Kickstart my hiatus!

Hey y'all! I'm heading back to Alabama at the end of the week so will be blogging over at SweetWowLabama instead of here...although, I may cross post. Anyway, while you're busy missing me, be sure to check out my favorite site in the whole wide world (and on world wide web) Kickstarter for tons of cool projects happening all over the south!

Louisiana
Georgia
Tennessee
North Carolina
South Carolina
Kentucky

Oh! Did I ever tell you that one of the Kickstarter founders is from Virginia??

By for now,
Sweet Tea

Trouble The Water

Tomorrow night on NatGeo:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/trouble-the-water-4249/Videos#tab-Overview

Big Freedia the Queen Diva @ PS 1

New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia is performing at PS 1's Warm Up tomorrow (8/28). It's gon' be Azz Everywhere y'all!

Well, it's shaping up to be Katrina week....

Out now via Creative Time:

WAITING FOR GODOT IN NEW ORLEANS: A FIELD GUIDE
EDITED BY PAUL CHAN

The final installment of Creative Time's multi-part Waiting for Godot in New Orleans by Paul Chan, A Field Guide brings together a rich collection of primary ephemera, photographs, articles, and essays that explore the project's unique community-centric process from conception to completion. Divided into eight sections—Remember, Picture, Relate, Organize, Appear, Play, Film, Reflect—the book centers around Creative Time's production of Samuel Beckett's classic play over two weekends in two New Orleans neighborhoods—the middle of an intersection in the Lower Ninth Ward, and the front yard of an abandoned house in Gentilly. The production re-imagines the post-Katrina landscape of New Orleans as the setting for the 20th century's most emblematic story of waiting, and in doing so, illuminates the personal and political conditions facing the people of New Orleans and the evacuees in surrounding cities. (source)

One Block

Photographer Dave Anderson’s recently released book One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds is a powerful portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans as seen through the prism of a single city block whose residents are attempting to rebuild their homes. Using portraiture and still lifes, Anderson explores the very nature of community while testing its resilience. (source)

Citizen Gulf tonight in NYC

Tonight (8/25) – in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina – there will be a series of CitizenGulf meet-ups across the country to fundraise and benefit fishing families affected by the oil spill. At the #citizengulf NYC meet-up, you make a step towards actionable change. Held at the Village Pourhouse in the East Village, special guest speaker is Erik Proulx, executive producer of Lemonade, the movie, will be joined by social media voices like Damien Basile, Anna Curran, Nicole D'Alonzo, Erica Grigg, Geoff Livingston, Richard Laermer, and Greg Verdino. Social Media Club is a national partner for this event. Register: http://citizengulfnyc.eventbrite.com/

Please tweet about the event:

Join @SMCNYC on 8/25 for #CitizenGulf Fundraiser RSVP http://citizengulfnyc.eventbrite.com/ pls RT

(source: smcnyc)

Katrina Ballads @ (Le) Poisson Rouge

Tonight (8/24) @ 6:30PM at (Le) Poisson Rouge:

Ted Hearne's KATRINA BALLADS featuring René Marie

KATRINA BALLADS, recipient of the 2009 Gaudeamus Prize, is a collection of songs by Ted Hearne. Featuring five singers and a band of eleven instrumentalists, it is set entirely to primary-source texts from the week following Hurricane Katrina - including everything from testimonies of survivors and relief workers to the words of Anderson Cooper, Kanye West, and George W. Bush's infamous "heckuva job." Like American music and New Orleans itself, Katrina Ballads is an omnivorous and multi-stylistic work. It is rhythmic and dramatic music, with an edgy post-minimalist drive and a deep jazz influence. With new work from renowned filmmaker Bill Morrison, Katrina Ballads calls us to reflect upon our own very recent history.

Katrina Ballads was premiered to rave reviews at the 2007 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. It has since been seen at Chicago's Fine Arts Building, at the New York City Opera's VOX: Showcasing American Composers series and at the 2009 Gaudeamus Festival in Amsterdam. This performance commemorates the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and accompanies the release of the studio album, produced by Lawson White, on New Amsterdam/Naxos Records.

To stream audio: http://www.newamsterdamrecords.com/#Album/Katrina_Ballads

To read an interview about Katrina Ballads: http://www.indigestmag.com/hearne1.htm

(source)