A Lapse of what?

Flyers, New Orleans LA 7/2007

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

FEMA says flood policies in Louisiana lapse! A large number of flood policies were sold in Louisiana after Huiricanes Katrina and Rita (approx. 100,000). About 15% of those have not been renewed, which FEMA cites as a high percentage.

Either people have short term memories , don't beleive their property can flood or simply cannot afford the added expense?

ANTONIONI IS GONE

Maryon Park, London UK 10/2006 from UK is OK

(Final scene from film "Blow Up" was shot at this location)

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Michelangelo Antonioni, one of Italy's most influential post-war film directors whose portrayals of modern angst and alienation won him a cult following, has died aged 94.

His 1966 cult favorite “Blow Up” was a huge influence on me. Last Summer, while in London, I actually retraced and photographed the location of many scenes from the film.

Goodbye Michelangelo Antonioni and thank you!

BUYING ATTENTION

Grocery Advertising, Lecompte LA 7/2007

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Christian Patterson ( http://christianpatterson.com/blog/ )recently blogged about an art gallery solicitation to exhibit for a fee! My policy has always been to refuse paying any fee , however small! The thought process is that I go through a great deal of time, trouble and expense to produce the work, so an exhibiting venue should at least be prepared to shoulder the cost of mounting the exhibition!

A variation on this theme , is the pay to publish publications. I was just contact by WOA Publishing to be included in one of two “major” publications with the impressive titles of: MASTERS OF TODAY: 100 Contemporary Artists and Art of Excellence: 100 Contemporary Artists.

The cost? A mere $990. euros (or approx. $1336. USD)!

We cordially invite you to submit materials for selection to become published in MASTERS OF TODAY: 100 Contemporary Artists (two-pages) and Art of Excellence: 100 Contemporary Artists (one page bonus), two collectible global art books edited by WOA Publishing. Artists can either apply for one page or two pages with a limited portfolio of up to 6 works and essay or for a curatorial art project extended to 10-page spreads. Place and availability in the book are subject to quality. Each selected artist will receive three copies of the book.

HOW TO APPLYIn order to facilitate a rapid nomination process and a shorter time to publication, artists are asked to submit materials electronically. Please send World documents and artwork as JPG, TIFF or ZIP files.

MATERIALS TO BE RECEIVED To complete the selection process please provide by return eMail to

info@worldofartmagazine.com. The Artists will be notified by the Editor of the acceptance of the works for inclusion in the books. • 3 - 6 art works (JPG /TIFF image files, 300 dpi /up to 22 cm./9 inches• The works details: title, year, media, size• Up to 500 words of critic essay or statement• The personal website• The place of residence and work• A photo of yourself -300 dpi /4 cm./1,5 inches

DISTRIBUTIONPublished in WOA's limited editions unique created art books as art, the boards of thousands galleries and museums will reviews the artist’s works. WOA distribution is through large book wholesalers and ecommerce channels in US bookstores and internationally including Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon in USA, Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon Australia and others.

DEADLINE The layout process is in advanced progress, NO deadlinew, submit visuals for nomination today. As Masters of Today and Art of Excellence completing the inclusions progressively, the books scheduled for publication the end of 2007.

BOOK SIZE 9x9 in. /22x22 cm., hardcover. • Print run 25,000 copies.
The author royalty is 40% of the net sales and is paid by distributor to author.

Inclusion fee All submissions are subject to acceptance. Accepted submissions fee is euro 990 for the cost. The cost includes full editing, creative layout and design per-page, text review & post-editing, plates, offset printing, binding, packing, shipping, distribution. The fee should be provided by the artist representative, sponsors, corporations or individual contributor or self-provided. View, download, and print the Application from this attachment: Click-On Application PDF or Application GIF . Further information and details on the Website: Click-On here.

HAPPY COLORS

Blue House with Red Curtains, New Orleans 7/2007

Lime Green Renovation, Lakeview, New Orleans 7/2007

Paint Samples on House, New Orleans 7/2007

In driving through New Orleans , looking for progress, I noticed a lot of unusual colors being used in painting renovated houses. I am not sure if this is because people are reacting to 2 years of stress and frustration or actually see a brighter future?

all reproduction rights resevered Wm. Greiner

BIG DADDY IS 54 x 3

Big Daddy #4, Lecompte LA 7/2007

Big Daddy #2, Lecompte LA 7/2007

Big Daddy #1, Lecompte LA 7/2007

If there had been only one of these posters, there would have been only one picture! However, they were posted all over the grocery store and my compulsion got the best of me?

Happy Birthday Big Daddy, you look good for 54.

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

GIMME SHELTER*

House and Water Tower, Baton Rouge LA 12/2006 from Baton Rouge Blues

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Oh, a storm is threatning

My very life today

If I dont get some shelter

Oh yeah, Im gonna fade away

The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"

A Harvard University survey on hurricane preparedness

found that 6 out of 10 people in New Orleans did not know the location of an evacuation shelter .

Drivin N Cryin*

Cloud Formation, Baton Rouge LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

It's true!

I know what it means to miss New Orleans.

I was there this morning and the air smelled so good.

*Drivin N' Cryin is a hard rock band that featured Southern-inspired lyrics. Formed in Atlanta in 1985, the band was well-known in the Southeast and college towns in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. The band's early albums veered from punk, hard rock, and metal (the "driving" songs) to country, folk and acoustic ballads (the "crying" songs) -- which hard-core fans of the band may have loved, but not so much record labels and radio programmers.

makingnoise at makingroom.com

Tennis Tournament, Baton Rouge LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

I would like to thank Davin Risk and Ross Evertson for the interview and coverage on their

web magazine!

www.makingroom.com

FEMA FUMES

Pink Trailer, New Orleans 3/2005 from Fallen Paradise

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

“We were not formaldehyde experts,” he said. “We recognize now that we have an issue. We are dealing with it in the best manner we can.”

R. David Paulison FEMA Administrator

It was reported , that the U.S. House of Representatives’ oversight committee on Thursday accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of refusing to acknowledge high levels of formaldehyde in trailers it provided to hurricane evacuees on the Gulf Coast. Over 120,000 trailers were provided for evacuees use, and approximately 66,800 are still in use. The Environmental Protection Agency has classified formaldehyde as a probable or known human carcinogen.

STICKS and STONES may.........

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

I was chastised in a comment left on Alec Soth’s blog , www.alecsoth.com/blog , concerning my assertion that no words will make a photograph better art! I think it is an interesting and relevant idea?

As an aside to this, I recently found an article in the New York Times by film maker Errol Morris Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire , July 10, 2007. Morris contends “a picture unaccompanied by words may not mean anything at all. Do pictures provide evidence? And if so, evidence of what? And, of course, the underlying question: do they tell the truth?”. This question is sort of the flip side of applying it to photographs made as art?

To make a music analogy, I love the song NORWEGIAN WOOD by The Beatles. If given the chance to ask one of them what the song means to them, I wouldn’t want to know because I have already conjured up something in my mind as to what it means to me!

floodwall

Fern on Wall, Ocean Springs MS 7/2007

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I was worn out looking at Katrina photographs as soon as they started popping up everywhere! However, New Orleans artist Jana Napoli, whose name may look familiar because of her YA YA project (Young Artists Young Aspirations), has done a truly amazing Katrina installation/sculpture piece. Thank you Jana Napoli.

Floodwall @ Louisiana State Museum Wed. 7/18-Sat. 10/13 - Louisiana State Museum - 660 North 4th Street - 341-5428 New Orleans artist Jana Napoli spent the winter after Katrina indulging in a new hobby: collecting the abandoned drawers left piled on the heaps of discarded guts of flooded homes in every affected neighborhood in the city. For six months she salvaged and refurbished the drawers, and soon her collection reached 600. Now the drawers are part of a traveling art installation called Floodwall that includes oral histories from several of the original owners. Floodwall has been installed at the State Museum and will be on display through Oct. 13. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. $6 adults, $5 seniors, students and military. Children under 12 free. >>More

Also: www.jananapoli.com

http://www.floodwall.org/

BRICKBATS*

Brick Pile, New Orleans LA 7/2007
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Senator Apologizes Again for Prostitution Link

By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: July 17, 2007

The New York Times

METAIRIE, La., July 16 — Speaking for the first time since he acknowledged a connection to the so-called D.C. Madam a week ago, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana appeared briefly before reporters here Monday to apologize again and attack “political enemies” he said had spread falsehoods about him.

Mr. Vitter dropped out of public view a week ago after admitting that his phone number had appeared in a list of clients’ numbers kept by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is accused of running a prostitution ring in Washington. He missed major votes on Iraq in the Senate and made no public appearances, even as accounts of other relationships with prostitutes multiplied in the New Orleans news media.

After his initial apology, a woman convicted of running a brothel on Canal Street said Mr. Vitter had been a client, and another woman, identified by The New Orleans Times-Picayune as a prostitute named Wendy Cortez, came forward to say that she, too, had had a relationship with him when the senator was in the State Legislature in the 1990s.

These reports echoed longstanding rumors in Louisiana — which Mr. Vitter had vehemently rejected in the past — that he had had encounters with prostitutes.

*brickbat - a fragment of brick used as a weapon

NOT CONFUSING CARPS WITH CARP

COME , Cruise Ship Casino 2/2004 from the series CRUISE

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Harrah’s New Orleans, the largest casino in the city, is on pace for its best year ever: gambling revenue is up 13.6 percent through the first five months of 2007 compared with the same period in 2005, pre-Katrina.

The casinos in this region are generating more revenue — from significantly fewer players — in large part because of the extra money that many area residents have in their pockets and fewer alternatives on where to spend it, casino executives and others in the region say.

“It’s like a barroom,” said Ted Lewis, 48, a case manager at a New Orleans homeless shelter who started coming to Harrah’s only after the casino’s reopening in early 2006. “When times are bad, people come to release stress. They drink, they gamble.”

They do indeed. Boomtown New Orleans, for instance, a casino on the edge of the city that was not flooded, booked $83 million in profit last year, nearly triple its pre-Katrina best. Here in Biloxi, even with two fewer casinos operating through the first half of the year, gamblers lost $428.3 million in the first five months of the year, compared with $418.7 during the same period in 2005.

Locals now abound at the gambling centers. Gary W. Loveman, the chief executive of Harrah’s Entertainment, said that before Katrina, roughly three out of every four people gambling at his company’s New Orleans property was a tourist; today the majority are from the city or the surrounding area, including a number of construction workers drawn to the area and other temporary residents.

“With all the bowling alleys and social clubs and churches and favorite restaurants that aren’t there,” Mr. Loveman said, “we’re getting a much larger share of the discretionary spend.”

Excerpts from: Casinos Boom in Katrina’s Wake as Cash Pours In By GARY RIVLIN
Published: July 16, 2007 The New York Times

ON MY WAY TO THE FORUM

Wash n' Run at On the Run, Baton Rouge LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

Yesterday morning , on my way to the YMCA to play a tennis match, I noticed a body , the police , crime scene tape and film crews in a grocery store parking lot. On the way back afterwards I had stopped to get something near there and the tv news crew was still around. I stopped to ask what happened and ended up being interviewed myself.

Apparently a murder had occured, thus the body.

As we began the interview, I realized I was wearing a t-shirt a friend had made. It depicted two men, stick figures - one stabbing the other in the back, with the words "good morning" above the illustration. So as we started the interview, I asked (as I pointed to my t-shirt) "This isn't going to be a problem , is it?

http://wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6789392&nav=menu57_2

COME AGAIN

"Poboy"... Baton Rouge , LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues
all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

The question was posed to me , after U.S. Senator (R-LA) David Vitter disclosed that he had frequented an escort service for sex , “What would the Senator have done, had he gotten the prostitute pregnant” - given his pro-life abortion stance? It’s an interesting question , although I am not sure if any of this is germane to his ability to represent Southern Louisiana.

STILL A PART OF AMERICA

Tattered American Flag, Baton Rouge LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

Forbes ranks best states for business; La. one ups W.Va.

The good news: Louisiana climbed in Forbes' rankings of best states for business. The not-so-good news: The move was from 50 to 49 (thanks, West Virginia). "What the rankings show once again is Louisiana ranks much worse as a state than Baton Rouge does as a city or region," says Stephen Moret, CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.

Louisiana ranked 22nd in business costs, 50th in labor, 41st in regulatory environment, 43rd in economic climate, 45th in growth prospects and 49th in quality of life. Moret says the signing of House Bill 505, which eliminates the unorthodox sales tax on business utilities and natural gas, would have an immediate positive effect on several of the categories. "That's something that literally the governor could do today," he says.

For the full rankings and explanation of the categories, click here. --Seth Fox

The Baton Rouge Business Report 7/12/2007

GALVESTON ARTS CENTER

Woman in Floral Dress, 12/2005 from the series CRUISE

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GALVESTON ARTS CENTER

William Greiner

CRUISE

July 14, 2007 - August 19, 2007

Reception July 14th 6-9 PM

Louisiana photographer William Greiner documents the passengers and activities of cruise ships in his series of photos from 2002-2005 titled "Cruise". Originally a native of New Oreleans, Greiner relocated to Baton Rouge two days prior to Hurricane Katrina's landfall.

Galveston Arts Center

2127 Strand

Galveston, TX 77550-1693

phone: (409) 763-2403

www.galvestonartscenter.org

HIGH FIDELITY

Faceless Canvas Cutout , Seagrove FL 7/2007

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Magazine's call may have prompted Vitter's admission

Posted by NOLA.com July 10, 2007 1:33PM

A call from a pornographic magazine may have led to the admission by U.S. Senator David Vitter that his phone number is among those contained in phone records associated with an escort service.

ABC News reports in The Blotter reports that calls from Hustler magazine investigators Monday afternoon prompted the Louisiana senator to reveal the "very serious sin" in his past.

John Szarkowki is dead.

Hands in Prayer, Holt Cemetery , New Orleans 1992 from The Reposed

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John Szarkowski, Curator of Photography, Dies at 81!

John was probably the most influential photography curator of our times. He was one of the first museum curator's to embrace my work - purchase it , exhibit it and give me , in the process , a sense I was doing something relavent! And for that, I am forever indebted to him.

John will be missed by many. Thank you John Szarkowski and good bye.

GOOD BOMBS

Seagrove Beach , Florida July 4, 2007

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