Celebrate Every Day with Mardi Gras in a Cup

Drive thru daiquiri joints are peppered throughout SB Land. You can get tasty frozen daiquiris in flavors like peach bellini, strawberry, pina colada and white Russian. How does it work? You order a frozen daiquiri. They pour it in a Styrofoam cup, slap a plastic lid on top and tape the straw down to the lid, while making sure the tape runs over the hole in the top of the lid. It's not an "open container" unless you put the straw in.

Lots of Louisiana liquor stores have frozen daiquiri machines swirling multicolored alcoholic freezy drink treats. Got this one at Thrifty Discount Liquor and Wine, 3434 Youree Drive in Shreveport, LA. The only way it could get any better is if the neighborhood ice cream truck had a window where it dispensed adult beverages.

A New Way to See SB Land

Murrell's on Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA
Originally uploaded by horvy81.

Photographer Val Horvath is conducting a rad photo experiment. Her profile note on Flickr.com says "Follow me on Twitter as I take you on an iPhone photo tour of Shreveport."

Horvath is photographer for The Shreveport Times. She joined the staff in February 2006. Before that she worked at The Facts newspaper in Clute, Texas. She graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor's degree in photojournalism.

Vote Early and Vote Often!

The Shreveport Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau is sponsoring a cool contest for area filmmakers. Voting for the Show Us YOUR Shreveport Bossier event got underway today. To see all the different ways of life in SB Land click here. Some lucky person will win $2500 for their creation.

Personal Note: The editor, publisher, creator and head party hat wearer of Red River Blog Jam, Kathryn Usher, created the above video and very much appreciates your votes. Only with your help will True Blood and Voo Doo! win the big prize! King Cake Baby Voo Doo Doll hugs for everyone! It was great fun incoprating all the nifty True Blood stuff into my video. I love how HBO's hit show is focusing attention on SB Land! Take that New Orleans and Anne Rice!

Shreveport Farmers' Market Day One 2009

The creatives are taking over SB Land! Great song by Alan and Alana Dyson and groovy video by Kay Kennedy.

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.

Picture of the Day

Grind House Coffee Shop
Originally uploaded by mikerosebery.

"Grind House Coffee Shop" is another great capture by Mike Rosebery. Send us your art. It could be a video, a piece of jewelry, a song, a photo, etc. What ever you make that celebrates life in SB Land.

It's Time for Smoke-Free Casinos

The Louisiana 2009 regular legislative session opens Monday. Two south Louisiana lawmakers have bills that would ban smoking in bars. One bill could even address smoking in casinos.

In 2005, the Shreveport City Council passed a ban on smoking in public buildings, city parks, public areas, restaurants, and shopping malls and retail stores. That ban exempted bars and any businesses that sold alcohol. In 2007, all Louisiana workplaces and restaurants became 100% smoke free. It's 2009 and time to make all workplaces smoke free. Casinos included.

Would we lose business if smoking was banned in casinos? We doubt it. Most folks come from Texas to gamble. Many of them come from Dallas. Would gamblers travel to Mississippi or Oklahoma just so they could smoke inside? There are other options for nicotine fixes. Go outside. Use the patch. Chew nicotine gum. Dip. Use snus. Try an electronic cigarette. Why should we cater to a small group of Americans? Smokers are a minority. Only 20 percent of the population smokes. We're not saying stop smoking. Kill yourself if you want. Just don't take us down with you.

Interestingly enough, Dallasites just got a crackdown on the places where they can smoke inside. At the beginning of April, Dallas expanded their smoking ban. From the Dallas Morning News article "... (a) city ordinance banning smoking inside bars and pool halls starts today, but cigarette smokers at bars from Uptown to Greenville Avenue say they will stay loyal to their favorite places and not venture to other cities just to smoke."

Editor's note: I work in a casino. That is until I published this. If there really is freedom of speech in America I suppose I don't have anything to worry about. If there isn't... oh well. My lungs will thank me. And so will my trash can, since I won't have to fill it with sputum any more.

Really would they fire me for publishing this? It is something to consider. Since I know I can be fired if a customer blows smoke in my face and I use my hand to fan it out of my way. I can even be fired if I ask a customer not to blow smoke in my face.