ONE WORD — PLASTICS
This piece of plastic runs over $100. But it’s red and shiny and showcases a delicate wrist. Then there’s the nostalgia factor. Some woman before you has worn this. What kind of outfit did she wear? Maybe a little floral wrap dress cinching in her 22-inch waist with a stand-up collar and red lipstick. She probably spent a good hour setting her hair in juice cans the night before while her brand new husband sat contemplating her transformation from bride to wife. Wasn’t it all worth it the next day? They are made of the first synthetic plastic, you know. Two worn together make a satisfying clunking noise that tells you it’s real Bakelite. So then you must have two. Yellow and red stripes command $175 while red with inset wood-grain settle for $145. Vintage and estate jewelry are available at Lafayette Antique Market on Johnston Street. Call 981-9884.
IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DUCK
There is a grand tradition of carving decoys out of all sorts of wood, from virgin cypress to driftwood, by way of hackberry, magnolia, oak and pecan. Woodworker Cliff Mire has taken decoy art a step further, into the realm of the abstract. His decoys aren’t really meant to hit the water in winter; they’re designed to attract human attention rather than the avian kind. Mire, who carves at Vermilionville on Sundays for an international audience, makes his take on ducks, as well as puzzle boxes, cypress bowls, wooden jewelry and wall hangings. A limited number of abstract duck decoys are available for $31 at Vermilionville. Call 233-4077 for more info. You Don’t Know Your Mind
Since leaving the band Filé in 2001 to pursue a career as a full-time singer-songwriter, Dave Egan has been on a potent roll. His songs have been on multiple Grammy-nominated records, in feature films, and covered by artists like Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, Percy Sledge, Irma Thomas and Johnny Adams. In his latest CD, You Don’t Know Your Mind, Egan once again pulls magic from the hourglass well of song — ancient soul, dusty rhythm & blues, classic roots — and puts his own mark on the totem of timeless American music. You Don’t Know Your Mind retails for $12.97 and can be found at www.davidegan.net.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
Is it a crime for citizens to photograph, video, or take notes of a police officer in the line of duty, or a right protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Locally, such activity, as witnessed recently, will at the very least result in a night spent behind bars.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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