What to do in Shreveport in April

Shreveport is beautiful this time of year. The azaleas, dogwoods, and wisteria are blooming, the trees are leafing out, and the city's gardeners have a riot of blooming daffodils, tulips, and other beauties to admire. If you haven't made it over to Norton Art Gallery to catch the azaleas you better hurry!

There is so much to do and so many events this time of year.  Here are some local events that have caught my eye for April:

On April 4 you can catch the Downtown ArtWalk from 5:00 - 8:00 pm where you can experience art and artists, watch fun new street performers, grab a bite at a food truck or a special at a restaurant, walk through new exhibit openings, learn about some of the history of the area in a History in 5 talk and Sketch the City with AIA architect Mischa Farrell.

April 7:  Kids day at Caddo Parish Animal Shelter:  it's the 2nd Annual Kids Day at Caddo Parish Animal Shelter where they will have books, crafts, and family fun focused on pet education! Kids will be free to watch G rated movies, read pet education books to adoption animals, craft with some fun pet education booklets, and play with adoption animals. Snacks will be provided. The event will be from 10-2 and is free.  The animals love it!

Flying Heart Brewing and BeauxJax will have a block party on April 7 featuring food trucks and local vendors as a benefit for Gingerbread House.  The event runs from 11-6 at 700 Barksdale Blvd.

The Texas Avenue Makers Fair will be April 7 and will feature many local artists.  The event is from 10:00 - 5:00 at 888 Texas Avenue.

Also on April 7, the Shreveport Opera Guild is hosting its first character breakfast: “Beignets with Belle,” from 9:00-10:30 am on Saturday morning, at Logan Mansion in Shreveport (725 Austin Place). This family event will allow guests of all ages to interact with the characters Belle, Prince Charming, and Cinderella while enjoying fresh beignets prepared by Southern Faire’s Cindy Johnson, children activities, a photo booth by PicEnvy, and a short performance by Belle. Not only will children and adult attendees be treated to a morning with the characters Belle and Prince Charming, but Cinderella will also be there.  Tickets must be purchased in advance.

On April 13-15 the Sons of Confederate Veterans will host the Battle of Pleasant Hill Reenactment at Pleasant Hill in Sabine Parish.

Saturday, April 14, The Robinson will have a Family Matinee: Babe.  The cost is $6.50 and there will be pre-show prizes!

The Renzi Center will have a benefit on April 14 at The Shop on Southern Avenue.  The Jazz & Blues Brunch will feature Buddy Flett and will run from 11:00 - 2:00.  Enjoy a delicious brunch courtesy of Marilynn's Place and e a cash bar with beer, Bloody Marys, and Mimosas for the 21+ crowd. There will also be Rhino Coffee's famous hot and cold blends.  In addition to great food and live music,there will be a raffle for a 55" Phillips Smart TV, provided by Lagniappe Foods. Raffle tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance or at the event.

Red River Brewing's monthly live music jam will be April 15; this is always a fun event with great music and good food!

The Shreveport Little Theater is staging Of Mice and Men from April 19-29.  Contact the theater for ticket prices. 

You can catch Beauty and the Beast on April 20 hosted by the Shreveport Opera at Riverview Hall.  Contact the Shreveport Opera for ticket information.

Centenary College and The Meadows Museum will host Art in the Meadow on April 21 from 10:00 - 4:00.   This is a free event featuring: art, sustainability, kid-friendly activities, and fun for the whole family. There will be Artists Alley, a makers fair featuring many local artists, designers, and makers as well as interactive booths with games, crafts, and activities geared toward kids of all ages that highlight art and sustainability. Bonus: there will be food trucks!

On Sunday, April 28, the Wizard of Oz production will be at the Strand. The national tour features dazzling special effects, sets, and of course the music!

The Foo Fighters will be at CenturyLink on April 24.  Tickets start at $39.

On April 24 the Heels and Reels event at The Robinson will be Working Girl.  The event is from 5:30 - 8:30 at the Robinson in downtown Shreveport.

April 28:  The ARTini fundraiser will be from 7-1l pm at the Louisiana State Exhibit Building.  It is a Casablanca themed event this year featuring live music, local artists, and much more. Twenty-Five area restaurants will create unique martinis and compete for the coveted titles of "Judges Choice", "People's Choice", and "Most M'artisanal".

Also on April 28 you can catch Lonestar at Margaritaville. Tickets start at $30.

If local politics interests you, on April 28 you can attend Leo Savage's announcement party as candidate for Shreveport mayor.  The event is from 4-7 pm at the Agriculture Building at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds.

If that's not enough for you, there is always Mudbugs Hockey which is so fun and the organization does so much for our community.  We have many great museums: if you've never been to the Shreveport Water Works Museum on Common Street you should definitely check it out.  The Spring Street Museum is also a very cool place with many interesting artifacts and history of Shreveport.  The Shreveport Aquarium is a great place to take the kids for a little something different to do.  You can catch a baseball game at Centenary (for free!) through April or at LSUS for a small charge.

There is a little something for everyone!

If you have an event you'd like added send me an email or drop it in the comments! 

Two Movies in 24 Hours

I have seen two movies in 24 hours which is very unusual because I can't remember the last movie I actually went to see one in a theater.  Probably it was Runaway Slave.  Maybe True Grit before that.

Steve and I went to see Lone Survivor yesterday and today I went to see Wolf of Wall Street.

We wanted to see Lone Survivor because we'd both read the book when it came out and well, what a story it is!  I thought the movie was very good and it made me even more appreciative (if that's possible) of our military and what they are willing to sacrifice for this country.  Simply amazing.  I was sorry that the movie deviated from the book in the final scenes; wasn't the real story intense and dramatic enough without making up events?  That being said, it was well worth the time to see.  I highly recommend it if you get a chance.

I went to Wolf because my 22-year old son wanted to see it and asked me to go with him.  Yeah, it's not really a movie to see with your kids, no matter how old they are, but there we were.  I have mixed feelings about Wolf.  I thought that artistically the movie was well done, especially with regard to how it represented the eighties.  But there was an awful lot of gratuitous naked people and sex that could have been left out.  The three hour movie could easily have been done in 2 hours if some of that was trimmed.

My other problem with Wolf is that it seems the older I get the less tolerant I am about glorifying criminals.  The guy needed to be in jail (not a federal country club) and needs to be held to his restitution agreement.  I'm all for freedom of artistic expression and I know a lot of people enjoy movies like that.  I have certainly watched my share of Godfather movies and own a copy of Scarface.  I can't really put my finger on why this one bugs me; maybe it's because this real person defrauded other real people and so far doesn't seem to have paid much of a price.  Maybe it's just that I don't like Belfort.  There's nothing likable about him.

Leonardo DiCaprio probably did a fine job in his role of Jordan Belfort (although I think I would have preferred it if he and Matthew McConaughey had switched roles.  McConaughey would have been excellent in that role.)

I am content now to sit back on the couch and stick to reading books.  And considering the previews I've seen, that's probably going to be a very wise decision.

New Year's Eve in Shreveport

What to do in Shreveport on New Year's Eve? Here's a rundown:

Jayne Marie on Cross Lake is having a party. Details at Trudeau's place.

The Robinson Film Center has festivities, including a screening of When Harry Met Sally, followed by a party and live music. Details here.

Krewe of Elders is having a New Year's Eve party at the American Legion Hall on Cross Lake - open to the public for $30. Details.

Sam's Town Casino is having a party with Rockin' Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters.

Eldorado Casino and Resort has a party with Bushrod Jenkins and the Crisis.

There is a free fireworks show at Harrah's Louisiana Downs and for entertainment - The Spazmatics.

Boomtown Casino has the Groove Agents at their party.

Sciport has a New Year's at Noon celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 today.

The Warehouse on Commerce Street will have American Tragedy and ReflectionsBurn starting at 10:00. Details here.

If you're going downtown around the Shreveport casinos (there are also Bossier casinos), I'd recommend dinner at The Blind Tiger. Of course, you can eat at the casino, but The Blind Tiger is great! Unfortunately, their site is under construction but here is a partial menu, and here is a post I did on them last year.

If you're going the other direction, to the south end of town, eat at Vince's! We love to eat there, and it's a local establishment, as is The Blind Tiger, which I believe in supporting. All the typical chain joints are out that way, too, but you can't beat Vince's. Here is my review on them.

I'm sure there's more, so if you're local and you know of something to share, email me, or leave a comment.

A Random Stack of Stuff

A quick roundup of random stuff:

First, I'm sure he reads MY blog so Happy Birthday to Rush Limbaugh today!

Our school calendar is bizarre this year; normally we finish the first semester before Christmas and then get new kids and start the new semester after Christmas. Not this year. This year we came back from Christmas break, had one more week of class, then gave finals Friday and today. Tomorrow, on a Tuesday, we start the new semester with new students. It's not a big deal, and I'm flexible, but it's still a little weird. I say I'm flexible, but I don't like change. Does that make ANY sense?!

Speaking of not making any sense, on the political front we have PEBO this weekend with Stephenopolous saying that he won't actually be able to close Club Gitmo in the first hundred days because, well, there are dangerous people there (really?) and it's more complicated than he first thought. Many countries do not want these detainees returned to them. But then today he did a turnabout and said that he will, after all, issue an Executive Order next week to close Gitmo. Of course, he doesn't really mean close it because he doesn't know what to do with those folks yet. It basically amounts to a reaffirmation of his promise to close it. It sounds good. Makes the voters happy. He's eventually going to close it.

Why are people complaining about Gitmo but not the other prisons for terrorists we have in place, like at Baghram? Just wondering.

On another note, some interesting confirmation hearings coming up this week- Holder and Hillary. I'm anti-anti on the Holder thing; I don't like his actions on the terrorist pardon deal and I don't like his stance on the Second Amendment. He's tied up with Resko and Blago and I don't trust him. And Hillary's ought to be intersting because of the questions about financial donations and such. I don't think they'll give Hillary too hard a time actually, but I could be wrong.

And lest anyone think I'm being too hard on the Democrats, I'm sick of this bailout mess. Everytime I turn around someone else wants a handout. Enough already! Enough! Crazy!

And finally, is it just me or was the Golden Globes last night totally classless? I'm no prude and I can cuss with the best of 'em, but for crying out loud! On national television shouldn't we put our best foot forward? What happened to celebrities with class? *Sigh*

On The Road With Gary Sinise

Saturday night FOX News is airing a Gary Sinise special called On The Road in Iraq with Gary Sinise; here's what Sinise, who recently was awarded the Presidential Citizen's Medal, says about it:

"My brother-in–law Jack Treese served as a medic in Vietnam and wore his dog tags on a rosary with a St. Christopher medal. I wore that same rosary and dog tags as my character, “Lt. Dan”, in the movie “Forrest Gump”. With the help of the USO, my brother-in-law Jack, and my friend Jonathan Flora who used a handheld camera, you will see what happened on a seven day trip I took to Iraq last summer which will air this Saturday night on the FOX News Channel. It was my fourth trip there with the USO. My goal, as always, was to cover as many miles as possible and to take pictures, sign autographs and shake hands with as many troops as I could in the time I had."

As previously posted, Sinise is a huge supporter of our troops and is one of the most active celebrities working in the old Bob Hope USO fashion. I remember all those Bob Hope specials on TV as I was growing up. Sinise works tirelessly to thank our troops for their service.

If you get the chance this weekend, check it out, or at least set your DVR! You'll see Sinise meeting troops throughout Iraq and a bit of his Lt. Dan Band!

On This Day in History...

On this day in 1983 CATS first opened. I totally love CATS and have been to seen the traveling production twice. I took both of my kids to the gorgeous Strand theater to see it. As I remember, the youngest fell asleep toward the end but he made it through most of it. He loved it and wanted to go back when it recently came back through. Of course Rum Tum Tugger is my favorite - such a fabulous character/cat. But my favorite song is probably Mr. Mistoffoles.

Oktoberfest at BAFB

Barksdale Air Force Base put on an Oktoberfest celebration this evening and I can promise you that it is a brand new tradition in the Shreveport-Bossier area! What a hit it was and what a fabulous time the folks had! I am full of exclamation points and "ohmigods" so I'll try to rein myself in and just tell you that we had a great time and how the Base did a GREAT job putting together a brand new Oktoberfest celebration.

We arrived around 5:45 (it started at 5:30) and the beer lines were already WAY long. A good crowd was already in place. Steve and I got in the (very long) beer line but before long a Jessica Simpson look-alike waitress/frauline person came, took our tickets and brought us beer, thus saving us from the long line. There was a German Oompah band playing and if I had to compare them to anybody it would hands down be the Bare Naked Ladies; from their playing style to their crowd-shout-outs. They played plenty of German beer drinking music and toasts as well as lots of contemporary stuff (and I mean contemporary by MY day - not now.)

We had dinner (brats. saurkraut, potato salad, etc.) and more beer. They had a GREAT Samuel Adams Oktoberfest on draft. Awesome. At one point I had a mug in one hand a "half-yard" in the other. (After you stand in the beer line for 45 minutes you learn to plan ahead.)

At any rate, BAFB did it right. The DJ was great, the band was great the atmosphere and decorations were great. There was a brat eating contest, beer stein races, a costume contest, a German Shoe Dance contest, a yodeling contest, a beer drinking contest (which I would have entered had I not had a head start) and lots of good fun.

What I loved most about it, probably, was the poignant moment of the evening when the toast was raised for the Raider crew that was lost this summer over Guam-- the crew that won't be coming back. I love the heart of the military and the soul of those that serve. Some folks left their dinner this evening to go to the tarmac to welcome back a crew that was coming in from Anderson AFB. It was very moving when they were mentioned tonight.

I walked up to take a picture of the band and of course they stopped playing and the lead guy goes, "Picture!!!" and they posed -- . And then at the end of the night the DJ came back on while the Oomaph band packed up; he started with Maragritaville and then Living on a Prayer and ended up with Thriller and we were all doing the Zombie dance. Even the fraulines in their german waitress costumes. Oh it was fun! We had a blast and can't wait until next year!!

The Radio City Rockettes

The Rockettes are coming to Century Tel for a Christmas show - December 15 and 16! I think we should go.

Come To My House

I don't watch a lot of TV; most of what I watch is either news or old movies (1930s, 40s, 50s) . But, I can't wait until September 16 and the return of House! The Teenager is actually the first one who introduced me to this show, about 2 or 3 seasons in. We both loaded onto our iPods for the gazillion hour drive to Iowa from Louisiana. I watched the entire first season on that trip!

Huge Laurie is such an engaging actor and I have a sick fascination with his character on this show. His sarcasm and his ego are so, well, those aren't good qualities, are they? But on him they are.

The show has changed some through the seasons, adding Sela Ward and changing the "team" that assists House, but he's constantly adorable.

I'm also awaiting Grey's Anatomy. They lost me a bit on strike-year, but I'm going to give it a shot. I'm kind of over the soap-opera-everyone-sleep-with-everyone else thing, but if the writing gets back up to par I might stick it out. They' re on probation with me for a few episodes.

Other than that, I hardly notice the new tv season. I have a feeling I'm going to be watching a lot of politics over the next couple of months!

In the Mood

Last night was the Dimensions In Blue Jazz Ensemble concert. The group is based on Lackland AFB and was created in 1941. They put on a great show, and like the Falconaires concert that we saw in the spring, they had a female vocalist who was very good. The concert was at the Bossier Civic Center and it was filled with people from little kids to elderly folks. This group was heavy on the jazz, as you might expect, but played some Paul Simon ("Still Crazy After All These Years") as well as traditional selections ("Battle Hymn of the Republic"). Vocalist Donna Siler brought tears to some eyes with her rendition of that one.

To me, the BEST part of the night was when they did their final song which was Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" which EVERYONE loves. At the very first notes the little white haired lady in front of me squealed with glee and waved her hands in the air, jitterbug fashion, tapped her little feet, and danced in her chair throughout the song! It was priceless! The horns left the stage and mingled through the audience as they played and it was simply fabulous!

Steve and I just love these concerts. They bring people of all ages together through the music and they are just good fun.

Band Banter

I just got my tickets for the Air Force Band of the West concert for August 13. Steve and I take our cheap thrills where we can get them and these free concerts are really a lot of fun. Our first experience with this was last summer when we went to see the 156th Army Band at the Strand. We had dinner at Nanking first and then took balcony seats in the theater for the concert. It was really great! There was lots of patriotic Sousa type marches as well as, and our favorite, a Big Band ensemble. There was a great crowd there. It was Myron Turner’s farewell concert and at the end the band presented him with gifts.

Our second trip was this spring when we went to see the USAF Falconaires perform at a local high school auditorium. We loved this one. They played a LOT of big band music, which we both love. An elderly gentleman sat next to me and his toe was tapping the whole time! They had a female vocalist, TSgt Christina Saalborn, and she was awesome. The best part of that concert was Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” in which the drummer MSgt. Christopher Gaona played an extended drum solo that blew me away. If you sit still to that song, there is something wrong with you; in fact you are probably dead. The band, in a humorous gesture, walked off stage in mock-disgust during the drum solo because it was so long, but it was a class act – they just wanted to highlight MSgt Gaona’s performance.

Recently we saw the 156th Army Band again at the Strand and they added a rock ensemble to the show which was different. Because Steve and I are old-fogeys at heart, we liked the Big Band ensemble better, but it was still fun.

One thing they all do is near the end of the concert, they will play the songs for each military service branch. If you have served you are supposed to stand up when they play your song. There are always lots of Air Force folks around here and lots of them stand up. Lots of Army folks. Very few Coast Guard people here! Steve has a lot of fun with this because he gets to stand up twice (Air Force AND Army) and people look at him funny.

I’m excited to see what the AF Band has in store for us next week! If you want to join us, get your free tickets from The Shreveport Times.