minicine?

Creatives who understand the power of the Internet comprehend the next level of social marketing for their work.

The organizers of Monday's upcoming event at minicine? in downtown have a sweet grasp on this power. Locally they've got coverage on their own website and on Trudeau's. The event is and has been touring all over the US and Canada. To follow the progress check out its blog Channeling an invocation of spectral bodies and queer spirits.

We Googled some of the artists involved and discovered this Vanesssa Renwick and Elliot Montague and Aay Preston-Myint.

Two Years of Red River Blog Jam

RRBJ's first post in 2006 was chock-full of photos of red things. So on the one year anniversary of publishing RRBJ we did red again. Therefore it follows we do red today. Next year we may do orange or rust or pink or celedon...stay tuned.

We don't seem to be getting out as many posts as we did when we first started but then we are also blogging at other places like Crazy in Shreveport. We started a new blog this year for our art House of Usher Art. Occasionally we help out Mr. Trudeau over at his web ranch. New this year we also started helping the fine folks at the Highland Restoration Association.

We also Twitter a bit but not much. Funny lately we seem to be drawn to pen and paper more and more. Who knows what the new year will bring? Whatever direction we go it will be all about documenting and sharing our passion about SB Land.

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.

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.

Picture of the Day

Lake Bistineau State Park

Memorial Day Weekend

Camper spaces all full;

temp 93; humidity 85.

We hook up utilities,

hang a hammock,

turn on the AC.

I choose to sweat

outside in the shade

within earshot

of kids playing catch;

Randy Travis whining.

You nap in the RV.

Remind me again: How

is this better than

a weekend at home?

Thank you Becky Haigler for creating our first written Picture of the Day. We're always looking for art that is about SB Land. Submit yours and help us record the mythology of Northwest Louisiana.

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.

Share

Those green Share the Road signs are the work of Ian Webb, the owner of River City Cycling. You can pick one up for $5 and plop it down in your neighborhood. Webb says he wants to make folks more aware of two wheeling in SB Land.

KSLA has a good story on Webb and how he even takes his child to school using bike power. Sherri Talley at KTBS did a post on the Share the Road at her blog. Shreveport Times intern A.J. King explores alternative ways to get to around SB Land.

Bloggers

RRBJ has a section over to the left that says Red River Area Bloggers. We need to do a better job of updating it because there a couple of interesting reads we don't have listed. Voice of Schleuss is one. We just added Highland neighbor Deb. Don't know why don't have Loren Demerath's down.

If you want to be added to the list we do have some rules. We'd like for you to have been blogging for a couple of months before we list you (we're still pouting because Nadine hasn't updated since February).

Trudeau always has good reads listed on his two main blogs Shreveport and Faces. Did you know he also blogs here and here? It's fun finding these almost secret blogs. Almost as much fun as walking the dog at night in South Highlands just so we can look in the windows of all the houses that have the lights on and no drapes hanging. We are peeking in!

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.

Twittering

Do you twitter?

Docublogging in SB Land

New skills are moving this blog into the world of Web 2.0. One day we hope to be as good as Ying Liu.

The video is of Loren Demerath. He's a professor at Centenary College. We first read about him on Trudeau's blog.

RRBJ is responsible for the knitting and editing of this short film.

We Not Telling Ya Who to Voteeee For

A couple of weeks ago the editor of this blog site won a camera from KTBS. Now she has a chance to win an HDTV. But. It's not about the telllllllyyy. It's about the little gal (or guy) re-claiming the world.

It's about moving this blog into docublogging. It's about being able to take the next step to show that Shreveport truly is the ..."Austin for the rest of us..." or "Affordable Austin..."

Really. Okay... it is about the winning. Go here. Vote for the Biking to Highland Community Garden video. The editor of RRBJ also shot the DDA Home Tour video but she didn't edit it so she feels the Biking tour... best represents her current work. Thank you. And if you have any events or concerns that you think need to be docublogged please send us an email.

Arty Yoga

Feeling bad because the thought of Bike to Work day has you realizing how much body work you need to be able to endure a pedal to the office?

Ease into fitness with yoga. Pamela Viviano will lead a yoga and art class at Lotus Studio tomorrow afternoon at 1. No prior experience necessary and it only costs $15.

Trudeau's been covering Pam and the doin's at the Lotus Studio.

W are Somebody

Shreveport is all over the May 16 issue of Entertainment Weekly because of Oliver Stone's movie W. Alexandyr Kent has the front cover pictured on his blog.

If you want to work on W or any other movie in Louisiana, again you'll want to check out Kent's Louisiana Movies Blog. Louisiana still has the best incentive package to draw movie makers to our state.

Note: Reading all those Shreveports in EW made us feel like that scene with Steve Martin when he gets the new phone book. "We are somebody. We are somebody."

Over

A bit of a mystery is happening at Betty Virginia. Letterboxing is sweeping the park.

Here's an odd but true history fact connected to Betty Virginia: A.C. Steere and his business partner donated the land in honor of their daughters. In July of 1930 Steere shot himself after Wall Street crashed in October 1929. He mistakenly believed he was financially ruined.

Pictured in black and white is the bridge over the bayou at the park. Centenary Professor Loren Demerath has an idea to get better use of these drainage ditches.

Taking this Blog to the Next Level -- an Essay by Kathryn Usher

Tonight at 6 I'll learn some new tricks to add to the RRBJ high tech publishing bag.

Last week KTBS sponsored an essay contest. The local ABC affiliate was looking for viewers who wanted to be a part of their neighborhood news team. The four winners of the contest would receive a high definition camcorder and provide weekly videos to the station for use on-air and on the web.

I won one of the cameras. Groovy-doovy! Tonight we get schooled on how to use them and I'm sure some citizen journalist bits. Let the adventure begin. And let me just add..."stay tuned for this very important video broadcast..."

Church

While Pope Benedict XVI didn't make it to Shreveport we've still got Alan Dyson and his new Church stickers. Dyson is host of the Fairfield Studios House Concert Series and a musician.

He's also father of talented Shreveport singer Alana Dyson (it's a talented pod of people as Trudeau explains in this 2005 blog post of his. If RRBJ ever secures a pot of money for documentaries can't think of better place to begin recording than with them...). He's married to Shreveport artist Debbie Buchanan Engle.

Shreveport architect and multi talented artist Dyson may not be the pontiff or any other type of official spiritual leader but his message is thoughtful. If we view the whole world as Church won't we take better care of it, ourselves and our neighbors? Who was it who said "Love thy neighbor..." Shoot him an email at salandyson@comcast.net on how to get one of these nifty stickers.

Music or Entertainment

Blame the financial woes of the Shreveport Symphony on American Idol and Amateur Night at the Apollo? It's right there in paragraph two of statement issued by the SSO. Or maybe it's the fault of Blue Man Group or Burning Man. Or maybe it's that an evening at the symphony is perceived as long, boring and expensive. Hey, even if you don't like hockey and someone drags to you a Mudbugs game there's always the chance of catching a t-shirt fired from a cannon. Trudeau's doing a good job of covering the unfolding events surrounding the symphony.

RRBJ loves live music. Even though we are guilty of not financially supporting any local group (it's a struggle to keep the lights on, gas in the van, food on the table and a kid in college). A big evening of entertainment for us is a DVD delivered by Netflix and store brand microwave popcorn. However during our formative years we were actively involved with the Oklahoma Arts Institute.

Picture of the Day

Strawn's (18)
Originally uploaded by darebouche.

Thank you to darebouche for the use of his Strawn's (18) for our Picture of the Day.

If you've not seen Darrell Rebouche's blog you'll find it here. It's one of our daily reads around the RRBJ office. We love how he documents family life in SB Land.

For more about the empire that is Strawn's Eat Shop.

Happy One Year

We started RRBJ in November 2006 with a post containing pictures of red trash in Highland. We celebrate one year of publishing with these photos of red. RRBJ seems to be a blog mainly about life in Highland and downtown with the occasional excursion to other nearby points.

Thank you to Trudeau and Noma for the inspiration to begin blogging. We're excited that blogging has also opened up other creative venues for us. We're tickled red for the assistance in finding our way back to the homemade life.