This week in Gambit

Some time ago this site would periodically produce a "Gambit Preview" post consisting of whatever articles of interest the site author wanted to highlight from that week's Gambit which he had happened to read on either Sunday or Monday before the issue was made available online. For reasons that remain unclear, the tabloid's online and print publishing schedules remain oddly out of sync. But we no longer feel obligated to provide a "preview" post since the editor has made a habit of putting one of his own up on the Gambit's blog each week.

Except, again for reasons that remain unclear, no preview of this week's Gambit appeared on the blog site. After flirting briefly with the idea of canceling our subscription (the paper is free) and then organizing a boycott of Gambit's advertisers (alas, Green Parrot Nursery and Funky Monkey Vintage Clothing, I don't know how to quit you) we've decided instead to once again preview the paper ourselves... on Wednesday which, of course, only makes sense.

• Noah Bonaparte Pais writes about the long-awaited publication of Josh Neufeld's webcomic A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

  Now a hardcover graphic novel — courtesy of Pantheon Books, which also published Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical 2000 account of the Iranian Revolution — the 13-chapter volume is being held up as one of the definitive accounts of the catastrophe, both by the media and the story's subjects. Novelist Dave Eggers, who spent much of the same period researching and writing his own Katrina report, Zeitoun, called A.D. "one of the best-ever examples of comics reportage, and one of the clearest portraits of post-Katrina New Orleans yet published."

  
  
  Earlier this week, A.D. received an uneven review from Newsweek and gets a far more favorable treatment from the T-P's Susan Larson today. Neufeld will be signing copies of A.D. on Saturday at The Maple Street Book Shop from 1-3PM and at Octavia Books beginning at 3:30. On Sunday there is another signing scheduled at Beth's Books/Sound Cafe for 1 PM. Also this Saturday, Octavia Books will have copies of A.D. available for sale all day at the Rising Tide conference (more on this in a minute).



• The appropriately named Alex Woodward profiles local artist Lance "Varg" Vargas and his folk art creations made from recycled wood and found objects.

  Vargas moved to New Orleans in 2004 to find affordable housing following a graphic design gig at a newspaper in California.
  
  "I just said, 'I want to do it all myself,'" he says. "I'd rather make $8 an hour than $12 or $16 an hour working for someone else when you're just going to get let go." But he never takes himself too seriously.
  
  "It's asinine to me now to think, 'I'm going to take these chopped up pieces of wood, nail some stuff to it, spray-paint it and call it art, and go out projecting myself as an artist.'"
  
  His work — found at local art markets, galleries and amid street art vendors at Jackson Square — draws from folklore, music, anatomy textbooks, bottlecaps (Abita and Miller High Life), and voodoo. ("I'm not versed in voodoo or anything. It's voodoo-'inspired'. The voodoo people will get on your ass when you get something wrong.") Vargas, who writes his blog The Chicory (www.thechicory.com/blog), also promotes his art through his Web site (www.leveeland.com).

  
  Menckles and I are the proud possessors of a pair of Vargas originals we received earlier this year as wedding gifts. Here. I'll photograph one for you right now.
  
  
  
  Varg sells his work in Jackson Square on most Saturdays... weather permitting. It's the closest thing he's come to figuring out a decent "racket".



• On page 22 of your Gambit there is a full-page psychedelic-looking advertisement for Irvin Mayfield's "The Love Sessions" These are a series of shows Mr. Mayfield is playing next week at his club in the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Proceeds from these shows will go to benefit Unity for the Homeless, The New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, Boys Town Louisiana, The New Orleans Public Library, The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and the LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry. We applaud Mr. Mayfield's effort to put on these performances... so long as we don't have to listen to them. If you would like to support any of these worthy charitable concerns and can find some poor soul to palm your ticket off on you may purchase it here.



• David Winkler-Schmit previews this weekend's fourth annual Rising Tide Conference.
  

  Under normal circumstances, and even catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina, the blogging community is a virtual one: It's not face-to-face, but screen-to-screen. That won't be the case this Saturday, Aug. 22, however, when New Orleans bloggers get together for their fourth annual conference, Rising Tide, with comedian and writer Harry Shearer as the featured speaker. The event takes place at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center in Central City, and the main thrust is to provide and share information. It's not just for bloggers, but for anyone interested in New Orleans.
  
  "We're trying to morph from a conference that was heavily about blogging to one that is more about the city, its culture and its past, future and present," says Rising Tide organizer Peter Athas, who writes his own blog, Adrastos.

  
  
  For the record, Rising Tide has always been more about New Orleans than about blogging in my mind. The previous conferences have hosted discussions on flood control, education, the local literary scene, and of course, politics. All of this should be of interest to anyone who cares about the status and future of New Orleans. Winkler-Schmit explains a bit of the history in his article.
  
  

  By late 2005, local bloggers were finding each other. An Internet discussion group began, giving bloggers a chance to share tips and news. Someone suggested a conference, and Mark Moseley, aka Oyster, who writes Your Right Hand Thief spearheaded the effort with others, including Athas and Maitri Venkat-Ramani (Maitri's Vatul Blog). The inaugural Rising Tide conference was held Aug. 25-27, 2006, the weekend before the storm's first anniversary.
  
  "The Rising Tide Conference will be a gathering for all who wish to learn more and do more to assist New Orleans' recovery in the aftermath of the natural disasters of both Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the manmade disaster of the levee and floodwall collapses, and the incompetence of government on all levels," (Mark) Folse wrote on the first day of the conference.
  
  Though local bloggers organize these conferences and the central theme is New Orleans' recovery and future, Rising Tide isn't for bloggers only, nor just for locals. Since the first conference, there has been an effort to get the information to a wider audience through live blogging, YouTube and other new media. (George "Loki") Williams says he is promoting this year's event via Facebook and Twitter, two popular social media networks. Even if these efforts don't attract more attendees to the actual conference, it will create a permanent online record for anyone to access. Williams does, however, think this year's attendance could be the highest ever.

  
  
  This year's conference has adopted the theme "Sinking to New Heights" It examines the state of the city as the recovery era begins to transition toward the "new normal" whatever that might be.
  
  The agenda (schedule here) features a keynote by the aforementioned Harry Shearer, as well as presentations by NetSquared Nola and The New Orleans Institute. There will be a panel on New Orleans cultural folkways moderated by Mark Folse. Mark writes,

  I am working with NOLA Slate on a panel on the state of New Orleans culture, with panelists who will speak on the state of parading, food and music culture in the city in Year Four after the Federal Flood. Speaking on parading culture will be Edward Buckner of The Porch Seventh Ward Culture Organization and the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club Our food panelist will be Susan Tucker, editor of New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature Dishes and Their Histories. Our music panelist will be Bruce Raeburn of the Hogan Jazz Archive and author of New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History.

  
  
  Holly Scheib will moderate a health care discussion. Leigh describes the panel here.

  The health care panel at this year's Rising Tide conference will explore this sad fact of post 8-29 living, as well as many other related subjects. Moderated by public health Ph.D. candidate and local blogger Holly Scheib, the participants will be: Cecile Tebo, crisis unit coordinator for the NOPD and one of New Orleans magazine's Top Ten Female Achievers; Dr Elmore Rigamer, medical director of Catholic Charities; and Sean Fitzmorris, local EMT and administrator of New Orleans EMTs Sound Off!(CORRECTION: Fitzmorris will, in fact, be unable to participate)

  
  
  Peter Athas will once again moderate the always entertaining politics panel this year featuring, Gambit publisher Clancy Dubos, cartoonist and radio commentator John Slade, Louisiana politics blogger Lamar White Jr, and writer Ethan Brown.
  
  Additionally, the organizers of this year's event have been prevailed upon to allow a panel on the local sports scene.
  
  Panelists include:
  
  Alejandro de los Rios reporter/blogger for the Gambit
  
  Leo McGovern Editor/publisher of ANTIGRAVITY Magazine which is the only local alternative music zine I know of that features a regular sports column. Leo is also a character in Josh Neufeld's After the Deluge (see above)
  
  Chris Wiseman (AKA Mr. Clio, AKA Dilly, AKA Lee De Fleur) Long-time local blogger, ever-enthusiastic member of the Black and Gold Patrol and locally famous Crescent City Classic participant.
  
  The big-picture discussion will be about the role of sports in the local cultural fabric and how that has helped sustain civic identity in the years after the flood. The rest, I'm sure, will be a knuckle-headed argument about the upcoming football season. It should be a fun way to finish the day. Unfortunately they've got the same guy running it who moderated last year's journalism panel which everybody hated.... so keep your fingers crossed.
  
  If you're interested in attending Rising Tide this year, you can still register at risingtidenola.net/

Thanks to the Gambit for covering these stories this week. Let's see if we can get them online faster next time.