212. Wayne Self. "Upstairs."

212. We interview Wayne Self about his musical Upstairs about the UpStairs Lounge Fire. The UpStairs Lounge arson attack took place on June 24, 1973 at a gay bar located in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Thirty-two people died as a result of fire or smoke inhalation. Wayne wrote the musical Upstairs about the fire. Until the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando one year ago, it was the largest mass killing of gay people in the United States.

1. This week in Louisiana history. June 6, 1814. Pierre Lafitte arrested and accused of piracy by order of WCC Clairborne.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established by executive order of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on May 6, 1935. It replaced the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) as the federal government agency responsible for combatting the ill effects of the Great Depression. The WPA was a work relief program and it was instrumental in providing jobs for many individuals who had become unemployed during the nation's economic downturn.
         Most WPA projects were carried out by local and state governments using funds provided by Washington. Several projects were administered directly by the federal government, including the Art, Music, Theatre, and Writers' projects. The bulk of WPA spending went toward the construction and maintenance of the nation's infrastructure. Smaller amounts funded educations, recreational, and cultural activities.
         In Louisiana, state headquarters of the WPA was located in New Orleans. The agency also operated district offices around the state. In 1939 the program's name was changed to Work Projects Administration. On December 4, 1942, the president ordered an end to WPA activities as the nation's war effort eliminated most of the unemployment that the agency had been designed to combat.
         WPA projects in the Crescent City ranged from street paving and bridge building to bookbinding and adult education.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Let the Good Times Roll Festival
   June 16th, 2017
   5:00 pm - 12:00 am
   Festival Plaza
   101 Crockett St.,
   Shreveport, LA 71101
   318-470-3890
   Website
   Festival Plaza
       Let The Good Times Roll Festival features performances by top names in soul, gospel, hip-hop and R&B. The festival was named a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event, because of its great line up of music, food and art booths. This will be a weekend-long celebration of African American culture.

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211. Kevin Cutrer. "Lord's Own Anointed."

211. We interview writer Kevin Cutrer about his book of poetry, Lord’s Own Anointed. Kevin is from Kentwood, LA, in the north end of Tangipahoa Parish. He has lived in South America, and now resides in the southernmost neighborhood of Boston. His first poetry collection, Lord’s Own Anointed, was released by Dos Madres Press in 2015. His run-ins with higher education have occurred at Southeastern Louisiana University and Emerson College.

1. This week in Louisiana history. June 6, 1814. Pierre Lafitte arrested and accused of piracy by order of WCC Clairborne.
2. This week in New Orleans history. By ordinance of June 3, 1844 the City Council reorganized the police of the municipality into a Night Watch and a Day Police. The former was composed of a captain, a lieutenant, a sub-lieutenant, two sergeants, and twenty-five men, divided among a main post, a post in Faubourg Washington, and one on the Bayou Road. The captain served at the main post and was responsible for distributing the men, taking care of the weapons, reporting daily to the Recorder (with a copy to the Mayor), and appearing at the Recorder's Court with the prisoners apprehended by the Watch. He was to keep a register of Watch officers and men and a journal of all police activities. All Watch members had to give proof of their citizenship and be able to read and write as well as speak English and French fluently. (NOPL)
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   St Tammany Photographic Society Meeting (User Submitted)
   Monday, June 5
   All Day Event
   Venue information:
   St. Tammany Art Association
   320 N. Columbia St.
   Covington, LA
   http://stphotosociety.org/
   Admission: Yearly dues after the first meeting
   The St Tammany Photographic Society meet the second Thursday of the each month. The club meets at the Covington Art Association, in downtown Covington, LA. Meeting start at 7:00PM, if you are interested in attending a meeting or would like to join the club. Please come to one of our meetings.

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210. Lamar White. Alexandria History

210. We talk to Lamar White, activist and journalist, about the history of his hometown, Alexandria. Lamar runs the CenLemar blog.  He is also in the process of starting The Bayou Brief, which will be the first and only statewide, non-profit, progressive, all-digitial publication, exclusively focusing on Louisiana

1. This week in Louisiana history. May 29, 1948. The Desire streetcars stopped running.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey earned a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from LSU in 1940. From 1939 to 1940 he taught there as an assistant instructor of political science. He was born on May 27, 1911 in Wallace, South Dakota.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   STAR Tournament
   May 27th, 2017 - September 2nd, 2017
   State Wide
   P.O. Box 86458,
   Baton Rouge, LA 70879
   225-952-9200
   Website | Email
   State Wide
   The CCA STAR tournament, attracts more than 13,000 anglers and there is over $500,000 in prizes and spans the entire coast of Louisiana. Boundaries are from Texas/Louisiana line to Louisiana/Mississippi line with over 30 weigh stations across the state. It will run from the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (May 27th) to Labor Day (Sep 4th). For more information you can check out ccastar.com. 

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209. Ambata Kazi-Nance

209. We interview New Orleans writer Ambata Kazi-Nance. Ambata writes from the perspective of an African-American woman who is also Muslim, living in a city and a culture that don't always know what to make of these characteristics.
       "The mistake often made by well-meaning people is to say that we’re all the same. We are all the same, in the sense that we’re human beings, but we’re all also different. The objective isn’t to erase the differences nor always highlight them, just to acknowledge they exist and not pass judgment based on them. We are as God created us to be. As my four-year-old son lovingly proclaimed one day while we were out walking, 'God made us all from clay, and then He painted us different colors!' Or like a friend who said, observing a newborn baby, 'God never runs out of designs.'”

1. This week in Louisiana history. May 20, 1835. The Planters Hotel in New Orleans collapsed killing 25.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Jazzland Opens  May 20, 2000. It later became a 6 Flags, and never reopened after Katrina.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Rendez-vous des Cajuns
   January 21st, 2017
   6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
   337-457-7389
   Website
   The Liberty Theatre
   Bring your dancing shoes to "Rendez-vous avec des Cajuns," a live radio show in the Grand Old Opry/Louisiana Hayride/Prairie Home companion format. The emcee hosts the program in Cajun French with enough English spoken so that everyone can enjoy this unique and one-of-a-kind experience. The entire family is welcome so make this event your Saturday night plan. $5 admission charged. Temporarily taking place at Rocky's Cajun Kitchen until renovations are complete!
4. Postcard from Louisiana.
   We talk to Karen Riley Simmons, Sherry Bovey, and Michelle Riggs from the Sankofa Cultural Collective of Alexandria. The Collective promotes, preserves, and encourages the visual, performance and cultural arts and heritage of people of African descent by providing cultural arts programming for youth and families in Central Louisiana.

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Ambata Kazi-Nance

Karen Riley Simmons, Sherry Bovey, & Michelle Riggs

208. Sam Irwin. Crawfish, part 2

208. Part 2 of our interview with Sam Irwin. Sam is the author of  Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean. Sam Irwin is a freelance photojournalist living in Baton Rouge. He is a native of Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capital of the World, and spent much of his childhood in Henderson, Louisiana at Amy's Fisheries, his grandfather's fish and crawfish market. Sam is the former press secretary of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry and a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He has also been a history teacher, a Cajun music dancehall operator and the owner of a record store.

1. This week in Louisiana history. May 13, 1864. Alexandia burned to the ground by Union troops.
2. This week in New Orleans history. May 13, 1921. It took 8  pairs of mules to haul away this 24 ton door for the Hibernia Bank and Trust's new vault door, built by the Mosler Safe Company.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Fidelity’s Concerts in the Park: Swing in the Pines
   Saturday, May 13
   6:00 PM
   Venue information:
   Bogue Falaya Park
   213 Park Drive
   Covington, LA 70433
   504.523.6530
   Guest conductor Ankush Bahl leads the LPO in Fidelity’s annual Concerts in the Park series at beautiful Bogue Falaya Park in Covington! Bring your lawn chairs, refreshments, and the entire family for this annual celebration of popular musical favorites from the past and present.

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207. Sam Irwin. Crawfish, part 1.

207. Part 1 of our interview with Sam Irwin. Sam is the author of  Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean. Sam Irwin is a freelance photojournalist living in Baton Rouge. He is a native of Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capital of the World, and spent much of his childhood in Henderson, Louisiana at Amy's Fisheries, his grandfather's fish and crawfish market. Sam is the former press secretary of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry and a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He has also been a history teacher, a Cajun music dancehall operator and the owner of a record store.

Recipe for Crawfish Bisque.
From Cooking in Old Creole Days.
Take two or three dozen crawfish, throw them in boiling water for a minute or two, clean them thoroughly. Take off the heads, empty them, and clean them and wash them, keeping the fat part of the tails. Put them on a chopping board with the fat, a little chicken or veal, a little stale bread, chop it all fine together, flavor with pepper, red or black, a laurel leaf, or put in a bouquet of aromatic herbs for a few minutes, having tied it with a thread so as to pull it out. Brown all this in a saucepan with a spoonful of lard. Stuff the crawfish heads tight with this. Put them in a saucepan to simmer with a quart of bouillon for an hour or more, until you have a good soup. Serve hot.

— Mme. Josephine Nicaud,
Who has been for over forty years in Ambassador Eustis’ family.

1. This week in Louisiana history.
   
• May 7, 1862. The Union Army captures Baton Rouge during the Civil War
• May 7, 1863. Alexandria captured by Union troops during the Civil War
2. This week in New Orleans history. On May 6, 1770, the Cabildo attorney requested soliciting  the establishment of a body of horse police.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Bobby Love and Friends Thursday, May 11
   5:00 PM CST
   Venue information:
   Vaso's 500 Frenchmen St. New Orleans, LA 70116
   504.272.0929

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206. Lake Douglas, part 2

206. Part 2 of our interview with Lake Douglas. Lake is an associate professor of landscape architecture and associate dean of research and development at the LSU College of Art & Design. He wrote Gardens of New Orleans: Exquisite Excess with Jeanette Hardy and pictures by Richard Sexton. The book was named the 2001 book of the year by New Orleans-Gulf South Booksellers' Association. In his work Public Spaces, Private Gardens: A History of Designed Landscapes in New Orleans,  Lake employs written accounts, archival data, historic photographs, lithographs, maps, and city planning documents — many of which have never before been published--to explore public and private outdoor spaces in New Orleans and those who shaped them. The result offers the first in-depth examination of the city's landscape history. Douglas presents this "beautiful and imposing" city as a work of art crafted by numerous influences. His survey from the colonial period to the twentieth century finds that geography, climate, and, above all, the multicultural character of its residents have made New Orleans unique in American landscape design history. French and Spanish settlers, Africans and Native Americans, as well as immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and other parts of the world all participated in creating this community's unique public and private landscapes.

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 29, 1820. Gov. Henry Watkins Allen was born in Prince Edward County, Va. The parish "Allen" will later be named for him. He fought in several Civil War battleas and served as Gov in 1864.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Percy Robert Miller (born April 29, 1970 in New Orleans better known by his stage name Master P or his business name P. Miller, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, producer, and former professional minor league Basketball player. He is the founder of the popular label No Limit Records, which went bankrupt and was relaunched as New No Limit Records through Koch Records, followed by Guttar Music Entertainment, and No Limit Forever Records. He is the founder and CEO of P. Miller Enterprises, an entertainment and financial conglomerate and Better Black Television.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival
   May 5th, 2017 - May 7th, 2017
   1290 Rees St.,
   Breaux Bridge, LA 70517
   337-332-6655
   Website | Email

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