Yay! My friend Wade Wharton and his art environment is this week’s feature at Roadside America.
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In a court case that has been going on for some time now, the T-P reports that a:
“panel of federal appellate judges Tuesday evening smacked down the Louisiana funeral board’s continued attempts to prevent the St. Joseph Abbey monks from selling their hand-crafted caskets. “The great deference due state economic regulation (does not require) courts to accept nonsensical explanations for naked transfers of wealth,” wrote Judges Patrick Higginbotham, Catharina Haynes and Stephen A. Higginson of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. “We insist that Louisiana’s rules not be irrational.”
The appellate judges sent the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court, refusing to consider the funeral board’s appeal of a previous court’s ruling that found it unconstitutional for the state to give funeral directors exclusive rights to sell caskets.
“Simply put, there is nothing in the licensing procedures that bestows any benefit to the public in the context of the retail sale of caskets,” U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. ruled in July 2011. “The license has no bearing on the manufacturing and sale of coffins. It appears that the sole reason for these laws is the economic protection of the funeral industry,” which he wrote is not “a valid government interest.””
The monks also bake 2000 loaves per week for the needy via charitable institutions in New Orleans through their ‘Pennies for Bread‘ program. What terrific men.
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On All Things Considered: How a Texas Postman became a Hermes Designer.
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While I’ve had poutine in Montreal, at The Roosevelt in Richmond, they make ‘Southern Poutine’ with Allan Benton’s ham gravy and pimento cheese on top.
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From the Washington Post: how about a real barbecue museum?
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There is now such a thing as Moon Pie coffee. Even better, they’re licensing Moon Pies with universities.
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Sounds as though the Kilgore House on campus at UA could be moved.
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The fall Slotin Folk Art Auction / Fall Masterpiece Sale is November 10 and 11 and includes some of the collection of my friend Kelly Ludwig. You can go in person or bid online (so easy).
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Vrazel’s in Gulfport, one of our favorite places on the MS coast, will be closing mid-December. He has sold the building to the casino next door. Going to be hard to get in between now and then.
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On his 81st birthday: Leonard Knight will return to Salvation Mountain on November 4 at 11a.
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A couple of men buy a $1.8MM FLW home in Phoenix with the idea to demolish it, and say to the NYT that they didn’t know the difference “between Frank Lloyd Wright and the Wright brothers” — which is kind-of weird when after all they own a real estate development firm. They got a demolition permit from the city in August but the city revoked it after hearing from preservationists (can you imagine the earful they must’ve gotten?!). If a new buyer isn’t found soon, the city may put in place a recommended landmark status to preserve it — but that landmark status only shields the structure for three years (!!).
So what does the owner say about that? “I’ll move in, invite everybody to come in and take their pictures, and I’m going to wait three years,” he said, interlacing his fingers behind his neck as he slouched on the orange cushions of the master bedroom’s seating area. “Then I’m going to knock it down to recoup my losses.”
Slideshow of that gorgeous home here.
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Giant black and white cookie at Whole Foods this week
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Faulkner’s estate sues Woody Allen over use of the famous ‘history’ quote from Requiem in ‘Midnight in Paris’.
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(Finally) Germany has erected a monument to the Roma/Gypsy victims who were killed.
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“Scott’s 2nd Annual Halloween Bash” from 6-9p Halloween evening at the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery. Tickets available at the website.
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Scarlett’s green drapes dress, and her burgundy gown too, have been saved from destruction after $30k of work at the University of Texas.
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The new Quentin Tarantino movie, Django Unchained, will be out on Christmas Day — the trailer has just been released and much of it was filmed in Louisiana, Evergreen Plantation:
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