Victoire Synagogue
(c) Discover Paris!
When one mentions “the Jewish quarter” of Paris, an area called the Marais usually comes to mind. In this month’s Paris Insights newsletter we explore another Jewish Paris—the neighborhood called Faubourg-Montmartre, located in the 9th arrondissement.
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Lionell Thomas with Painting
Photograph courtesy of Troy Poplous
Shortly before a group of twelve young singers and actors from the McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School left New Orleans to perform in the musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Banlieues Bleues festival in La Courneuve, near Paris, they were invited by the French consul Olivier Brochenin to a reception at his home. It was there that Lionell Thomas, the twin brother of one of the performers, presented a painting that honors the twelve students and their director, Troy Poplous. Thomas’ work will be featured at this year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Read about the great performance that the students gave at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in this month’s Paris Insights newsletter. To join our ever growing list of subscribers, click on the “Subscribe” link on the newsletter announcement page, just above the title of the article. (Access to the newsletter is by paid subscription.)
McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School Students of New Orleans
Photograph courtesy of Banlieues Bleues
Twelve students from McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School in New Orleans, their director, and a supporting cast of student musicians, singers, and dancers from conservatories and colleges of Paris and the Parisian suburbs gave a spectacular performance of Ain’t Misbehavin’ last weekend at the Banlieues Bleues festival in La Courneuve, a commune in the administrative département of Seine-Saint-Denis. Xavier Lemettre, director of the festival, wanted the musical—the first performed in Banlieues Bleues’ 27 years of existence—to inject new, artistic energy into the multi-week celebration. Based on what I saw at the performance, he greatly succeeded!
Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a tribute to song writer, musician, and composer Fats Waller and other musicians of the Harlem Renaissance. The show’s director, Troy Poplous, has extensive experience in directing stage plays and musical productions, including Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, as well as the musical version of this play. Among his current activities, he teaches Theatre Arts and Fine Arts at the McDonogh 35 High School. Funding for the American students’ trip to Paris was provided by the Consulate General of France of New Orleans.
Yves Saint Laurent Exhibition Photographer: A. McKenzie
Nearly two years after his death, French designer Yves Saint Laurent is still a major presence in the fashion world. Now, a retrospective exhibition of his creations is pulling in the crowds in Paris, proving that his designs have lasting relevance.
The show features more than 300 haute-couture and ready-to-wear garments, organized thematically. It includes Saint Laurent’s beginnings with Dior in 1957, and gives viewers a taste of his revolutionary early collections, including the famous trapeze dress and the pantsuit for women.
“It has often been said that Chanel freed women. This is true. Then years later Saint Laurent came along and further liberated women,” said Pierre Bergé, the designer’s lifelong partner who co-founded the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house in 1961.
“He took inspiration from the male wardrobe and gave women the trouser suit, the safari jacket and the smock suit,” Bergé told journalists. He added that Saint Laurent wanted to make sure that not only rich women could afford to wear his designs, so he also created special clothing for the ordinary working woman.
The exhibition covers 40 years of Saint Laurent’s work, and includes drawings, videos, and photographs of the designer and some of his famous clients such as actress Catherine Deneuve.
It is the first exposition of this kind at the Petit Palais (Paris’ Museum of Fine Arts), and organizers said that only someone of Saint Laurent’s stature could merit such an honor.
“In addition to being a fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent was a remarkable artist, and one whose oeuvre has a rightful place in the museum’s long series of exhibitions of the Masters,” said Gilles Chazal, director of the Petit Palais.
The clothing on display reveals that Saint Laurent himself was inspired by artists such as Van Gogh, Mondrian, Picasso, and Monet, among others. One of the first things that strikes museum-goers is his daring use of color and the artistic nature of the garments.
The exhibition runs until 29 Aug. 2010.
We wish to thank A. D. McKenzie for her contribution to the Paris Insights blog.
David Barnes
Founder of Spoken Word in Paris
(c) Discover Paris!
Pan roasting coffee beans
Coffee beans - before roast and after
Gaston-Hugues Berthier, proprietor of Brûlerie de Jourdain
In 2007, I wrote an article about fresh-roasted coffee in Paris, which I published in my Paris Insights newsletter, as well as in my book, Paris Insights – An Anthology. Since then, I have visited several different brûleries in Paris. These are shops that roast their own coffee beans, either on the premises or at an off-site facility.
On one occasion I decided to try roasting the beans myself, drawing my inspiration from Steve Van Nattan’s Coffee Page on the Web. I went to the Brûlerie de Jourdain at 140, rue de Belleville in the 20th arrondissement and spoke with the owner, Gaston-Hugues Berthier, who sold me 250 grams of green Indian Malabar coffee beans. He advised me to roast only a handful at a time, and to keep moving the skillet. He gave me a handful of roasted beans, so that I could compare the color of my roast with his.
Mr. Berthier’s father founded this brûlerie sixty years ago. His huge coffee-roasting machine stands at the front of the shop. While we were discussing coffee, his sound system was playing some real cool jazz.
 | Tom Reeves - author of Paris Insights - An Anthology and Dining Out in Paris - What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light. |