SUPER SPECS
Louisiana, the Sportsman's Paradise. Our hunters and fisherman need special equipment like strong poles, warm camouflage and Guy Harvey sunglasses. At least that's what they say. Harvey's polarized shades with artwork in and outside of the frames just hit LAspecs in River Ranch, and can be outfitted with prescription lenses.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Written by The Independent Staff
SUPER SPECS
Louisiana, the Sportsman's Paradise. Our hunters and fisherman need special equipment like strong poles, warm camouflage and Guy Harvey sunglasses. At least that's what they say. Harvey's polarized shades with artwork in and outside of the frames just hit LAspecs in River Ranch, and can be outfitted with prescription lenses. A portion of the sales go to the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, which encourages conservation and better management practices for sustainable marine environments. They're $299 a pair; call 993-8170. - Hope Rurik
DAMN. JUST ... DAMN
The Maple Leaf Bar gigs by the trio of Joe Krown (organ), Walter "Wolfman" Washington (guitar, vocals) and Russell Batiste Jr. (drums, backing vox) are legend among New Orleans music aficionados. In 2008 their funky, bluesy gorgeousness was captured on a live album. Now the trio has released Triple Threat, its first studio album. Each player is a well-traveled institution in the Crescent City music scene - Krown as a both a front man and former member of Gatemouth Brown's band; Washington as a ubiquitous blues/R&B band leader; and Batiste as the bad-ass drummer who plays with every other bad-ass musician, including a reincarnation of The Meters. Triple Threat celebrates New Orleans funk, but it does it unpretentiously and matter-of-factly - there are few blazing leads or look-at-me solos among the dozen mostly original tunes, which favor instrumentals over Washington's aged-to-perfection voice. The record also proves that a fat Hammond B-3 piped through some Leslie speakers can more than compensate for the absence of a bass guitar; this music is beautifully bottom-heavy and grounded, and Krown's left hand and Batiste's kick drum a make righteous rhythm section. Get it for $15.99 at LouisianaMusicFactory.com. - Walter Pierce
BOOK IT
Reissued and updated with new photography and text - along with contributions from other writers - Greg Guirard's remarkable Atchafalaya Autumn II is solace on a glossy page. This photography collection, originally issued in 1995, is Guirard's seventh book, at once an ode and a dirge for the Atchafalaya Basin and the vanishing culture of Cajun hunting, trapping and fishing families who ply its waters and gather its resources. In the foreword Guirard insists he's no Thoreau, but we read in his words and see in his photos a life most certainly lived deliberately. And while Guirard's words are engaging, it is the photography that binds his spells - the rippling vermilion and orange of dawn and dusk on calm water, the dappled, gnarled roots of a massive cypress, the scaled, furred and feathered fauna. Atchafalaya Autumn II is available for $25 through GregGuirard.com. - WP