HAPPY EARTH DAY- DAYS LATER

HAPPY EARTH DAY! after spacing out for hours- doing the morning ritual- i finally forced myself outside. my intention was to clean up under the carport and out on the patio; but, of course i ended up making more of a made more of a mess than i already had. 

i began doing various earthy projects: 

1. replanted the front flower bed @ mamas house with  transplants from my house: hosta, antirrhinum [from steve & larry in new orleans], native louisiana iris, grandmother's 4 o'clocks. 

2. hung all the wind chimes 50 times until i got them right- some were not getting this amazing wind that has been blowing all day. i hung them along the edge of the carport; opposite the ones Raymond made for me. 

 3.repaired some of the old ones, with bits and pieces from various broken ones. i discovered the perfect thing to do with the clear cds that come when you buy a spindle pack: since some of the chimes had lost the flap that the wind catches to move them, i tied them on. disco! it worked. not only that , but they spin in the wind, and cast light circle, which dance across the patio. that should entertain the cats.

APRIL 24, 2012

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY

DOWNTOWN MONROE- DELTA FEST- 4.28.2012

 

i had every intention of leaving the house early and going to the civic center/delta fest and chilling/visiting/w folks before my set with the NELA ALL STARS; but as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. i realized, after stressing to get drag & cds together, that i was out of my morning thyroid medicine- and, not wanting to stroke out onstage, called wally world in wm and asked them to refill. being saturday they broke for lunch at 1.30-2.30 and this was about the time i was ready to leave the house- so i dressed in my show duds, like an idiot [didnt want to carry excess stuff & change there] and drove to wm. i managed to get there around 3 and for once, everything was ready. shock and awe. [that almost stroked me out!]

going in and out i realized that it was a bit warm for me to be outside in all black suit & shirt etc. i had some other chores to do, errands to run, all of them "drive through"- so decided to do them while out, from my car, in which i had the AC on stun! i realized i had plenty of time before 'check in' and was NOT going to be outside any more than i had to be. 

i decided to drive around old downtown, snapping photos with my phone, from the car, as is my wont; my "drive by shooting" method/series. when the weather heats up, i just roll down the window and shoot, even if i have to make the block, or go in opposite directions- rather than get OUT! 

DESPITE THE FACT that i have shot so much of the stuff over and over with various cameras, for 100 years, i always find something new, or a new perspective.there are so many pockets of stuff here that are incredible; right before our eyes, that we totally don't see. i think before i start my "Louisiana photo safari" i might start right here; in my own home town. 


some shots of the old down town cemetery & remaining down town:

i have always wanted this building since i was a child!

old cotton warehouse

old cotton warehouse

some shots & blurbs from Delta Fest:

For the Roses

i woke, but didn't want to get out of bed, this morning, because it was COLD! But it was cold and SUNNY, so i poked my nose out the door & thought "hmmm might be a good day to mow"- but... the ground is like quicksand [quickmud?] since it has rained off and on all week- or maybe forever? so i put on the coffee, sat down to my journal & smokes and let the day drift into- or past- my life. 

after, my 'morning rituals', i began working in the house yet again. i had stopped during the preparation for my photo exhibit and concert & didnt pick up where i'd left off. it takes weeks to choose the photos, get them printed, get all the materials needed for framing, have them framed, get them to the venue, then get the show hung just right- so all of what 'house' work i had begun... stopped. i was like Ms Havisham [if i repeat that reference its because i have watched it every time it comes on PBS this month] everything left exactly as it was... not because i was left waiting at the altar, but because ART, my Mistress/Master, needed FULL attention. it was a blessing in that it [all the preparation] was during and leading up to the 1st anniversary of my mother's death [April 14]- and kept me busy-occupied- and not dwelling on it every minute; possibbly every other minute. the concert & show were on that day; and i did my very best in memory of/in honor of her.

stage- at sound check- rayville arts center

 i have been and am in the endless process of what i call "sifting" - sorting through everything in this house, boxing labeling storing- both mama's and my things; which has gone on for a very long and very hard year. everyone deals/copes with loss and grief in their own way- and our family- and i- has and have- suffered FAR too many losses. it has been a nightmare year. i have lost not only my parents and family members, but many VERY close, and close friends, within a year & half; i calculate 12 losses, altogether! I've felt, and feel, gutted. the worst year of my life. so... i have been 'isolating' for a year, have been a hermit [even more so than usual] with the exception of my time in switzerland this year, and what shows i have played here statewide. in switzerland i had my love, my OLD antique upright acoustic Burger & Jacobi piano, from the 1800s-and my vintage kawai 1 synth  and Mac in the garage/studio- 

burger & jacobi- mon amour

vintage: mac g4 & kawai k1 synth

so, daily  i dealt with and coped with and processed my emotions, thoughts, multitude of feelings through music; and a gazillion recording sessions; both acoustic and synthetic. IT was my therapy, my salvation; it kept my mind occupied, [actually UN-occupied, since everything was free form improvisation- i just went where the Spirit led me] and was a deep and spiritual healing process; it was the best way for me to cope with everything at the time; but then, it always is.

since i have been home... i've not done much music therapy. too many other irons in the fire ["back to life, back to reality"] & have had a few gigs in between the endless sifting. i haven't even set up my keyboard; but sometimes will run to my laptop and do some loop based tracks in Acid, Rebirth, Bram Bros Taureg- OR on my phone, recording direct into my laptop/Acid. It's all absolutely experimental instrumental music- and a total escape for me. it blots out everything else; as do all my creative endeavors when i am IN them.
My acoustic spinet which i learned to play on, is so out of tune, i don't use it. pity. i have had it since i was 12, and studying classical piano. it might make for some very interesting recordings; especially since it is in my house [our family home] which was my grandparents, then my parents: where i lived the 1st five years of my life. there could be some serious cosmic and spiritual connections in recording on it there... reverb and delay cover a multitude of sins [on out of tune pianos] - have Tascam DR-1 will travel... next door...

i cannot do creative/spiritual work in clutter and chaos. it stifles and paralyzes me. it makes me crazy. since i have been home, i have been TRYING to create order so i CAN work! Wanting everything to have a place, be put in its place [and for me to know where that place is]- get rid of clutter so i can work, and so it is also easier to clean. but it is overwhelming [its also very emotional]- with so much of my mother's things and mine, that at times i just shut down, and cant go any further; cant do anything more. going through the lifetime of possessions collected by someone you love is almost impossible; there is just so much you cannot let go of, or get rid of. it's too personal. too emotional.
we both had a lot of "stuff" - 'we' still do. i always keep things because i think i can use them for art... or use them later for something... but, i am also beginning to see that "less is more" - now if i could just have someone go through all my clothes and get rid of them...

BUT on the overwhelming days, when i am hobbled, i will sit and write in my journal, drinking endless pots of coffee, smoking endless cigarettes; thinking and writing about everything from past to present; questioning everything from existence to death; the meaning of everything and nothing; why we're here, for what purpose are we here, and how did we get here, where do we go?... ad infinitum.  [but i have been doing that since youth; ever since i could think and process]- that in itself is not a waste of time; it's cathartic. "i do what i can, when i can" is my new mantra, as is "i will not do anything i don't want to do"- and knowing where my comfort zone is and staying within it is my plan of action

i am slowly getting better, thanks to 2 new therapists and changes in my meds. i am absolutely not ashamed to say that. i was beyond miserable, drowning in depression, and had to do something about it; so i did. i could have done nothing and stayed in the black hole, in the abyss; or try to find my way out, and back into the light. i chose the latter. i know my parents/family/friends would not want me to suffer as i have done; nor do i. when asked by my therapist when i was happiest, i truthfully said "only when i am creating"...thus my need for order, asap, so i can get back to creating, healing, asap.

post morning ritual, i was semi multi-tasking [ADD mixed w/OCD?] obsessing, trying to clean and 'pick up' organize and do this and that, in hopes of getting things finished, or closer to finished; dealing with drudgery, which i hate. passing a window, seeing the sunlight, flowers and the breeze moving the plants and trees, reality FINALLY set in and SAID, "you do NOT have to do this" - "you do not have to do anything!" SO, i said to hell with it, and went out and into the sunshine, and immediately felt the weight drop. i am learning to tell my mind to "SHUT UP!"

My friend since the mid 60s and former band mate Raymond Battillo came and visited the other night; he brought me some hand made & hand painted bamboo & oyster shell wind chimes; bamboo which he had found and cut himself. i love them; they look very aboriginal [the painting] i had hung them yesterday, just under the eave of the carport, so the elements wouldn't ruin them.  

hand made/hand painted bamboo & oyster shell wind chimes by raymond battillo

seeing them today, i decided to get most of Mama's off the dead limb of the tree where they have all hung [that is rather strange, that only that limb is dead] for years - and move them. some had gotten tangled and i stored them under the carport last year to untangle- but i didnt have the nerves; some are in disrepair & need mending. some are in a tree by the patio, but I've decided to also hang most of them under the eaves of the house to preserve them, and so as to hear a symphony of wind chimes, when they chime. so, i got the ladder & began getting some of them, and hanging them, then- as usual- other ideas popped into my brain.

i had noticed when at Mama's desk [which i am using as my 'hand' writing desk: i,e, my journal, cards, letters, lists etc] looking out the bedroom window, that the wisteria and one of the rose bushes had runners so long that they were about to climb the tree.

vignette @ writing desk

so, i went out and pulled all those rose limbs/runners, after cutting off the dead wood, and pushed them down into a big concrete pot/planter thing we have, covered them with potting soil- layering them- so they will make more rose bushes. then i decided to check on all the other plants around the yards which i had layered last year. 

i put on my rubber boots and waded through the yard. last year 1 of the 2 fremaining apple trees made one apple; the other apple tree had died. i planted the 1 seed from the one apple in the hole where the old tree died- but nada. i also layered a limb from the healthy tree: had dug a small trench and pulled a limb down, scarified it, covered it with dirt and put a concrete block on it- and sure enough- today, when i looked- it had rooted. i was ecstatic. it will go where the old one was; and i will continue the process till i have an orchard; same thing with fig trees, azaleas, oleander, roses, anything that can be layered! i'll transplant them in fall.

this time last year i was making and planting gardens- [many thanks to sarah, ralph & jan] but during the summer the bigger, lower garden, fried- the upper* smaller scattered shade garden did great. lesson 
learned.

lower garden 2011- cross & sunflowers

i cant deal with working two, this year, so i'll probably just have one kitchen garden* and possibly plant flowers where the big one was; or melons; or anything that does not need a ton of care. the native American corn, beans and squash planting  comes to mind... but so do the coons and possums... as daddy said "plant enough for yourself AND them"

the roses. the roses. my mother had a green thumb- she could stick anything in the ground and it would grow. and she did. and it did. her old  roses are beautiful and seem to have always flourished in this crawfish clay of a yard. 

crawfish castle

she would always cut them back; but i plan to cut them back, ONLY to cut off the dead wood, and take cuttings, and stick them in the ground all over the acreage! with or without jars [see 'jar method' below] - today the old trellis Mama had tied together for years came apart when i was snipping off dead branches. i will either try to put it back together, and back where it was, or use it in a piece of artwork. 

old time roses on a trellis mama had rigged & strung together

one of the tiny white rose buds on a bush in the front yard

last year i wanted to make a memorial rose garden, along the front of the patio, for mama. i did the jar method which i have done for decades and always had good results; almost all the roses in my yard were started from cuttings. but, last year, trying to grow about 30 cuttings, only one rose actually grew [but is doing great], so i am about to try it again, before it gets hot. i want to layer and propagate from cuttings as many as i can, from all the varieties on the property, and the marsala sister's heirloom rose.
i need to be outside soaking up the sunshine and communing with nature. it does my soul good. i know how it nourished me last year, and i still need that nourishment; I've been inside too much and for too long. i need that contact with nature; with the universe; with the Creator. i never feel as connected to the earth, to home, to my roots, to sense of self, or to God as when i have my hands in the dirt... when i am 'creating'
my doctor told me i need exercise and there is no better exercise than lawn & garden work, gardening and landscaping, all of which needs to be done desperately before summer. i did not get the house keeping or yard man gene, which both my parents had in abundance. they worked like field hands, even on the hottest of summer days, from daylight till dark, even into their 90s.
if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise [or flood]- i.e. if it doesnt rain, after my morning ritual [i'm going to go load the coffee pot NOW] i'll put on my rubber boots and wade through the mud again, all around the property, and further inspect various plants i layered last fall, and transplant them. then, with clippers in hand, i will go for the roses.
now, it's time to crawl in bed with my girls, Domina & Barbra- my furry alarm clocks- they wake me at dawn, or before, to be 'cast out'-then i go back to bed. i just hope the phone doesn't ring before 1PM. i'll give the yard time to dry...

domina and barbra-deux femmes fatale

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY

4 LANES OPEN

LA HWY 15 SOUTH [C] DOUG DUFFEY

sunday, april 15, 2012

i woke & wrote in my journal a while ; w/the obligatory coffee & chicory, & Samson cigarettes fueling my thoughts. writing in my journal is a habit i started in the early 1970s and have continued. it's a ritual which helps me process my thoughts; helps me to ease into the day; calms me; and like my work, is therapeutic. i woke thinking about and writing about TIME. Thinking about TIME is something i do a lot; something i have been contemplating seriously all year long ... along with the meaning of life, and a few other things

i saw on the news last night that the 165 "4 lane" from the Arkansas border [above and through Bastrop] to Lake Charles is now open- they said it would help "economic development"- but i fear it will kill off whatever struggling towns/villages fall by the wayside, are by-passed, and/or are bulldozed to make room- and there are 11 such projects proposed- or in the works- there go the neighborhoods [Remember Riverton!]

they also discussed how it would now take 4 hours instead of 6 to GET from Bonita to Lake Charles. what they don't say is that you have to slow down to a snail's pace going through every small town, from here to Alexandria [and probably from the arkansas border to monroe]. if speed was the purpose of these new 4 lanes, they should have added bridges/overpasses over, or by passed, the towns completely. i thought, whats the point? the old roads were good enough; and a hell of a lot more scenic.

i have had my mishaps with the I-49! Coming back from New Orleans, because there were NO signs for 165N or Monroe [in Alexandria] my mama and i ended up 1/2 way to Natchitoches before i chose to 'hang a right' and head east [said the compass thingie on my rear view mirror] to Boyce[?]. we drove for what seemed like hours through Kisatchie Nat'l Forest in the pitch black night- finally stopping in Colfax to ask directions @ a convenience store. the woman working there had no idea how to get to 165/or Monroe- but luckily some cowboy heard me ask, and told me how to get to Pollock. 

years before i had gone to Alexandria [when they were building the NEW highway] to perform at GG Shinn's club there; and another time, when i was inducted into the Gumbo Brothers, there- and it took forever! not because of the old 2 lane highway but because they had torn every damned thing up between Monroe and there. 

AND driving to Eunice, recently; to perform a concert at LSUE, i took 49 south- had the cruise control on BUT had "to slow down to a snail's pace going through every small town." and again thought, what was the point? but in this frantic paced society we live in, everybody is just so busy being busy; everyone seems to be scurrying around like rats in mazes; hamsters on treadmills; dogs chasing their tails, driving "like a bat out of hell" ... and for what? even driving the speed limit, people were flying past me @ 80 or 90 MPH like the hounds of hell were on their tails.

the next morning, after the concert: i had asked for a wake up call that didn't come. so i WOKE and checked out of my hotel LATE. At the front desk, i filled my travel mug with some GOOD south Louisiana coffee, and asked the girl at the desk how to get to the old road north. i did not feel like rushing anywhere. so, coming home, i decided i was boycotting 49 and all interstates from now on [unless i just absolutely HAVE to get somewhere immediately]- and was really glad i did. i put in 2 of my new unfinished synth- meditiation/spiritual- cds- to mentally critique- and "set the controls for the heart of the" state...

i decided to take the old highways, the ones we used to take way back in the day, in the 60s, when i would go to play- and hang- in Church Point- passing through the small towns like Turkey Creek, Mamou, Ville Platte- etc. i remembered how, back in the day, we'd stop in some of those towns to get fresh Boudin and beer, then drive on. BUT, what i thought were the old roads we used to take, were not the original old roads as i'd remembered them; they almost all by-passed the towns; or had loops around the towns built. when we used to go to church point we took 167, so i didn't go through ville platte this trip- but certainly will if and when i head back down south on photo safari... and i will!

you never see ANYTHING of the people, the culture, the heritage, when you drive the interstate- all you see is gas stations and fast food alleys, malls and crap- the same stuff you see anywhere in America- w/different scenery in the distance.  i wanted to see Louisiana up close and more personally!

so i got on Hwy 13, cranked up all my 'dreamscape' ethereal synth improvisations, and drove through, huge blue skies filled with big cotton boll clouds, past crawfish/rice fields, through all the beauty and the funk, drinking in all the imagery of the real Louisiana... driving slowly through the soul of the state...

Hwy 13 eventually connected to 167 N. Instead of getting on I-49, i stayed on 167 on to Meeker, and on up through Alexandria and Pineville. i was amazed at the beauty of both. Alexandria? i never even knew there WAS an old down town on the river; all i had ever seen was a 'risk your life' traffic circle [kreisverkehr] we used to go around, to avoid Alexandria and go south. Seeing all the old red brick buildings and some incredible mansions on hills, and dogwoods and azaleas in bloom; i was astonished... and told myself "i am gonna come back here and spend some time looking around" [meaning photograph] All i had remembered of Pineville was driving 165 S around a bend where the state mental institution was on the left- a big red brick building, as i recalled; but i must have missed it coming back. i was on 167 north- got off in Ball and onto the dreaded I-49 and northward homeward, where everyone was racing like maniacs to get 'where'? to do what?

i was too kaput [due to various factors] to stop and make any photos coming home; although, i had taken REAL cameras with me and had planned, after Eunice, to drive around the region, and make photos; but the spirit was not upon me. 

Many years ago i read BLUE HIGHWAYS by William Least Heat-Moon and loved it; always wishing i could do basically the same thing he did: just get in a vehicle and take off, with my journals, cameras, recording equipment, etc. [now it would be the digital update of all those, plus laptops & cell phones etc] of course, it was a less expensive and gentler era then, when he did his travels; life in America was safer; not as dangerous as it is now. old daddy bush did not make it "a kinder and gentler nation." [nor did his idiot spawn] i've never been one for 'camping' out-or being out in nature for too long - [my idea of camping is a 5 star hotel with 24 hour room service and a big tub]- i certainly would not be sleeping in a van parked somewhere anywhere [unless i had to] for fear of being mugged or worse.

BUT i have been nursing an idea/desire for years, and think it is time for it to come to fruition: to load up my gear in and get in my car and leisurely drive around the state making photographs; capturing whats soon to be gone. spending whole days doing so until i am tired; then, sleep/eat in nice but affordable motels/cafes, repeating the process, ad infinitum, possibly "camping out" in one town for a few days at a time, as a base camp, and do it until i have either covered the whole state OR am ready to come home. with the onslaught of 11 new 'corridors', or them already in "progress", i need to get busy ASAP.  

i recall once seeing a button or a tee shirt that said "DO NOT POSTPONE JOY" and that seems to be what i have been doing for too long [for legitimate reasons this year]- concerning this idea. but, if i have learned/know anything it is that life is short, extremely fragile, unpredictable, passes too quickly, and is not guaranteed. this is the real performance; not the dress rehearsal. the future is now. carpe diem!

maybe i'll see you on the blue highways...

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY

ROARS OF MOWERS, etc

everyone is busy busy busy. busy little spring bees. the roars of mowers surround me on a daily basis, like enormous bumble bees, locusts, wasps, all of the above.

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY:"STOP THE INSANITY!"

This rant has nothing to do with the novel/film 'Cry the Beloved Country', or Susan Powter's diet & exercise plan & catchphrase; although i combined them for this post [a stream of semi consciousness rant] which is about PRESERVATION

"Progress is our most important product" was General Electric's motto, back in the day, spouted weekly by Ronald Ray-gun, on their General Electric Theater. It has always stuck in my mind, as has "Industry on Parade" and DuPont's  "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry." which eventually got bastardized to "Better Living Through Chemistry"- 3 catch phrases- brain washings- tv propaganda- of my childhood. "Progress is our most important product" is NOT my motto. I am appalled at the destruction that has been and is created in the name of 'progress'...

While driving home today, west on LA Highway 80, through the lush deep emerald spring Louisiana "green-ness", the allee of forests and ancient symmetrically planted pecan orchards, on both sides of the highway, i would see an abandoned house here, or building there that nature had almost reclaimed. i also saw where someone had chopped out a chunk of those pecan orchards to make way for progress, or their house. I wondered how long it would be before someone bulldozed MORE of the old sacred pecan groves to either put up a McMansion, or some other god awful eyesore. mankind [oxymoron] keeps spreading like a cancer, eating into, polluting and killing nature.

old growth pecan orchard

 

the drive from Monroe to Rayville or on to Tallulah, Mound or Delta on Hwy 80 [at this time of year] is a religious experience; those pecan groves are like cathedrals. i remember them as far back as i CAN remember. i kept stopping the car to get out and make photos of them, and things i KNOW will not be here much longer- which, i think at times IS my 'raison d'être... to preserve the memory of what i can, while i can, in photographs

this little house was so sweet- and looks like it could be renovated; there are beautiful old time roses and or morning glories or both, flourishing [not seen in photo]

this little house was also salvageable- could be a great space

I was also thinking of all the photographers of the FSA, during 1935–44 [Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Marion Post Wolcott] who went across America photographing the horrors of the great depression- especially in the destitute rural deep south [which, in some places, has NOT changed all that much!] and how those images have stuck in my head forever; influencing my own work. i have, for as long as i can remember, been attracted to, if not obsessed with photographing old home places, shotgun houses, hand painted signs, folk art type things: rusted and falling down barns and abandoned buildings, junk stores,etc. old wood, brick and rust excite me: and in Louisiana [and the deep south] rust rot abandonment and decay are everywhere... but not forever

Having been working between Louisiana and Europe for the last 20 years, it really makes me crazy when i see how we have, since the 60s, abandoned our historical down town areas [except for major cities and a very FEW small towns] in lieu of malls, strip malls, suburbia, etc. Europe has preserved it's city centers; even rebuilt them, after wars. we have let ours fall into ruin until they resemble war zones. We'd rather go level a forest and build a gated community, than put the work and money into renovating our 'former' communities. everybody wants isolation, privacy, more space. i remember when downtown Monroe was thriving; every building had a business in it; people were actually there in droves ALL THE TIME. The decline ruin and eventual loss of our down town [and especially the Paramount Theater] is a real shame. But in this new depression, i doubt seriously that salvaging /rebuilding whats left is on anyone's mind. its not cost effective.

"Roosevelt believed that the severity of the Depression was due to excessive business competition that lowered wages and prices, which he believed lowered demand and employment. He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this:

...A mere builder of more industrial plants, a creator of more railroad systems, an organizer of more corporations, is as likely to be a danger as a help. Our task is not ... necessarily producing more goods. It is the soberer, less dramatic business of administering resources and plants already in hand."

 Below: Rayville, Louisiana

Rhymes Memorial Library

 

Joy Theater- which SHOULD be renovated

downtown/railroad tracks

I wish i had shot the Rayville Police Station today- it is a very cool old building- as are a lot of the old ones left standing. Will go back with the big guns, the real film cameras, and get it soon. Back in the day, when the passenger trains ran through them, those were thriving towns. IF we had AmTrak connected from Jackson, Ms to Marshall Tx, they ALL could be again. Hello? The Interstates and WalMart have killed small town America.

Drove and stopped, pulled over, and made fotos over and over again- although i have done so, so many times. it is always a different experience, and always, i find something new. like the hand painted church sign below. i also glimpsed a rusted bridge, but couldn't stop/park to get out and shoot it. will do so when going east, next time.

highway 80

Jones Chapel LC

U.S. Shoe Repair- Hwy 80. i have shot this with various cameras many times.

 

pecanland- obviously not the mall, y'all

  

a former stone fountain- or what?- possibly an old well, or spring?-by the side of the road. what IS it's story?

i noticed some things were missing; places i had photographed a few years back. Gone. Driving to Columbia several years ago, i was angered that the new worthless 4 lane had destroyed Riverton- the old store that had been there forever, which i had seen since childhood was gone. Same thing happened the last time i was in Tallulah, two whole blocks of stuff gone. there is an OLD antique galleria type mall facing Hwy 80.There are cool art deco stone facades around the roof; you can see through to the other end of the block- there once were stores in there. of course the whole downtown, or most of it, is abandoned. the old Coca Cola bottling building is a treasure.

From Wikipedia:

"Tallulah was the first city in the United States to have an indoor shopping mall. A businessman built Bloom's Arcade in 1925, in the style of European arcades. It was one hall with stores on either side much like the ones today. The hall opened into the street on both ends. This landmark is still in Tallulah on U.S. Route 80, although no longer in use. "

i was obviously born in the wrong era, despite the fact that i love modern technology; or should i say electronics/devices. i like the look and feel of old things: i love antiques; i still love [and use] 'old school' cameras and film, manual typewriters, and 'real' fountain pens; family quilts; vintage china; quality things that are of value to me. things that were well made, and meant to last a lifetime; things that have a wonderful look and feel to them. AND now i find they are making retro push lawn mowers [no gas or electronic- nada] like they had 100 years ago- which is considered "green" - but let's face it, its mainly about gas prices. BUT... i plan to get one; and a solar panel & generator for the riding mower [lol]... i wish. if they can put them in calculators, why not in every damned thing... like laptops & cameras? oh yes... we MUST consume fossil fuels.

i'm not really sure if some of the high school students who saw my photo exhibit today 'got' what it was really about; they have seen a lot of the images in real life, all their lives. it IS about Louisiana [w/3 Mississippi photos thrown in- both my grandmothers were from Mississippi] - it is about images of places and things here in Louisiana- and the Delta- that have already or will vanish in our lifetimes- the many vanishing images of our history and of our culture- along with some monuments that will continue to stand: like the Saint Louis Cathedral [which i shot when i was 13], the Evangeline Statue in St. Martinville [which i shot many decades later]

With this year marking the 200th anniversary of Louisiana becoming a state [when, before the signing of the Louisiana purchase on April 30, 1803 we were about 1/3 of the whole country!- thank you Napoleon & Jefferson] - i thought exhibiting various images i had captured from around the state was in order. [its also the 2nd anniversary of the BP oil spill, which gave a whole different meaning to the "Shrimp & Petroleum Festival'] i have so many more from all over the state, the south, the world. but i had to made a choice and chose to focus on primarily this region- and new orleans where i lived many years.

One girl called me over and asked me what was the meaning of a hand painted sign of religious ranting [shot in Tallulah] which i titled "The Sabbath Year" - i told her i had "no idea"- that "i took it because i found it interesting"- and added "it is no longer there." and told her the rest of the story [in the next paragraph]

THE SABBATH YEAR

Whats equally as 'interesting' is that this was at an old gas/service station, which was at the time, i believe a tire repair place. Outside, in front of the big glass picture window, which all old 'service' stations had, the man had placed a BIG sofa; above it was a clothes line. Hanging on the clothes line, held on with clothes pins, were sheets and sheets of lined spiral notebook paper, covered with prophesies, scripture and religious rantings... and yes, i did make photos! thank de lawd. This kind of folk art fascinates me; i live for it! i get a rush of excitement when i come up on something and discover it for the 1st time.

Just as Mardi Gras and Halloween and Star/Sky People [Ancient ancestors] are an influence and huge part of my drawings and paintings; so are the acts of creating new images from others, in my collage work; the kind of 'deep south' funk and eccentricity -which is often overlooked- is a major part of what i love to capture as a photographer [although it is not my only genre, by any means] here: the beautiful, and the not so beautiful; the humorous and the sad. i've always found Louisiana to be tragically beautiful; beautiful with an underlying sadness, mystery and magic about it; overflowing with a lot of everyday things we might not notice, or scarcely notice, that we would see nowhere else; things that we have become too accustomed to, which surround us; the perishing, the fading, the slowly disappearing...

Progress is NOT our most important product... unless we can progress without destroying to do so. My motto is "Renovate! Don't desecrate or annihilate! Re-purpose, Re-cycle and Re-create!" ... and keep making them crazy signs and stuff... 

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY