More Than $1 million

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Varg

From Nola.com…
Bond for Favian Austin, 18, was set this morning at $550,500. Bond for Derrick Smith, 17, Austin’s alleged accomplice, was set at $520,500, Sheriff’s spokeswoman Rene Lapeyrolerie said.

Now this is what I like to see. This is what we need more of. Too bad they had to rob or attempt to rob three groups of people then be so stupid as to not leave the area before the police caught up to them. But hey, perhaps the high bonds will keep them from being on the street again tomorrow. Where’s Judge Charles Elloie when you need him? Of course, if Eddie Jordan can manage to put them away perhaps we won’t see these guys for another couple years.

Full story here:
Teens arrested in Quarter robbery spree

Speaking of Jordan, check out the records of the victims of Tuesday’s shooting at Club Decatur…

Thomas was on probation from a cocaine possession charge, Reed had a number of narcotics arrests, and police said the unnamed victim was also on probation stemming from drug and weapon possession charges. All three are from New Orleans.

Can’t wait to read what kinds of records the suspects will have.

Then there is the obla-de obla-dah statement from NOPD Assistant Superintendent Steven Nicholas…

“We have deliberate acts (of violence) in every major city in this country,” Nicholas said, adding that New Orleans is in the national spotlight now. “It is unfortunate that this happened at this time.”

Life goes on right? For some of us it does anyways. I wonder when a better time would be?

In an unrelated-to-crime note, I thought this line was amusing in the story…

Salgado had clocked out to play video poker in a booth near the counter.

Salgado was later heard telling Times-Picayune reporter Laura Maggi, “Just make sure you put in the story that I was clocked out okay? I don’t want my boss to think I was playing video crack on the clock. Make sure you put it in there alright?”

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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.