Spirit Vessel Ceremony June 27th 8:00 pm

From the handout:
A ceremony to send healing to the Gulf of Mexico, create a space for solace and reflection and to honor lost life.
Jane Hill-organizer

clay vessels


Jane sets in water


BSJ group

4 days, 4 amazing things to do with your neighbors

Cinco de Craft Mafioso New Orleans Craft Mafia's 5th Birthday Party Fiesta!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
6:00pm - 10:00pm
The Factory 8314 Oak Street
Come join us on Thursday June 24 from 6-10pm at THE FACTORY to celebrate our 5th birthday!!

The New Orleans Craft Mafia is celebrating its first 5 years of bringing crafty alternatives to the Crescent City with a birthday bash on Thursday, June 24. The event, dubbed "Cinco de Craft Mafioso", will take place from 6pm - 10pm at The Factory, a new crafty workspace at 8314 Oak Street, which will begin teaching screen-printing classes on July 7.

Cinco de Craft Mafioso is a celebration of all things crafty. The event is free and open to all ages, and will feature free craft workshops, including t-shirt recycling and screen-printing. Bring your old t-shirts in and revamp them - we'll show you how to breathe new life into your old tees!

The event will also feature a crafty marketplace with handmade goods by members of the New Orleans Craft Mafia, as well as music and snacks. Be sure to stop by for free beer (while it lasts!) and get there early because the first 20 guests will receive a free New Orleans Craft Mafia tote bag filled with handmade goodies!

Friday, June 25, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
Jackson Square into the cul-de-sacs and secret streets
15 miles, 2 hours.

Hey bikers! join the Rolling Black Out Friday June 25th! There's no
need to drill, baby. 6pm Jackson square.

Thanks for everyone who came out last month, and to the Dead Pelicans
and Murdered Gulf Events. let's make this month's mass even more
massive. Let's show New Orleans how unnecessary cars are! Tell
your Friends, Bring your Mom, Bring a date.

This month, on the table is another JP/ suburbia route, only hitting
more of the tree-lined neighborhoods in Lakeview and Bayou St John
this time. In addition to catching some shade, we'll be hitting Canal
and Veterans, some secret passages, some shady spots, and riding
amidst the parts of New Orleans cul-de-sac'd away into car culture:
check it out here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=29.972186%2C-90.091324&spn=0.079111%2C0.127888&z=13&msid=106960675667875346255.000489564096f5c7bec6a

of course, the route is always negotiable, and subject to radical
change. please give feedback! or come up with routes. or mis-lead
the ride somewhere new and interesting.

Saturday, June 26, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location:
The Big Top!
1638 Clio Street

The New Orleans Food Co-op presents a live auction @ The Big Top!, hosted by famous MC Celebrity Auctioneer John Calhoun and his band! Doors and viewing @ 6pm. Auction bidding begins @ 7:30pm sharp. FOOD PROVIDED. Cover: $10 / $5 for NOFC member-owners.
Auction items include a wonderful selection of original art and gift certificates for a wide range of local services including massage, martial arts classes, and meals at your favorite restaurants.
All proceeds to benefit the NOFC's mission of bringing healthy, affordable groceries to New Orleans.
www.nolafoodcoop.org
twitter.com/nolafoodcoop
HEN: Friday, June 19th and/or Friday, June 26th Meet at Fairgrinds Coffee House to create your clay Spirit Vessel with guidance from local artist Jane Hill. Prayers and small animals also will be created.

Sunday June 27th 8:00 pm

Meet at the banks of Bayou St John, at the Bridge opposite Cabrini. In a simple ceremony, the unfired clay Vessels created by the community will be lighted and released into the water of the bayou, carrying our intentions and wishes for the Gulf’s restoration before they dissolve and go back to nature. Participation and performance from local musicians and poets will take place.

Note: All materials used in this community project are biodegradable and will not damage the bayou in any way. Please note that this event is not a protest or demonstration space. Children are encouraged to participate, but parents should know this is not designed as a children’s clay class or art project. Rain Date is Monday June 28th at 8 pm.

Hot Dog

One of the high points in post-Katrina has been the opening of Cochon and its sister butcher shop Butcher.
This is its "All the Way" hot dog, with chili, mustard, onions and slaw. Great.

The boudin with pickle and mustard was as good maybe better.

Old, new and waiting in Mandeville

small house with a style that is like many of the older homes in Mandeville
umm, big houses are also like it used to be in Mandeville. this belongs to a long time family with ties to New Orleans. the property is an entire set of back to back blocks

Travesty of post-hurricane building


And yet many still wait

Abita Springs can surprise you

If you take the causeway to Mandeville, do yourself a favor and take a right almost as soon as you get off the bridge going into old Mandeville (take Monroe).
Be very careful to follow the speed limits; these cops are lurking nearby. Bring a bike and park your car at the Mandeville Trailhead and head north on the Tammany Trace. A rails to trails project that has spurred all types of projects (good and bad) alongside it, it is almost a one of a kind bicycle trip for our area. Really, for New Orleanians, how often do we get to ride quietly in shade (before 11 am or after 4 pm) without angry drivers or broken pavement as our constant companion? And then end up at a brewpub right on the trail?
Keep going til you get to Covington and get to one of their 5-6 good restaurants and if you are there on Saturday am or Wednesday afternoon, their excellent farmers market.
The Ozone Belt is alright.

Our region deserves better PR.

Don't Stop the Music. Let New Orleans Street Musicians Play!

From Lisa AintTrippin Palumbo:

"Police just came and shut TBC Brass Band down again, for the second time in less than a week. They are giving street musicians enforcement letters with the mayor and police chief's name on the letterhead, and are asking for signatures in acknowledgment of receipt. Tourists and spectators were angered and horrified by this spectacle. The Young Fellaz Brass Band was also shut down on Friday while playing the corner of Frenchmen and Chartres.

The ordinances they are seeking to enforce are on the letter and it covers not just Bourbon, but any kind of entertainment that takes place between 8:00 PM and 9:00 AM, unless it's Bourbon St., and then it's 6:00 AM.

The spectators were angered and horrified, especially the tourists. By the way, the spectators were composed composed of tourists, locals and and assortment of other musicians (pretty much all of the members of the Pinettes Brass Band were out there)."

Media interested in interviews with musicians affected by the enforcement of this ordinance may contact Lisa Palumbo, lisa@audiblevision.com and we'll get you up with the right people.

St. John Spirit Ceremony

A community art project for the Bayou St John community, to create a space of solace, healing and reflection in the wake of the BP Oil Spill, and to honor lost life.



WHEN: Friday, June 19th and/or Friday, June 26th Meet at Fairgrinds Coffee House to create your clay Spirit Vessel with guidance from local artist Jane Hill. Prayers and small animals also will be created.

Sunday June 27th 8:00 pm Meet at the banks of Bayou St John, at the Bridge opposite Cabrini. In a simple ceremony, the unfired clay Vessels created by the community will be lighted and released into the water of the bayou, carrying our intentions and wishes for the Gulf’s restoration before they dissolve and go back to nature. Participation and performance from local musicians and poets will take place.



Note: All materials used in this community project are biodegradable and will not damage the bayou in any way. Please note that this event is not a protest or demonstration space. Children are encouraged to participate, but parents should know this is not designed as a children’s clay class or art project. Rain Date is Monday June 28th at 8 pm

Bicycle culture

Chainbreaker Bike Book By Shelly Jackson
The New Orleans Bicycle Book (circa 1983 by Louis Alvarez)
New Orleans Bicycles by Mary Richardson, Nicholas Costarides
Truckbike.com
Metrobicyclecoalition.org
www.nolacycle.org

so these are books I have seen and some sites I use regularly that focus on the 2 wheeled culture of the city. It seems we are gathering steam with streets being striped for bikes (thanks Jen, among others) and with the excellent bike map project headed by Lauren Sullivan bike map about to be printed it's a good time.
I would say that we need to find more ways to communicate to drivers that we share the road. I am always on the defensive as a rider, having been hit on St. Charles back in the early 1980s. The guy asked why I wasn't riding on the sidewalk. I threw my helmet at his windshield and cursed him but good. Felt better later as I was taking a cab home. And as a bicycle messenger in the 1990s, I kept myself alive by anticipating dumb moves from others. Sort of an everyday habit now. Maybe we need to have a project where we raise money to give out fluorescent stripes that say "another cyclist on the road" for helmets, or ask people to record a month's worth of rides so the city can see how many people ride regularly. Or maybe we all need to show up at MBC events.

But at the same time, let's not forget that we want to ride just because its fun. So, sometimes just get on your bike and cruise. A good place to do that is next week in Abita Springs. Come celebrate with your regional cyclists at a really fun 10-year old event.

Yeah you rite

A sampling of the many neighborhood and class-based accents in New Orleans circa 1983 from the documentary YEAH YOU RITE! by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker.
LOUIS ALVAREZ and ANDREW KOLKER, twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, have over the past 25 years produced critically praised documentaries on American culture, treating important topics in American life with a unique mixture of humor and poignancy. In addition to People Like Us, Alvarez and Kolker have tackled motherhood (MOMS), politics (Vote for Me and Louisiana Boys — Raised on Politics), accents (American Tongues), sexuality (Sex: female), and the globalization of pop culture (The Japanese Version). Kolker and Alvarez began their careers in New Orleans and now live in New York City.
New Orleans accents

BP oil spill as seen from your front porch

Spill in your town