Algiers – Page 2

House Hunters Encore Tonight

Posted on June 18, 2007 by Varg

In case anyone missed it, my and my fiancee’s (nobody told me two Es is the feminine) House Hunters episode will be airing again tonight. Here is the riveting synopsis fro HGTV.com. Buying in The Big Easy After living in New Orleans for a year, Romy Kittrell and her husband Lance Vargas are ecstatic about…

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The LA/SPCA, Some Vision and Panda

Posted on May 29, 2007 by Varg

The fiance and I had a chance to check out the new LA/SPCA now located in Algiers and I was quite impressed with it. They have only completed one building but it seems to be very modern and state-of-the-art. Romy and I were able to look at the all the dogs and cats and even…

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Gretna is Gassy

Posted on May 16, 2007 by Varg

Probe continues into mysterious odor in Gretna Yea, and it’s wafting over here to The Pernt! Damn near spoiled my morning bike ride! Sure smelled like natural gas. Perhaps this rain will wash it away. Update: The story has been updated and in the comments section there is a great retort on Nola.com copy editing…

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Infrastructure Repair in Action

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Varg

Two days ago, I was bemoaning the fact that there was a lot of talk about what was going to happen in the recovery and not enough evidence of anything actually happening. Well, I woke up this morning to the sound of beep-beep-beeps, the smell of diesel and the unmistakable chatter of a work crew…

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Mr. Blakely Went To Algiers

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Varg

I took it upon myself to check out Dr. Ed Blakely’s when he came to Algiers’ Oliver Perry Walker High School library last Wednesday. Even back when I was a paid journalist, I wasn’t much of a hard news man so I was mostly there for the experience rather than to “cover” the event. Now…

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House Hunting w/ Varg

Posted on December 31, 2006 by Varg

I was hesitant to post this here because I wanted this blog to be less about me and more about my experience in the city but I thought about it and I’m now sure it applies. My fiance and I will be on HGTV’s show “House Hunters” on New Years Day. We filmed part of…

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Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.