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06-30-10
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Drew Chastain taught philosophy at several universities, and devoted his spare time to a number of outside interests: music, film, and New Orleans community service.
He participated in community initiatives and played in two local bands. After producing a few short films, he left the University to pursue film production full time.
James Andrew Chastain was born in Cleveland, Tennessee July 28, 1975. He went to school in Tennessee until moving to Florida with his parents at age twelve. There he attended school near the Orlando area. One of his high school buddies was Eric Laws, who has been a close associate both in Florida and in New Orleans.
He graduated with an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Central Florida and was accepted by several University graduate programs. He chose Tulane University in New Orleans and earned his Doctorate in Philosophy there in 2003. His dissertation was on Interpreting Metaphor -- using Donald Davidson as a starting point. A fellowship enabled him to do part of his research at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.
After finishing his dissertation and earning his doctorate, Drew taught for several years as an adjunct with four New Orleans universities: Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, and Southern, with Tulane serving as his primary employer. When Hurricane Katrina struck the city, the program at Tulane University was downsized and moved to Houston. Drew was not needed for the lighter program, so he stayed in Florida as a Katrina refugee for almost a year before Tulane relocated to the city and called him back with a one-year contract as Visiting Professor. During that interim period in Florida, Drew taught philosophy at Rollins College in Winter Park just north of Orlando.
As his contract with Tulane was expiring, Drew accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Xavier University Philosophy Department, which soon became a tenure track position. He remained with Xavier until he left to devote his full time to film production. See one Xavier student's note of appreciation.
In addition to his teaching at the universities, Drew presented at academic conference workshops.
2004 Copenhagen, Denmark. The New Orleans Lyceum. International Conference of Philosophical Practice; co-presented with David O'Donaghue, Director of The Lyceum.
2006 Seville, Spain. 'Thought Work' as Philosophical Practice in the Classroom. The 8th International Conference of Philosophical Practice.
2006 Altamonte Springs, Florida. 'Thought Work' as Philosophical Practice in the Classroom. International Conference on Civic Education: Research and Practice.
2008 San Francisco. Using a Course Portfolio to Measure and Improve Student Learning. Defining and Promoting Student Success Conference, hosted by the Faculty Resource Network; co-presented with Dr. Paul Schafer.
Drew developed an interest in film and the history of film during early adulthood. He researched, hosted, and facilitated a weekly film viewing and discussion group in his home in New Orleans. Later, he taught a section of the Philosophy of Film at Tulane University. Even as a child, he wrote an action story From Dusk to Dawn (no connection to the later movie of the same title by Tarantino). So he was interested in both writing and in developing film.
After Drew wrote a screenplay called Isadora's Diary, he and several others cooperated to bring the screenplay to film. All involved, from actors to technicians, were volunteers with a percentage stake in the movie. A promotional trailer was made, but it did not become a movie.
The next project was Hyacinth Girl (2007), a five-minute special effects music video. It contains brief nudity. 
(5:36).
Hyacinth Girl was followed by the 45-minute film short Triple Zero (2008) in which Eddie hopes to place in the top 1000 of the Crescent City Classic.
The most recently completed film short is 45-minute Pals (2009). Chester is pestered by his eccentric friend Billy, who is intent on one goal, to get Chester to kill himself. Friends from childhood, the tension between Billy and Chester probably has something to do with jealousy over a girl, but it's hard to tell. 
(1:00). Pals will play at the New York International Film Festival on July 28, 2010.
Drew's films have now been established as It Is What It Is Films along with a website, which states: "It Is What It Is Films has produced several no-budget, experimental shorts using non-professional actors and improvisational dialogue with great success. Themes tend toward the comedic and dark, fusing the comic and tragic with startling results. Story and editing are highly unconventional."
It Is What It Is Films is currently producing two feature films. Double Triple Zero is a feature length sequel to the short Triple Zero. Eddie is at it again, getting drunk, doing drugs, and losing his girlfriend, all as part of his preparation the night before the big New Orleans foot race called the Crescent City Classic. This film is in post-production, scheduled for a 2010 release date.
Clutter, a romantic comedy, is in pre-production. Klaus and Agnes aren’t meant for each other, but they’re living together anyway. Klaus aspires to be a hermit, as soon as Agnes moves out with all of her stuff. But as Agnes gets rid of the clutter around the apartment, they begin to see each other more clearly. A down-to-earth but zany romantic comedy, Clutter is Greenberg meets 40 Year Old Virgin. Release date is 2011.
Several individuals have been part of more than one of Drew's projects, but Eric Laws (technical) and Eddie Payne (acting) have been especially involved in his films.
Drew Chastain started playing music in high school when his family bought a piano that came with free lessons. He rapidly learned to play and had composed a number of pieces before entering college.
In 1997, he and fellow musician Eric Laws released Fish Out of Water, an instrumental symphonic CD which features 36 musical adventures composed by the two of them. Fish Out of Water is an eclectic mix of experimental pieces: piano composition, electronica, orchestra, and sampling.
Later, Drew became a keyboardist for the New Orleans blues band The Way. They play regular gigs and produced an album in 2009 titled Half Awake. It is available from Amazon.com. Actor Eddie Payne is also a member of The Way.
See review of Half Awake.
Drew was very active in The New Orleans Lyceum during 2003-2005 (before Hurricane Katrina). He was a leader in the local initiative for Building Communities of Inquiry, serving as an administrator and facilitator. As an administrator, he consulted with Lyceum director David O'Donaghue on the direction, structure, and scope of The Lyceum, and he created and implemented marketing and publicity for The Lyceum. As a group leader, Drew facilitated structured discussions at a number of discussion groups:
He also taught two three month courses:
Since 2004, Drew has been involved with ERACE, a local interracial organization promoting love and respect for all colors, by leading discussion groups in short readings relevant to racism.
Drew contributed a number of articles to the local New Orleans Where Y'at Magazine, including Coffee & Philosophy at Cafe Luna, The Jewel of the Marigny, New Media for a New Breed, Like Riding a Bike?: New Orleans' Bicycle Activists, and The Art of Anti-War. See sample articles
Drew is a tenth generation American Chastain. His French immigrant ancestor Pierre Chastain arrived in Virginia colony in 1700, after escaping religious persecution in France. Drew's third generation ancestor Rev. John Chastain was part of the Baptist growth explosion of the mid-1700s and planted Baptist Churches in Tennessee and South Carolina. His fifth generation ancestor James Edward Chastain was an Alabama Unionist during the Civil War.
Drew's descent from Pierre Chastain is: 1. Pierre > 2. Peter, Jr. > 3. Rev. John > 4. Elijah > 5. James Edward > 6. William Howell 'Cobb' > 7. Silas Cannon > 8. Robert Earl > Timothy D. > 10. James Andrew.
(June 2003) While fame per square mile is among the highest in the world as far as cities go, New Orleans is ridiculously small. New Orleans is so tiny, I can ride my bicycle from Riverbend to the French Quarter in a half hour. And the scenery’s damn nice most of the way. It’s no wonder that New Orleans has been called a “biker’s paradise.” You can get anywhere you need to go on a bicycle, or just about.
All right, maybe the city isn’t all that great for bikes. It can rain almost every day for weeks on end, and it’s hot as hell in the summer. And weather’s not the only problem. Have you noticed that there are absolutely no bike lanes? On top of that, most local roads are breeding grounds for potholes, and some of the major streets are no wider than your typical driveway. Much of Magazine Street, for instance, is virtually as narrow as a one-car driveway. (Fitting two lanes on Magazine is creative.) Squeeze in parallel parking on either side, and you’ve got a traffic situation. Throw in a cyclist and you’ve got the makings for a tragic situation.
If nothing else, the lack of accommodation for bicycles on the roads is cause for bicycle activism in New Orleans. Wait. “Bicycle activism”? What’s that? “Bicycle” + “activism” invites the image of a lone angry man in cycling tights and a helmet shaking his fist at a wayward SUV. Safe in a car, running with the herd along a paved trail made for you, it’s easy to see that pathetic biker as an “outsider” in more ways than one. Young and old, male and female, many in this area depend on bicycling for their livelihood (and very few of them wear tights). More than 1% of New Orleanians travel to work on bicycle, compared to a national average of 0.04%. Also, more than 25% of us simply do not have a car. Read More
(October 2003) In this season of “media awareness,” the New Orleans Bookfair arrives, free and open to the public at the Contemporary Art Center on Saturday, October 25, 10am to 6pm. This isn’t your ordinary, musty grade school book fair, enticing you with the latest Harry Potter book. No, this is the second annual aggregation of approximately one hundred independent publishers from around the nation. Mingling with them will be self-publishers of art books, poems, and zines, plus all sorts of curiosity seekers with a taste for underground talents in the art of words or the just plain weird. Read More
(July 2004) David O’Donaghue believes it’s high time New Orleanians took their thoughts to the coffee houses. He is the founder of the local Lyceum Project, dedicated to making it easier for adults to educate each other outside of academia. The Philosophy Café, or philo-café, is one way to do that, as David explains to Where Y’at.
So, tell me, what is Philosophy Café?
Philosophy Café is an opportunity for people to gather in a public place and discuss a particular philosophical issue in a forum that’s open, so it’s important that people are able to come and go as they please. Usually, we’re trying to grapple with the definitions of a term. Often we come up with a broad, large term that’s used in many different ways such as “beauty,” and we’ll look at the different ways that that term is used and the many ways that it may or may not be relevant in people’s lives at the time.
So, is it good to know a lot of Kant or Confucius or what have you coming into this?
No, we don’t expect anyone to have any background in philosophy. The facilitators may bring in certain ideas from relevant philosophers so the people in the café may learn a little bit about philosophy and its relevance to that particular term, but they themselves don’t have to have any background.
What inspired you to start doing that here?
I think it’s the prevalence of a kind of a café society in New Orleans. I’m really struck by the number of coffee houses and the way the people will congregate in coffee houses. It feels very European. It feels like this is a good thing for New Orleans. I also feel that New Orleans is a very social city, that people like to talk with one another. There’s kind of a civic life. People are out in the street. It may be the weather, it may be the ambiance. People are not just in their homes, not going out. Read More
It’s been called the “Jewel of the Marigny,” this boxy, three-story brick warehouse at 511 Marigny Street on the corner of Decatur. Many of its windows are spider-cracked, missing or plated over. Rusted fire escapes and metal awnings jut off its sides. Blacked-out graffiti scars its already weathered walls. So how could anyone possibly call this broken-down behemoth a jewel? If beauty is in the eye of this behemoth’s beholder, we must climb into its admirers’ minds to get a view of its value.
Like many warehouses in New Orleans, 511 Marigny is a symbol of age and history, but also of urban diversity and future possibility. As the importance of New Orleans’ river commerce declined over the last century, industry moved elsewhere, leaving behind these massive monolithic structures haunted by unused potential. Rather than demolish still sturdy structures, many developers decide to convert old warehouses, factories and mills into mini-malls, hotels, condominiums, nightclubs, and parking garages. This has become so commonplace in New Orleans that we rarely stop to think about it. But for those involved in the recycling process, how a warehouse gets reused can prove a touchy topic. Read More
War can affect us on all levels. The stock market - as clear an indicator as any - has gone schizophrenic in response to uncertain geopolitical times. Our cultural attitudes are also challenged. Locally, some have even petitioned to rename New Orleans' historical Vieux Carre the "Freedom Quarter" to protest France. But the most profound effect of war, the one driving economic and cultural changes, is that felt on a personal, emotional level. Art deals with that emotion.
Pondering the policy of war with Iraq and the looming threat of terrorism made unforgettably real on 9/11, artists of numerous disciplines in New Orleans are focusing on the intense emotional themes engendered by massive human conflict. Whether through painting, poetry, music, performance art or photography, the aesthetically inclined in our area have made their feelings and opinions known, and many of them express opposition to the option of war. The pieces surveyed here range in content from the bare expression of shock after the fall of New York City's World Trade Center to an explicit call for President Bush's removal from office, but all represent a basic resistance to combative military engagement. Read More