>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < KNOWLEDGE < < < < < < < < < < <IS < <POWER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < QUOTES OF THE WEEK > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > “Hello, this is Joel DiGrado, Sen. [David] Vitter’s Com<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< < < < < < < < munications > > > > > > > > >Director. > > > > > > The > > > senator > > > > > >is> >on > >his > > way > > > >to> >a lunch >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with the [Louisiana] delegation, but I wanted to let you < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < know that in the spirit of this week, Sen. Vitter announced
scuttle Butt
that his ‘dates’ to today’s delegation lunch would be Mary Landrieu and Cedric Richmond. I trust the press will applaud this for weeks since this is bipartisan and bicameral. Also, Sen. Landrieu and Rep. Richmond are from New Orleans, and Sen. Vitter is from Metairie. Some others in the delegation thought that’s the same area, but Sen. Vitter explained it’s actually opposite ends of the universe. This just shows what can happen when we’re united by higher common goals ... like not getting caught in between Reps. (Charles) Boustany and (Jeff) Landry when the food fight over redistricting erupts.” — DiGrado, posting on Vitter’s Facebook page Jan. 26. “You’ve managed to aggravate the White House and the president who appointed you, the environmental community and industry. So there is some hope that this report has found some sort of balance.” — Sen. Mary Landrieu to former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Reilly and former Sen. Bob Graham, chairs of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan National Oil Spill Commission. Reilly and Graham appeared in front of both chambers of Congress Jan. 26. Their report suggested the creation of a new independent agency under the aegis of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The new agency would be in charge of offshore drilling safety. Landrieu called that “a step in the right direction.”
Indie Cajun STEVE RILEY AND THE MAMOU PLAYBOYS’ NEW ALBUM GRAND ISLE HAS A LAMENT ABOUT THE BP OIL DISASTER, A SONG WRITTEN BY NEW ORLEANS UNDERGROUND MUSICIAN QUINTRON AND WAS PRODUCED BY SWAMP ROCKER C.C. ADCOCK. BY DEGE LEGG
’m pretty sure we work harder than other Cajun bands making records,” Steve Riley says. “After putting out so many records, we don’t put out a record unless we have something to say.” Cajun music — so firmly rooted in the past — has a strange and often difficult relationship with artistic evolution. On Feb. 22, Riley and his band, the Mamou Playboys, will release Grand Isle, their first record in five years. By doing so, they add to a growing trend in Cajun and zydeco music to push the musical envelope,
I
PHOTO BY ALLISON BOHL
GOP CONFERENCE RETURNING TO N.O.
Last April’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in New Orleans was such a success that organizers are planning a sequel — of sorts. The Republican Leadership Conference (RLC) will be held June 16-18 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. (There’s no “Southern” in the title this time; PAGE 13
as evidenced by recent releases from Feufollet, Horace Trahan and BeauSoleil. Grand Isle is a genre-busting collection of songs, a pensive meditation on Louisiana and a mid-career, high-water mark for a band pushing toward its third decade on active-duty status in Cajun music. “I was about 7 years old when I learned my first song on the accordion,” Riley says. “I grew up hearing Marc Savoy, Dennis McGee and others at my grandparents’ house. All my life I’ve been around music and loved it just as long.” At 18, Riley formed the Mamou Playboys with fiddler David Greely. They soon began playing festivals, touring the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan. Eleven albums and 22 years on down the line, they are still
c'est what? SHOULD LOUISIANA OUTLAW SMOKING IN BARS IN 2011, OR LET BARS CONTINUE TO SET THEIR OWN SMOKING POLICIES?
61%
39%
outlaw it
don’t touch it
Vote on “c’est what?” on bestofneworleans.com THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
How much money are you going to spend on Mardi Gras this year?
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BoUQuets Mignon Faget
THIS WEEK’S HEROES AND ZEROES
raised more than $67,800 for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) from sales of the famed jeweler’s Gulf Coast collection, which launched in May 2010 in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The line features glassware and wildlife-inspired jewelry and designs. Since 1988, CRCL has advocated protecting the state’s wetlands and helped raise funds for coastal restoration projects.
Crescent City Lights Youth Theater
earned two awards at the National Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta last month. Students enrolled in the program earned awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music and Best Actor in a Leading Role for their production of Captain Louie. The event also marked the program’s first national performance. The festival featured more than 2,000 students, teachers and theater professionals from 52 schools in the U.S. and Canada.
Warren J. Green,
served as president of the Jugs Social Club/ Krewe of NOMTOC for 28 years until his untimely death on Jan. 23 at the Jugs clubhouse. Green was a retired Orleans Parish public school teacher and assistant principal. Under his leadership, Jugs/NOMTOC started its tradition of allowing two academic student leaders from each school whose band marches in the krewe’s annual parade to ride in the procession as guests of the krewe. Green will be sadly missed by family, friends and krewe members.
Randolph Scott,
president of the SUNO Alumni Association, appeared at a Jan. 26 rally to oppose a merger of the school with UNO, a proposition Gov. Bobby Jindal asked the state Board of Regents to study and report on. Responding to SUNO’s notoriously low graduation rate, Scott said, “Southern University was not developed to graduate people. … We don’t have to graduate anybody.” Not the best way to advocate for your alma mater’s survival.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > febrUarY 01 > 2011
THIS ISN’T YOUR FATHER’S CAJUN MUSIC.
After the BP disaster, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys decided to rename their album in progress Grand Isle. “After seeing several images of the water, coast and birds covered in oil, it stuck with us,” Riley says. “It’s simple and powerful.”
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