WWOZ Street talk-Live at Vaughns: Stories from a Mexican Drug Smuggler
Series: WWOZ- Street Talk
From: David Weinberg
Length: 00:06:34
Its wednesday night at Vaughns and the place is packed, but tonight the smoky bywater bar is filled with an unfamiliar crowd. Dozens of law students from Maryland are drinking cold beer and eating barbeque before the show starts. But it is not Kermit Ruffins or Shamar Allen who will take the stage. Its Eppy Lopez, a former drug smuggler from a small border town in Texas. The students are volunteers who came to give free legal aid to the citizens of New Orleans and tonight they will hear Eppy tell stories about his 13 years in Louisiana state and fedaral prison. Eppy strolls up to the stage and makes the Microphone look like a toothpick as he adjusts it to his massive frame. But he is all smiles as recalls the artwork he created while incarcerated in Louisianna.
Also in the WWOZ- Street Talk series
From Tent City to Abandoned Buildings
(00:04:02)
From: David Weinberg
There are about 61,000 abandoned buildings in New Orleans and its Mike Miller's job to search those buildings one by one, looking for squatters. We travel with Mike into an ...
New Orleans Band Director, Willbert Rawlins Jr.
(00:04:49)
From: David Weinberg
One night High School band director Willbert Rawlins Jr. was walking through the French Quarter with his wife when he came across a group of his students hustling tourists. ...
WWOZ Street Talk- Fringe Fest
(00:06:17)
From: David Weinberg
This weekend New Orleans will host its first Fringe Festival at some very unusual venues
WWOZ Street Talk-6t9 Halloween Parade
(00:04:49)
From: David Weinberg
In a city where many houses are blighted and crime is high trick-or-treating is not always possible
WWOZ Street Talk- Rain or Shine Community Garden
(00:06:23)
From: David Weinberg
What if the hundreds of blighted properties in New Orleans were community gardens?
WWOZ Street Talk- Salt Dreams
(00:05:40)
From: David Weinberg
Two Bartenders attempt to break the World Land Speed Record with a Flood Damaged Car
WWOZ Street Talk- The questionable motives of the Arch Bishop
(00:05:30)
From: David Weinberg
Music saved Francis's Life but now the very place that saved him may be destroyed.
WWOZ Street Talk- Yoga In The Lower Ninth Ward
(00:05:48)
From: David Weinberg
Michelle Baker wanted to bring yoga to the ninth ward but she wasnt sure how.
WWOZ Street Talk- Student Design Expo
(00:05:11)
From: David Weinberg
Throughout New Orleans, Students are helping rebuild by taking on design projects.
WWOZ Street Talk- The Threadheads
(00:06:22)
From: David Weinberg
The story of how the threadheads have helped the New Orleans music community
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Its wednesday night at Vaughns and the place is packed, but tonight the smoky bywater bar is filled with an unfamiliar crowd. Dozens of law students from Maryland are drinking cold beer and eating barbeque before the show starts. But it is not Kermit Ruffins or Shamar Allen who will take the stage. Its Eppy Lopez, a former drug smuggler from a small border town in Texas. The students are volunteers who came to give free legal aid to the citizens of New Orleans and tonight they will hear Eppy tell stories about his 13 years in Louisiana state and fedaral prison. Eppy strolls up to the stage and makes the Microphone look like a toothpick as he adjusts it to his massive frame. But he is all smiles as recalls the artwork he created while incarcerated in Louisianna.
Broadcast History
Aired the week of Thur. Jan 24
Related Website
James Reiss
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 04:43 AM | Permalink
Review of WWOZ Street talk-Live at Vaughns: Stories from a Mexican Drug Smuggler
With its setting in Vaughn's, a lively bar in New Orleans; with its main character a convicted Mexican drug smuggler-cum-visual artist also known for his storytelling, you would think this piece would rock. As it turns out, ex-con Eppy Lopez, is a marvelous raconteur. Producer David Weinberg's introductory remarks indicate that Lopez is a great big fellow, who grasps the mic "like a toothpick as he adjusts it to his massive frame."
Once Lopez gets going, he's a goldmine. He describes himself as drawing tattoos for prison guards, who rewarded him with cigarettes, coffee, and art supplies -- "whatever I could get," he says. He describes being shunted from state to federal prisons, preferring the latter, calling it Club Fed, whereas state prisons were grim. He describes how, on being released after 13 years in the slammer with its drab colors -- imagine the uniform grayness inside a penitentiary -- he was bowled over by how colorful everything appeared. From the trees abloom in spring to a woman's dress with flowers he couldn't take his eyes off, Lopez may remind you of how much you, no jailbird, take for granted even the brilliance of red and green traffic lights.
As long as Lopez, with his mellifluous, slightly accented voice is center stage, this is fresh, outstanding street talk. In fact, he commanded the mic for more than an hour. Unfortunately, halfway through this piece, producer Weinberg shifts his attention to a couple of University of Maryland law school students. He asks these women why our prisons are so overloaded. One law student calls this a "socio-economic problem." He asks if the younger generation of law students will be better equipped to deal with crime, especially in the Big Easy, where criminals notoriously have wreaked havoc since hurricane Katrina. His attorney-to-be answers that she hopes so.
The second half of this piece is platitudinous and ho-hum. If only Weinberg had focused on Lopez, rather than segueing to interview law students and ask for their reactions and analyses, this would be first-rate. As it stands, the second half of this otherwise vivid piece is a dull prison-gray.