The Lost Hollows: A Peek Behind the Curtain

originally published on October 23, 2014 in Jambalaya News

In 2013, I reviewed the Lost Hollows as a customer/victim and had so much fun that I decided to volunteer as an actor this time around and give readers a peek behind the curtain. In mid-August, I drove out to meet with Cynthia & Larry Eagle, proprietors of this open-air haunted attraction. I toured the trail, saw the newest updates, and by the end of that day, had my evil clown mask and costume picked out from the extensive inventory on site. Didn’t have to buy a thing.

Stitches the Clown, take 1

When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth
It’s opening night on Friday September 26 and I’m listening to the Return of the Living Dead soundtrack, setting a tone for the evening on my way to Lost Hollows. I arrived at the site around 6pm to find a gathering of ghouls around the costume trailer, final touches being made to makeup and clothing. Soon, darkness falls across the land and all the volunteers are in their places, a palpable sense of excitement in the air. This is the true beginning of the Halloween season for us, looking ahead to all the trailers full of fresh victims, ripe for the scare.

The Eagles work all year on the Lost Hollows, planning and building new sets, updated scares. Their efforts have paid off again, as the Halloween spirit is undead and well here. Cynthia is an interior designer by trade, and Larry is an elementary school art teacher, so their artistic skills shine in imaginative sets like the Slaughterhouse, the Graveyard, and of course, the Carnival.

This set was a great place to cut my teeth as an actor in a haunted attraction, because it’s such a unique scare. Most other sets allow people to run on by, but guests in the Big Top can’t find the exit right off, so they’re trapped with an alley of evil clowns. We can’t be one-trick ponies. I pulled from countless hours of horror movie knowledge and watched other experienced volunteers to soon be stalking, mocking, dancing, and intimidating with the best of them.

Luna celebrates 10th anniversary, with Chuck Fest

originally published on Sept 23, 2014 in Jambalaya News

Folks, get ready for Chuck Fest, coming your way Saturday, October 4. This block party right in the heart of downtown Lake Charles is free to attend and features exclusively local bands, restaurants, artists, vendors, and more. Dave Evans, owner/operator of the Luna complex and organizer of Chuck Fest, said, “I want to showcase us, as a community, as businesses that were born and raised here.”

The first year of this new festival also happens to be Luna’s 10th anniversary, an enormous milestone for a locally-owned restaurant/live music venue downtown. In celebration of this achievement, I decided to take a look back with the man who built it all.

The personal highlights for Dave Evans include seeing over 1000 people on the street downtown for pub crawls & Halloween parties, and the culinary features on Luna in Louisiana Cookin’ and Louisiana Life magazines. This is spot on because his two main passions with the Luna complex are live music and food.

Evans’ experience in small business operation goes back to his childhood, as his parents Tim and Patricia owned La Normandie Lounge and Dave’s Oyster House. “I’ve been doing this since I was 13,” he said. “Being there as a kid flipping burgers, shucking oysters, helping in the kitchen. I didn’t go to culinary school and I’m fine with that, because I learned in the kitchen.”

Dave later decided it was time to run his own place. He simply called the new spot Dave’s Pub and opened the doors on midtown Ryan Street in the late 90s. Within a couple of months, he noticed the crowds getting bigger, lots of familiar faces. Dave’s Pub didn’t serve food, but the live music was kicking, and Dave helped support the Lake Area’s original music scene considerably, as he still does.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and so went Dave’s Pub. We sure sent that place out with a bang though. I’ll never forget the epic party on his last night of business: jamming with Frigg A-Go-Go and Pink Noise until the end of the night…standing in a couple inches of water that covered the entire place, drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade because it was the only thing left, saying goodbye to our home base as college students.

Chaos Theory Art Show, Thurs Oct 2

originally published on September 23, 2014 in Jambalaya News

Eric Manuel in his office with the Adam West Batman piece

“It’s not the show to come and see a nice painting of a duck, unless it’s Daffy.”

Eric Manuel is the Creative Director for the Henning Cultural Center at 923 Ruth Street in Sulphur, and he’s talking about their upcoming pop art extravaganza, Chaos Theory, which opens on Thurs Oct 2. This unique show happens once a year, with submissions from young regional talent on a wide variety of cultural iconography.

Manuel recently talked with LakeCharles.com and offered a preview of what to expect, including content from all realms of the geek universe, anything from Alien to the Mario brothers and beyond. This is fun art for the kid in all of us.

“Holly” by Christy Scothorn

“At some local shows, you see a lot of traditional art: swamp scenes, alligators, fleurs de lis,” he said. “But at Chaos Theory, I find that people can stop and talk about the pieces for hours.” There is a universal resonance with these characters. As Eric said, “People from California walk in and they had the same experience with Batman as I had in little old Lake Charles.”

Besides a common, cross-regional bond, these heroes can teach a strong value system to kids. “Batman inspires in us the idea of doing right,” Manuel said. “He gives us a sense of morality.” Strong mythological characters were depicted as gods for ancient Greco-Roman children, and our modern day comic book & sci-fi movie heroes offer a similar function, an important one in Eric’s belief. “You don’t have to stop enjoying your childhood when you grow up. Maybe those childish things are some of the best qualities in you.”

While visiting Henning Cultural Center, I saw several Chaos Theory pieces, including two submitted by David McNeil: an intricate portrait illustration of Johnny Depp as Tonto in the new Lone Ranger and a framed cross stitch of all four Ninja Turtles, inspired by a screenshot from the infamous 1989 Nintendo side-scroller.

Other pieces for this year’s Chaos Theory include works inspired by Tool videos, a “kid-like” drawing of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, and tattoo-style art from John Davis at Iron Cypress and Craig Cooley at Atomic Heart. Manuel’s wife Jennifer, also an artist, submitted a different take on Adam West’s 1960s Batman, and high-schooler Georgia McNeil continues her streak of submissions to Chaos Theory, first showing artwork as an elementary student.

Art isn’t the only thing you can buy at the show either. Keith Welch carved handmade wooden wands for Harry Potter fans. “Instead of going to K-Mart and buying a plastic one, come to Chaos Theory and get a real, handmade wooden wand,” Manuel said.

“Alien” by Eric Manuel

SWLA Guide to Record Buying, Part 1: No-Name Vinyl Shop

originally published on September 11, 2014 at LakeCharles.com

Music sales in general have been slowing for a while, but interest in vinyl has steadily been on the rise since 2006. Last year’s U.S. numbers saw CD sales drop 14% and digital tracks were down by 5.7%, but album sales went up over 30%. Our numbers are growing.

So what are some options in the Lake Area for buying music? Gone are the days of locally owned record shops like Bookworm’s Apple, Harvest Records, or Alternative Static, at least for now. Of course, there’s downloads or online purchases, and you might find a few CDs from the top of the charts at Best Buy or other big boxes. Perceptive music fans already know that Books-A-Million and Hot Topic sell LPs locally, but respectively, the prices are too high and the selection is way too small.

The cure to Lake Area vinyl collector woes is just a short drive up I-10 east to the Frog Capital of the World, Rayne, Louisiana, also home to Christine Stelly’s No-Name Vinyl Records. This locally-owned resale shop, open since May of 2013, boasts an inventory of around 60,000 albums in all sizes, speeds, and genres. Lafayette and its surrounding regions have several choice record stores, but Miss Stelly’s place is the closest to Lake Charles and the most bargain-friendly.

No-Name’s selection is mostly classic rock, country, and soul, with prices ranging $1-3 on most records. Price quotes could be higher on premium titles, rare finds, or in-demand genres like blues and Cajun, but Christine is always open to counter offers. “I go between my head and the price books,” she said. “I want [my records] to go where they’re going to be appreciated. The prices are just suggestions.”

The majority of No-Name’s stock comes from Christine’s own personal finds over 40 years of hunting. “I’ve never done downloads in my life,” she said. “I never quit with records.” She had always wanted to open a shop, and one day her husband suggested it was time to take the house back from their enormous amount of records. “I still treasure every one of ‘em, but it got to be so many in my personal collection, I didn’t even know what I had,” Christine said. It was then a short leap from renting booths at a flea market to opening the shop on 215 N. Polk Street.

Rootbeer & Mermentau release new album

originally published on September 4, 2014 at LakeCharles.com

Rootbeer & Mermentau. The first thing to hit you is the band name, a mashup of monikers from guitarist/vocalist Rootbeer Ritchie and drummer Aaron Collins. Ritchie earned his rock and roll handle with “countless drunken nights yelling about root beer downtown,” he said. “And of course, partying with root beer by funneling and shotguning them.” He’s a big fan.

Fans of fuzz rock however will love this duo, who officially drops their second album, self-titled, on Saturday September 13 when they perform at Luna Live for their CD release party.

The genre known as fuzz goes all the way back to rock and roll’s beginnings, Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” through Link Wray and The Kinks (Ray Davies sliced through his amp’s speaker cone to get that famously crunchy guitar sound on “You Really Got Me”), and evolving through bands like Black Sabbath, the Stooges, and more recent names like Ty Segall and The Black Lips.

Then there’s Rootbeer & Mermentau. This “dirty” duo gets that fat, full tone from a combination of Collins’ huge drum sound and the two amp attack of Ritchie’s guitar, running through a Marshall JCM 900 and a Yorkville bass amplifier…both channeled through fuzz boxes. “That’s the key to the Rootbeer & Mermentau sandwich,” Ritchie said. “I love the fuzz. Never enough fuzz.”

A lot of people ask them where they’re hiding the bass player, because of the two amp approach, and it’s another key to Rootbeer & Mermentau’s musical character. “That bass amp really makes that sound we want when he’s banging the shit out of his guitar,” Collins said. There’s little room for fancy solos here with all those beefy chords.

The band got started in 2012 when Rootbeer moved back from a short stint at LSU, and ended up at Collins’ house one evening, accepting an offer of whiskey and good jams over being dragged to Cowboy’s dance club. “We got together and started banging out some tunes,” Collins said. “It just worked man, like instantly.”

Since then, they’ve built up a loyal following around the region and are currently embarking on a two week tour in support of the new record, with “two weeks across Texas, up to Denver, across to Kansas and Oklahoma, then back to the dirty south.”

album art by Ben Von Duke

Earlier this year, Rootbeer & Mermentau traveled to New Orleans to record this newest album, tracking, mixing, and mastering with Chris Lanthier at Festival Studios, who you may recognize as the bass player for party crew Bujie and the Highrise. “He jumped in there as a third member of the band,” Collins said. “He fattened it up, super fuzzy and loud.” Ritchie added, “The album sounds huge. That thing’s dangerous man. Turn it up.”

This Old Town’s Filled With SINNERS

originally published on April 10, 2014
Jambalaya News

Sinners: Bryan Istre, Daniel Fontenot, Charles Lyons, Adam Trouard – Photo by Stephan Darnutzer

[note: On the last day of their crowdfunding campaign, Sinners reached their goal of $1000 to press the Dog Hill CD. Congratulations guys. We’re looking forward to the physical release.]

Sinners is American music, a 6-piece band based in Southwest Louisiana that plays a post-modern hybrid of country, bar room rock and roll, and classic soul. The core lineup is singer, lyricist, and primary songwriter Charles Lyons, drummer Daniel Fontenot, bassist Bryan Istre, and guitarist/mandolin player Chris Kershaw. Rounding out the group and adding some vivid musical color is Adam Trouard on keys and accordion, and newest member Alan Rascoe on that pedal steel.

This band of Sinners derived their name from the Gram Parsons fronted group The Flying Burrito Brothers and their debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin, but it’s also biblical in origin. As Lyons explained, “Sinners says all it needs to say. It’s the name of the band. It’s what we are. It’s what everybody is.”

Dog Hill is the group’s first full-length album, recorded in Lafayette at public radio station KRVS’ Cypress Lake Studios and produced by longtime cohort Aaron Thomas, who also engineered their previous release, an EP called All the Angels Have Left Us.

Jim Ferguson: Making A Scene

originally published on March 27, 2014
Jambalaya News

Jim Ferguson is an artist and a Southwest Louisiana native, now living outside of Houston. He was a full-time video engineer at NASA, archiving and distributing cool space footage. But Ferguson retired on March 7, and his Facebook post says it best: “Today is my last day working at NASA. I supported 19 Shuttle missions, 25 Expeditions to the ISS, flew 21 ZERO-G flights and have been weightless for about 5.5 hours. It was really fun and the best job anyone could ever have. After today I will be a full time artist. I never thought I would be retiring to do what I love every day and travel the country like a circus carny.” Fade out.

The new setting is an after-party for Alamo City Comic-Con at a San Antonio convention center in late October. Our titular character, the pop culture artist known as Jim Ferguson, looks stunned, glancing around at his fellow booth peddlers mingling with all the super-powered celebrity guests and kicking back after a hard-day’s work of conventioning. He posts about this surreal fanboy moment later, saying “I talked to Dirk Benedict about airplanes while eating a Reuben two feet away from Chewbacca. Told Robin he was wearing an awesome shirt. Batman was over having a steak. Bought Darth Maul a drink and hung out with two Power Rangers. Not sure if tonight can be topped but I will try.”

Rose Unfolds: Todd Elliott’s book “A Rose By Any Other Name”

originally published on November 21, 2013
Jambalaya News

 

Courtesy of Leaky Pen Productions

This Friday November 22 marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and new evidence is still coming to light in this most frigid of cases, thanks in part to Lake Area native Todd Elliott and his new book, A Rose By Many Other Names: Rose Cherami & the JFK Assassination.

This story explores one aspect of the Louisiana connection to the murder of our 35th president. According to Elliott’s site at jfkrose.com, Rose Cherami, whose real name was Melba Marcades, “was a known prostitute and drug courier who was picked up by authorities in Eunice, LA some 48 hours before the assassination when she claimed to have been in the company of men who were on their way to kill President Kennedy in Dallas.” As Elliott said, Cherami “was the first JFK conspiracy theorist. She believed in a conspiracy to kill the president while he was still alive.”

Unlike most other books on the subject, this author does not take his readers to Dallas and does not go through the magic bullet theory or other complex ballistics information. Readers do not need working knowledge of all the bit players. “It’s like a prequel to the assassination,” Elliott said. “It’s not a big book but it’s a huge story.”

Lake Area Haunted House events 2013: “It’s Time for a Good Scare”

originally published on October 24, 2013
Jambalaya News

Lost Hollows

Halloween’s here again y’all and everyone is entitled to at least one good scare. In the past, Lake Area fright fiends had to make the trek to Beaumont for the Haunted Hotel, maybe even Baton Rouge for 13th Gate (both great attractions) or simply settle for a few nights on the couch with classic horror films and a giant bowl of popcorn to get into the spirit. But thanks to some homegrown “hauntrepreneurs” at The Lost Hollows and The Bludd Vessel, you don’t even have to leave the city limits.

The USS Orleck is a historic naval ship first launched in 1945 into the Sabine River, returning to Lake Charles as a museum in 2010 after serving in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Every October, dedicated volunteers turn this historic ship into THE BLUDD VESSEL, raising money for its restoration and operation.

The uneasiness starts almost immediately, destroying your sense of safety while still in view of your car. After procuring our tickets, we were followed through the gates by a ghoulish, pint-sized terror in skull face, wearing bloody rags and brandishing a knife, growling. Up the ramp and onto the ship itself, carnival barker hosts in cheesy moustaches greet the guests, leading us to a closed hatch where we await our journey through the haunted ship amongst the unwelcoming Bludd Family.
Standing on the deck sets the eerie atmosphere perfectly. There’s a light drizzle, deep fog rolls over the Calcasieu River and the tension builds until, finally, a knock from the other side of the hatch. The heavy door creaks open and it’s horror time.

Scott H. Biram – The Dirty Old One Man Band is Coming to Town

originally published on October 10, 2013
Jambalaya News

Somewhere in the mountains between Rochester, NY and Somerville, MA, Scott H. Biram travels in a van with his roadie, over 3000 miles and two weeks of shows behind them on this current tour. The self-proclaimed Dirty Old One Man Band, hailing from the Austin, TX area, plays 150-200 dates a year all over the world, hitting Europe sixteen times now since 1999. The man’s got stories.

During our phone conversation, Biram talked about performing on the Jay Leno show in February with his good buddy Shooter Jennings, son of Waylon and host of Electric Rodeo on SiriusXM (“We had four hours of nothing to do [after sound check] so we went and got some beer. Next thing you know we were drunk and on Jay Leno.”). They also hung out with porn star Ron Jeremy backstage and scared Steve Carell on camera, then Leno “wiggled his chin” and thanked ‘em.

Bad Ingredients, his eighth studio release, won “Best Blues Album” in the 2012 Independent Music Awards, earning Biram an acceptance performance at the esteemed Lincoln Center in New York City. His music has been featured on TV shows like Sons of Anarchy, My Name is Earl, and Dog the Bounty Hunter, plus an appearance as a featured artist on the PBS show Sun Studio Sessions where he performed at the legendary Memphis recording room.

But on to the music. Plain and simple, Scott H. Biram puts on one of the best live shows you’ll ever see, and he knows it. Playing after Kris Kristofferson at SXSW, Biram told the audience, “They said that was a hard act to follow…I’m a hard act to follow mother***ers!!” Typically, one guy with a guitar onstage brings to mind some sad bastard acoustic music or mellow Jimmy Buffett covers, but Biram makes more noise than your average four-piece rock band, all by himself.