Bingo Show!

A leftover but no less tasty from our trip to la belle Looouisiane. The divine Clint Maedgen singing. Check out Shoeshine Blues.

The Tree is in the Leaves

One of the things that happened when I was in Louisiana, was that I took a "Cajun" French immersion class. I had a wonderful time learning forestry, crawfishing, cooking couche-couche and making bousillage--a hybrid mud mixture of mud, clay and Spanish moss used as a plaster to fill the spaces between structural framing. Seen in French architecture of Louisiana of the early 1700s. Wood bars (barreaux), set between the posts, helps to hold the mud mixture in place. The bousillage wall when dry was plastered and then painted. The bousillage also formed a very effective insulation especially against the heat.

The class ended up doing some original skits based on the adventures of Boudreaux and Thibodeaux--a classic Cajun duo akin to Laurel and Hardy. We also performed some traditional songs including "L'arbre est dans ses feuilles." I ended up sketching it for translation assistance. It is a list song, with lines like, "on the branch there is hole, nest in the hole, egg in the nest, bird in the egg, heart in the bird and so on ending with love. I loved drawing the birds I saw out on the swamps. C'est un bon souvenir, hein?

Rhythm and Lines

Sometimes, musical phrases play in a corner of my mind. During errands, I snap visual echoes of that music as I walk about. Today I was channeling Steve Reich, whom I've been listening to in the studio. "Different Trains" is lovely music to paint to—arcs of sound and rhythm.

For the Birds

We've been partying pretty heavy. Last night we were running from dance hall to dance hall to shake it to one great band after another. Imagine Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Balfa Toujours, Feufollet, Geno Delafose, Steve Riley. No wonder the Grammys had to create a new category just for these great musicians. And we've got two more days of Mardi Gras fun to go with parades, courirs, and dances day and night.

However, lest you think we are slacking from our true calling, I assure you we've been faithfully dragging ourselves out to the swamps in search of alligators, herons, hawks, nesting birds and more. Honest.