Culture Surfing - Nick Slie

Co-founder and co-artistic director of the New Orleans-based arts collective Mondo Bizarro Productions, Nick Slie performs in UPROOTED: The Katrina Project, an original collaboration between Alternate ROOTS, Holden Arts & Associates and eight Gulf Coast theater companies about artists displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Having toured the United States for the last two years, UPROOTED’s ensemble, including Slie, performs at 7 Stages Sept. 21-22 at 7 p.m.

Miranda Lake: “I discovered this painter’s work about a month ago in New Orleans. She somehow captures the imagination and sadness of our home these days, and to top it off, she ain’t going nowhere. Yet another example of post-Katrina artists digging their boots in the sinking soil with little-to-no resources and a strong will.” (www.melaneecoopergallery.com/artists/lake/lakeArt.shtml)

www.vbs.tv: “From the folks who brought you the brutally honest Vice magazine comes this eclectic mix of video shorts on the Web. Part investigative journalism, part pop-culture reporting, the site is definitely pushing content boundaries. Where else can you see an eight-part series about mountaintop removal in West Virginia followed by a Spike Jonze interview with Kanye West?”

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: “The only unfortunate thing about this book is Oprah’s ubiquitous stamp of approval that graces its cover. I have not read a manuscript since Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude that burns such searing images on the mental palette.”

Raymond Moose Jackson: “This poet’s latest work, Illusion Fields, is the best CD of music and spoken word to grace the streets of New Orleans in years. And it hasn’t even been officially released. The disc features 32 of the Crescent City’s finest musicians supporting the rhythmic syllables of a divinely inspired man. ‘Moose’ currently tours the United States spreading his gospel of poetic prayer and healing.”

www.storymapping.org: “Check out this online initiative from the deep listeners at the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, Calif. Led by Mr. Joe Lambert, these folks have been at the front line of story-gathering methods for the last 10 years. Their latest project involves a technique called ‘Story Mapping’ that’s six months away from being all the rage.”