218. Jack McGuire, part 2

218. Part 2 of our interview with Jack McGuire about Earl Long. Jack's new book Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl's Last Hurrah tells the story of the last year of Long's life and the campaign that he waged and won by sheer force of will. He won the election (and a sizable bet he placed on it) but was dead in just over a week. Win the Race or Die Trying captures the essence of Earl Long by chronicling the desperate, death-defying campaign he waged to redefine his legacy.

1. This week in Louisiana history. July 23, 1879. New Constitution adopted, capitol moved - New Orleans to Baton Rouge plus (Reunion) constitution abolishes slavery.
2. This week in New Orleans history.  Oretha Castle Haley July 22, 1939 -- October 10, 1987. Oretha Castle was born in Oakland, Tennessee and moved to New Orleans with her parents in 1947. After graduating from Joseph S. Clark High School she enrolled at Southern University in New Orleans where she joined other students in the struggle for civil rights, eventually becoming the head of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in New Orleans. In 1967, Oretha married fellow CORE member Richard Haley.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Thursdays at Twilight:
   Wanda Rouzan and A Taste of New Orleans
   Friday, August 25
   6:00 PM
   Venue information:
   Pavilion of the Two Sisters (Botanical Garden) One Palm Drive New Orleans, LA 70124
   504.483.9488
   http://www.garden.neworleanscitypark.com/
   Admission: $10
   Outdoor concert series featuring New Orleans' musical talent. Mint juleps, wine, beer, soft drinks, water and food are available for purchase. No outside food, drink, or pets are allowed.
4. Postcard from Louisiana. The Divazz play and sing on Royal St. behind St. Louis Cathedral. 

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217. Jack McGuire, part 1

217. Part 1 of our interview with Jack McGuire about Earl Long. Jack's new book Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl's Last Hurrah tells the story of the last year of Long's life and the campaign that he waged and won by sheer force of will. He won the election (and a sizable bet he placed on it) but was dead in just over a week. Win the Race or Die Trying captures the essence of Earl Long by chronicling the desperate, death-defying campaign he waged to redefine his legacy.

1. This week in Louisiana history. July 17, 1795. First bishop of New Orleans, Don Luis Cardenas, arrives in Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. July 17, 1974 the U.S. Custom House at 423 Canal Street was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   38th Natchitoches / NSU Folk Festival
   July 14th, 2017 - July 15th, 2017
   Prather Coliseum
   Northwestern State University Campus
   220 S. Jefferson St.,
   Natchitoches, LA 71457
   318-357-4332 | 800-259-1714
   Website | Email
   Prather Coliseum
   Northwestern State University Campus
   This two-day,  multi cultural celebration of heritage and folk art features authetic food from different cultures, Cajun music and dancing, demonstrations, unique folk art exhibits inside A/C Prather Coliseum. Both days is full of musical entertainment featuring Zydeco, Rhythm and Blues, Rock, Country and Soul. The festival is host the State Fiddle Championship on Northwestern State University Campus. 
4. Postcard from Louisiana. We listen to street singer Stoker on Royal Street in New Orleans.

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216. Sam Hyde

216. We interview historian Sam Hyde about the Florida Parishes. Sam is a history professor at Southeastern Louisiana University who specializes in Louisiana history, especially the Florida Parishes and West Florida. He has written books on local history: Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899 and A Fierce and Fractious Frontier: The Curious Development of Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1699-2000,

1. This week in Louisiana history. July 9, 1706. Iberville died of Yellow Fever.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Writer Shirley Ann Grau was born on July 8, 1929 in New Orleans.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Musical Improvisation Free Class
   Tuesday, July 11
   1:00 PM
   Venue information:
   Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center
   Seraphym Studios
   2525 Burgundy Sy.
   New Orleans, LA 70117
   504.230.9354
   Admission: $10.00 suggested
        Come learn how to improvise in music, express yourself and enjoy the presence of other people!
        Entry is donation-based, with a suggestion of $10 per person. All ages and skill levels are welcome, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Participants are invited to bring their own instruments, however a variety of options will also be provided.
        This series is presented by musician and improviser Joey van Leeuwen.
4. Postcards from Louisiana.  The Jackson Square Allstars play "99 Women" in Jackson Square, New Orleans.
   

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215. Katherine Bentley Jeffrey

215. We interview Katherine Bentley Jeffrey, editor of Two Civil Wars: The Curious Shared Journal of a Baton Rouge School Girl and a Sailor on the USS Essex. Two Civil Wars is both an edition of an unusual Civil War era double journal and a narrative about the two writers who composed its contents. The initial journal entries were written by thirteen-year-old Celeste Repp while a student at St. Mary’s Academy, Immediately following Celeste's prettily decorated pages a new title page intervenes, introducing “An Abstract Journal Kept by William L. Park, of the U.S. gunboat Essex during the American Rebellion.” Park’s diary is a fulsome three-year account of military engagements along the Mississippi and its tributaries, the bombardment of southern towns, the looting of plantations, skirmishes with Confederate guerillas, the uneasy experiment with “contrabands” (freed slaves) serving aboard ship, and the mundane circumstances of shipboard life. Very few diaries from the inland navy have survived, and this is the first journal from the ironclad Essex to be published.

1. This week in Louisiana history. July 1, 1731. The Company of the Indies gave up its charter of Louisiana Colony.
2. This week in New Orleans history. One of the lengthiest and most violent transit railway strikes the nation ever experienced began in New Orleans on July 1, 1929. Although an agreement was reached in August, the union members did not agree to go back to work until October.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Celebration on the Cane
   July 4th, 2017
   10:00 am - 11:00 pm
   Riverbank Stage
   781 Front Street,
   Natchitoches, LA 71457
   318-352-2746 | 800-259-1714
   Website | Email
   Riverbank Stage
   The day begins around 10 a.m. with children's activities and live musical entertainment at 6 p.m. with spectacular firework show over Cane River Lake at 9 p.m. over the Cane River Lake in historic Downtown Natchitoches, Louisiana. Event is FREE and open to the public. Bring blankets or lawn chairs. No ice chests allowed.
4. Postcard from New Orleans. Bruce listens to a song played by Dennis Journey, who was singing on the corner of Royal St. and Toulouse St. in New Orleans.

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Dennis Journey

214. Tyler Bridges. Long Shot.

214. We interview Tyler Bridges, co-author of Long Shot. This recent book is the story of Louisiana’s 2015 race for governor — but the story of John Bel Edwards’ improbable victory over David Vitter holds lessons for candidates and voters in all 50 states. It’s an inconceivable and sometimes hysterical odyssey that unfolds against the unique backdrop of Louisiana’s back roads, bayous, barrooms, and ballrooms.
     Tyler Bridges and Jeremy Alford, two veteran political reporters in Louisiana, take readers deep into the inner workings of the Edwards and Vitter campaigns. To document this unforgettable ride, they interviewed more than 100 of the people who cut the deals, launched the attacks, and even played both sides. Clancy DuBos, one of the state’s foremost political analysts, brought his tremendous knowledge to bear as he edited the book.

1. This week in Louisiana history. June 25, 1868. FL, AL, LA, GA, NC & SC readmitted to US following the Civil War.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Upstairs Lounge Fire. June 24, 1973. Twenty-eight people died at the scene of the sixteen-minute fire, and one died en route to the hospital. Another 18 suffered injuries, of whom three died. The arson was never solved, and it remained the largest hate crime against gay people until the Orlando shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   ComedySportz
   Saturday, July 1
   8:00 PM
   Venue information:
   NOLA Comedy Theater
   5039 Freret St.
   New Orleans, LA 70115
   504.231.7011
   http://www.nolacomedy.com
   Admission: $10 adults, $8 children
   Two teams of comic improvisers compete for points, based upon audience suggestions. Rated "E" for Everyone.
4. Postcard from Louisiana. Sheryl St. Germain reads her poem, “Getting Rid Of The Accent.”

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213. Arlie Hochschild. Strangers in their own Land.

213. We interview Arlie Hochshild. A sociologist in Berkeley, Arlie spent 5 years with people near Lake Charles to try to understand the attitude of the Tea Party voter. The result of her study, Strangers in Their Own Land is a New York Times best seller and a 2016 finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Her work goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that many on the political right have been duped into voting against their interests. In the right-wing world she explores, Hochschild discovers powerful forces—fear of cultural eclipse, economic decline, perceived government betrayal — which override self-interest, as progressives see it, and help explain the emotional appeal of a candidate like Donald Trump. Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in “red” America.

1. This week in Louisiana history. June 20, 1968. Presidential candidate George Wallace speaks in Baton Rouge raising $60,000.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Elias Toutant Beauregard, commandant of Spanish forts. Born, June 17, 1759, New Orleans. In 1779; first served Spain as a member of the New Orleans Company of Carbineers in the Mobile campaign of 1780; was a captain in the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, March 1, 1781; appointed by Gov. Esteban Miró as first commandant at Los Nogales (now Vicksburg, Miss.), April 1791; cooperated with Spanish agents in seeking peace between Choctaw and Creek Indians; reported on all vessels descending the river and served as a courier protector by sending messages up and down the river; was judge of civil and criminal cases; laid the groundwork for the Nogales Conference and signed the Treaty of Nogales, October 28, 1793; replaced as commandant from June 23, 1794; was commandant of the post at San Fernando (now Memphis, Tenn.), May-September 1795; was in New Orleans during yellow-fever epidemic of 1796; returned to Los Nogales as commandant from June 23, 1796 to March 23, 1797; listed in 1798 as a captain, Seventh Company, Second Battalion of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment; lived in New Orleans for a time; removed to Baton Rouge and laid out that part of the city known as Beauregard Town. Thrown from a horse during a military review. Died as a result of the accident, December 3, 1809.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Louisiana Catfish Festival
   June 17th, 2017 - June 19th, 2017
   St. Gertrude Catholic Church
   17324 La. 631
   Des Allemandes, LA 70030
   985-758-7542
   Website
   St. Gertrude Catholic Church
   The festival is held on the grounds of St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church in Des Allemands. From New Orleans, take I-10 W to I-310. Head south on I-310 for about 12 miles. Exit to the right on Hwy. 90 W to Houma. Continue on Hwy. 90 W through Paradis to Des Allemands. Upon reaching Des Allemands,  St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church will be on the right side of LA 631 in the Des Allemands Business District.

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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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