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Over the rainbow
Southern Decadence brings a long weekend of LGBTQ parties and events
ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND, SOUTHERN DECADENCE BRINGS ALL SORTS of parties, events and partying in the streets for the LGBTQ community to the French Quarter, Marigny and beyond.
Over the annual celebration’s more than 50 years, the Decadence Parade has been the core traditional event. But it’s not hard to find Decadence revelers who have missed it.
“People are staying out ‘til 5, 6, 7 in the morning, or later to be honest,” says Monique Michaels-Alexander, one of this year’s Southern Decadence Grand Marshals.
Even though the parade has started at 2 p.m. on Sunday, many late-night partiers haven’t made it. But this year, the grand marshals are giving them a chance. The parade has been moved to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, and it promises to be one of the biggest processions in recent memory.
The main reason for the change is to deal with the heat. “Not having the sun directly overhead is a bonus,” MichaelsAlexander says. “We also did think about how Southern Decadence has evolved. There are so many parties and events people go to that pushing it back a few hours doesn’t affect anything other than being able to get more people out to it.”
To her, that’s important.
“My very first Decadence was 2012 with Tiffany Alexander,” says MichaelsAlexander, who moved to New Orleans from Palm Springs with her family in 2009. “She became a mentor to me in the city’s drag culture. We became friends, and when she became grand marshal, she had me in her entourage. Walking in that parade is one of the best memories that I have.”
Alexander and her co-grand marshal had chosen the Las Vegas-inspired theme “Viva New Orleans.” MichaelsAlexander donned fishnets, a black corset, pink floral pieces and a headpiece for their Vegas showgirl look.
Michaels-Alexander has been in a few more grand marshal entourages since then, explicitly to help with the work that needs to be done to organize the parade and fundraise, she says. But she also thought about reigning herself.
“In the back of my brain, I hoped it would happen one day,” she says.
In May, last year’s grand marshals named Michaels-Alexander, ChiChi Rodriguez, Willie Mackie and Bill Hincks as their successors.
The grand marshals organize the parade. This year’s Decadence theme
by Will Coviello |
Michaels-Alexander says. Those events reach outside the city to the Northshore and Gulf Coast, where many regular Southern Decadence visitors live.
Southern Decadence attendance exploded in the 1990s when word about the LGBTQ celebration spread on the internet. The grand marshals maintain the event’s core traditions among all the crowds and events, which have grown to include parties organized by national groups.
Abby Govindan
Abby Govindan broke into the comedy world with stand-up clips that went viral. In recent years, she’s toured with the show “How to Embarrass Your Immigrant Parents.” Now the Indian-American comic has a new show, “Pushing 30,” which she says is less about how to become your ancestors’ wildest dream and more your grandmother’s worst nightmare. She performs at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at Sports Drink. Tickets $32.36 via sportsdrink.org.
is “Etched in Stone, Timeless and Decadent.” The official colors are black, gold, white and purple.
The parade features many individual marchers in costume, drag or very little at all. There also are all sorts of groups, including dancing and marching groups, smaller walking krewes from Carnival parades, niche groups like leather and S&M-themed contingents, and Decadence-inspired groups like the Ropers, in which marchers don wigs and caftans like Mrs. Roper from the sitcom “Three’s Company.”
Almost 50 groups had signed up to march by last week, MichaelsAlexander says, and more are expected.
Participation is free, but the organizers ask groups to register so they can plan for the size of the lineup.
The parade starts in front of the Golden Lantern bar on Royal Street at the edge of the French Quarter. It proceeds across Royal Street and turns on St. Louis Street and goes to N. Rampart, hitting bars along the way. The procession then goes back to the heart of the French Quarter and ends on Bourbon Street on the block that’s home to Oz and the Bourbon Pub & Parade.
The grand marshals’ official schedule includes being at a drag show traditionally hosted by the previous year’s grand marshals at the Golden Lantern on the Friday night before the parade.
But the major challenge for the grand marshals is to raise funds for the parade during a short timeline in summer. One or all of the grand marshals has been to 25 fundraising events,
“It started as a bar crawl,” MichaelsAlexander says. The grand marshals are “keeping that tradition, the party in the streets, and visiting the places that are supporting us. These are the businesses that are supporting the grand marshals and the charities. These are the places you need to make sure you go visit.”
After paying for the parade, leftover funds are donated to New Orleans Advocates for LGBTQ Elders, Women with a Vision and the LGBTQ+ Archives Project of Louisiana.
The epicenter of Decadence is still the LGBTQ bars in the French Quarter and Marigny, but events are spread across the downtown and beyond. On Elysian Fields Avenue, The Phoenix is a hub of events. The AllWays Lounge & Theatre hosts some of its usual drag and burlesque shows, as well as film screenings of “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “The Sons of Tennessee Williams.” There’s also a pool party at the new Bywater hotel and pool The Railyard.
National organizers like Horse Meat Disco also produce events during Decadence. The San Francisco-based Bearracuda group holds a dance party at The Joy Theater on Friday.
Parade information is available at sdparade.com. There isn’t one centralized list of all events, but the most exhaustive one was compiled by Tony Leggio on Ambush’s website (ambushmag.com). And the grand marshals are posting as many event fliers and notices as possible on their own social media accounts. And for those who can get up by 1:30 p.m. Monday, there’s the Leftover Bitches Southern Decadence Survivors Bar Crawl, starting at the Corner Pocket.
‘STUDIO 54’
The New York nightclub Studio 54 opened in the late 1970s as disco was taking over, and it became a hotspot for celebrities, gossip and scandal. Anais St. John celebrates the fashion, glamor and the music in her show “STUDIO 54.” Backed by a live band, she’ll sing hits from Gloria Gaynor, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Grace Jones and more. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Double Dealer. Tickets $31.37 via eventbrite.com.
Mermaid Parade
Seafarers — from mermaids, mermen and other sea creatures to pirates and sailors — will parade on dry land in the Mermaid Parade. The Krewe du Fool organizes the riverfront jaunt from St. Philip Street to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. A portion of proceeds benefit the Audubon Institute. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30. Registration $35 via krewedufool.com.
Pussystunt
New Orleans drag performer Krakow Lightning is releasing a new single, “Pussystunt,” and throwing a release party on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at Gasa Gasa. There will be drag, burlesque and music performances by Vienna Notarianni, Ya’Rai D. Alexander,
FILE PHOTO
Grand Marshal Vanessa Carr Kennedy marches in the 2024 Southern cu parade.
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
OPENING GAMBIT
NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS
The election is already getting ugly and its still only August
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The Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, which coordinates organ transplants in the state, has gone from the bottom 10 to the top 10 in the country for organizations of its kind in the last two years, LOPA told the Louisiana Illuminator. LOPA in 2023 reformed its operations, worked on improving services and expanded staff, and it is now in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service’s highest rated category.
Louisiana is sending National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to help Trump’s blustering, fascist crackdown on the city. Gov. Jeff Landry last week announced Louisiana is joining five other red states in sending National Guard members to “return safety and sanity to Washington” — despite the fact violent crime there has fallen for two years and is at its lowest point since the 1960s.
Mayor Cantrell asks court to postpone civil case against her following corruption indictment
NEW ORLEANS MAYOR LATOYA
CANTRELL AUG. 19 ASKED a federal judge to postpone a civil lawsuit filed against her by a French Quarter woman until after a separate but related federal criminal corruption case against her is resolved.
The Trump administration’s federal budget cuts will mean the U.S Army Corps of Engineers can’t conduct regular inspections of New Orleans’ critical levee system in 2025 and 2026. The Corps typically does an annual driving inspection to look for potential problems in the area’s levees between formal full-system inspections conducted every five years. Between 2019 and 2023, the Corps was allocated between $978,000 and $1.3 million to inspect the levee system. In 2025, the budget is now $691,000.
The civil case was filed by Anne Breaud, who Cantrell targeted after Breaud took pictures of the mayor and her alleged paramour NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie dining on a public balcony in April 2024.
The stay request came just days after Cantrell was indicted by a federal grand jury Aug. 15 as part of a corruption investigation into Cantrell that in part has focused on her relationship with Vappie.
After the photos became public, Cantrell filed a restraining order against Breaud. That request included significant information about Breaud which Cantrell as a private citizen would likely not
have access to, including her social security number, an old photo ID and parts of her legal history which had been expunged.
Multiple courts have shot down Cantrell’s suit and ordered the mayor to pay Breaud’s legal fees.
Breaud filed her own suit against Cantrell and has argued the mayor was attempting to intimidate her in retaliation for releasing the embarrassing photos. That suit is scheduled to be heard later this fall.
According to Fox8, in their request to postpone Breaud’s suit city attorneys claim “Cantrell is ‘in the horns of a constitutional dilemma’ because of civil and criminal cases surrounding the issue, which they say forced Cantrell to decide on whether to use her right to remain silent.”
Meanwhile, Cantrell’s press office alleged she returned to “work” Aug.
1.375
THE TOTAL ESTIMATED AMOUNT IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THE CITY MAY HAVE TO REPAY DRIVERS FOR ILLEGAL SCHOOL ZONE SPEEDING TICKETS. C’EST
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill earlier this month ordered the city to repay drivers for speeding tickets issued last year through the city’s network of school zone speed cameras. Those tickets were issued in violation of a 2024 state law requiring the city to have a revenue-sharing agreement with the school board, something which Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration has yet to finalize. Given that the city has decades’ worth of judgements and other missed payments on its plate, its unclear when or if drivers will ever see a refund.
11.2%
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell
PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
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18 when she attended a regularly scheduled staff meeting.
It’s unclear whether she did in fact attend the meeting, and what if anything else she may have done while she was purportedly at City Hall Monday. Her press office has become increasingly unreliable over the last three years.
Cantrell and Vappie are facing a combined 18 felony counts, including wire fraud, obstruction of justice, making false statements to the FBI and lying to a grand jury.
Acting U S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson at a news conference August 15 outlined the case, alleging that Cantrell and Vappie engaged in a personal relationship starting in October 2021 and defrauded the City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department for nearly three years — up until Vappie’s retirement last year.
Prosecutors allege Vappie’s salary and other expenses were covered by the city and NOPD while he claimed to be on duty but “was actually engaged in personal activities, usually with Ms. Cantrell, but sometimes alone” at the city-owned Pontalba apartment building in the French Quarter, Simpson said.
The “personal activity” however, allegedly extended far beyond the storied walls of the Pontalba. The 45-page indictment says that in one instance, the pair extended a work trip to San Francisco to spend a day wine tasting in the Napa
Valley; during that time, Vappie billed the city for a 15-hour work day. Cantrell also reportedly canceled a work trip to travel instead to Martha’s Vineyard to spend time with Vappie, who was attending a city-funded conference related to his position on the HANO Board of Commissioners — a position Cantrell had appointed him to just a few months earlier. In total, prosecutors say it cost the city $70,000 to cover Vappie’s travel expenses.
Simpson also said Friday that Vappie and Cantrell exchanged over 15,000 text messages, photos and audio clips through an encrypted app, WhatsApp, in an attempt to cover up their relationship and hide their activities together.
The indictment alleges they were aware their conduct broke criminal laws.
Furthermore, Simpson said Vappie lied to the FBI about the nature and circumstances of their relationship. Cantrell, meanwhile, swore under oath that she had activated a feature that automatically deleted messages off her phone in 2021; however, Simpson said she did not turn that feature on until December 26, 2022. Cantrell also allegedly concealed evidence subject to subpoena from the grand jury.
The indictment also says Cantrell and Vappie engaged in other behaviors like “intimidating and punishing subordinates, lying to colleagues and advisors, making false public pronouncements, harassing a private individual who took photos of them in public together, deleting evidence, making false statements” and more.
This is not the first time Cantrell has been under federal investigation.
Jeffrey Vappie
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
Last year, she and her now former Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montano were implicated in a separate case of corruption: an indictment of Randy Farrell, a private building inspector, who was charged with bribing the mayor.
Several New Orleans elected officials have weighed in on the charges, mainly to remind the public that the mayor is innocent until proven guilty by the court.
City Council Member Joe Giarrusso said, “everyone is presumed innocent under the law. Mayor Cantrell deserves that presumption. This unfortunately will be sensationalized because it involves the Mayor and will further impede the City’s operations. We should, however, let the facts play out and not rush to judgment.”
Helena Moreno, the city council’s vice president who is running to replace the term-limited Cantrell, said through a spokesperson that the “mayor is entitled to a presumption of innocence and a vigorous defense.
Council Member Moreno’s focus remains on a new way forward for New Orleans. Restoring basic services, creating opportunity and putting people first will continue to be her priority.”
Council member Oliver Thomas, who is also running for mayor — and previously served a federal prison sentence for his own corruption charges — said it was important to let the legal process pan out.
The announcement of Cantrell’s indictment, he says, “reminds us of the need to let the justice system work in a fair, timely fashion and without regard to politics or preference.”
Cantrell has not yet spoken publicly about the charges.
A previous Gambit investigation found that she only spends an average of 16 hours and 39 minutes a week working as mayor, so her latest legal troubles may not affect her work schedule — or the city in general.
They could, however, put a crimp in Cantrell’s travel schedule. Surrendering one’s passport is a typical condition of bond.
Since the beginning of her second term, Cantrell has been a prolific world traveler, using city funds to travel to far-flung locales like Dubai, Brazil and other vacation spots – including one $50,000 trip to Nice, France.
Immerseyourselfinstrikingphotographs createdunderneath thewater andalong thebanks of theMississippi River.
— Sarah Ravits and John Stanton
Anne Breaud
PHOTO BY JOHN MCCUSKER / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
natur al ho rn
NicolasFloc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed is organizedby theNew OrleansMuseumofArt andissponsored by Villa Albertine andAlbertine FoundationthankstoArdian’ssupport.Additional
Twentyyearsago,Hurricane Katrina tested New Orleansinwaysthe worldwill never forget.Welost lovedones, homes,and histor y— but we never lost our spirit.
From thefoodwaters,werebuiltour homes,reshapedour neighborhoods,and revived aculturethatno stormcould wash away.Today, our sk yline rises higher,our music rings louder,and our people stand stronger thanever.
In Memory, In Unity, In Strength
Thank Yo utoO ur Sponsors
20 years later, Katrina still separates our ‘before’ and ‘after’ eras
THERE WAS BEFORE. And then, suddenly, there was after. Between the two came Katrina, whose official landfall roughly traced the Louisiana-Mississippi state line — much as Hurricane Camille did 36 years earlier. Like Camille, Katrina caused significant but not devastating wind damage across New Orleans. We had weathered worse before, we told ourselves. That was before.
This time, the water that filled city streets kept rising. And rising. Quickly, then faster and faster as the storm surge swamped defective floodwalls lining three of the city’s four main drainage canals. Within hours, a rising tide of sewage and brine flooded 80% of the city.
More than homes, “the federal flood” (local levees and floodwalls were designed by the U S. Army Corps of Engineers) displaced entire neighborhoods, tore apart the city’s social and cultural fabric, and ripped away the illusion of complacency that for generations had masked our city’s ugliest truths — particularly the vast socio-economic disparities between Black and white New Orleanians.
America watched in horror as several dozen looters raided local retailers; few if any saw the countless acts of courage and kindness as neighbors helped neighbors escape the rampaging floodwaters and strangers rescued strangers across the city — a truer
picture of New Orleans and its people. Fewer still saw the horrors endured by hundreds of senior citizens who slowly, excruciatingly died of dehydration in their sweltering homes, desperately waiting for someone to rescue them. Many weren’t found until weeks or even months later.
That was just the beginning of after. It took nearly six weeks to drain the flooded areas. The stench of death and decay took longer to leave. Even now, two decades later, many who returned still point to high-water marks in their homes, businesses and churches.
Collectively, our initial trauma gave way to frustration, then to anger. Our leaders had failed us at every level — local, state and national — and we weren’t about to stay quiet about it. “Enraged and engaged” was the headline atop one of my early Gambit columns about the groundswell of political unrest that rose as the floodwaters retreated.
For decades, New Orleans politics reflected a “top-down” approach to leadership and governance. Citizens accepted as immutable a system that allowed local power brokers to decide who would seek and win municipal offices. Katrina turned that model on its head as New Orleanians in the spring of 2006 elected a city council dominated by neighborhood leaders and civic activists rather than marionettes of entrenched political organizations. Subsequent city councils continued to see this new breed of “bottom-up” leaders — culminating in LaToya Cantrell’s election as mayor in 2017. Cantrell first gained notice after Katrina as the fiercely outspoken president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, fighting to keep her low-lying neighborhood from being “green dotted” out of existence in the city’s budding recovery plan.
The wave of political change didn’t stop there. New Orleanians combined the city’s seven assessors’ offices and overwhelmingly supported changing
the way area levee boards are organized and appointed.
Meanwhile, Mayor Ray Nagin declared the recovery would be “market driven” — Darwinian code for “everyone’s on their own.” (Nagin cut a few shady deals for himself on his way out of office, for which he drew a 10-year stint in the federal pokey.)
The city’s rich and middle-class residents — an overwhelmingly white cohort — fared well enough under Nagin’s market-driven recovery plan. Many of the city’s other, mostly Black citizens still struggle to rebuild. Sadly, that’s one aspect of the “before” era that hasn’t changed.
Amidst the upheaval, New Orleans culture bearers found inspiration, rekindling hope in a city too often defined by tragedy. Most Americans thought we had lost our minds when we postponed city elections yet celebrated Mardi Gras as scheduled, but we knew better. Mardi Gras 2006 was for us, the rest of the world be damned. Ditto for that year’s Jazz Fest, which featured some of the most memorable performances in the annals of local music.
The state even got into the act. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco wisely heeded the advice of Superdome manager Doug Thornton, who convinced her that rebuilding the iconic stadium — which had been the scene of so much suffering during
Katrina — would inspire and unite New Orleanians like nothing else.
Then came Steve Gleason’s blocked punt in the Saints’ first post-Katrina home opener as the Black and Gold trounced the hated Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 25, 2006. Three seasons later, they brought home the Lombardi Trophy. Many still weep for joy just thinking about that. Lord knows we’ve shed enough tears of sorrow since Aug. 29, 2005.
Like the wars, famines, fires and epidemics that have plagued New Orleans over the past 307 years, Katrina will forever mark a pivotal moment in our city’s history. For those of us who lived through its darkest days, the storm and its aftermath will always overshadow what came before, even if it swept away too much of what was beautiful and not enough of what was ugly. Ultimately, it’s up to us to write our history, cure our ills, right our wrongs, and most of all lean on and raise up one another. Because we are not so much resilient — a word we’ve all come to despise because it falls so far short of what truly defines us — as rooted in a city that, for all its flaws, remains the only place we love and celebrate like nowhere else.
Palm trees bend and banners rip on Canal Street as Hurricane Katrina blows through New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY TED JACKSON
Customers line up outside Angelo Brocato when it reopened September 23, 2006 after sustaining extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina.
PHOTO BY MATT ROSE / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
Hey Blake,
With the Tulane Green Wave opening their football season this weekend, it’s a good time for me to ask a question that’s been on my mind. Where does Yulman Stadium get its name? I assume it’s a donor, but what more can you tell me?
Dear reader,
THE TULANE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL STADIUM IS NAMED for Richard Yulman and his late wife Janet. According to the university, the couple’s gift of $15 million helped build the $73 million facility, which opened in 2014.
Richard Yulman is the retired chairman and owner of Serta International, the mattress manufacturing company. A former member of the Tulane Board of Trustees, Yulman and his wife first became involved with Tulane when their daughter Katy attended school at the Uptown campus. She graduated cum laude from Newcomb College in 2005.
Prior to making the gift to Tulane for the stadium, the Yulmans were better known for their philanthropic work in academics, community and religious causes.
“We are not traditional athletic donors at all,” Richard Yulman told The Times-Picayune. But Yulman listened when then-Tulane president Scott Cowen emphasized to the Board of Trustee how great a need an
South
on-campus football stadium was for the university, since the team had been playing its football games to less enthusiastic crowds at the Superdome.
The Yulmans decided to step forward with the lead gift. “Stadiums are not usually our priority,” Richard said.
“Tulane was our priority. We answered the call… and we’re happy it happened.”
Other major donors included Tom and Gayle Benson, who donated $7.5 million to the project. The stadium’s field is named Benson Field in their honor. In addition, Jill and Avram
“Avie” Glazer donated an unspecified multi-million-dollar gift for the stadium, and the family club space for premium ticket holders is named in their honor.
Avie Glazer is an owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and English Premier League club soccer team Manchester United. His wife Jill is a Tulane graduate and former board member.
WE CONCLUDE OUR LOOK AT NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM MONTH by also commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and recognizing four local museums and attractions that have contributed to the local cultural scene by opening in the 20 years since the storm.
The Sazerac House opened in 2019 in a beautifully renovated historic building at Canal and Magazine streets. Owned and operated by the Sazerac Company, the attraction explores the history of New Orleans through its cocktails, including the Sazerac.
Originally opened in 2020 on Royal Street in the Faubourg Marigny, JAMNOLA recently moved to a new location on Frenchmen Street, the former Alois J. Binder bakery. The interactive art and culture attraction features 29 walk-through installations created by local artists.
The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience opened in 2021. Housed in a renovated 1916 building, the museum’s collection includes more than 4,000 artifacts documenting the history and culture of Jewish communities in 13 Southern states, including Louisiana.
Lastly, Vue Orleans offers an interactive cultural and historical look at the city’s food, music and culture, along with a breathtaking 360-degree observation deck offering stunning views of the city from atop the former World Trade Center, now the Four Seasons Hotel.
As part of Museum Month, if you currently have or purchase a membership to one of these participating attractions, you and a guest can visit any or all of the other museums for free until Aug. 31. Get more details at neworleans.com/museum-month.
BLAKE VIEW
Tulane Green Wave celebrates a touchdown against the
Florida Bulls during the first half of a football game at Yulman Stadium in September 2024.
PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
in New Orleans
The Roots of Music perform during the Vince Lombardi Trophy second-line parade in February 2025.
NOTE NOTEchange change
How the post-Katrina charter system reshaped music education in New Orleans
TROY SAWYER comes from a long line of musical talent.
A trumpet player, composer and producer, Sawyer’s great-grandfather, Louis D. James, played with cornetist Buddy Bolden. And you’ve probably heard of his cousin, six-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Leon Bridges.
Growing up uptown, Sawyer began playing music at an early age, picking up the violin in pre-K before switching to the trumpet in fourth grade. He played in school bands, including St. Augustine High School’s Marching 100, before going on to form his own band The Elementz.
Suffice it to say, like so many New Orleans-born musicians, music is both in his blood and in the community he grew up in. Carrying on that tradition was as important to Sawyer as playing was. So much so, in fact, that in 2010 Sawyer decided to become a teacher through a fellowship with Artist Corps New Orleans, which was helping train
BY KAYLEE POCHE
and pay to put professional musicians in local classrooms. He hoped it would put him in a position to help bring up the next generation of New Orleans musicians.
It was a time of immense change in the city. The traditional neighborhood public school system that had helped foster generations of musicians had been dismantled in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In its place, a near complete charter school system was being implemented.
Ostensibly designed to fix a school system that was already performing poorly well before the storm, the switch to charter schools meant students were choosing from schools across the city rather than attending their neighborhood schools. That lengthened travel times for kids and took them out of the communities that helped grow their musical interests for much of the day. And their focus on test scores and meeting performance standards often meant music education became an
afterthought and, in some cases, entirely expendable.
For Sawyer, that’s meant more than a decade of short-term gigs, broken promises and bouncing from school to school.
His 2010 fellowship at the New Orleans College Prep Charter School, which he’d hoped would become permanent, abruptly ended when administrators told him, “Oh, we’re focusing on drama. We’re not going to do music,” Sawyer says.
Undeterred, Sawyer found a new job, this time at Benjamin Mays Prep. But that school closed a year later due to poor academic performance. Next, he went to Arise Academy, only to get more bad news at the end of the year.
“They decided to get rid of music and P.E. How do you do that?” he says.
As it turns out, it happens regularly.
The issue isn’t unique to New Orleans or charter schools in general, but they do face closure if their students don’t score high enough on tests. Many also
are operating on tight budgets that will likely only get tighter as officials brace for declining local tax revenues, the end of pandemic relief funds, and federal cuts.
“This isn’t just a problem of New Orleans music education. It’s a nationwide problem that we see,” says Ashley Shabankareh, director of operations and programs for the Trombone Shorty Foundation. “The switch to the charter system definitely exacerbated these issues, but it is a national trend that often art-based programming tends to be cut first.”
Advocating for music in the birthplace of jazz
MUSIC EDUCATION in New Orleans has changed quite a bit since Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures hit the city 20 years ago and the state turned the city’s school system into a
PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
GR AB LIFE BY THECLAW, NOL A!
charter system. Charter school offerings have certainly increased in other cities, but New Orleans has gone the furthest.
Musicians and educators, both inside and outside the school system, have been fighting to improve music education in a city known worldwide for its music. But it’s often an uphill battle in an underfunded school system.
Sawyer’s story shows the difficulty of trying to teach music in New Orleans in a nearly all charter school system that almost by design emphasizes standardized testing over the arts.
After his experience at Arise, Sawyer decided to take a few years off and teach part-time. Then in 2017 he returned to the classroom full-time as the music teacher at KIPP Central City Primary in 2017. However, a few years later, he was met with more disappointment.
Once the pandemic hit, he said the principal asked him to be a co-teacher with a science teacher instead of teaching music. He pushed back, and ultimately, he says the principal told him the school would be going in “a different direction with the music program.”
The next school year, Sawyer took a position at Lafayette Academy, needing to support his family while live performances were cancelled. Before he even started, the school was considering getting rid of his position, he says.
“Once again, gotta advocate for my position, advocate for music in this city called the birthplace of jazz,” he says. “This is crazy.”
Sawyer signed on to come back for a third school year. But on the last day of school, he says the administration told him they didn’t have enough money in their budget to pay for a full-time music teacher anymore.
The day after Lafayette Academy told Sawyer they were cutting his position, his fledging nonprofit Girls Play Trumpets Too held its debut performance. Since then, he’s left the school system and focused on growing the program, which has since impacted more than 100 girls in New Orleans.
“A lot of these educators that are qualified, that want to give back and give quality instruction, are burnt out, and they leave the profession,” Sawyer says.
“And I’m one of them.”
‘Incremental growth’ since the storm
IN THE YEARS BEFORE Hurricane Katrina, the state had been gearing up to take over low-performing schools and either directly run them or turn them into charter schools, creating a “Recovery School District.”
The storm and the federal levee failures damaged 110 school buildings or 87% of operating schools in New Orleans, according to The Data Center. For many, that meant losing band instruments and uniforms in the floodwaters.
Although some schools who fared better were able to reopen in early 2006,
most couldn’t open their doors again until the following school year or after.
While schools were closed, the state legislature fired all 7,500 public school employees in the city. “Thousands, including veteran band directors, were never rehired,” according to A Closer Walk NOLA, which tracks musical history in the city. Ever since, there have been fewer Black teachers and New Orleans-born teachers in the city and more outside recruits.
The state and other decision-makers also replaced the local school district with a charter school system, run by independent charter networks.
“You used to have a public system that reached kids everywhere,” says Jordan Hirsch, a New Orleans music historian. “That system is fractured into these charter operators.”
With the storm decimating schools, music education took time to rebuild, even with donations for instruments pouring in from groups all over the country.
In 2008, less than 20% of elementary schools in the city were offering music programming, according to Artist Corps Co-director and Managing Director Sonya Robinson, a statistic she says was “scary” to the community.
That spurred the creation of Artist Corps and other nonprofits. Since then, Robinson says there’s been gradual improvement in the state of New Orleans music education.
“I think there’s been incremental growth in all areas of music education since we started in the field in 2008, but it was so limited in 2008, it had nowhere to go but up,” she says.
In 2018, the school system became “reunified,” meaning schools are now under the oversight of the Orleans Parish School Board. By 2019, all schools in
the district were charters, making New Orleans the first district to have an all-charter system until last school year, when the Leah Chase School opened as a traditional public school directly run by the school board.
Since reunifying, more schools have added music education during the school day, including part-time music educators and those from nonprofits, according to Robinson.
“There was more intention to add music back in,” she says.
Numbers hard to come by
ANECDOTALLY, people will reminisce about a golden time before the storm where school bands were giant and thriving. But “it isn’t just a pre- and post-Katrina situation,” Robinson says.
A district staffing formula meant that almost every school had music programs, including vocal music and general music, as well as both a band and choir director, one longtime music educator says. There was also a citywide strings program and jazz outreach.
But in the mid-’90s, there were budget cuts, which impacted arts and music programs the most. Many educators left the city in search of teaching the arts in cities where there were more resources and stability.
“We never recovered from that because that message sent was sent out loud and clear,” the same longtime music educator says.
It’s hard to get exact data comparing the state of New Orleans’ music education before and after the storm, including what percent of schools in the city have a full-time music teacher.
Troy Sawyer with Girls Play Trumpet Too students
PHOTO BY ROD RIDEAU
Trumpeter Troy Sawyer, right, clasps hands with students and trumpeter Sean Vappie, left, and trombonist Ashley Shabankareh.
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
Schools are not required to report data about their music education programs to NOLA Public Schools, meaning it’s up to the individual charter networks to keep track on their own accord.
At the request of a school board member, Artist Corps began gathering data on school music programs in 2018 in order to help schools secure a major grant from the Save the Music Foundation and other nonprofits. The information they collect is based on their relationships with the schools, who are voluntarily sharing it with them.
many criticize the focus on standardized testing, which doesn’t encourage schools to put money and resources into the arts.
That’s in part because of two significant pressures. First, if charter students don’t score high enough, the schools are at risk of shutting down. And secondly, the schools are trying to make money for their charter management organizations, including to cover $175,000-$350,000 in compensation for some of their CEOs.
“It can’t lose money like a school district or break even,” says Matt Sakakeeny, associate professor of music at Tulane University and a volunteer with Roots of Music. “It’s an enterprise of capitalism.”
Artist Corps found in 2018 that of the 65% of New Orleans public schools that responded to their survey, 83% reported not having the instruments they needed for their music programs. Less than one in five reported having instruments in “good condition.”
In the last seven years, the situation has improved, with grants helping bring millions of dollars’ worth of instruments to New Orleans schools.
Artist Corps is currently analyzing new data, scheduled for release in October.
Tests, tests and more tests
THE MOVE to an almost entirely charter system after Katrina was, and remains, controversial. Metrics show higher performing schools since the change, but
The ’90s budget cuts and aftermath coincided with a huge national shift in education toward standardized testing. Sakakeeny says it started with President George H. W. Bush’s Points of Light Foundation in 1990 promoting private sector solutions to social issues and culminated with President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.
On the state level, that started with the LEAP test, which Louisiana began requiring as an exit exam for 10th and 11th graders in 1991. In 2006, the state created the iLEAP test for third, fifth, seventh and ninth graders in response to No Child Left Behind.
“The country moved toward standardized testing as the kind of end-all, be-all of education,” Sakakeeny says.
The Edna Karr High band performs in the Krewe of Nandi rolls in 2024.
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
LIVING WITH HURRICANES: KATRINAAND BEYOND
This exhibit hasbeen updatedfor anew generation, and willfeature experiences such as:
•Inspiring closingflm with voices of Louisiana’sfuture
On Friday, August 29, 2025 he LouisianaState Museum andLt. Governor BillyNungesser invite youtothe relaunch of Living with Hurricanes:Katrina andBeyond, commemorating 20 yearssince HurricaneKatrina.Joinusfor aribbon-cutting at thePresbytèreand apublicsymposium at Le PetitTéâtre. Tisevent is free andopentothe public.
“It doesn’t seem like it would affect arts education, but it really did.”
Testing has only ramped up since. Locally, that testing pressure could continue to heighten with sweeping new changes to how Louisiana schools are rated. That’s especially true for high schools, where the bulk of a school’s rating will depend on test scores, up from 25% to 75%.
Many school superintendents have been critical of the changes, worrying they won’t prepare children for the world outside of school.
Sawyer says teaching for the test is not what’s best for kids long-term.
“If you’re just going off of this ‘OK, I need to focus on math and focus on t his test,’ and you’re teaching the test, the kids will basically be robots,” he says. “They will not have those different skills to survive in this world because you’re teaching them the test and you’re not pouring into their souls, into the individual and bringing everybody together.”
Loss of neighborhood schools
HISTORICALLY, New Orleans has had a strong neighborhood culture, and neighborhood schools were a big part of that.
Hirsch says the typical origin story for a New Orleans musician pre-Katrina would start with hearing a bass drum outside of their house, having a family member who was a Black Masking Indian or singing in the church choir.
And places like the Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium were not just for school shows but also a concert venue where Black touring artists could perform during Jim Crow.
“There was an immediacy and accessibility to live music that was sort of baked into New Orleans neighborhood life, and schools were integral to that,” Hirsch says.
For a glimpse of this phenomenon, look no further than the familiar New Orleans introductory question: “Where’d you go to high school?”
As a veteran teacher puts it, “That tells you what neighborhood you grew up in, that tells you who you run with, that tells them how you cook your red beans slightly different than the neighborhood next to you, and that tells you what band you played in.”
But following the storm, Hirsch says there was a mass displacement of Black residents from their neighborhoods, accelerated by the demolition of public housing and rising housing costs. Some left New Orleans completely: According to the Data Center, there were nearly 120,000 fewer Black residents in the city from 2000 to 2023.
Meanwhile, others ended up scattered across the city.
Lots of Black New Orleanians who lived in “neighborhoods that used to be kind of musical meccas, like the Treme, the Lower 9th Ward, 7th Ward, these mostly downtown Black neighborhoods” have “been pushed into neighborhoods that just aren’t set up for that kind of musical community life,” Hirsch says.
And with the charter system, students are no longer going to schools in their neighborhoods and instead being bussed across the city. That’s meant New Orleans schools are spending millions of dollars more on transportation annually.
Tulane’s Cowen Institute found that in 2019-2020 New Orleans schools spent an average of $901 per student on transportation, while the state average was $718.
According to a report by the Education Research Alliance, the average distance between a student’s home and school increased by two miles after Katrina. A 2018 study found that students were spending an average of 35 minutes on their bus ride each way, with a quarter of rides lasting 50 minutes or more.
“Once you have kids that are moving out of their neighborhood, going to other schools, you’re de-investing in that particular neighborhood, and that neighborhood is going down,” Sawyer says.
“Now you have these schools, they’re abandoned, they’re closed.”
Shabankareh says though this phenomenon is harder to measure, they’ve noticed that a surprising number of kids at the Trombone Shorty Foundation’s af-
ter-school brass band programs haven’t been to a second line or even a concert.
“When you ask young people like ‘How many of you have been to a second line?’ you maybe get like a fourth of the students that say yes,” she says. “Very few students have actually been to see a concert.”
Hirsch says the displacement of Black residents can help explain this.
“Second line routes have been more or less the same for generations, but there used to be tens of thousands more children that lived on them,” he says. “Kids are spread out much further away from the schools they attend, and you don’t have the kind of relationships that used to be fostered at the neighborhood level that would reinforce school-based music education.”
No consistent music curriculum
PRE-KATRINA, there were powerful middle school and junior high school bands that acted as feeder programs into some of the high school bands, Sawyer says.
These bands had “great music educators that would teach the fundamentals of music,” he says. “So by the time we get to high school, they’re on a whole ’nother level.”
Now, some are starting to learn to play an instrument in high school.
High school band directors “have to basically teach kids that are in high school some of the things they should
have been taught when they were in elementary school, middle school, [like] how to read, the fundamentals of music,” Sawyer says.
Sometimes because they need to put on a band show and parade routines, they may not have time to teach the kids how to read music, he says.
“Now these band directors are forced to teach kids by row and play the same songs that they hear on the radio, and they’re not learning the fundamentals, which decreases the quality of music education in New Orleans,” Sawyer says.
Sakakeeny agrees. “Overall quality has lowered because the comprehensive, sequential music education system is over,” he says.
And if people can’t read music, it’s harder for them to play a gig, especially one that requires certain songs be played.
“That has affected the quality of music that they can play and reading music and tapping into that,” Sawyer says, “Because when you have a gig where you gotta read music, majority of the musicians now in New Orleans, especially the kids, cannot really read music.”
That matters because music is its own language, as the veteran teacher puts it. “If you don’t have that foundation, it’s going to be difficult to grow it later,” he says.
The situation has improved in the last several years. According to data collected by Artist Corps, there are more schools with choir and vocal programs and strings and orchestra programs, including at the elementary and middle
Assistant Director Seinas Edwards leads the Landry Walker High School choir in 2016.
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
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school level, than there were in 2018, the last time they collected data.
That’s largely because of a grant, which drove $2 million worth of instruments to New Orleans schools, with a focus on middle school concert band programs.
And programs like Sawyer’s Girls Play Trumpets Too and trombonist Corey Henry’s Treme School of Music, Arts and Production teach foundational music skills. These children are then the ones who go back to their school band and help teach the other students in music class.
“We try to work on the fundamentals of music with them from the beginning, showing them about the music theory and the fundamentals of music, and making sure that we start them there and then moving them to the actual instruments,” Henry says.
Still, having a decentralized school system means there’s no consistent music curriculum across the city.
“All the things we’ve gained from having autonomy at the school level are so important, but rigorous, sequential music instruction is something that we have lost,” Robinson says, adding “If you change schools ... you may go to a school that has absolutely zero music at it.”
Without communication between the charters, “There’s no sharing of what works, and more importantly, there’s no sharing of what doesn’t work,” the veteran teacher says.
Turnover a ‘red flag’
ROBINSON SAYS that what Sawyer experienced with schools cutting their music teacher is common in the New Orleans school system.
“Those folks just want to teach, and they’re like, ‘I can’t teach when I’m just seen as coverage,’ ” she says.
Usually, the position is replaced within two or three years, but she says she sees a lot of instances where a position will be eliminated, brought back and then cut again.
She also says she sees a lot of placements for music teachers that last between six months and two years before there is similar turnover with the next teacher.
“That’s a red flag to me, and all those questions come up for me of what is our thinking about what music means at the school, how are we hiring, how are we matching, and what are we thinking this person means within the context of the culture of our community,” she says.
Sawyer says school leaders need to prioritize music educators and realize the value they bring to students. That includes funding music programs and listening to what music teachers have to say.
“I think we need to have that investment and to make people feel important and heard and understand that what we’re teaching is very important,” he says. “It’s not anything that’s secondary. It’s not anything that just could be put on the side.”
Music educators and music education have a broader impact on a school.
“Many times the music and arts educators are the leaders from the community that have deep community roots and deep community leadership,”
Robinson says.
Robinson points to music educators Nikia Russell at Success at Thurgood Marshall, Andy Bower at Homer Plessy Treme, Allen Dejan at Audubon Gentilly, Keith Hart at Willow Middle and Kelvin Harrison at KIPP Morial as providing great music instruction in the city, among many others.
Sawyer says a strong music program fosters a sense of school pride, something he feels is lacking in some schools today.
Nonprofits stepping up
AFTER KATRINA, many local nonprofits formed to help bring back music education in New Orleans, along with groups that existed long before the storm.
As traditional school programs have shrunk or collapsed altogether, nonprofits have become an essential part of the music education landscape in the city, providing after-school instruction, summer camps, instruments and other needed resources.
That includes groups like Sawyer’s Girls Play Trumpets Too, the Trombone Shorty Foundation, Roots of Music, the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp, Make Music NOLA, Second Line Arts Collective and so many others.
Many are members of the New Orleans Music Education Collaborative, which the Jazz and Heritage Foundation recently reconvened for regular meetings with NOLA Public Schools representatives. They used to meet monthly but are now meeting quarterly.
At the meetings, attendees discuss trends they’re noticing in music education in the city and issues they want to address. For example, a major issue they’ve identified is that many of the nonprofit programs end up serving the same group of kids.
“The same kids will go to this camp and this after-school program and this weekend program, because their parents are really motivated to get them there and get them the services,” Robinson says.
At these meetings, they’ve talked about ways they can serve more students in the community, including potentially having a common application form, she says.
Sawyer says the nonprofits are on the ground working with students, so they know the problems and are able to come up with solutions to them.
“Sometimes you have to step out of the system to really be effective and impactful and, as I say, have an autonomy over
your vision to make that impact,” he says. Shabankareh agrees that nonprofit music education is important but says it isn’t meant to replace music education in schools.
“Nonprofit environments aren’t necessarily designed to be like the catch-all, be-all or substitute, but to add in and supplement additional learning that young people might want to engage in that they don’t get during the school day,” they say.
For example, Shabankareh says the Trombone Shorty Foundation focuses on traditional and contemporary brass band instruction, including improvisational techniques and styles of music that aren’t taught during the school day.
“I think about nonprofit spaces more as an opportunity to deepen and extend that learning beyond the classroom and apply it into spaces that they might use in their everyday career,” she says.
School programs are able to reach a variety of kids, including those who may not have thought about playing music before.
“Maybe you just don’t even know if you like music until you’re sitting in a classroom forced to go to a music class,” Sakakeeny says. “The light bulb goes off, and you fall in love.”
Small
steps
FOR ITS PART, NOLA Public Schools does appear to be trying out a few initiatives aimed at expanding its music and arts education offerings.
A second line through the Treme neighborhood in 2023.
PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
JOHN MCCUSKER
Last year, the district created the Leah Chase School, the only district-run school in the city. The district had run some schools temporarily since Katrina, but the Leah Chase School is intended to be permanently run by the district.
Then-superintendent Avis Williams said at the time she wanted the school to focus on the arts, including cooking as a nod to the iconic chef it’s named for.
In a press release, the district touted it as “a new direct-run traditional public school that promises academic excellence and a nurturing, arts-inclusive environment.” They’ve also indicated they could be open to more direct-run schools in the future.
In April 2024, the district announced it would be creating a new position of director of fine arts to lead the fine arts program for direct-run schools “encompassing instrumental, vocal, and general music, theater, visual arts, and dance.” So far, that’s just the Leah Chase School.
For the role, they hired Asia Muhaimin, who has more than two decades worth of education experience, including as band director at Warren Easton Charter High School.
“I am so excited to work with the team and everyone in the city to expand the arts around the city,” she said at the school board meeting after the announcement.
NOLA Public Schools did not make Muhaimin available for an interview with Gambit.
Looking ahead
NEW ORLEANS SCHOOLS face a number of challenges, coming from all angles.
The New Orleans area lost more than 39,000 people between 2020 and 2024, and a declining population means declining school enrollment and therefore less money for schools.
There’s also been major uncertainty with the system’s budget after an accounting error that left the district with a $36 million hole in its budget.
Though members of the school board, city council and Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration negotiated a deal to give the board $90 million over the next decade, the mayor abruptly pulled out of it earlier this year.
That left schools with sometimes multi-million-dollar budget gaps to close, which some did by laying off teachers.
At the federal level, President Donald Trump is gutting the Department of Education and also withheld nearly $7 billion worth of education grants scheduled for July 1, though that money has since been released.
Louisiana’s portion of the money represented 14% of its total federal K-12 education funding.
Though some of these problems may be new, budget struggles are not. Shabankareh notes that training for music educators involves lessons on fundraising.
“To be frank, budgets for music education programs have always been a challenge,” she says.
But New Orleans musicians have a “natural soul” that “you cannot take ... away from us,” as Sawyer puts it.
“Anywhere we go around the world, people can feel that you’re from New Orleans, that you’re just playing with this soul,” he says. “If you say, ‘I’m from New Orleans,’ they just immediately understand
you provide.”
The Leah Chase School is the only school directly run by NOLA Public Schools.
PHOTO BY
/ THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
DRINK IN NEWORLEANS! HAND GRENADE
Twenty Years On
Events marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
‘Weathering the Storm: Reflecting on New Orleans’ Past’
Presented by the New Orleans Public Library’s City Archives & Special Collections, Weathering the Storm “explores the City’s experience and response to major hurricanes through municipal action, emergency preparedness, and community resources,” and touches on hurricanes Betsy, Camille and Katrina. The collection was curated by Amy DeNisco, Amanda Fallis, Andrew Mullins, Brittanny Silva and Christina Bryant, and an online version is also available. It runs through the end of 2025 at the library’s main branch, 219 Loyola Ave.
‘Dapper Bruce Lafitte: A Time Before Katrina’
The New Orleans Museum of Art presents a series of works by local artist Dapper Bruce Lafitte. Using handmade paper and ink, Lafitte’s work acts as “documentation, celebration, and requiem of pre-Katrina New Orleans” and touches on local landmarks, institutions and other cultural touchstones. The exhibit runs through Sept. 21 in the museum’s Great Hall. Find information at noma.org.
‘NO PAPERS! NO FEAR:
Documenting the (UN)Documented’
Presented by the Caribbean and New Orleanian Arts (CANOA) center in Bywater, poet, playwright and artist Jose Torres-Tama’s “No Papers! No Fear” explores the role undocumented immigrant workers played in the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurrican Katrina. The exhibit runs through Oct. 24 at CANOA, 4210 St. Claude Ave.
‘Katrina Diaspora: A 20-Year Recursive Experiment’
This group show at the Good Children Gallery features work by artists Christopher Saucedo, Andrew Au and Jennifer Purdum including prints, collage and other forms of art. The show runs through Sept. 14 at The Good Children Gallery, 4037 St. Claude Ave.
Monarch Forum
Hosted by Taproot, sessions are focused on climate change, displacement and environmental justice 20 years after Katrina. The forum takes place Monday, Aug. 25, and Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Open to the public but registration is required. Find more info at taproot.earth.
Katrina 20 Mini Film Festival
The evening film festival on Monday, Aug. 25, and Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater will include screenings of “Picking Up the Pieces: College Life After Katrina,” “Guardians of the Flame,” “Katrina Babies” and more. Find the schedule and more info at katrina20.org.
Coastal Reflections
Restore the Mississippi River Delta hosts a panel discussion on community organizing and advocacy for coastal restoration and post-disaster work followed by a “fireside” chat with Meagan Williams and Krista Jankowski about their work on urban and coastal flood issues. The event is at noon Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Andre Cailloux Center. Admission is free. Find more info at eventbrite.com.
‘Down by the Riverside’ Poet Donney Rose will present his poetry and storytelling project “Down by the Riverside” at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Ashe Powerhouse Theater. Rose blends poetry, audio storytelling of Black New Orleanians about their Katrina experiences, and other elements. Find more info on Instagram: @donney_rose.
Author talk with Sandy Rosenthal Sandy Rosenthal, the founder of Levees.org, will discuss her 2020 book “Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina,” about her work holding the Army Corps of Engineers accountable for the levee failures. She’ll be at Octavia Books at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27. Find more info at octaviabooks.com.
Turning the Tide: Weathering Katrina
A panel of current and former Times-Picayune journalists will discuss staying during the storm and reporting on Katrina. Turning the Tide takes place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at Tulane’s Tidewater Building Auditorium on Canal Street. Find more information at events.tulane.edu.
‘Women of the Storm’ screening
The Gulf States Newsroom hosts a screening of the 2015 documentary “Women of the Storm” about the group of the same name and the women who fought for New Orleans after Katrina. There also will be a discussion with group founder Anne Milling, filmmaker Wesley Shrum and more. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Prytania Theatre Uptown. Find more info at eventbrite.com.
‘20 Summers’ screening
BET’s short documentary “20 Summers: Rebuilding the Rhythm of New Orleans” features New Orleans artists talking about the city’s music and culture 20 years after Katrina. There is a screening at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at Gallier Hall. An artist talk back with Tank Ball, Pell and Sunni Patterson will follow. Find more info on Instagram: @embracetheculturenola.
The Ella Project’s The State of New Orleans Culture
Writer Lolis Eric Elie moderates a discussion on the effects of Katrina in the two decades after the storm, organized by the pro bono legal aid group The Ella Project. There’s a reception at 5 p.m., and the panel is at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Find information at ellanola.org or nolajazzmusuem.org
‘Together in the Eye’ screening
The new documentary made by New Orleans natives shares the stories of people who did not evacuate when Katrina hit the city, but it also continues into the city’s recovery and return of cultural traditions. There is a screening at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Tickets are $25 via togetherintheeye.com.
A Hurricane Katrina commemoration organized by the Hip Hop Caucus and the Katrina Commemoration Foundation
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
‘A Village Called Versailles’ screening
Vietnamese Initiative in Economic Training (VIET) hosts a screening of the documentary about the devastation of the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East following Hurricane Katrina and their efforts to organize and rebuild. At 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, at 13435 Granville St. Find information at vietno.org.
The Katrina List: An Untold Story of Hurricane Katrina
The New Orleans African American Museum and Katrina National Memorial Foundation open an expo of R. Omar Casimire’s work documenting people who were left stranded during the storm and flooding. Visit noaam.org for information.
Annual march and second line
Organized by the Hip Hop Caucus and the Katrina Commemoration Foundation, the annual march and second line begins at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29, with a healing ceremony, a remembrance of those lost and a moment of silence at N. Galvez Street and Jourdan Avenue in the Lower 9th Ward. A march toward Hunter’s Field will follow, with a brass band joining halfway to turn the march into a second line. A rally then begins at 3 p.m. at Hunter’s Field at N. Claiborne and St. Bernard avenues. Find more details at katrina20.com.
20 Years Beyond Katrina
The Louisiana State Museums on Friday, Aug. 29, will re-open the exhibit “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond” at The Presbytere. Following the ribbon cutting, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, author Walter Isaacson, former Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard and others will take part in a public symposium about the area’s recovery. The symposium starts at 10 a.m. at Le Petit Theatre and is free to attend. Find information at louisianastatemuseum.org.
‘A Reason to Stay’ screening
The documentary uses footage shot by a couple that had bought a home in Mid-City before the storm and worked to rebuild after their neighborhood was flooded following Katrina. The screening is at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, at The Broad Theater, and there’s a party afterward at the Broadside. Movie tickets $12 at thebroadtheater.com.
Waves of Grace: Remember Katrina Irma Thomas, Kermit Ruffins, Amanda Shaw, Rockin’ Dopsie, Ella Grace Francis, Jane McMahon and more perform at the Katrina remembrance. At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, at The Orpheum Theater. Find tickets at ticketmaster.com.
Swimming Upstream: The Katrina Monologues
Created for the 10th anniversary of Katrina by Ashe Cultural Arts Center’s Carol Bebelle and Eve Ensler, the show is based on the stories of women who survived and rebuilt their communities after Katrina. This performance features Troi Bechet, Sekyiwa Shakur, Jennifer Pagan, Monique Dominique and others. At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, and 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets at mahaliajacksontheater.com.
‘504: The Hip-Hop Musical’
Anthony Bean directs 75 youth in a production about how Black teens endured Katrina and its aftermath. The show combines music, spoken word and movement. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at Orpheum Theater. Tickets $25 via ticketmaster.com.
Hurricane Katrina 20th Anniversary Summit
The City of New Orleans hosts a day of panel discussions, speakers and other in-person events on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Gallier Hall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Katrina. There will be discussions on the intersection of climate change, water and infrastructure, and another panel will focus on sustainability in the city. Events run 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and the summit is free to attend. Find more information at katrina20.nola.gov.
The Spirit of Louisiana Katrina 20th Commemoration
There is a commemoration of the damage from Hurricane Katrina and the first responders, relief workers and others who helped rebuild. That’s followed by a second-line parade and concert by the Bucktown Allstars. The ceremony is at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium. Find information at kreweofblackandgold.com.
Deeply Rooted: 20 Years and Beyond
A block party with DJ Two Scoops, food vendors and family-friendly activities will take place 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, under the bridge along N. Claiborne Avenue between Orleans Avenue and St. Louis Street. Arts New Orleans also will unveil the new mural “Deeply Rooted.” Find more info at cidnolaonline.com.
Post-Katrina: Experiences
Within the City after Katrina Community activists and preservationists discuss recovery efforts and shortcomings in a panel discussion at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. Find info at neworleans.libnet.info.
CLove Croffeeawl For the of
From August 11 to September 12, join us for a citywide celebration of cofee! The Cofee Crawl is your chance to explore local shops, step outside your usual order, and discover something new—for your chance to win!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
1. Visit participating cofee shops featured in our guide. We encourage you to explore new cofee options and try something new at each stop!
2. Take a photo while you’re there—whether it’s a selfe with your cup or a creative shot of your drink with the shop in the background.
3. Submit your photo by emailing it to vip@gambitweekly.com, or sharing it on Instagram and tagging @gambitneworleans by Friday, September 12, 2025.
Participants who visit all or most stops on the crawl will be entered to win our Grand Prize:
• Free Cofee Beans for a Year from Orleans Cofee
• VIP passes for two to the NOLA Cofee Festival, October 3–4, 2025
Participants are also eligible for awesome giveaways like:
• GA tickets to NOLA Cofee Festival, October 3–4, 2025
• Gift cards from participating shops And more surprise prizes!
THE VINTAGE
3121 MAGAZINE ST, NEW ORLEANS TAIRIE THEVINTAGENOLA.COM
Come try our Espresso Cherry Pop, made with vanilla, cherry, espresso, soda water and cream.
OLD ROAD COFFEE
2024 BAYOU RD., NEW ORLEANS OLDROADCOFFEE.COM
Cool of with Old Road Cofee’s Coconut Cold Brew! It’s smooth, bold, and just the right amount of tropical. Make it your own specialty drink by customizing the cold foam with a variety of favors. Don’t miss this charming neighborhood spot during your Cofee Crawl! Open daily from 6:30am - 5:00pm.
ICED EVOLUTION
EVOLVE COFFEE + MATCHA
400 HARRISON AVE. GROUND FLOOR, NEW ORLEANS
3304 W. ESPLANADE AVE. N., SUITE B7, METAIRIE EVOLVECOFFEENOLA.COM
Start your Cofee Crawl strong! Stop by Evolve and try their signature Iced Evolution – ceremonial-grade matcha, bold espresso, and milk layered over ice for a perfectly balanced pick-me-up.
ORLEANS COFFEE ESPRESSO BAR
3445 PRYTANIA ST., NEW ORLEANS ORLEANSCOFFEEESPRESSOBAR.COM
The Dirty Ginger is a dirty chai latte made with ginger candy–infused espresso and steamed milk.
COCONUT COLD BREW
DIRTY GINGER
ESPRESSO CHERRY POP
PURPLE RAIN
MATCHA MAGIC
2000 TULANE AVE., SUITE A, NEW ORLEANS ITSMATCHAMAGIC.COM
Matcha Magic recently opened with a variety of authentic, hand-whisked matcha creations and health-forward bites. Try their Purple Rain, a top-seller that combines lavender, ube, and matcha sweet cream. Customize with your choice of plant milk or a variety of boosters.
LE PONCE
3133 PONCE DE LEON ST., NEW ORLEANS LEPONCENOLA.COM
Our afogato is made with homemade vanilla ice cream, espresso, and Chantilly cream. A sweet European Cafe, no passport needed!
601 BARONNE ST., NEW ORLEANS EATBATTER.COM
Our limited-time specialty lattes, Cookies & Cream and Cookie Butter, are here to make your summer latte dreams come true. These fun favors are only around for the month, so don’t miss out! Follow our socials to keep up with us @BATTERbakery!
FOR THE LOVE OF COFFEE CRAWL
CONGREGATION COFFEE
900 JEFFERSON AVE., NEW ORLEANS 240 PELICAN AVE., NEW ORLEANS CONGREGATIONCOFFEE.COM
House-made horchata, perfectly balanced with a double shot of espresso, over ice. The perfect cinnamon-y sweet treat to get you through the summer!
GOSPEL COFFEE AND BOOZY TREATS AT HOTEL FONTENOT
501 TCHOUPITOULAS ST., NEW ORLEANS GOSPELCOFFEENOLA.COM
From expertly crafted espresso drinks and house-made cold brews, your cup can always be flled with the spirit by spiking any of our hot or frozen drinks. Just let us know if you want to add a shot to your item of choice.
PJ’S COFFEE
CITYWIDE PJSCOFFEE.COM
Granita is our signature frozen beverage at PJ’s Cofee. Ofered in Mocha and Caramel. Rich chocolate added to our famous granita with a spiral of whipped cream and drizzles of more chocolate.
BEARCAT
845 CARONDELET ST., NEW ORLEANS 2521 JENA ST., NEW ORLEANS 726 JULIA ST., NEW ORLEANS BEARCATCAFE.COM
Here for all your caf eine needs. Join us at one of our 3 locations for breakfast, lunch, cofee or cocktails!
UNDERGROWTH COFFEE
LAUREL STREET BAKERY
2701 S. BROAD ST., NEW ORLEANS LAURELSTREETBAKERY.COM
For two decades, Laurel Street Bakery has proudly served NOLA with a full line of cofee and espresso classics, freshly baked goods, bagels made in-house, breakfast, and lunch. Try their iced caramel cappuccino, a crowd favorite, or their newly added iced lavender latte!
CC’S COFFEE HOUSE CITY WIDE
CCSCOFFEE.COM
Get your morning started with the warm, sweet flavors of brown sugar cinnamon, maple, and white chocolate, blended with rich espresso and creamy Mochasippi® Mix, then topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon powder. The best fall days start at CC’s Cofee House®!
Equal parts espresso and ice water, stirred over ice and strained. This espresso drink delivers full-strength favor without dilution.
A classic espresso-based drink made with equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam. It has a bold cofee favor balanced by creamy texture and a light, airy top.
Let music and laughter wrap around you, and savor the vibes while sipping on a latte with a touch of magic. This 16oz matcha creation blends earthy, vibrant green tea, any milk of your choice, and smooth vanilla syrup, and a stunning layer of butter fy pea fower for a natural sapphire hue.
STELLA
CAPPUCCINO
MAGIÉ BLEUE
HORCHATA ICED LATTE
GRANITA
ICED CARAMEL CAPPUCCINO
AFFOGATO
MOCHA FREEZE
CAPPUCCINO
FRENCH TOAST MOCHASIPPI®
EAT + DRINK
Country setting
Chef
Melissa Martin opens Saint Claire by Beth D’Addono |
ALGIERS HAS PLENTY OF DINING OPTIONS THESE DAYS beyond the neighborhood’s longstanding pubs and cafes. There are places like the taco spot Barracuda, chef Adrian Chelette’s Nighthawk Napoletana for thin crust pizza and pasta and Plume Algiers, where chef Tyler Stuart reimagines regional Indian dishes.
With the addition of chef Melissa Martin’s Saint Claire, fine dining in a charming country home has entered the mix.
Martin is best known as the selftaught chef behind Mosquito Supper Club in Uptown. She’s a Chauvin, Louisiana, native reared on seafood and Cajun cuisine, and her tasting menu spot mines and elevates the foods of her childhood. She’s published two cookbooks, “Bayou,” last year, and “Mosquito Supper Club,” which won a James Beard Foundation award in 2022.
Along with her longtime friend Cassi Dymond, she’d been mulling the idea of opening a country place, maybe across the lake or in rural Mississippi. Dymond has years of hospitality experience as a founder of Satsuma Cafe, and she’s co-owner of Kalimera construction, which has built out restaurants including N7 and Dakar NOLA.
When they saw the four-acre Saint Claire site at 1300 Richland Road, that was it. They rented the house and spent a few months just hanging out, seeing where they wanted to go with it. The partners purchased the property in December 2024 and opened their doors on June 26.
“We immediately saw the vision at the same time,” Martin says.
The 1920s Greek Revival home was once a doctor’s residence on the site of a former World War II-era internment camp. The restaurant sits in a grove of 18 live oak trees at the end of a cul-de-sac, a bucolic setting that is the first sign for visitors that something different is in store. The restaurant is named for the neighborhood within Algiers where it sits.
New
generation Terranova’s AT THE END OF MAY, NEIGHBORS AND REGULAR CUSTOMERS GATHERED to say goodbye and thank you to the family at Terranova Supermarket as they closed their neighborhood store after 100 years.
Less than three months later, they can return to the same address at 3308 Esplanade Ave. to say hello to a new iteration of the family business.
Inside, Martin’s commitment to minimalistic design is apparent in every candlestick, painting and stick of furniture. A less-is-more approach prevails in both the cozy bar and the dining rooms, which seat about 80 patrons. There also is a screened-in back porch overlooking the grounds.
Martin also employs restraint on the menu, which she calls “basic rustic, peasant food that’s been slightly refined.”
Unlike Mosquito Supper Club, Saint Claire is not a tasting menu restaurant. It’s a la carte, with some echoes of the Supper Club’s bar menu. “I serve this kind of food because it’s what I want to eat,” she says.
The brunch and dinner menus change with the seasons and whim. Diners can start with bread service, either biscuits or baguette, served with cultured butter and a
seasonal fruit confiture. A panzanella salad currently on the menu is a showstopper, thanks in part to the flavors of summer and garlicky sourdough croutons made in the kitchen.
Other stellar options include the oversized potato gnocchi, rectangles of creamy potato dumplings in a buttery lemon sauce with jumbo lump crab. The duck confit is at the top of its class, paired at a recent summer’s supper with caramelized onions and sauteed okra. Prices for small and larger plates are in the $12$39 range.
Service is well-informed and decidedly unhurried, setting the tone for an evening. Diners have time to take in the setting, sometimes with a chorus of frogs providing the soundtrack.
“We don’t want to quickly turn tables to the detriment of an experience,” Martin says.
Saint Claire may be just across the river, but this is a restaurant that offers a different vibe, worlds away from the hustle of the city.
Terranova’s Meats is slated to open Tuesday, Aug. 26, in a portion of the old grocery. It is now a butcher shop, one carrying on a tradition that had always been a cornerstone of the business, and synonymous with the name Terranova. That means the renowned sausage is back, along with the Terranova family recipe for hogshead cheese, stuffed pork chops, stuffed artichokes, muffulettas on Saturdays, and a piece of local life, revamped for a new chapter. This marks a return for a heritage business at a time when New Orleans is seeing too many small local spots
slip away. It’s a place that would be impossible to spin from whole cloth as new, because it is so deeply steeped in family traditions that have become the traditions of its customers.
As a grocery store, the fourth-generation business was run by Karen and Benjamin Terranova, their son Anthony and his wife Jennifer. In recent years, the parents had been contemplating retirement while facing growing difficulties operating a small grocery with distribution channels now focused on much larger players. They committed to taking the store to the 100-year mark and then closed the doors.
But the next generation, Anthony and Jennifer, came up with a new plan, subdividing the grocery and renovating
Saint Claire serves a crab salad, gnocchi with lump crabmeat and a panzanella salad.
PHOTO BY MADDIE SPINNER / GAMBIT
PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
a new space around the old butcher counter as their own new business, now more specialized.
“We feel like it’s a rebirth,” Jennifer Terranova says. “It’s still us, it’s still the same place, but it’s smaller so we could run it on our own. We’re trying to find a good balance.”
The address is the same, the phone number is the same, even the old cash register is the same.
Visitors will find the same specialties in the butcher case. On Saturdays, Terranova’s will once again make its muffulettas, originally introduced by Anthony’s grandfather.
The shop will continue bulk orders to supply restaurants.
While renovating, the family unearthed some artifacts from the past which have been incorporated into the new shop, like a vintage butcher block.
In addition to the butcher case and an inventory of frozen meats, Terranova’s still carries a small stock of grocery staples, like tomato sauce and pasta, selected so people can plausibly field entire recipes around the meats with one stop.
Renovations continue to the rest of the window-lined, 900-square-foot space. The family plans to offer this up for lease to another business.
Terranova started out as a butcher shop, opened in 1925 by Benjamin and Lena Terranova, who was born in Sicily. It evolved into a grocery, always keeping the butcher counter as a key piece. Initially, the business was in the smaller building next door, which is now the Spanish restaurant Lola’s. It moved during the Great Depression to its current wedge-shaped location. Benjamin grew up in the apartment upstairs from the store, and his mother Lorraine resided here until her death in 2019.
As the business has been passed down through the generations, so have its recipes and traditions. Multiple generations of the same families have been customers too.
“It’s pretty much a full circle, if you think about it,” Karen Terranova says. “They started it as a butcher, the next two generations ran it as a grocery, and now they’re going back to what their great grandfather did.”
While the parents are “officially retired,” they have been a constant presence at the new shop as it has taken shape, and they expect to be involved in the business in some capacity.
“I’ll be helping out, but I can leave earlier now,” Benjamin Terranova says. — Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune
Apolline closes
A BIG PART OF WHAT MAKES MANY LOCAL NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANTS
TICK is the people behind them. The loss this summer of one passionate restaurateur now means the end of his Uptown restaurant after 14 years.
Apolline restaurant at 4729
Magazine St. has closed, confirmed Sharon Andrews. Her brother Keith Andrews was its founder and driving force. He died July 5 at age 60, shortly after a cancer diagnosis.
“He poured his heart and soul into the place, and without him we just couldn’t keep it going,” Andrews says.
The restaurant space, an old double shotgun house along a row of other small businesses, emerged as Apolline in 2011.
It was an upscale, high-aiming but still low-key restaurant, a place right in the middle of the Uptown dining scene that could feel like a neighborhood find.
It was a restaurant for solid, new American cuisine, with pork chops, seared salmon and scallops. It was especially popular at brunch, with its chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits and bottomless mimosas.
Andrews was a New Orleans native who counted sailing and cycling as lifelong passions, and he was part of the Krewe of Rolling Elvi. He began his career in accounting, and later took up law, starting his own firm and property title company. When he entered the restaurant business with Apolline, he found a different way to tap his talents through hospitality.
“His capacity for spreading joy, kindness, compassion, humor, and sharing of his vast knowledge knew no bounds and he will be missed dearly,” his family wrote in his obituary.
The family expressed gratitude to Apolline chef Billy Prats and to the staff and patrons through the years “who truly made Apolline his happy place.” — Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune
PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
WI NE OF THE WEEK
Angelina & Richard Boudreaux
Goldeneye Pi notNoi r
Founders, NOLA Choripan
by Will Coviello
RICHARD BOUDREAUX IS A CHEF WHO
WAS BORN AND RAISED in New Iberia. His spouse Angelina Boudreaux is from an Argentinian family but grew up in California. She moved to Louisiana to become a teacher. The couple met here and started NOLA Choripan, named for the traditional Argentinian sausage sandwich. The pop-up is at Second Line Brewing on Mondays and Parleaux Beer Lab on Saturdays. On Saturdays through September, they’re doing a traditional Argentinian asado, offering a spread of grilled meat and sausages, as well as their main menu of choripan. They’ll also be at Miel Brewery & Taproom Sept. 10, 16 and 23. For more information, visit @nola_choripan on Instagram.
How did you get into cooking?
Lush, layeredand complex, this enticing Pinot Noir draws you in with aromas of ripe raspberry,black cherry, clove,and sweetbaking spices. Supple tannins and balanced acidity frame juicyflavors of blackberry and Bing cherry,withhints of nutmeg,leather and breakfast teaemerging on the robust finish.
DISTRIBUTED BY
RICHARD BOUDREAUX: When I got out of the army, I went to culinary school and started cooking. I was in Germany in the army. I decided I was going to go back once I got some cooking experience. I moved to Germany and did my apprenticeship and developed my chops there.
I worked with Boris Rommel. He’s a two-star Michelin chef right now. That’s where it all came alive for me in the kitchen. I wouldn’t say he taught me how to cook, but he gave me some tools and taught me how to teach myself and how to design menus and care about where the food comes from. That’s where the passion of cooking grew for me.
ANGELINA BOUDREAUX: My parents are from Argentina. My mom is from San Luis, my dad is from Tucuman. My whole family still lives in Argentina. I grew up in California. Argentinian culture is all about beef. Smoked meats and beef and grilling have been part of my life.
I took Richard back home to Argentina and my family embraced him. They put him through Argentinian grill boot camp. My dad showed how to make asado out of anything, anywhere, any apparatus. RB: Oil barrels, whatever.
AB: My parents started a beef jerky store on Highway 395 on the way to Mammoth (California). We were a staple. It was in the L.A. Times. I did that for about 20 years. Since I was 12, I was selling at the beef jerky store.
How did you start NOLA Choripan?
AB: When I got here, I was looking for honey. I love honey. The beef jerky store had honey. My sister took the reins and is doing her own thing now. But we had natural honey, olives and dehydrated fruits.
When I got here, I noticed that there wasn’t a variety of honey. I missed the avocado honey and the cactus honey and all these different variations we had in California. So I brought back a couple boxes. I decided to do a pop-up with Trap Kitchen and sell them.
There are cottage laws here so you can make your own sauces. So I made chimichurri and when I gave out samples, people would ask if I had any French bread. I said, “Oh, what a good idea. Let’s make choripan.” Something I grew up eating.
We started NOLA Choripan as a little pop-up and making chimichurri.
RB: We latched onto the chimichurri. That’s our staple. It’s 80% fresh parsley with green onion, garlic, oil, red wine vinegar and salt.
AB: We sell jars of it. We used to go to Brieux Carre a lot. They were like, we love your choripan. We did a couple of years there.
RB: We’ve done choripan a la carte for four years now. With rotating specials and cooking steaks.
AB: We have the choripan, which is the Italian sausage with the fresh baked bread and the chimichurri. Richard makes his own bread. We added tomato, lettuce and a little mayo. In Argentina, at a barbecue, you just eat it with the chimichurri and the French bread, but we like it with a little more. We also add provolone cheese, because it’s delicious.
RB: On Mondays at Second Line is all a la minute cooking. Our everyday menu is the traditional choripan and the chori doble, which is double meat, and we have a vegan option. We have a plant-based sausage.
What are you doing at Parleaux?
AB: Sunday in Argentina is asado day. At Parleaux we do asado on Saturday. But part of the tradition is community. You bring your family and friends and share a plate and spend hours talking. It’s a reason to get together and eat.
RB: We started the asado in August. We have a Santa Maria grill with a firebox on the side. We’ll burn down coals and use that under the meat. It’s all wood-fired meat with oak. We’ll bring beef short rib and blood sausage and chorizo Argentino. We have the closest thing we can have to a traditional asado.
The asado is a flat price. It’s $68. It comes with almost two pounds of beef short rib, and then you get blood sausage, chorizo Argentino and a chicken thigh and chimichurri, lemon and salad. It’s a traditional salad criolla. It’s tomato, onion, oregano, red wine vinegar and oil.
Two people can eat themselves silly. AB: We’re still evolving. We’re trying to keep it as Argentinian as possible. We approached Parleaux because of the huge grill.
RB: We needed a place to store the grill. It’s difficult to move it around. We’re going to continue through September, and during winter, I’ll probably roll back and do gumbo cooking. The goal is for a couple of seasons a year to do an asado series. We also have our eye on some buildings.
AB: I would love to get into a building. But it’s a big commitment. But I am really happy with the asado.
PROVIDED PHOTO BY JANICE MONTOYA
OUT TO EAT
Out to 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.
Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.
com — This Mid-City sweet shop serves its own gelato in flavors like praline, salted caramel and tiramisu, as well as Italian ices in flavors like lemon, strawberry and mango. There also are cannolis, biscotti, fig cookies, tiramisu, macaroons and coffee drinks. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $
com — Gulf Drum Yvonne is served with brown butter sauce with mushrooms and artichoke hearts. There also are oysters, seafood pasta dishes, steaks, lamb chops and more. Reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$
Bamboula’s — 514 Frenchmen St.; bamboulasmusic.com — The live music venue’s kitchen offers a menu of traditional and creative Creole dishes, such as Creole crawfish crepes with goat cheese and chardonnay sauce. Reservations accepted. Lunch, dinner and late-night daily. $$
The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 284-2898; thebluecrabnola.com — Basin barbecue shrimp are served with rosemary garlic butter sauce over cheese grits with a cheese biscuit. The menu includes po-poys, fried seafood platters, raw and char-grilled oysters, boiled seafood in season, and more. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lakeview: Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. Slidell: Lunch Wed.-Fri., dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$
Broussard’s — 819 Conti St., (504) 581-3866; broussards.com — The menu of contemporary Creole dishes includes bronzed redfish with jumbo lump crabmeat, lemon beurre blanc and vegetables. Brunch includes Benedicts, avocado toast, chicken and waffles, turtle soup and more. Reservations recommended. Outdoor seating available in the courtyard. Dinner Wed.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$
Cafe Normandie — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The menu combines classic French dishes and Louisiana items like crab beignets with herb aioli. Sandwiches include po-boys, a muffuletta on flatbread and a burger. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch Mon.-Sat., dinner Fri.-Mon. $$
The Commissary — 634 Orange St., (504) 274-1850; thecommissarynola.com — Dickie Brennan’s Commissary supplies his other restaurant kitchens and also has a dine-in menu and prepared foods to go. A smoked turkey sandwich is served with bacon, tomato jam, herbed cream cheese, arugula and herb vinaigrette on honey oat bread. The menu includes dips, salads, sandwiches, boudin balls, fried oysters and more. No reservations. Outdoor seating available. Lunch Tue.-Sat. $$
Curio — 301 Royal St., (504) 717-4198; curionola.com — The creative Creole menu includes blackened Gulf shrimp served with chicken and andouille jambalaya. There also are crab cakes, shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee, po-boys and more. Outdoor
$ — average dinner entrée under $10
$$ $11-$20
$$$ — $20-up
seating available on balcony. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$
Dahla — 611 O’Keefe Ave., (504) 766-6602; dahlarestaurant.com — The menu includes popular Thai dishes like pad thai, drunken noodles, curries and fried rice. Crispy skinned duck basil is prepared with vegetables and Thai basil. Delivery available. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — A menu full of Gulf seafood includes oysters served raw on the half-shell or char-broiled with with Parmesan, garlic and herbs. The menu also includes po-boys, po-boys, gumbo, blackened fish, fried seafood platters and more. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House — 144 Bourbon St., (504) 522-0111; bourbonhouse.com — There’s a seafood raw bar with raw and char-broiled oysters, fish dip, crab fingers, shrimp and more. Redfish on the Half-shell is cooked skinon and served with crab-boiled potatoes, frisee and lemon buerre blanc. The bar offers a wide selection of bourbon and whiskies. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$
Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse — 716 Iberville St., (504) 522-2467; dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com — The menu includes a variety of steaks, plus seared Gulf fish, lobster pasta, barbecue shrimp and more. A 6-ounce filet mignon is served with fried oysters, creamed spinach, potatoes and bearnaise. Reservations recommended. Dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$
El Pavo Real — 4401 S. Broad Ave., (504) 266-2022; elpavorealnola.com — The menu includes tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, ceviche. tamales and more. Pescado Vera Cruz features sauteed Gulf fish topped with tomatoes, olives, onion and capers, served with rice and string beans. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and early dinner Tue.-Sat. $$
Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; 8140 Oak St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar jack cheese, black beans, rice, guacamole and salsa. The menu also includes tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, fajitas, nachos, salads, rice and bean bowls with various toppings and more. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$
Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — The Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. The eclectic menu also includes chargrilled oysters, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, fried seafood platters, pasta, salads and more. Delivery available. Reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner daily. $$
Kilroy’s Bar — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941;
higginshotelnola.com/dining — The all-day bar menu includes sandwiches, soups, salads, flatbreads and a couple entrees. A muffuletta flatbread is topped with salami, mortadella, capicola, mozzarella and olive salad. No reservations. Lunch Fri.-Mon., dinner daily. $$
Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 613-2350; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes oysters, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, salads and sharable plates like NOLA Tot Debris. A slow-cooked pulled pork barbecue sandwich is served with coleslaw on a brioche bun. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 513-2606; legacykitchen.com — The selection of steak and chops includes filet mignon, bone-in rib-eye, top sirloin and double pork chops and a la carte toppings include bernaise, blue cheese and sauteed crabmeat. There also are burgers, salads, pasta, seafood entrees, char-broiled oysters and more. Reservations accepted. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com —
The menu of Japanese cuisine includes sushi, signature rolls, tempura items, udon noodle dishes, teriyaki, salads and more. The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado, snow crab, green onion and wasabi roe. Reservations accepted. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$
Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves Italian dishes and specialties including shrimp Mosca, baked oysters Mosca and spaghetti Bordelaise and chicken cacciatore. Chicken a la grands is sauteed with garlic, rosemary, Italian herbs and white wine. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$
Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant.net — This counter-service spot serves po-boys dressed with sliced cabbage like the Famous Ferdi filled with ham, roast beef and debris. Creole favorites include jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice and more. Breakfast is available all day. Delivery available. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes red beans and rice with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as shrimp Creole, seafood platters, po-boys, char-grilled and raw oysters, salads and more. Side items include carrot souffle, mac and cheese, cornbread dressing, sweet potato tots and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$
Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola. com — Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese and garlic butter, and other options include oysters Rockefeller and loaded oysters. The creative menu also includes seafood bread, a Cajun-lobster potato, wings, quesadillas, burgers, salads, sandwiches, seafood pasta, loaded fries and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$
Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro 720 Orleans Ave., (504) 523-1930; orleansgrapevine.com — The wine bar offers cheese boards and appetizers to nosh with wines. The menu includes Creole pasta with shrimp and andouille in tomato cream sauce. Reservations accepted for large parties. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$
Parish Grill — 4650 W. Esplanade Ave., Suite 100, Metairie, (504) 345-2878; parishgrill. com — The menu includes a variety of burgers, sandwiches, wraps, pizza and salads. For an appetizer, sauteed andouille is served with fig preserves, blue cheese and toast points. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
Peacock Room — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3073; peacockroomnola.com — At brunch, braised short rib grillades are served over grits with mushrooms, a poached egg and shaved truffle. The dinner menu has oysters, salads, pasta, shrimp and grits, a burger, cheese plates and more. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Mon., brunch Sun. $$
Rosie’s on the Roof — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The rooftop bar has a menu of sandwiches, burgers and small plates. Crab beignets are made with Gulf crabmeat and mascarpone and served with herb aioli. No reservations. Dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
Tableau — 616 St. Peter St., (504) 9343463; tableaufrenchquarter.com — The menu features traditional and creative Creole dishes. Pasta bouillabaisse features squid ink mafaldine, littleneck clams, Gulf shrimp, squid, seafood broth, rouille and herbed breadcrumbs. Outdoor seating available on the balcony. Reservations recommended. Dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Thu.-Sun. $$$
Tacklebox — 817 Common St., (504) 827-1651; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes raw and char-broiled oysters, seafood platters, po-boys, fried chicken, crab and corn bisque and more. Redfish St. Charles is served with garlic-herb butter, asparagus, mushrooms and crawfish cornbread. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza. com — A Marilynn Pota Supreme pie is topped with mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions. There also are salads, sandwiches, wings, breadsticks and more. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $
The Vintage — 3121 Magazine St., (504) 324-7144; thevintagenola.com — There’s a full coffee drinks menu and baked goods and beignets, as well as a full bar. The menu has flatbreads, cheese boards, small plates and a pressed veggie sandwich with avocado, onions, arugula, red pepper and pepper jack cheese. No reservations. Delivery and outdoor seating available. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
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2025
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Jersey Devil, Rosesha Frozea and Kozmik. Animal print clothing is encouraged. Tickets are $13.63 via gasagasanola.com and $15 at the door.
‘Murder Most MeeMaw!’
Ricky Graham gives Agatha Christie a yatty twist in a comedic approach to a British mystery. Mrs. Marie Macalusa shares tales involving Hercules Pirogue and Miss Maple in a show staring Graham, Gary Rucker, Vatican Lokey, Lisa Picone-Love, Jessie Terrebonne Thompson, Ryan Nocito and Emily Bagwill. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, and Saturday, Aug. 30, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, at Rivertown Theaters. Tickets $35 via rivertowntheaters.com.
‘Harold and St. Claude’
“Harold and Maude” is a classic dark comedy about the improbable romance between a young man fighting his controlling mother and an older free-spirited woman. New Orleans performer Thugsy the Clown has adapted a musical version of the story, imagining the couple as a boy coming out of the closet and an aging drag queen. At 8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, and Tuesday, Aug. 26, at AllWays Lounge & Theatre. Tickets $31.37 and up via eventbrite.com.
‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow’
Ukrainian singer Bogdan Mynka sings everything from his primary focus on opera to Broadway show tunes. He’s organized operatic productions at Marigny Opera House. He returns with a show reimagining ‘Macbeth’ in a production featuring Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy with four singers, four dancers, light design and more. At 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, through Sunday, Aug. 31, at the Marigny Opera House. Tickets $30-$70 (including fees) via eventbrite.com.
Jurassic Quest & Brick Fest
Two family-friendly attractions combine at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner over Labor Day weekend. Jurassic Quest is an interactive dinosaur experience with lifelike dinosaurs, real fossils, a bounce house, inflatables, art and science activities, face painting and more. Brick Fest features LEGOs and building challenges, mosaic walls and more. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31. Admission $29.39 and up via jurassicquest.com.
Savor the City
The evening food festival at the Broadside will feature dishes by Compere Lapin, Southerns, Coquette, Fritai, Mister Mao and more New Orleans restaurants and chefs. There also will be music by Muevelo, DJ Yamin and others. Savor the City takes place 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, and tickets are $73.21 via savorthecitynola.com.
Bajo la Misma Luna
Event producers Puro have organized a dance night to benefit organizations working with New Orleans’ immigrant communities in recognition of the work done by immigrants to help rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina. DJs C’est Funk, Legatron Prime, Antwigadee!, Otto and more will be performing throughout the night, and there will be Colombian food by Waska and art by Gabrielle Garcia Steib. All proceeds from the door will go to Union Migrante and Project Ishmael. Bajo la Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon) starts at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, at Saturn Bar. Admission is $10-$20 suggested donation at the door.
Crowbar, EyeHateGod and Thou
New Orleans’ Crowbar and Eyehategod helped define sludge metal, and Thou is one of the titans of the genre. The three heavyhitters share a rare bill together on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Southport Hall. The music starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $43.39 via southporthall.com.
The Dead South
The folk and bluegrass band The Dead South is from a bit north of the border, hailing from Saskatchewan, Canada. Their sound is inspired by the string music of the western frontier. The band released “Chains & Stakes” last year. At 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, at The Fillmore. Tickets $39.35 and up via ticketmaster.com.
George Porter Jr. Trio
After a few months away on break following a surgery in June, New Orleans funk icon George Porter Jr. recently returned to his Monday night home at the Maple Leaf. You can catch Porter playing with drummer Terrence Houston, keys player Mike Lemmler and guitarist Chris Adkins during two sets on most Mondays at the Oak Street venue. Porter next plays at 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25. Tickets are $15 via mapleleafbar.com and $20 at the door.
MUSIC
FOR COMPLETE M US IC LI S TING S AND MORE EVENT S TAKING PLACE IN THE NEW ORLEAN S AREA, VI S IT CALENDAR.GAMBITWEEKLY.COM
To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com
MONDAY 25
30/90 — Margie Perez, 6 pm; Piano Man G, 9 pm
APPLE BARREL — Mark Appleford, 6 pm; Decaturadio, 10:30
BACCHANAL — Byron Asher, 7 pm
BAMBOULA’S The New Orleans Rug Cutters, 12 pm; Jon Roniger & The Good for Nothin’ Band, 4:30 pm; Ted Hefko & The Thousandaires, 9 pm
BJ’S LOUNGE — Red Beans & Blues with Washboard Chaz & Jonathan Freilich 9 pm
BUFFA’S — David Doucet, 7 pm
CAFE NEGRIL Gumbo Funk, 7:30 pm
CARROLLTON STATION Biscuits n’ Jam with Meryl Zimmerman & Friends, 10 pm
DOS JEFES — John Fohl, 8:30 pm
FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Matinee All Stars Band & Jazz Jam Session, 1 pm; Tin Men, 5 pm; Richard Scott & Friends, 8 pm
HOLY DIVER — DJ Reverend Robert Sinewave, 10 pm
MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Tom Hook, 6 pm; The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, 8 pm
THE MAISON — Bad Penny Pleasuremakers, 5 pm; Gene’s Music Machine, 8 pm
MAPLE LEAF BAR George Porter Jr. Trio, 8 pm
ROYAL FRENCHMEN HOTEL Jazz Vipers, 9 pm
SANTOS BAR Karaoke with Afrosondra, 10 pm
SPOTTED CAT Jenavieve Cooke + The Winding Boys, 2 pm; Dominick Grillo & The Frenchmen Street Allstars, 6 pm; Amber Rachelle & The Sweet Potatoes, 9 pm
ST. ROCH TAVERN — Andrew Jobin & The Thick Smoke, 9 pm
TUESDAY 26
30/90 — Brass Tyrannosaurus, 9 pm
APPLE BARREL Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Scott Jackson & Friends, 10:30 pm
BACCHANAL Tangiers Combo, 6 pm
BAMBOULA’S — F. K-rrera Music Group, 12 pm; James McClaskey & The Rhythm Band, 4:30 pm; Sugar & The Daddies, 9 pm
BUFFA’S — Alex McMurray, 7 pm
DOS JEFES Kris Tokarski, 8:30 pm
FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Richard
“Piano” Scott, 1 pm; Ellis Dyson Band, 5 pm; Fritzel’s All-Star Band with Tom Fischer, 8 pm
GASA GASA — Krakow Lightning Release Party, 9 pm
HOLY DIVER — The Amazing Henrietta, 8 pm
HOUSE OF BLUES — Citizen Soldier, 8 pm
JAZZ PLAYHOUSE Amber Rachelle & The Sweet Potatoes, 7:30 pm
APPLE BARREL — Shwag, 6 pm; Steve Mignano, 10:30 pm
BACCHANAL Noah Young Trio, 6 pm
BAMBOULA’S — The Jaywalkers, 11 am; Laura Doyle Quartet, 1:15 pm; Cristina Kaminis & The Mix, 5:30 pm; Les Getrex & Creole Cooking, 9 pm
BJ’S LOUNGE — Katrina x BEAR Beneft: Miss Martha & Lindsay and more, 9 pm
BUFFA’S — Joe Krown, 7 pm
CAFÉ NEGRIL John Lisi & Delta Funk, 1:30 pm; Jaywalkers, 6 pm; Zena Moses & Rue Fiya, 9 pm
CAROUSEL BAR — The Iguanas, 7 pm
DOS JEFES — Dale Spalding, 8 pm
THE FILLMORE — The Dead South, 8 pm
GASA GASA — Starcrawler, 8 pm
HOWLIN’ WOLF — Hot 8 Brass Band, 10:30 pm
THE MAISON — Russell Welch Gypsy Jazz, 4 pm; Jenavieve & The Winding Boys, 7 pm
MAPLE LEAF Canada’s 30th Birthday ft. The Tanglers, Sam Price & The True Believers, Cardboard Cowboy & More, 5 pm
OKAY BAR — Tweakhoney + Sweat FM + Mere Of Light + Blisspoint + Glass Machine, 7 pm
RABBIT HOLE That 90’s Rave, 10 pm
SANTOS BAR — Rainbow Party Series, 10 pm
SATURN BAR Gus Baldwin & the Sketch, Nien, Badzy, 9 pm
SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO
Mahmoud Chouki & New World Ensemble, 7:30 pm
THE FILLMORE — The Dead South, 7 pm
TIPITINA’S Brass-A-Holics + Nakia Peck, 8 pm
Storm songs
by Jake Clapp
WHETHER RETURNING QUICKLY TO THE CITY OR SCATTERED FAR AND WIDE for months, or even years, after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures, New Orleans musicians processed the devastating event the best way they could: They made music.
Benefits to raise money for relief and recovery efforts emerged from locals — like the “Our New Orleans” album with Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and Dr. John — and mainstream artists like Green Day, U2, Prince and Stevie Wonder. And steadily, New Orleans musicians released new music documenting their frustrations and anxieties after the floodwaters receded. Documentaries following acts like Fats Domino and Rebirth Brass Band also told the stories of New Orleans music bouncing back.
Twenty years on, there’s a trove of songs documenting the ordeal, and while much of it was recorded in the immediate years after, there’s still new music reflecting on the hurricane and its long-felt aftermath. The reality is New Orleans musicians have been making art in a city forever changed, and their songs, whether explicitly or subtly, reflect a postKatrina world.
Below are 8 songs by New Orleans musicians, just a small sample, that reflect on the storm and life in its aftermath. You can find a playlist with these songs and more at bestofneworleans.com.
“Fuck Katrina” by 5th Ward Weebie — With its blunt, two-word call-andresponse, 5th Ward Weebie’s “Fuck Katrina” in 2006 was bounce music’s cathartic rallying cry to the stress and frustrations New Orleanians near and far had been experiencing in the months after the storm. “I called Red Cross / they refused to pay / that bitch George Bush / he was on delay,” he raps on the track produced by DJ Lil Man. 5th Ward Weebie passed away in early 2020.
“The Long Black Line” by Spencer Bohren — Over a haunting slide guitar, Spencer Bohren paints a vivid picture of post-Katrina New Orleans, a landscape marred by the high water mark left across the city. Simple and powerful, the song “could serve as a soundtrack to a Katrina documentary, but video footage would be redundant,” The Times-Picayune’s Keith Spera wrote. While the song hasn’t been used on a documentary, Bohren did perform it on HBO’s “Treme.” Bohren died in June 2019 at the age of 69.
“In the Middle of It All” by Irma Thomas — Irma Thomas, whose home was flooded, recorded her 2006 album
“After the Rain” just a few months after the storm. And although most of the songs were chosen before Katrina, the storm and its aftermath naturally hang heavy over the album, imbuing many of the songs, like the opener “In the Middle of It All,” with new meaning for listeners. Thomas went on to win her first Grammy Award for the album.
“Georgia … Bush” by Lil Wayne — With a feature by Robin Thicke and its placement on “Tha Carter III,” Lil Wayne’s delicate track “Tie My Hands” may be his best-known response to Katrina, but “Georgia … Bush” is Wayne at his most fierce. The raw track on 2006’s “Dedication 2” is a 7-plus-minute hellfire judgement on Bush, FEMA and the federal failures to help the Black community in the weeks after the storm. Also, don’t forget about Tunechi’s verse on Outkast’s track “Hollywood Divorce.”
“What’s going on” by Dirty Dozen Brass Band — In 2006, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band set out to re-create Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album “What’s Going On.” The soul classic captured Gaye’s reaction to the Vietnam War and the poverty and oppression happening in American cities. For the Dirty Dozen, post-Katrina New Orleans and the U.S. in 2006 — mired in war and with a reactionary government — was reason enough to again ask, “What’s going on?”
“Levees” by Terence Blanchard — After writing the score for Spike Lee’s four-part doc “When the Levees
Broke,” New Orleans native, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard expanded the work for his Grammywinning album “A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina).” Blanchard drew on the stories people had shared with him about living through the hurricane and the aftermath — and the album, particularly the second track “Levees,” is heartbreaking and powerful.
“Crescent City Sneaux” by Susan Cowsill — Singer-songwriter Susan Cowsill contrasts the sweet memory of the 2004 Christmas snowfall with the tumult of displacement on her song “Crescent City Sneaux.” Written just a few days after the storm, Cowsill begins soft and adrift before building to a brass band beat, shout-outs to great local bars and Who Dat chants — a reminder of why New Orleans is worth missing.
“City That Care Forgot” by Dr. John — Dr. John didn’t waste much time after Katrina struck. He quickly produced the seven-track record “Sippiana Hericane” in late 2005 to raise money for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and other organizations. But of course, he had a lot more to say and in 2008 released “City That Care Forgot” with his Lower 911 band. On the Grammywinning album, Dr. John decries the federal government, local red tape, opportunists and the way the wider world quickly moved on, as can be heard on the title track featuring Ani DiFranco and Eric Clapton.
August 22-24
Smotheredchicken with mash andgravy étoufée with blackenedredfish(dinner) friedcatfish(lunch)
FriedThaichillichicken sliders withfries
Boudin stuffed redfish with creamy creole andveggies
Shrimp eggplant stuffed friedeggplant with friedcatfishand seafoodcream
Veal Parmesan
Veal parm poboy
The Dirty Dozen Brass band in an older promotional photo PROVIDED PHOTO
MOVIE NIGHT MOVIENIGHT
Get a clue
by Will Coviello
IF THERE’S ONE THING SHERLOCK HOLMES HAS NO CLUE ABOUT, it’s the internet.
Though the detective certainly does have opinions about the internet.
Holmes says it’s all a bunch of clutter that wouldn’t help solve a crime. At least, that’s what Holmes says in Kate Hamill’s “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B.”
Crescent City Stage presents Hamill’s new take on the classic detective series at Loyola University’s Marquette Theater on Aug. 28-Sept. 14.
“I have been thinking about Netflix,” says Liz Newcomer, who is directing the show. “When I read the script, to me it felt like I was watching a Netflix show. I loved the (contemporary) ‘Sherlock’ version with Benedict Cumberbatch.”
Here, the female duo is Dr. Joan Watson, and Sherlock Holmes, who notes repeatedly that Sherlock can be a woman’s name too. They’ve met in post-Covid-pandemic London, as Holmes is looking for a roommate to share her apartment and Watson has stepped away from her life in New York.
As Watson inspects the apartment, she is not inclined to stay, put off by the eccentric Holmes’ cluttered space, her fencing practice and pot smoking.
Holmes is played by Lorene Chesley, who has been in a couple of Crescent City Stage productions. Brittany Chandler is Watson. The small cast also features Sarah Colbert Cutrer and Jarrod Smith in multiple roles.
Hamill is an actress and playwright who’s become known for taking classic characters and adapting or reworking their stories, including several plays based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and a modern take on the Dracula story.
In “Ms. Watson,” she puts more of a contemporary and feminist lens on the detectives as an odd couple. Holmes’ methods can be calculating and aloof. Watson is more earnest and accommodating.
It’s a fast-paced mystery, but with plenty of comedy, including a bit of slapstick and swordplay. This Sherlock Holmes retains the signature shrewd observations and deductive reasoning, and the mystery also has a corpse and a
messy crime scene. A man found dead in a hotel room has left a few stark clues about who he was with.
There’s also a contemporary sensibility in some of the pop cultural references tossed out, especially by Watson. Many are beyond Sherlock’s recognition, but not keeping up with what’s online hasn’t slowed her down.
Scotland Yard comes calling, in need of Holmes’ expertise about the body found in the hotel. The two may not have sorted out their roommate issues yet, but Watson becomes a sidekick and is introduced to the dirty work of London’s worst criminals.
Knowledge of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original books isn’t necessary, but there are recognizable characters and plots for fans. Holmes matched wits with Irene Adler, and she’s in this work, but with more intriguing elements to the rivalry.
“Archetypal characters are super fun,” Newcomer says. “We have the femme fatale and the doltish detective.”
Crescent City Stage is going with a more minimalist set and using video projections to fill out the changes of scenery. It also gives the production a cinematic feel, Newcomer says.
Crescent City Stage concludes its current season in December with Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
The company moved into its home at 6063 Magazine St. earlier this year and has been offering professional acting classes and holding rehearsals there since April. Starting in September, it’s expanding to offer acting classes for children and teens.
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PROVIDED PHOTO BY CRAIG MULCAHY
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