A Dollup of Culture

This weekend Red Stick makes its attempt to score one for culture, cultah, or a reasonable facsimile thereof with the opening of The Shaw Center. You can read the local paper's take here, and my own perspective is that if you're lost in the desert, ANY water is plenty wet enough...

So, in the interest of slaking my cultural thirst, I went and took a look...and, I'll put it this way: considering that the only recent event receiving equivalent coverage was the opening of yet another Wal-Mart in the Capital City, I'll keep my complaints to a minimum. The building is a mix of traditional and ultra-modern, the former being an attempt to maintain a degree of integrity with the remnants of an abandoned parking garage known as "The Auto Hotel" back in its functional days, the latter component displaying lots of glass and metal (to be honest, some of the metal looks, well, cheap). The edifice is the new home of the LSU Museum of Art--it's former name, the "Anglo-American Museum of Art" is apt.

However, a touring exhibit of African gold work is impressive enough, as is a permanent collection of Chinese jade carvings (IMHO, the highlights of the opening weekend), and the small theater has quite excellent sound. The name "Shaw Center," is in homage of what I assume was a more than nominal contribution made on behalf of The Shaw Group (a large BR business).

Downtown Baton Rouge has been for a long time a location in search of a function. The central city was pretty much abandoned by the late 70's/early 80's, and as recently as five years ago I could count on one hand the number of places open after 6 o'clock. This is no longer the case--although, to be honest, the gain in numbers has been offset by a loss in the quality of entertainment--in other words, I haven't seen a decent jazz act in at least a couple of years.

Still, my opening assessment is that this is a hell of a lot better than nothing at all, and if the museum and art center attract quality exhibits and/or quality entertainment, well, I'll plunk down my eight dollar admission (to the museum) on a regular enough basis--and yeah, I'll also probably hit the top floor sushi bar often enough as well. You gotta start somewhere, and I'll take what's offered...although here's hoping this is a first step on a long journey...