STRICTLY BUSINESS: 'BLUE DOG,' AN $8-MILLION-A-YEAR BUSINESS

My first introduction to the "Blue Dog" came during an afternoon stroll along Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

There, in the window, was this painting of a small blue dog, with piercing yellow eyes. We had entered the art studio of George Rodrigue.

That was in the mid-1980s.

Since then I have noticed the "Blue Dog," or its alter ego, the "Red Dog," on numerous occasions:

* On the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

* On the cover of the Nieman Marcus catalog.

* As a mascot for Absolut Vodka Co., appearing on full-page advertisements of Time, Newsweek and other national publications.

* And, this week, as an icon for Xerox.

Rodrigue, a Cajun artist from Louisiana, sold many of his early paintings for as little as $150. Now they go for no less than $20,000, and up to $200,000.

A Sothebys.com auction recently sold a signed lithograph of the Blue Dog Absolut Vodka ad for $2,700.

Rodrigue also has published a number of Blue Dog books.

His Blue Dog is now an $8-million-a-year business.

Most people who see a Blue Dog painting don't forget it. The dog's furry face has appeared three times on the cover of Neiman Marcus' "The Book" catalog, in ads for Absolut Vodka and on the set of the hit television series "Friends."

Bill and Hillary Clinton are fans. The president asked Rodrigue to paint him and Vice President Al Gore with the Blue Dog for an inaugural poster in 1996.

Earlier in his career, Rodrigue was commissioned by the Republican Party to paint Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan for the 1988 Moscow Summit Meeting.

Rodrigue (pronounced rod-REEG) says he's just doing what he loves.

When the artist introduced his "Blue Dog," the Wall Street Journal published a story on the artist. Instead of a sketch of Rodrigue on the front page, the newspaper used a portrait of the Blue Dog. Rodrigue had to know he had a hit then.

Rodrigue story has been told numerous times.

His interest in art began while growing up an only child in New Iberia, La. A case of polio at age 9 confined Rodrigue to bed for nearly a year. To pass the time, his mother gave him sculpting clay and paint-by-numbers sets.

Rodrigue attend the University of Southwestern Louisiana for a while, then headed to Pasadena, Calif., to attend the Art Center College of Design.

When he returned to Lafayette in 1968, Rodrigue painted Cajun-oriented art.

Like old folklore, the Blue Dog has changed slightly through the years. Its roots, however, lay in the Cajun tale of the "loup-garou," a werewolf-like creature.

In 1984, Rodrigue -- then a modestly successful artist -- was asked to illustrate a book of Cajun ghost stories. His inspiration came from his mother, Marie.

"She used to tell me as a boy If you're not good today, the loup-garou is going to eat you tonight.'"

Looking for a model for the mythical figure, Rodrigue used a photo of Tiffany, his black-and-white spaniel-terrier who had died five years earlier. The creation looked like a wolf and was bluish-gray, and for years he painted gloomy nighttime scenes with the loup-garou on graves in cemeteries.

"And then people started calling it the Blue Dog," he said.

Years later, Rodrigue opened a gallery in New Orleans. He covered the windows with Blue Dog paintings.

And everything changed.

Rodrigue has two art galleries in the U.S., in New Orleans and Carmel, Calif.

The artist spends form one to five days on each of his paintings.

When he goes on book-signing tours, he often paints in between signings.

Beige Book' report: Economic happenings

Energy prices remain high.

Manufacturing activity is weaker.

Resident construction is down.

Only sluggish-to-moderate economic growth has been reported through the first two months of the new year.

Labor markets remain tight, but there have been some signs of easing.

Put these economic happenings together and they spell a slowing economy, according to the latest St. Louis edition of the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book," which includes the summary of economic conditions for the Fed's Eighth District.

The 8th District report highlights economic developments in eastern Missouri, all of Arkansas, western Kentucky, Western Tennessee, Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana and Northern Mississippi. The Fed's Eighth District is headquartered in St. Louis and has branches in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn.

Named for the color of the cover and issued eight times a year, the Beige Book is best described as a collection of anecdotal information, compiled primarily from various business and community leaders.

These contacts provide information confidentially, knowing that the Fed uses the information to put together a short-term snapshot of how the economy is doing.

Although the Beige Book is not an in-depth report, the Federal Reserve uses it as one of many tools to determine the direction of monetary policy.

The pace of economic activity has slowed, but not as noticeably in the immediate Southeast Missouri area. In fact, a recent report by Manpower, Inc., an employment agency, noted that more than half of the businesses surveyed in immediate area will be adding employees by spring.

Most Reserve Banks throughout the nation continue to describe labor markets as tight, but a number noted recent signs of easing. Greater available of workers was noted in Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas.

But in some areas, automobile manufacturers have sidelined plants for as much as three weeks to pare unanticipated inventory gains, which have resulted form slow sales.

The high-tech section continues to experience layoffs and closings, with some firms in the Memphis and St.. Louis areas eliminating more than 400 jobs.

High natural gas prices, coupled with cold winter weather during the past two months, are squeezing profit margins at many firms, especially in the health care and manufacturing industries. Most firms, however, have been reluctant to pass on higher costs to consumers and, instead, are attempting to minimize their use of natural gas, while exploring options for other sources of energy.

A few retails establishments in the area are on the endangered list following energy bills that area twice and ins some cases, Three times the norm.

Through it all, some industry contacts remain optimistic that demand and employment will rebound. In fact, FedEx Express has announced that it will add 1,500 jobs at its Memphis hub this summer because of its contract with the U.S. Postal Service. Contacts in Mississippi and in the Louisville area anticipate a pick-up in demand and employment growth over the next few months.

Severe winter weather in late 2000 bit into new residential construction strikingly. At year-end, residential permits in almost all District metropolitan areas were below their year-earlier levels.

Home sales, on the other hand, which had also been falling, rebounded, as low mortgage rates spurred new or "upgrade" buyers into the market, especially in Little Rock and Memphis.

Nonresidential construction has also felt the bite of bad weather. But there will be some rebounding in that category this month and next.

Corn and wheat prices have rebounded some after bottoming out last August, while feeder cattle prices continue to rise because of ongoing increases in demand. A cotton industry contact reports that plantings this spring are expected to increase slightly, even though domestic mill use remains stagnant and exports to Mexico and Turkey are below expectations.