Gambit: July 12, 2022

July 12-18 2022 Volume 43 Number 28

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JULY 12 — 18, 2022 VOLUME 43 || NUMBER 28

CONTENTS

NEWS Opening Gambit ...............................7

Send an arrangement

and make it personal!

Commentary.....................................9 Clancy DuBos..................................10 Blake Pontchartrain......................11

CURRENT HOURS: MON-FRI 7am-1pm

SAT 7am-Noon

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Arts & Entertainment ....................5 Eat + Drink.......................................18

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Music Listings................................ 23 PROVIDED PHOTO BY S THADDEUS ‘POLO SILK’ TERRELL

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Film ................................................... 26

Pop It Like a Polaroid Picture

Polo Silk gets the show of a lifetime at the New Orleans Museum of Art

S TA F F EDITORIAL

@gitapitanola

Cool Off

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C O V E R D E S I G N BY D O R A S I S O N

Publisher | JEANNE EXNICIOS FOSTER

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS

Editor | JOHN STANTON

Advertising Inquiries (504) 483-3150 Advertising Director |

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

Staff Writers | JAKE CLAPP,

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Puzzles............................................. 27

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Music ................................................ 24

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Film Reeling

Local filmmakers compete in the 48 Hour Film Project

|

by Will Coviello

NEW ORLEANS’ LEGENDARY BLUESMAN LITTLE FREDDIE KING turns 82 this

THE 48 HOUR FILM PROJECT CAN BE A WILD RIDE . Competing teams of

filmmakers draw a genre at random and have 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and submit a seven-minute film. Elements that must be included, such as a character name and specific prop, also are revealed at the start in order to keep teams from doing too much in advance.

With so little time, anything can derail a film, from equipment failure to bad weather disrupting a shoot.

Though he has participated in more than a dozen 48 Hour competitions, actor and team leader Matthew Judd got thrown a wild card before the New Orleans competition last year, but it made the film “After Life Crisis” better. “‘After Life Crisis’ sort of changed my entire life,” Judd says. “I quit my job and blew up my life three days before we made ‘After Life Crisis.’ It was the most meta sort of personal project I have ever done. It’s altered the course of my life because — with my co-leaders from that team — we’ve created a film production company, and we’re (now) creating films under that banner, Ghostwright Media.”

Ghostwright Media is among the roughly 25 teams slated to participate in this year’s 48 Hour competition, which starts on Friday, July 15. Completed films must be submitted on Sunday, and they will be screened at the Solomon Victory Theater at the National World War II Museum on July 22. There will be a screening of the winners in various categories and audience favorites on Aug. 20 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Center.

“After Life Crisis” was a mockumentary in the style of “The Office” or “Parks and Recreation.” Judd starred as Ben, a ghost stuck in a dead-end job, tired of the daily grind of scaring his assigned haunt.

His boss Ted Notella tells the camera, “You got the feeling he just wasn’t there.” Ben even gets tripped up by a psychic he thinks is a hack.

“After Life Crisis” won Best Film in the New Orleans competition, as well as awards for best writing, editing, sound and more. As the local winner, it went on to screen at Filmapalooza, along with top entries from more than 100 other cities around the world with 48 Hour Film Projects.

The Ghostwright team decided to develop the film’s concept. They found an investor and will soon start

Little Freddie King’s birthday bash

C OUR T E S Y OF FAG A N FILM S

filming a web series based on it. This year, the Ghostwright team has participated in 48 Hour competitions in Atlanta and Austin and may do one in Savannah, Georgia. The group also finished a film it’s submitting for the Louisiana Film Prize.

“By the end of the year, we could have five or six short films, a web series and may also produce a TV show,” Judd says. “None of this was planned 12 months ago.”

Most of the teams are led by people in the film industry. Backyard Shed Films founder Sean Gerowin and Aleece Langford lead their team, which will be about 20 strong and have two camera crews.

Langford is directing this year.

The team met last week to brainstorm and catalog locations and props they have available to them. This year that includes a giant Greco-Roman head bust from a Mardi Gras float and access to a professional prop shop.

But Gerowin says it’s important to keep an eye on less tangible aspects, such as managing the process and not letting sleep deprivation cause bad decisions.

“Our most limited resource is time,” he says. “In 2013, we had the Abita Brewery as a shooting location. We were excited — like adults in a beer store. We wanted to shoot all of it. But we spent too much time in production. We handed it off to post-production, and they didn’t have enough time. We turned it in with like one minute to spare.”

They later went back and touched up their film and posted it online as an editor’s cut.

William Gray Fagan and his Fagan Films team also are considering remaking one of their more successful films, “The Ballad of Rose Mae.”

William Gray Fagan and his crew film a scene in ‘Moonlight Dancer.’

In 2018, Fagan really wanted to draw musical as a genre, but he was determined to make one no matter what they got. They drew disaster film.

The team ended up making a film about the 1918 influenza outbreak, and the story is told entirely in song as people gather at a funeral and mourn a lost loved one. There is no dialogue. It won best musical score, best acting ensemble and audience favorite. It’s posted online on Fagan’s website and YouTube, and it also was selected for inclusion on the Louisiana Film Channel online.

The core of the team are high school friends from Baton Rouge, and Fagan says reuniting for the competition is like summer camp for them. He graduated from Chapman University’s film school in southern California last year. For his senior thesis project, he brought a team to Louisiana to film an early jazz era musical, “Moonlight Dancer,” last year. Since then, he’s made short films for social media for HBO Max, and then launched his own career as a content maker on TikTok. Fagan and his friends are getting ready for the 48 Hour Film Project, and he is bringing in a couple of friends from Chapman.

“It’ll be a rude awakening for them,” he says. “Usually they have weeks to plan things out.”

For more information about the 48 Hour Film Project, visit 48hourfilm. com/en/new-orleans-la.

month, and once again the King of the Gut Bucket Blues will celebrate at BJ’s in Bywater. Makin’ 82 is an impressive feat for anyone, but it’s even more extraordinary when you consider the number of close calls King has had over the years — including several hurricanes, multiple stabbings and being shot three separate times. This year’s birthday bash is sure to be special: King is coming off a star studded, sold-out show at the Tribeca Film Festival and has a new record on the way.

And of course, there will be cake!

Show starts at 9 p.m. Friday, July 15. Admission is $20 at the door.

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

Little Freddie King, shown here at his 80th birthday bash, celebrates his 82nd birthday at BJ’s Lounge on Friday, July 15.

Luke Julien

NEW ORLEANS RAPPER LUKE JULIEN HAS SO FAR MAINTAINED A RELATIVELY LOW PROFILE on social media,

but the up-and-coming artist has already released two quality full-length albums in recent years, including 2021’s “F&F.” He plays with Sam Bet and Odd The Artist at 9 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at Gasa Gasa. Tickets are $10 via ticketweb.com. Find Julien on Instagram, @lukejulienmusic.

Tom Segura

COMEDIAN TOM SEGURA’S SUBDUED DEMEANOR CAN MASK some star-

tling revelations, as in a bit about choosing between his child and his dog. He’s released a series of Netflix specials, including “Ball Hog” in 2020, does podcasts with his wife, comedian Christina PAGE 25

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NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

We were not expecting the Hot Monkey Pox Summer plot twist to 2022

#

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

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The Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe will soon have a new

French immersion school in its community. Gov. John Bel Edwards last month signed a bill creating Ecole Pointeau-Chien, following years of lobbying by the tribe for a French immersion school in Terrebonne Parish. Last year, Hurricane Ida forced the elementary school serving Bayou Pointe-au-Chien to close, giving new urgency to the effort after Native American and French-speaking students were left without a school.

THE NUMBER OF COVID-19 SURGES THAT HAVE HIT LOUISIANA SINCE MARCH 2020.

MAP COURTESY OF CDC

A map from July 6 documents the states with confirmed cases of the monkeypox virus.

Monkeypox virus hits New Orleans THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CONFIRMED TWO CASES

Amistad Research Center has

received the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the country’s highest honor given to museums and libraries for their service to communities. Amistad, the New Orleans-based archive and library dedicated to African-American history and the experiences of the African Diaspora, is one of only six recipients of the award in 2022.

New Orleans now leads the country in murders per-capita, according to a recent Times-Picayune article building on data from analyst Jeff Asher. Halfway through the year, New Orleans has had 145 homicides, meaning the city has had a murder rate of 36.8 per 100,000 residents. That puts us well above Baltimore, which had the second most murders at a rate of 29.1 homicides per 100,000 residents.

THE COUNT

of the monkeypox virus July 7 and are warning that anyone who thinks they may have been exposed should refrain from “intimate or close personal contact and seek medical attention.”

Officials said a resident from Region 1, which encompasses Orleans, Plaquemines, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes, had tested positive, in addition to an out-of-state resident visiting Louisiana.

They also said the virus was likely circulating in greater numbers, as it has a lengthy incubation time and can be difficult to diagnose due to its wide range of symptoms, including skin lesions that can be misinterpreted by the infected person as another illness.

“Right now, the widely held belief is that there is more monkeypox circulating in this country than has been formally identified and diagnosed,” said state health officer Dr. Joe Kanter at a media briefing July 7.

LDH’s communications director Aly Neel was unable to confirm if the infected person or persons were treated New Orleans specifically, citing the need to protect for identity. But several health care sources told

Gambit under conditions of anonymity that the two cases were treated at a local hospital.

With the virus spreading across the country, doctors and health officials in the city were already bracing for what appears to be an inevitable outbreak.

Monkeypox, which is in the smallpox family, spreads through skin-to-skin contact. Officials have warned that the latest outbreak has been primarily spreading among queer men — though historically it has affected a variety of populations.

“Right now there is no denying that it’s spreading in the group of men who have sex with men,” said Dr. Ronald Blanton, chair of tropical medicine at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

“But everyone should be extra vigilant.”

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced July 6 it was doubling its testing capacity for the virus as case numbers climb nationwide.

Monkeypox has been spreading throughout the U.S. since May, following an outbreak in the United Kingdom. The CDC has reported more than 600 cases across more than 35 states — though that figure PAGE 8

According to the state health department, Louisiana is experiencing another spike in cases which has, as of press time, resulted in 567 hospitalizations.

On July 7, state health officer Dr. Joe Kanter reported 5,436 new cases since the previous day. That figure drastically underrepresents the amount of illness circulating due to the proliferation of at-home tests, which often go unreported to health departments, as well as undetected cases. Scientists at LSU also have recently identified a new variant of the virus.

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Monkeypox has been detected in Louisiana underrepresents the actual number of infections due to testing capabilities and underreporting. There have been previous outbreaks in the U.S. though they were far fewer in number.

“We are seeing an increasing transmission countrywide,” said Dr. Jason Halperin, an infectious disease specialist at CrescentCare.

The virus spreads through direct contact with an infectious rash, scabs or bodily fluids and through respiratory secretions. It is not classified as a sexually transmitted illness, though it is being detected among sexual networks.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion — in addition to painful, fluid-filled lesions.

“The typical experience with this pox virus is that folks get a lowgrade fever, a respiratory infection, feel fatigued, and a couple of days later develop painful, pox lesions.

They are typically flesh-colored, soft to the touch, filled with fluid, and they become more painful over time,” Halperin said.

Sometimes the illness causes a rash first, followed by other symptoms. “Some cases in the current outbreak have experienced only isolated rashes in the genital region or other body parts,” Neel said.

The illness typically lasts two to four weeks but can go undetected for up to 14 days before an infected person becomes symptomatic. Testing for it is vexing, because it is only possible to test with swabs once the lesions are present.

“If someone is fatigued and are COVID-negative and are concerned — there is no way of knowing [pre-lesion],” Halperin said.

There are two vaccines that can prevent the illness, though right now it is nearly impossible to find one. For example, in Washington, D.C., an emerging hotspot for the virus, two clinics opened last week for vaccine distribution, and appointments filled within a matter of minutes. Vaccine allotment is determined by the CDC. Kanter said Louisiana is in short supply of the vaccines, which should be prioritized for people with a known exposure. But LDH has requested more doses from the federal government, now that there are confirmed cases in the state.

For most people, Halperin said the virus is “self-limiting” and will go away on its own. He recommended that if someone has a known exposure to check with a primary care physician first and to alert others who have been in recent close contact.

Health care experts, while concerned, also said the virus is not anywhere near as contagious as COVID-19 — which is also surging across Louisiana. Nor is it as fatal, as no deaths have been reported in the U.S. “It’s huge nuisance and certainly a public health risk, but it’s not anything that should cause panic on a wide scale,” Blanton said.

That being said, it has been predominantly spreading among mostly younger, otherwise mostly healthy men and it could lead to worse outcomes among the immunocompromised.

“We are not on the precipice of another COVID pandemic in terms of a severe life-threatening illness,” Halperin said. “That said, it is definitely extremely important to get tested if there are symptoms.

— SARAH RAVITS

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Cantrell’s disengagement is a pox on New Orleans FOR THE PAST MONTH MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL HAS BEEN ON THE GO.

She hit the Big Apple and its exclusive Yale Club, huddled with other mayors in Reno, took in a music festival in Switzerland and enjoyed several shows at this year’s ESSENCE Festival. There’s nothing inherently wrong with mayors traveling, particularly as ambassadors for their cities.

Problems arise when things at home are not going well. In Cantrell’s case, things at home are really not going well.

In the first week of June, while the mayor was in New York and Reno, 10 people were murdered in New Orleans. More than 20 more died violently before the beginning of July.

A series of heavy rains brought flooding back to the streets and homes of New Orleans as the city’s drainage infrastructure failed to keep up with frequent — and increasingly intense — summer downpours.

The Supreme Court eviscerated women’s right to make their own medical choices about pregnancy and abortion, leaving tens of thousands of New Orleanians scared and uncertain about the future.

July has started no better. New Orleans has already seen more murders and more flooding. The Lens has uncovered evidence indicating the Smart Cities corruption scandal is more widespread than previously believed. And last week, Gambit’s Sarah Ravits broke the news that visitors to our city have left more than tourist dollars: New Orleanians can now add monkeypox to our list of worries.

No doubt the mayor may be deeply involved in the work of governing behind the scenes. However, for someone who clearly appreciates the power of a photo op, it’s mind boggling that she would not devote more face time to reassuring citizens here at home.

Even when the mayor is engaged, it seems she appears blithely unaware of the challenges her constituents face every day — or how it looks when she deflects questions about our city’s high

R E STO CKED highs & lows

7732 m a p l e 865 . 9625 mon - sat 10 - 5:30 S CR EEN C A P T UR E FROM FACEB OOK

Mayor Cantrell with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. violent crime rate. Last week, as the state’s Department of Health briefed reporters on the monkeypox outbreak, Cantrell cut a ribbon celebrating a sidewalk repair project in the Fillmore neighborhood.

Not a word about the pox.

That project undoubtedly is important and long awaited, but the scene was nevertheless surreal — not just because of its juxtaposition to the LDH briefing. In addition to Cantrell, Acting Public Works Director Josh Hartley was on hand. Why Hartley has served in an “acting” capacity since May 2021 is unclear. His status begs the question of whether there is something about his performance that has caused her to withhold her official stamp of approval.

This is no trivial matter. Those who understand the inner workings of government can tell you that an “acting” department head is no substitute for one who can operate with the mayor’s full confidence and support.

Each of these developments sets off alarm bells. Combined with Cantrell’s disengagement, they are a pox on our city — and they paint a disturbing picture of a mayor content to enjoy the trappings of office while blithely ignoring dangerous levels of corruption, violence and institutional rot.

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Jeff Landry’s latest dumbassery delays key Supreme Court race REPUBLICAN STATE LAWMAKERS HAVE SUCCEEDED IN THEIR QUEST to preserve

Louisiana’s five GOP congressional seats, at least for the Nov. 8 midterm elections. At the same time, Republican state Attorney General Jeff Landry has quietly (some say secretly) cut a deal with the NAACP to indefinitely postpone a key state Supreme Court election that’s on the same ballot.

It’s clear that politics drove the GOP’s moves on congressional redistricting. Less obvious is what drove Landry to suddenly throw in the towel, at least temporarily, in the NAACP’s lawsuit challenging the makeup of the state Supreme Court’s seven districts.

Of particular interest now is when — if at all — Landry officially notified Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, the state’s chief elections officer and a named defendant in the lawsuit, of the AG’s agreement to join the NAACP in seeking a “stay” of this year’s sole Supreme Court election in Chief Justice John Weimer’s district. Sources close to the litigation say Landry, not Ardoin, has made all key decisions in the case.

The NAACP and others have long felt that the state Supreme Court’s decades-old district boundaries need to be reconfigured to account for major population shifts and to give Black citizens, who comprise a third of Louisiana’s population, more than one seat on the seven-member court.

Since the NAACP filed suit in 2019, voters have elected three state Supreme Court justices without Landry agreeing to any postponements. That fact magnifies two questions: • Why did Landry suddenly decide, only months before Weimer came up for re-election, to agree to a stay in this year’s Supreme Court election?

• When — if at all — did Landry officially inform Ardoin and other named defendants of his agreement to join the NAACP in seeking a stay of this year’s election?

P H O T O B Y M E L I N D A D E S L AT T E / A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

Attorney General Jeff Landry Ethically, attorneys must seek clients’ permission before agreeing to settlements, particularly those that give opponents major concessions.

This much is certain: Any decision

by Landry was likely driven by politics, with a healthy measure of dumbassery as well.

Meanwhile, Landry is opposing Weimer’s recent effort to intervene in the case to seek reinstatement of the election. Weimer says he only recently became aware of the stay, and time is of the essence.

Qualifying is just around the corner — July 20-22.

Intervention by an “interested party” like Weimer should be a no-brainer, but for some reason U.S. District Judge John deGravelles of Baton Rouge punted the question to a magistrate. In recent days, the current president and several former presidents of the Louisiana State Bar Association issued a statement in support of Weimer’s intervention. The matter now appears to be fast-tracked, with decisions on the interventi on and stay expected before qualifying opens.

As to why Landry created this chaos, here’s a theory: Weimer turns 68 in October, and he cannot seek re-election once he reaches 70. Perhaps Landry wants to slow-walk the case till the Chief Justice ages out — so he can install a crony on the high court. If that’s the case, a decision in Weimer’s favor before July 20 would render this the latest example of Landry’s craven dumbassery.

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@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com

Bracelets

Hey Blake,

I came across a poster advertising something called the Lee Barnes Cooking School. What can you tell me about it?

Dear reader,

LEE BARNES WAS A NATIVE OF NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI, who

graduated from Newcomb College here in New Orleans and Le Cordon Bleu, the famous cooking school in Paris.

She opened her first cooking school in New Orleans in 1974, teaching not just classic local dishes but also new techniques and cuisines.

“We change the calendar each month,” Barnes said in a 1976 article in The Times-Picayune.

The newspaper explained that courses ranged from “Japanese, Chinese, Creole or French cooking to crepes, soups, hors d’oeuvres and planning informal buffets. She has been known to offer a course in how to boil water, for extreme cases.” Classes were taught by Barnes and other guest instructors, including Leah Chase, Paul Prudhomme, Jacques Pepin and Poppy Tooker.

As Susan Tucker points out in her book “New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature Dishes and Their Histories,” Barnes is credited with opening the first cooking school which did not segregate students by race, class or gender.

The cooking school began at 1339 Coliseum St. before moving to 7808 Maple St. and finally to

FILE PHOTO / THE T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Lee Barnes.

8400 Oak St. In addition to classroom space, there was also a shop featuring gourmet food products, cookware and cookbooks for sale.

Barnes also produced radio shows for Prudhomme, taught at Delgado Community College and wrote two cookbooks.

In 1986, she and her family left New Orleans for Germany, where her husband accepted a position with the U.S. Department of Defense.

She returned here from time to time to teach cooking classes, including for children at the newly established Louisiana Children’s Museum. In 1988, she was back teaching at a cooking school in the Riverwalk.

By 1989, she had left New Orleans for Alexandria, Virginia.

She died in 1992 of complications from a brain tumor. She was 41.

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BL AKEVIE W FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, THE OPENING OF THE NEW ORLEANS MARRIOTT HOTEL on Canal Street introduced the city’s new tallest building and ush-

ered in an era of growing tourism and hospitality businesses.

After three years of construction, the Marriott opened in the 500 block of Canal Street on July 20, 1972. At the time, the 42-story, 956-room hotel was the largest in the Marriott chain, which had properties in 21 cities nationwide.

Company founder and chairman J. Willard Marriott Sr. visited New Orleans on the hotel’s opening day, which featured a Canal Street parade.

The opening ceremony included Gov. Edwin Edwards, Mayor Moon Landrieu and a woman known as Miss Astra.

“Dressed in a flamingo bathing suit dotted with sequins, her streaked hair flying out behind her, the professional diver and stunt woman (in real life Miss) dived from the fifth story of the hotel into an air cushion, breaking the opening ribbon on the way,” reported THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. The newspaper added that “the scope of the celebration matched the size of the hotel.”

The Marriott now has 1,333 guest rooms and more than 85,000 square feet of meeting space. It would remain the tallest hotel on Canal St. until 1982 when the 47-story Sheraton opened across the street.

July 22nd • 6:30-8pm • $20 each AT ALL LOCATIONS Join Martin’s as we raise our glass to summer with a walkabout style tasting! We’re tasting a mix of twenty white and sparkling wines along with light bites from our deli & catering department.

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E e R r U u T t c P pIiC

Polo Silk gets the show of a lifetime at the New Orleans Museum of Art

BY JAKE CL APP PHOTOS BY S THADDEUS ‘POLO SILK’ TERRELL / PROVIDED BY NOMA

These photos by Polo Silk will be on display as part of ‘Picture Man’ at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

‘Dat Girl on Fiya, Easter Concert, Labor Union Hall, 1998.’

‘Mardi Gras, Orleans and Claiborne, 1996.’

‘Jean Team, Mardi Gras, Orleans and Claiborne, 1999.’

‘Phillip Green, Mr. Big Stuff, Club Detour, 1992.’

If you’re going to take a photo of someone in a New Orleans club, you’ve got to get the shoes in the shot.

“Guess what, I’m gonna cut their head off in the picture, but I better not cut off the shoes that are meant to be seen,” says Sthaddeus “Polo Silk” Terrell. “Man, that was code to start a fight!”

You dress up to go to the club, Terrell says, and for young, Black New Orleanians going out in the ’80s and ’90s, the outfit came together around the shoes. If you got in line at Rubensteins at 9 a.m. for the new Ballys, picked up the latest Jordans at Canal Place or had a pair of Reeboks because of Soulja Slim — well, they needed to be in the photo.

Once the shoes and the outfit came together, you were feeling good. You wanted to go out and be seen. And Polo Silk, the Picture Man, was there to take your photo.

For more than 30 years, Terrell has taken photos at night clubs, hip-hop and bounce shows, block parties, second lines and Super Sundays, capturing Black New Orleans life in an unparalleled way through countless Polaroids and film shots. The 58-year-old Uptown native and his favored camera, Chelsea, have long been staples of New Orleans culture, and the wider world has been increasingly catching on over the last decade. Now, Terrell will have his largest solo show to date — at the New Orleans Museum of Art. NOMA opens “Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk” on Saturday, July 16, and Terrell also will be part of “Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers” opening in September.

“I never looked at myself in that light but having my work and having my name mentioned in the midst of some of these great Black photographers, like Gordon Parks, it’s like … ‘wow,’” Terrell says. “It’s hard to get used to the ride.”

IT’S DIFFICULT TO PUT A TAG on Terrell’s photo style — even he has tough time. “It’s hard to classify what I do because, it’s just a little bit of everything,” he says. “It’s culture.

It’s just New Orleans Black culture, I think.”

Terrell was born at Charity Hospital in 1964 and grew up in Uptown. His mom — who still texts him Bible verses every morning —

worked at Charity for more than 30 years while raising six children.

As a kid, he was always drawn to the photos in ESSENCE, Ebony and Jet magazines. He wasn’t thinking about becoming a photographer at 10 or 11 years old, but there was something about those magazine photos and the ones hanging on the walls of his grandmother’s house that captivated him, Terrell says.

It was at the Boys Club (now the Boys & Girls Club) that Terrell picked up a camera when he was 13 or 14. The club at the time, led

by Jim Clyne and Don Helms, started a photography class, and Terrell couldn’t resist working the camera.

The next part of the story, Terrell says, picks up in 1987 at Club Adidas, a teen venue started by Melvin Foley. The club had begun in Marrero but had quickly moved to a prominent place at Canal and Claiborne. Inspired by the photos adults would come home with after a night at their clubs, and spurred on by a competition with rapper Warren Mayes and his Club 88 on St. Claude — which had a wicker chair set up for photos — Terrell decided Club Adidas needed a picture room.

“Me and Chelsea have been together since then,” Terrell says.

Around the time Club Adidas closed in 1988, hip-hop was starting to take off in New Orleans.

Terrell was in the community: He would be at shows and work clubs. He knew many of the New Orleans performers from growing up together. And all the time, he had his camera. He also tried his hand at rap, inspired by emcees like Rakim and LL Cool J, but those aspirations faded as his photography took over.

Terrell’s 2017 book, “Pop That Thang!!!” — published by Antenna in conjunction with an exhibition of his photos of New Orleans’ hip-hop and bounce scenes — is filled with early photos of rappers like Juvenile, Mia X, Cheeky Blakk, Magnolia Shorty and Mystikal. He built relationships with artists like Soulja Slim, Josephine Johnny and 5th Ward Weebie.

“Not only are you taking pictures, you’re capturing the time and you’re part of that culture,” says Charlie Vaughn Jr., an artist and teacher who has been part of New Orleans’ hip-hop community from its early years. Vaughn and Terrell got to know one another over time, and Vaughn wrote the intro to “Pop That Thang!!!”

“He already knew these people, how to maneuver with certain folks,” Vaughn says. “He had access to the early Cash Money

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POPIT

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POP IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY STHADDEUS ‘POLO SILK’ TERRELL

Artist Otis Spears, Polo Silk’s cousin, made Silk’s signature backdrops.

folks. He had access to suchand-such backstage. You could go see the Hot Boys close up.

You can get these candid photos backstage … Most of the photographers I knew who did this type of stuff were older.”

AS NEW ORLEANS HIP-HOP picked up, Terrell continued to take photos at nightclubs. He’d especially pay attention to the small Uptown places, like Big Man’s Lounge on Louisiana Avenue and Club Detour, with crowds so thick he’d have to take photos on the neutral ground. He would shoot on 35mm film, but he quickly found that Polaroids were more popular with the clubgoers: He could snap a photo — remember to get the shoes — and sell it directly to the customer.

In December 1990, Terrell was at Club Flirts and started talking with Button Man, a photographer who worked the club. “He was telling me how he was doing this and doing that, and all the money he made working the Zulu ball,” Terrell says.

The key Terrell took away: He needed a backdrop. Other photographers working nightclubs had backdrops — with things like champagne glasses and cars printed on them — but Terrell had a better idea. He called his cousin, Otis Spears, an artist, the next morning.

“Around that time, N.W.A. was just starting to buzz with ‘Fuck Tha Police’ and all that. That was my first backdrop,” Terrell says. “I went and got a sheet from K-Mart and got [Spears] to put the Raiders symbol on it, because everyone was wearing the Raiders jacket and hats.”

Spears’ backdrops became a signature part of Terrell’s photos.

Terrell would come up with timely ideas — nods to the latest hiphop single or local trends — and Spears would make it happen with his airbrush kit.

“It was kinda like Jordan and Pippen with the teamwork,” Spears says. “He was the brainchild behind it and I was the one to bring it to life. Silk was always ahead of his time when it came to ideas because he was the first brother I knew that would rock mismatched Jordans.”

When Air Jordan first came out in solid black and solid white, Terrell bought a pair of each and started building his outfit by mixing the shoes. An avid sports fan, Terrell also has a particular love for University of North Carolina basketball — and he’s angry he had to be out of town in April when UNC played for the championship in the Superdome.

Terrell’s photos and Spears’ backdrops caught on in ’90s New Orleans, and Terrell would hop from taking photos at a block party to a concert to a

nightclub to another club. Between the photos, he’d also bartend and clean up after an event.

Plus, he started taking photos at both Uptown and Downtown Super Sundays.

“I wonder how I did it sometimes. I didn’t have a life,” Terrell reflects.

New Orleans had several other nightclub photographers working all over town in the ’90s, but Terrell stood out for his hustle and his relationships with the hip-hop community, says Charlie Vaughn.

According to Spears, New Orleans neighborhoods could be territorial, but “Silk was the guy who could go through any area and get love, because he would always show that love back. He was super supportive of up-andcoming artists.”

TERRELL GOT THE NICKNAME “Polo Silk” for his love of Ralph Lauren, and you can catch him at a show, a second line or snapping pictures at Super Sunday decked out in a Polo outfit and rocking some hot shoes. People see the lean, tall figure and call for “The Picture Man!” Over the last 30 years — even after a terrible 2015 car accident put him in the hospital for several weeks — Terrell has taken thousands of pictures. He has 1,500 one-of-a-kind Polaroids in

Polo Silk and Ike ‘Picture Man’ Bill

his personal collection, he says, not to mention all of the photos on film in different containers.

It took him a while, Terrell says, to realize he was actually documenting Black New Orleans.

When he started out, photography was something he just enjoyed doing and had figured out how to use to earn a little money.

Over time, though, he started to appreciate the rich resource he had stored in his home, especially after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures. While so many people lost precious photos in the storm, Terrell’s collection survived.

“That right there is one in a billion,” says Charlie Vaughn.

Vaughn himself had lost a trove of photos, show posters and autographed pieces he had collected from his years working at Odyssey Records.

While Vaughn and Terrell had known each other from running in the same circles at hip-hop and bounce shows, the two men became closer in the years after Katrina when they ran a Facebook page called “I Survived New Orleans Thug Clubs” where they’d post pictures of ’90s and early-2000s shows and nightlife photos, Vaughn says.

Terrell’s photos are “like a timestamp, a visual timestamp,” Vaughn says, “where a person like myself can say, ‘Oh, shit, I was there. I know them. I know this person. They used to come

POP IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE

Polo Silk’s son, nephew, and their cousins

in my record store on Canal Street.’ Or ‘This was a trend, this type of shirt, this type of shoes.’”

The photos also help people remember the good times — or even the bad times — after close to three decades, Vaughn adds. “You might be looking at a picture, but you know that is a person,” he says. “We don’t know if that person is dead, alive, still living in New Orleans or not. So when you see this, every picture — once you get past the clothes, the poses, they were actual people.”

In recent years, Terrell says, he has come to appreciate his photos of New Orleanians who are now gone, like 5th Ward Weebie, Josephine Johnny, Soulja Slim, Magnolia Shorty, Warren Mayes and many others. Four or five years ago, he started reaching out to the mothers of guys who had been lost to street violence with pictures he took.

“All of the pictures they lost ’cause of Katrina — my thing is, ain’t no love like a mother’s love, so I started surprising them and bringing them pictures of their sons. And man, it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world,” Terrell says.

NOMA’S “PICTURE MAN: PORTRAITS

BY POLO SILK,” which runs July

16 through Jan. 8, 2023, will include around 30 Polaroids,

several four-by-six film prints and a couple of Otis Spears’ backdrops. Beginning Sept. 16, Terrell also will be part of the larger exhibition, “Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers.” The hope, says Assistant Curator of Photographs Brian Piper, is to put Terrell’s work into the larger context of photography’s history.

Piper met Terrell in 2019, and “I was instantly intrigued by the breadth of his work and how it offered so much both as individual images and as archives,” he says. “It’s music history. It’s a history of Black culture in the city. It’s a history of fashion. But it’s also a history of photography and the ways people in New Orleans practiced and consumed a kind of photography for at least two decades.”

Six of Terrell’s Polaroids also are now part of NOMA’s permanent photography collection.

Terrell falls into a history shared with street photographers like Dawoud Bey and Jamel Shabazz, Piper says, but he’s also connected to portrait photographers like James Van Der Zee and Arthur Bedou.

Portrait studios were fixtures in Black business districts across the country in the first half of the 20th century, and Terrell’s work is part of that story, Piper says.

But Terrell turned that portrait studio “radically mobile,” bringing portrait photography to the

customer in the club with camo backdrop. Terrell has often called himself “The Ghetto Olan Mills.”

There’s a collaborative nature that comes through in Terrell’s portraits, Piper adds.

“It’s definitely a two-way street.

You can kind of imagine Polo interacting with them … and this conversation that’s happening around the camera and in front of these backdrops.”

TERRELL JOKES THAT HE conquered Esplanade Avenue this year.

In April, the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint opened “NOLA Hip Hop & Bounce Party” showcasing Terrell’s concert photos. With his NOMA show, Terrell will have had solo exhibitions at either end of Esplanade in 2022.

It’s still surreal, he says. Not long ago, he was in City Park with his grandkids and pointed out NOMA to them, prophesying he would one day walk them up the stairs for his own show.

He soon after got the call from Piper about “Picture Man.” The NOMA show is the latest in an increasingly wild ride. In the last 10 or so years, Terrell has taken part in shows at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and at Art Basel; put together “Pop That Thang!!!”; was included in “The Smithsonian

Magnolia Shorty and Lil Wayne in a photo

by Polo Silk

Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap”; been interviewed by national publications; met some of his idols, like Rakim; and collaborated on a Reebok shoe.

He’s also started to host his own live events, including a recent party and photo showcase in Atlanta, and he’s launched a clothing line influenced by his cousin’s backdrops.

Terrell sometimes doesn’t know how to take it all in, he says, but he’s enjoying the success. Now, he wants to make sure he can use his work to leave a legacy for his children and grandchildren.

The thousands of photos are more than just objects, Terrell says. They’re memories of sleepless nights, good and bad parties and great rappers gone too soon. It’s the people in the photos that matter.

“If it wasn’t for the people of this city allowing me to take their picture,” Terrell says, “none of these doors would have been opened for me.”

Find more Polo Silk on Instagram, @polonolaphotography.

And more information about “Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk” can be found at noma.org.

The opening of “Picture Man” will coincide with the final days of “Queen Nefertari’s Egypt.”

NOMA will be closed for a staff break July 18-21.

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PHOTOS PROVIDED BY S THADDEUS ‘POLO SILK’ TERRELL

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Velveteam

FORK + CENTER

A 7th Ward tavern reopened with a cooperative mission HAVE A DRINK AND NIBBLE AT VELVETEEN LOUNGE & RESTAURANT,

which replaced Pirogues on N. Broad Street and Bayou Road, and the transaction is credited under the LLC Generous Futures.

That’s because the cooperatively owned bar and kitchen has a mission. The three partners are Brendan Gordon, a longtime customer at the bar, Amber Rowley, who bartended at Pirogues, and Mina Seck, a chef and community garden coordinator who worked with Rowley at Carmo.

When the former bar closed in 2020 because of the pandemic, Gordon had the idea to create a worker cooperative space that would continue to be a part of the community. The trio loved the idea, but as sometimes happens, life and work got in the way.

It wasn’t until the landlord reached out in July 2021 that they got back on track, made the commitment and signed a lease. Then Hurricane Ida tore a hole in the roof, extending the renovation and repair project, which Gordon oversaw. After a few test runs during Jazz Fest, Velveteen Lounge officially opened on May 28.

All three partners work shifts at the bar, and they expect their hours to get more manageable as more staff comes onboard.

The space is inviting, bright and airy with nooks and crannies for seating and paintings by local artists for sale. There’s a little stage area for live music, and a cadre of regulars often holds court on the outdoor seating. Those regulars have been meeting here for decades — long before Pirogues opened in 2015. The place has been a bar for more than 40 years.

“We were very clear that we didn’t want this to become a fancy bar with food and drinks that the community couldn’t afford,” says Rowley, who, at 25, is the youngest of the trio. “We wanted to be inclusive, not exclusive.”

She designed the bar program with a range of price points, with $5-$10 cocktails including margaritas, Negronis and gimlets, an

|

by Beth D’Addono

array of craft beers and $3 cans of Bud, Miller High Life and PBR. The gimlet features organic Supergay Vodka.

During happy hour, from 4-7 p.m., well drinks and High Noons are $3, and there’s a $5 craft beer special.

“We wanted to support smaller craft distillers, not just the big names,” Rowley says.

Seck oversees the wine program featuring smaller producers. “You shouldn’t have to go to an upscale bar to have a decent glass of wine,” she says.

She also designed Velveteen’s food menu, which is based on her commitment to straightforward preparation and seasonal ingredients, keeping the prices reasonable. The most expensive item is the Cuban, made with roasted pork shoulder, ham, Swiss cheese, whole grain mustard and house-made pickles, served with a side salad for $12.

With basil and tomatoes flush during summer, a pesto mozzarella sandwich comes on thick slabs of Leo’s semolina sesame hearth bread. There’s a BLT and a burger, available with or without bacon.

The vegan salad features items harvested from Seck’s community garden, and the best-selling jerk chicken tacos are topped with mango slaw and pickled peppers.

The kitchen is tiny and doesn’t have a hood, so there are no deepfried items, but that may change in the future.

“My food style is to keep it simple, really good and approachable,” Seck says.

Seck hails from Reading, Pennsylvania, and taps into a culinary heritage informed by Pennsylvania Dutch, Senegalese and African American roots. The

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Killer food

MAYBE YOU CAN DRIVE PAST A RESTAURANT CALLED 8 FRESH FOOD ASSASSIN

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

Amber Rowley, one of the owners of Velveteen Lounge and Restaurant, mixes a Basil Sour.

7th Ward resident started her four-year-old catering business, BeetsNThyme, in New Orleans and still calls the city her heart and soul.

The self-taught chef has been cooking since childhood, influenced by her grandmother, a professional cook, and her mother, a passionate home cook. She spent nine years in the business in Philly before she decided to try her luck here.

Seck worked at Commander’s Palace, Angeline, St. James Cheese Company and Bar Frances before she started her business.

“I am an entrepreneur at heart,” she says. “I’m so excited about Velveteen Lounge. We are just getting started — there is so much we can do in that space.”

“We want to be a force for change in the industry,” Rowley says.

“Especially working at a bar — it can be a very abusive and unhealthy situation. We don’t have that kind of environment. It’s about being a part of the community and doing the right thing.”

?

WHAT

Velveteen Lounge

WHERE

2565 Bayou Road, (504) 356-1906; velveteen.coop

WHEN

4 p.m.-midnight Thu.-Fri. & Mon.; 2 p.m.-midnight Sat.-Sun.

HOW

Dine-in and some outdoor seating available

CHECK IT OUT

A renewed 7th Ward neighborhood spot

without wondering what it’s all about. I cannot. Pulling over to find out for lunch recently revealed far more than an eye-catching name.

Manny January opened 8 Fresh Food Assassin in May in a standalone storefront by the clubs and strip mall shops of North Claiborne Avenue, near Elysian Fields.

January explains the name like this: “I’m from the 8th Ward, my first menus had eight dishes, I cook fresh and I assassinate it.”

That he does. This could play out with the straight-up fried fish and shrimp plate, showing the careful hand and intuition that goes into making these tight and right. Or it could be the lamb chops, with a charred edge, buttery succulence and a backstory leading to one of the city’s most famous French Creole restaurants.

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

Manny January opened 8 Fresh Food Assassin on North Claiborne Avenue.

Diners eating at 8 Fresh Food Assassin are tasting the results of two different schools of cooking, neither of them of the culinary school variety.

One school was the bustling kitchen at Galatoire’s, where January worked for 17 years. The other school was the street, where January built his own business and his own following. That meant navigating the travails of working outdoors but also learning intimately what his community wants, and what will keep customers coming back.

PAGE 19

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FORK & CENTER

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As word has gotten around about the restaurant, January is seeing newly minted regulars return for the Flintstones-sized T-bone steaks with home-style sweet potatoes and baked macaroni or lobster tails sluiced with butter over creamy pasta.

The ribs here are not the tender, slow-cooked variety but are instead fried. That gives them a crunchy, craggy crust over meat that has the gushing flavor and chew of pork belly. His grilled salmon is a lean counterpoint, painted with a blend of spicysweet sauces January calls honey hot barbecue.

The 8th Ward native had a rough start in life, and as a teenager he was incarcerated for two years on theft charges.

Five days after his release, he showed up for a job washing dishes at Galatoire’s. He started moving up the ranks quickly, promoted to different stations around the busy kitchen, learning the skills at the fryer, the grill, the broiler and saute.

After Hurricane Katrina, he returned home early in the recovery and was part of the shortstaffed crew that got Galatoire’s rolling again, often working multiple stations at once.

Eventually January became a sous chef, and he frequently worked at festivals and out-oftown appearances representing Galatoire’s. All of this proved valuable training for what would come with his outdoor cooking venture.

“You just have to adapt to any situation at any time, expect the unexpected,” January says. “That’s what I learned.”

His first taste of working for himself came through a familiar route — a food vendor at second line parades, selling fish and shrimp plates from the back of a truck at parade stops.

The money was good, the autonomy was better, and the customer response showed him an opportunity to go off on his own, he says.

He started cooking outside of nightclubs and other venues and his reputation grew along with his following, doing business under the name Da Street Kitchen.

Soon he became a regular fixture outside the Association, the club on North Claiborne Avenue, cooking his then eight-item repertoire of meat and seafood dishes from an open-air kitchen he assembled each night. Eventually he had to hire others to help him as the orders kept stacking up.

“We were always crazy busy, and it was just out on the sidewalk,” January says. “I just thought if I

can find a home, I can really show people what I can do.”

That home materialized directly across the street from the Association, in a stand-alone building that was previously home to the restaurant Tasty Treat. 8 Fresh Food Assassin opens at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and serves through dinner Tuesday through Sunday.

At the restaurant, lamb chops have become an early bestseller.

“Lamb chops were only on fine dining menus, but we brought it to the neighborhood,” January says.

For January, it’s a direct line to Galatoire’s, where double-cut lamb chops are a menu staple next to the trout meuniere and filet mignon. At 8 Fresh Food Assassin, diners get them perched over a stuffed potato, paired with a Hennessy margarita from the small bar behind the counter, or boxed up to go for a meal at home or back at work.

Is the dish an easy-going approach to a fine dining meal, or an elevated take on street food?

Maybe it’s both, and at 8 Fresh Food Assassin it is killer.

— IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Food festing

We selL Legal

TOP TACO AND HOGS FOR THE CAUSE HAVE ANNOUNCED dates for upcom-

ing events.

Top Taco, a taco and tequila cocktail tasting event, will be at Lafreniere Park on Thursday, Oct. 27. Participating restaurants compete for judges’ and audience awards for creative and traditional tacos and cocktails.

There also will be a barbecue demonstration, three stages for live music, a costume contest, a mezcal tent and more. Tickets go on sale July 12. Find information at toptaconola.com.

In 2021, Top Taco raised more than $30,000 for PLEASE Foundation, which provides scholarships and leadership training to at-risk youth. Top Taco organizers also presented Food Fight, a food and cocktail tasting event at Crescent Park, in May. Hogs for the Cause returned to its festival grounds outside the UNO Lakefront Arena in early April and raised $2.6 million for its mission to support families with children battling pediatric brain cancer. The barbecue festival announced it will return on March 31 and April 1, 2023. Tickets will go on sale in December. Find information about the nonprofit at hogsforthecause.org and the barbecue festival at hogsfest.org.

— WILL COVIELLO

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20

WINE OF THE

WEEK

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

Jose Blanco Chef

by Will Coviello CHEF JOSE BLANCO CAME TO NEW ORLEANS FROM MIAMI because of

Matua

Sauvignon Blanc

The Sauvignon Blanc features lemony, citrus notes and a hint of vibrant passionfruit and basil. The palate is fresh and vibrant with concentrated blackcurrant leaf and a hint of cut-grass and green melon.

So refreshing, you’ll be left wanting another glass.

DISTRIBUTED BY

the food culture. He worked at Lilette, Mais Arepas and Grand Isle before moving to Vermont in 2017 to take a job as executive chef at a restaurant specializing in Latin cuisine. When that restaurant closed during the pandemic, he visited his family in his native Colombia. Last year, he returned to New Orleans to open up a Latin food pop-up named Waska.

He also started a donation-based pop-up that gave away tacos to people in need. Waska will be at Okay Bar on Thursday, July 14, and Friday, July 15, and at Oak St. Brewery on Saturday, July 16. Later this summer, Waska will open a stall at St. Roch Market. Find more about Blanco’s pop-up, his taco giveaways and his work as a muralist at waskanola.com.

What inspired your pop-up?

JOSE BLANCO: I was the chef at a restaurant in Vermont. The owner shut it down during Covid, so I went back home to Colombia to stay with my mom. We were in Waska, a small town near Bogota, the capital. I started eating food around the area, and I got the idea I should open my own concept.

I named it Waska as a tribute to the small town. I came back to New Orleans, and I opened up in October (2021).

I am emphasizing street food dishes. I have been working in fine dining restaurants for a few years, and it’s hard to get away from that. I try to make food as humble and simple as I can.

I use arepas as a vessel to transport different ingredients that I like to play with. It’s the same way people get creative with tortillas and tacos.

Arepas originated in Colombia and Venezuela, because they used to be one country before Simon Bolivar. It’s a big debate where they came from. Every region makes them different.

We fry the arepas. In Waska, this old lady was deep frying them and slinging them out fast.

I got the idea from her because they were so fast. The thing about arepas is they can take about 15 minutes if you grill them. People usually flattop grill them or pan fry them, and they take forever. When I saw her making them in two minutes, I was like, wow, let me take that idea.

I modernize them a bit with the toppings. My most popular is the Bombarepa.

It’s pollo asado, so grilled chicken, with mozzarella, chimichurri, pickled onions and avocado.

It’s got the richness of the chicken with the chimichurri and pickled onions. It looks pretty. I top them instead of stuffing them.

I’ll use common dishes like arepas, patacon, elotes, ceviche — things like that. I give them my own twist.

It’s typical Latin dishes that I try to elevate. I don’t have a set menu.

I play it by ear and look at what type of place it is, what type of crowd they get.

What’s next for the pop-up?

B: It’s been a big learning experience — a lot different from having your own kitchen. That’s easy compared to a pop-up. You move around a lot and learn what works and what doesn’t. I get to play around with food. It’s been a lot of fun.

I was thinking about turning it into a food truck or a small brick and mortar. But I have been in talks with the St. Roch Market. It would be foolish of me to pass on the opportunity to sell food every day of the week, get more exposure, build my brand. It’s happening a lot sooner than I expected it. I thought I’d do the pop-up for two or three years. I am becoming a vendor — July or early August is what we are aiming for.

How is your farm-topop-up concept going?

B: Farm to pop-up is my goal.

It’s a work in progress. It’s difficult budget-wise. I have been getting to know farmers and local

PROVIDED PHOTO BY JAKE ROSENBERG

Jose Blanco (left) started the Latin food pop-up Waska. growers. In New Orleans, seafood is the way to do it. Fresh shrimp, fresh fish, fresh crawfish in season.

I have been doing more shrimp dishes and some catfish dishes.

Latin food has a lot of plantains and avocados. The main ingredient for the masa is corn. Some of those things aren’t grown in the area so there is a lot of substituting.

You’re forced to create menus that are seasonal. I did a few popups like this. I would go to farmers markets and see what they had and create menus based on that.

I didn’t have a menu until I left the market. But it’s expensive.

Some people don’t care about it. If it’s late at night, people who are drinking don’t care where the beef is coming from. They just want to eat.

There’s room for Latin food here.

I am trying to bring a little bit of Miami to New Orleans. There’s room for growth. People are open to it. Latin food is Creole based.

There’s a lot of tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic. The (holy) trinity is similar to sofrito. The palate is there. Everyone is doing tacos. Mais Arepas is killing it (with Colombian food). In the next 10 years, there’s going to be a lot more places.

21

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

7TH WARD/MARIGNY

Nonno’s Cajun Cuisine and Pastries — 1940 Dauphine St., (504) 354-1364; nonnoscajuncuisineandpastries.com — The menu includes home-style Cajun and Creole dishes with some vegan options.

Shrimp is sauteed with onion and bell pepper, topped with cheese and served with two eggs and toast. Reservations accepted. Delivery available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$

CBD

Common Interest — Hotel Indigo, 705 Common St., (504) 595-5605; commoninterestnola.com — Shrimp remoulade Cobb salad comes with avocado, blue cheese, tomatoes, bacon, egg and corn relish. Debris grits features slow-roasted, beef served over goat cheese and thyme grits. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night daily. $$ 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. $$ Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant. net —The counter-service spot is known for po-boys dressed with cabbage and Creole favorites, such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and red beans and rice. No reservations. Delivery available.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Tacklebox — 817 Common St., (504) 8271651; legacykitchen.com — The seafood restaurant serves raw and char-grilled oysters, seafood, burgers, salads and more. Redfish St. Charles is served with garlic herb butter, asparagus, mushrooms and crawfish cornbread.

Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

CARROLLTON

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

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. The menu also has sushi, sashimi, rolls, noodle dishes, teriyaki and more. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola.com — Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese. The menu also includes wings, quesadillas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood pasta and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$

FRENCH QUARTER

Broussard’s — 819 Conti St., (504) 581-3866; broussards.com — The menu includes Creole and creative contemporary dishes. Rainbow trout amandine is served with tasso and corn macque choux, Creole meuniere sauce and fried almonds. Reservations recommended.

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

Outdoor seating available. Dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ Curio — 301 Royal St., (504) 717-4198; curionola.com — The creative Creole menu includes blackened Gulf shrimp served with chicken and andouille jambalaya. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood and shellfish in traditional and contemporary Creole dishes. Char-grilled oysters are topped with Parmesan, herbs and butter.

Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar — 739 Iberville St., (504) 522-4440; felixs.com — The oyster bar serves raw Louisiana oysters, and char-grilled oysters are topped with butter, garlic, Parmesan and breadcrumbs. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Zhang Bistro — 1141 Decatur St., (504) 826-8888; zhangbistronola.com — The menu includes Chinese and Thai dishes.

The Szechuan Hot Wok offers a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp or tofu with onions, bell peppers, cauliflower, jalapenos, garlic and spicy Szechuan sauce. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

JEFFERSON/RIVER RIDGE

Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 7333803; theospizza.com — There is a wide variety of specialty pies and toppings to build your own pizza. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches. Takeout and 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 and more. Basin barbecue shrimp and grits features jumbo shrimp over cheese grits and a cheese biscuit. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar — 7400 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 304-4125; felixs. com — See French Quarter section for restaurant description. No reservations.

Lunch and dinner daily. $$

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.

Capelli D’Andrea combines house-made angel hair pasta and smoked salmon in cream sauce. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; martinwine.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Nephew’s Ristorante — 4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, (504) 533-9998; nephewsristorante.com — Chef Frank Catalanotto is the namesake “nephew” who ran the kitchen at Tony Angello’s restaurant. The

Creole-Italian menu features dishes like veal, eggplant or chicken parmigiana.

Reservations required. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

MID-CITY/TREME

Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, biscotti, fig cookies, tiramisu, macaroons and 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. Fried pork belly poppers are 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 — A Cajun Cuban has roasted pork, grilled ham, cheese and pickles pressed on buttered bread. The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — The neighborhood pizza joint serves New York-style pies, calzones, sandwiches and salads. Shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onion on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes New Orleans favorites such as red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as grilled or fried seafood plates, po-boys, char-grilled oysters, pasta, salads and more. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza.com — See Harahan/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 Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN

Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 8910997; joeyksrestaurant.com — The menu includes fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and red beans and rice.

Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is topped with shrimp and crabmeat and served with vegetables and potatoes. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$

Juan’s Flying Burrito — 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes grilled steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar-jack cheese, black beans, yellow rice, salsa la fonda, guacamole and sour cream. The menu also has tacos, quesadillas, nachos and more. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — The deli at the wine and spirit shop serves sandwiches, salads and more. The Sena salad includes pulled roasted chicken, golden raisins, blue cheese, pecans and field greens tossed with Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco. com — The Peruvian menu includes lomo saltado, featuring beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and served with fried potatoes and rice. Dine-in, outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole, Cajun and Southern dishes.

Gulf Drum Yvonne is served with brown butter sauce with mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$ Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 613-2350; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes raw oysters, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, salads and more. A NOLA Style Grits Bowl is topped with bacon, cheddar and a poached egg. Reservations accepted.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Peacock Room — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3073; peacockroomnola.com — The Peacock Room offers cocktails, bar snacks and shareable plates. Black lentil vadouvan curry comes with roasted tomatoes, forest mushrooms and basmati rice. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Mon., brunch Sun. $$

WEST BANK

Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 513-2606; legacykitchen.com — The steak selection includes filets mignons, ribeyes, bone-in rib-eyes and top sirloins.

There also are burgers, salads, seafood dishes and more. Reservations accepted.

Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$ Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and more. Baked oysters Mosca is made with breadcrumbs and Italian seasonings. Curbside pickup available.

Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$ Tavolino Pizza & Lounge — 141 Delaronde St., (504) 605-3365; tavolinonola.com — The menu features signature thin-crust pizzas as well as salads, pepperoni chips, meatballs and more.

A Behrman Hwy. pizza is topped with pork belly, caramel, nuoc cham-marinated carrots and radishes, jalapeno and herbs. No reservations. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > J U LY 1 2 - 1 8 > 2 02 2

O U T T O E AT

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > J U LY 1 2 - 1 8 > 2 02 2

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23

FOR COMPLETE MUSIC LISTINGS A N D M O R E E V E N T S TA K I N G P L AC E IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA, VISIT C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com

TUESDAY 12

BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 7 pm DOS JEFES — Wendell Brunious, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard "Piano" Scott, 12:30 pm; Colin Myers Band, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm SANTOS — Cloak, 8 & 9 pm THE TOULOUSE THEATRE — Animal Collective, 8 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Rebirth Brass Band, 8 pm

WEDNESDAY 13

BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 7 pm BLUE NILE — New Breed Brass Band, 9 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Tin Men, 6 pm; Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters, 9 pm DOS JEFES — Kris Tokarski, 8:30 pm JEAN LAFITTE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK VISITOR CENTER, NEW ORLEANS JAZZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK — Jon Beebe, 12 pm; Darianna Videaux Capitel, 2 pm JOY THEATER — Purity Ring, 7 pm MADAME VIC'S — 7th Ward All Stars Jazz Band, 8 am NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Chucky C & Friends, 2 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Open Jam Night, 8 pm SANTOS — DarkLounge Ministries, 7 pm; Russell Welch Swamp Moves Trio , 9 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — Ben Ricketts, Lisbon Girls, New Fool, 8 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Funkin' It Up with Big Sam, 7:30 pm

THURSDAY 14

BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 8 pm BUFFA'S — Tom McDermott and James Evans, 7 & 9 pm CAFE NEGRIL — Sierra Green and the Soul Machine, 10 pm

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

CARNAVAL LOUNGE — Ever More Nest, 6 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Secret 6 Jazz Band, 6 pm; June Yamagishi, Keiko Komaki, Donald MaGee Trio, 10 pm DOS JEFES — Mark Coleman Band, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard "Piano" Scott, 12:30 pm; Doyle Cooper Trio, 2:30 pm; John Saavadra Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Sam Bet with Luke Julien and Odd The Artist, 9 pm JOY THEATER — Hanson, 7 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — animal FM, 9 pm PAVILION OF THE TWO SISTERS — Harvey Jesus and Fire, 6 pm REPUBLIC NOLA — Kill The Noise, 10 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Chubby Carrier & Bayou Swamp Band, 8 pm SANTOS — Haunted Summer, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony, 8 & 10 pm ST. ANNA'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH — Jackson Square Allstars, 7 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm

FRIDAY 15

BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 8 pm BJ'S — Little Freddie King’s birthday bash, 9 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers, 7 pm; Brass Flavor, 10 pm BUFFA'S — Beth Patterson, 7 & 9 pm CARNAVAL LOUNGE — Sarah Burke, James Rose, 6 pm CIVIC THEATRE — Small Town Murder, 9 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Soul Rebels, 10 pm; Smoking Time Jazz Club, 5 pm DOS JEFES — Willie Lockett and the Blues Krewe, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Sam Friend Band, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — Vision Video with Blood Lemon, Missing, 9 pm HOWLIN' WOLF — Marcel P. Black, 8 pm MADAME VIC'S — Washboard Chaz Blues Band, 6 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Damn Hippies, 7:30 pm; Richard Bienvenu, 9 pm

REPUBLIC NOLA — GMUR, Adaway, Rambeaux, KAV , 10 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — The Topcats, 8:30 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Victor Goines Quartet, 8 & 10 pm SOUTHPORT HALL LIVE MUSIC & PARTY HALL — Supercharger, 9 pm THE HIDEAWAY DEN & ARCADE — Blackwater Canal EP Release with Gristnam & Thornprick, 8 pm TIPITINA'S — Brass-A-Holics, Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Renée Gros, 8 pm

SATURDAY 16

BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Jordan Anderson, 8 pm BB'S STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM — The Victory Belles Vignette, 1 pm BLUE NILE BALCONY ROOM — The Marigny Street Brass Band, 10 pm BUFFA'S — Father Ron & Friends, 7 & 9 pm CARNAVAL LOUNGE — Vivian, 5:30 pm; Dreux Gerard, Wojtek Industries, Quinn Sternberg Band, Kelly Duplex, Conor Donohue, 8 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Russell Welch’s Wood Floor Trio, 6 pm; Russell Batiste & Friends, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Band, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — Steve Von Till (of Neurosis) with Helen Money, 9 pm GEORGE AND JOYCE WEIN JAZZ & HERITAGE CENTER — Arséne DeLay, 8 pm HOUSE OF BLUES — Nirvanna Tribute to Nirvana, 8 pm JEAN LAFITTE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK VISITOR CENTER, NEW ORLEANS JAZZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK — Drum Circle with Mariama Curry, 10:30 am; Ranger Jon Beebe Trio, 2 pm KERRY IRISH PUB — Patrick Cooper, 9 pm MADAME VIC'S — Cricket and the 2:19, 8 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — Cameron Mauer, 7:30 pm; Ivor Simpson-Kennedy, 9 pm REPUBLIC NOLA — PassTheJeffrey, Mardi b2b Rooster, Wander, 10:30 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Britney vs Justin, 9 pm

SANTOS — The Goddamn Gallows, Holy Locust, Dirty Rotten Snake in the Grass, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Victor Goines Quartet, 8 & 10 pm SOUTHPORT HALL LIVE MUSIC & PARTY HALL — Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition, 8 pm THE BOMBAY CLUB — Anais St. John, 8 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — The Nayo Jones Experience, 7:30 pm TIPITINA'S — Tab Benoit, Erick Johanson, 9 pm

SUNDAY 17

BLUE NILE — The Baked Potatoes, 7 pm; Street Legends Brass Band, 10 pm BUFFA'S — Some Like It Hot, 11 am & 1 pm; Miss Sigrid and the ZigZags, 7 & 9 pm CARNAVAL LOUNGE — Jamie Vessels Solo, 6 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Palmetto Bug Stompers, 5 pm; Treme Brass Band, 9 pm DOS JEFES — Peter Nu, 8 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Sam Friend Band, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Band, 2:30 pm; Marla Dixon Band, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Neon Luck with The Bloomies, 9 pm MARIGNY BRASSERIE — Pardon My French!, 6 pm PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Jazz Brunch, 11 am SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Josh Paxton, 8 & 10 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — The Wolfe Johns Blues Band, 7:30 pm

MONDAY 18

BUFFA'S — Doyle Cooper Trio, 7 pm DOS JEFES — John Fohl, 8:30 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — The Amazing Henrietta, 6 pm; DarkLounge Ministries, 8 pm SOUTHPORT HALL LIVE MUSIC & PARTY HALL — The Aristocrats, 7 pm

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local band students.

Hurricane Ida upended the last school year, keeping some students out of school for weeks and damaging some students’ instruments in the process. And even before that, band activities had been limited due to Covid restrictions.

But following years of lows, dozens of students got to experience a high note when they recorded an album of New Orleans standards this summer with musicians like Joe Lastie, Louis Ford and Wendell Brunious.

The New Orleans Jazz Museum and the Preservation Hall Foundation gave about 40 local students the chance to record 11 songs at the museum with Preservation Hall’s Legacy Program members. Jeremy Williams, who is heading the project, said a third of those students are from Marrero Middle School, which lost nearly all their instruments during Ida. The goal of the project is to help pass down traditional New Orleans jazz to the next generation. Hence, their collective moniker: The Next Generation Jazz Band.

Lastie, a drummer at Preservation Hall, told Gambit during a recent recording session that in his more than three decades traveling with the Preservation Hall band, he’d seen young musicians playing New Orleans jazz across the country. He said it upset him and his bandmates that local students often didn’t have the same chances to play and learn jazz as students outside Louisiana. This program is helping change that.

“These kids are doing it better because they got the New Orleans feel,” he says.

The students selected for the program range in experience and age, from 6th grade to the collegiate level. Some auditioned, while others were scouted by Williams himself, who as Louisiana Music Educators Association district jazz coordinator and Junior High Honor Jazz Band Chairman, is already a regular attendee at local youth jazz performances.

Williams personally invited Dorian Roberts, an incoming senior at L.W. Higgins High School in Marrero,

PHOTO BY MARY CORMACI / P R E S E R VAT I O N H A L L

Students in the Next Generation Jazz Band to participate. He’d heard about Roberts and was blown away when he finally saw him play.

“I literally just walked up to him and asked him, ‘What are you doing in June?’” Williams says. “I told him about the project, and I told him that I’d be calling him because that’s the way it works in the real world for musicians.”

Roberts says working with professional musicians and other students alike has been a gamechanging experience.

“Being able to play with so many other people at such a high level was just awesome for me,” he says. “I want to do this for a job when I get older. Where I come from, there are not a lot of opportunities like this.”

“These are experiences that 10 years from now, when he’s on stage at the Jazz Fest playing for us, he’ll remember this and he’ll remember the opportunity he got,” Williams says.

The students practiced twice a week for the last two months to prepare for two days in the studio, June 25 and July 1. Each student will receive a copy of the album, though project leaders aren’t yet sure if they’ll be able to sell copies to the public.

Jack Roane, a junior at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies in Metairie, says that given the uncertainty over the last few years, youth music programming is more critical now than ever before.

“It is important to have things like this available for the local youth because you never know when the next pandemic or natural disaster could strike,” he says. “We have to take advantage of the time and opportunity that we have right now to make music and connect with people.”

25

PAGE 5

Pazsitzky, as well as 2 Bears 1 Cave with Bert Kreischer, and he released a book, “I’d Like to Play Alone, Please.” Segura performs at Saenger Theatre at 7 p.m.

Saturday, July 16. Find tickets at Ticketmaster.com.

Marcel P. Black

FOR YEARS, MARCEL P. BLACK WAS A PILLAR of Baton Rouge’s

independent hip-hop community. Over more than a dozen projects, the emcee stands tall as a pro-Black, strong-voiced, political — but still knows how to get down — conscious rapper.

His 2019 album, “In Search of the Black Messiah,” is the perfect example: The record is a deep retort against the FBI’s COINTELPRO program to “prevent the rise” of Black leaders, with diversions into songs for the women in his life and celebrations of fatherhood. Black moved to Oklahoma last year to be closer to family, but his tour hits The Howlin’ Wolf at 8 p.m.

Friday, July 15. Alfred Banks hosts, and Proper Channels and Kaye the Beast also will perform.

Tickets are $12 at the door.

Animal Collective

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE HAS NEVER BEEN EASY TO CATEGORIZE . Is it

experimental music? Synth-pop?

Soundscapes? Freak folk? All of the above and more? The band found breakout success with its 2009 album “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” and have spent much of the last decade rebelling against it. Earlier this year, Animal Collective released its 11th album, “Time Skiffs,” which heads back toward its more accessible pop sound of the lateaughts. Sham opens at 8 p.m.

Tuesday, July 12, at the Toulouse Theatre. Tickets are $39 at toulousetheatre.com

Bastille Day Fete

THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE CELEBRATES THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE STORMING OF THE BASTILLE with

music by Alexis and the Samurai, French DJ DJ GAC, Les ReBelles, the Merry Antoinettes, crepes, a Champagne bar, drinks from Happy Raptor Distilling and Urban South Brewery, kids’ games and more. Nathalie Beras, the Consul General of France in Louisiana, will offer a toast. From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at the Alliance Francaise at 1519 Jackson Ave. Tickets $8-$13.

Find information at af-neworleans.org/bastilleday.

‘Henry IV, Part 1’

WAR IS BREWING IN ENGLAND, AND KING HENRY IV FACES REBELLION and

a rebellious son, Prince Hal, who prefers carousing with Falstaff to preparing to ascend to the throne. Much will be decided at the battle of Shrewsbury in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 1.”

The New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane presents the show at the university’s Lupin Theater at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 15, through Saturday, July 16, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 17.

The show also runs July 21-24 and 28-30. Tickets $40 via neworleansshakespeare.org.

International New Orleans Piano Competition

THE MUSICAL ARTS SOCIETY OF NEW ORLEANS KICKS OFF its annual

piano competition on Monday, July 18. Twelve finalists emerged from more than 200 auditions submitted from 30 countries. The competition runs through the final round on July 24. The event is held in conjunction with the New Orleans Keyboard Festival and Piano Institute. Guest Artist Antonio Pompa-Baldi performs works by Bach, Franz Lizst and others at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 17.

Events are at Loyola University’s Roussel Hall. Visit masno.org for a schedule, tickets and details.

‘Vanishing Black Bars’ with L. Kasimu Harris

LOCAL AUTHOR, JOURNALIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER L. KASIMU HARRIS

Orchestra. He’s currently based in Chicago, where he’s the director of jazz studies at Northwestern University. His quartet performs at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Snug Harbor. Tickets $35 at snugjazz.com.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World

THE HITS AND LIP-SYNCING ARE CONTEMPORARY, but the drag stars

of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” get their hands on a time-machine and rework different historical periods and events to their liking — including who won past seasons of the TV competition. Kameron Michaels, Rose, Vanessa Vanjie, Yvie Oddly and finalists from season 14 perform. At Saenger Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday, July 15.

Find tickets on Ticketmaster.com.

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Island Strong Beach Fest

GRAND ISLE IS HOSTING A TWO-DAY MUSIC FESTIVAL to bring people

back to its beaches and support rebuilding projects in an area hard hit by Hurricane Ida. The music lineup includes Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Nashville South, Velvet Sky, Junior Lacrosse & Sumtin Sneaky and more. There will be a craft market and food vendors. The festival is on the beach across from the Grand Isle Community Center and Birch Lane beach crossover No. 19. Festival hours are from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, July 15, and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Saturday, July 16. Proceeds will support rebuilding of recreational facilities. Find information about Grand Isle and the event at townofgrandisle.com and facebook.com/grandislela.

has spent years documenting New Orleans’ Black owned bars — and the unfortunate demise of many of these establishments, which have served as social and cultural hubs across New Orleans.

Here’s your chance to hear Harris, a gripping storyteller, talk about them and the stories and history they represent. Harris is hosting a trip to the Hilliard Art Museum in Lafayette, which currently is showing some of his photos. The allday excursion includes bus tickets, a discussion of Harris’ work with museum curator Benjamin Hickey and lunch. Departing from the Ogden Museum on 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, July 16. Tickets are $185 at Eventbrite.

from fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel and others. Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre presents the musical at Dixon Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 14, though Saturday, July 16, and 2 p.m.

Sunday, July 17. Tickets $30$50 via liberalarts.tulane.edu/ summer-lyric-theatre.

Victor Goines Quartet

Tab Benoit

Marsalis’ band long before he joined Wynton Marsalis’ Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center

of an extended summer tour.

Eric Johanson opens at 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 16, at Tipitina’s.

Find tickets at tipitinas.com.

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Gold mettle

by Will Coviello

TRAINING TO COMPETE IN THE OLYMPICS CAN BEGIN AT A VERY EARLY AGE — for a

chance that may also come at an early age. Anastasia Budyashkina, who plays the namesake aspiring gymnast in “Olga,” began training at 4 years old in her hometown of Lugansk, Ukraine. She eventually became a member of Ukraine’s national gymnastics team.

Her skills and experience shine in the film, but Budyashkina’s amateur acting debut is more impressive. The drama follows Olga’s dreams of competing in the European championships as a path to the Olympics — as she becomes more aware of her mother’s similar dedication to fighting the corruption of President Viktor Yanukovych’s regime in Kyiv.

As a teenager, Olga is already on the Ukrainian national team.

Her mother Ilona picks her up from training sessions, and those drives are some of their only time together. Illona is a journalist who is reporting on government corruption. That’s a dangerous job, and after an incident in which a car rams into them, Ilona decides her work is putting Olga in danger.

Ilona sends Olga to stay with her father’s family in Switzerland. It’s hard for them to be away from each other, but Olga is safe and can concentrate on her training. She’s sure that if she can master the Jaeger, a difficult maneuver on the uneven parallel bars, that she can score highly in the Euro competition.

Olga is talented enough to be a threat to the other young women in the gym. They size up each others’ skills and confidence, but it’s more complicated than that. The others are on the Swiss national team, and Olga has to decide whether she wants to claim Swiss citizenship as part of the arrangement. As a gymnast, she only wants to compete.

But taking a Swiss girl’s place, and her increasing awareness of her former Ukrainian team’s situation, make her more aware that she has a stake in her own national identity.

Her mother is fighting for the freedom of a country she wants for her daughter’s future.

Director Elie Grappe recruited many gymnasts to play the competitors in the film, and it gives their practices and competition a very realistic edge. The pounding tumbling runs, flips on the balance

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KINO LORBER

Anastasia Budyashkina stars in ‘Olga.’ beam and flying summersaults off the bars are real, and it’s easy to wince at hard landings and falls as gymnasts are under pressure to master new moves.

Grappe also uses documentary footage of the Maidan Revolution, and the film is set in 2013 (prior to Russia’s annexation of Crimea).

After Yanukovich, under pressure from Moscow, decided not to enter a trade agreement with the European Union, Ukrainians protested in Maidan Square. They were met with a violent government crackdown (The film was released in 2021, before Russia invaded Ukraine).

Olga is pulled in two directions.

She follows her athletic path, still dreaming of Olympic gold and unwilling to give up on her years of work. But she’s increasingly drawn into the chaos back home, which envelops her friends, her former teammates and her mother.

Grappe shrewdly captures much of this through the screens of smartphones, as Olga’s intimate conversations reveal some of the details but more of the tone of urgency. It’s hard for her to know what’s going on, and both mother and daughter are left hanging as smartphone communications falter.

Budyashkina delivers a brilliantly natural feeling of a teenager thrust into the adult world, alternately naive and shrewd in negotiating the greater forces affecting her life.

The story avoids sports film cliches and shows that hard work doesn’t necessarily relieve one of risk and hard choices.

“Olga” opens on Friday, July 15, at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.

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PREMIER CROSSWORD PUZZLE MISS SOUTH CAROLINA

By Frank A. Longo

31 Perform a hip-hop song about a military operation?

34 Periodic table creator Mendeleev 38 Singer Cooke 39 Mined matter 40 Kid-lit “pest” 41 Cry from a toddler who’s dropped a Dairy Queen cone?

44 Present 45 Port in Japan 46 Leaving 47 Oz creator L. Frank — 49 Female rat 52 Things docs prescribe 53 Daybreak

54 Search for a Marvel superhero?

58 eBay action 59 Flip (out) 60 Rodent-catching cat 61 Rubdown given in a mountain chalet?

67 Winged insect native to Iraq or Oman?

69 Setting for petri dishes 70 List of jurors 72 Lower limb 73 Talked on and on about chicken products?

75 Fan noise 77 Use Lyft, e.g.

81 Dadaist Jean 82 Defeat

83 Pale-looking 85 H. Ross — 86 Genesis brother 88 Official account of an excursion?

90 Bagel seed 93 Towing org.

95 Entry points 96 2017 film about skater Harding 97 Supreme Court members’ favorite beers?

100 Royal Navy letters 101 Sword parts 102 Some sports rounds, for short 103 Lover of beauty 108 Skating jump 109 Yelled while using a juicer?

112 Pilaf base 113 Singer Grande, to her fans 114 The “A” of A/V 115 Actress Julia 116 The “A” of A&E 117 Vermont hrs.

118 Tire problems 119 Itty-bitty DOWN 1 Very annoyed 2 “Terrible” Russian 3 Ad- — (wings it) 4 13-digit ID in publishing 5 Region of Italy’s “toe” 6 Sour in taste 7 Longtime Yankee nickname 8 Singer Rawls 9 Ger.’s continent 10 Very simple 11 Ghostly figure 12 Myers once of CNBC 13 “You can’t — all!”

14 Savings acct. buildup 15 “Alas!”

16 Slowly, on music scores 17 Have as a snack 18 — Green (old eloping mecca) 24 Sleuth, slangily 25 Jay of “Gary Unmarried” 29 Despot of old 31 — to go (eager) 32 Church cry 33 “It just came back to me”

34 Tragic destiny 35 Allison of jazz 36 Apple debut of 2010 37 Clucks of shame 38 Clumsy boat 42 “Zounds!”

43 Gelatin in a petri dish 44 See 47-Down 47 With 44-Down, big embrace 48 “Diana” singer Paul 49 Attic buildup 50 Like Ogden Nash’s “lama” 51 To be, to Gigi 53 More than mere doubt 55 Osso buco meat 56 Film director Nicolas 57 Color shade 58 Jezebel’s god 59 — shui 61 “— -Ca-Dabra” (1974 hit) 62 Untruth teller 63 Pageantry 64 Mets’ gp.

65 Big simians 66 Comics’ bits 68 Glittery jewelry, informally 71 Brother in Genesis 74 Put on 75 Cry feebly

76 Mother chickens 77 Seized auto, say 78 De-wrinkle 79 “Finding —” (2016 film) 80 “Tell Mama” singer James 84 Clic — (Bic pen brand) 85 Place to buy a leash 86 Queens’ homes 87 Novelist Oz 88 Hot cereal, often 89 Punchline drum hit 90 Big desert 91 Miracle drink 92 Choose 93 With milk, in French 94 “— sure you know ...”

98 Heckles 99 Give credit where credit — 100 “— So Shy” 103 Uproars 104 Newsman Brit 105 Boys’ school in Britain 106 Some till bills 107 Jacuzzi effect 109 Actress Issa 110 Org. for cavity repairers 111 Suffix with beat or neat

ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P 2

PUZZLES

ACROSS 1 Quartz, e.g.

7 Take — of faith 12 Imbiber’s hwy. crime 15 Gown designer Vera 19 Brood pouch 20 Baseball Hall of Famer Edd 21 German “a” 22 Smell 23 Sports contest between two disorderly crowds?

26 Give relief 27 Trapped 28 Negative battery pole 29 Fitting snugly 30 Telly network

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G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > J U LY 1 2 - 1 8 > 2 0 2 2

166769 N. ROCHEBLAVE • MIDCITY

CLASSIC SHOTGUN IN CARROLLTON

Lot 504: French Provincial Louis XV Style Carved Cherry Vitrine, 19th c., H.- 79 in., W.- 64 in., D.- 30 in.

Est. $600-$900

Lot 547: French Bronze and Marble Figural Mantel Clock, late 19th c., H.- 22 1/2 in., W.- 12 1/2 in., D.- 5 in.

Est. $600-$900

IMPORTANT SUMMER ESTATES AUCTION

Lot 551: French Bronze Patinated Spelter and Marble Figural Mantel Clock, c. 1890, H.- 26 1/2 in., W.- 15 in., D.- 8 1/4 in. Est. $500-$900

Friday, July 15th at 10 am, Lots 1-350 Saturday, July 16th at 10 am, Lots 351-790 Full color catalog available at:

www.crescentcityauctiongallery.com WATCH AND BID LIVE ONLINE Lot 441: English Carved Mahogany Circular Tilt Top Dining Table, H.- 28 in., Dia.- 48 in Est. $600-$900

Lot 505: French Provincial Louis Philippe Carved Walnut Marble Top Commode, 19th c., H.- 36 7/8 in., W.- 50 3/4 in., D.- 23 3/4 in. Est. $700-$1,200

Lot 583: Alberta Kinsey (1875-1952, Louisiana), “Still Life of Roses,” 20th c., watercolor on paper, signed lower right, H.- 9 1/4 in., W.- 17 1/4 in. Est. $500-$900

FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME! Lot 412: Two Sterling Chocolate Pots, with wooden handles, the taller by Shreve, Crump and Low, the shorter English, possibly by Harrison and Hipwood, Wt.- 14.01 Troy Oz. Est. $400-$800

Lot 508: French Louis XV Style Carved Mahogany Double Door Armoire, c. 1800, H.- 99 in., W.- 62 in., D.- 19 1/2 in.

Est. $1,000-$2,000 Part of a Collection of Bronzes Large Selection of Jewelry includes Diamonds, Tanzanites, Emeralds, Opals, Tennis Bracelet, etc.

Lot 437: English Georgian Mahogany Inlaid Walnut Chest, early 19th c., H.- 30 in., W.- 42 in., D.- 22 1/2 in.

Est. $700-$1,200

Lot 170: Robert Allen Nelson (1925-2021, Pennsylvania/Wisconsin), “Cannonball Cadre,” 1978, embellished lithograph with collage, H.- 17 1/2 in., W.- 21 1/2 in. Est. $300-$500.

Lot 509: French Provincial Carved Cherry Louis XV Style Sideboard, 19th c., H.- 44 1/4 in., W.- 61 in., D.- 25 in. Est. $500-$900

Lot 585: Robert Malcolm Rucker (Louisiana, 1932-2001), “Shrimp Boats on the Bayou,” 20th c., watercolor, signed lower right, H.- 10 1/4 in., W.- 13 3/8 in. Est. $500-$900.

Lot 582: James Kendrick III (1946-2013, Louisiana), “Greenwood,” 1985, oil on panel, signed and dated lower right, titled verso, H.- 20 7/8 in., W.- 15 in. Est. $700-$900

Lot 502: Russian Ormolu Mounted Egyptian Revival Marble Top Mahogany Center Table, 20th c., on ormolu brass female figural supports, H.- 29 7/8 in., Dia.- 36 in.

Est. $1,500-$2,500

Lot 702: French Provincial Carved Beech Monastery Table, 20th c., H.- 32 in., W.- 117 1/4 in., D.- 46 1/2 in. Est. $1,000-$2,000

Selection of English Tea Caddies, Tantalus Sets, and Humidors.

Lot 434: Robert Irwin (1919-1953), Nine Piece Adams Satinwood Dining Room Suite, 20th c., consisting of a table, six chairs, a sideboard, and a vitrine. Est. $800-$1,200

Lot 653: Continental School, “Portrait of a Young Man,” 18th c., oil on canvas, unsigned, unframed, H.- 25 in., W.- 22 1/4 in. Est. $400-$800

Lot 584: Joe Moran (Mississippi, 1915-1999), “Shrimp Boats,” c. 1970, watercolor and ink on paper, signed and dated lower right, H.- 7 1/2 in., W.- 13 in.

Est. $700-$1,200

Crescent City Auction Gallery, LLC 1330 St.Charles Ave, New Orleans, La 70130 504-529-5057 • fax 504-529-6057 info@crescentcityauctiongallery.com 25% Buyers Premium For a complete catalog, visit our website at: www.crescentcityauctiongallery.com LA Auc Lic AB-411, 1354, 1529

Lot 505: French Provincial Louis Philippe Carved Walnut Marble Top Commode, 19th c., H.- 36 7/8 in., W.- 50 3/4 in., D.- 23 3/4 in.

Est. $700-$1,200

Lot 450: Carved Mahogany Brass Mounted Campaign Chest, 19th c., H.- 38 3/4 in., W.- 46 1/2 in., D.- 19 1/4 in. Est. $800-$1,200

Porcelain Collection Includes Sevres, Royal Vienna, etc.

Lot 587: John Akers (Louisiana, 1944-2006), “Miss Alex,” 20th/21st c., oil on board, signed lower right, H.- 19 3/8 in., W.- 23 1/2 in. Est. $800-$1,200