New Neighbors for the Texas Avenue Neighborhood

The Shreveport Regional Arts Council is taking over the Old Central Fire Station building. The groundbreaking comes two years after a fire destroyed the SRAC headquarters in Princess Park, which was just a couple of blocks south of the new location. The Art Station is south of where the Texas Avenue Community Association holds their popular Texas Avenue Makers Fair. It's also just a little southeast of minicine? swampland.

Renovations on the building are expected to be completed by August 2012.

Music History in the T.A. Hood Plus Deadtown

The rich heritage of music in the area surrounding Texas Avenue includes some of America's greatest music makers. Huddie Lead Belly Leadbetter. Hank Williams. Elvis. Johnny Cash. Johnny Horton.

The North by Northwest Louisiana (NXNWLA) Music Foundation works to preserve & document the music traditions of the area. The Bluegoose Blues Foundation is devoted to the restoration of several communities in the Texas Avenue area. Music historian Chris Brown has documented much of the music connected to the Texas Avenue area and blogger Robert Trudeau has documented much of Browns' work. Brown also has a weekly Tuesday night radio show on KSCL.

Music making in the are continues today. mincine? swampland sits in the 800 block of Texas Avenue and is a venue for music and film. The Lake Street Dance Hall just opened this week.

Pictured above is Shreveport musician Stanton Dossett. He was at artspace on Texas Street Thursday listening to his son's rockabilly and roots music band, Deadtown. Julian Dossett was raised in Shreveport but he's now based in Austin.

Crockett Street Art

Ran into these momma and baby ducks Sunday night on Crockett Street when I was in the neighborhood for a party. Marjorie Kouns celebrated her birthday by diving into a heavenly flourless chocolate cake by Carolyn Manning. The red wine and iced tea flowed and the little ducks kept on swimming on the ledge of an abandoned building.

"Haints" Webseries Shoot at Ogilvie-Wiener House

One of the neatest perks of this project, for me, is meeting folks who are interested in Texas Avenue. John Bryant and his wife Debbie are rescuing the old Olgilvie-Wiener House on Austin Place. It's just across from the Logan Mansion.

Last night John invited us to watch a webseries shoot at his new home. We sat on the steps of the Logan mansion and watched the action unfold. Haints is the name of the show. It's a project led by Audra Caitlyn Moss. She's using IndieGoGo to create a funding campaign to raise money for the series. Click on that link to see Ms. Moss in a short video that explains the project a little bit more. Mary Thoma, the owner of The Art and Soul of Acting is one of the actors involved.

Vibration

We survived the overnight "camping trip" on Texas Avenue. We were out for twelve hours in one of the hottest summers I can remember. Debbie, Nadine and I are processing the photos, video and drawings we made in the field and will begin sharing some in the next couple of days.

I shot this photo in the window of artspace. Dorothy Kristin Hanna's art opening is tonight. Nadine is also part of a show at Bossier Arts Council and it opens tonight. We've got the art vibration happening in Shreveport-Bossier.

Hours Away: Texas Avenue Midnight Special Launch

The Texas Avenue Midnight Special project officially starts Monday August 1, 2011. This year long exploration of the West Edge of downtown Shreveport takes place in a district that has great history. The project will be documented using video, audio, photography, sketches, interviews and social media.

Some of the landmarks in the area include First United Methodist Church, Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium, Oakland Cemetery, Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Antioch Baptist Church and minicine? Swampland.

Organizations in the area include the Blue Goose Blues Foundation, James Burton Foundation, and Texas Avenue Community Association.

One of the newest additions to the area will be the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC). SRAC is currently renovating the historic Central Fire Station for their new headquarters. This project has prompted them to develop a project they are calling Shreveport Common. SRAC is currently housed in the old Expo Hall building on the riverfront. Their former headquarters were in the neighborhood of the Texas Avenue area. They were located in a building on the grounds of Princess Park at 800 Snow Street.

Note: Thanks to Alan Dyson for shooting the above shot. I couldn't resist using Flickr and Picnik to turn it into a black and white image.

Texas Avenue Midnight Special

Texas Avenue Midnight Special is a year long exploration of the urban neighborhood surrounding Texas Avenue in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The project is a collaboration of Shreveport artists Debbie Buchanan Engle, Nadine Charity and Kathryn Usher.

The project launches August 1, 2011.