My grandmother Goins used to tell me, \u201cYou know what you like.\u201d Area musicians tell me that what Lake Charles likes is cover bands. A new one, Work N Progress, is trying to take a new approach to the playing of covers. I know this because the band brought a five-song demo to my office.
\nThe instrumental accompaniment for the five songs on the disc differs somewhat from the original instrumentation, which I suppose is what one wants in a cover band. The performance is tight and tempos are steady; I didn\u2019t hear any lags in the beat.
\nThe sound throughout is an upbeat pop. The biggest accomplishment is a vocal performance that comes pretty close to the very deep bass lead vocal of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Loving Feeling.\u201d
\nWork N Progress promises \u201cvintage sounds\u201d and \u201cvariety.\u201d If you\u2019re curious about whether their taste in vintage sounds matches yours, I can tell you that the other cuts on the demo are \u201cPeaceful, Easy Feeling,\u201d \u201cYour Love Has Lifted Me Higher,\u201d \u201cHeard It Through The Grapevine\u201d and \u201cListen To The Music.\u201d
\nWork N Progress is shunning the club scene for now. The band wants to play for parties. If you have a wedding, graduation or Christmas party, or any party at all, call Willis at 474-3040; Rick 540-1727 or Jean 540-8024.
\nI\u2019ve often written in Up Front that I\u2019ll write something about any music CD, demo, MP3 downloads or cuts on SoundCloud that are given to me or brought to my attention. If you can direct me to music I can listen to, I can and will write about it for nothing other than the satisfaction of doing it.<\/p>\n
Pres. To Gov.<\/strong> Suitz In The Hood<\/strong> Can\u2019t Argue With That<\/strong> Food Stamp Watching<\/strong> Local Culture Report<\/strong> Did I Mention I Don\u2019t Care?<\/strong> Plot Spoiler!<\/strong> My grandmother Goins used to tell me, \u201cYou know what you like.\u201d Area musicians tell me that what Lake Charles likes is cover bands. A new one, Work N Progress, is trying to take a new approach to the playing of covers. I know this because the band brought a five-song demo to my office. [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[38,37],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHere\u2019s the headline of an email the Up Fronter (and everybody else in Louisiana) got from the Office of the Governor on Nov. 8:
\n\u201cGov. Jindal to Pres. Obama: Don\u2019t Bully LA on Obamacare, Man Up & Admit Your Mistake\u201d
\nAn anonymous source passed on this copy of an email that was subsequently sent from the Office of the President of the United States:
\n\u201cPresident Obama to Gov. Jindal: OK! OK! I\u2019ll do whatever you say, man! Just \u2014 please \u2014 ease up on me, OK? Ease up a little. I\u2019ll man up if that\u2019s what you want. I swear it. Just ease up, bro. I\u2019m begging you. Let me get up off the ground for a second, OK? P.S. We\u2019ll do it your way, for sure. But is there any way we can use \u2018and\u2019 instead of ampersands. Just askin\u2019!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIn spite of it all, Jindal may yet get a chance to go mano y mano with the president who\u2019s been bullying him. Why? Well, President Obama just moved into Jindal\u2019s neighborhood: The Thirties.
\nThe Thirties is, of course, the notorious gangland where politicians must go when their approval ratings drop below 40 percent.
\nObama had been getting by all right, chillin\u2019 up in The Forties. He\u2019d had one run-in with Forties gangsta NSA. But the president walked away from that with nothing more than a split lip.
\nIt was quite a different story, though, when the brutal, 350-pound, heavily armed Forties gangsta Healthcare Rollout caught Obama in an alley and left him shakin\u2019 and bleedin\u2019. Obama\u2019s road dogs were almost happy to get the president into The Thirties for fear of a return blast by Healthcare Rollout.
\nOne thing Jindal and Obama will have in common with everyone else in The Thirties: an outright terror of winding up in the only neighborhood that\u2019s worse: The Twenties. As you know, the gang boss in The Twenties is Dick Cheney, who\u2019s known there as OG Breakdown. Brrr! It makes me squeamish just to think about it. I\u2019d rather go through a gang initiation organized by Jigsaw than have Breakdown bring me the hard candy.<\/p>\n
\nNow, I think it\u2019s basically a good thing that Louisiana has so many politicians who are, let\u2019s say, colorful. Be that as it may, politicians the country-over who are concerned about their, let\u2019s says, questionable behavior, must be sending up prayers of thanks for Toronto\u2019s Mayor Rob Ford. I mean, do what you like, you\u2019re just not going to come off looking as bad as this guy.
\nCNN put together a list of its favorite Fordisms. I chose my favorites. Settle back, take a long sip of coffee and see if you get a chuckle out of any of these:
\n\u2014 \u201cThat is not a crack house. Have you been to the house?\u201d
\n\u2014 \u201cYes, one day I do want to run for prime minister.\u201d
\n\u2014 \u201cYou know what? I made mistakes, I drank too much. I smoked some crack some time. What can I say? I made a mistake, I\u2019m guilty.\u201d
\n\u2014 \u201cYes, I have smoked crack cocaine. But do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago.\u201d
\n\u2014 \u201cThe revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts, prostitution has [sic] pushed me over the line.\u201d
\nWhen Ford was confronted with the charges of seeking prostitutes, he responded with very blunt language to the effect that his wife met all his needs and then some. We can\u2019t put that language in the Lagniappe. But we can tell you that comedian Stephen Colbert said the comments made him \u201cmiss\u201d Ford\u2019s crack days.
\nWorse was to come. On Nov. 18, Ford knocked down Pam McConnell, a female member of the Toronto City Council that\u2019s been voting to limit his mayoral powers. Now in Ford\u2019s defense \u2014 if you can call it defense \u2014 he was trying to take down a heckler and McConnell happened to be in the way. Whether mayors should be tackling hecklers, readers can decide for themselves.
\nMcConnell, who is in her 60s, didn\u2019t care for it; she said, \u201cThis is the seat of democracy. It is not a football field.\u201d
\nToo late for CNN\u2019s list was this recent Fordism: \u201cThey\u2019re not going to find another Rob Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJust because Ford is in all his glory, we shouldn\u2019t ignore Louisiana politicians who uphold the great tradition of acting out. Such a one was Lindel Toups, who recently backed a measure that would have shifted funding from the Lafourche Parish libraries to the construction of a new jail.
\nYou\u2019ll probably agree that Toups made a key strategical error when he started dumping on libraries.
\nNow before you start reading the comments made by this brainiac, keep in mind he\u2019s a member of the Lafourche Parish Council. Not only that, he\u2019s the chairman of the council. You believe me? Good. Let\u2019s go.
\nSaid Toups: \u201cThey\u2019re teaching Mexicans how to speak English \u2026 Let that son of a bitch go back to Mexico \u2026 There\u2019s just so many things they\u2019re doing that I don\u2019t agree with. \u2026 Them junkies and hippies and food stamps [recipients] and all, they use the library to look at drugs and food stamps [on the Internet]. I see them do it.\u201d
\nI\u2019ve always said that if there\u2019s anything worse than junkies, it\u2019s them junkies. But the worst of all is certainly them junkies and all.
\nThe most important aspect of the story was that, once again, a Louisiana politician\u2019s hick comments were picked up by major news outlets and spread all around the country.
\nI wonder why Toups was making all these comments about \u201cthem junkies\u201d to begin with. Has he forgotten that his son and grandson were arrested in 2009 for possession of meth?
\nThe one good thing about this story is that you now know what to say to those shady looking guys who stand around outside convenience stores and give you the creeps when you go in to get your Marlboro Lights. When you see a dude like that, just say, \u201cHey, junkie, why don\u2019t you go to the library and look at pictures of food stamps on the Internet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe Up Fronter is hearing locals pronounce the name of the new clothing store Plato\u2019s Closet as \u201cPlatto\u2019s Closet.\u201d I guess they\u2019re thinking about the famous ancient Greek clothing designer Platto.
\nOn the up side, it\u2019s been years since I\u2019ve heard anyone in the area pronounce the name of the composer Haydn as \u201cHey den.\u201d I think maybe that\u2019s because I haven\u2019t made a reference to Haydn in years.<\/p>\n
\nThe Dead Pelican is supposed to be a Louisiana news site. Still, I wasn\u2019t surprised when I clicked the link for this headline \u2014 \u201cDuck Dynasty Star explains why he and his wife waited until they were married …\u201d \u2014 and wound up on something called FaithIt. On FaithIt, I read this, longer, headline, and a subhead to boot:
\n\u201cThis Famous Couple Waited Until Their Wedding Night To Have Sex. You\u2019ll Love The Reason Why.
\n\u201cThings get a bit intense when Jase and Missy explain why their family functions the way it does. Watch this Duck Dynasty couple school the world on the power of a godly marriage.\u201d
\nWhatever FaithIt may attest to the contrary, I will not love the reason why. I don\u2019t care about the reason why. I don\u2019t care who these people are, what they have to say, or why they are named Jase and Missy. I certainly don\u2019t care why they did or didn\u2019t have sex and hope to FaithIt that I never learn a single thing about that unpalatable topic. And I don\u2019t care why somebody at some thing called FaithIt thinks somebody named Jase is famous.
\nAs a consolation prize, I do promise the Web page maintenance crew at FaithIt that if I ever feel the desire to be schooled on anything at my age, they\u2019ll be the first to know.<\/p>\n
\nThe other day I saw this movie called Planet of the Apes. You won\u2019t believe what happened in this movie. I\u2019ll give you a run-down.
\nOK. Charlton Heston is driving a space ship. He fires up a blunt in this all-oxygen environment but there isn\u2019t an explosion. He sits there and puffs a while and a few minutes later he lands on a planet that\u2019s controlled by gorillas and orangutans. I swear it! If you don\u2019t believe me, watch the movie.
\nAnyway, the orangutans put Charlton Heston on trial for talking and he gets busted out of jail by a couple of chimpanzees who take him to a weird archeological dig where he takes the No. 1 orangutan hostage. Then a little doll says \u201cMamma\u201d and everybody freaks out and there\u2019s a huge explosion.
\nSO, Charlton Heston takes off with his cavewoman girlfriend, riding down the ocean coast on a horse. All of a sudden he jumps down on the beach and starts hitting it like a little baby and cussing a lot and you see the Statue of Liberty. End of story!
\nNow keep in mind that all of this happens on the planet earth in year 3600. How the scriptwriter knew that this stuff will happen in 3600 I have no idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"