Bayou Bytes Blog

There's a British singer-songwriter you may have heard of lately. She's a young lady who commands such an audience she can go by a single name, a chanteuse with a powerful contralto voice, a recent Grammy Award winner - have you guessed who it is yet? Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, popularly known as Adele. She's only 23, but she has two CDs under her belt, eight Grammy wins, and an impressive string of hits. Adele's latest effort, the 2011 release entitled 21, is a dark, bluesy journey through anger, heartache, and forgiveness. Inspired by a bitter break-up, the CD is named after the singer's age during production. She's released three singles off the album, "Rolling in the Deep," "Someone Like You," and "Set Fire to the Rain, " and the fourth will be the catchy track, "Rumour Has It." If you haven't listened to Adele yet, check her out at the library. The Calcasieu Parish Public Libraries own both of her CDs, 19 and 21...

Hi everyone! We had a program here at Central Library on Valentine's Day called "All About Bows!" We learned how to make hair bows, gift bows, and a wreath bow. For those of you who weren't able to make the program, I'm going to do a quick tutorial on how to make a gift bow or "Christmas" bow. You will need: acetate ribbon double sided tape stapler cardstock a bow maker (Clover brand is one type you can get) You need about 3 and a half yards of acetate ribbon. We used a ribbon that was three-quarters of an inch thick. If your bow maker doesn't come with numbers, you might want to add them. Here's a close-up of the one I used: Take your ribbon and pass it through the center of your bow maker, shiny side down. Tape it down between the 8 and 3. Wrap your ribbon around the #2 point, coming from behind and to the left first. Pulling the ribbon tightly, flip your bow maker and wrap around the #3 point. Continue in numeric order until all your points ha...

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson Find it in our Catalog Summary: Caleb and Camille Fang are artists who involve their children in each piece of work. The art typically consists of making a scene and evoking a reaction from a crowd of people, all taped by a hidden camera. After growing up in this environment, adults Annie and Buster have a difficult time functioning normally in the world. When their parents disappear, they join together to discover whether their parents are truly gone, or if this is just another Fang Family piece. Review: An alternate title to this novel could be 'How not to Raise your Children.' The chapters go back and forth between present day adult Annie and Buster to flashbacks of performances by the Fangs. Adults Annie and Buster seem to drift with no real connection to the world. Annie is a moderately successful actress who gets caught up in a scandal and is quick to have a drink to calm down. Buster is a less successful writer who's been reduce...

Hi all you crafty people! We recently had a Mardi Gras wreath program at Central Library and I'm going to do a tutorial for those of you who couldn't make the program. What you'll need: 1 wreath form, glue gun, scissors, Mardi Gras beads (about 60 strands), and ribbon. We used a 12-inch floral ring as our wreath form, but you can use straw, wire, or Styrofoam forms if that's what you can find. You can also use a larger size, but keep in mind that it will take more beads and more time and will also be heavier. You can wrap your wreath form in ribbon or paint it so that it blends in nicely. This one ended up green. Snip your necklaces with your scissors so that they become a long strand of beads rather than a loop. Wrap your wreath form completely with a single layer of beads, attaching the strands with a minimum of hot glue. It took about 16 necklaces to wrap our 12-inch wreath form. Make sure to wrap it tightly so that the beads are clos...