The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc., will hold auditions for its Don Jamison Heritage School of Music – a free after-school program – in the first week of September.
The auditions will be held:
Thursday, Sept. 4, at 3:30 p.m., at Lusher CharterHigh (5624 Freret St.) School
Saturday, Sept. 6, at 10 a.m., in the CookFineArtsCenter at DillardUniversity (2601 Gentilly Blvd.)
Classes will continue at the Lusher campus on Thursday afternoons through December 4. Classes will continue at the Dillard campus on Saturday mornings through November 22.
The auditions are open to music students ages 11 to 18 from the greater New Orleans area. Instruction will be in: brass, woodwinds, piano, bass, drums and voice.
The school accepts beginners to advanced students. Beginners and intermediate-level students are being directed to the Lusher campus; the Dillard campus will cater to more advanced students, who will receive instruction in composing and arranging, computer programs for music notation and music business.
Beginners should have completed at least some instruction on their instruments. They should be able to play a major and minor scale, identify notes on a staff and play at least one song. Students should own their own instruments and should bring them to the auditions.
More advanced students auditioning for the Dillard campus should be prepared to:
Perform a song (preferably a jazz standard) that demonstrates their full range of ability
Demonstrate an ability to improvise over a blues form in the keys of F and B flat
Play chromatic scales (F major and B flat major) over the entire length of their instrument.
Sight-read an unfamiliar jazz composition
For pianists and bassists, demonstrate a fundamental ability to read chord changes
For drummers, demonstrate an ability to play “straight-ahead jazz time” (swing and shuffle beats) at different tempos.
The Don Jamison Heritage School of Music is a free after-school program funded by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.
The Jazz & Heritage Foundation created the Heritage School of Music in 1990 under the leadership of renowned saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan, who ran it at Southern University at New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006, the Foundation restarted the program and moved it to LusherHigh, where it attracted more than 40 students from throughout the area in its first semester of post-Katrina operation.
In January 2007, the Foundation expanded to program to include campuses at DillardUniversity and other local schools. The school will operate this semester Lusher and Dillard; both campuses will accept students from the entire metropolitan area.
In addition to providing free music education to young people in the community, the Heritage School of Music creates employment opportunities for the musicians who serve as teachers. These include some of the city’s most respected performers, such as Edward “Kidd” Jordan, Kent Jordan, Germaine Bazzle, Jonathan Bloom, Edward Anderson, Leah Chase, Geoff Clapp, Brent Rose and Jesse McBride.
The Heritage School of Music also provides professional performance opportunities for the students, with appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, the French Quarter Festival, the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival and other events. For more information, please call the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation at (504) 558-6100.School
Louisiana Technology
The Louisiana Technology Council 4th Annual CIO Forum Luncheon which connects local tech leaders with the nation's top tech experts, and educates the public on the use of new and emerging technologies and its' effect on today's economy.The event will feature top national chief information officers such as Gerri Martin-Flickinger of Adobe Systems, Inc., Darko Hrelic of Gartner, Inc. and Ed Driesse, CIO for the State of Louisiana.It will be held Friday, August 22, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM at the Marriott Hotel at the Convention Center, 859 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans.Go to http://www.ltc-la.org/en/cev/?140 to register.
Construction
Dynamic Fuels LLC has selected L-Con Constructors, a Houston-based engineering and construction company, as the lead contractor for the company’s first renewable synthetic fuels facility in Geismar, Louisiana, company officials announced today.
L-Con will provide engineering, procurement, and construction services to the project. Dynamic Fuels is a 50:50 venture between Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) and Tyson Foods, Inc. to convert low grade, inedible fats and greases into renewable synthetic diesel, jet and military fuel.
Dr. Michael White is profiled in the September issue of Reader's Digest along with 6 other New Orleanians who are leading our rebuilding efforts. Follow the link from the Basin Street Records BLOG for the online version.
Theresa Andersson's video of Na Na Na has been viewed over 700,000 times on YouTube. I The River in the beautiful handmade package is SOLD OUT. However it is available on ITunes and other digital platforms and is available in a simple cardboard sleeve from the Basin Street Records website.
Air Quality
EnviroFlash, a service that provides air quality index information via e-mail or mobile text, is now available to many residents of Louisiana. While Louisiana’s air quality has continued to improve in recent years, areas of the state occasionally experience air pollution levels that may pose a potential health risk for some people. EnviroFlash allows individuals across Louisiana to adjust their daily activities when poor air conditions are expected.
The free EnviroFlash service, to which citizens can subscribe, is now available for the Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans areas. Residents enroll on-line and select the health level at which they want to receive notices. Air quality is predicted for ground-level ozone pollution, and when an Ozone Action Day is called, notices are sent to subscribers. This is an Environmental Protection Agency program provided in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
“Thousands of Louisiana citizens – especially those in sensitive populations – will benefit greatly from this groundbreaking service,” said Lou Buatt, DEQ Assistant Secretary. “EnviroFlash’s innovative use of technology provides timely information for people that are affected by air quality. EnviroFlash helps people take steps to protect their health – and it’s available free to anyone who wants to sign up.”
If you are interested in receiving daily air quality messages or just receiving Ozone Action Day notifications, you can sign up at:
Almost three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) and Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) have joined forces for a new special called Coastal Comeback: Louisiana and Mississippi After Katrina. The one-hour program will air Wednesday, August 20 at 7PM on both LPB and MPB and 9PM on WLAE-TV32 in New Orleans. It will be rebroadcast on LPB on Sunday, August 24 at 4PM.
This special edition of Louisiana Pubic Square explores the state of recovery by recording town hall meetings in Bay St. Louis and New Orleans. The one hour program combines highlights from the two public forums to provide a unique perspective on three important areas critical to recovery: housing, the economy and the governmental response following the storm. The town hall audiences include citizens recruited at random, invited members of local neighborhood associations, church groups and other non-governmental organizations and special guests representing local culture. A panel of experts intimately involved in the recovery in Louisiana and Mississippi answer questions from the audience.
Louisiana panelists include:
Dr. Edward Blakely - Recovery Administrator for New Orleans Walter Leger, Jr. - Chairman of the LRA Housing Taskforce King Milling - Vice-Chairman of Whitney Bank Karen Rowley - Special Projects Manager, Public Affairs Research Council
LPB President Beth Courtney and LSU Professor Craig Freeman host the program. A one hour "live blog" will follow the program at www.lpb.org/coastalcomeback.
US Economy
According to Marketwatch, “U.S. leading economic indicators fell 0.7% in July, pointing to "slow growth the rest of the year, and possibly an economy grinding to a halt," the Conference Board reported Thursday.
