Gambit: January 18, 2022

January 18-24 2022 Volume 43 Number 3

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GIVE A LITTLE

LoOvFe

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JANUARY 18 — JANUARY 24, 2022 VOLUME 43 || NUMBER 3

CONTENTS

T CREATE A LO

Happiness

Council President Helena Moreno has a packed agenda for the new council..................................... 17 Joe Giarrusso on how he’ll use the Budget Committee chair to reform spending............................19

SEND FLOWERS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE TODAY!

NEWS Opening Gambit ...............................7 Commentary.....................................9

CURRENT HOURS: MON-FRI 7am-1pm /// SAT 7am-Noon

Clanc DuBos ....................................10

St. Edward the Confessor School NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for Fall 2022! Grades PreK1-7th

FAITH

Blake Pontchartrain......................11

FEATURES

Scan for a link to a Virtual Open House Tour

TRADITION

EXCELLENCE

Arts & Entertainment ....................5 Eat + Drink.......................................21

Best Private Elementary School 4 years in a row!

Music ................................................ 27 PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

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St. Edward admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin or handicap and provides all rights, privileges and activities generally accorded or made available to students at its school.

our Parade y

REEN G e l Purp d gold an

13

New Kids on the Council

The new members of the City Council lay out their agendas

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5

Working Today

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah headlines Prospect.5 gala FOR PROSPECT.5, NEW ORLEANS’ INTERNATIONAL ART TRIENNIAL that closes

Sunday, Jan. 23, organizers chose the exhibition title “Yesterday we said tomorrow.”

“It was really about understanding and processing and having conversations about how the past informs the present,” co-artistic director Naima J. Keith told Gambit on the eve of the Prospect.5 opening in October.

The title was inspired by Chief Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s 2010 album, “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow.” On the record, the New Orleans-born trumpeter and composer confronted social justice and political issues. The album opener, “K.K.P.D.” or “Klu Klux Police Department,” for instance, was written after being harassed

by New Orleans police one night — and those issues are still as prevalent today, if not more so. Adjuah says it was a “beautiful experience” when he talked with Prospect.5 organizers about the name.

“I think more often than not, when we think of Prospect [New Orleans], it’s sort of more seen as coming from a visual arts space,” Adjuah says.

“When they reached out to us, the things they intimated were ... heartwarming just to see that they found so much synergy in what we were trying to communicate on that document. We all do have this opportunity to create a better moment for each other as a collective.”

The phrase was one Adjuah’s grandfather, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr., would tell him all the time as a child.

“He would always make sure that you got your work done and that you were embracing your opportunities that you got by waking up that day,” Adjuah says.

On Saturday, Jan. 22, Adjuah will headline the Prospect.5 Gala at StudioBE, the Bywater arts space created by Brandan “BMike” Odums.

The gala will celebrate the closing of Prospect.5 with art, food and music, as well as honor art historian Kellie Jones; UTA Fine Arts & UTA Artist Space creative director Arthur Lewis; photographers Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick; and New Orleans organizations Antenna, The Front, Good Children, Level Artist Collective and Staple Goods.

Prospect.5 exhibitions continue through Jan. 23, and a number of events are planned this week,

|

by Jake Clapp

including a discussion with artistic directors Keith and Diana Nawi and Prospect.3’s Franklin Sirmans at 11 a.m.

Friday at the Ogden Museum. At 5:30 p.m. Friday, multi-instrumentalist and composer Nicholas Payton will lead a group of musicians in a final performance of Josh Kun’s project “Over and Over the Waves” at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Artist Simone Leigh will unveil a public sculpture, “Sentinel (Mami Wata)” at 10 a.m. Saturday (location to be announced).

At Saturday’s gala, Adjuah will perform with his new group, The Sound Carved from Legend. The lineup includes several musicians from Adjuah’s normal touring sextet — the “Stretch Music Collective Band,” he says, referencing his style of stretching, blurring and breaking genre conventions — but this particular cohort of musicians is more percussion heavy.

“The music is more of a hybrid of traditional Louisiana Maroons or Black Indian music,” Adjuah says, “traditional Louisiana blues music mixed with the music that actually seeded those forms — traditional Songhai, Ouassalou music, Mandé music from places like Mali and Senegal, Gambia and the Ivory Coast.”

“Part of what it is that we’re doing,” he adds, “is trying to retether the connections of the root music that seeded all of these things that grew in the 20th century, everything from blues to jazz to rhythm and blues to rock and roll.”

During the Covid shutdowns, Adjuah spent time developing a new instrument, the Adjuah Bow, for this musical exploration. The double-sided harp is modeled after the n’goni and kora, traditional stringed instruments used by storytellers and musicians in West African cultures — but with some electric modifications.

“I wanted to create an instrument that had those methodologies built into it, but to build an instrument that also made sense in the 21st century context,” Adjuah says. “So

National Day of Racial Healing Concert

OBSERVED ON THE TUESDAY AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY, the

National Day of Racial Healing was started in 2017 to encourage people to discuss shared values and to map out how to combat racism and its effects. On Tuesday, Jan. 18, the Ashe Cultural Arts Center and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation commemorate the day with a free concert of music and spoken word featuring Sunni Patterson, Edith Romero, Alfred Banks and more. The concert takes place at 6 p.m. at the Jazz & Heritage Foundation on North Rampart Street. RSVP is required at ashenola.org.

Elton John P R O V I D E D P H O T O B Y M AYA I M A N

Chief Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah holding his Adjuah Trumpet, right, and his new Adjuah Bow, left. it’s plugged in — I can make it sound like anything from a Thom Yorke, Radiohead record to a Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsies record. But the exhibition is happening over rhythms that are wholly rooted in West Africa and the transatlantic experience.”

Adjuah is working on recordings based on The Sound Carved from Legend to be released later this year.

It’s been almost 12 years since Adjuah released “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow.” When asked about the education that still remains around the issues he channeled on the record, Adjuah recognizes it’s frustrating and thinks of his grandmother, Herreast Harrison, who ran nursery schools in the 9th Ward for more than 30 years.

“One of the things that we learned from her and one of the things I learned from the women in my family is that when you want a younger person to learn or someone that hasn’t developed a certain type of understanding yet or doesn’t have a context for things yet, you have to continue to repeat yourself,” Adjuah says. “You don’t repeat yourself in anger. You repeat yourself with love. Because at the end of the day, at some point they’ll hear. That has to be the hope.”

Tickets and information about the Prospect.5 gala can be found at prospect5.org. Find Adjuah’s music at chiefadjuah.com.

ELTON JOHN’S FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD TOUR has been

extended repeatedly by the pandemic. The New Orleans show has finally arrived — at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the Smoothie King Center. Find tickets at smoothiekingcenter.com.

P H O T O B Y D AV I D G R U N F E L D / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Blue Nile Reopens

FRENCHMEN STREET CLUB BLUE NILE HAS BEEN SHUT SINCE MARCH 15, 2020,

and is one of a few left to reopen.

This weekend, the club is finally throwing the doors back open with a Saturday night celebration.

The Washboard Chaz Blues Trio starts things off with a non-ticketed show at 6 p.m., and The Soul Rebels take the stage at 10 p.m.

Tickets for The Soul Rebels are $20 at bluenilelive.com.

Tango Fire

RENOWNED TANGO DANCER GERMAN CORNEJO CREATED TANGO FIRE to

present Argentina’s sultry and expressive form of social dance

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022

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NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Crawfish season starting early is a delicious silver lining to 2022

#

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

KID smART, a New Orleans nonprofit that focuses on art and arts education in local schools, will receive a $45,000 grant from The National Endowment for the Arts. KID smART will use the funding to support its Creative Schools program, which combines music, poetry and visual with academic subjects to help make learning more fun and effective for students.

Bobby Sneed, a man formerly

incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary for more than 45 years, was finally released last week after a protracted fight over his parole, The Lens reported. Sneed, who was convicted in 1975 for his role as a lookout during a fatal armed robbery in Bienville Parish, had been granted parole in March 2021. But soon thereafter, Sneed was hospitalized with pneumonia and COVID-19 and failed a drug test — which halted the paperwork on his parole. That triggered a series of lawsuits, culminating in a settlement — and Sneed’s freedom.

The Jefferson Parish School Board appointed Rafael Rafidi,

a Metairie businessman, to fill an interim school board seat despite two board members questioning Rafidi about his social media, where he made disparaging remarks about politicians and even teachers.

He was still voted in 6-1. The appointment drew an immediate public backlash, and Rafidi ultimately resigned.

THE COUNT

2,233

THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE CASES OF COVID-19 CASES TRACKED BY NOLA PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY.

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

The Orleans Justice Center.

Significant COVID-19 outbreaks reported at New Orleans jail, Louisiana state prisons BOTH THE NEW ORLEANS JAIL AND THE LOUISIANA PRISON SYSTEM are

reporting significant COVID-19 outbreaks this week, among both staff and people in custody, with the most reported cases since the surge related to the omicron variant began late last year.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office on Monday reported that 95 detainees at the New Orleans jail are positive for the virus — about 11 percent of the current jail population — along with 68 staff members. That is up from 24 detainees and 49 staff cases that were reported two weeks prior.

Throughout Louisiana state prisons, 425 prisoners are positive for the virus according to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and 212 staff are positive — up from 150 staff and just 24 prisoners reported positive last week.

The largest outbreak among prisoners is at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women – Jetson, with 100 reported cases. Allen Correctional Center was close behind with 93. Dixon Correctional Institute and David Wade Correctional Center also reported high numbers of

prisoner cases, with 75 and 72, respectively. Among staff, the largest outbreak is at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola — which accounts for over 70 of the current cases.

The current spike in prisons and the city jail is significantly larger than those that occurred during the wave of cases associated with the delta variant over the summer. Neither agency is reporting the number of hospitalizations or deaths associated with the virus.

It is also unclear how either agency is navigating staff shortages caused by the hundreds of guards who currently have COVID. Both the New Orleans jail and the Louisiana prison system struggled with serious staffing issues prior to the recent surge in cases. In April of last year, The Advocate reported that the Department of Public Safety and Corrections had over 400 unfilled guard positions — a vacancy rate of over 35 percent.

OPSO has over 100 vacancies, and lack of staffing at the jail has been raised repeatedly by federal jail monitors who say that guard posts are frequently vacant.

— Nick Chrastil / The Lens

The district, which oversees 81 public schools, reported the number of cases Jan. 10, marking the highest single-week total since it began tracking. According to the district, it represents an approximate positivity rate of 13 percent. 597 cases were reported among staff while 1,636 cases were among students. The vaccination rate among 5-17 year-olds across New Orleans is 35 percent, according to the city’s health department data.

C’EST W H AT

?

Now that Peter Bowen has been fired following his DUI arrest, who will Cantrell tap next to oversee short-term rental regulations?

43.3%

IRVIN MAYFIELD, WORKING REMOTELY

16.7%

JARED BROSSETT

36.7%

AIRBNB CEO BRIAN CHESKY

3.3%

JOSHUA BRUNO

Vote on “C’est What?” at www.bestofneworleans.com

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OPENING GAMBIT

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Mayor Cantrell should let Thoth roll Uptown

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C O M M E N TA R Y

a loafer stor y

AS PART OF HER PLAN TO RESUME MARDI GRAS PARADES despite the

Covid pandemic, Mayor LaToya Cantrell has imposed significant route changes on some (though not all) krewes. This is particularly true — in the most unfortunate way imaginable — for the beloved Krewe of Thoth. Founded in 1947 as the “shut-in parade,” Thoth’s route has always passed in front of more than a dozen Uptown hospitals and assisted-living facilities to give the sick, disabled and elderly a chance to see and enjoy Mardi Gras. That will not be true this Carnival season, however, if the mayor refuses to change her mind.

Thoth’s tradition of literally going out of its way to include historically marginalized communities has made it a crowd favorite and has helped grow its membership to the point that it rivals the largest krewes in size. Even the Catholic nuns of the Order of the Poor Clares call Thoth “their” parade, because it presents their only chance to see a Mardi Gras parade from St. Clare Monastery on Henry Clay Avenue.

Not this year, though.

Instead, the mayor has dictated that virtually all krewes must follow a one-size-fits-most route that takes them off Magazine Street entirely and far away from Thoth’s traditional, winding Uptown route. Cantrell insists her edict — from which the Krewe of Endymion (a suburban and tourist favorite) is essentially exempt — is necessary because the city lacks enough cops to work longer routes. Yet, she’s offered Thoth no explanation why Endymion should be shown deference while they are not.

Thoth has tried to find a middle ground with the mayor. As the Uptown Messenger first reported, the krewe initially suggested limiting its route to its traditional Uptown streets. Cantrell and Police Chief Shaun Ferguson refused.

Thoth then proposed moving to a different day to ease the burden on police, but the administration dismissed that alternative out of hand. Since then, the administration has refused even to speak with krewe leaders.

$88

PHOTO BY JULIA KUMARI D R A P K I N / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Mayor Cantrell may not be a fan of Thoth, but kids and nuns love the carnival “Parade of Shut-ins.”

In short, Cantrell and Ferguson are snubbing sick kids, elderly mameres and nuns while rolling out the red carpet for the Krewe of Chad. Thoth may not have the money or the gawdy flash of Endymion, but it is a beloved early-day parade for generations of New Orleanians, and they deserve better.

Speaking of Endymion, they’ve named right-wing culture warrior Raymond Arroyo — who recently accused President Joe Biden of using COVID-19 tests to ruin Christmas — as its Grand Marshal.

The Thoth parade flap comes on the heels of several controversial, anti-local decisions by Cantrell.

She has targeted small-time pop-up vendors along second lines, allowed short-term rentals to destroy historic neighborhoods, and tried to shoehorn a new City Hall in Congo Square — one of our city’s most sacred spots. That’s never a good look.

Sadly, it’s one Cantrell seems comfortable wearing.

Cantrell’s refusal to budge on the Thoth route is stubborn and wrongheaded. New Orleans shouldn’t be turned into an antiseptic playground catering solely to tourists and out-of-town financial interests. Changing her mind would show strength and sensitivity — and help many of New Orleans’ most vulnerable citizens enjoy Mardi Gras as they always have: in their neighborhood. For the love of God — and the Poor Clares — we urge the mayor to reconsider.

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CL ANCY DUBOS

S T E R L I N G S I LV E R

@clancygambit

Paperclip Pearl

In her second term, Cantrell should deliver on S&WB promise

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New Orleanians, “The best is yet to come.”

That’s a far cry from the post-Ida “malaise” that Cantrell laid on us during her re-election campaign amid autumn’s failed trash pickups, spiraling murder rate and miles of unfinished street repairs.

Mayors love lofty pronouncements, particularly at inauguration time, so Cantrell can be forgiven for a bit of excessive optimism. Besides, we who grew up here have learned not to set the bar too high for our elected leaders. We’ve been disappointed enough merely hoping not to slide further behind regional and national norms.

As for the “best” days to come, most New Orleanians would be thrilled just to see our days get noticeably better.

• As in better (read: timely and twice weekly) trash collections — and renewed curbside recycling citywide.

• As in more cops and faster response times to emergency calls.

Oh hell, how about operators just answering 9-1-1 calls?

• As in not abandoning street repairs halfway through the process.

• And, of course, as in accurate monthly bills and reliable water and drainage services from the Sewerage and Water Board (S&WB).

Any one of those would be a major “win” for Cantrell in her final term (the City Charter limits mayors to two terms) and give her a respectable legacy. But the truth is they are all Herculean tasks for any mayor — particularly crime, policing and turning around the S&WB. Cantrell has had to face additional — and unforeseen — challenges that no other mayor has confronted, namely the Covid pandemic.

Hurricane Ida was no cakewalk, but hurricanes, even big ones, are standard fare for south Louisiana officialdom. Moreover, mayors don’t get to pick their crises; they sign up for whatever may come.

PHOTO BY CHRIS GR ANGER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell gives a speech at Gallier Hall during her second inauguration on Jan. 10.

Which brings me back to the S&WB. When she first ran for mayor, and during the early days of her tenure, Cantrell declared reforming the long-troubled agency her top priority. The pandemic disrupted a lot of things, but it didn’t need to sidetrack reform efforts at the S&WB. Heronner deserves credit for putting Ghassan Korban in charge and for negotiating the “fair share” plan that created additional state and local funding. Those are great first steps, but turning around an inert monolith like the S&WB takes more than installing the right person at the top and throwing more money at the problem.

It takes focused, continuous political and strategic support from a mayor willing to wage epic battles against civil service, local and state fiefdoms, and decades of bureaucratic and political neglect.

Covid notwithstanding, Cantrell could have done more to change things at S&WB. In the next four years, she will have opportunities to build on her early successes and deliver on her promise of turning around the agency.

Or at least, making it noticeably better — which would look pretty darned good to most New Orleanians. Here’s hoping she accomplishes that much and more.

11

@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com

Hey Blake,

Your story (Jan. 11) on some defunct krewes mentioned at the Mardi Gras fountain reminded me of the parades in St. Bernard Parish which “ain’t dere no more.” How many krewes paraded there over the years?

Dear reader,

ACCORDING TO MARDI GRAS GUIDE PUBLISHER Arthur Hardy, the Krewe

of Arabi was St. Bernard Parish’s first Carnival organization. Named after the neighborhood in which it paraded, it was founded in 1932 as a walking club. It staged its first street parade in 1957 and remained active until 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the parish.

The 1960s and ’70s saw several krewes debut, including Alpheus, Amor, Chalimar, Sprites and the Vikings of Tyr. The Krewe of Jupiter presented St. Bernard’s first nighttime parade when it rolled in 1969. The men’s krewe rolled for more than a decade before merging with the all-female Krewe of Juno in 1983. The co-ed Krewe of JupiterJuno only lasted two years. Juno returned as a solo krewe and rolled for a few years in the 1990s.

One of the biggest St. Bernard parades was Gladiators, which premiered in Chalmette and Arabi in 1974. The all-male krewe selected sports figures to reign as its monarch, or Caesar. The first was NFL great George Blanda,

ned.

F a m i ly O w

E R AT E D. F A M I LY O P

Reds

W I N T ER

P H O T O B Y F R A N K I E P R I J AT E L / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

The Knights of Nemesis, the one and only parade that rolls in St. Bernard Parish, returns Feb. 19. who was then with the Oakland Raiders. Others to reign over the years included Archie Manning, Tom Dempsey, Kenny Stabler, Johnny Bench, Billy Kilmer, Danny Abramowicz, Morten Andersen, Ron Swoboda and Jim Henderson.

The krewe disbanded after Katrina.

According to Hardy, the Krewe of Shangri-La was for many years the largest female krewe in Carnival, first rolling in St. Bernard in 1973.

From an initial membership of 280 women, its ranks grew to more than 1,000. In 2001, the parade moved to the Uptown route and recruited male members in an effort to boost membership. It disbanded in 2010.

St. Bernard’s only surviving parade is the Knights of Nemesis, which was established in 2004.

Even with the major population loss the parish suffered in Katrina, the krewe was determined to debut in 2006 and did. This year’s parade is set for Feb. 19.

BL AKEVIE W THIS MONTH MARKS THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY of the creation of Storyville, New Orleans’ notorious red-light district where prostitution was legal from 1897 until 1917.

The district was designed as a way to curtail and contain the spread of prostitution across the city by limiting it to a certain area. City ordinance No. 13,032, approved on Jan. 29, 1897, established the boundaries of the 16-square-block district: Customhouse (Iberville), St. Louis, Basin and North Robertson streets. The ordinance went into effect Oct. 1, 1897.

Though it was more commonly called simply “The District,” the name Storyville was a reference to City Alderman Sidney Story, who created the ordinance.

So-called “Blue Books” advertised the businesses of the district, including madams, sex workers and club owners who operated there, such as Josie Arlington, Tom Anderson, Willie Piazza and Lulu White, whose legendary Mahogany Hall employed women of color. Many of the brothels employed early jazz and ragtime musicians, including Jelly Roll Morton and Manuel Manetta, Joe “King” Oliver, a young Louis Armstrong and others.

Storyville was closed in 1917 at the urging of the U.S. Navy, as part of a nationwide crackdown on such districts. Most of Storyville’s buildings were leveled in the 1940s for the Iberville public housing development. Today, just three of the original Storyville structures are still standing.

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Accepting Applications for the 2022-2023 School Year. Apply online by February 4th, Noon. www.discoveryapplication.com.

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425 O’Bannon St., New Orleans, LA 504-227-3810 • NOMMA.net Accepting 8th – 11th grade students from all metro parishes for the 2022-2023 school year.

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YOUNG AUDIENCES CHARTER SCHOOLS yacs.org 2301 MARENGO ST., New Orleans LA 504-302-7149 Now enrolling PK-8

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Apply at yacs.org OPEN HOUSE January 26, 2022, 6-7 p.m.

13

ON THE

COUNCIL

BY GAMBIT STAFF LAST FALL’S ELECTION swept a slate of new characters onto the City Council, ranging from electoral neophyte Lesli Harris to veteran political hand Oliver Thomas. Unlike in her first term, Mayor LaToya Cantrell doesn’t have clear allies on the council at this point, and it is expected to be more aggressive in its oversight of the executive branch than in past years.

Gambit sat down with all seven members of the council to find out how the new folks are settling in and what they have on their minds as they enter office. Abridged versions of those interviews are presented below.

Complete versions of the interviews can be found at gambitweekly.com.

THE NEW CREW LESLI HARRIS: DISTRICT B ATTORNEY AND POLITICAL NEWCOMER Lesli Harris is stepping in to lead District

B after defeating incumbent Jay Banks. Harris is a former Chief of Staff at Loyola University, and she ran on a platform of violent crime reduction, fixing infrastructure and securing more affordable housing, as well as mitigating the effects of climate change in a vulnerable city. She has also pledged to focus on women’s issues.

How is your first week on the job going so far?

LESLI HARRIS: It’s good; it’s super busy, I’ve had meetings back-to-back.

Can you share some of your vision for the committees you’re working with?

LH: I will be chairing the Quality of Life Committee, which is great because I ran on a platform of quality of life. It encompasses everything, from potholes to affordable housing. I’m on seven total. I kept [community engagement liaison for City Council] Matt Schoenberger from Jay [Banks]’s office, and he’s really responsive.

I want to focus on affordable housing, including making repairs to homes owned by low-income people. That’s something I ran on, having grants available to people, so they can repair their homes. I want to repurpose city-owned properties.

I’m also serving on the Climate Change and Sustainability Committee.

I think we have a real opportunity to become a beacon in greening our infrastructure and stormwater management. That, in turn, can create jobs.

For the Public Works Committee, I want to focus on potholes and fixing traffic lights.

For the Criminal Justice Committee, we have to focus on violent crime.

That’ll involve working with the district attorney’s office, and I have a call with [Police Superintendent] Shaun Ferguson later today — I want to make sure our officers and other first responders are supported. That’s something I’m going to be laser-focused on. I’m excited to chair the Quality of Life Committee because I can bring all the committees to that.

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

Your New Orleans City Council.

What is the dynamic like with the new council? Did you have previous relationships or know the other members before you took office?

LH: Helena [Moreno] was friends of friends, and she endorsed me. I really like her vision for the city. Having another woman, when there’s only two of us — that’s something she and I can vibe on. I think it’s important that she and I have a focus on women’s leadership.

I knew JP [Morrell] from law school at Tulane, so he and I are friends.

And Joe [Giarrusso], I was in law school with his wife. So I have some prior relationships. I think Oliver Thomas will be a statesman and someone we can look to for guidance. And I served on the Industrial Development Board with Eugene Green, and Freddie [King], I watched his campaign — he ran a really good campaign.

You and Helena both wore suffragette white to inauguration.

LH: Yes, it was very empowering to wear white. She and I will be focusing on fostering women’s leadership at the high school and college levels.

When I was at Loyola, [university president] Tania Tetlow and I put together the women’s leadership academy, and I think we can do something like that at the city level and focus on bringing up the next generation of leaders.

What are some of your favorite hotspots to hang out at in District B? LH: One of my favorites is Stein’s Deli. I get the turkey Reuben on seeded bread. Mais Arepas is owned by two of my friends and the street corn is amazing; I eat there at least twice a month. I’ve also been hanging out at Café Reconcile and supporting the kids over there and their efforts. And I will always grab the orbit bowl at the Daily Beet to try and be healthy.

Is there anything else you want our readers to know?

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

District B Council Member Lesli Harris.

LH: I ran on accountability and getting things done, so if I am not getting things done, I need the citizens of District B to call me out on it. There’s so much to do and I think we can really make some progress.

I think this council will be a powerhouse and help move New Orleans in the right direction.

— Sarah Ravits PAGE 14

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NEW KIDS ON THE COUNCIL PAGE 13

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

District C Council Member Freddie King III.

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FREDDIE KING III: DISTRICT C A LIFELONG RESIDENT OF ALGIERS,

Freddie King III is also a former public defender who worked for the City Council under former Council Member Nadine Ramsey, directing constituent services. As a newly elected member he will chair the Community Development committee and focus on economic growth, particularly in “deserts” in Algiers and Holy Cross.

What are some of your top priorities on the council?

FK: Meet with the administration and colleagues about crime. I just went to a memorial service and a police march for a little girl who was killed in Algiers. And there was a man there who told me about a 12-year-old boy who was shot in the East. [Violent crime] is not a New Orleans thing, or an East thing — it’s a citywide epidemic.

That’s the first thing I want to address as a council member. I want to work with law enforcement, other mentoring groups like Son of a Saint and everyone who can play a positive role or reduce this ...

Economic development is also something that is needed in the district. Everyone can use that. I look in places like Algiers, where we are starving for economic development. We are a community of 60,000-plus people … We don’t have a hospital [in District C] ... We don’t have a lot of economic development; I don’t know who is to blame, but I want to be a part of the solution. You’d be hard-pressed to find a community without a hospital.

A lot of council members including yourself ran on affordable housing issues. Can you elaborate on this topic?

FK: That’s something that’s needed. I’ve had conversations

with some people in that industry, about what is the future of affordable housing. Right now a single family home is something that a lot of people can’t afford. We don’t want to become a city like San Francisco, where the backbone, the workers, the everyday workers, can’t afford to live in the city.

What or who inspired you to run for Council?

FK: It wasn’t one particular person. It was me working in the council’s office [under former Council Member Nadine Ramsey] from 2014-2017. Those experiences made me realize there was a lot that can be done. I want to be on the front line; we have a lot of need. I also work as a defense attorney. When you see so many people in and out of court — who don’t deserve to be — those experiences kind of shaped my mind in wanting to run. Being on different boards and seeing how government works shaped my focus. I realized the council has a lot of power, individually and collectively.

As chair of the Community Development Committee, can you share what some of your priorities are?

FK: It’s a broad committee. It’s about heath, mental health, social services, youth and recreation, code enforcement — a little bit of everything. One of my main issues will be focusing on youth. Children were a big part of my campaign, and we need to invest in them at an early age. If we don’t do that, we will pay for it down the line.

I also want to look at improving the Algiers bike lanes. There was a lack of transparency about the way they were implemented — it’s not a one-size fits all; each neighborhood needs a different design. We want to keep them, but we need to make them safer. And I want to

NEW KIDS ON THE COUNCIL

Any final words?

FK: [The districts] can feel like different cities or worlds. I want to bridge that gap. Sometimes they may conflict, but I want everyone to know that I’ll take anyone’s concern. I truly want to be a council member to put the people first.

— Sarah Ravits

EUGENE GREEN: DISTRICT D EUGENE GREEN BEAT OUT more than a dozen candidates for the District D council seat previously held by Jared Brossett, which covers Gentilly, the 7th Ward, the Florida-Desire area, the Downman Road corridor and other neighborhoods. He’s the founder of Nationwide Real Estate Corporation and has a history in politics, serving as former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson’s chief of staff and former Mayor Marc Morial’s economic development director. He will chair the Transportation and Airport Committee.

What is the biggest issue facing your district right now?

EUGENE GREEN: The biggest issue facing my district is the biggest issue that’s facing the entire city of New Orleans, and it’s an issue of escalating levels of [violent] crime … carjackings, shootings on the interstate and murders. Those are of grave concern to the people of my district, as well as to the

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

District D Council Member Eugene Green.

people of the entire [city]. It’s my priority. Ironically, I set an appointment with you to talk to you and was going to be attending a funeral for a seven-year-old [Dillan Burton] who was shot in a drive-by shooting [on Dec. 26]. It gives you an example of how important an issue that is because unfortunately, it’s not an isolated incident.

As a council member, how do you hope to reduce violent crime?

EG: I know it’s a very complex issue that needs to be addressed, but I think that the City Council has got to work with the mayor to identify some things that we can do to address that … I, for example, would like to see more mentorship programs in our city, including helping them to secure funding if that’s necessary for administrative purposes, so that we can go into the schools and into the Youth Study Center (the city’s detention facility for juveniles waiting for trial) and to areas of concern to talk to youth and to help them wherever possible to avoid anything that has to do with participation in the criminal lifestyle. But I also recognize that it’s going to take us reducing blight in our city.

As a member of the Economic Development Committee, what kind of economic development projects would you like to see this year?

EG: I want our entrepreneurs and investors of our city to feel more

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

District E Council Member Oliver Thomas. comfortable doing business in our city, and whether that involves the enhancement of the permitting process or creating more documents and working directly with those developers if they have problems, lending our systems in whatever way is possible …

Projects that I would like to see happen are certainly some very specific projects that are on the table right now. Certainly, yes, the development of the Six Flags site into a higher and better use. There are a couple of projects on the table with the Industrial Development Board such as the project that was gonna create the golf experience at the former site of the Times-Picayune. And there are other projects such as the redevelopment of the Pontchartrain Beach site, the development of historic Lincoln Beach. All those projects could potentially use the assistance of an economic-development focused attention on the council.

overhead insurance taxes and maintenance.

But the bottom line is that it should be easy because we are a city of festivals and a city of sometimes hastily called, very successful activities. We want to do what we can to make sure that people who want to do business in the city know how to do it, and I certainly will do what I can to expedite the permitting process by sharing information.

You mentioned the permitting process, which is something that came up last year in regards to outdoor live music and pop-ups.

OLIVER THOMAS DEFEATED Cyndi Nguyen for the District E seat representing New Orleans East and the 9th Ward. He previously served on the City Council from 1994 to 2007, resigning after pleading guilty to bribery, for which he was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

He will chair two committees, the Criminal Justice Committee and the Public Works, Sanitation and Environment Committee.

EG: One of the complaints that I think that I read about … was that people say that the permitting process is cumbersome and that they have to go through too many hoops to be able to do a pop-up.

I certainly don’t want to see that happen. So I will explore that process to see what can be done. I don’t support people setting up in front of other businesses to do the business that that other business is doing when they’re paying

Any last thoughts?

EG: I’m just looking forward to the job because the glass is much more than half full in New Orleans.

We’ve got a lot of positive things going on, and we need to do what we can — and I’m gonna do what I can — to make more citizens feel the same optimism that I do about my district and the city.

— Kaylee Poche

OLIVER THOMAS: DISTRICT E

Coming in, what is your top priority right now?

OLIVER THOMAS: If you can’t be safe, you can’t be anything.

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address blight. This is an overlap with different communities.

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NEW KIDS ON THE COUNCIL PAGE 15

There is such a feeling of fear in this town, and that’s a harsh word to use. Cities in urban corridors have dealt with crime for quite some time. When I go back to the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, especially urban America with crack cocaine, drug gangs and some of the indiscriminate violence, this is the first time, I’ve sensed that level of fear from people really.

It’s different this time from the ‘80s because in the ‘80s there was crack. Does that create a space maybe to do things other than throw cops at it?

OT: I actually think as horrible and as challenging as the time is now, it offers us the chance to do both because we knew the law enforcement piece didn’t work. Maxine Waters apologized, Bill Clinton and Hillary have apologized. The statistics show that the tough-oncrime model and the war on drugs didn’t do anything but create more disparity, more broken homes and more broken communities ... I think it’s a perfect chance right now to say, hey, look, we could be frightened into knocking heads and stop and frisk, but here’s an opportunity, especially with the rest of that money coming into town, to do both.

There seem to be a lot of problems to fix right now. You’ve been in city government. Can things be done differently?

OT: This shit ain’t new … When 30% of the people vote, 15% of the people vote ... I had this conversation with Mitch Landrieu several years ago, he was talking about winning with mandates. In my conversation, I said, “Well, I am glad you got the 60% but if everybody who didn’t vote voted against everybody who’s in politics, none of them would be there. So you can’t be happy with it.” There are a group of people who are opting out. They’re saying, “I don’t give a shit. Oliver Thomas, Peter Rabbit, one of the Avengers, ain’t nobody gonna change that shit.” But then isn’t that why it’s important that whichever of us are there that we show them that we can?

What do you think about the city announcing it’s going to start cracking down on unlicensed pop-ups?

OT: I’m offended by it. I’m a Lower 9th Ward boy. I grew up on pop-up culture, on pop-up economics — the frozen cup lady, the lady who sold the candy out of

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

At-Large Council Member Jean Paul “JP’ Morrell. her house who had her own little corner store. I grew up on the hustle economy in this town because that’s what they gave us. That’s a low hanging fruit. First of all, and this is real talk here, to focus on that group because of how much money we think we can collect is fucking crazy. You ain’t gonna enough money from that group to do nothing but maybe hire a NORD supervisor.

When you talk about economic scales, we need to be focusing on bigger shit ... Why don’t we pop up with a permit that says hey, I know you’re a pop-up but you can keep popping up because we want to help you pop up the right way? …

We ain’t gonna save New Orleans by focusing on the frozen cup lady or the barbecue guy at the second line or somebody setting up on a corner hustling.

What are some projects you want to make happen in your district?

OT: A major project is we have to make sure that Lincoln Beach and the Bayou Phoenix/Six Flags project, we have to fight day and night to make sure those happen … And to me, you have to have two of the most powerful waterways, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Industrial Canal. Given what’s happening with the Panama and distribution of resources and supplies throughout the world, we’re uniquely positioned to take advantage of that, especially given some of the challenges other folk have and our access to waterways that fuel most of middle America and eastern America. How do we reposition to take advantage of that? Then we have NASA ...

I think too often in the city, all we ever talk about is how we’re hurting, not those things that have allowed us to survive in spite of our pain. And it’s been reflected in how

NEW KIDS ON THE COUNCIL

JEAN PAUL “JP” MORRELL: AT LARGE BORN AND RAISED IN THE 7TH WARD, JP Morrell worked as a public defender in New Orleans after graduating from Tulane Law. In 2006, Morrell was elected to the state House of Representatives before moving to the Senate in 2008. Morrell served in the state Senate until 2020. In 2021, he defeated former District D Council Member Kristin Gisleson Palmer for the At-Large seat, and will chair the Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology and Government Affairs committees.

There’s a lot of problems facing the city and a lot of opportunities to do some good. What are the top things you’re going to try to keep an eye on at the front end of your term?

JP MORRELL: We have to deal with the hardening the grid issue.

Because with climate change and with the amount of emergency climate-related events that happen, it’s not as simple as hurricanes.

You saw what happened in Texas where the lines froze and melted simultaneously.

But also on a basic level, we have to [have] difficult conversations [with Entergy about] how we’re going to keep rates low, because the reality is that people, when you put their hierarchy of needs, food and housing should always be first.

But when your energy bill and your Sewerage & Water Board bill are a disproportionate, large amount of your bill each month, you have to eat less food and find crappier housing.

What’s the biggest hurdle to all that?

JM: The biggest hurdle is likely to be inherent inertia that comes with bureaucracy, whether it be the city’s bureaucracy, whether it’s Entergy’s bureaucracy … I think the biggest problem is going to be changing the culture of how — on Utilities in particular — how we interact and deal with Entergy and what our expectations are as the regulators of Entergy of what Entergy is supposed to do … Historically, the chair of this committee means that a bunch of people that you kind of know get hired

by Entergy as consultants paid by ratepayers to come talk to you. I’m against all that crap.

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

At-Large Council Member and Council President Helena Moreno and District A Council member Joseph Giarrusso III

That goes to the question of transparency. If you look at the road construction going on in the city right now, when your road gets dug up, you can’t find out when it’s ever gonna get done.

JM: My issue is — and this is a Governmental Affairs issue — I really want to change actively how we do procurement. And I want to change what the expectations are of contractors to come to the city, because the reality is even if you’re a private company, if you’re doing public works projects, there’s a level of transparency that’s required …

You’d be hard pressed today for anyone to tell you in government when your street will be fixed.

That’s a failure of government ...

There’s a reason why there are five new people [on the council] and why four people aren’t here anymore … The public cast a vote of hope, saying, “We’re going to counter the trend of apathy. Rather than just re-elect the person that’s been here forever, we’re gonna hope there’s somebody who does something different because we’re tired of the way things are being done” … In a year or two, if we’re not doing things different, they would be completely — and they absolutely should be — looking for new people to do the job.

One of the things that I found in talking to people is they’re not even looking for someone to be like, “I’m gonna fix it.” They’re looking for someone to be like, “This is fucked up, and it’s gonna take a long time to fix it. But this is what we’re going to do to start getting there a little bit.” A little bit of honesty goes a long way.

JM: I’ll tell you my frustration, and obviously we’re in the middle of

this, is part of the frustration and rage people have over crime is that the city’s position has been, “Nothing to see here.” You can’t have four people getting carjacked last night. You can’t have two kids, one in New Orleans East and one in Algiers, being killed from the same school. It took four days for the mayor and police chief to issue a statement on that ...

When you look at the last year, [we] had the highest per capita deaths since before Katrina. The fact that there is not a red alarm bell going off somewhere saying, “Holy crap, we have to get on top of this,” it’s not just disheartening.

It’s almost like political malpractice at this point. No, municipal malpractice because it’s not politics.

Everybody I know is like, “The carjackings will stop the second tourists get carjacked because then the city’s gonna take it seriously.”

JM: I agree with you as far as that’s the sad truth. This is why I’ve tried to explain to people who say that ... That logic is like saying, listen, we’re gonna stage all our firemen in front of a hotel. Now the blocks on either side of the hotel are on fire. We’re not asking them to put out those fires. They’re just going to guard the hotel. The problem is when the fire gets so large it gets to the hotel, you can’t stop the fire at that point.

— John Stanton

COUNCIL ELDERS

Crime, Infrastructure and Economic Development Top Moreno’s Agenda FRESH OFF AN EASY RE-ELECTION to her at-large seat, Council President

Helena Moreno is more upbeat about what the newly constituted City Council can achieve on key issues including violent crime, the city’s crumbling infrastructure, climate change and holding Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration accountable.

“One of the reasons why I’m excited about this new group is I have felt over the past couple of years, really, ever since [current District Attorney] Jason [Williams] left, the whole dynamic kind of changed. I felt like I was almost being viewed like, ‘Oh, there’s Helena complaining again,’” Moreno told Gambit.

“I think this is really like a tipping point,” Moreno says. “This is a point where either we just go all the way into the gutter, or we turn it around and bring ourselves back up. And I think we can turn it around, but it’s gonna take some loud voices.”

According to Moreno, personality clashes, policy differences and differing political loyalties often ended up stymying efforts to push legislation or conduct vigorous oversight of the administration.

“It gets to a point where it’s like, well, nobody freaking backs me up, and nothing changes. It was really frustrating, really tough. So I’m pumped about this new group that’s coming in there and being like, let’s get some stuff done and let’s hold people accountable,” she says.

As with her colleagues, the violence that’s hit the city over the last 18 months is at the top of Moreno’s agenda. But like incoming Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Oliver Thomas, Moreno says the city needs to not simply focus on the immediate wave of carjackings and murders, but also the underlying problems.

PAGE 19

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we govern and how we invest.

— John Stanton

17

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18

French Quarter Pop-Up AT THE SHOP AT THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION

King Cake Hub features over 65 varieties of King Cake from bakeries across the region.

Come in and grab an old favorite or discover a new one! The Shop at The Collection will carry a rotating selection of our favorite cakes throughout Carnival Season.

The best cakes all in one place – KingCakeHub.com

Presents

Clash Of The Brass Sunday, January 23rd • 7pm

KINGS OF BRASS

VS.

YOUNG FELLAZ BRASS BAND

Hosted By: Downtown Lesli Brown

FMI: (504)301-4441 • 1234 N. Claiborne Avenue, NOLA

NEW KIDS ON THE COUNCIL

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PAGE 17

“It’s not necessarily about adding more police officers, but [also] policy wise, what can we do? … We need to be throwing everything at the wall and seeing what works, because it’s been like [watching] the same movie over and over again,” Moreno says.

One proposal she says she will pursue early this year is to “potentially take part of the homeland security office to just focus on reducing violent crime” Having a central office focused on the issue could better coordinate short-term efforts, like stepped-up patrols and policing, and longer-term systemic solutions to the causes of crime.

Similarly, Moreno says she hopes to work with Cantrell to create an office to coordinate the flood of federal funding coming into the city as part of pandemic relief bills and the Biden administration’s infrastructure spending and climate change initiatives.

Moreno says the council will also spend much of the next term aggressively overseeing how those dollars are spent, particularly in infrastructure. “We have to focus in on accountability around that,” she says, adding that she hopes to beef up outreach to neighborhood organizations, community groups and others to better direct spending to where it’s needed.

The council this year will also take up permitting reforms designed for outdoor music venues and help pop-up vendors more easily navigate the system. “We’ll be moving some outdoor music measures in the next two meetings or so … so they can have stability, because they’re working off of temporary permits and it’s just been a mess,” she says.

— John Stanton

Giarrusso Looks To Flex Budget Committee Oversight Muscle Joe Giarrusso is in his second term as the council member representing District A. A lifelong resident of the district, Giarrusso graduated from Jesuit High School, and has been a lawyer for 17 years. This year he takes over the powerful council’s Budget Committee.

The Budget Committee and the budget work is a space that the council hasn’t necessarily used in an aggressive enough way in the past. And everybody seems to think that that’s something that you’re looking to do.

19

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

There’s lots of new faces on the council this year.

JOE GIARRUSSO: Well, I think the answer is yes. I think some of it is even mild procedural things.

One of the things I would like to do is, instead of starting the meetings with all the ordinances that have to be passed first, and then doing the revenue reports at the very end, let’s start with the revenue reports first. That’s what I care about: Where’s the money coming?

Where’s it going? Is there anybody who’s in the red?

How do we get that information discussed at the top of the hour and not sort of when everybody’s asleep from sort of systematically hitting “Yes.” That’s number one.

Number two is, we’ve had a tendency to wait till October to start talking budget with the administration and that’s collectively — I’m not blaming either side, but that’s what’s happened. I think we should be getting to that process much earlier.

One of the things I want to do specifically, with my district council members, obviously with our at-larges, is sit down in May and say, “All right, look, give me on the operational and the capital budget side your three needs, your three

wants, and your three luxury items and let’s go see.”

I feel like it does two things. One is just candidly, it builds rapport with everybody on the council.

[For example] I’m going to go try and see what I can do to help Algiers with this. And we do it citywide and help each other.

And then the other thing, too, is, we don’t get to November and then start saying, “All right, these are the things that are important.”

Are there mechanisms that could be used to create a bit more of a stick through the budget?

JG: I think the council has multiple moves … [one thing we] can do is hold back certain spending ordinances, as well and just say, “we’re deferring it until we get the type of action that everybody is agreeable to.” I think though, those sticks require either supermajority or council unanimity to make sure it happens … The other thing I would just say and in complete fairness is, you need to be careful in how you use that. because if you reappropriate, a public safety agency — and I

use that term very broadly — then we’re going to be accused of not helping Safety and Permits or NOPD, or Code Enforcement. And you need to be thoughtful about how you send a message.

Can you guys write budgets where you’re saying, OK, we want money to go to hiring, let’s say, 10 new STR inspectors, and be very specific about it. Is that possible?

JG: I’m not sure if that exactly is possible, but I think what we can do is say, alright, well, STR falls under the [Office of Business and External Services] and I’m going to withhold this amount of money from OBEs until we see those 10 STR officers hired.

To me, it’s how does it fit sort of on a chessboard and how do you move the pieces around to get what you want? We may not be able to directly make that a specific ask — because remember, we allocate, and then the administration spends, that’s how it works.

— John Stanton

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20

Is Your Child Enrolled in an Early Childhood or K-12 school?

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Rising 6th and 7th graders and high school seniors and college students should apply.

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21

Horn Section

FORK + CENTER

Little Horn serves diner fare with vegetarian options

| by Beth D’Addono

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

THE TABLES AT HORN’S IN THE MARIGNY USUALLY AREN’T CROWDED with

plant-eaters. At this casual breakfast and lunch joint owned by restaurant maven Kappa Horn, patrons line up for the likes of shredded hash browns and eggs smothered in etouffee, BLTs and chicken and waffles.

“Horn’s is great, but you don’t count calories there, that’s for sure,” Horn says.

So, when Horn had the opportunity to open Little Horn in the space formerly occupied by Louise and Cake Cafe before that, she wanted to do something a little bit different. Little Horn, which opened in mid-December in the Marigny corner spot, serves some decadent dishes, but it also features plenty of healthy options for vegetarians and vegans.

The Garden Breakfast is a tofu scramble with roasted vegetables, avocado, toast and carrot bacon.

“We started cooking it on the grill to give it a smoky snap,” Horn says. “It’s so good — in the veggie BLT, too.”

The Bomb features two eggs with spinach, tomato and feta cheese.

Grits and Veggies includes a saute of whatever vegetables are fresh.

Spinach bread pudding is a vegetarian’s dream — a custardy bake of spinach, herbs and Swiss cheese.

The conventional burger is big and fat, but there’s also a marinated and roasted veggie club, with or without cheese and faux bacon.

There’s regular bacon and a few non-pork bacons. There’s also a tasty vegetable Napoleon.

“I wanted to make the menu a little healthier because it seems like everyone is going toward a plantfriendly or plant-based diet,” says Horn, who started her foray into the restaurant business when she opened Slim Goodies Uptown on Magazine Street 19 years ago. She sold the diner in 2016.

“We’re going to bring in smoothies, serve a lot more salads,” she says. She’s applied for a liquor license so booze will soon be flowing at Little Horn as well.

Dunbar’s Has Closed

THROUGHFOURDECADESANDSEVERAL INCARNATIONS, Dunbar’s Creole

PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER

Horn is a potter and plans to sell work by herself and other local artists.

A passionate traveler, eater and a self-trained cook, Horn learned her way around the stove from her mother. “I started cooking as soon as I could push a chair right behind my mother and stand at the counter,” says the Gretna native.

“She’d let me mix things in a bowl, break the eggs. She was a phenomenal cook. I would wake up thinking about food, even as a kid.”

The opening of Little Horn is a direct result of the pandemic’s effect on mom-and-pop restaurants. When Covid hit, Steve Himelfarb and wife Becky Retz decided they’d had a good run with Cake Cafe and didn’t want to deal with the pandemic. When they closed the bakery and restaurant, leaving an army of mourning regulars in their wake, Horn offered the space to her friends Britten and David Carboni, whose original CBD coffeeshop was tanking because all their regular customers switched to working from home. “It was just bad timing for them.”

Kappa Horn and David Cloud, who has worked for Horn for 18 years, serve breakfast at Little Horn.

As the building’s owner, Horn figured, she’d run the place herself.

“I was thinking of selling Horn’s but now that’s not going to happen,” she says. “I have a wonderful staff and friends who are helping me run both places.”

Horn is a vocal advocate for service industry workers and prides herself on paying a living wage to her staff. “As an owner, how could you write a grown man or woman a check for two weeks of work and be embarrassed to hand them their pay?” said Horn. “At the end of the day, paying a fair wage is the right thing to do.”

Many of her employees have been with her for years. It’s because of a philosophy she calls her golden rule: “Treat your staff better than family and treat your customers better than your staff. Do that, and you’ll be fine.”

?

WHAT

Little Horn

WHERE

2440 Chartres St., (504) 609-3745

WHEN

7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thursday through Monday

HOW

Takeout, dine-in and outdoor seating available

CHECK IT OUT

Diner fare with plenty of vegetarian options

Cuisine has given New Orleans a taste of soulful country Louisiana cooking in the city. Now, though, the restaurant has closed for good, another hit to the local dining scene through the travails of the past two years.

The restaurant at 7834 Earhart Blvd. in Gert Town has been shuttered since November. Founder Celestina “Tina” Dunbar confirmed it won’t reopen.

Dunbar’s was best known for its time on Freret Street, a run of nearly 20 years. After Hurricane Katrina flooded the restaurant, Dunbar was stuck. She had no insurance to rebuild and could not access government loans to help. She kept cooking, though, mainly through catering gigs and with a lunch service for refinery crews outside the city. Eventually, she opened a stand

P H O T O BY B R E T T D U K E / T H E T IM E S - P I C AY U N E

Celestine “Tina” Dunbar in a Loyola University student center. The Earhart Boulevard location opened in 2017.

The family-run restaurant had been on shaky ground through the pandemic; last year it even took part in a Food Network reality TV show to try to find a new spark.

But Dunbar says slow business and difficulties finding staff continued.

Losses from Hurricane Ida proved the last straw.

“Things were getting a little bit better, then Ida came along,” she says. “Every time we’d get going, we’d get knocked down again.”

Dunbar, now 78, says she plans to do some catering. She wouldn’t rule out another rendition of Dunbar’s returning in a different location, but no such plans are in the works right now. — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

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Luana Perrotta and Raquel Oliveira

OF THE

WEEK

Chefs

by Will Coviello THOUGH RAQUEL OLIVEIRA AND LUANA PERROTTA BOTH GREW UP IN RIO DE JANEIRO, they met in New Orleans

through Brazilian food pop-ups.

They collaborated on events highlighting Brazilian culture and food, and they eventually created Tropicalia Kitchen, which moved into the kitchen space at St. Roch Tavern just before the pandemic began. They have cooked for pandemic relief efforts, including Feed the Second Line, Southern Solidarity and Makin’ Groceries. At St. Roch, they are currently serving Brazilian-style bar food and specials from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and they also do catering. Find more information at tropicaliakitchen.com or on Instagram, @tropicaliakitchen.

How did you start cooking?

RAQUEL OLIVEIRA : Growing up, food was very important, so I automatically fell into that scene.

I went to the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. I worked in various restaurants in New York as a line cook and eventually sous chef and executive chef.

Then I moved to New Orleans.

I came here to visit and it was like, “This feels like home.” It felt so relatable with the weather and the culture and the feeling of the city.

It’s been 10 years now. I worked as a sous chef for five years at Rue 127.

LUANA PERROTTA: I grew up in Rio and moved to New Orleans six years ago because my ex-husband was doing his PhD here.

I had a job at Clesi’s (Restaurant & Catering), a boil spot. That was my first kitchen job here. I was boiling seafood, I was a line cook, and then I started managing their catering. It’s a small family business. I learned a lot from them. It was nice to start my restaurant career there.

That’s where I started doing Brazilian pop-ups, because they closed two days (a week) and they offered me the space. (I called it) Dona Nola. I made Brazilian-style fried chicken and pao de queijo, the cheese breads. Black bean soup is a classic. Coxinha, fried dough filled with chicken. I would go to places like the Frenchmen Hotel and do pop-ups. I’d do

Brazilian empanadas and sandwiches and soups in winter.

Caldo verde is potato and collard green soup with sausage. Butternut squash and coconut milk soup.

How did you start Tropicalia Kitchen?

O: It’s such a small city, so we had friends that overlapped.

They kept telling me about some Brazilian babe that was here.

Eventually we met.

In the beginning, we both had full-time jobs. We were just doing pop-ups because we really wanted to make that happen. My pop-up was Miss Farofa. At that point, I was selling Brazilian kebabs with farofa and the sides.

P: When I met Raquel, we both already had ideas, but we needed somebody to jump in with. We felt very confident that we could do a festival. We cooked for the Brazilian Bash in 2017.

O: It was a crazy idea. We threw a huge event at Second Line Brewing. There was lots of food that we made. There were Brazilian bands playing and dance performances and capoeira. Art workshops for the kids. There were art vendors. There was a lot going into it, but it was all done by us, and we didn’t even have a car.

P: We had almost 400 people coming. That’s how (the band) Amigos do Samba came up — that was the first event they ever played.

O: After we did these events, we were talking about what the next step would be. Then the opportunity to be full-time in the kitchen at St. Roch Tavern came up, and we decided it would be a good fit.

P: We were already doing catering together. (At St. Roch) we could do bar food, which is big in Brazil. We can do hot plates there and have more of a local, community clientele.

O: We were like it’s Miss Farofa and Dona Nola, we need a name.

P: Tropicalia came because it is the name of a Brazilian music-cultural movement. The idea is the mix of Brazilian music and what was happening in other countries, the

PROVIDED BY TROPICALIA KITCHEN

Luana Perrotta and Raquel Oliveira African diaspora in Brazil. It’s a big mix. We’re both into the cultural aspect of food. When we’re cooking, it’s also about music and dancing and sharing more than the food.

What dishes are you making at Tropicalia?

O: When we think about creating a menu, in Brazil it’s huge to just share food when you’re drinking. We have yuca croquettes that are stuffed with mozzarella cheese or beef. We always have these shrimp bites. It’s deep-fried wonton pockets.

P: In Brazil, we call them pastel.

O: It’s like a take on our very classic dish bobo de camarao. We stuff these pockets with shrimp, pureed yuca and coconut milk.

P: We have salted cured catfish cakes. That’s like our take on codfish fritters.

O: That’s served with a relish with Kalamata olives, malagueta chilies and olive oil.

P: The most classic one is rice and beans. It’s similar to New Orleans but we use black beans, because in Rio they use black beans mostly.

That’s one of our best sellers.

People can add meat. We have pulled pork, because we also have a sandwich with pulled pork and roasted pineapple.

O: We have weekly specials as well. We try to do traditional dishes once a month, like a classic feijoada. I describe it to people as a boucherie on a plate. It’s everything you can find from a pig. We dry salt cure pig’s feet, pig’s ears, pig tails, and there’s ribs, pork belly and smoked sausage. We simmer it for hours with black beans and it’s seasoned with fried garlic. It’s served with collard greens, white rice, farofa and orange slices.

Quilt Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Deep, dark brick red to blood plum in color.

AROMAS: A seamless blend of crème de cassis, hazelnut, cocoa, blackberry preserves, a charry meat toastiness, dark fruits and blackberry pie along with suggestions of dark licorice, stewed rhubarb, strawberry, spice and vanillin.

PALATE: Rich and satisfying with chocolate brownie, yogurt, molasses, brown sugar and rhubarb notes presented in perfect balance with higher-toned fruit emphasis.

DISTRIBUTED BY

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WINE

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

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+G R O O M

A GUIDE TO NEW ORLEANS WEDDINGS + UNIONS

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.

CBD

Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; juansflyingburrito.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

CARROLLTON

Mid City Pizza — 6307 S. Miro St., (504) 509-6224; midcitypizza.com — See MidCity section for restaurant description.

Delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$

CITYWIDE

ALL advertisers receive a

FREE feature

about their business (one photo + 100 words)

ISSUE DATE AD SPACE

FEB 8

JAN 28

Ad Director Sandy Stein 504.483.3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

Breaux Mart — Citywide; breauxmart. com — The deli counter’s changing specials include dishes such as baked catfish and red beans and rice. Lunch and dinner daily. $

FRENCH QUARTER

Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood in Creole dishes, po-boys char-grilled oysters and more. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

JEFFERSON/RIVER RIDGE

The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot serves burgers, sandwiches and lunch specials. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; theospizza.com — Choose from specialty pies, salads, sandwiches and more. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 2842898; thebluecrabnola.com — The menu includes sandwiches, fried seafood platters, boiled seafood, shrimp and grits and more. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers coffee, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads. Delivery are available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $

ADVERTISE WITH US Call Sandy Stein (504) 483-3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

METAIRIE

Andrea’s Restaurant — 3100 N. 19th St., Metairie, (504) 834-8583; andreasrestaurant.com — Chef Andrea Apuzzo’s speckled trout royale is topped with crabmeat and lemon-cream sauce.

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

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop — 2309 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, (504) 8352022; gumbostop.com — The seafood platter includes fried catfish, shrimp, oysters, crab balls fries and a side.

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; koshercajun.com — New Yorkstyle deli sandwiches feature corned beef, pastrami and more. Lunch Sun.Thu., dinner Mon.-Thu. $ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; martinwine. com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Nephew’s Ristorante — 4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, (504) 533-9998; nephewsristorante.com — The CreoleItalian menu features dishes like veal, eggplant and chicken parmigiana.

Reservations required. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Short Stop Po-Boys — 119 Transcontinental Drive, Metairie, (504) 885-4572; shortstoppoboysno.com — Fried Louisiana oysters and Gulf shrimp are served on a Leidenheimer loaf.

No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $

MID-CITY/TREME

Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — Try house-made gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Frey Smoked Meat Co. — 4141 Bienville St., Suite 110, (504) 488-7427; freysmokedmeat.com — The barbecue restaurant serves pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, brisket, sausages and more. Pork belly poppers are fried cubes of pork belly tossed in pepper jelly glaze. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; juansflyingburrito.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions. Delivery available.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — Shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onions on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst.

Delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ 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 plates, po-boys, char-grilled

oysters and more. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza. com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

NORTHSHORE

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; thebluecrabnola.com — See Lakeview section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch Fri.Sat., dinner Wed.-Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN

Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 891-0997; joeyksrestaurant.com — Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is served with shrimp, crabmeat, vegetables and potatoes. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 5538 Magazine St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar-jack cheese, black beans, yellow rice, salsa la fonda, guacamole and sour cream. Outdoor seating available. No reservations.

Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — Sena salad includes pulled roasted chicken, golden raisins, blue cheese, pecans and field greens tossed with Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations.

Lunch daily. $$ Red Gravy — 4206 Magazine St., (504) 561-8844; redgravycafe.com — Cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with chocolate.

Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco. com — Peruvian lomo saltado features beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and is served with fried potatoes and rice. Outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. com — Fried oysters and skewered bacon are served with meuniere sauce and toasted French bread. Reservations required. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$$ The Mill — 1051 Annunciation St., (504) 582-9544; themillnola.com — Short ribs are braised with red wine and served with risotto. Reservations accepted.

Dinner Thu.-Sat., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$

WEST BANK

Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca.

Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$

25

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Discovery Schools does not discriminate in the rendering of educational services to, or regarding employment of, individuals based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, and/or age.

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CHALLENGE FOR CHANGE THANK YOU, NOLA

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FOR CHOOSING ORANGETHEORY FITNESS IN 2021’S BEST OF NEW ORLEANS READERS POLL

This is more than just sweating away extra pounds. More than just results in the mirror.

The Transformation Challenge is an eight-week program designed to transform our members from the inside out and kick-start their journey to more energy, more strength and More Life.

JOIN NOW TO GET ENROLLED IN THE TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE WITH OUR COMPLIMENTS. RUNS JAN 31-MARCH 27 OTF Mid-City | Uptown | Downtown | Metairie 844-OTF-NOLA (844-683-6652) *At participating studios only. Participation in Transformation Challenge (TC) requires registration and an Orangetheory membership or package. Register for TC from 01/01/22 through 1/31/22. TC runs from 1/31/22 through 3/27/22. Must take minimum three (3) sessions per week for 6 of the 8-week event duration. Participants may work out at any studio in the U.S. No more than one (1) session per day.

27

Classical Revival

PHOTO PROVIDED BY OPER ACREOLE

OperaCreole performs ‘Lions of the Reconstruction.’

by Will Coviello

OPERACREOLE FOUNDER GIVONNA JOSEPH ARRANGED A COMBINATION of “America the Beautiful” and “The

Star-Spangled Banner” for the group to sing at Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Jan. 10 inauguration at Gallier Hall. It was the group’s first live appearance since the pandemic began.

The event also was a precursor to its first performance of the year, a delayed 10th anniversary celebration highlighting Black composers and singers and Civil Rights and voting rights leaders.

“A lot of people don’t know that some of our civil rights leaders were trained opera singers or classically trained pianists,” Joseph says. “A lot of what people think of as a separate and elite opera world isn’t exactly the case. We were involved with the fight. (OperaCreole) wanted to celebrate those things. Coretta Scott King was a classically trained vocalist. She gave concerts and raised money for the movement.”

The anniversary celebration takes place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at the Laurenia space in the Pythian Market. The program features arias from various operas, including Joseph’s work “The Lions of Reconstruction,” about 19th-century New Orleanians of color who fought for freedom and petitioned President Abraham Lincoln for the right to vote. There also are pieces by contemporary

Black women composers, including Nkieru Okoye’s “Harriet Tubman” and Cynthia Cozette Lee’s “Adea,” an opera about a working-class Black family. There also are pieces from local librettist Dan Shore’s “Freedom Ride,” Joyce Solomon Moorman’s “Pathway to Freedom,” and songs from Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and others.

The performance was originally planned to celebrate the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris last year, but it had to be postponed due to the pandemic. The program is structured to follow a historical timeline, from opera and classical music connected to the Louisiana colony to the 1913 Women’s Rights March in Washington, D.C., to the present.

It also salutes renowned Black singer Marian Anderson, who — after the Daughters of the American Revolution prevented her from being allowed to sing at Constitution Hall because she was Black — performed a landmark outdoor performance

at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. The program also recognizes singer Paul Robeson, civil rights leaders Bayard Ruston, who was a trained singer, and journalist and pianist Myrlie Evers-Williams, wife of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

“We are looking at Black suffragists, women who fought for the right to vote, fought in the civil rights movement, from Ida B. Wells to local people like Sybil Morial,” Joseph says.

Joseph and her daughter Aria Mason, who is the company’s production manager, founded OperaCreole in 2010 to present classical music and operatic works by composers of color. Its inaugural performance was in 2011 at the Old Ursuline Convent. The group has revived and premiered works by famous and lesser-known Black composers. It presented the first production since the 1903 Paris debut of “La Flamenca” by Lucien Lambert, the son of New Orleans composer Charles Lucien Lambert. It also presented Samuel ColeridgeTaylor’s lost opera, “Thelma,” and works by New Orleans-born Edmond Dede.

“We have broken a lot of barriers in terms of things that had not seen the light before,” Joseph says. “I am most proud of that.”

At press time, OperaCreole postponed this event due to a positive Covid test. Check back for the rescheduled date.

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PAGE 5

across the globe. Based in Buenos Aires, the company is made up of several tango couples and a quartet of musicians. The New Orleans Ballet Association opens its 2022 season with Tango Fire at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. Tickets $39-$169 at nobadance.com.

Fortune Feimster

COMEDIAN FORTUNE FEIMSTER HAS BEEN A REGULAR on Chelsea

Handler’s “Chelsea Lately,” “The Mindy Project” and on her cable radio show “What a Joke with Papa and Fortune,” and has appeared in numerous film and TV roles. She performs at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at The Joy Theater. Find tickets at thejoytheater.com.

Gregory Porter

GRAMMY-WINNING JAZZ AND R&B VOCALIST GREGORY PORTER released

two albums during the pandemic, “All Rise” in 2020 and a greatest hits collection last year. He’s back on tour and makes up a postponed show at the Orpheum Theater at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21. Tickets $49$69 at orpheumnola.com.

LPO Performs Courtney Bryan

THE LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PERFORMS CREATIVE PARTNER COURTNEY BRYAN’S PIECE

“Sanctum” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20. The work, which premiered in 2015, is “an artistic response to police brutality,” the LPO says, and Bryan drew inspiration from recorded sermons and preaching traditions. Also on the program is Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” Carlos Miguel Prieto conducts and will lead a pre-concert lecture with assistant conductor Chelsea Gallo at 6:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater. Tickets start at $25 at lpomusic.com.

Prospect.5

THE FINAL DAY OF THE THREE-MONTH INTERNATIONAL ART TRIENNIAL

Prospect.5 is Sunday, Jan. 23. The final week features the expo’s gala on Jan. 22 (see “Working Today,” page 5); a final performance of Josh Kun’s “Over and Over the Waves” featuring Nicholas Payton and Mariachi Jalisco; a performance by Eric-Paul Riege focusing on his Diné, or Navajo, heritage at the CAC; and the unveiling of Simone Leigh’s work, “Sentinel (Mami Wata),” which explores the African diaspora in New Orleans. Visit prospect5.org for information.

Kings Day Walking Parade

THE MANDE MILKSHAKERS LEAD A PARADE WITH OTHER MARCHING KREWE s, including the NOLA

Bombshells and Lagniappe Ladies, and the Lakeshore High School Titan Band on the Mandeville Lakefront. The parade is followed by a festival at the Mandeville Trailhead. The parade starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22. Visit mandemilkshakers.com for details.

El Ten Eleven

LOS ANGELES DUO EL TEN ELEVEN FEATURES BASSIST KRISTIAN DUNN

and percussionist Tim Fogarty experimenting with loops, pedals and effects on extended instrumental grooves. The Mylets open at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, at Gasa Gasa. Tickets $15 at ticketweb.com.

The Witching Hour

BLAZEN HAVEN AND LAVEAU CONTRAIRE’S MONTHLY SHOW at

Carnaval Lounge features drag and live music. The show starts Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 on eventbrite.com.

Burris & Friends

THE ROOTS-ROCK BAND WILL PERFORM TWO SETS AT GASA GASA on

Saturday, Jan. 22. The first will focus on the band’s softer singer-songwriter side and feature guests on strings and vocals.

The second will be more upbeat and groovy. Anna Moss opens at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 on ticketweb.com.

Tandem Clinical Research is looking for males with Low T for a new research study of an investigational medication. To qualify, you must: • •

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HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE RESEARCH STUDY

Luke Stewart

D.C.- AND NEW YORK-BASED BASSIST LUKE STEWART has won acclaim in

recent years for his playing in the improvised music scene and for his jazz advocacy work. In 2020, DownBeat named him one of the 25 artists to help shape jazz’s future. Stewart is in New Orleans this week for a string of concerts hosted by Scatterjazz: with Jeb Stuart, Thomas Helton and Justin Peake at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Columns Hotel; with Peake and Chris Alford at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the AllWays Lounge for “Twilight Theater”; with Mike Dillon and Byron Asher at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Portside Lounge; and with Chad Fowler, Jawaad Taylor and Chad Anderson at 8 p.m. Sunday at the AllWays. Find more information about each show at scatterjazz.com.

Tandem Clinical Research need volunteers for a study of a medication designed to help reduce hypertension. To qualify, you must: • Be 18 years of age or older • Be on a stable dosage of hypertension medication currently Qualified participants will receive study-related medication and care.

Compensation for time and travel may be available. To learn more or schedule an appointment, contact Tandem Clinical Research today!

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29 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > JA N UA RY 1 8 - 24 > 2 02 2

LOW T RESEARCH STUDY

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

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New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy

Developing tomorrow’s leaders today.

FILM

Bad News

by Will Coviello

THOUGH SHE’S ACCUSTOMED TO REPORTING ON TRAGEDY AND HARDSHIP for a

OPEN HOUSE Jan. 19 & 27 Learn more at NOMMA.net

New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy (NOMMA), an “A” rated public charter school located in Federal City in Algiers, is accepting 8th-11th grade students from all metro NOLA parishes for the 22-23 school year.

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Winter

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French cable news channel, TV reporter France de Meurs is thrown off guard by a mishap in her own life and becomes the news, or at least a source of tabloid-worthy scandal and popular outrage, in Bruno Dumont’s “France.”

Played by Lea Seydoux, France has an attractive onscreen presence, but she’s also known for getting out in the field, reporting on rebel uprisings in North Africa and the dangerous plight of African immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in small boats.

The film explores both France’s skill in slickly orchestrating news coverage and studio debates, and the ways in which her onscreen image doesn’t match her personal life. The drama relies on Seydoux to make France’s overwrought heartache convincing, but the quick spree of misfortunes she encounters feels contrived.

The film opens with a press conference by the French president.

As a well-known TV journalist, France gets the first question, and she puts him on the spot in a way that thrills social media. Dumont is interested in highlighting the way media figures frame such coverage for their own benefit, suggesting that TV news can easily become more about the personalities on screen than the substance of what they’re discussing.

France also stages multiple camera shots with armed rebels in North Africa, generating footage to dramatize her own news report. Dumont’s point is more devastating when France interviews a woman whose husband is accused of a horrible crime. After the heart wrenching conversation, France turns to the camera and reenacts all of her questions — ignoring that the woman is still there — so they can splice closeups of her into the video segment.

France is at the top of her profession and has become wealthy getting there. Her husband is a novelist, and they run in elite social circles. But privilege doesn’t keep France from running into a man on a scooter while dropping off her son at school. She genuinely takes responsibility for causing the

PHO T O BY R . A R PA JOU / © 3B

collision and helping the victim and his family. But the event weighs on her conscience, and that leaves her unsettled on set. In Dumont’s treatment, it highlights how far removed the TV personalities are from people like the immigrants or farmers in war-torn North Africa.

A recuperation retreat in a beautiful spot in the Alps only helps France so much, and even further complicates her life. She returns to the news channel, but her personal life is not back to normal. More misfortunes set her careening from mishap to crisis, exposing fragility in her life offscreen.

Seydoux is building on a prolific international career, appearing frequently in French cinema and also starring in Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” the latest Bond film, “No Time to Die,” and other big Hollywood films. Dumont repeatedly zooms in to closeups of France’s face, and Seydoux finds a grimace or look of despair for each occasion. Blanche Gardin is entertaining as France’s devoted and maneuvering agent.

Dumont is effective in skewering cable news, though France actually covers news and is not just a talking head or a political hack.

No one can predict what chance will bring them in life, not even celebrities accustomed to smiling for the cameras, but the film relies on a few too many random events to advance the story. What Dumont critiques in the systemic churn of the media industry is different from the unpredictability of France’s personal life, where the hardships are personal and immediate, and her handle on them isn’t as steady.

“France” screens at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge. In French with English subtitles.

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By Frank A. Longo 66 Medic 67 Hiking aid 68 Disgusting 69 Untwisting threads overseas?

75 “I think —!”

77 Mobile’s state 78 Smell horrible 79 Big ape 83 Hoofbeat 84 Math student doing sums correctly?

87 Mötley — 89 — hub (tech device) 91 Widely known 92 “Nope” 93 Narrow estuary 94 Guinea pig’s cousin

4 Unique Developmental Lots available for purchase located near Bayou St. John at 1200, 1206, 1212, and 1216 Sere St. The vacant parcels offer a total of ±67,753 SF of graded land and are zoned EC (1200) and S-RD (1206, 1212, 1216). $1,350,000

97 Ring legend Muhammad 98 Speechify 100 Clock setting at the rear of a ship?

105 Makes grimy 106 Eye color, e.g.

107 Non-Spanish spelling of an Arizona tribe’s name 111 Pack neatly 112 Trim request ... or what this puzzle takes, based on what its missing letters spell?

117 Sicilian peak 118 Use a hammer to fix, perhaps 119 Angry cry to a captor 120 Promising 121 Lacey’s partner on TV 122 Hugh Jackman film about robot boxing DOWN 1 Vex 2 Doing the job 3 Suffix with clear or vigil 4 Certain plows and tractors 5 Give a smile 6 Ed of “Gus” 7 Trim grass 8 “Do Ya” rock gp.

9 Wash. bigwig 10 Good, in Spain 11 Freeway access point 12 More shrewd 13 Begin 14 “X” number 15 Eccentric 16 Consuming 17 Popular highball 18 Gardeners, farmers, etc.

19 Well-muscled 24 Affront, in rap 28 GEICO’s bus.

30 Incessantly 31 Geologic spans 32 Lead-in to drama 33 Sweetie pie 34 Should that be the case 35 Super-deep sleep 36 Skim, say

GARDEN DISTRICT OFFICE 2016, 2017 & 2020

37 Spur (on) 42 Pâté de — gras 43 Hollywood’s Kazan 44 Eye color, e.g.

46 Itchy, medically 48 Make weak 49 Pigeon sound 50 Geologic span 51 Shearer of “A Free Soul” 53 Sept. follower 56 Bigwig 57 Comic strip cry of dismay 58 Sloppy farm area 60 Animal in a 58-Down 61 Greeting with a GIF, maybe 62 June honoree 63 Geologic span 64 Chum 65 Pre-hurricane orders 66 Stuff in the gene pool 70 Thai language 71 Oppose as false 72 Snoozing site 73 Atoll feature 74 Sticky pod in Cajun cuisine 75 Entre — (between us) 76 Tolkien beast

ABR, CRS, GRI, SFR, SRS

79 Astronaut’s wear 80 “Girls” creator Dunham 81 Legal exam, for short 82 Former court king Arthur 84 Lying adjacent to 85 Epps of “Scream 2” 86 Give up a poker hand 87 More boorish 88 Trattoria rice dish 90 Distress call 94 — Antiqua 95 Plaid design 96 Even-scored 98 Nebraskan Native Americans 99 Reinstate in an office 101 1999 Super Bowl MVP John 102 Humdinger 103 Wolfed down 104 Spying info 108 To — (perfectly) 109 Living space 110 German car company 112 Circle part 113 Rural stretch 114 Rink legend Bobby 115 Stipend or toll 116 St. Pete loc.

ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P 2

PUZZLES

39 Geometry assignments 40 “Dr.” who raps 41 Above, poetically 42 Yard separators 45 Prefix with cyclist 46 Combat vet’s affliction, for short 47 One giving technical advice to wizards?

52 Bull in a ring 54 Structure near a tonsil 55 “Othello” adversary 56 Relatives of alpacas 59 Adversary 60 City area where lots of radiators are produced?

63 Sword variety

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ACROSS 1 Sports events played by visiting teams 10 Obeys reluctantly 16 Boho-chic Aussie boots 20 Arched shoe part 21 Part of U.K. 22 She talks on iPhones 23 Parasites plaguing the Cheshire cat?

25 A party to 26 Everlasting, poetically 27 Above ground 28 Bedazzled 29 Worked to get a different reward?

35 Pizza base 38 Tic-tac-toe win

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Lot 426: Large American Sterling Silver Repousse Five Pint Pitcher, late 19th/early 20th c., possibly by A. G. Schultz, Baltimore, H.- 15 in., W.- 10 in., D.- 6 in., Wt.- 45.8 Troy Oz. Est. $1,000-$2,000

IMPORTANT WINTER ESTATES AUCTION

Friday, January 21st at 11 a.m., Lots 1-350 Saturday, January 22nd at 10 a.m., Lots 351-822

Lot 400: French Provincial Louis XV Style Carved Walnut Armoire, early 19th c., H.- 92 1/2 in., W.- 62 in., D.- 24 in.

Est. $800-$1,200

Lot 734: Ship Model, “Natchez VI,” scratch-built model, 20th c., presented in a custom oak glass case, on a plinth support, Model- H.- 27 in., W.- 64 1/2 in., D.- 15 in., Case- H.- 66 in., W.- 82 in., D.- 27 in., one of a Collection of Five Ship Models, Est. $500-$900

Lot 463: Southern American Classical Style Carved Mahogany Full Tester Bed, 19th c, H.- 110 1/2 in., Int. W.- 59 1/2 in., D.- 76 1/2 in. Est. $1,000-$2,000

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Lot 421: Seven Piece Gorham Sterling Coffee Service, c. 1900, in the “Fairfax” pattern, #04, Coffee Pot- H.- 7 1/2 in., W.- 10 1/4 in., D.- 4 in., Wt.- 133.8 Troy Oz. Est. $2,500-$4,500

Lot 308: French Provincial Carved Oak Monastery Table, 19th c., H.- 29 1/2 in., W.- 86 1/2 in., D.- 34 1/2 in. Est. $1,200-$1,800

FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME!

Lot 736: Large Taxidermied Alligator, 20th c., accompanied by a photograph of the hunter. H.- 19 in., W.- 105 in. from nose to tail, D.- 41 in. Est. $800-$1,200

Lot 481: William Tolliver (19512000, Mississippi/Louisiana), “Woman with Melon,” 20th c., mixed media on paper, signed lower right, H.- 25 1/2 in., W.- 18 in. Est. $2,000-$4,000

Lot 471: James Kendrick III (1946-2013, Louisiana), “Shadows on the Teche,” 1979, oil on panel, signed and dated lower right, H.- 14 1/4 in., W.- 20 3/8 in. Est. $700-$1,200

Lot 452: English Carved Mahogany Chippendale Style Highboy, late 19th c., H.- 88 in., W.- 46 in., D.- 23 in.

Est. $1,000-$2,000 Vintage Jewelry Includes Diamonds and Pearls.

Selection of Bronzes

Lot 468: English Georgian Style Carved Mahogany Triple Pedestal Dining Table, 20th c., H.- 28 1/2 in., Closed W.- 77 in., Open W.- 104 in., D.- 50 1/4 in.

Est. $800-$1,200; and Lot 469: Eight (6+2) Carved Mahogany Chippendale Dining Chairs, 20th c., H.- 38 in., W.- 23 in., D.- 24 in. Est. $500-$900 Lot 522: Pair of Chinese Famille Rose Porcelain and Gilt Bronze Six Light Candelabra, early 20th c., H.- 24 in., Dia.- 12 in. Provenance: The Collection of Ronald Ralpheal Levert, proprietor of Goudeau Antiques, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Est. $1,000-$2,000

Couture Includes Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada, Celine, Gucci, etc.

Lot 475: Robert M. Rucker (1932-2001, Louisiana), “Bayou Landscape with Cabin,” 20th c., watercolor,signed lower right, H.- 13 3/4 in., W.- 17 3/4 in. Est. $300-$500

Lot 477: George Louis Viavant (1872-1924, New Orleans/Louisiana), “Natur Morte of Birds,” 20th c., pastel on paper, signed lower left, H.- 15 3/4 in., W.- 12 3/4 in., Provenance: The Estate of Lisa Montgomery, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Est. $2,000-$4,000

Lot 521: Giuseppe D’Aste (1881-1945, Italian), “Pastoral Scene,” 20th c., gilt bronze, H.- 16 in., W.- 24 in., D.- 11 in.

Provenance: The Collection of Ronald Ralpheal Levert, proprietor of Goudeau Antiques, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Est. $1,000-$2,000

Lot 480: Clementine Hunter (1887-1987, Louisiana), “Hauling Cotton,” 20th c., oil on canvas, signed lower right, H.- 13 1/4 in., W.- 17 3/8 in. Est. $3,000-$5,000

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Lot 558: Attributed to Pierre Mignard (1612-1695, French), “Portrait of a Lady,” 18th c., oil on canvas, unsigned, H.- 27 1/2 in., W.- 21 1/2 in.

Est. $600-$900

Lot 619: Noel Rockmore (1928-1995, New Orleans), “Bijou Theatre, Terre Haute,” 1964, acrylic on canvas, signed, dated and titled lower right, from the Borenstein Collection, H.- 23 1/8 in., W.- 35 1/2 in. Est. $1,000-$2,000

Lot 568: George (Sir George) Clausen (1852-1944, British), “The Wave,” 1892, oil on canvas, signed lower right, signed and dated verso, H.- 17 3/4 in., W.- 15 3/4 in.

Est. $10,000-$20,000