The OFFICIAL Book Tour culminated Saturday in Vicksburg, appropriately on the Mississippi Blues Trail, which attracts not only domestic travelers but scores of international visitors each year.  Here, one can see locotourism is action, the town thriving off roadways and an energetic, dedicated group of Arts District residents who live, work and socialize in studios and salons.  No wonder Europeans love it. 

Laura Weeks and husband Troy opened Lorelei Books in a personal exodus from corporate life and urban living.  (Remember The Creative Class)  What they found was a way of Southern life both modern and provincial, making it up along the way as they led the revitalization of an entire town.  It began with gutting what is now their bookstore and finishing out above a pied-a-terre right in a small town.  Others followed and now many work below their living quarters, contributing each morning to the local coffeehouse, conversation and arts fellowship.

That day, AD and I met so many who claim Laura is the anchor of that rural love, transforming a near-abandoned downtown with her enterprising spirit and bookstore--a sign of intelligent life--and it has been contagious.  Like so many southerners, Laura has sense of family and home which pervades Lorelei, so that one feels the provincial flair within the veracity of a New York shop.  Her family ancestral home, Chretien Point, is a book unto itself, and when browsing, one feels as if each title has been personally selected for you--an eclectic selection that makes you want to expand your usual repetoire.  I swear I almost took home a bio on Daniel Boone ! 

Of those she introduced, the theme of Backyards spoke to me, first with "You Are Where You Eat" by Elsa Hahne, which captures the recipes of real New Orleanians in their neighborhood kitchens.  I always say I can spot someone from nola in O'Hare.  They just have that kinda sweet face with a little Elvis in them--an irrististable combination.  Here, someone has effectively captured that in the food, asking for their "Holy Trinity."  No one there understood the significance but to me, she broke the code.  (In Translation....that's the three ingredients you can't live without in your kitchen.) Of course AD, chef extraordinaire had a strange take on this question, replying butter, flour and green onions.  I guess he plans for us to live on hush puppies, which would make him, along with his "redneck tea," very happy.

But the real surprise of the day came from the companion book of a Katrina Collection titled Backyards and Beyond by HC Porter.  The Warholesque artist is a real asset to the state, her work appearing in Hollywood homes, Governors mansions and well anyone who loves contemporary art with its own version of social gospel.  Its Southern, real and remarkable.  AD and I had the opportunity to visit her studio up Washington Street.  The Collection is on exhibit, based on 9000 photos and innumerable field recordings post-K.  When we met, there was an instant connection, that of the storm.  We were both telling the same story, just in different languages.  In her book, HC wrote, "To be human is to be on a journey.  To be a survivor of a hurricane is to advance that journey."  Wow, I wish I had written that.  www.loreleibooks.com and www.hcporter.com

On The Rooftop with HC Porter

The View