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AG tries to KO fights

Attorney General Charles Foti stepped into the octagonal cage of mixed martial arts fights last month and promptly took a body blow from State District Judge Don Johnson.

Foti—busy of late jailing doctors, nurses, and retirement home operators—tried to deliver a knockout punch to one of the country’s fastest-growing sports: mixed martial arts contests.

In August, the attorney general threatened to arrest local fight promoters for sponsoring an MMA event at the River Center, billed as “Capital City Carnage.” Problem was, the state Boxing and Wrestling Commission had already sanctioned the event.

So Foti asked a judge to declare MMA events illegal, and to rule that the commission doesn’t even have the authority to regulate such events.

But Johnson didn’t buy Assistant Attorney General Butch Wilson’s argument that MMA events are banned by Louisiana’s “tough man” statute. Commission-sanctioned MMA contests are, in fact, legal, Johnson ruled.

However, the judge sidestepped the larger issue of whether the commission has the legal authority to regulate the events. Foti’s assistant promised to appeal.

— CHUCK HUSTMYRE

Sinking the Pink

Plagued with financial woes, plastic pink flamingo manufacturer Union Products closed its plant last month, putting the kitschy ambassador of American yards on the endangered species list. The tacky lawn ornament has served as mascot of the Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade since the early 1980s, and local flamingo fans are hoping this isn’t the end for their pink-feathered friend.

“We may have to make more of our own this year for people,” says parade regular Bob Applegate. “But I’m sure some other company will buy the molds and make them eventually. They’ve got to.”

Applegate is a proud member of The Flockers, a group that cuts and paints giant plywood versions of the flamingos and places them in the university lakes to signal the onset of Mardi Gras.

“That was a sad day for flamingo heads in Baton Rouge,” Applegate says of the plant closing. “Even if

people are displaying the flamingos we make, a lot of them use the plastic ones as an added feature. You see them

everywhere at the parade.”

An American company and a Canadian manufacturer

already have expressed interest in making the flock.

—JEFF ROEDEL

License to drink

Buzz Café owner and panini pusher David Keyes wants to be in the pizza business. But he’s going to have to get permission from either nearby St. James Episcopal Church or the Metro Council to turn his Florida Street café into a nighttime pizzeria that serves beer and wine with its Italian pie.

At the crux of the controversy is a city ordinance banning alcohol sales less than 300 feet from a church. “The people at [St. James] are nice, but they said no, they’re not going to allow it.” Keyes has already purchased a $10,000 brick oven and hopes to operate the pizzeria from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays beginning in early December.

One solution for Keyes could come through the Metro Council’s future vote on the incorporation of a Downtown Entertainment District. When the Metro Council discusses the district, Keyes will push for an exemption clause that would allow establishments such as his to serve alcohol regardless of location. “Everybody’s trying to get things going downtown, and I feel like we’re being held back by this old rule. We may have to start by encouraging people to ‘bring their own.’ But who knows, maybe that will become a cool, trendy thing to do.”

—J.R.

Feminine mystique

To become a famous belly dancer you must promote and market yourself, but who’s got the time? Jocelyn Chouinard certainly doesn’t. She’s too busy jet-setting around the world as a highly sought-after performer and master instructor, more concerned with preserving the art of belly dance than making a name for herself.

Her most recent workshop brought her to Baton Rouge, where she taught an intensive, three-day certification training to local instructors, her first in the United States. Chouinard, who assumes the name Hadia when she dances, conducts most of her training workshops in her native country of Canada and takes students on dance retreats to locales like Bali, Mexico and Turkey several times a year. To Chouinard, who speaks five languages, belly dancing truly is an art form.

“It’s such a personal expression, such an adventure in femininity,” she says. “The art of belly dance creates a unique balance between being strong yet being very sexual—and when I say sexual I mean it in a very healthy context, not like a sex object. Sexuality is normal. It’s part of who we are. I think people today confuse sexuality with disgusting Paris Hilton stuff.”

Learn more about local classes at bayoushimmy.com, and for information about Chouinard visit hadia.com.

—S.Y.

Felt up

For most of us, felt conjures up images of kids’ school projects and Hobby Lobby’s craft aisle. But Supermaggie owners Maggie Kleinpeter and Michael Pittard have made a business out of it, one that allowed them to move back to Baton Rouge.

Through the process of felting, Maggie molds wool fibers into candy-colored confections of flower pins and scarves festooned with polka dots and stripes. The indie designers send their lovingly handcrafted creations, along with T-shirts, plush animals and wallets, all over the world via Internet and retail orders.

After eight years operating in Brooklyn, N.Y., Maggie and Michael made a sizeable leap back home to set up shop in Baton Rouge. “We really wanted a big yard with lots of tropical plants”—no small feat in a New York loft—says Maggie. One look at their lush, overgrown yard, and it’s hard to believe these two survived the concrete jungle for eight years. Now that they call Spanish Town home, they can’t imagine living anywhere else. And lucky for them, “everything is done online,” Michael says. “Our work isn’t location specific.” supermaggie.com.

—MEGHAN CORNAY