operating hours: 7 a.m. 'til noon on Saturdays at the Festival Plaza in downtown.

Pictured is the cool tote of Conchita McElwee. Snapped at last year's market.

Jumpin'

Where can we get a pair? And is downtown and Highland ready for them?

By the way, the state of Louisiana is working on a master plan for those who like to walk or bike. Meeting tonight at Shreve Memorial Library at 5 p.m.

It's About the Fashion

Shreveport Farmers' Market is not about the food. It's about the fashion. Get togged out and ride to the festival plaza for the happy hour market Tuesday nights.

Have you friended the market on MySpace? Then you got the bulletin and know the blackberries are HUGE and Dr. Cookie and Louisiana Dan will perform from 4 - 7 p.m. tonight.

And remember please leave your polyester at home. Unless it's retro poly. That's Destiny Toro's hiney in a cool skirt.

Subversive and Dark

Where is your secret stash of wild blackberries in SB Land? Along the jogging path on the Clyde FantParkway? Next to the railroad tracks downtown? That park in Highland? Share. We won't tell...maybe just Noma so she can jam it up.

Picture of the Day

DSC_0071.JPG
Originally uploaded by lindsayhickman.

Thank you lindsayhickman for the use of your photo for Picture of the Day.

That's the Red River in the pic. Which makes RRBJ think of the Red River District under the Texas Street Bridge. Here's what we'd like to see under there:
Cosplay
Bike Rentals
Skateboards
More Skateboards
Active Transportation
Maybe a little of what Memphis is doing

Smart City Radio had a recent program on riverfronts.

Pups

Gabe is missing and needs his medcine. RRBJ took this pic at the corner of Creswell and College while out walking our dogs yesterday. KTBS has this positive story about a local pit bull. It's the heart touching story of a dog waiting near his owner even after the young man passes away. In other local canine stories, Shreveport has lost its advocate for a dog park. Who will step in and continue the work? Krewe of Barkus and Meoux Pet Parade is Sunday, January 27, 2008 at the RiverView Park.

Been to the Revel?

Just a few of days left. The last couple of years rain has flooded the festival. This year there's too much heat. A cool evening breeze and a beer in a blue aluminum bottle is the best way to enjoy the party.

Last Month For Farmers' Market

So maybe you didn't get to go fishing on Cross Lake or make it over to Six Flags, there's still time to get down to the farmers' market at Shreveport's Festival Plaza.

Play

It's time for a dog park in SB Land. If it's good enough for Baton Rouge, Houston, Fort Smith and Austin, than we ought to have a couple.

RRBJ thinks a little one could go where the old volleyball net used to be set up in Columbia Park. There's always Betty Virginia but it's so over used as it is now. The duck pond on East Kings Highway might work. Click here for other major and neighborhood parks to consider.

Thank you to Karen LeCroy for use of her lovely shot of Calli at the Fountain.

Organic

RRBJ just realized linking is the lazy way to go. We can avoid wiggling the cordless mouse to cut and paste if you'll just go here and see what that world traveling Trudeau says about Shreveport's Farmers' Market.

We'll be stopping by for some more of Pan's Pantry Drunken Peach Preserves since husband has given up his generic jelly and eaten all of our fancy stuff.

Picture of the Day

Shreveport Bridge 2
Originally uploaded by southerntippi.

A week from today SB Land's annual River Blast hits the Festival Plaza with food, fun and fireworks.

The fireworks go off at 9:20 but at 8:30 B-52's from Barksdale Air Force Base will flyover. RRBJ's best tip is don't hassle with parking take the free shuttle from Mall St. Vincent. It's fast, fast, fast and hassle free.

Thank you to Stephanie M. Hart at southerntippi for the use of her photo Shreveport Bridge 2.

If you have a photo, drawing, poem or other piece of art that depicts SB Land send us an email at redriverblogjam@gmail.com so we can put it in the running for the Picture of the Day.

Picture of the Day

This is not what Texas street will look like tomorrow night with the return of Thursday Night Trolley Tours. The fun starts with a cash bar at artspace, 710Texas Street. The Shreveport Times describes the event this way "A guided tour, will showcase what downtown Shreveport has to offer in the way of art, history, culture, movie trivia, and science, on 14 trolley stops..." Your tour guide for the evening will be Jan Pettiet.

Did we mention this event is FREE?! (Excluding the cash bar). Sipping something cool and riding around on a trolley -- can't think of a better way to take in the Southern Museum of Art, West Edge Artists' Co-op, Municipal Auditorium, Logan Mansion, Strand Theatre, Millennium Mural, SciPort Discovery Center, Tipitina's, Spring Street Museum, Hilton Hotel, Shreveport Convention Center, Sports Museum, Arodasi Dance Center, Highway Grrls Gallery, Multicultural Center of the South, and Robinson Film Center.

During the evening at the Barnwell Center sounds of live "Hot Jazz on the Red" will fill the air as part of their Friends of Barnwell Summer Concert Series. The Meadows Museum of Art is also slated to participate, but this confuses RRBJ because that place is in Highland and not in downtown... but, oh well...

Thank you to Ryan Austin Dean at jawbone54 for the night capture of Texas Street.

Happy Hour at the Tuesday Farmer's Market

"IT'S A PARTY!" said Noma Fowler-Sandlin when RRBJ asked her about the Tuesday evening Farmer's Market. "People walk around with cocktails and listen to a live band while they shop."

Bring a hefty bag so you can stuff it full of fresh fruit and vegetables, bouquets of flowers, honey, jams, jellies, breads, cookies, pasta and even fine art.

You'll find the Shreveport Farmer's Market Saturday mornings from 7 to 11:30 and Tuesday evenings from 4 to 7 under the big shade of Festival Plaza (the same place where the ice skating rink sat during the month of December).

For more information about the Farmer's Market call 424-4000.

Picture of the Day

It should be an average summer for rainfall in SB Land. That's according to a June 5th post by Mark Rowlett on the KTBS weather blog. RRBJ would've linked to the weather blog but for some goofy reason you have to go to the KTBS main page and then look for the blog under the WEATHER heading.

Thank you to justtheprettiest for the use of her photo Shreveport before the Storm.

Picture of the Day

The Picture of the Day from Stitcher ponders the question that every kid is asking "What are we going to do that's fun this summer?"

Maybe a trip to the library is the first step. The Summer Reading Club 2007 starts June 4.

Thank you Stitcher for the use of your lovely photo.

Riverfront Beamin'

It cost $50 dollars to fill up the RRBJ van yesterday. Needless to say, we luv us an entertainment bargain like the one you'll find in Riverview Park this Friday night. It's another outdoor movie from The Robinson Film Center and their Movies and Moonbeams project.

It's only $1 to see Spider-Man. Chris Jay with the film center says there will be give-aways for kids and concessions. Load up your lawn chairs cause the movie starts at nightfall.

What's the Ted Danson connection to the film center? Read about it at Maggie Martin's blog.

Thanks to Curt Youngblood and The Robinson Film Center for the picture.

Live!

We wanted to pay our water bill online but that link wasn't working. However, we did find a live webcam of downtown Shreveport.

There was also a PDF complaint form you can download to complain about that funky-butt odor that sometimes lingers in downtown. For some reason we thought of a wine tasting gone horribly wrong when we read the list for odor description: Decaying Grass, Earthy/Moldy/Musty/, Turpentine, Sewer/Sewage-like, Burnt/Smoky...

Our favorites? Woody and Cabbage-like (personally, RRBJ wishes downtown smelled more like cabbage -- it would remind us of the tasty Mulligan Stew our Irish great-grandmother made).

Picture of the Day

Happy May Day! When RRBJ grew up in Oklahoma May 1st was the first day Mom let us go barefooted.

If you're looking for a way to celebrate this almost forgotten holiday, you might try dancing in the waters of the Riverfront Park and then scooting up Milam Street to West Edge Books (inside WEACo at 725 Milam) for a gathering at 7 tonight of folks reading Kurt Vonnegut's work.

Also in the same place Friday night there's a reading and a book signing by three of the contributors of the anthology "able to...". Shreveporter Becky Haigler is one of the authors.

Thanks to Calamitylaine for the use of her photo.