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Local Love
My favorite love song is Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life." The song is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to have a wife who loves and needs me as much as I love and need her. But the great thing about love songs is that there are so many, and each can mean different things to different folks.
Going-Away Dance Party for Casey TONIGHT
The Jackson Free Press is sending Casey Parks off to grad school with style in the Red Room with a "Please Don't Go" Going-Away Dance Party. Starts at 9 p.m., no cover, 18+. DJs Stephen Barnette and Donna Ladd will help you dance your butts off. Casey Parks Look-alike Contest at 11 p.m. Be there! You're welcome even if aren't yet lucky enough to know Casey personally.
Optimisme Bienvenu
I admit it: I'm a snob. I can hear the slightly superior voice in my head: "One really should see works in their true context to fully understand them. One really should travel." (Funny how that voice always begins sentences with the word "One.") Traveling exhibits of precious objects and art always remind me of the hapless polar bear who found himself in the hot, humid Jackson Zoo: As a child, I was fascinated and drawn to him out of his sheer improbability, yet also miserable on his behalf.
I Got A Right To Sing The Blues
"Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill" (written by Lanie Robertson, musical arrangement by Danny Holgate) opened at New Stage Theatre last week, and I was lucky enough to catch the opening-night performance. The show, directed by Patrick Benton, depicts Billie Holiday late in her career, when she has returned to Philadelphia to perform at one of her old haunts. Throughout the course of the revue-style show, Holiday sings some of her most famous songs and comments on the often stormy experiences of her life as an artist, a drug addict and a woman in love.
Real Life
As I start this column, I'm in a hotel room in Baltimore, Md., just outside of BWI airport, having had my flight back to Jackson canceled repeatedly for the past two days because the airport had no power and water. I'm watching the Weather Channel and CNN and checking in to post things on the JFP Web site, because I'm the only member of the staff with Internet access. Or power. The devastation on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans is heartbreaking and, seemingly, getting worse by the hour.
Oxford Residents Sharing Homes, Volunteering, Spending ... for Nothing?
This is about more than you.
To put John McCain's bailout on Mississippi in perspective, recall that Oxford homeowners have been bending over backward to both rent and share their homes with visiting journalists and others in town for the debates. You see, Sen. McCain, Oxford is a small town without a ton of hotel rooms. People have planned for months for this event. Many have volunteered for months. People have spent a lot of money. Ole Miss itself has spent $5.5 million; small businesses have stocked up in ways they cannot afford to lose.
God's Country: Katrina Sows Uncertainty In The Eye of The Storm
This story appeared five years ago in the days after Hurricane Katrina as many Gulf Coast residents sat waiting for help
snark >:-(
Given the chance to be the mainstream media authority during a primary with a shocking turnout, The Clarion-Ledger flubbed it, instead displaying how deep its culture of incompetence runs. On primary night, as networks called the election for Obama before any results came in, the Ledger's reporter-on-the-ground, Natalie Chandler, seemed clueless about what she was watching happen in living color.
Julie Skipper
A four-year downtown resident and a thriving socialite who enjoys the nightlife and all things Jackson, Julie Skipper once vowed to never return to Mississippi upon leaving for scholarly pursuits.
Don't Box Us In
"Boxmen" allows its audience to see that the homeless are just like anyone else. One of the actors in the play has been living on the streets for two years.
Rev. Jesse Jackson an Honorary Hinds Deputy
There's a new sheriff in town. Well, technically there's a new Honorary Deputy Sheriff Chaplain in town -- and his name is the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The Hinds County Sheriff's Department posted 30 photos on its Facebook page of the longtime civil rights leader's swearing in as an honorary county cop yesterday.
Obama Camp Says He's Goin' to Oxford
According to a story at the Huffington Post, the Obama camp still expects McCain to attend the debate; if he doesn't, Obama will head to Oxford anyway and hold a town-hall meeting:
Mississippians Wary of Civil-Rights Trial
A JFP blogger posted this link in our media forum to an AP story about Philadelphia and the people's attitudes toward the trial. I decided to move it to the Neshoba Blog. It begins:
77 Tons of Shark
In any other situation, the sight of children wandering around the insides of a giant shark could be horrifying; but it's common fare at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science's "Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived" exhibit.
It's the Weekend!
Today, the Jackson Garden and Patio Show kicks off at 9 a.m. at the Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.) and runs through March 18. Admission is $5 per day, children 12 and under free; call 601-919-8111. CS's hosts the St. Paddy's Parade Party and Pub Crawl at 3:30 p.m. The O'Tuxers with Mark Roemer perform. The Marching MALfunction and Second Line Stomp and Street Dance starts at CS's at 6:30 p.m. (trolley service from Hal & Mal's starting at 4:30 p.m.) and ends at Hal & Mal's. The Southern Komfort Brass Band, the Lucky Hand Blues Band and the Rumprollers perform. WOOD performs in the Red Room ($5). Costumes welcome; call 601-948-0888. The Gulf Coast Conference Wheelchair Basketball Championship opens with a banquet at 7 p.m. at Jackson Medical Mall, Center Stage (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.). Games are March 17-18 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Walter Payton Center (32 Walter Payton Drive). $20 banquet, free games; call 601-918-5830. Tyrese performs at 8 p.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex. Tickets are $49.50-$54.50; call 800-745-3000. Guilt Ridden Troubadour plays at Ole Tavern. The Andy Hardwick Trio performs from 8-11 p.m. at Yellow Scarf Listening Room (741 Harris St., Suite E). Admission is $20, $35 for couples. Suite 106 hosts Free Your Mind with DJ Spre. Admission is $5. Need more options? See our Best Bets.
Big AP Investigation Skewers Palin-the-"Reformer"
So much for all the mavericky "reformer" talk: the Associated Press is showing just how Gov. Sarah Palin has been bilking her own state for thousands of dollars. Lucky for Alaska that John McCain picked her; otherwise, they might not know just how un-reformish their governor really is. Gotta love the luxury hotel in New York for Bristol part. The long piece begins:
Shawna Davie
Davie blew away the crowd at the Reproductive Freedom Project rally last month with her passionate defense of a woman's right to make decisions for her body. The Jackson State student works part time with the ACLU, organizing events like the Freedom Rally, but she also organized protests during the state Legislature's failed attempt to outlaw abortion earlier this year, as well as its botched attempt to limit a woman's ability to get braids by producing a bill requiring hair specialists to be licensed to twist hair.
Taylor Hildebrand - Naked and beautiful
A review of Taylor's recent solo performance at Hal & Mal's By Chris Nolen
Hail To The Staff
July 6, 2005 This is the 101st issue of the Jackson Free Press. We set out three years ago to bring independent journalism (and the best entertainment coverage) to Jackson, Miss., based on the "alt-weekly" model that is successful in other markets from the Village Voice to the Chicago Reader to the Nashville Scene, Memphis Flyer and many of the top 120 or so media markets. We had a kitchen table, some know-how, and the rich tapestry of Jackson and Mississippi to work with. The three-year trip we've made to become Jackson's news and entertainment weekly has been both grueling and gratifying.
Bracing for Destruction
Dave Collins of Collins Farms in Tallulah, La., sits in his office, staring across his desk at his older brother Curt Collins who sits in a broad blue sofa, holding a phone to his ear.