Chris Segura, Michael Martin discuss 'History of Cajun Music' at Jeanerette Museum

     The Jeanerette Bicentennial Museum presents “A Journey through the History of Cajun Music” at 6 p.m. tonight at the Jeanerette Museum located at 500 E. Main St. in Jeanerette.

      The event will incorporate archival recordings from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s Center for Louisiana Studies’ Archive of Cajun and Creole Folklore and include a live performance. Chris Segura and Michael Martin will discuss the history of Cajun music from the earliest examples to the most recent innovations. 

      Segura is an archivist at UL and is a founding member of Grammy-nominated Feufollet as well as a member of the Lafayette Rhythm Devils. He has recorded 10 albums with his two bands, plus produced five albums composed of archive material for Festivals Acadiens et Creoles. 

      Martin is director of the Center for Louisiana Studies and holds the Cheryl Courrégé Burguières/Board of Regents Professorship in History at UL. His publications include “Russell Long: A Life in Politics,” “Louisiana Legacies: Readings in the History of the Pelican State” (as co-editor), “Louisiana Beyond Black and White: Recent Interpretations of Twentieth-Century Race and Race Relations” (as editor) and “Historic Lafayette.” Martin is managing editor of the journal “Louisiana History,” published quarterly by the Louisiana Historical Association 

       The event is free at the Jeanerette Museum, 500 E. Main St. in Jeanerette. For more information, visit JeaneretteMuseum.com.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

'Generating Hope' examines BeauSoleil solar home at UL-Lafayette

            The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press and UL-Lafayette Architecture Professor W. Geoff Gjertson and Dege Legg, along with architects and guest writers Pliny Fisk III and Edward J. Cazayoux, will release “Generating Hope: Stories of the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home” at a special book launch during this week’s Festivals Acadiens et Créoles.

            From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Oct. 9-12, the public is invited to visit the BeauSoleil Home located at 140 Girard Park Circle in Lafayette and purchase signed copies of the book. At 2 p.m. Friday, Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil will give a special performance in celebration of the book’s release and the fifth anniversary of the home and its first place win in Market Viability and People’s Choice in the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C.

            “Generating Hope” tells stories of hope through personal interviews with the students, faculty and community partners — the team that designed and built the home and those that supported the effort — plus showcases the significance of the project, producing affordable, energy-efficient and hurricane-resistant housing. The book includes more than 180 photographs and sidebars that provide a guide for implementing solar and sustainable practices.

            Gjertson is a UL architect and professor and served as the faculty adviser for the BeauSoleil Home as well as subsequent Building Institute Projects. Legg is an award-winning writer and Grammy-nominated musician.

            Cazayoux will receive the 2015 SPARK Lifetime Achievement Award Oct. 24 at the College of the Arts’ Beaux Arts Ball.

New releases

            William Joyce of Shreveport and artist Kenny Callicutt have released a new children’s book about a smallish boy and a smallish pea who have to come up with a giant plan to save the kingdom in “A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack.” The fairy tale with a twist is the latest book from Moonbot Books, an imprint of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Simon & Schuster. The story concerns a kingdom where it hasn’t rained in days and the king has dictated that something must be done. With a little magic from a wizard young Jack, paired with his pea pod pal, will find a giant reason as to why there’s no water left in the kingdom.

            Judy Christie follows up her “Magnolia Market (Trumpet & Vine)” novel, set in Samford, Louisiana, with “Sweet Olive (Trumpet & Vine),” where fresh starts aren’t nearly as glamorous as they appear and love isn’t any easier the second time around. Publishers Weekly compares Christie’s “Sweet Olive” books to Jan Karon’s Mitford series, and Library Journal and Romantic Times praise it as a story that will draw readers into the ambience of the small-town South and the people who live there.

            Melissa Abraham of Lafayette, member of the Writers’ Guild of Acadiana, has published an essay on a German Shepherd mix who assisted her Labrador in birthing puppies titled “Doggy-Nanny” in “The Dog Did What?: 101 Amazing Stories of Magical Moments, Miracles and…Mayhem,” a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. The anthology of canine tales benefits the American Human Association and includes a foreword by Miranda Lambert.

            In the 1950s, Barbara Barnes Sims found herself in a male-dominated world as publicist and sales promotion coordinator at Sun Records in Memphis. She recalls her years in “The Next Elvis: Searching For Stardom at SUN Records” and signs copies at 6 p.m. Thursday at Garden District Bookstore in New Orleans.

            Born with Asperger's Syndrome and a love of Japanese films and art, writing came natural to Justin Wilson. At 20 and studying literature in college, Wilson has penned “The Boy in the Skull Mask,” where Detective Renee Chavez deals with a murder investigation involving supernatural creatures. The situation grows more complicated by the arrival of a teenaged, eccentric, supernatural hunter, the enigmatic Zero Ozawa. The two must combine their knowledge and work together.

            Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Amy Schwartz pens a delightful tale for young readers titled “100 Things That Make Me Happy.” Naturally, Schwartz lists 100 things that bring smiles to young children’s faces, from riding a bike to catching fireflies, all composed in a lilting rhythmic cadence and accented by adorable artwork. Children will love perusing this collection of happiness.

            Born in New Orleans and now residing in Chattanooga Poppy Jackson releases the second book of her “Imaginary!” trilogy, a series full of romance, vampires, intrigue and hope. The new book is titled “Rapture.” For more information, visit http://www.write2grow.org/PoppyJackson/rapture.php

Newcomb Pottery

            Pelican Publishing of New Orleans has compiled a handy resource book for pottery collectors titled “Newcomb Pottery: A Visual Treasury.” Chock full of photographs gleaned from the Louisiana State Museum, Tulane University and private collections, the book catalogues items hailing from Newcomb College’s art department in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

            You can view these gorgeous pieces at the State Museum or travel to the Stark Museum in Orange, Texas, for “Women, Art, & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise.” The loaned exhibition features significant examples of iconic pottery, textiles, jewelry, bookbinding and more, organized by the Newcomb Art Gallery and Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

Book events

            Become Money Smart, a free two-session workshop sponsored by United Way of Acadiana, will be 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, Oct. 7 and 9, at North Regional Library. Preregistration required.  

            A film series honoring Ernest Gaines will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the South Regional Library; this week’s film is “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

            The Center for Louisiana Studies’ Bayou State Book Talks presents Marcia Gaudet and Reggie Young, authors of “This Louisiana Thing That Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the South Regional Branch Library, 6101 Johnston St. The event is free and open to the public.

            Barbara Barnes Sims signs her latest “The Next Elvis: Searching for Stardom at Sun Records,” from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

            Celebrate National Star Wars Reads Day with an intergalactic party from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at North Regional Library. Costumes are welcome for the event geared toward ages 6-12. Preregistration required.

            Bonnie Warner and Cheryl Gerber sign copies of “New Orleans Homes — Christmas” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Wiley Cash's latest another riveting read

            Wiley Cash received his PhD from UL-Lafayette, heading out into the world to teach English at universities. When he penned his debut novel, “A Land More Kind Than Home,” Ernest Gaines stated, “I think this could be the beginning of a long, fruitful career.”

            Indeed. His second novel, “The Dark Road to Mercy,” has just been released, an impressive tale of the unending yearning for familial bonds coupled with the joy of baseball.

            Easter and Ruby Quilby have landed in foster care after their mother dies of an accidental overdose. Their father, a semi-pro baseball player named Wade Chesterfield, had previously given up custody so there is talk of grandparents in Alaska taking them in. Wade has not exactly been great father material, flitting in and out of the girls’ lives like a shadow.

            The book open as Wade appears at the girls’ baseball game, although Easter will have nothing to do with him. But his appearance and his insistence that he wants to take them in starts her thinking of what might be so that when Wade arrives late one night at the foster home, looking as if the devil is on his heels, the girls follow him.

            Unbeknownst to them, Robert Pruitt, a man holding a years-long grudge against Wade and working for a crime boss, has been hired to track him. Meanwhile, Brady Weller, the girls’ court-appointed guardian with his own issues of fatherhood, hopes to rescue the girls, especially after learning that millions that have gone missing might be in the hands of Wade.

            The story is told from three viewpoints, that of young Easter, Weller and Pruitt, the first two examples of the desire of being part of a family when the past interferes and the hope that one can begin again. Meanwhile, Pruitt’s unyielding hold on the past threatens to destroy everything.
           Wiley Cash will sign copies of “This Dark Road to Mercy” at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Square Books in Oxford, Miss.; at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Turnrow Books of Greenwood, Miss.; at 6 p.m. Thursday at Octavia Books of New Orleans, Saturday at the St. Francisville Literary Festival in St. Francisville and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Lafayette Barnes & Noble.