With an impressive quarter century behind it, Festival International de Louisiane moves into its 26th year, and all indications are it is in for a brighter future.
As you read this, Festival staff is updating its apps, the band schedule is prominently posted on the front of its downtown office building and we all should be delighting in the Best World Music Festival honor.
To kick off this series, we figured we'll start at the top, visually-wise, with the official artwork "Window to the Word" by Michelle Fontenot, Vergie Banks and Megan Barra that Anne and Curtis Darrah used to design the Festival poster. And it's on view downtown at Gallery 549 at 549 Jefferson St.
"I think it's pretty dynamic," says Don LeBlanc, proprietor of Galley 549. "I like the way the works come together in terms of the individual styles and the individual materials.
"From a color standpoint, it's really quite dynamic and harmonious," he says. "To have them come up with the outcome here is that Michelle's glass reflects Vergies colors and Megan's as well.
"When I look a the individual works within the structure, I recognize their use of color. But it seems to work very well in terms of how they brought it together.
LeBlanc also likes the symmetry of it, too. It's not so solid, he says and it clearly has a left side and a right side and a front and back.
"It's not a simple frame. It's rather complex," says LeBlanc. "I think those dynamic qualities add a lot to what the audience what might get from it, which is kind of the powerful elements in terms of the music and the different sources from around the world bringing to bear on this structure.
The artwork reflects the festival itself, he says.
"It's a very vibrant festival, you know, the way it comes together," says LeBlanc. "Things are put together from different parts of the world and you may not think it works, but then ultimately does. It has some harmony."
LeBlanc says Gallery 549 will also show the individual work of the artists beginning April 14 with the Second Saturday Artwalk.
"Because this was underway, we've had conversations with them of showing the three of them as a group," says LeBlanc. "We'll be able to show more of their individual works."
LeBlanc teamed up with Francis Pavy and Kelly Guidry for the official artwork of last year's Festival. It marked the first time three artists worked on a project together. David Butler and John Geldersma combined for Festival artwork years ago, as have Craig McCullen and Bonnie Camos.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
Most Read
in case you missed it