Horace Logan Has Left The Building
Horace Logan Has Left The Building
The Peculiar Genius Of Lafcadio Hearn
The Peculiar Genius Of Lafcadio Hearn by RL Reeves Jr
What makes it remarkable is that Lafcadio Hearn had quit our city some 130 years earlier in 1887 for the greener pastures of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea.
He would die in 1904.
And over a century later a raucous street party would fete the man who famously spoke on New Orleans saying “…it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.”
Dixie Mafia: Stickup Men, Car Thieves, Drug Runners, And Contract Killers
Meet The Dixie Mafia by rl reeves jr
Powerboats, high-performance Cadillacs, and turbo-prop airplanes criss-crossed Louisiana, and the rest of the south as the cartel waged a reign of terror that saw dozens of killings, and enormous amounts of money go into the gang’s coffers
By the mid-seventies, 75 deaths of drug dealers, police officers, people in the wrong place at the wrong time, and enemies of the gang had been attributed to the cartel.
But a home invasion gone wrong in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood would spell the downfall of the Dixie Mafia. Continue Reading
Chain-Smoking Rebel Playwright Lillian Hellman Was Born In New Orleans
Chain-Smoking Rebel Playwright Lillian Hellman Was Born In New Orleans
Blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer by Hollywood.
Her most famous work banned in Chicago, London, and Boston.
Drunkard.
Headstrong.
Lust-filled, and promiscuous.
A “tough broad … the kind of girl who can take the tops off bottles with her teeth.”
Louche companion of Dashiell Hammet who cracked Hellman in the jaw at a party one night, and refused to marry her in the course of their 30-year affair.
Elia Kazan would call Hellman a “bitch with balls.” But in light of each of their appearances at the McCarthy hearings on Communism in the US it could be said that Lillian had enough balls for the both of them. Continue Reading
‘All Power to the People.’ The Black Panthers Desire Stronghold in New Orleans
The Black Panthers Desire Stronghold in New Orleans
It’s fall 1970, and the folks who live in New Orleans’ Desire Housing Project are verbally unloading on police officers who have shown up 250 strong in an effort to forcibly evict the local chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Little kids are chanting, middle-aged folks are hollering, and old folks are shouting as well. The crowd is determined to drive the police out of their neighborhood, and in a result that seems shocking a half-century later; they did just that. The cops withdrew. Continue Reading
They Called Him Wild: Notes On The Life of New Orleans Gangster Telly Hankton
They Called Him Wild: Notes On The Life of New Orleans Gangster Telly Hankton
His prisoner number is #589293. Continue Reading
Gay. Sanctified. Superstar: Notes On The Life Of Gospel Singer Raymond Anthony Myles
Notes On The Life Of Gospel Singer Raymond Anthony Myles (publicity photo)
‘I Don’t Need To Be A Millionaire.’ Notes On The Life Of Anthony ‘Tuba Fats’ Lacen
Notes On The Life Of Anthony ‘Tuba Fats’ Lacen (photo: The Daily Spectrum)
‘They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora Arkansas’: Notes On The Life Of Tony Joe White
They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora Arkansas: Notes On The Life Of Tony Joe White
The Mississippi River was a one mile walk to the east. Continue Reading
Cajuns, Rednecks, And Longhairs: Notes On The Celebration Of Life Music Festival in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana
Notes On The Celebration Of Life Music Festival in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana (photo: Opelousas Daily World)
It should have been the biggest party Louisiana ever saw. The Celebration of Life in 1971 was to be a deep south version of Woodstock where the hippies, rednecks and Cajuns all beat their feet in unison on that sweet Point Coupee, Parish mud. Continue Reading