French Quarter Fest Sunday

French Quarter Fest ended with a cool and breezy day perfect for picnicking and dancing to local favorites. We started early at Jackson Square with a refreshing Crab & Artichoke Citrus Salad ($8) from Jaques-Imo’s Cafe then beat the lines for Muriel’s Crawfish & Goat Cheese Crepe ($7). Keyboardist Kashonda Bailey of the all-female Pinettes Brass Band had let us know she’d be playing with MainLine so we made our way toward the stage near the Aquarium to check them out.

Louisiana Comic Con

The Louisiana Comic Con invited me to it’s second showing in Lafayette this weekend. I’m still fairly new to the convention circuit. There seems to be some skill involved in knowing how to make a fan’s experience fun and memorable and I’m still learning what to write on my different photos. I may not have always had the perfect inscription, but I genuinely enjoyed meeting so many film and TV lovers. And as a Comic Con, there were many people dressed as cosplay characters – which was a lot of fun. Suicide Squad‘s Harley Quinn was definitely a favorite. Hosting the Con at the Cajundome Convention Center in Lafayette meant that after cosplay characters, the second most popular “look” was Saints clothes. It may have been the Saints’ bye week, but the Who Dat Nation doesn’t take the week off from showing their devotion.

Independent Films in Louisiana

It’s true that since former Governor Bobby Jindal’s disastrous changes to Louisiana’s film tax incentive program a lot of the work has left the state. But independent filmmaking and homegrown filmmakers continue to take advantage. The good news is I’m still working plenty – the bad news is, with the far lower budgets,  I’m making far less money. That said, there’s plenty to love about what’s happening here. Last year, New Orleans local actor/director Griff Furst shot Cold Moon, a thriller by the the writer of Beetlejuice. Starring Christopher Lloyd, Candy Clark, Frank Whaley, Robbie Kay, Josh Stewart and Rachele Brooke Smith, the movie’s producer list includes Furst’s father, Steven, best known as Flounder in Animal House.

LA Film & Video Magazine and Raintree Services Galas

This weekend, I attended 2 galas, one for “Hollywood South” networking and the other a fundraiser for foster children. The first event was hosted by Louisiana Film & Video Magazine in the old Mardi Gras World across the river. We met up with Jeff “The Dude” Dowd (the inspiration for the Jeff Bridges character in The Big Lebowski) and took the ferry over to Algiers. It’s always beautiful to see the city from a distance, lights reflecting on the Mississippi’s surface. The Dude is in town to gear up for the first Louisiana International Film Festival in less than two weeks where I will be hosting 2 workshops so we were ready to do some serious networking.