Written by Walter Pierce
Wednesday, 10 March 2010

6@549 reunites half a dozen of Lafayette’s best for ArtWalk

We can thank the Children’s Museum of Acadiana in a roundabout way for the exhibition opening this weekend at Gallery 549. The six artists whose work comprises 6@549 came together for the first time as a group when they contributed to a fundraising exhibit for the CMA. Recently, when 549 owner Donald LeBlanc approached fellow artist Debra Norsworthy about exhibiting in his gallery, Norsworthy activated the friendships she generated through the CMA.

Written by Dege Legg
Wednesday, 03 March 2010

Free from the shackles of a record label, long-running acoustic duo The Indigo Girls plays Grant Street Dancehall.

Way before Lilith Fair and Riot Girls, there was a feisty little acoustic duo from Athens, Ga., called the Indigo Girls. Composed of two acoustic guitar-strumming singers — Amy Ray and Emily Saliers — they were loosely part of the ’80s scene that birthed The B-52s, Pylon, R.E.M., and Love Tractor. The Indigo Girls pulled their name by skimming through a dictionary, looking for words that struck them. Indigo it was and indigo it is now. They had a hit song (“Galileo”) in 1992, but more important, they stayed consistent, releasing inspired records throughout the band’s career and hardly making an artistic misstep.

Performing Arts Society of Acadiana celebrates its 20th anniversary with Alvin Ailey.

Twenty years ago the torpor of the oil bust held fast in Lafayette. Residents were fleeing the region in search of opportunity. The Lafayette Municipal Auditorium was shuttered for renovations, and the Fine Arts Foundation, a performing arts presenter, folded its tent in bankruptcy. It was dire straits for performing arts fans, but also an opportunity to fill a vacuum. When the old Muni reopened as the Heymann Performing Arts Center, the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana was poised to fill the void, and to fill the stage with a wide world’s variety — classical, jazz and popular music and dance; musicals; orchestras, chamber groups and soloists; Euro circus and Asian acrobats. Lafayette’s cultural life got a booster shot that continues to help maintain our immunity to stupidity.