SWAMP T’INGS
Marie and her Uncle Arnel are walking through the Louisiana swamps when they come face to face with the dreaded Swamp Witch — the very one Marie’s Aunt Cherie warned her about. Uncle Arnel and the Swamp Witch is a spooky tale for kids that shouldn’t be nightmare-inducing. And to boot, Alison Lane’s yarn also includes giant turtles, crawfish and raccoons. Uncle Arnel and The Swamp Witch retails for $15.95 and is available locally at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. For more info, visit www.pelicanpub.com. — R. Reese Fuller
FRAMING FENROY
Do you miss watching former Ragin’ Cajun running back Tyrell Fenroy tear up Cajun Field and opposing defenses all in one Barry Sander-like juke? Well, local artist Tony Bernard has something that might help your heartache. On the walls of Louisiana Hot Stuff sits prints of Bernard’s soon-to-be famous painting of the former Cajun great. Prints are available in three sizes — 18 x 24, 24 x 32, and 30 x 40 — and range in price from $50 to $500, depending on size and edition. Louisiana Hot Stuff is located at 4409 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy., Ste. 200, in Lafayette. For more info, call 981-3132. — Ryan Broussard
JINGLE JANGLE MORNING
You ever listen to The Byrd’s version of “Mr. Tamborine Man?” or “The Bells of Rhymney” and ask yourself, “How did he get that sound?” It’s neither the amp, nor the effects pedals. In short, it all comes out of a 12-string Rickenbacker 330. By far, it’s one of the most mythic guitars ever made, used by everyone from The Beatles to Tom Petty to The Chesterfield Kings. A Rickenbacker 330 can be yours for the low-low price of $2,000. Hey, you get what you pay for. Buy it at C&M Music in Time Plaza, 989-2838. — Dege Legg
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.
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.
SWAMP T’INGS
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