Wayne Ewing Films, 2007; Jeff Weddle, Associate Producer
In the documentary The Outsiders of New Orleans: Loujon Press, Louise "Gypsy Lou" Webb, now well into her nineties, tells the story of how she and her husband Jon Webb published the avant-garde literary magazine The Outsider from a small apartment in the French Quarter in the early 1960's. By day Gypsy Lou sold paintings on a street corner, and by night she set the type that introduced the world to the beat poet Charles Bukowski whose work Jon Webb also chose for their first two Loujon Press books- It Catches My Heart In It's Hands and Crucifix in a Deathhand. The books are now rare collectibles, along with two others by Henry Miller, also hand-crafted and published by the Webbs. Gypsy Lou and Jon Webb's story is about their love for each other and their dream of publishing great literature. Such eccentricity emerged from the unique culture of the 1950's French Quarter where Tennessee Williams held court at the Bourbon House and Charles Bukowski came to drink with strangers while the Webbs labored in their apartment on Royal Street. The film's soundtrack features the legendary New Orleans jazz man Punch Miller who was one of the leaders of a musical revival in the 1960's with his trumpet at Preservation Hall. Punch also recorded Gypsy Lou Webb's song "Long Distance Blues" which is also featured in the film.
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