Gambit: French Quarter Fest 2023

April 11-17 2023 Volume 44 Number 15

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APRIL 11 — APRIL 17, 2023 VOLUME 44 || NUMBER 15

CONTENTS

FRENCH QUARTER FEST 2023

Celebrating?

The first ladies of the French Quarter ............................................. 17

Send them a

Daily previews ...............................19

beautiful arrangement

New restaurants around the quarter..............................................41

NEWS Opening Gambit ...............................8

CURRENT HOURS: MON-FRI 7am-1pm

Commentary....................................11

SAT 7am-Noon

Clancy DuBos..................................12 Blake Pontchartrain.....................13

Homestyle Italian Cooking with a

New Orleans Flare

Reserve our backroom for your next intimate gathering

MON 4PM - 10PM TUESDAY - CLOSED WED-SAT 4PM - 10PM SUN 12PM - 9PM 134 N CARROLLTON • 488-7991 • VENEZIANEWORLEANS.NET

POST-FEST

BLUES? THIS THURSDAY APRIL 13

@ The Rabbit Hole

9 PM

Joanna Connor + Wolfe John’s Blues Band

FEATURES Arts & Entertainment ....................7 Eat & Drink ..................................... 43 STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER

15

Music ................................................ 53

French Quarter Fest 2023

Going Out ........................................54 Puzzles............................................. 55 COVER: IRMA THOMAS – P H O T O B Y D AV ID G R U N F E L D ALEXIS MARCE AUX AND CROWD – PHOTOS BY SOPHIA GERMER

Welcome to the fest!

S TA F F EDITORIAL

COVER DESIGN BY DOR A SISON

Publisher | JEANNE EXNICIOS

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS

(504) 483-3105// response@ gambitweekly.com

Billing Inquiries 1 (225) 388-0185

Editor | JOHN STANTON

Advertising Inquiries (504) 483-3150 Advertising Director |

Political Editor | CLANCY DUBOS Arts & Entertainment Editor | WILL COVIELLO

Staff Writers | JAKE CLAPP,

ADVERTISING

SANDY STEIN BRONDUM (504) 483-3150

[sstein@gambitweekly.com]

KAYLEE POCHE, SARAH RAVITS

Sales Representatives

Intern | GABRIELLE KOREIN

KELLY SONNIER (504) 483-3143

Contributing Writer |

1228 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd | rabbitholenola.com

Music Listings................................ 52

IAN MCNULTY

CREATIVE Creative Director | DORA SISON

Traffic Manager |

JASON WHITTAKER

Project Manager |

MARIA VIDACOVICH BOUÉ

Senior Art Director | CATHERINE FLOTTE Associate Art Director | EMMA VEITH

[ksonnier@gambitweekly.com] CHARLIE THOMAS

(504) 636-7438 [cthomas@gambitweekly.com] BENNETT GESTON (504) 483-3116

[bennett.geston@gambitweekly.com] Sales and Marketing Coordinators ABIGAIL SCORSONE

[abigail.scorsone@gambitweekly.com] CAMILLE CROPLEY

[camille.cropley@gambitweekly.com] SHAWN THOMAS

[shawn.thomas@gambitweekly.com]

Senior Graphic Designer | SCOTT FORSYTHE

Graphic Designer | JASMYNE WHITE

@The_Gambit @gambitneworleans

Gambit (ISSN 1089-3520) is published weekly by Capital City Press, LLC, 840 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130.

(504) 486-5900. We cannot be held responsible for the return of unsolicited manuscripts even if accompanied by a SASE. All material published in Gambit is copyrighted: Copyright 2023 Capital City Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

7

Puppet slam

The New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival is April 13-17 | by Will Coviello PERFORMING AS TOYBOX, PUPPETEER KEITH SHUBERT HOSTS the Wham,

Bam! Puppet Slam in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and he takes his shows on tour every year.

He’s been a professional performer for more than 20 years, and he just won the Asheville Fringe Festival’s audience award for funniest show for “The Magic Weaver.”

He’s bringing that show and more here this week for the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival, one of his favorite festivals.

“I go to a lot of puppetry festivals, and none are like the New Orleans festival,” he says. “You can go to great puppet festivals, but as far as being weird and wild, there is nothing that compares because it mixes a variety of artists. You have these seasoned old-school professional artists like myself, who do this for a living, and then you have this sort of punk rock weirdo aesthetic from people presenting work that you can’t get anywhere else.”

The 9th New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival takes place Thursday, April 13, to Monday, April 17, and features 16 different shows at venues in Marigny and Bywater, including the Mudlark Public Theatre, Happyland Theater and The Backyard Ballroom. There are multiple shows each night, four late-night puppet slams hosted by Toybox, a parade, workshops and a panel discussion. The festival features marionettes, rod puppets, shadow puppets, giant puppets and more. Most shows run on consecutive days at the same venue, but showtimes vary. Some shows are kid friendly, and some are not.

Shubert premiered “The Magic Weaver” at the Asheville Fringe.

It’s his adaptation of a Russian fairy tale using Czech-style rod marionette puppets. In the story, an evil wizard kidnaps a weaver and imprisons her under the sea. An old sailor then helps the woman’s son try to rescue her. The show runs at the Mudlark Public Theatre Thursday through Sunday.

The Mudlark’s resident company, the Mudlark Puppeteers, is presenting a show the group was commissioned to do for the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Massachusetts last year. It’s an adaptation of one of Williams’ last plays, “This is the Peaceable Kingdom or Good Luck God.” The show closed almost as soon as it

opened in 1981, two years before the playwright’s death.

Inspired by a strike at a New York nursing home that left people caring for their own loved ones in the facility, it’s a dark contemplation of society deteriorating. In adapting it, Mudlark founder Pandora Gastelum intuits the redeeming relationships in the drama, but she notes it’s a difficult work and not for young audiences.

“Despite the cruelty in the piece, there is humor,” Gastelum says. “It’s a story of love and redemption.”

The show combines marionettes and shadow puppets. It runs at the Mudlark from Friday to Sunday.

California-based musician, circus arts performer and puppeteer Samson Y Hiss combines silent film, shadow puppets and live music in “One-Handed Witch.” The story was inspired by Hiss having to compose music he could play with one hand after he broke his wrist. In the spooky tale, a witch loses a hand after confronting an angry mob of townspeople, hustling a casino and dealing with wild animals in the forest. The show runs Friday through Monday at Happyland Theater.

Charlotte Lily Gaspard leads the Brooklyn-based Midnight Radio Show. She plays the fairy princess in the science fiction infused “Tour of the Fantastical Galaxy,” in which she meets space pirates and travels to other planets and seeks peace between divergent people.

The show is at Happyland Theater Friday through Monday.

Poose the Puppet is the creation of Benjamin Martin, who relocated from Greensboro, North Carolina, to New Orleans in 2021 to focus on his puppetry and performing. He also joined his brother, Sam Martin, who performs as Three-Brained Robot and is participating in the festival as well.

Though there are Poose performances for all ages, this “Poose After Dark” show is more of an experiential piece with lights, music and dancing. Poose narrates a journey of exploration and discovery that starts with finding a blueberry plant. It invites attendees

Josh Johnson

JOSH JOHNSON, A NATIVE OF ALEXANDRIA, LOUISIANA, HAS GAINED ATTENTION as a writer for Comedy

Central’s “The Daily Show” and touring with Trevor Noah. He’s also released a couple of recent comedy specials highlighting his mellow style, and he incorporated music on his 2021 release “Elusive.”

He performs at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at Tipitina’s. Tickets $20$25 via tipitinas.com.

The Suffers

LED BY KAM FRANKLIN’S SOULFUL VOCALS, HOUSTON’S THE SUFFERS BLEND a big mix of rock, soul, blues,

Toybox hosts puppet slams at the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY NEW ORLEANS GIANT PUPPET FESTIVAL

to find their “purpoose” through exercises in mindfulness and breathing. Martin will tour later this year, on both an East Coast series and to a puppetry festival in Puebla, Mexico. “Poose After Dark” runs Thursday through Monday at The Backyard Ballroom.

For years, Miss Pussycat has done puppet shows to open music shows with her partner Quintron. She’s also had puppet exhibitions at the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Contemporary Art Center. For the festival, she presents “MG Xing Evergras,” a Carnival-inspired show, on Saturday at the Spellcaster Lodge.

The Puppet Slams are open-mic style events featuring short works.

Toybox hosts the events and is bringing several of his own short pieces. The slams are at 10:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Mudlark and Sunday and Monday at the AllWays Lounge & Theatre.

The giant puppet parade begins on Press Street at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Also performing at the festival are Harry Mayronne, Playdoh, Velvet Effigy, Cookie Tongue, Inner Workings Theater, Enormousface, Esmerelda the Puppet, Flutterbug and Abandoned Ships.

Tickets and festival passes are available online at neworleansgiantpuppetfest.wordpress.com.

Sliding scale admission at the door is $10-$20, and $5-$10 for children under 12.

jazz and Latin sounds that they dub Gulf Coast soul. The group released “It Starts with Love” last year. The band performs at Wednesday at the Square with New Orleans’ Trumpet Mafia. There also are food and drink vendors and an art market at the free concert in Lafayette Square. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 12.

Visit ylcwats.com for information.

PROVIDED PHOTO BY JAY TOVAR

Beaucoup Brass Bash

TRUE ORLEANS AND SHAMARR ALLEN PRESENT this brass band blowout.

The lineup includes Allen, Stooges Brass Band, TBC Brass Band, Glen David Andrews and DJ Polo.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at The Broadside. Tickets $20 via broadsidenola.com.

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AUSTIN, TEXAS, DUO HOVVDY WRITES RELAXED, INTROSPECTIVE INDIE POP

that feels perfect for long, warm weather nights with people you love. Their latest EP is 2022’s “Billboard for My Feelings.” They play with Whitmer Thomas and girlpuppy at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at Toulouse Theatre. Tickets are $20 via toulousetheatre.com.

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A R T S + E N T E R TA I N M E N T

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OPENING GAMBIT NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Grab your fanny pack and the SPF 30 cause festing season is here!!

# TC HO UE N T

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

IrmaThomas, the soul queen of New Orleans, will be honored at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s annual gala later this month with the foundation’s Champion of Culture Award.

A Grammy Award winner and living legend of New Orleans music, Thomas has played every Jazz Fest since 1974 and can be seen at the 2023 fest on April 29 and May 5. Before then, Thomas headlines French Quarter Fest on Thursday, April 13.

Formerly Incarcerated Transitions Clinic, a New Orle-

ans-based program working to help people leaving jail or prison find health care, recently received a grant from the national Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts to support harm reduction education and substance use treatment. FITC will use its roughly $150,000 grant to contact individuals within 48 hours of their release and help them find addiction services. FITC also will work with Trystereo to expand harm reduction education in area jails.

Unite Here Local 23, a union rep-

resenting close to 1,000 New Orleans hospitality workers, has struck a deal with Sodexo, their employer, for a substantial increase in wages and better benefits. The deal will cover cooks, bartenders, concessions workers and other employees at the Caesars Superdome, Smoothie King Center and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The union has been working for better wages over the last year, including threatening a strike in late 2022.

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THE NUMBER OF FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL STAGES AT ITS PEAK SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

The Upper Pontalba apartment building on Jackson Square.

PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Council to consider measure requiring Mayor Cantrell to pay rent on her apartment NEW ORLEANS MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL COULD BE FORCED TO START PAYING RENT on her French

Quarter apartment under a new proposed ordinance by City Council President JP Morrell formalizing the right of mayors to use the city-owned property as a residence — but only if they pay fair market rent.

Cantrell has been living in the Upper Pontalba on Jackson Square since last summer. The city has owned the building for nearly 100 years, and it’s currently owned by city-owned entity the French Market Corp.

There are a number of apartments in the building, including one which has traditionally not been rented out. Rather, it’s been used by various mayors as a space to host dignitaries, holiday parties and other events.

Under Morrell’s ordinance, which was introduced April 6, the mayor would have “first right of refusal” on using the apartment as their residence when first taking office. She would then have two weeks to decide whether to continue living there, and if so would then be required to pay rent.

What that would amount to is unclear. Apartments in the building are effectively rent controlled, and the costs can vary widely depending on when a tenant signed their lease. However, the ordinance notes that FMC has indicated if it were to offer to rent the apartment to the public, it estimates it would cost $36,000 a year. There is currently a wait list of over 300 people interested in renting an apartment in the building.

Although Cantrell’s move into the Pontalba is unusual, at this point it does not appear to be illegal or violate any ethics laws.

However, the fact that she’s lived there for nearly a year rent free has raised eyebrows in New Orleans, which is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. Over the last decade, rent increases have far outpaced the rise in wages for the majority of workers in the city, and many musicians, performers, artists and service industry workers in the French Quarter can not only no longer afford to live in the neighborhood or the surrounding neighborhoods.

The wave of short-term rentals has driven, in part, the rise in

The free festival is celebrating its 40th year and kicks off Thursday with five stages of live bands, then expands to 12 for Friday. Over the four-day fete, more than 270 artists are slated to perform for packed crowds. Last year, the festival drew in more than 825,000 fans and similar numbers are expected this year as the festival continues to grow.

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Parents of students at St. Matthew the Apostle are outraged after learning that a gun store will be celebrating its grand opening 50 feet away from campus.

PHOTO BY SARAH RAVITS

rents and helped push out local residents from the Marigny, Treme, Bywater and parts of the 7th Ward.

The Cantrell administration has begun cracking down on STRs in the last year. But during her first term, when the office in charge of regulating them was overseen

by Cantrell appointee and STR executive Peter Bowen, there was almost no enforcement against illegal operators in the city.

— JOHN STANTON

River Ridge parents call for end to gun storeschool zone loophole

JEFFERSON PARISH COUNCIL MEMBER DEANO BONANO, who represents the

River Ridge area, said he understands parents’ concerns and said the store opening “never should have happened.” But he also pointed out the store owner, Trey Rankins, followed all legal procedures to open, and that parish officials’ hands are tied by state laws that prevent local governments from enacting stricter gun policies than the state.

That answer isn’t sitting well with most parents at the school.

“What we want to communicate is that whatever state rep, council rep, senator or any other elected representative is happy to sit back on their hands and say, ‘I can’t do anything about this’ will likely not be supported in the next election,” said Aaron Weidenhaft, who sends three of his children to the school.

Rankins’ gun shop is considered private property and is thus exempt from another state law that

bars firearms from being less than 1,000 feet from school campuses.

Many parents at the school in the New Orleans suburb are conservative, avid supporters of the second amendment, who say the store’s location poses a threat to their children’s safety amid an epidemic of gun violence in American schools.

But in addition to the threat of school shooters, many of them fear accidental gunfire coming from across the street. The front door of the gun shop is roughly few hundred feet away from fences that border the parking lot and part of the schoolyard.

Rankins previously told Gambit that no customers will be leaving his store with a loaded firearm, but that promise does not assuage parents’ concerns.

“Accidents can and will happen,” wrote Cusachs. “It may not be tomorrow, but they will have an accident.”

Parents are also angry that there were no community meetings leading up to the store’s opening, and they say they were blindsided by the initial news of the store’s opening, which they largely learned about through social media and not public notices.

“School shootings are on every parent’s mind of every child in the country,” wrote Cusachs. “This is not because we do not support the second amendment. This is purely related to location.”

If the gun store relocates, she said, the majority of the community “would be active supporters of this business.” — SARAH RAVITS

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It’s French Quarter Fest time — and we need it!

Big 6 Brass Band performing on the Louisiana Fish Fry Stage during the 2022 French Quarter Fest.

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

THE FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL KICKS OFF THIS WEEK, and

so far, the weather promises to be picture perfect for enjoying tons of live music, stuffing our faces with great food and celebrating our unique culture.

Louisianans love a good festival — arguably more than folks in any other state — and festivals give us an opportunity to dance, eat and drink with friends and strangers alike, of course. But they also define the rhythm of our lives, so much so that the run of festivals across Louisiana passes for one of our four seasons in place of that mercurial annual period the rest of the country calls “spring.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of French Quarter Fest. That alone stands as an achievement.

But the festival has not just lasted, it has grown beyond any realistic expectations organizers of the first festival might have had. What started as a one-stage production for locals has blossomed into a 20-stage, four-day event, with dozens of food vendors and thousands of tourists coming from around the world.

Even more remarkable is the fact that a festival showcasing hundreds of bands, including some of New Orleans’ most famous and in-demand acts, is free. In the modern age of mega-festivals, putting on an event of this size without gouging the audience — we’re looking at you, Ticketmaster — is

extraordinary. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the festival’s organizers and staff that it has endured.

The festival also celebrates more than the city’s great musicians and the official food vendors. As it has grown over the years, so has its economic footprint. Businesses across the city will benefit from this week’s festivities and, hopefully, get a much-needed boost to their bottom lines.

That also goes for the many buskers you’ll see in the Quarter during the festival, many of whom will also be performing on stage. Busking is a critical part of many musicians’ income, and we urge everyone to tip generously and often.

As was evident last year, following a two-year hiatus, FQF also has palpable positive effects on New Orleanians.

It raised our spirits and gave locals a sense that, despite the lockdowns, deaths and economic upheaval of the previous two years, we remained unbowed and upbeat.

This year, the festival arrives not a moment too soon. The crime epidemic has gotten worse since last year. Our roads seem to be in worse shape than ever, and too many traffic lights remain inexplicably broken. The recall did little more than sow the seeds of bitterness and highlight just how little faith any of us can put in many of the people and institutions entrusted with our safety and survival.

In short, we all need a reason to dance, eat and drink in our city’s oldest neighborhood and — even if for just a few days — put aside our worries and celebrate our culture. For that and many other reasons, we once again thank the French Quarter Festival. See y’all there!

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LGBTQ people and other invented bogeymen, serious ideas will struggle to gain attention during the annual legislative session that begins Monday, April 10.

One measure worthy of rising above the clatter is Sen. Kirk Talbot’s proposal to make the office of Insurance Commissioner appointed rather than elected.

Talbot, R-River Ridge, chairs the Senate Insurance Committee. His bill, SB 208, would take effect at the end of Commissioner Jim Donelon’s current term next January. Donelon, who has served in that role since 2006, has opted to retire. Donelon opposes Talbot’s bill, but the senator is pushing forward.

Appointing a state insurance commissioner is actually the national norm. Only 11 states elect theirs; 39 appoint their commissioners.

Back in 1973, delegates at the Louisiana Constitutional Convention debated at length the preferred number of elected statewide officials. They settled on eight — but authorized lawmakers to eliminate, by two-thirds vote, the superintendent of education and the commissioners of elections and insurance.

Previous Legislatures dispensed with the first two years ago.

Now the time may be right for Talbot’s proposal.

Skyrocketing property insurance premiums have angered Louisiana voters to the point that anyone running for commissioner right now could just as easily be a candidate for a lunacy hearing.

If there’s an upside to the crisis, it may be the opportunity it presents to re-think the notion that an election rife with demagogic promises will produce lower premiums.

History suggests it’s more likely to give us a crooked commish. Three of Donelon’s predecessors went to the federal pokey.

Talbot says he will fine-tune his bill in the weeks ahead. Even now, it envisions a commissioner with years of regulatory and/or industry experience who would serve no more than two consecutive sixyear terms.

Insurance commissioner Jim Donelon is retiring this year, and lawmakers are considering making the position appointed rather than elected.

PHOTO BY TRAVIS SPRADLING / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

“We need to hire someone with experience and expertise to do a very technical, regulatory job,” Talbot said. “We also need to free the commissioner to make hard decisions and not worry about the political winds — by severing the regulator from the regulated industry.”

Talbot’s bill sets professional qualifications for the commissioner, whom the governor would select from nominees submitted by a committee Talbot says should represent diverse interests and viewpoints.

Talbot says his bill is not a critique of Donelon. He says Donelon would have met the qualifications outlined in SB 208 had it been the law in 2006, when Donelon first took office. “And I’m not looking for the job myself,” Talbot added. “I don’t meet the qualifications.”

Talbot acknowledges that getting a two-thirds vote on anything is “always a challenge,” but he says his idea has received “cautiously positive” reviews from many of his colleagues.

Louisiana lawmakers generally do their utmost to avoid controversial topics during election-year sessions. Talbot says Donelon’s retirement and the current crisis have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for lawmakers to seriously consider changing the way our state regulates the insurance industry.

It’ll be interesting to see if lawmakers give it the consideration it deserves.

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I noticed the words “Leon Fellman Building” on a building in the 800 block of Canal, near Carondelet Street. Who was he and what sort of business went on there?

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Dear reader,

LEON FELLMAN WAS A PROMINENT LOCAL MERCHANT for more than 50

S

IT’

years. When he died in March 1920, his obituary called him the “dean of the retail trade of New Orleans.”

According to historian and author Edward Branley, Fellman was born Lippman Feibelman and emigrated to the United States from Germany at age 17. In 1873, he and his brother Bernard formed Fellman Brothers (using an Anglicized version of their name) and operated dry goods stores on Canal Street.

In 1898, Fellman moved his business to the corner of Canal and Carondelet, in what had been the Pickwick Club building, an ornate structure originally built in 1884. When a fire damaged the building in 1894, it was renovated and Fellmans moved in. A second building next door was designed by architect Emile Weil and built in 1911.

When Leon Fellman died in 1920, his family changed the name of the store from Fellman’s to Feibleman’s. They operated the Canal Street store until 1931, when they moved to Baronne and Common and then sold their stores to Sears, Roebuck and Co. In 1948, the Fellman building (the former Pickwick Club) was

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Introducing the revolutionary

A photo taken sometime between 1900 and 1906 at the corner of Canal and Carondelet streets in New Orleans shows the old Pickwick Club building, which became Leon Fellman’s story in 1898.

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PHOTO PROVIDED BY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

demolished and later became the Gus Mayer department store (now a CVS drugstore). The Leon Fellman Building next door at 810 Canal St. later housed Goldring’s, a women’s clothing store, and Koslow’s, which sold furs. Today it is home to a men’s store.

Fellman also had a connection to another major downtown retailer.

He leased property at Canal and Basin streets to the Krauss brothers, who opened Krauss department store in 1903. It remained a Canal Street shopping landmark until it closed in 1997.

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Connection. Originally called the Greater New Orleans Bridge, the cantilever bridge offered drivers a new way to travel across the Mississippi River and opened up the West Bank to new development.

The first span of the bridge was built over the course of three years, at a cost of $65 million. It opened to traffic at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 1958. “History will be made without any hoopla at 60 seconds after midnight,” reported The New Orleans Item, which added that no formal ceremonies would be held until later that year.

Originally, a 35-cent toll was assessed on cars and small trucks, with larger vehicles paying more. In 1964, Gov. John McKeithen made good on a campaign promise and eliminated the tolls. A $1 toll returned in 1989 to pay for the construction of a second bridge span. The tolls were removed again following a public referendum in 2013.

In 1989, a contest was held to rename the bridge. The 621 suggestions were whittled down to 25 finalists presented to the public for a vote. The winner, Crescent City Connection, came from Gaynell Herbert’s fourthgrade class at St. Clement of Rome School in Metairie.

Also in 1989, the Young Leadership Council and other community groups raised money to install decorative lighting on the bridge. However, the CCC has been dark since Hurricane Ida in 2021. Last month, the state Department of Transportation and Development announced a firm would design and install new decorative lights, once the state finds $16.5 million to pay for it.

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That

T S FE

French Quarter Fthestival celebrates its 40 year

BY WILL COVIELLO

I

Everybody loves to shake their money maker at French Quarter Fest.

T’S BEEN 40 YEARS since

the French Quarter Festival debuted to help draw locals back to the French Quarter.

Following repairs to sidewalks and other refurbishing made in advance of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, the city wanted to show off the historic district’s refreshed look.

French Quarter Festival has since become a rite of spring, and now it draws visitors from across the country to Louisiana’s largest free music festival, with 270 performances over four days on as many as 20 stages. Festivities run from Thursday, April 13, through Sunday, April 16.

The 2023 event celebrates its 40th birthday and brings in a musically diverse lineup of mostly local performers. Headliners include Irma Thomas, Ani DiFranco, Big Freedia, the Soul Rebels, Tank and the Bangas and Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. There also are night concerts and fireworks.

The festival opens at 10 a.m.

Thursday with a parade featuring the New Birth Brass Band

P H O T O B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

and the Black Magic Drumline.

It starts on the 200 block of Bourbon Street and ends in Jackson Square. The festival celebrates its anniversary with fireworks over the Mississippi River on Thursday evening, following Irma Thomas’ set on the Abita Beer Stage on the Riverfront. Throughout the festival, an expo with photos from past festivals and interviews with musicians will be open on top of Oscar Dunn Park, across from Jackson Square.

Opening day features music on five main stages along the Riverfront, next to Jax Brewery and in Jackson Square. Friday expands to a dozen stages, and on Saturday and Sunday, there’s music on 20 stages, spread throughout the French Quarter and stretching to the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Music runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The festival’s After Dark concerts are at different venues, including ones outside the

French Quarter. Ivan Neville performs at the Four Seasons Hotel Garden at 9 p.m. Thursday. John Michael Bradford and the Vibe perform at the Ace Hotel at 9 p.m. Friday. Boyfriend is at House of Blues at 10 p.m.

Saturday, and Eric Lindell closes the series at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Tipitina’s.

Kids activities are set up in front of the Audubon Aquarium on Saturday and Sunday. Festival sponsor Chevron presents its STEM Olympics and partner groups include Audubon Nature Institute, NASA Astro Camp, Ochsner Health Education Outreach, STEM NOLA, New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park and others.

French Quarter Festival has remained a free festival based

on sponsorships and hundreds of volunteers. Patronizing the festival’s 60 food and drink vendors helps support the fest. Ice chests, tents, sun shades, pets other than service animals, and drones are not allowed in many festival areas. Visit frenchquarterfestival.org for a list of allowed and prohibited items. A festival app also is available.

On the following pages, Gambit previews many of the bands performing at the festival. There’s also a pullout section with a map and the full schedule of all stages and performers.

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40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

MEN O W E S E H T S EST F R E T DON’T MIS R A U Q CH N E R F T A G N I PLAY

BY JAKE CL APP

W

ANDA ROUZAN CAN REMEMBER not playing only one French

Quarter Festival in the festival’s 40 years history. The rhythm and blues and jazz singer closed out the first festival, when there was one stage, she told Gambit’s Kaylee Poche (read more about Rouzan on page 31), and she’s been a fixture ever since. Festivalgoers can catch her continuing the streak on Sunday at the Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage in Woldenberg Riverfront Park.

Not even two hours later, audiences can wander over to the Abita Beer Stage, also in the Riverfront Park, to see Tarriona “Tank” Ball and her fierce, elastic voice with her band Tank and the Bangas. Or they can take in jazz vocalist Mikhala “Jazz Muffin” Iversen (3:45-5 p.m.), socially conscious rocker Cole Williams (4-5 p.m.), blues-y singer Tiffany Pollack and her band (4:155:30 p.m.) or Cuban-born, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Yusa (5:30-7 p.m.) all headlining their stages on Sunday.

This year’s French Quarter Fest is filled with women performers and women-fronted bands playing in virtually every genre a Quarter Rat could hope for — although there isn’t parity with the number of male musicians in the lineup.

The festival’s opening night features two top-billed performers closing out the big Abita Beer Stage in Woldenberg Riverfront Park: Alt-rock singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco — whose acclaimed “Little Plastic Castle” turns 25 this year — plays 4:50-6:10 p.m., and then legendary soul queen Irma Thomas headlines at 6:40-8 p.m.

Earlier in the day, the Cajun/folk group Babineaux Sisters Band (read more on page 20) play 12:40-1:50 p.m. on the Chevron Stage; Americana pianist and singer Lilli Lewis and her band perform 3:30-4:40 p.m. on the Jack Daniel’s Stage; and folkpop musician Susan Cowsill can be seen at 4:30-5:30 p.m. on the Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage.

Friday at the festival, New Orleans can catch neo-soul singer Erica Falls previewing new music from her upcoming full-length album at 6:40-8 p.m. on the Chevron Stage.

That stage also sees T Marie and Bayou Juju (2:10-3:20 p.m.) and high-energy fiddler Amanda Shaw (5-6:10 p.m.) take different approaches to Cajun and country music.

Wanda Rouzan plays the French Quarter Fest on Sunday at the Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage in Woldenberg Riverfront Park.

P H O T O B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

At 3:50-5 p.m. on the GE Stage in Jackson Square, vocalists Yolanda Robinson and Jolynda “Kiki” Chapman and their band Solid Harmony will pay tribute to their mother, gospel and jazz vocalist Topsy Chapman, who passed away late last year. Catch New Orleans songbird Robin Barnes & The Fiyabirds at 3:10-4:10 p.m. on the Tropical Isle Stage. And then watch blues rocker Samantha Fish burn down the Abita Beer Stage at 4:50-6 p.m.

On Saturday, the festival’s busiest day, start with saxophonist Aurora Nealand & The Royal Roses at 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on the Zapp’s Stage on Bourbon Street — and catch Nealand’s alter ego Rory Danger on Sunday (read more on page 39). Then catch The Dixie Cups — who lost original member Rosa Lee Hawkins last year — perform at 2:10-3:10 p.m. on the Abita Beer Stage before hustling over to the Jazz Museum to catch charismatic Americana

guitarist-singer Joy Clark’s perform at 3:455:10 p.m. on the Esplanade in the Shade Stage at the Jazz Museum. Stay at the museum for the powerhouse Original Pinettes Brass Band headlining the Louisiana Fish Fry Stage at 5:45-7 p.m.

On the festival’s last day, Gumbeaux Juice — a showcase highlighting emerging hiphop now in its second year — will feature emotive singer and rapper OddtheArtist, along with La Reezy and duo Fresh X Reckless at 3:30-4:40 p.m. on the Jack Daniel’s Stage. Before the showcase, catch soulful singer Tonya Boyd-Cannon at 2:10-3:10 p.m.

Sunday also features performances by Americana group Ever More Nest (12:351:50 p.m. at the Moonwalk); roots rocker Maggie Koerner (2:10-3:10 p.m. on the Abita Beer Stage); accordionist Donna Angelle and her band The Zydeco Posse (3:30-4:40 on the Chevron Stage); among others.

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t s e F r e t r a u Q h c Fren

S W E I PREV

Kermit Ruffins plays Thursday, April 13 P H O T O B Y G R A N T T H E R K I L D S E N / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

THURSDAY, APRIL 13 KERMIT RUFFINS 2:10-3:10 P.M. THURSDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

KERMIT RUFFINS DOESN’T JUST

play New Orleans jazz. He is New Orleans jazz. From the first breath he blows into his trumpet in each performance, the music and the musician are one.

The range of notes he plays are some of the most difficult to reach, and the swift changes from note to note exhibit Ruffins’ agility as his fingers spring lively from one valve to the next.

Ruffins draws a crowd no matter where he goes. He’s been called a “modern Louis Armstrong,” a title

that carried him out of our southern boot and to the White House in 2007. Whether across the country or just down the street, Ruffins’ signature call, “All aboard!” invites his audience to hop on a rejuvenating journey of jazz that no train ride could replicate.

— Sinclair McKinney / JRNOLA

JOHNNY SKETCH AND THE DIRTY NOTES 3:30-4:30 P.M. THURSDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

JOHNNY SKETCH AND THE DIRTY NOTES are staples on the New

Orleans music scene and are known for their signature blend of funk and rock. Led by the long-bearded Marc Paradis (aka Johnny Sketch), the group has been described by Rolling Stone as “what you’d get if Phish had been born at Tipitina’s

and studied under George Clinton and Frank Zappa.”

The group started in 2001, and their longtime camaraderie is contagious. Above all, they really want their audiences to have fun, and that’s practically guaranteed.

— Gabrielle Korein

CHUBBY CARRIER AND THE BAYOU SWAMP BAND 5:00-6:10 P.M. THURSDAY Chevron Stage

FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES,

Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band have been playing their brand of classic zydeco music.

A third generation zydeco artist, Carrier’s family is steeped in the traditions of zydeco, and his cousins Bebe and Calvin Carrier, father Roy and grandfather Warren are all considered legends in zydeco history.

But Chubby is a heavyweight in

19

his own right. In 2010, Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band won a Grammy for their album “Zydeco Junkie.”

— Gabrielle Korein

ERNIE VINCENT 5-6:30 P.M. THURSDAY Jack Daniel’s Stage (Canal Plaza)

ERNIE VINCENT IS A MASTER OF R&B and funk whose career

spans five decades. A native of South Louisiana, Vincent’s career took shape in the 1960s when he began to play music with legends including Ernie K-Doe. He became a staple at music clubs in New Orleans, Acadiana and the Mississippi Delta region before forming The Top Notes in the ’70s, and his skills as a writer, instrumentalist, arranger and musicologist earned him a spot in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

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In January, Vincent released “Original Dap King,” a 10-track album that incorporates elements of brass music, blues, rock and roll and psychedelia. The album’s title is a nod to his 1972 smash hit “Dap Walk.”

— Gabrielle Korein

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THE LILLI LEWIS PROJECT 3:30-4:40 THURSDAY Jack Daniels Stage (Canal Plaza)

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music since she was a child growing up in Athens, Georgia. Drawing from R&B, gospel, jazz and funk, Lewis’ music explores a range of issues, and like many classic protest musicians of the 1960s and ’70s, social justice and human rights are clearly on her mind.

But that’s not the only place Lewis’ activism can be seen. Lewis has used her platform to speak out on a variety of issues including racism, sexism and homophobia in the Americana industry.

— Gabrielle Korein

PAUL SANCHEZ AND THE ROLLING ROAD SHOW 3:10-4:10 P.M. THURSDAY Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

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NEW ORLEANS NATIVE PAUL SANCHEZ is perhaps best known

as a founder of the longtime rock group Cowboy Mouth, though he left the group long ago to focus

on his solo songwriting. He also appeared as himself on the HBO show “Treme.”

Though he’s a rock and roller at heart, Sanchez’s music is philosophical and reflective of his experiences living in New Orleans, including surviving Hurricane Katrina. Much of his music is a celebration of living here, but he doesn’t shy away from the dark times either.

— Gabrielle Korein

BABINEAUX SISTERS BAND 12:40-1:50 THURSDAY Chevron Stage (Jax Lot)

CAJUN FOLK ROCK GROUP the

Babineaux Sisters Band became a regular act on the Louisiana festival circuit over the last decade, playing its brand of Cajun music.

Led by sisters Julie and Gracie, the band is part of the modern movement in Acadiana to not only maintain Cajun music, language and culture but approach their traditions in new ways.

The band’s reach has gone beyond the Gulf Coast — their last record, “He’s One of Those,” reached No. 3 on the iTunes Contemporary Country charts.

— Gabrielle Korein

THE IGUANAS 2:10-3:10 THURSDAY Jack Daniels Stage (Canal Plaza)

THE IGUANAS HAVE BEEN A FIXTURE in New Orleans’ music

40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

21 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A P R I L 1 1 - 1 7 > 2 0 2 3

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for over two decades. Formed in the 1990s, the group draws inspiration from a variety of genres including the blues, jazz, New Orleans R&B and even the music of the Mexico/Texas border.

The group’s most recent single, “My Everything,” dropped in 2022 and was written by fellow New Orleanian singer-songwriter Alex McMurray. Their music has appeared in television shows such as HBO’s “Treme” and “The Wire” as well as movies like “Varsity Blues.”

— Gabrielle Korein

FRIDAY, APRIL 14 GEORGE PORTER JR.

musician, mixes in funk, R&B and soul and hasn’t forgotten what music means to New Orleans. His song “Crying for Hope,” recorded during the pandemic, tells the story of the Black Lives Matter movement in a city that’s constantly failing its fellow men, over and over.

But the classics still play throughout his current sets.

“Mardi Gras Mambo” might come along with Al Johnson’s “Carnival Time,” just to remind you of the joy through the pain the city feels. Porter is one of the legends who created the music you think about when you think of New Orleans funk.

— Deacon Lawson / JRNOLA

ANAÏS ST. JOHN

2:10-3:10 FRIDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

3:45-5 P.M. FRIDAY Pan-American Life Insurance Group Stage (Moonwalk Extension)

YES, GEORGER PORTER JR. IS THE FORMER BASSIST and

SINGER AND PIANIST ANAÏS ST. JOHN is influenced by musical

songwriter for The Meters, recipients of a Grammy award for Lifetime Achievement . Yes, they disbanded in 1977 and reunited sporadically in later years. Yes, he’s 75-years-old. But he probably also wants you to know he has his own brand of New Orleans-rooted music.

His history includes performances with legends like Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Patti LaBelle, along with left-field appearances with Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne and Tori Amos.

But Porter, the 13th Ward-born

icons that span several decades, ranging from Etta James to Eartha Kitt and Donna Summer.

She was formally trained in both opera and musical theater and also incorporates blues, jazz, disco and gospel into her repertoire.

“It’s definitely a mixed bag,” she says.

The New Orleans native was raised by her mother. St. John’s father was the late avant-garde jazz pioneer Marion Brown, and she says she remembers joining “every choir I could get into” as a child.

“I have a feeling his influence on

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G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A P R I L 1 1 - 1 7 > 2 0 2 3

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IT’S SAM SUMMER

HEY LOUISIANA,

40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

my life came through in his DNA,” she says.

More than 25 years ago, she took her first job as a singer in the New Orleans Opera Chorus, but she veered off that path and began performing at the former Le Chat Noir cabaret theater. There she met composer, pianist and puppeteer Harry Mayronne, and the two cabaret enthusiasts became fast friends and collaborators.

St. John also has been a staple at local hotels and upscale restaurants. She performs every Saturday night at the French Quarter’s Bombay Club. And she channels her inner disco queen for a Donna Summer tribute, which she’ll bring to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on June 16.

Though she’s performed around the world — including at the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland and other international festivals — she’s looking forward to playing for a big audience right here at home.

“I like that [French Quarter Festival] is local musicians, primarily,” she says. “I always want to support people working here and getting featured, because they don’t get enough attention on

the national scale. The big names do, but so many other [talents] don’t. And this allows them to shine, and it gives us a chance to shine, and give our people a chance to see them without a very expensive ticket.”

Audiences can expect an energetic and “quintessential” blend of hits at her set, she says “It’ll be a hip-shaking, dancing show,” she says. “There’s something for everybody.”

— Sarah Ravits

SWEET CRUDE 3:30-4:30 P.M. FRIDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

SELF-DESCRIBED AS A BAND OF “SILLY GEESE” by singer Alexis

Marceaux, Sweet Crude was originally inspired to sing in both English and Cajun French to help revive the disappearing dialect.

Formed in 2013, the indie folkrock band has released two fulllength albums, and their second, 2019’s “Officiel//Artificiel,” marks their major label debut after signing with Verve Forecast.

When it comes to performing, live shows are Marceaux’s happy place. “I go into my own little world, and the crowd is like a beam of energy coming toward me,” she says.

However, that beam is a twoway exchange.

Known for energetic and improvisational sets, Sweet Crude molds their Cajun history lesson into a modern, lively performance that lights up their fans. And that spirit only gets amplified during open-air festivals like French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest.

“It feels different from the club shows,” Marceaux says. “It’s exciting, and the crowd is right there with us.”

— Finn Galarneau / JRNOLA

BIG CHIEF BO DOLLIS JR. & THE WILD MAGNOLIAS 11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. FRIDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

IT’S CLEAR IN THEIR PASSIONATE AND RICH MUSIC, old and

new, that New Orleans runs in

the Dollis bloodline. Singer Bo Dollis Jr. released his first record as Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias in 2013, taking over for his father, the late Big Chief Bo Dollis Sr. The group has been performing in New Orleans for over 50 years and their stage presence is plenty to rouse any soul well beyond half a century. Suited in the traditional Mardi Gras Indian wear, the Wild Magnolias bring the second line to center stage with their bright, lively performances.

Their songs often feel like a jam session, but one backed by an elaborately coordinated chorus of voices. Their rendition of Al Johnson’s Mardi Gras hit “Carnival Time” elicits whistles and shouts from audience members, singing the hook: “It’s Carnival time, and everybody’s having fun.”

After all, everyone at a Wild Magnolias show, from the band itself to the captivated listener, is bound to have fun.

— Maya Shields / JRNOLA

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Sweet Crude plays Friday April 14.

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40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

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3:30-4:40 P.M. FRIDAY Chevron Stage (Jax Lot)

JEFFERY BROUSSARD AND THE CREOLE COWBOYS bring soul

to modern zydeco, a genre that reflects Louisiana’s diverse Indigenous cultures. Broussard and the Cowboys’ marriage of Western and southern Creole makes for a mix of blues, country, Cajun, and Native American music.

The band’s lively melodies weave emotional French-Creole lyrics between sighs of the accordion, rusty scratches of a rubboard and a rapidly bowed violin.

Broussard’s raw, yearning voice leads the crew, taking his listeners to a bayou oasis of his band’s creation. A difficult childhood taught Broussard the transportive capability of music.

With one French Quarter Fest performance under his belt and countless Jazz Fest appearances, Broussard is no stranger to a New Orleans stage. Watching this group perform will have the heel of your cowboy boots tapping

to the beat, and your straw hat bobbing on your nodding head.

— Sinclair McKinney / JRNOLA

JAMES ANDREWS 5:20-6:45 P.M. FRIDAY GE Stage (Jackson Square)

THE HILL AND ANDREWS DYNASTY OF DISTINGUISHED JAZZ AND R&B musicians continues

with James Andrews, a native New Orleanian who holds music as close to his core values as the city does.

Andrews quickly returned after Katrina to perform at a local park to help reunite the community, saying that, together, the city would be rebuilt “note by note.”

Andrews has performed within a variety of bands including the Treme Brass Band and New Birth Brass Band.

On stage, Andrews rocks to the sound of his own voice, his aura ebbing as he sings each word.

The clear-cut notes from his trumpet reverberate throughout every room he plays, a musical majesty who coined the nickname “Satchmo of the Ghetto.”

— Sinclair McKinney / JRNOLA

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delivers dynamic, charismatic performances with The Little Big Horns. The group is a traditional jazz outfit that infuses some modern musical elements.

“It’s traditional New Orleans jazz, but with a twist,” Lake says.

“It’s a little more funky, a little more rock and roll. But we want to give a nod to our jazz predecessors and the ancestors of traditional jazz as we carry that torch.”

With a magnetic stage presence and a luminous voice, Lake has been a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for more than two decades. Prior to New Orleans, she traveled around the country with a small, family-run circus doing magic tricks and singing. Her eclectic, vaudevillian background still shines through on the stage.

Lake put together the Little Big Horns in 2009, and the group gigs on Frenchmen Street at The Spotted Cat every Tuesday, serving as the soundtrack for local swing dancing events or for tipsy tourists testing out their moves.

While the band members are accustomed to playing in dimly lit clubs, Lake says they are excited to perform in broad daylight and on a bigger stage than they are used to.

“I love playing during the daytime,” Lake says. “The festival is such a good cross-section of New Orleans music, and I love that people can bring kids. Connecting with the audience feels very special.”

Lake also plays with multiple bands spanning genres, from Americana, rock and roll and blues to disco with one of her latest projects, The Machetes.

She’ll also be at d.b.a. on Friday with Debbie Davis, Arsene Delay, Kimberly Kay, Mia Borders and Miss Sophie Lee for “Women & Witches in Popular Music,” which pays tribute to Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, Dr. John and Erykah Badu, among others.

This summer, she will travel

to North Carolina to record an album that will be folk-influenced and reflective. “I’ve been sitting on a lot of that material for a decade now, but it’s been one thing after another,” she says.

“I’m pretty determined.”

— Sarah Ravits

DON VAPPIE & BANJO A LA CREOLE 3:50-5 P.M. SATURDAY GE Stage (Jackson Square)

DON VAPPIE IS A NATIVE NEW ORLEANIAN who is known as

one of the best banjo players in the world.

Just last year, he was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame, and in 2021 was awarded the Steve Martin Banjo Prize for his “living embodiment of 300 years of New Orleans music.”

With seven self-produced albums — the most recent being 2019’s “The Blue Book of Storyville” — Vappie describes his music as a celebration of his Creole heritage. “(My music) is Creole in that it’s connected to New Orleans, as it’s connected to the Caribbean, as it’s connected to the rest of the world. It’s a way of life,” Vappie says.

He became fascinated with the banjo at an early age and thinks of it as an instrument that reflects Creole culture. After all, it’s an instrument of African descent, though it had long been co-opted by white Americans. That caused many African Americans to turn their backs on it, he says.

“The whole American racial construct caused me to delve into the meaning of what it is to be Creole,” he says. “I realized the banjo was an African instrument, and I wondered why Black folks hated it so much in America. My question was: How can one people allow another people to hate something that belongs to them?”

Vappie found that the banjo helped him take pride in his ancestry. Besides, he says, he has always been a huge fan of Earth, Wind and Fire and other funk bands, and the percussive banjo reminded him of a funk instrument.

Vappie’s music reflects diverse influences on New Orleans. “[The music] is part of our culture,” he says. “It’s part of our life — like the way you cook and talk and build your house. It’s all part

40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

of one whole, which is sort of an African concept, by way of the Caribbean.”

Vappie describes his style as “funky as any funk bands, swingin’ as any jazz bands, and it’s danceable,” he says. “It’s truth. Our music is truth.”

— Sarah Ravits

THE RUMBLE 3:30-4:30 P.M. SATURDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

A LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, several members of Cha

Wa announced they were leaving the band to embark on a different project, citing “irreconcilable internal differences.”

Together they formed The Rumble, now comprising Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Golden Eagles, trumpeter Aurelien Barnes, trombonist José Maize Jr., bassist TJ Norris,

guitarist Ari Teitel, keyboardist Andriu Yanovski and drummer Trenton ZO’Neal.

The band didn’t waste much time before making their debut with a residency at Maple Leaf in February 2022. And they’ve been busy playing gigs all over the city ever since.

The Rumble’s members are deeply embedded in New Orleans traditions, including Black Masking Indians, the Northside Skull and Bone Gang and second line brass bands.

In this new chapter, they want to incorporate and honor those traditional aspects of the city’s culture, while also experimenting with new ideas and sounds.

“We’re bringing a full-on New Orleans experience,” Barnes told Gambit last year.

“It includes the Mardi Gras Indians. It includes brass bands.

It includes things like Skull and Bones Gang. It’s a holistic approach to New Orleans culture.”

Boudreaux’s father, Big Chief

Monk Boudreaux, and the Golden Eagles also play French Quarter Fest at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on the Chevron Stage.

— Kaylee Poche

ANNA LAURA QUINN 1:15-2:30 P.M. SATURDAY Omni Royal Orleans Stage (500 Royal St.)

THE SMOOTH JAZZ AND SILKY VOCALS in Anna Laura Quinn’s

music make it easy to feel the sense of gently transporting back in time. Quinn counts classic-era Disney films among her influences, and that sound is almost palpable when she performs.

In fact, on her 2022 album, “Open the Door,” she covers “Very Good Advice,” from the 1951 “Alice in Wonderland” film.

It’s one of nine arrangements of jazz standards on the New Orleans- and San Francisco-based artist’s debut album,

including “Comes Love” and “Speak Low.” The songs feature cello, saxophone, flute and other instruments.

A standout on the album is Quinn’s cover of Ellis Marsalis’ “Cry Again.” “All that’s left for me to do is cry and then sigh and then cry again,” she laments.

Quinn graduated from the University of New Orleans’ Jazz Studies master’s program in 2021 and through the program performed with prominent musicians like trumpeter Terence Blanchard, organist Lonnie Smith and even Marsalis himself before his death in 2020.

Her 2022 album followed a 2018 EP, “I Feel the Sudden Urge to Sing!,” which she recorded in San Francisco.

While “Open the Door” is easy listening, during Carnival, you may have caught Quinn in a higher-energy capacity: jamming and cruising down the streets on a DIY float contraption dubbed the “truckuzzi.”

Quinn can be seen at venues

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like Snug Harbor, Preservation Hall and Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar. Saturday marks her debut performance at French Quarter Fest.

— Kaylee Poche

ANDREW DUHON TRIO 4:30-5:30 P.M. SATURDAY House of Blues (225 Decatur St.)

ANDREW DUHON’S GRUFF, GOLDEN VOICE and deft sto-

rytelling combine into an easy, folky blues that have lent him the nickname “a soulmate of Van Morrison.”

A New Orleans native, Duhon combines the texture of blues with notes of contemporary folk.

Despite being a solo artist for much of his career, Duhon recently joined forces with drummer Jim Kolacek and upright bassist Myles Weeks.

Kolacek and Weeks bring a colorful vocal harmony to Duhon’s sound that can be heard in the title song of their 2022 album “Emerald Blue.” The album takes listeners traveling with the band to the Washington mountains then brings them back to New Orleans, building a “Castle on Irish Bayou.” Listeners of every generation will find themselves stomping with the guitar and soaking up the sounds of Duhon’s new iteration.

— Maya Shields / JRNOLA

SEGUENON KONE FEATURING IVOIRE SPECTACLE 11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. SATURDAY Abita Beer Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

SEGUENON KONE AND HIS ENSEMBLE bring sounds and

traditions of West Africa to French Quarter Fest. The Ivory Coast native infuses his sets with high-energy percussion, dancing and storytelling.

Kone has been a New Orleans resident for 15 years and has collaborated with many of the city’s jazz artists, including clarinetist Dr. Michael White, as well as blues and zydeco musician Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes.

Kone shines on the balafon, a type of xylophone made of wood, and the djembe drums, which he plays with his bare hands.

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The Original Pinettes Band plays Saturday April 15 P H O T O B Y D O U G M A C C A S H / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

There will also be plenty of traditional chants and singing. And while Kone heavily showcases his West African roots, his New Orleans influences also shine through in his lively performances.

— Sarah Ravits

THE ORIGINAL PINETTES BRASS BAND 5:45-7 P.M. SATURDAY Louisiana Fish Fry Stage (New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint)

THE ORIGINAL PINETTES are

an all-woman brass band that formed in 1991 at St. Mary’s Academy, a Catholic girls school.

Since then, they’ve lost and welcomed many new members and brought their talents around the globe to festivals, including the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland. They’ve also performed alongside big names like Katy Perry.

Though they’ve steadily been growing in popularity, the 2013 Red Bull “Street Kings” brass band blowout competition helped

solidify their reputation as a premier ensemble, when they beat three (male-led) bands. The band proudly notes the competition renamed the title to honor them as “Street Queens.”

The brass band also plays Friday nights at Bullet’s Sports Bar in the 7th Ward.

— Sarah Ravits

JASON NEVILLE FUNKY SOUL BAND 2-3:25 P.M. SATURDAY WWL-TV Esplanade in the Shade Stage (New Orleans Jazz Museum at The Old U.S. Mint)

JASON NEVILLE, SON OF GRAMMY WINNER Aaron Neville,

formed his band in 2016 and incorporates a blend of funk and soul, following in the footsteps of one of the city’s most influential musical dynasties. They perform frequently on Frenchmen Street at 30/90 and Cafe Negril, and at other local venues. This is the band’s first time playing at French Quarter Fest and they will perform original material and some covers.

This summer, Neville and his band will bring the funk on the road for a tour that stops in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and the Pacific Northwest.

— Sarah Ravits

ROSIE LEDET & THE ZYDECO PLAYBOYS 5-6:10 P.M. SATURDAY Chevron Stage (Jax Lot)

ACCORDIONIST AND SINGER

Rosie Ledet has been playing zydeco music ever since she attended a zydeco dance at Richard’s in St. Landry Parish as a 16-year-old and saw Boozoo Chavis perform.

The dance was transformational in more ways than one, as she also met Morris Ledet, the man who would become her husband about a year later. She taught herself to play the accordion listening to recordings of Chavis and John Delafose, and before long the couple started performing together with their band The Zydeco Playboys.

Rosie Ledet has released 10 albums, eight of them between

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Most of Ledet’s songs are upbeat, often with suggestive lyrics, some more subtle than others. But her 2020 single, “Love Song,” is soft and sweet.

“You’re my love song,” she sings in the chorus. “Don’t make me sing it alone, baby.”

— Kaylee Poche

CHRISTIAN SERPAS & GHOST TOWN 11:10 A.M.-12:10 P.M. SATURDAY Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

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THIS MANDEVILLE COUNTRY ROCK GROUP will be ready to

hoot and holler when they take the stage Saturday at French Quarter Fest.

The 6’7” Christian Serpas fronts the band singing and playing acoustic guitar, with Jeff Oteri on drums, George Neyrey on guitar, and Don Williams on bass guitar.

All members contribute vocals.

Christian Serpas & Ghost Town first performed together in 1999, and Serpas joked in a 2021

WWL interview that the group might renew their vows for their 25th anniversary.

Since then, the band has put out eight albums as well as a threetrack holiday release, “Rockin’ ol’ Christmas,” in 2018.

Over the years, they’ve shared stages with some of the biggest names in country music including Kenny Chesney, Merle Haggard and Blake Shelton.

The band plays shows on the Northshore, New Orleans and across the South, performing original songs as well as their own lively renditions of songs from artists like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and the Rolling Stones.

And though they haven’t released a full album since 2016, fans shouldn’t fret. The group does have new music in the works.

— Kaylee Poche

JOHN “PAPA” GROS 5-6:20 P.M. SATURDAY Jack Daniel’s Stage (Canal Plaza)

KEYBOARDIST AND SINGER JOHN “PAPA” GROS remembers

growing up with friends who also played piano. In high school, they’d race to see who would be the first to learn to play the latest radio hit — whether it was Van Halen’s “Jump” or Toto’s “Rosanna”

40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

P H O T O B Y S O P H I A G E R M E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

— and help each other when they were stuck.

The friendly challenges, which he writes about in his blog, were a precursor to his long career in funk, blues, traditional jazz and rhythm and blues.

Gros got his start backing up former Meters bassist George Porter Jr. and guitarist Snooks Eaglin, giving him a masterclass in musicianship.

“George Porter Jr. taught me how to function in different musical environments,” Gros said in a recent Facebook post. “You adapt by having faith in the people you play with, trust in your upbringing, and comfort knowing your ears will lead the way.”

From 2000 to 2013, he led his own funk band, Papa Grows Funk, which played popular weekly gigs at the Maple Leaf. When the band dissolved, it gave him a chance to revisit his solo music, and he’s released two full-length solo albums since — “River’s on Fire” in 2016 and “Central City” in 2020.

“Central City” features a host of New Orleans legends, including Ivan Neville, drummer Herlin Riley and even his old friend Porter, among others. It includes original tracks as well as covers of songs

by Allen Toussaint, John Prine and Lloyd Price.

— Kaylee Poche

SUNDAY, APRIL 16 ROCKIN’ DOPSIE JR. & THE ZYDECO TWISTERS 6:40-8 P.M. SUNDAY Chevron Stage (Jax Lot)

THE SON OF ZYDECO PIONEER ROCKIN’ DOPSIE, David Rubin,

aka Rockin’ Dopsie Jr., grew up listening to his father’s band and hanging around music greats, like B.B. King, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Dr. John. He joined his father’s band and they performed together until his father’s death in 1993.

At his first show following his father’s passing, Dopsie says Gatemouth Brown told him, “Now you are Rockin’ Dopsie. You got to make the legacy, keep the legacy going.” A natural showman, he took over the Zydeco Twisters, leading the group and playing the washboard.

“From that day on, I did what he told me, and I never looked back,” Dopsie says.

While the senior Dopsie played a heavily blues influenced version of zydeco, the junior Dopsie infuses

a variety of musical influences from James Brown to the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Johnnie Taylor and John Fogerty.

“I did something that my father said he’d’ve never done,” Dopsie says. “I added a horn section and an organist/keyboard player and a harmonica because I knew what I like to hear. I like the sound of a big band.”

Dopsie Jr. has also made a name for himself with his lively stage antics, including breaking out into splits. He even switched over from playing the accordion, like his father played, to the washboard so he could easily put it down and dance around the stage.

He learned from his father’s cousin, washboard player Chester “Shorty” Zeno, who he says would somehow pick up furniture, like a table or chair, with his mouth while performing. When Zeno could no longer play, the senior Dopsie asked his son to play festivals as a teenager in Zeno’s place.

The expectation: Bring a show.

“I remember telling him, ‘I can’t pick up no tables or chairs with my teeth. But I can dance, I can do splits,’” Dopsie Jr. says.

These days, Dopsie Jr. is working on multiple albums, including one of mostly original songs and another with his brother Dwayne Dopsie of their father’s songs.

He’s also been approached about doing a separate cover album of

his favorite songs.

And though Dopsie Jr. never goes in with a setlist, expect a high-energy set when he closes out the Chevron Stage at French Quarter Fest Sunday evening, with covers of The Doobie Brothers, James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers take the same stage at 2:10 p.m. It’ll be one of several festivals Dopsie Jr. has lined up this year, including Jazz Fest, MayFest in Abbeville, and more around the South and overseas.

“I want people when they leave my show to leave going, ‘Oh, my God, man, Rockin’ Dopsie wore me out,’” he says. “I want them to be tired when my set is over with.

If I’m tired, I want them to be tired.

I want them to put out the same energy I put out. I want everybody sweating and just having a good time … I want them to dance ‘til they’re dizzy. That’s my thing.”

— Kaylee Poche

WANDA ROUZAN AND A TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS 3:10-4:10 P.M. SUNDAY Tropical Isle Hand Grenade Stage (Woldenberg Riverfront Park)

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might be an understatement. The R&B and traditional jazz singer says she only remembers missing playing the festival once in its 40 years.

“We closed at the first French Quarter Fest when there was one stage,” she says.

Last year not even a storm could stop her from performing at the festival. “That storm came in, we saw it coming, it blew over and I was still able to do a half an hour set,” she says, “Those people were soaking wet, and they did not care.”

Rouzan’s presence at French Quarter Fest is just one slice of her career in show business that has spanned most of her life and included singing, dancing, choreographing and acting.

As children, Rouzan and her sisters started entertaining around their 7th Ward neighborhood.

They learned to sing by harmonizing with the records — the

Andrews Sisters, Ray Charles, and the Boswell Sisters — that her parents, also musicians, would play. Her maternal grandmother Abigail Pellebon was also a vaudeville singer in New Orleans, and musicians like Lee Dorsey and the Brunious family worked and lived nearby.

“Historically, music was in the family,” she says. “It was not only in the family, but it was in the neighborhood.”

The Rouzan Sisters released their single “Men of War” in 1964, recorded with Frisco Records and performed as backup singers for R&B singer New Orleans Danny White. They also worked with composer Wardell Quezergue, singer and pianist Tommy Ridgley, and The Dixie Cups. But when they performed in clubs, they were forced to use the back door due to racial segregation.

“During those times, while we loved what we did and we were

great artists, we still got second class treatment as musicians,” Rouzan says.

For her French Quarter Fest set this year, Rouzan is planning to sing covers of Irma Thomas and Fats Domino as well as some originals, including the country-influenced “If You Care.” She says she’s been leaning toward older songs from the R&B era because many local musicians from the era have since passed away.

“My group is a ‘singing and dancing, jump on your feet, have a good time’ bunch,” she says.

Rouzan says she hopes to release a new album with her friends John Boutte and George Porter Jr. and to start touring again. She also has a national TV appearance coming up during Jazz Fest and a cruise with Black Cat Productions in the fall.

Fans also can catch Rouzan at Jazz Fest when she performs at the Blues Tent on Friday, April 28.

She plans to enjoy the fest afterward and is excited about one performer in particular.

“As old as my body is, Imma be right up in there with Lizzo,” she says.

— Kaylee Poche

TONYA BOYD-CANNON 2:10-3:10 P.M. SUNDAY Jack Daniel’s Stage (Canal Plaza)

GROWING UP AS A PREACHER’S KID, Tonya Boyd-Cannon

has been singing soul music her whole life. But she says it was until around eight years ago that she began truly understanding what soul was.

“Oftentimes soul music doesn’t get the attention and credit that it deserves as its own platform,” she says. “Whereas soul music elements are in tons of other genres, soul music by itself has been basi-

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40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

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PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

cally pushed to the side.”

Though Boyd-Cannon draws from a variety of artists and genres, soul has always remained the throughline.

“I would get on stage with artists and perform my music but also perform other artists and collaborate with other artists,” Boyd-Cannon says. “And they would say, ‘Tonya, I don’t know what that is, but it’s so soulful.’”

Boyd-Cannon competed on “The Voice” in 2015 and released her second album, “Muzic is Life” later that year. She’s been working on her third album since 2018 but a lot has changed in the last five years, and she says songs she previously thought were ready she no longer thinks are ready.

On a recent trip from Cuba, Boyd-Cannon performed songs she wrote around a decade ago, and she says the crowd told her the songs made them feel at home. When she asked them what they meant by that, “they would often say a safe space to just be me,” she says.

“That’s what I want to bring to people, just being able to find that safe space wherever you are,” she says. “I hope to bring freedom, transparency and healing through music.”

While reworking the album and playing around with the title, Boyd-Cannon is paying particular attention to the power of the lyrics, something she’s learning about getting her master’s in Tulane University’s new

Black American Music program founded by Nicholas Payton and Jessie McBride.

“Words hurt but words can also heal,” she says. “Words can also allow you to take a journey to find whatever that is you’re searching for.”

At French Quarter Fest, Boyd-Cannon is looking forward to playing near the Mississippi River and listening to the other performers. For her set, she’ll be playing “In New Orleans,” which she wrote about a decade ago while teaching at McDonogh 15 and taking the students on a field trip in the French Quarter.

She also will sing “Love that Never Ends” from her 2015 album as well as the classic hymn “This Little Light of Mine”

“‘Love That Never Ends’ is a song that is asking your love to just be patient because I do know what I want, but I just need you to be patient with me so I can find me while giving myself love to give to you,” she says.

— Kaylee Poche

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cians and grew up jamming with their dad and their uncles. The brothers formed the Lost Bayou Ramblers in 1999 and in 2018 won a Grammy award for their album “Kalenda.”

Frontman Louis Michot is a virtuoso on the fiddle and the accordion, with an unmistakable voice that echoes far beyond the swamps.

And though the group showcases Cajun French traditions, the artists write original material that’s more contemporary.

Audiences can expect to hear traditional Acadian waltzes, as well as songs with elements of punk, rock and pop. The Ramblers are known for their improvisational skills and experimentation.

During a recent solo show, Louis Michot performed his take on the new wave/synth hit “Take on Me” by A-Ha, and he frequently collaborates with members of the Celtic punk band, The Pogues.

“You never know what we’re gonna play,” Michot says. “We’re spontaneous.”

— Sarah Ravits

RORY DANGER AND THE DANGER DANGERS 3:45-5:10 P.M. SUNDAY WWL-TV Esplanade in the Shade Stage (New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint)

AURORA NEALAND is a chame-

leon of an artist. She is widely known for her talents as a jazz musician who sings and plays the saxophone and the clarinet. But she also shines as her playfully eccentric alter-ego, Rory Danger.

As Rory Danger, Nealand leads the nine-piece Danger Dangers, a genre-bending, pop-infused, rockabilly supergroup of local artists, including members of Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Debauche and Misfit Power.

It’s a performance that incorporates theatrics, as each artist plays a character, and there’s also plenty of crowd interaction. Rory is known for coming up with a theme for each show, so it’s not surprising to see her local cult-like following dressed accordingly.

Nealand also plays a more traditional jazz set with The Royal Roses on Saturday at 11:15 a.m.12:30 p.m. at the Zapp’s Potato Chips Stage on Bourbon Street.

— Sarah Ravits

A.C.E. (ANDERSON, CHUTE, EASLEY) 2:15-3:30 P.M. SUNDAY Loyola University Stage (400 Royal St.)

THOUGH THEY COME FROM DIFFERENT MUSICAL BACKGROUNDS, bassist David Ander-

son, drummer Tom Chute and pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley merge together to form jazz and funk trio A.C.E. — a name they got from the late blues guitarist Coco Robicheaux.

Anderson plays several electric basses as well as an acoustic upright for jazz-focused sessions, and bassist Jaco Pastorius taught him lessons on crossing over between jazz and classical music.

Meanwhile, Chute has studied Indigenous forms of music and played in a range of bands. Similarly, Easley has played in several different projects, including The Heartifacts, 3 Now 4 and the Brian Blade Fellowship, and has performed with George Porter Jr., Cyril Neville and Dr. John.

In 2021, the trio released “Adventures of the Moss Bear,” which contains five free-form improvisations and one original track by Easley, “Slender Forest.”

Kass Krebs sings vocals on that folk rock track with hints of surf rock, including the far too relatable lyric, “I’m too sleepy for the morning light.”

The improvisational nature of the other tracks lends them to being longer than a pre-arranged song. The longest is the titular track, clocking in at just more than 18 minutes, while “Pop Medley From Outer Space” is more than 12 minutes.

The trio can be seen on Frenchmen Street, including at Snug Harbor and Blue Nile, and around the city.

— Kaylee Poche

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40 YEARS of French Quarter Festival

r e t f A t s e F the O

BY WILL C

Study medicine in Australia and New Orleans at a top-50 world university.

Cleo’s Mediterranean Cuisine reopened in the French Quarter.

VIELLO

P H O T O B Y I A N M C N U LT Y / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

F

RENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL PRESENTS plenty of music

and food, but there’s more to check out after the festival. There are new restaurants and breweries to try in or near the French Quarter.

Here are some of the latest additions to the dining scene.

HABANA OUTPOST In 2015, a location of Brooklyn’s Habana Outpost was slated to convert the long shuttered former gas station at the corner of Esplanade Avenue and North Rampart Street into a restaurant. It’s finally open, with indoor and outdoor seating and a menu of Cuban and Mexican food.

The menu includes a Cuban sandwich, a vegan po-boy with potatoes, black beans, onions and peppers, as well as nachos, tacos, quesadillas and more. Frozen margaritas and pina coladas highlight the drink menu. Habana Outpost is open Thursday though Sunday. (1040 Esplanade Ave., habanaoutpost.com)

MAMOU Reservations are recommended to get a table at chef/owner Tom Branighan and sommelier Molly Wismeier’s bistro on the edge of the Quarter. Refined French fare informs the menu and dishes like the escargot tartlet and cote de boeuf, but there also are Louisiana flavors, as in the Gulf fish court bouillon with oyster dressing. The wine list draws on old and new world vineyards and almost 20 wines are available by the glass. (942 N. Rampart St., 504-3814557; mamounola.com)

BREWERY SAINT X/ DEVIL MOON BBQ These recently opened adjoining restaurants are respectively about house-brewed beers and barbecue. Shannon Bingham is the pit master for Devil Moon and smokes brisket, pulled pork, spare ribs, turkey breast and house-made sausages. Brewery Saint X has its own menu of sandwiches, salads and entrees including smoked chicken and roasted Gulf fish. Its beer list has a couple of house-made cask beers as well as 14 taps with its fruited sours, hazy IPAs and traditional British and German-style beers. (Brewery Saint X, 1100 Girod St., brewerysaintx.com; Devil Moon BBQ, 1188 Girod St., 504-7880093, devilmoonbbq.com)

NINA’S CREOLE COTTAGE Chef Nina Compton’s latest venture is Nina’s Creole Cottage, a quick-service eatery inside Harrah’s Casino. The menu includes fried catfish with Creole slaw, chicken and plantain waffles with spiced honey, rice and pea croquettes and more. A frose and the Nina Colada highlight its bar menu. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Also part of the casino’s new fast-casual food offerings are Bobby’s Burgers, a concept developed by celebrity chef Bobby Flay that serves burgers, fries and milkshakes. There’s also Pizza Cake from Buddy Valastro of “Cake Boss.” (4 Canal St., caesars.com/ harrahs-new-orleans)

CHAPTER IV Edward “Dook” Chase, the grandson of Leah Chase, opened this restaurant with a more modern approach to Creole cuisine. It offers an oyster BLT, inspired by one of Leah Chase’s favorite sandwiches, as well as fish or shrimp and grits and a shrimp and linguine dish. It’s a lunch and brunch spot located near City Hall, but it’s also become a popular Sunday brunch destination. (1301 Gravier St., 504-7667851; chapterivnola.com)

CLEO’S MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE The second location of Cleo’s Mediterranean Cuisine opened as a full-service restaurant in 2019 but shuttered quickly when the pandemic started. A revamped version recently reopened, and Egyptian cuisine still informs the menu. But there are more causal options, such as pita sandwiches, and more seafood, such as sauteed fish served with hummus and yellow rice. (117 Decatur St., 504-218-5874)

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BAKERY BAR As a home to Debbie Does Doberge, Bakery Bar always had a strong sweets menu. In the last several months, new chef Lydia Solano has been building up its savory menu. That includes bar-friendly comfort fare and more Latin influenced dishes, like oxtail croquettes and blackened fish tacos. (1179 Annunciation St., 504513-8664; bakery.bar)

PUBLISHING MAY 2ND RESERVE AD SPACE BY APRIL 21ST Ad Director Sandy Stein 504.483.3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

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FORK + CENTER

A new Ethiopian restaurant takes Addis NOLA’s old spot | by Beth D’Addono

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

CHEF SAMMY SHIFFERAW AND HIS SON HENOK “HENNY” SAMUEL have a lot

of pride for their new restaurant, Sammy’s Ethiopian Kitchen.

“Sammy is passionate about his food,” Samuel says. “He pays a lot of attention to detail and freshness.

He’s been doing it for more than 35 years.”

That is longer than Samuel has been around, but they are partners in the business. His last name is different from his father’s because it’s an Ethiopian tradition for children to take their father’s first name as their last name.

Sammy’s took over the former Addis NOLA space at South Broad Street and Tulane Avenue. It’s a spot familiar to Shifferaw. He was Addis’s opening chef and helped get the restaurant going for the Lobo family, who had never been in the hospitality business. Before that, Shifferaw ran Cafe Abyssinia in Uptown and worked at Ethiopian restaurants in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

Samuel was born in Atlanta and grew up around restaurants there.

His dad moved to New Orleans in 2011, and Samuel took a gap year from school to help him at Cafe Abyssinia. Besides Sammy’s, Samuel has another job working for the global digital technology firm DXC. “My focus is on the business side of things, accounting, front of the house,” he says. “My dad’s in the kitchen.”

Shifferaw, an Ethiopian native, mines the greatest hits of his native cuisine, rendering complex, savory dishes built on a foundation of whole toasted spice and aromatics. Injera, the staple Ethiopian flat, spongy bread, is eaten with everything. Diners tear pieces and use them to scoop from stews and stir fries. It takes a minute to get used to using the thin, floppy bread but it has a pleasing tang evocative of sourdough bread.

The most popular dish is the doro wot, a thick chicken stew that’s complex like a Mexican mole and rich as butter. A traditional

Boulevard expands

A WAREHOUSE DISTRICT PROPERTY THAT’S BEEN HOME TO TWO DIFFERENT FOOD HALLS in the past year will

dish for celebrations, doro wot can take anywhere from an afternoon to several days to prepare, as onions slowly caramelize and spices blend. Ethiopian berbere spice blends have strong flavors of cardamom and ginger. For diners new to Ethiopian cuisine, this dish is a good introduction, and Shifferaw’s version is layered and dense with flavor.

Eating at Sammy’s is warmly communal, with many large platters meant for sharing. The vegetarian combo features mounded vegetables and legumes like yellow lentils bright with turmeric and ginger, garlicky collard greens and shiro, a stew of powdered chickpeas spiked with onions, garlic and chili. It is served with a plate of rolled injera.

There are plenty of options for vegans and vegetarians but meat lovers can dig into minced lamb kitfo, seasoned with spices and clarified butter. Tibs, one of the most popular street foods in Ethiopia, is a sauté of tender cubes of beef, lamb or chicken, studded with onions, tomatoes and peppers. Tofu can be substituted for meat.

Chef and owner Samuel Shifferaw (left) and his son Henok Samuel opened Sammy’s Ethiopian Kitchen.

PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER / GAMBIT

Shifferaw and his son fixed up the restaurant themselves before opening in January. It’s a lovely space in shades of sunrise, with a scattering of white table-clothed tables and paintings by Ethiopian artists.

“You can find my country’s cuisine in so many cities: Dallas, Houston, L.A.,” Shifferaw says. “I wanted to bring that experience to this beautiful city of food lovers.”

Many of the recipes Shifferaw uses are from his mom’s kitchen, where he first learned to cook. “She taught me the doro wat and how to deal with lamb, which isn’t an easy meat,” he says.

Samuel thinks just as highly of his father’s cooking. “We called the restaurant Sammy’s Ethiopian Kitchen for a reason,” he says. “My dad’s a legendary guy when it comes to cooking. He’s passionate about bringing people together over his food.”

?

WHAT

Sammy’s Ethiopian Kitchen

WHERE

422 S. Broad St., (504) 582-9540

WHEN

Lunch and dinner daily

HOW

soon become a new location for a growing local restaurant brand.

Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts plans to open another of its Boulevard American Bistro concepts at 801 Magazine St., which was home to Auction House Market and, briefly, the Hall on Mag. Slated to open in the fall, it will be the fifth rendition of Boulevard, following another that’s now nearing completion in the French Quarter.

They join locations in Metairie, Elmwood and Covington.

“Boulevard is growing in the metro area, and it has that recognition now,” says Marv Ammari, CEO of Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, which operates two dozen restaurants around the area.

Dine-in

CHECK IT OUT

A new Ethiopian spot in Mid-City

The Hall on Mag closed in December.

PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

“We want to get back to the city and be part of the rebuilding of the city, and felt the Warehouse District would be the way to go.”

Boulevard first came about in 2015 after Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts took over the longtime home of Houston’s in Metairie. The new restaurant kept some of the touchstones of its predecessor, with an upscale/casual design, wide-ranging menu and a large bar.

The downtown restaurant will serve essentially the same menu PAGE 45

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as the other locations. That’s a contemporary American roster with dishes like prime rib, seared tuna salads, redfish with crabmeat, barbecued ribs and walnut apple cobbler. Crabcakes, spinach and artichoke dip and cedar plank salmon are some of the bestsellers.

Also like the other locations, it will serve lunch and dinner daily and will run the same weekly bar specials, including a half-price wine deal on Wednesdays and $7 martinis on Thursdays.

The four-sided, marble-topped island bar from the former food hall will be a central element in its transformation into Boulevard, though much about the current interior will change. The food hall stands will go, and the new dining room will have a mix of booths and tables with an open kitchen.

The company is still assessing the best use for a banquet room that adjoins the main space. One idea is to make it into a retail market for grab-and-go food and bottles of wine and spirits.

“We’re looking at the neighborhood and thinking about what’s the best fit,” Ammari says.

Creole Cuisine has a lease-purchase agreement in place, Ammari says, meaning the company is leasing the property from owner Felicity Property Co. with plans to buy it eventually.

The French Quarter location of Boulevard is taking shape in the three-story building on St. Louis Street that for decades was home to Emeril Lagasse’s restaurant NOLA, which did not reopen through the pandemic. Creole Cuisine is expected to open Boulevard there in May. That French Quarter location is only about a mile away, but Ammari says while they’re close on the map the two comprise much different markets, and he believes both can be successful.

“We feel truly comfortable with the market here,” he says. “It’s a combination of tourists and locals who live here and eat and drink nearby regularly.”

His company operates several restaurants and bars nearby, including Tommy’s Cuisine, NOLA Social House, Flamingo A Go-Go and Ernst Café.

There will likely be more Boulevard locations in the future, though Ammari says the company is now looking to expand the concept in other regional markets, including the Jackson, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, areas.

The Warehouse District property is a Victorian-era brick building that was previously New Orleans Auction Galleries, and it

occupies a central corner between the museums, hotels, condo buildings and convention center.

Auction House Market opened in 2018 as a multi-vendor food hall, originally run by Politan Row, the company behind the St. Roch Market food hall and others around the country. The building owner, Felicity Property Co., took over management of the hall in 2020. It closed around this time in 2022.

By the summer of that year, the property reopened as the Hall on Mag. That was an expansion of a food hall concept based in Tampa, Florida, and it offered table service and reservations.

But the Hall on Mag lasted only a few months before shuttering in December.

Downtown’s other food hall, Pythian Market, closed late last year after its operator was evicted for failing to pay back rent. As recently reported, the prospects for that food hall returning appear dim.

In a statement, that property’s landlord, ERG Enterprises, called the food hall a “victim of the pandemic” and wrote, “While we would love to see that use return, it is not clear at this time if that is a viable option.” — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Cause for celebration

THE CROWDS SHOWED UP READY TO EAT, DRINK AND PARTY, and for two

days Hogs for the Cause turned the grounds around the UNO Lakefront Arena into a festive landscape of barbecue, music and good times.

Through the collective work of 90 cook-off teams, the March 31 and April 1 event set a new fundraising record for Hogs for the Cause, raising $3.6 million, the group reported.

“We broke the scale this year,” says Becker Hall, CEO and co-Founder of Hogs for the Cause.

“The amount of good that can be done with these funds is astonishing and humbling.”

The organization supports families dealing with pediatric brain cancer and since its founding in 2009 has become the most important funder for this work nationally.

The participating teams fuel the giant charity cook-off with the food they serve through the weekend and the money they raise throughout the year. Along the way, they compete for awards across a range of categories.

Here are the winners for 2023: • Children’s Hospital New Orleans Grand Champion: Hog Addiction

• Whole Hog: Squeal Team Six • Ribs: Pork Funk All Stars • Pork Butt/Shoulder: 0 Trailer Pork Boys • Porkpourri: Hog Addiction • Best Sauce: All Hail the Curly Tail • Blue Plate Mayonnaise Best Side: Smokey & The Bacon • Irpino Avin Hawkins Best Bacon: Hoggystyle • “Just Winging It” presented by Tabasco: Captain Porkenheimer • Fan Favorite: Mr. Pigglesworth • Friday Night Party: The Boar’s Nest • Best Booth: House of Hogs • Best Social Media: Pork Hub • Fundraising Champion: Fleur De Que (more than $500,000) • Second Place Fundraising: Morten Anderson’s Mullets (more than $350,000) • Third Place Fundraising: Hogwatch (more than $300,000) • Online Fundraising Champion: The Boar’s Nest (more than $300,000) • Teams that raised over $150,000: Mr. Pig Stuff, March of the Pigs • Teams that raised over $100,000: River Pork Pilots, Swine & Dine, Piggystardust • Teams that raised over $70,000: Mr. Pigglesworth • Teams that raised over $60,000: The Hogfather, Swine Krewe • Teams that raised over $50,000: The Pig Easy, House of Hogs, Irish Brew BBQ, Deswine Intervention, Pig Latin, Hogaddiction, Frey Part Deuce • Teams that raised over $40,000: Captain Porkenheimer, Bassets, Booze & BBQ, Sir Pork A Lot, Rugaroux Q • Teams that raised over $30,000: Lard and In Charge, Hoggystyle, Chew Forks Farms, Smokeshow Cook Squad, Devil Moon, Porkchopitoulas, Hupigs, Mazant National, Hog Dat Nation • Teams that raised over $20,000: Sweet Swine O’Mine, Piglit, Smokey Ridge BBQ, Swine Spectators, Chits & Piggles, Dirty D & The Thunder Pigs, Swineaux, That’ll Do Crew, Team Hamerica, Gooteeque — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

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Marielle Songy Author

by Will Coviello MARIELLE SONGY IS A NEW ORLEANS FOOD WRITER and her new book,

“The Absinthe Frappe,” is the latest in LSU Press’s series about famous New Orleans cocktails.

Songy explores the history of absinthe, from its invention just before 1800 to its being banned in many nations in the early 1900s.

She delves into its romanticization and popularity in New Orleans, both before and after the U.S. ban.

There’s also a recipe section of popular absinthe cocktails. Songy discusses and signs the book at 6 p.m. Monday, April 17, at Garden District Book Shop (find tickets at gardendistrictbookshop.com). She signs the book at Peychaud’s at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, and tickets, which include a copy of the book and a cocktail, are available on eventbrite.com.

How do you explain the allure and mystery of absinthe?

MARIELLE SONGY: A lot of people are intrigued, even though it’s not accurate about the whole hallucination thing. When I told them I was writing about absinthe, so many people said, “Oh, it makes you hallucinate.” That’s the No. 1 misconception. Some people hesitate because they think it is a drug.

It’s just alcohol.

But what I did find out is that the absinthe available today is the same absinthe that was available in the late 19th century. It has wormwood in it. A lot of people know that the regulations were lifted and think that it doesn’t have wormwood — that it’s just fennel and anise. No, it’s got all the original ingredients. One of the reasons I was excited about writing this book is I can educate people on the truth and myths.

I think a lot of it is romanticized.

You see in the second chapter about people who drank absinthe in the 19th century, and none of their stories ended well. People like Van Gogh and Paul Verlaine. I don’t think their lives ended as early as they did because of absinthe, but that’s another thing that angled with the ban of it.

A lot of the ban had to do with winemakers who were nervous that absinthe would cut in on their sales.

They considered wine a part of the meal because it was fermented and not distilled. They said alcohol that is distilled is the root of alcoholism.

OF THE

WEEK

How did it get legalized in the U.S.?

S: The short story in the U.S. is that Ted Breaux is a New Orleanian and a scientist. He became fascinated with absinthe and why it was banned. During his research, he discovered it was banned because of a chemical in wormwood called thujone. Back in the late 19th, early 20th century, there was a French scientist called Valentin Magnan, who did a lot of research on animals. He injected them with large amounts of thujone and some of them dropped dead. So he concluded that thujone will kill you, or make you crazy. But the fact of the matter is that there are such small traces of thujone in absinthe that the alcohol in it will kill you first.

Breaux was able to get his hands on pre-ban absinthe and tested how much thujone was in it. It was such small amounts that that began the process of lifting the regulations and people saying we should be able to sell it in the U.S. In 2007, Lucid, which is one of his brands, was able to be sold in the U.S. legally.

What are your favorite local absinthe drinks?

S: I had always enjoyed it in Sazeracs and other absinthe cocktails, or straight with the louching and the water. I never had an absinthe frappe before I started researching this book, but it’s such a simple cocktail — just absinthe, simple syrup, soda water and ice.

The absinthe frappe has such a rich history, and it touched on art and music and writing. The absinthe frappe was invented at the Old Absinthe House. It put Old Absinthe House on the map. New Orleans was such an absinthe hub before it was banned.

As far as the other cocktails go, I was intrigued by how many

PROVIDED PHOTO BY GINA LLOYD

cocktails have absinthe in it. A lot of cocktail makers wanted to include it.

My friend Dave (Rodrigue) — he did the photography (for the book) — we found as many absinthe frappes as we could. One of my favorites was the one we had at Cure, which is actually the same one that’ll be served at Peychaud’s.

It’s classic with the crushed ice dome. That’s the classic look of it.

I also like the one at Mr. B’s, which has an egg white in it. A lot of bartenders like to put their own twist on it. Some serve it over ice. Jewel of the South serves it straight up.

Pirate’s Alley Café does it with the crushed ice.

I sampled all the drinks (in the book), but some I had to make myself at home. My favorite is the Bitter Party of One, which was introduced to me by Ted. We went to Jewel of the South and he had the bartender make this cocktail with absinthe and bitters and rum. It’s such a unique drink. It was made by a mixologist named Max Barwick. It’s a cool, modern cocktail. The Morning Call, with Maraschino liqueur and lemon or lime juice, I had to make that one at home.

Now I have quite the collection of absinthe and I am really honing my palate. Most of it is European.

I have Jade Liqueurs, which is made by Ted Breaux in France, and Groen Opal and Butterfly made in Switzerland. But there is a local one that I like, Atelier Vie Toulouse Green. We’re fortunate to have one made in New Orleans.

Carmel Road Monterey Chardonnay

Monterey Chardonnay is so rich, it doesn’t need oak. Refreshing acidity, courtesy of the cool climate, heightens the golden mango, tangerine, Asian pear, white flower, vanilla bean and butter cream flavors, leading to a long finish complexed with a hint of yeast from sur lie aging.

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C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S A T W W W. B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M Out 2 Eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. Unless noted, addresses are for New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: Email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

8 Fresh Food Assassin — 1900 N. Claiborne Ave., (504) 224-2628; Instagram, @8freshfoodassassin — Chef Manny January’s menu includes grilled lamb chops, T-bone steaks, salmon, crab cakes, deep fried ribs, fried chicken and seafood-loaded oysters. No reservations. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Acorn — 12 Henry Thomas Drive, (504) 218-5413; acornnola.com — The cafe at the Louisiana Children’s Museum has blackened shrimp tacos topped with arugula, radish, pineapple-mango salsa and cilantro-lime sauce. No reservations. breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sun. $$ Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, biscotti, fig cookies, tiramisu, macaroons and more. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant.com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in dishes like Gulf Drum Yvonne, served with brown butter sauce with mushrooms and artichoke hearts.

Reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$ Banana Blossom — 500 9th St., Gretna, (504) 500-0997; 504bananablossom. com — Jimmy Cho’s Thai dishes include smoked pork belly and pork meatballs in lemon grass broth with egg, green onion, cilantro and crispy garlic.

Reservations accepted for large parties except weekends. Delivery available.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 284-2898; thebluecrabnola.com — Basin barbecue shrimp are served over cheese grits with a cheese biscuit.

Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lakeview: lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. Slidell: lunch Fri.-Sat., dinner Wed.-Sun. $$ Broussard’s — 819 Conti St., (504) 5813866; broussards.com — Rainbow trout amandine is served with tasso and corn macque choux and Creole meuniere sauce. Reservations recommended.

Outdoor seating available. Dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ Cafe Normandie — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The menu combines classic French dishes and Louisiana items like crab beignets with herb aioli. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ The Commissary — 634 Orange St., (504) 274-1850; thecommissarynola. com — The central kitchen for Dickie Brennan restaurants offers graband-go dishes and a dine-in menu with a house-smoked turkey breast sandwich with bacon, tomato jam, herbed cream cheese, arugula and herb vinaigrette on honey oat bread. No reservations. Outdoor seating available.

Lunch Tue.-Sat. $$ Curio — 301 Royal St., (504) 717-4198; curionola.com — The creative Creole menu includes blackened Gulf shrimp served with chicken and andouille jambalaya. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11-$20 $$$ — $20-up

Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole dishes. Char-grilled oysters are topped with Parmesan and herbs.

Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House — 144 Bourbon St., (504) 522-0111; bourbonhouse.com — The seafood restaurant has a raw bar and a large selection of bourbon. Redfish is served with lemon buerre blanc. Reservations accepted.

Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse — 716 Iberville St., (504) 522-2467; dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com — A 6-ounce filet mignon is served with flash-fried oysters, creamed spinach, Pontalba potatoes and bearnaise. Reservations recommended.

Dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ Dragonfly Cafe — 530 Jackson Ave., (504) 544-9530; dragonflynola.com — The casual cafe offers breakfast plates, waffles, salads, coffee drinks and more. Braised rib is served on greens with cornbread. Delivery available.

Reservations accepted. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sat. $$ El Pavo Real — 4401 S. Broad Ave., (504) 266-2022; elpavorealnola.com — Pescado Vera Cruz is a sauteed Gulf fish topped with tomatoes, olives, onion and capers and served with rice and string beans.

The menu also includes tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and more. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and early dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar — 739 Iberville St., (504) 522-4440; 7400 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 304-4125; felixs. com — Louisiana oysters are served raw or char-grilled with garlic, Parmesan and breadcrumbs. The menu includes seafood platters, crawfish etouffee, po-boys and more. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Frey Smoked Meat Co. — 4141 Bienville St., Suite 110, (504) 488-7427; freysmokedmeat.com — The barbecue spot serves pulled pork, ribs, brisket, sausages and more. Fried pork belly poppers are tossed in pepperjelly glaze.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Froot Orleans — 2438 Bell St., Suite B, (504) 233-3346; frootorleans.com — There are fresh fruit platters and smoothie bowls such as a strawberry shortcake and more using pineapple, berries, citrus and more. No reservations. Outdoor seating available.

Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; 8140 Oak St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar jack cheese, black beans, rice, guacamole and salsa.

The menu also has tacos, quesadillas and nachos. Outdoor seating available.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — A Cajun Cuban has roasted pork, ham, cheese and pickles on buttered bread.

The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, onions and

garlic. Delivery available. Reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Kilroy’s Bar — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The bar menu includes sandwiches, salads and flatbreads, including one topped with peach, prosciutto, stracciatella cheese, arugula and pecans. No reservations.

Dinner Wed.-Sat. $$ Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 613-2350; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes oysters, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, salads and more. A NOLA Style Grits Bowl is topped with bacon, cheddar and a poached egg. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 513-2606; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes filets mignons, bone-in rib-eyes and top sirloins, as well as burgers, salads and seafood dishes. Reservations accepted. Outdoor seating available.

Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — The deli serves sandwiches and salads such as the Sena, with chicken, raisins, blue cheese, pecans and Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations.

Lunch daily. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. The menu also has noodle dishes, teriyaki and more. Reservations accepted.

Delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves Italian dishes and specialties including chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca. Reservations accepted.

Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$ Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant. net — This counter-service spot serves po-boys, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice and more. Delivery available. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as seafood platters, po-boys, char-grilled oysters, salads and more. No reservations.

Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola.com — Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese. The menu also includes wings, quesadillas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood pasta and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro — 720 Orleans Ave., (504) 523-1930; orleansgrapevine.com — The wine bar’s menu includes Creole pasta with shrimp and andouille over pappardelle in tomato cream sauce. Reservations accepted for large parties. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$ Palace Cafe — 605 Canal St., (504) 5231661; palacecafe.com — The contemporary Creole menu includes signature crabmeat cheesecake topped with mushrooms and Creole meuniere sauce.

Outdoor seating available. Reservations recommended. Lunch Wed.-Fri., dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$$ Peacock Room — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3073; peacockroomnola.com — Black lentil vadouvan curry comes with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and basmati rice. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Mon., brunch Sun. $$ Rosie’s on the Roof — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 5281941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The rooftop bar has a menu of sandwiches, burgers and small plates. No reservations. Dinner daily. $$ Tableau — 616 St. Peter St., (504) 934-3463; tableaufrenchquarter.com — Pasta bouillabaisse features squid ink mafaldine, littleneck clams, Gulf shrimp, squid, seafood broth, rouille and herbed breadcrumbs. Outdoor seating available.

Reservations recommended. Dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Thu.-Sun. $$$ Tacklebox — 817 Common St., (504) 8271651; legacykitchen.com — The seafood restaurant serves oysters, seafood, burgers, salads and more. Redfish St. Charles is served with garlic-herb butter, asparagus, mushrooms and crawfish cornbread. Reservations accepted.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Tavolino Pizza & Lounge — 141 Delaronde St., (504) 605-3365; tavolinonola.com — The menu features thin-crust pizzas, salads, meatballs and more. A Behrman Hwy. pizza is topped with pork belly, caramel, carrots, radishes, jalapenos and herbs. No reservations. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza. com — A Marilynn Pota Supreme pie is topped with mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions. There also are salads, sandwiches and more. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 1433 St. Charles Ave., (504) 354-1342; 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — Peruvian lomo saltado features beef sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, served with fried potatoes and rice. Outdoor seating available on Magazine Street. Delivery available. Reservations accepted.

Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ The Vintage — 3121 Magazine St., (504) 324-7144; thevintagenola.com — The menu includes beignets, small plates, sandwiches and flatbreads. The veggie pressed sandwich has avocado, onions, arugula, red pepper, pepper jack cheese and lemon. No reservations. Delivery and outdoor seating available. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Zhang Bistro — 1141 Decatur St., (504) 826-8888; zhangbistronola.com — The menu includes Chinese and Thai dishes. The Szechuan Hot Wok offers a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp or tofu with onions, bell peppers, cauliflower, jalapenos and spicy Sichuan sauce.

Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

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Lewis Black

COMEDIAN LEWIS BLACK IS KNOWN FOR HIS HEATED RANTS, especially

on shows including “The Daily Show.” He brings his Off the Rails tour to The Fillmore at 7 p.m.

Sunday, April 16. Find tickets via lewisblack.com.

Soul

CHEF MAYA MASTERSSON HOSTS A MULTICOURSE DINNER tracing foodways

to African Americans who were enslaved and to African culinary roots. Dishes include wild hog consume with bone marrow, duck chitterling hand pies with pickled peaches, forbidden rice calas, rice tea and more. LaReina Besant performs burlesque and DJ Funke works spirituals, juke joint sounds and African drumming into the mix. At Margaret Place Hotel at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 16. Tickets $99 at eventcreate.com/e/soul-2, and a cocktail pairing is available as well.

‘New Moon’

“NEW MOON” IS THE SECOND INSTALLMENT IN THE TWILIGHT SAGA , cen-

tered around a human girl and her immortal, otherworldly love. The title is a reference to the darkest period of the lunar cycle and a nod to protagonist Bella Swan’s struggles with heartbreak after being dumped by sparkly vampire Edward Cullen. The free screening will include a drinking game and specialty cocktails at BJ’s Lounge, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 12. As always, glitter, grunge fashions and a sense of irony are recommended. For more information, check Instagram, @bjslounge.

The Rumble

MARDI GRAS INDIAN FUNK POWERHOUSE THE RUMBLE will release a live album

later this spring, but fans can get a preview — and buy a limited edition, pre-release copy of the album in person — at a show at Chickie Wah Wah on Friday, April 14. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 advance via chickiewahwah. com and $30 day of the show.

Big Freedia with the LPO

NEW ORLEANS QUEEN DIVA BIG FREEDIA IS CLOSING IN ON 20 YEARS as a

professional musician and doing something brand new: performing with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert is the latest in the LPO’s series of concerts with local and regional bands, like Tank and the Bangas and The Lost Bayou Ramblers. On Big Freedia’s setlist will be her hits “N.O. Bounce,” “Chasing Rainbows,” “Betty Bussit” and more. Will Big Freedia make conductor Jonathan Taylor Rush twerk? You already

know! The concert is at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 13, at the Orpheum Theater. Tickets start at $49 via lpomusic.com.

Luke Julien

IT’S BEEN A MINUTE SINCE NEW ORLEANS RAPPER LUKE JULIEN has

had a hometown show. He remedies that and celebrates a new EP with a show at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at Zony Mash. Kidnap opens. Tickets are $15 via eventbrite.com.

The Moth GrandSLAM

WINNERS OF MONTHLY MOTH STORY-TELLING CONTESTS compete in

the GrandSLAM, hosted by actor and singer Rahim Glaspy at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at The Joy Theater. Tickets $28 via thejoytheater.com.

Red Bull Terminal Takeover: After Hours

CURREN$Y HOSTS A CONCERT CELEBRATING NEW ORLEANS HIP-HOP and skate

culture with rappers Pell, Fendi P and 504icygrl, pop duo Fresh X Reckless and brass band Kings of Brass along with Baton Rougebased (because she also plays for the LSU women’s basketball team) rapper Flau’jae Johnson. The show caps the third year of Red Bull’s Terminal Takeover, a two-day event featuring skateboarder crews skating at the old MSY airport terminal. The After Hours concert starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at Republic NOLA. Tickets are $10-$15 via republicnola.com.

Royal Comedy

COMEDIANS SOMMORE, BRUCE BRUCE, LAVELL CRAWFORD, JOE CLAIR and

JJ Williamson headline the Royal Comedy showcase. The show is at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at UNO Lakefront Arena. Find tickets via arena.uno.edu.

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Neptune Trio

CELLIST HELEN GILLET, SAXOPHONIST BRAD WALKER AND DRUMMER Doug

Garrison are among the city’s most notable experimental and improvisational musicians. They formed this group to explore free jazz. There are performances at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, at Snug Harbor. Tickets $25 via snugjazz.com.

Hippie Sabotage

THE ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC DUO OF BROTHERS KEVIN AND JEFF SAURER

have created their own music and released popular remixes of other artists’ work, notably Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High).” They perform at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at Orpheum Theater. Find tickets via orpheumnola.com.

Please call or text for info at: (504) 344-3977 Book Online at: www.MGSCNOLA.com

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MUSIC F O R C O M P L E T E M U S I C L I S T I N G S A N D M O R E E V E N T S TA K I N G P L AC E I N T H E N E W O R L E A N S A R E A , V I S I T C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com

TUESDAY 11 BAMBOULAS — Amber and the Sweet Potatoes, 1:15 pm; Mike Clement Quartet, 5:30 pm; Andy J. Forest Blues Band, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Water Seed , 8 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Colin Myers Band, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Lightning Bolt, 9 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Arrowhead Jazz Band, 2 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm SIBERIA — Maggie May, Zachary Kane O'Quinn, Shawn Bourg, Guitar is Dead, 9 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — The Amazing Henrietta, 6:30 pm; Deep Cross, Shining Fields, Troy Bennett's Graveyard Lips, 9 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Rebirth Band, 10 pm

WEDNESDAY 12 BAMBOULAS — James Markaway Trio, 1:15 pm; Swingin’ with John Saavedra, 5:30 pm; Roule and the Queen, 9 pm BLUE NILE — New Breed Brass Band, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Bourbon Street Stars, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm JOY THEATER — Silverstein, 6 pm MADAME VIC'S — Please Loves Company, Daphne Parker Powell, 8 pm NEW ORLEANS CITY PARK — Evenings With Enrique, 5 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Christian Whitner Quintet, 2 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Branden Lewis, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm SANTOS — Franks and Deans, 9 pm SIBERIA — Rosegarden Funeral Party, Missing, Come to Ruin, 9 pm THE BOMBAY CLUB — Harry Mayronne and Nanci Zee, 8 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Funkin' It Up with Big Sam, 7:30 pm

THURSDAY 13 BAMBOULAS — Sigrid and the Zig Zags, 1:15 pm; Cristina Kaminis and the Mix, 5:30 pm; Wolfe John's Blues Band, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Where Y'at Brass Band, 9 pm CARROLLTON STATION — Alfred Banks, Albert, TheSmoothCat & The 9th Life, Gracie Jay with Nu Bass Theory, and Love Your Own Noise, 8 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Thrown Together Jazz Band, 12:30 pm; St. Peter Street Stompers, 3 pm; Sandra Point All Stars feat. Louis Ford, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Shared Walls, Dana Ives, Will Roesner, Bad Misters, 9 pm MADAME VIC'S — Ted Hefko and The Thousandaires, 8 pm

NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Loyola Musicians Krewe, 9 pm ORPHEUM THEATER — Big Freedia with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, 7:30 pm PAVILION OF THE TWO SISTERS — Ladies of Soul, 6 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm SANTOS — The Toasters, 8 pm SIBERIA — Conor Donohue, The Oops a Dasies, Cannon and the Boxes, Holler Choir, 8 pm THE FOUNTAIN LOUNGE AT THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL — Sam Kuslan, 6 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Joanna Conner, Wolfe Johns Blues Band, 9 pm TIPITINA'S — Josh Johnson, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Luke Julien feat. Kidnap and Friends, 8 pm

FRIDAY 14 BAMBOULAS — St. Julien x Band, 11 am; Fully Dressed Po’Boys, 2:15 pm; Les Getrex N Creole Cooking, 6:30 pm; Bettis +3rd Degree Brass Band, 10 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers, 7 pm; Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, 11 pm BLUE NILE BALCONY ROOM — Trumpet Slim & Brass Flavor, 10 pm BROTHERS THREE LOUNGE — Valerie Sassyfras, 9:30 pm CARROLLTON STATION — T Marie and Bayou Juju, Sweet Magnolia Brass Band, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Thrown Together Jazz Band, 12:30 pm; Crawfish Wallet Jazz Band, 3 pm; St. Peter Street Stompers, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — Dougie Poole with Thomas Dollbaum, 9 pm HIDEAWAY DEN & ARCADE — Cypress Creek, 8 pm MADAME VIC'S — Poisson Rouge, 8 pm MANDEVILLE TRAILHEAD — Chubby Carrier, 6:30 pm MAY BAILY'S PLACE — Nanci Zee Trio, 5 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Temple Wooten and Melinda Hagan, 9 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Jay Walkers, 7:30 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK IN DUTCH ALLEY — Sidiki Conde and Wowo Souakoli, 2 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Mark Braud, 5, 6:15 & 8:45 pm PUBLIC BELT AT HILTON RIVERSIDE — Phil Melancon, 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Dale Watson Plus The Bad Sandys, 8:30 pm SANTOS — Schism, 9 pm SIBERIA — A Night of Rock, Horror, & Romance, 9 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — DarkLounge Ministries, 7 pm

THE FOUNTAIN LOUNGE AT THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL — Sam Kuslan, 6 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Subject Matter ft.

Sabinin, 11 pm THREE KEYS AT ACE HOTEL NEW ORLEANS — John Michael Bradford & The Vibe, 9 pm TIPITINA'S — Hans Williams, Letters Instead, Grace Gardner, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Koan Kenpachi, Smokers World, 9 pm

SATURDAY 15 BAMBOULAS — Jaywalkers, 11 am; New Orleans Swinging Gypsies, 2:15 pm; Johnny Mastro Blues, 6:30 pm; Paggy Prine, 10 pm BB'S STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM — Dine & Dance with the Victory Swing Orchestra, 6 pm BLUE NILE — George Brown Band, 7 pm; Chris Cotton and Trap Orchestra, 11 pm BLUE NILE BALCONY ROOM — The Marigny Street Brass Band, 10 pm CARROLLTON STATION — Mia Borders, 9 pm CHEMIN A LA MER AT FOUR SEASONS — Amanda Shaw, 12 pm DEW DROP SOCIAL & BENEVOLENT HALL — Shannon Powell All Star Band, 6:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — St. Peter Street Stompers, 12:30 pm; Thrown Together Jazz Band, 3 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — Sharks' Teeth with Silver Godling, Kid Charleroi, 9 pm MADAME VIC'S — Or Shovali Plus, 8 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Lisa O'Neill, 7:30 pm; Richard Bienvenu, 9 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Mia Borders Trio, 4 pm NOLA BREWING TAPROOM — Richard Rourke, 6 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious, 3:45 pm; Joe Lastie's New Orleans Sound, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm PUBLIC BELT AT HILTON RIVERSIDE — Phil Melancon, 8 pm SANTOS — The Well with Firebreather, 9 pm SIBERIA — Debauche, 9 pm THE FOUNTAIN LOUNGE AT THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL — Leslie Martin, 6 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Scrubfish, Torrfisk, Syndrome, Jmike, Freckle & Cameron Kelly, 11 pm

Big Freedia plays with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra at the Orpheum Theater Thursday the 13th PHOTO BY SHAWN FINK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

TIPITINA'S — Big Sam's Funky Nation, Joshua Starkman, Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph, 9 pm

SUNDAY 16 BAMBOULAS — Secret Six Jazz Band, 1:15 pm; Midnight Brawlers, 5:30 pm BJ'S LOUNGE — Valerie Sassyfras, 6 pm BLUE NILE — The Baked Potatoes, 7 pm; Street Legends Brass Band, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — St. Peter Street Stompers, 12 pm; Sam Friend Band, 3 pm; Crawfish Wallet Jazz Band, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Loose Cattle and Bruisey Peets, 8 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation Legacy Band feat. Will Smith, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45pm SANTOS — Urban Heat with Baby Bats and Berlin Taxi, 8 pm TIPITINA'S — Eric Lindell, 8:30 pm

MONDAY 17 BAMBOULAS — Jon Roniger, 1:15 pm; The Melatuan’s, 5:30 pm; Joe Gelini Band, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 12:30 pm; Crawfish Wallet Jazz Band, 5 pm; Richard "Piano" Scott and Friends, 8 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — JOY THEATER — Sullivan King, 8 pm MUNHOLLAND UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — "A Celebration of Relatives", 7:30 pm PRESERVATION HALL — The Preservation Brass, 5, 7:30 & 8:45 pm THE FOUNTAIN LOUNGE AT THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL — Sam Kuslan, 5 pm

SCAN FOR THE COMPLETE GAMBIT CALENDAR

53

Higher Levels

by Jake Clapp

KOANKENPACHI’S“SUPREMIUM”ISAHIPHOPRECORD. That’s obvious, of course,

in the 17-track album’s sound and the New Orleans veteran emcee’s fine-tuned lyricism, but more, “Supremium” is a celebration of hiphop culture, a love letter to what this music can do — and a fierce notice to the city’s artists to step it up.

“I fell in love with hip-hop when I was a child, and all I want to do is give back the feeling that hip-hop gave me,” Koan says. “It was like a heaven to me: Getting a new album, chilling with my homies, we’d light up some blunts and listen to the music and get an appreciation for it.

That feeling was something I could never forget.”

On Friday, April 14, Kenpachi will perform an album release show for “Supremium,” his second solo album, at Zony Mash Beer Project.

He’ll be backed by his live band, My Theme Music, including Khris Royal, Terrence Houston, Scott Jackson, Raja Kassis and DJ Tony Skratchere, and vocalist Sean Carey and rapper Woe Shinigami also will join for their featured spots on the album. Derrick Freeman — who plays with Koan as part of the hip-hop tribute The Low End Theory Players — and his band Smoker’s World will open.

Released last November, the robust “Supremium” is highlighted

by Koan’s aggressive flow. A battle rapper — who is still looking for his first defeat, Koan boasts — the emcee smoothly packs each line with bravado and barbs as well as wisdom. Koan has a deep love of ’90s hip-hop, but “Supremium” isn’t a throwback; it’s a continuation of a style inspired by Biggie and Wu-Tang Clan and molded by New Orleans.

Executive produced by Erin Brazley — who runs Daily Bread Productions with Koan — “Supremium” features Freeman performing as Mr. Smoker; Carey, a New Orleans multi-instrumentalist and singer; emerging producer and musician Rodney Weber; Koan’s son, Woe Shinigami; and DJ Skratchmo.

Koan grew up in the 9th Ward and learned to play trumpet, but gravitated toward hip-hop as he became a teen and began writing every day and battle rapping. Then, he managed to get on stage during a Hieroglyphics show at Tipitina’s.

“The beat was great. I had just wrote this sick ass battle rap. And the whole moment was just perfect,” he says.

Seeing the crowd respond to his verses and feeling comfortable on

Koan Kenpachi plays an album release show at Zony Mash on April 14.

PROVIDED PHOTO BY ADACHI PIMENTEL

stage, it was a feeling he had never experienced before. “I knew at that moment this was my purpose,” Koan adds.

In 2004, Koan co-founded Equal Opportunity Employment (EOE) as the emcee for the rock-hip-hop hybrid and toured and recorded with EOE until the group disbanded in 2011. That year, Koan released his debut solo album, “Chronicles of a Dying Breed.”

In the decade between solo albums, Koan regularly performed live and released an EP, “Homage,” but he also battled glaucoma and kidney failure. Just a few weeks after a kidney transplant in 2022 and still recovering, Koan filmed the music video for his single “Weirdo.”

“I had a kidney transplant. I lost my eyesight and gained that back.

I’ve been through a bunch of stuff, man,” Koan says. “And so the ‘Supremium’ is just speaking on my evolution into a different kind of understanding and mindset.”

An anime fan (the master’s title “Kenpachi” is from the series “Bleach”), Koan relates himself to the character Vegeta in “Dragon Ball Z” — a relentless warrior constantly seeking to get better and never settling. His emcee name, “Koan,” is a Buddhist term for paradoxical questions used by those seeking enlightenment.

There also are spiritual touches on “Supremium,” like chakra gemstones on the cover and lyrics about reaching higher consciousness.

“I’ve evolved into something different as far as the expression of my music and the things I want to say,” Koan says.

Koan Kenpachi performs at 9 p.m.

Friday. Tickets are $15 in advance via zonymashbeer.com and $20 at the door. Find “Supremium” at koanmusic.com.

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MUSIC

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54

FILM

Dirty movies

by Will Coviello

WHEN SEX AND ADVICE COLUMNIST DAN SAVAGE launched

Samara Poché | Jennifer Saltaformaggio | Sophie Joseph

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the Hump Film Fest in 2005, it might have seemed like it was bound to become obsolete. While his homeporn festival was in part a response to some of the drearier aspects of the porn industry and its overwhelming focus on heterosexual male audiences, the internet was opening up all sorts of niches. But even with the rise of OnlyFans and other platforms for individual content makers to reach like-minded fans directly, Hump Fest keeps growing. A Best of Hump slate is currently on the first European tour, and the 2023 fest comes to The Broad Theater April 14-15.

Hump Fest was conceived to invite non-professionals to make films about whatever they desired but never saw onscreen. As Savage told Gambit in 2016, “You have people making films with their friends and lovers that’s an expression of their unique sexuality, sexual interests, sexual expression, their gender expression for an audience.”

The selected short films are a variety show, uncovering a diverse range of sexual and gender identities, body types, fetishes and kinks.

The current slate of 22 films checks a lot of boxes. All are less than five minutes long.

Filmmakers are invited to include specified props as a way of showing that they were made for the festival.

This year’s include leg warmers, clothespins and dirty martinis, but not all films use them.

Some films have no sex or nudity, and others waste no time getting up close and graphic. Regardless of the sexual content, the most enjoyable films tend to be the ones where the performers look like they are having fun. In “The Boy with the Tighty Whities,” the narrator is an OnlyFans personality, and he can barely conceal his glee at sharing his kink. In “Screen Play,” a couple of Canadian lesbians co-opt all sorts of cliched heterosexual romantic storylines and bask in their own gaze.

A couple of very short comedy films stand out. “It’s Mr. Yamface!” is a toy animation film that takes on the problem of dolls not actually having genitals. “Shadow Play” also is simple, but the tiny rod puppets

‘A Deep Understanding’ PHOTO PROVIDED BY HUMP FILM FEST

(not a euphemism) are well articulated and funny.

Hump highlights usually include a few things viewers might not have known was anyone’s kink.

One of the best films is the introduction to quicksand fetishism in “A Deep Understanding.”

Other surprises include the colorful dance piece “Bloom Room.”

The couple in the Ronald McDonald outfits seem to be lovin’ it, but their film has a creepy vibe. “Menage a Fromage” explores an amusing point of science.

The mess in the food fetish piece “Feast of Fantasy” is visually creative and excessive. The mess in Switzerland-based conceptual artist abcde Flash’s medical fetish piece, “Grace,” is not as easy to watch, and has a trigger warning.

Many of the 2023 films seem overly serious, and it’s hard to match the narration on personal freedom to the authoritarian tone in the German BDSM short “Cum as You Are.” The black and white BDSM piece “State of Mind” reflects Robert Mapplethorpe’s style and is beautifully shot.

A few films that skip all notions of plot or theme and just get right to the graphic sex are among the least compelling. Glow-in-the-dark paint doesn’t make “Color Me Wild” interesting, and “Body Language” has a heavy-handed simple message.

Some films might have been better left on the cutting room floor, including the fantasy “Demon Seed” and the goofy “The Cannoli Brothers.”

It’s hard to imagine someone liking every film in the showcase, and a few here feel pretty dark. But the mission and achievement of Hump is showing a small glimpse of the wide variety of ways different people find pleasure.

Hump Film Fest screens at The Broad Theater April 14-15, and is available online at humpfilmfest.com.

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ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P 4

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