UP FRONT

Brad Goins Thursday, July 2, 2015 Comments Off on UP FRONT
UP FRONT

Filmmakers Take Note

There’s a new enterprise in the state; its first project will be the 2016 Create Louisiana Filmmakers Grant.

If you’ve been hoping to get the start-up money for a film, be aware that the campaign will provide a $50,000 grant for the winning Louisiana filmmaking team.

The money is designed to go to the funding of a short film, which will screen at the 2016 New Orleans Film Festival.

If you get this grant, you’ll need to complete your film within 12 months.

You can start applying for the Louisiana Filmmakers Grant in August; just visit www.createlouisiana.com.

Create Louisiana is making an ongoing effort to support and develop the creative industries of Louisiana and showcase their cultural, economic and social contributions to the state. The group works in partnership with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the New Orleans Film Society.

Creole Proud

I’ve often wondered whether Creoles in the Lake Area feel they get short shrift here. If any do, they can take some inspiration from the story of Opelousas resident Paul Scott.

Scott, who was just out of high school in 1982, couldn’t have cared less about zydeco music at the time. But when he heard that there was a “zydeco festival” in the town of Plaisance, he got involved, standing out in the middle of roads selling passing drivers tickets for the event. He was interested not because of the music, but because he felt the festival was organized for black people.

Scott recently told the Opelousas Daily World, “my interest was in the fact that there was an organization putting on an event that was black-owned and black-run.” He says at the time, zydeco “was thought of as not being very popular.”

Soon, Scott was handing out brochures in front of Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki zydeco dance hall (an Opelousas hot spot that is presently known not only for its music, but also its pork sandwiches).

In addition to eventually becoming assistant director of the Zydeco Festival in Plaisance, Scott helped to organize the Festival International de Louisiane; the Step-N-Strut Trail Ride (and its associated zydeco shows) in St. Landry Parish and the Creole Festival of Holy Ghost Catholic Church.

In recognition of these achievements, he was recently given the Richard J. Catalon Sr. Creole Heritage Award at the Creole Heritage Day at Vermilionville.

Scott’s never lost his interest in black-oriented business. He and his wife run enterprises oriented to the restoration of old houses in Opelousas and the creation of housing developments that provide affordable homes.

Experience yields information. Scott’s observations on black-oriented businesses in Louisiana are illuminating; he told the Daily World:

“I grew up on The Hill, the black Harlem of Opelousas. We had clubs, restaurants, hair places, hotels, cafes — all black-owned.

“Business was always somewhere around. There was always a way to make a living. There’s always a way to get out there and get it — no matter what study tells you this is an economically depressed area.

“The game plan of the United States still works. It’s been copied time and time again, and I haven’t seen one beat it yet. Even doing illegal operations — you can’t get rich doing illegal operations and be lazy. You got to get up and go to work.”

Scott says that one of the figures who most inspired him was zydeco radio pioneer Luke Collins. For 25 years, Collins ran an all-zydeco program on station KEUN in Eunice.

Readers may be interested to know that the author of the story I’ve been quoting is Herman Fuselier, who gives us an awful lot of funnies on his Saturday afternoon show — “Zydeco Stomp” — on KRVS. (“Oh, you know what I like, Herman Fuselier!”) For many of us, zydeco is whatever Herman Fuselier says it is. (If you want to read his entire story about Scott, Google “Paul Scott: A helping hand for Creole culture.”)

If you want to know more about Creole culture, you can wake up early and listen to “Zydeco est pas sale” (“Zydeco isn’t dirty”) at 8 am every Saturday on KRVS. Co-host MC says the show, which features both music and discussion, is “promoting Creole cultural music AND the culture.”

I Know We Can Do Worse

The Pew Memorial Trust has come out with its latest poll on obesity in the states. And the news is not good. Louisiana was not No. 1 in obesity this time around.

Who was? Mississippi, of course.

Beaten by Mississippi again! And it’s not like we’re sitting at No. 2, either. West Virginia’s beaten us to that.

How low can you go? Louisiana is stuck way down at No. 3. What’s more, we’re hardly secure in that position. We’re just a hair ahead of Arkansas. (We’re at 33.2 percent obese; Arkansas is at 33 percent.) A couple of people in Arkansas could eat a donut sundae at a Krispy Kreme tonight, and tomorrow we could wake up and find ourselves at No. 4.

Do you find this acceptable? I doubt they even have cracklins in West Virginia. And since most of the people there are meth heads, they really shouldn’t be eating anything at all. How can they be beating us?

I believe we can do better than this. Let’s all put our shoulders behind the wheel — the wheel of a shopping cart, that is. Did you know that a single can of condensed milk has 1,000 calories? Well, it does. A full cup of macadamia nuts has just as many calories. And those things are probably healthy to boot. Can you eat 10 ounces of brisket at one sitting? Then you can eat 1,000 calories at one sitting.

Now, one more thing about West Virginia — while they may not have cracklins, they do make lard sandwiches. What works for them might work for you.

And how about all-you-can-eat buffets in SWLA? Just going three nights a week? I bet you can find the money to bump that up to four. Do it for Louisiana.

A Funny

“Jindal will have to choose between college students and Grover Norquist. And by ‘choose,’ I mean, ‘Do whatever Grover says.’”

— Tweeted by Robert Mann on June 3 (eight days before the end of the Louisiana Legislature’s 2015 session)

Ix-nay On The Amen-ray

Some of you are familiar with Robert Mann, the well-known commentator on Louisiana politics. You may also have heard of Grover Norquist, the guy who got Bobby Jindal (and lots of other politicians) to swear that they wouldn’t levy fees that Norquist considers taxes. So the secret with this whole anti-tax pledge is always to raise a state fee that Norquist doesn’t consider a tax.

Sound confusing? Hey, I’ll give you confusing. As June began, the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee killed a higher education “tax credit” — not “tax increase,” mind you — that Grover Norquist had signed off on. The bill (SB 284) would have required higher ed students to pay higher fees but then get credits for the fees so that it would be just as if they never paid them at all.

I’m not going to try to explain it because I don’t understand it. And if I don’t understand it, you can be damn sure our legislators and Bobby Jindal don’t understand it.

Another thing I don’t understand is how this Norquist guy gets the power to tell governors they can’t raise taxes. Is he also calling Jindal and telling him he can’t eat soft-boiled eggs; can’t eat ramen; and can’t buy brand name instead of generic? If he isn’t, why isn’t he? I figure if you can control taxes, you can control pretty much anything.

Who gets that kind of power? Maybe Grover Norquist is a superhero, like the ones we’re always seeing movies about. If he is, he needs a much better name than “Grover Norquist.” I think the one George Harrison thought up — “Tax Man” — might work OK.

I’m not one of those people who believes in “speaking truth to power.” I’m not fighting Batman as long as he’s being played by Christian Bale and I’m not fighting Tax Man as long as he’s being played by Grover Norquist.

You Can Only Do So Much

Oh, by the way, did you hear that while the Louisiana House was caught up in its immense effort to save Louisiana from the gravest financial crisis in the state’s history, it voted to give itself a three-day vacation? That’s right. The vote took place at 2:30 pm on June 4. I guess they’d just been working too long and needed a rest. A really, really long rest.

The House reconvened at 3 pm on June 7 — just four days before the end of the session and the miracle salvation of Louisiana.

LSU Gets Feisty

It turns out that the story of Louisiana doesn’t begin and end with Bobby Jindal and Grover Norquist. As June got underway, LSU president F. King Alexander traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify to the U.S. Senate about the school’s financial crisis.

Alexander made reference to President Barack Obama’s $700 billion bailout package. Part of that money was set aside for higher ed. States were supposed to get the money only on the condition that they keep the funding of their universities at 2006 levels. The enforcement of that condition has been a little lax. But Alexander noted that 20 states have managed to keep their funding levels at least as high as they were in 2006.

Alexander said that in order to get the federal money, states should be required to continue “public investments in their public colleges and universities.” This could be a roundabout way of forcing Louisiana to get higher ed funding up to 2006 levels. Of course, Louisiana universities have experienced an $800 million cut in state funding since that year.

Certainly Alexander’s move is a long-shot. But at least he’s doing something more than sitting on his couch in Louisiana and stuffing envelopes for the Grover Norquist Fan Club.

Trade In That Name!

Lookit, I can’t be the only journalist in America not writing about Caitlyn Jenner. And it turns out I do have something to say about the whole matter; not much, but something.

I don’t have any problem with Caitlyn Jenner becoming a transgender person. Why should I care what Bruce Jenner does? I haven’t thought about him since he was in the Olympics, and I wouldn’t have thought about him — her — 40 years on if she hadn’t been on the cover of Vanity Fair.

So I don’t have any problem with the transgender thing. But the name? “Caitlyn”?

Really? That’s the best name she could think of? Jenner was in a situation that gave her the chance to choose from all the girl’s names in existence. And the one she settled on was Caitlyn?

F for originality on that one, Caitlyn. Last time I checked, five out of every four people in Louisiana are named Caitlyn. Whenever I’m in my yard, and I want some privacy, I just yell out, real loud, “CAITLYN! YOUR BABY DADDY’S COMING IN 10 MINUTES!” Every female in sight runs into her house. The neighborhood is mine alone. (Yeah, I know, people here spell “Kaitlyn” with a “K.” Well, we can’t all be Caitlyn Jenner.)

So I’m going on a name strike. I’m not going to write about Jenner again until she chooses a more interesting name.

The News

“Snake sneaks into family’s kitchen to devour egg” WDSU News, New Orleans. (BTW, WDSU is on your side.)

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