Staff Writers | JAKE C L APP, KAYL EE POCHE, SARAH RAVITS
Contributing Writer | IAN MCN ULT Y
Editorial Assistant | MADDIE SPINNER
CREATIVE
Creative Director | DORA SISON
ADVERTISING
Advertising Inquiries (504) 483-3150
Advertising Director | SANDY STEIN BROND U M [sstein@gambitweekly.com]
Sales and Marketing Manager
ABIGAI L BORDE L ON ( 504 ) 636 -7427 [abigail.bordelon@gambitweekly.com]
Sales Representatives
KE LLY SONNIER RODRIG U EZ ( 504 ) 483-3143 [ksonnier@gambitweekly.com]
CHAR L IE THOMAS ( 504 ) 636 -7438 [cthomas@gambitweekly.com]
Traffic Manager | JASON WHITTAKER
Project Manager | MARIA VIDACOVICH BO U É
Associate Art Director | EMMA DA VIA
Graphic Designer | GAVIN DONA L DSON
Contributing Graphic Designers | TIANA WATTS, SCOTT FORS Y THE, JASM Y NE WHITE, JEFF MENDE L
BUSINESS & OPERATIONS
Billing Inquiries 1 (225) 388-0185
BENNETT GESTON ( 504 ) 483 -3116
[bennett.geston@gambitweekly.com]
A LY SSA HA U PTMAN N ( 504 ) 483 -1123
[alyssa.hauptmann@gambitweekly.com]
L
( 504 ) 636 -7426
[lauren.cunningham@theadvocate.com]
Sales and Marketing Coordinator
C L ARE BRIERRE [clare.brierre@gambitweekly.com]
L IONE L NOSACKA [lionel.nosacka@gambitweekly.com]
PHOTO BY MAX BECHERER / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Spice of life
Cristina
Kaminis mixes it all together on debut album
IN A TAROT DECK, THE TEMPERANCE CARD IS USUALLY READ AS A PROMPT for patience, calmness and finding balance in life. The card tells the reader to let time do its thing, says Cristina Kaminis.
“I see the card as a kind of surrender,” the New Orleans-based vocalist says. The card influenced the title for Kaminis’ song “Temperance,” a stirring, gospel-tinged blues track that closes her recently released full-length album.
“The song is about surrendering and letting the universe take care of you and trying not to push so much,” Kaminis says, “which lately has been challenging, because everything that’s going on in the world is a little terrifying. You want to have some control but you can’t. The Temperance card always reminded me to take a breath [and] slow down.”
Kaminis felt it also was a good title for the album. The 10-track “Temperance” is Kaminis’ first album recorded under her own name and was made with patience and a balance reflecting the many sides of her music and life.
“If anything, [albums] serve as a kind of little blip in the timeline, to show your progress and to show who you were then,” she says.
“Temperance” was released in early June, and after a busy month, Kaminis and her band will play an album-release show on Saturday, July 26, at Carrollton Station. James Jordan and the Situation open at 8 p.m.
The album includes a variety of genres, capturing Kaminis’ and her band members’ wide-ranging musical tastes. “There are Mexican elements, Brazilian vibes, folk feelings, spiritual songs, guitar shredding ranchera, ’80s power ballad buildups, French torch song gone country, and a sad-girl blues,” Kaminis wrote on Bandcamp.
Those styles often blend together, like on “Mi Cama Vacía,” a Mexican ranchera that takes a smooth left turn with a soaring, violin- and guitar-driven indie rock solo. Or on the French song, “Milord,” made famous by Edith Piaf — one of Kaminis’ musical idols — and given a country and western lens on “Temperance.”
“I like the idea of having an album that maybe someone that listens to more singer-songwriter folk, there will be a song they like, but then there’s a song a Brazilian person is going to be like, ‘Oh, I loved it,’ ” Kaminis says.The variety of genres on “Temperance” mirrors Kaminis’ own wide-ranging background. The Mexican-American singer spent her early years in Mexico City and then
by Jake Clapp |
moved to Miami with her mother and stepfather as a child. After graduating from the University of Tampa, she spent some time in her 20s as a “National Park hippie,” working in Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and Yosemite National Park while saving money to ultimately move to New York City.
Kaminis was drawn to vocalists like Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald, but she didn’t begin singing on stage until her mid-20s.
After meeting an Argentinian guitar player at a small Spanish bar in New York, she would occasionally sing with him. Her professional vocal career began to develop soon after, leading her to the New York-based Carte Blanche Jazz Band, an ensemble focused on French, Latin and American jazz from the ’20s through the ’60s, as well as the 10-piece Latin orchestra La Pachamambo.
After about a dozen years in New York, Kaminis moved to New Orleans in January 2021 and began performing around town, including regular gigs at Frenchmen Street clubs like Bamboula’s. And she still travels to New York for gigs with Carte Blanche.
Kaminis has a strong voice, can sing in seven languages and is comfortable in a range of genres, from bolero, ranchera and samba to Great American songbook standards and French and Italian love songs.
“Whenever somebody tells me to do [a narrow set], I’m like ‘Oh! But there’s so many other kinds of songs we could do,” Kaminis told Gambit in 2023. “It’s like my attention span can’t do the one thing. I jump around all over the place.”
Kaminis also credits the range of styles on “Temperance” to the
musicians who appear on the album, including her husband, drummer Felipe Leite Teixeira, drummer Fernando Lima, bassists Sean Weber and Roy Brenc and guitarist Felipe Antonio, who Kaminis says has helped shape her band’s sound. Anna Moss and Joel Ludford, who perform together as Handmade Moments, also contributed to the album along with flutist Victoria Douton, violinist Gabrielle Fischler, pianist Nat Lawrence, accordionist Simon Moushabeck and vocalists Cyrille Aimee and Maria Cardona. Moss also lent her home to record the album.
Of the 10 songs on “Temperance,” eight are originals, with some tunes having been written almost 15 years ago, Kaminis says. The album opener, “Left Your Shirt” — about the cruelty of an ex-lover leaving behind their shirt — was written for a college class. “Dad Song,” a touching tune about wanting to introduce her partner to her father, was written in New York at a time when Kaminis’ father was sick. Her father passed away 10 years ago, but Kaminis released her album on June 4 to celebrate his birthday.
Some songs are newer, like “Temperance” and “Smile for Your Mother,” which Kaminis wrote while on a road trip with her mother during a brief break up with her now-husband.
“Half of [the songs] are from my past life, and half of them are from this life,” Kaminis says.
Most of the songs on “Temperance” are in English, but Kaminis purposefully included the French “Milord,” the Spanish “Mi Cama Vacía,” and the Portuguese “Deixa isso pra La.” The album is a reflection of her as a Mexican-American woman and a reflection of an immigrant experience.
“Like we think in different languages. We speak Spanglish and Portunol, which is Portuguese and Spanish put together — and the album to me is that,” Kaminis says. “It’s a reflection of all these different colors and styles that inhabit an immigrant’s experience and your mind and the way you operate in this country and this world as an immigrant.”
“There are little, different layers to yourself,” she adds. “It’s just all of the beauty that is being an immigrant. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the album and I’m proud of being an immigrant. I don’t think the country would be what it is without immigrants.”
Find “Temperance” and more at cristinakaminismusic.com
Rakim
With his intricate rhyming style, Rakim was influential from his entry into the rap scene in the late 1980s, working as a duo with Eric B. He’s also put out several solo albums, including “G.O.D.’s Network: Reb7rth” last year. He performs at 10 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Tipitina’s. Tickets $42.32 via tipitinas.com.
Bobcat Goldthwait
Bobcat Goldthwait got his start in stand-up comedy, doing impressions of U2’s Bono and doing high-pitched, highly agitated bits about the stress of having the Messiah as an older brother. It led to quirky roles in the “Police Academy” comedies. But he also became an in-demand director, from his own “Shakes the Clown” to some of Patton Oswald’s comedy specials. For a dozen years, he’s been more reserved as a panelist on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” He’s on a comedy tour this summer, and it comes to Southport Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 24. Tickets are $37.15 via southporthall.com.
Mobley
Austin, Texas, multi-instrumentalist Mobley hasn’t been afraid of trying new things or changing directions, from his early shows as an synth-pop oneman-band to his latest album, “We Do Not Fear Ruins,” a genre-blending concept album. Following Mobley’s 2022 futuristic art rock EP, about a man radicalized to fight greed and fascism, the new record picks up on the man’s journey 300 years into the future. Mobley plays at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Gasa Gasa with Alexis & The Sanity and A.J. Haynes. Tickets are $19.29 via gasagasanola.com.
The Wallfowers
The mellow rocking Wallflowers is essentially a Jakob Dylan project with changing members. He put out the album “Exit Wounds” in 2021, but 1997’s “One Headlight” remains the band’s signature tune. Jackson Melnick
PROVIDED PHOTO
Cristina Kaminis recently released her first full-length album, ‘Temperance.’ PROVIDED PHOTO BY ANDREA TEJEDA
OPENING GAMBIT
NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS
Welcome back to town Tales! Remember to tip like you’re the one behind the bar!
THUMBS UP/ THUMBS DOWN
New Orleans is on track to finish 2025 with its lowest murder rate since the early 1970s. There have been 53 murders in the city so far in 2025, including the 14 people killed in the early hours of New Year’s Day, but New Orleans and other U.S. cities are still seeing a drop in violent crime. Experts attribute the downward trend to a number of factors, including changes to NOPD policies and increased federal funding during the Biden administration for programs battling gun violence and supporting local youth.
With mayoral campaign feld set, Moreno takes huge lead in fundraising
The Central Business District Historic Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to designate 1031 Canal St. as a local landmark. The lot at Canal and N. Rampart streets was the site of the 1960 Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins, an important moment in New Orleans civil rights history. It also is the site of the 2019 Hard Rock Hotel collapse, which killed three men. The landmark designation will give the city more control over what happens to the site.
NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT HELENA MORENO still has the biggest war chest in the city’s mayor’s race with three months left until Election Day, with more than three times as much cash than her nearest opponent.
According to campaign finance reports filed July 14, Moreno raised more than $474,000 between April 5 and July 3, bringing her up to more than $1.7 million on hand. She spent more than $288,000 over that period.
Council Member Oliver Thomas brought in almost $319,000 during the same three months, making up the bulk of the $434,000 in his campaign account. He spent more than $94,000.
Of the four major candidates, retired Judge Arthur Hunter has ended this period with the least amount of cash on hand. Over the last three months, the former police officer and judge spent $152,000, which is more than the $125,000 he took in — leaving him with just more than $42,000 in his campaign account.
Donors
Moreno’s biggest donors in the last three months include John Carmouche, the Baton Rouge lawyer who just won a $745 million lawsuit against Chevron for the company’s damage to the wetlands, and his wife Trisha, who each donated $12,000 to her campaign in June.
The roster of hopefuls to succeed Mayor LaToya Cantrell include council members Oliver Thomas and Helena Moreno, former judge Arthur Hunter, State Sen. Royce Duplessis, comedian Manny Chevrolet, psychotherapist Ricky Twiggs, embattled former 911 director Tyrell “The Real Estate Gladiator” Morris, disgruntled ex-Cantrell staffer Eileen Carter, Renada Collins, Gabrielle Harris Thomas, Frank Janusa and Frank Scurlock, the scion of a bounce house empire.
Louisiana has quietly implemented a change preventing transgender people from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for gender-affirming care prescriptions if their doctor uses certain gender-related diagnosis codes, the Louisiana Illuminator has reported. Advocates say many trans people are now paying unexpected out-of-pocket costs for regular prescriptions.
State Sen. Royce Duplessis announced he was running for mayor June 29, after previously saying in January he wouldn’t run due to lack of funding. His campaign is building momentum.
According to his campaign finance report, Duplessis raised more than $166,000 from donors since January. He and his wife Krystle also made a personal investment of $25,000 into his campaign, and he transferred $67,000 from a previous election fund. He’s spent more than $91,000, mostly on consulting fees and promotional material, leaving him with $166,000 on hand.
NewEdge Advisors CEO Alex Goss, former state Rep. and Jefferson Parish Council Member Jennifer Sneed Heebe and trial attorney James Williams also all contributed $12,000, as did Unite Here Tip 275, a PAC headquartered in New York City which aims to support candidates who are pro-workers’ rights. Many of Thomas’ largest campaign donations came in April. Kenner real estate company BLD Investments and its corresponding general contracting company BLD Services each gave $7,000 to his campaign, and DC-based Engineers Political Education Committee gave $10,000. Destrehan company Quarterman contributed $12,000 the same month.
From left, Oliver Thomas, Helena Moreno, Arthur Hunter and Royce Duplessis file paperwork to run for mayor.
PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
Actor Wendell Pierce also donated $12,000 to Thomas’ campaign. Pierce co-owns the radio station WBOK on which Thomas hosted a morning show.
Duplessis’ heftiest donations so far come from the locally based Alliance Medical Center, which specializes in workers’ comp and auto injury care, as well as the Sports Betting Alliance, headquartered in Texas. Both chipped in $6,000. Developer and investor Brian Gibbs, who is involved in the blighted Bywater naval base redevelopment, has given his campaign $5,000.
Smaller donations from other politicos include Matthew Block, former attorney for ex-Gov. John Bel Edwards; council-at-large candidate and state Rep. Delisha Boyd; and Ryan Berni, a former deputy mayor to Mitch Landrieu.
Hunter’s top donations so far are from the Egenberg Trial Lawyers as well as Henry Coaxum, a McDonald’s franchise owner and the former chairman of the Business Council of New Orleans. Each gave $5,000.
Other notable figures who are supporting Hunter include fellow NOPD alum and alleged paramour of Mayor
LaToya Cantrell, Jeffrey Vappie, who donated $500. — Kaylee Poche and Sarah Ravits
Site of Hard Rock collapse, Woolworth’s building in New Orleans is historic, city decides
THE INTERSECTION OF CANAL AND NORTH RAMPART STREETS, where the proposed Hard Rock Hotel collapsed and killed three people in 2019 and where civil rights activists held sit-ins at the former Woolworth’s in 1960, has been named a historic landmark.
The Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission granted a historic designation to the site last week, a decision that followed a push by the City Council to commemorate the space.
The designation comes nearly six years after the building supports at the now-demolished Hard Rock construction site gave way, sending the top three floors of the 18-story proposed hotel tumbling, killing three workers and injuring dozens more.
The collapse, which triggered widespread scrutiny of the city’s Safety and Permits Department, remains under investigation.
And it comes 65 years after seven local college students staged the first sit-in protest of the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans at the former Woolworth’s lunch counter, which was demolished, along with the retail building, in 2014.
An unidentified New Orleans police detective stands behind Congress of Racial Equality sit-in protesters at the Sept. 9, 1960 sit-in at Woolworths on Rampart.
The move is meant to honor two important parts of the city’s history, council members said this week.
“The decision by the commission marks a powerful step forward in honoring the layered history of this location — a place that remembers both the undeniable courage of the Civil Rights Movement and the sorrow of lives lost too soon,” said City Council Vice President Helena Moreno in a statement on Monday. Moreno and District C council member Freddie King both pushed for the designation.
9
You’re free to live your lifeout loud! Becauseyou’vegot the compassion of thecross,the security of the shield, and thecomfort of Blue behind you.
FILE PHOTO BY RALPH URIBE / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
The council members’ request for the designation came after family members of the victims of the Hard Rock collapse — Jose Ponce Arreola, Anthony Magrette and Quinnyon Wimberly — requested a permanent memorial to honor them, the statement said.
— Sophie Kasakove
New Orleans owes $90 million in unpaid judgments.
The city has a plan to pay up.
NEW ORLEANS HAS A PLAN TO PAY TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in cash judgments to residents who have won lawsuits against the city for everything from contract disputes to a deadly police wreck.
Under the proposal, developed by the city’s Chief Administrative Office and unanimously approved by the New Orleans City Council on Thursday, the city will issue $90 million in tax revenue bonds and use the proceeds to pay hundreds of judgments, some of which date back decades.
The plan comes after frustration has mounted for years among those stiffed by the city and as officials have repeatedly raised concerns about the city’s failure to meet its obligations.
In a statement Friday, Cantrell administration officials said that the move “is the first legislative step toward eliminating a long-standing liability for the city and fulfilling the city’s obligations to its judgment creditors, without placing an additional burden on taxpayers.”
So, too, did council members celebrate the effort, in a notable moment of unity between the often-feuding council and the mayor.
“There are people who have been waiting for years and we haven’t been able to give them a reason,” said council member Eugene Green. “If we look at the list of those who are owed money when this is finished, we’re going to ask ourselves, how did we wait so long? This is just the right thing to do.”
The city’s unpaid judgments ballooned from more than $30 million in August 2024 to nearly $90 million by the end of the year, because of two class action judgments that became final in 2024. One is the city’s settlement with homeowners in the Gordon Plaza subdivision and the other is with motorists who paid hundreds of thousands of traffic camera ticket fines when the program between 2008 and 2010,
OPENING GAMBIT
when the program was found to have been operating illegally.
The city has been able to amass a list of 444 unpaid judgments as of the end of 2024 because of a provision of the Louisiana Constitution allowing the city to put off the court-ordered payments indefinitely. Some of the unpaid judgments date back to the 1990s.
In August 2024, the council made its most significant step in years to get the money out the door, by approving an ordinance requiring the city to immediately start paying out the oldest judgments and pay off all remaining judgments by 2027, not including interest.
The ordinance didn’t specify what funds the city should use to pay all of the judgments.
The Law Department has paid off some of the oldest judgments over the past year using existing city funds, City Councilmember Joe Giarrusso said. But the size of the 2024 class action settlements sent officials scrambling to find more funds, he said.
“When the two big judgments came in it was like an ‘oh my gosh’ moment,” said Giarrusso. “We need to find a way to address this.”
In a council committee meeting on July 1, chief administrative officer Gilbert Montaño presented the plan to use revenue bonds — debt issued by the city and secured by property tax revenue — to clear the judgment list as “thoughtful, prudent.” The bonds must be approved by the Louisiana State Bond Commission and be repaid by 2047.
“It maybe won’t be the solution moving forward but at least can address that long list of $90 million,” said Montaño.
George White fought for 21 years to recover more than $1 million owed to his consulting firm. Shannon Holtzman, White’s former attorney, said Friday that White was finally paid in October 2024 after the council’s ordinance last year.
“It was meaningful to him on many levels because he had been working so diligently,” said Holtzman.
She said she was glad that others would finally receive their payout, too.
“A lot of the unpaid judgment creditors are people who got hurt by the city and really need that money terribly to survive,” said Holtzman.
“This is great and long overdue.”
— Sophie Kasakove
@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com
Hey Blake,
There is a faded sign advertising what looks like some sort of “pills,” on the rear of the Upper Pontalba apartment building facing Decatur Street. What can you tell us about it?
Dear reader,
ALTHOUGH THAT FADED SIGN IS PAINTED ON ONE OF THE CITY’S most historic properties, the Upper Pontalba Building, it advertises a product that was available all over the country, not just in New Orleans: Dr. Tutt’s Liver Pills.
First, a bit of history on the building itself. The Upper and Lower Pontalba buildings are named for their developer, Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba. Her father, Don Andrés Almonester y Roxas, was one of the richest men in Spanish colonial Louisiana. When he died in 1798, two large tracts of land he owned near St. Louis Cathedral passed to his daughter. On the land, she supervised construction of the two four-story red brick buildings, completed in 1850. Since the 1930s, the Upper Pontalba building on St. Peter Street has been owned by the city, while the Lower Pontalba on St. Ann is owned by the state. Both buildings, with retail tenants on the ground floor and apartments above, were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Tutt’s Liver Pills are one of many products created and marketed by Dr. William Tutt. According to the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, the Georgia physician and druggist made a fortune as a patent medicine manufacturer. Like other patent medicines, his over-thecounter remedies were often marketed with false or exaggerated claims.
In an 1877 “open letter” in The Daily Picayune, Tutt said he had devoted 20 years of patient study to the liver, in search of a “remedy which would restore it, when diseased, to its normal condition.” An 1872 ad in The Daily Picayune claimed “if your child has worms, or a bad breath, or sallow complexion, or is restless at night, or no appetite, or general bad health, give it Dr. Tutt’s Liver Pills. It will soon be restored.” For adults, the pills were marketed as a cure for constipation and skin conditions since, as a 1917 ad claimed, “an impure complexion … (is) evidence of a sluggish liver, showing the presence of bile in the blood which should be promptly corrected.”
Tutt marketed his products heavily, particularly in the South, which would explain the Pontalba building advertisement. According to the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Tutt sold his business a few years before his death in 1898.
THIS WEEK WE HIGHLIGHT ONE OF THE CITY’S HIDDEN RESEARCH GEMS, the New Orleans Notarial Archives. With three free tours of the archives’ research center being offered in the coming weeks, this is the perfect time to learn what they can offer to help research the history of your home or even your family tree.
The archives hold some 40 million pages of signed acts compiled by the notaries of New Orleans, dating back to the 1700s. It is the only archive dedicated to notarial records in the U.S. and is overseen by Clerk of Civil District Court Chelsey Richard Napoleon.
The archives, established in 1867 by the state Legislature, contain the records of property sales, marriage contracts and even the purchase of enslaved people. There are also thousands of 19th-century watercolor maps and drawings of houses, as well as other blueprints, topographical elevations and design drawings.
The Notarial Archives, located at 1340 Poydras St., Suite 260, will be open for summer tours from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on July 24, Aug. 7 and Aug. 26. For information, visit orleanscivilclerk.com.
CO CK TA IL CH IC
Weekend Specials
July 18-20
Lobsterkabopster
Lunch
Étouffée
Buffalo
Brunch
BLAKE VIEW
PHOTO BY BLAKE PONTCHARTRAIN / GAMBIT
EVOLUTION
Tales
As Tales of the Cocktail kicks o f, the bar industry faces a moment of change
BY JOHN STANTON | GAMBIT EDITOR
THIS WEEK thousands of bartenders, servers, mixologists and bar and restaurant owners (and the liquor companies and brands that love them) are descending on New Orleans for the annual Tales of the Cocktail conference.
What started off as a small walking tour of bars in 2002 has mushroomed into a multi-day event that sprawls across much of the city and brings some of the hospitality industry’s leading figures — and biggest brands — to town.
In the last several years, Tales has become one of the few summer draws for visitors to the city, generating around $24 million in economic input. And a lot of that ends up going directly to bars, restaurants and small businesses and their workers.
This year, the conference features 390 total events, including 75 educational seminars workshops and networking sessions, more than 230 brands offering tastings, bar takeovers, parties and other events, and a host of other unofficial pop-ups and parties across the city.
It’s gotten so big, in fact, the conference even has its own app to help folks navigate their schedules.
The conference also comes at a potential tipping point for the industry, particularly here in New Orleans, as technological, social and economic factors are hitting it especially hard.
Appropriately, this year’s theme is Evolve, and much of the conference’s official programming revolves around the quickly shifting landscape facing bars and restaurants, including panels that will address the challenges and opportunities of AI, diversity and representation in the workforce and other issues.
“We have to look at how do we evolve? How do we operate bars?” says Neal Bodenheimer, owner of Cure and a Tales of the Cocktail board member. “It feels like the entire world is in upheaval.”
Like most other economic sectors, the hospitality industry — and bars in particular — offer a pretty good reflection of what’s happening in America at any given moment, which makes sense. They’re subject to the same various economic, social and political factors as the broader society, after all. If the cost of, say, corn or wheat goes up, so does the cost of whiskey or beer. Similarly, when the economy is roaring, bars are full and turn a tidy profit — and when times are lean, well, they’re still full of people drinking, even if the till isn’t at the end of the night. They also reflect shifts in our society. Take TGI Fridays, which today might seem like nothing more than a marginal option for a strip mall lunch. When it was launched in the 1960s, the bar was one of the first to target the young women who were entering the professional workforce en masse. Granted, it may have been little more than a way for the owner to meet chicks, but honestly that tracks with this being America.
But it goes even deeper than that. Before there was even a United States, its literal history was being written in bars, which in the colonial era were meeting places for the plucky band of wealthy rebels who would become the Founding Fathers.
Here in New Orleans, barrooms were where jazz was born, where the blues thrived and where Black drag performers helped shape what would become rock n’ roll.
But beyond these massive shifts in culture and history, the hospitality industry has played an integral role in our lives because at its core, the business model is built on community. Neighborhood bars in New Orleans aren’t just places to drink or listen to music. They’re mutual aid hubs during times of crisis, where we gather to celebrate victories large and small and the space we seek out when we’re in mourning.
That sense of community and deep history is also a big reason why New Orleans is considered the “Mecca” for the hospitality industry. From the intricacies of fine dining service to the unspoken rules of dive bar etiquette, New Orleans has been instrumental in shaping the industry.
And it’s also why the uncertainties and challenges facing New Orleans’ bars and restaurants right now are so important and should concern not only us but the broader industry as a whole.
“It’s like a wobbly table,” Bodenheimer says. “Bars have been such steadfast places for so long, and I think the way we convene and use them has changed so much.”
PRETTY MUCH since Donald Trump’s first election in 2016, the state of affairs in the United States has been that of a perpetual dumpster fire. Overt racism, sexism and homophobia have turned public spaces like bars into social minefields. With a workforce that leans heavily toward women, minorities and members of the LGBTQ community, that means even going to your job can be fraught.
The pandemic, meanwhile, caused massive disruption to the industry in ways we’re only just beginning to understand. In the lead up to Covid’s arrival, service industry workers were making strides toward greater organizing and creating more equitable work environments. But the lockdowns of the pandemic’s first few years halted that in its tracks.
“I do think the pandemic naturally pitted management and teams against each other ... but I think it’s getting better,” Bodenheimer says.
But it also had other effects on the industry. People became much more comfortable with living huge parts of
their lives online during the lockdowns, and that’s been reflected in how they go to the bar. That, in turn, has accelerated the trend away from bars being places to meet someone, Bodenheimer says.
“People went to bars to meet people and to interact with other people. They did not go to meet up with dates they met on the internet, which is what they do now.”
The lockdowns also mean a huge number of Gen Z kids came of age to drink at a moment when they couldn’t go to a bar, long a rite of passage for young adults. That’s meant that unlike previous cohorts, fewer entered the hospitality workforce after college, developed social networks in bars or even learned the basic ropes of ordering drinks and being a good bar patron.
The pandemic also rocked the global economy, meaning Gen Z also has less disposable income than millennials or Gen X before them did at their age. That’s resulted in shifts in how they socialize and drink, with more and more young people preferring THC seltzers or non-alcoholic drinks over cocktails or beers.
Some of the changes are the sort of cyclical shifts that the hospitality industry has dealt with forever — though in the moment they can feel monumental. Take the rise in popularity of alcoholic and THC seltzers, non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails in a can.
Talk to bartenders or managers around town about the state of the industry, and you’re almost certain to hear complaints about how these new trends are affecting the culture of bars and cutting into profits. After all, most people who’d drink four cocktails in an evening are good after one or two THC seltzers, while a pre-made mixed drink takes the craft out of the experience entirely — which can also affect tips.
WHILE THERE’S DEFINITELY EVIDENCE these shifts in drinking habits are hurting the bottom line, it’s not entirely clear this isn’t just the normal evolution of things in the industry.
History may be teaching us that the sky isn’t falling on the bar industry with increased interest in other drink options.
“As an old teacher of mine once said of the industry, ‘If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will,’ ” says Mark Schettler, who was general manager of Bar Tonique and now works as a consultant and advocate.
“The Moscow Mule was invented in the 1940s and is credited with popularizing vodka in the American market. And what do you think whiskey companies said about vodka at the time?” Schettler says. “The sky’s only falling if you refuse to look up to see change on the horizon before it smacks you in the head.”
Likewise, he says that while younger people may be less likely to stay at a bar as long or as late as previous generations, national data suggests they’re still going out.
More concerning for Schettler and other experts are the more existential threats to the industry, including from Trump’s economic and immigration policies.
The hospitality industry has long been the country’s top “transitional employer” — meaning it employs those recently entering the workforce from school or incarceration, single parents, the recently laid off and those with varying degrees of citizenship.
In the first six months of his second term, Trump’s mass deportations have caused huge problems for bars and restaurants. There’s been numerous raids on individual businesses where
undocumented people may work, which have a direct impact on targeted bars and restaurants.
But there are also indirect implications for the industry as well, since it’s only a matter of time before the mass sweeps happening in the agricultural and meatpacking sectors result in skyrocketing prices for food and beverages.
Meanwhile, Trump’s tariff war with the entire world is already raising the cost of imported products, including beer, wine and alcohol.
“We have a federal government that is in open opposition to our prosperity and
TOP: PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
ABOVE: PHOTO BY FRANKIE PRIJATEL / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
undermining the post-war [social safety net and equity] efforts,” Schettler says. With everything going on, Bodenheimer says gathering spaces are vital.
“There’s all these things in the world right now that are working to degrade community,” he says. “And that’s why I think community, in the sense of in-person communication ... is more than important than ever.”
NewAfrican Masquerades: Artistic Innovationsand Collaborations spotlightsthe work of four contemporaryartists working in citiesacross West Africa: ChiefEkpenyongBasseyNsa,Sheku “Goldenfnger” Fofanah, David Sanou, and Hervé Youmbi.
THERE ARE, OF COURSE, some unique challenges to the industry in New Orleans, most notably the weather.
New Orleans has never really been a summer destination. Even before the climate crisis, the heat, humidity and threat of hurricanes meant the summer months were a slow time, especially in the hospitality industry.
As a result, bar owners and staff have long understood the need to plan their work and finances carefully so the fat times of Carnival and the spring and fall festivals can sustain them through the lean ones.
But things have clearly been getting worse. There are fewer conventions coming during the summer, and those that do, like the recent GalaxyCon, aren’t drawing the crowds that the industry may have hoped. Regional tourism — which is often the backbone of the industry in a given year — has never been great in the summer, but it’s also been slowing.
In and of itself, that’s not good news for the industry. But it’s been compounded by another problem our region is facing: population loss.
In the last five years, the New Orleans metro area has lost more population than any other large metro area in the country, with more than 39,000 people — or nearly 4% of the population — moving away. It’s part of a broader population collapse in the state: A January analysis of census data by Axios showed Louisiana’s population is contracting at a higher rate than most other states.
The loss of population is caused by a number of factors, including the increased frequency of hurricanes and other human-caused climate events; attacks on the rights and freedoms of women, immigrants and the LGBTQ community by Gov. Jeff Landry and his fellow Republicans; the collapse of the film industry (also in no small part due to hostility from Republicans); soaring insurance rates and a lack of economic diversity.
And those folks are taking their disposable income with them. That’s been a huge problem for bars and restaurants as costs have risen.
“It just takes more cash to run a ‘resting’ operation than it did even 10 years ago,” Bodenheimer says.
As The Times-Picayune’s Ian McNulty recently noted, “Even at small restaurants, operators say losing $70,000 to $100,000 through the summer has become normal.”
Those sorts of losses are coming at a time when it’s getting harder to make them up even during the busiest seasons, especially for bars.
“The days of 20% profits are long gone,” Schettler says. “More places that folks know and love limp on for years in low-single digit margins than they’d think.”
PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
EVOLUTION Tales
Making a profit in the service industry is directly connected to the volume of business, and “the volume in New Orleans ain’t what it was even just a few short years ago,” he adds.
The closure of a number of restaurants and bars in the last year have set off alarm bells in the New Orleans hospitality industry, though it’s unclear how much of that is directly related to these local issues. The industry is going through a period of contraction in other parts of the country as well, and it is typically one of the first — and hardest hit — economic sectors when economic downturns happen.
“It’s broader, but New Orleans has issues. We’ve seen that New Orleans is losing population. So in those times, when visitors don’t want to come ... we don’t have to locals [to support] the businesses,” Bodenheimer says.
DESPITE THE GRIM SHAPE of things at the moment — or perhaps because of them — the bar industry is still crucial, Bodenheimer and Schettler argue. And this year’s Tales is tackling a lot of issues key to its future.
“The one thing I always come back to is what we do in bars, what we do in Tales, what we do in
New Orleans, is community,” Bodenheimer says.
Indeed, while other industries are running from topics like diversity and inclusion in their workplaces, Tales is embracing those questions, holding several panels on how to improve those aspects of business.
“Culture begets culture, and cultural institutions — like hospitality spaces — tend to be fantastic mirrors for the culture they serve,” Schettler says. “In history, whatever has been happening outside of our bars and restaurants, was reflected inside of them, too.”
Schettler says that in a moment when the country is deeply divided and facing a troubled economic future, it’s critical for bars and other “third spaces” to remain open and vibrant, including as organizing spaces.
“The whole concept of ‘no politics or religion in bars’ was always about suppression of dissent,” he says. “This country was created in bars; third places are always intended to be where political sentiment is worked out.”
Bodenheimer agrees, stressing the importance of “getting people reconnected and to know we have more in common with each other than things that separate us.”
“That can only happen truly in person,” he says.
PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES - PICAYUNE
LA Filing #21-11910
EAT + DRINK
Caribbean current
IT TAKES A LOT OF PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS to be a master electrician. That, combined with strong technical knowhow and leadership ability, are the marks of a pro who can get the job done.
The same goes for being a chef. And in Joe Carty’s case, he is both. Carty is known as Mr. Joe, whether he’s setting up electrical connections for big box stores in Chalmette or slow-stewing oxtail in the kitchen at his St. Claude restaurant, Mr. Joe’s Island Grill.
Carty opened in November at 2315 St. Claude Ave., in the space that used to house Kebab, a 60-seat restaurant that never reopened after Hurricane Ida. The location is right in the middle of a stretch of music venues on St. Claude Avenue, and Carty stays open late to feed the crowds.
Carty’s roots inform his menu. Born in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Carty learned to cook from his mother. “Everybody said she was the best cook in town,” he says.
Carty came to New Orleans from Florida in 2011 after becoming a master electrician. In 2016, he started his own business, Hi-Power Electric Design, counting Antoine’s Restaurant as one of his biggest regular customers. “Rick (Blount) just has to make one call,” he says.
He loves electrical work, but food is his passion. Like so many journeymen chefs, he started with catering and a food truck. In 2023, the Royal Frenchmen Hotel was run by a fellow native of St. Thomas. “He’d have me park my rig right there at Royal and Frenchmen,” Carty says. “I fed so many people.”
City regulations forced him to change plans, and he opened the restaurant.
The chef worries that his former regulars may not know he’s on St. Claude Avenue now. Some online maps still locate him on Frenchmen Street.
“When you are on the street, it’s easy access,” Carty says. “But we are steadily climbing since we opened.”
Shane Grant is his operations manager, both in the electrical business and the restaurant.
FORK + CENTER
Catching up
THEY GUT AND THEY CUT UP WITH EACH OTHER at the fish counter. They scale as they hail regulars coming through the door. They shuck oysters and dive deep into Gulf seafood, making pristine plates of crudo from the tuna, cobia and snapper pulled straight from the iced fish case and dressed with oil and herbs. Meet “the Lady Mongers.” That’s the self-invented title for the women now running Porgy’s Seafood Market, part of the droll wink they’re adding to the business of fishmongering.
If the term fishmonger, a fish seller, rings unfamiliar, that just reflects how rare it is to find one now. Fishwife, the historic term for a woman who sells fish, is downright archaic.
But the Lady Mongers are making the friendly neighborhood fish market cool again, and they’re making it look fun.
Opened in Mid-City at 236 N. Carrollton Ave. in late 2023, Porgy’s is an old-fashioned seafood market fused to a modern cafe.
“Mr. Joe, he’s like a father to me,” says the Jamaican-born Grant, “We are a good team. He’s pretty intense. I’m easygoing.”
Carty believes in his process. He doesn’t fuss too much over homestyle dishes like jerk chicken with yellow rice. The chicken radiates a gentle heat from a Jamaican-style dry rub, and the rice is simmered with cilantro, onion and garlic.
The meaty oxtails are trimmed and simmered in rich gravy, which he skims of fat as it cooks. The meat of his pork ribs falls off the bone, and the 12-hour smoked Texas-style brisket is fork tender. The foundation of his cooking are layers of flavor from caramelized onions, carrots and celery, salt, pepper, fresh herbs and spices.One of most popular items
on the menu is a combo plate of jerk chicken, ribs and brisket dubbed the Three Amigos, which is enough for two or three hungry diners. All the platters come with a choice of rice and peas, yellow rice or plain white rice, and stir-fried cabbage that’s tender but still has some texture to it.
On the weekends, steamed or fried fish, often red snapper, is on the menu, along with mac and cheese and jerk or curried shrimp. There’s always a vegan plate, usually focused on mushrooms, served with vegetable sides.
Most importantly, Mr. Joe’s reflects the chef’s commitment to sharing the foods of his childhood.
“I take pride in what I do. It’s from the heart,” Carty says. “It’s not fancy, just homestyle. That’s my mom’s style. I watched her cook. She taught me well to take this torch and run with it.”
There are po-boys and daiquiris at lunch, an oyster happy hour, hands-on fish butchery classes. They have the same ethos in sourcing found as the best seafood restaurants, working with individual fishermen and local brokers with short, transparent supply chains.
Caitlin Carney, one of Porgy’s founders, runs the market day to day. Last fall, she was joined by local chef Camille Staub as manager. Their chemistry has added a new verve to Porgy’s, evident as they work the counter, at their after-hours events and beaming through their social media posts as they promote the business.
They pose with giant amberjack and toothy barracuda like fishing trophies. They tout the goodness within the fish case like some millennial version of
Mr. Joe’s Island Grill on St. Claude Avenue by Beth D’Addono |
Shane Grant (left) and Joe Carty at Joe’s Island Grill
PHOTO BY MADDIE SPINNER / GAMBIT
Camille Staub (left) and Caitlin Carney (right) greet customers at Porgy’s Seafood.
PHOTO BY JOHN MCCUSKER / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
Al Scramuzza, the late king of New Orleans seafood schtick.
They sometimes play up the “gross” (Staub’s term) parts of fish butchery but in a fascinated, “nerdy” way (also her term). Ever seen a fish heart? They can show you.
Behind the showmanship, there’s a serious sense of purpose.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but also our holistic goal is to bring awareness and change to the local seafood industry, which is a dying industry,” Carney says. “Younger people need to embrace it. We’re trying to bring it back into the spotlight again.”
T-shirts, is “Porgy’s: home of big fish and little ladies.”
“I want to demystify this. There’s no stupid question, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find out,” Staub says. “You have to be a nerd about it and also a chatty Cathy, because people are coming in here to talk fish.”
Louisiana is America’s second-largest seafood producing state, behind Alaska, though the local fleet that lands it all is composed of mostly small players. They’re struggling with a barrage of factors from cheap imported seafood and dishonest marketing around it to land loss and environmental change along the coast.
The dearth of direct dock-to-consumer routes to support them is dire in New Orleans, with just a handful of markets offering much local variety beyond seasonal shellfish.
Porgy’s is the seafood market New Orleans people have been asking for, embedded in the frequent lament of why a seafood city like this doesn’t have something akin to Joe Patti’s, the much, much larger institution in Pensacola, Florida.
But Porgy’s also is drawn up differently than anywhere else. Part of that is its chefs’ hands in the kitchen, particularly with the gone-in-a-day specials spun one or two fish at a time from the small inventory. Other specials may evoke the style of Marjie’s Grill, the since-closed restaurant where Carney was a partner.
Another difference is the personality the Lady Mongers are pouring into their work.
It’s the “Caitlin and Camille show,” as they’ve dubbed it. Taglines fly around Porgy’s now like jumping mullets. The latest, printed on staff
Indeed, customers gazing into the fish case talk with the mongers like people at a wine tasting or a farmers market stand. They want to know which fish is good for sushi (most of the saltwater catch) and ask for cooking advice. They marvel at fish they used to throw back (including the namesake porgy, prodigious in the Gulf, lovely raw or cooked, rarely found anywhere besides this market today).
Porgy’s is female-led, but it’s hardly a ladies’ lounge. Men are cooking and cutting fish too, and the clientele is as diverse as this seafood-loving city, whether people are coming for boiled crabs or crudo.
Still, between the coral pink walls and beach shack bric-a-brac, there is a stylish, warm feel. The happy hour does draw a noticeable gal’s outing contingent for deals on oysters, wine and aperitivo cocktails, and Carney and Staub have leaned into their friendships with other women in the local dining scene.
Their ongoing Lady Mongers’ Dinner Series this summer brings a changing roster of guest chefs, all women. It started with Rebecca Wilcomb of Evivva, and upcoming events feature private chef Anh Luu on July 29, and Amarys Herndon of Palm & Pine on Aug. 5. Staub leads a dinner too, on July 22.
“Every time I meet a woman from Louisiana, she has a story about seafood, about being around the traditional fishing industry,” Carney says. “I love hearing them, but I also feel like if we don’t make a change around the situation in the Gulf, we could be the last generation with these stories.” — Ian McNulty / The
Times-Picayune
PAGE 17
Camille Staub (left) and Caitlin Carney hold a barracuda. PHOTO BY JOHN MCCUSKER / THE TIMES- PICAYUNE
Rela xonour TROPICAL CO URTYAR D OR SIDEWALK S EATING
with afresh cocktail , wine or dinner!
Nicola Nice
Sociologist, spirits writer
by Will Coviello
NICOLA NICE HAS A DOCTORATE IN SOCIOLOGY AND HAS APPLIED IT to the spirits world, consulting with liquor companies about who their customers are and on product development and marketing. She also writes about spirits, and her 2024 book “The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home“ is nominated for a Spirited Award at Tales of the Cocktail. In the book, she explores the history of women and cocktails, from the household management books of the early 1800s up to the latest trends. It also includes 100 recipes for new and classic cocktails. She signs the book at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at the Bookstore and Bitters Market. For more information, visit nicolanice.com or talesofthecocktail.org.
The cocktail world talks a lot about knowledge that was wiped out or lost due to Prohibition, but your book shows a
lot of work by women that really wasn’t lost.
NICOLA NICE: I had three central theses that were important. The first was that when we look at cocktail history, we tend to look at bartending manuals to be the artifacts in history that document where cocktails come from, as well as what’s in the media over the centuries. What that obscures is that a lot of drinking isn’t done in bars; it’s actually done at home. So there has been much less written about the culture of cocktail consumption and how some cocktails became popular in the home versus what came out of bars and who were influential bartenders. This is not to negate that. It’s to supplement that story.
Second is the idea that if we are going to talk about how we entertain in the home, that’s not where bartenders are as influential. What we look to, in general, have been friends and relatives and families that have shared recipes and passed down recipes. The books that were written on household management were where young women who were just starting families and households of their own got their information. Initially, I wanted to tell that story: What’s been the story of cocktail consumption in the home and what has women’s role in that been?
The more I researched and read women’s words — from writers who have never been discussed in the
context of the cocktail — I realized that not only have women had a really important influence, but the whole women’s rights movement, which has been going on since before Prohibition, has left an indelible mark on how and why we entertain.
I also wanted to tell a continuous story. I didn’t want to assume that we just had the birth of the cocktail, Prohibition, the 1950s and the revival of the cocktail and those were the years that matter. Everyone was drinking in-between there.
Those are the big themes I thought were missing from the cocktail narrative.
What did you find about women and drinks in the early era the book covers?
N: The book picks up in the early 1800s. What was happening was women were using brandy to make cordials. The role of cordials in the home was very multifaceted. It was a way to preserve seasonal goods. It was a way to create ingredients that would go into baking and desserts. They were consumed in mixed drinks and on their own. These recipes are where women’s influence on the cocktail begins in my opinion.
To begin with, it was punches, cordials, and the mint julep and the sherry cobbler that became popular. Those were some of the first “cocktail” recipes that became popular to make in the home. The julep was originally medicinal before it became recreational. There were female writers contemporary with (legendary bartender) Jerry Thomas. The most famous would be Isabelle Beeton, who was teaching
people to make cocktails. Now there were not cocktails in Beeton’s book of household management when it first came out in 1861, but there were cups and the julep and punch recipes. Later on, when the book was revised, it did include cocktails as well.
The sherry cobbler appeared in the 1850s in a household management book. That predates Jerry Thomas, but more importantly, the sherry cobbler was very popular. It was the drink of summer for more than half a century. It went global. Part of its popularity was it was one of the first alcoholic drinks women in large numbers were able to consume and were empowered by.
Part of the reason women loved the sherry cobbler was because it was lower in alcohol. It was easy to have more than one and remain in control. That is why women have driven the low ABV movement even today and throughout the ages.
How else do we see the influence of women on drinks?
N: What I found consistently throughout generations was that the drinks that became popular in the home were drinks that women were making. But more importantly, what they had in common was that they were simple to make, hard to mess up and you always had the ingredients on hand. An important part that women add is the drinks that are easy to riff off and customize.
If we take the example of the daiquiri, the first strawberry daiquiri, the fruit variation, came in a recipe book in 1952 by Mabel Stegner which was a blender recipe book. But the point being, she was adding strawberry syrup or fresh strawberries to the classic daiquiri recipe, just like 100 years before her, women were adding raspberry syrup to the sherry cobbler, instead of plain simple syrup, to make a variation.
Every cocktail we’ve seen become popular, it’s easy to change the flavor by changing one of the simple ingredients. You see the customization and seasonality coming in the way women think about cocktails and serve them. Those cocktails that lend themselves to easy customization are the ones women have most embraced.
WI NE OF THE WEEK
Bottega Vinaia Pinot Grigio
Pale gold in color with afloral perfume rarelyseen in aPinot Grigio. Fresh, dry,and flavorful with afirm structureleading into alingering finish of character and finesse.
PROVIDED PHOTO BY JESS ONESTO
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. $
Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. 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 chargrilled 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) 5860300; 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. $$
Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House — 144 Bourbon St., (504) 522-0111; bourbonhouse.com — There’s a seafood raw bar with raw and char-broiled oysters, fish dip, crab fingers, shrimp and more. Redfish on the Half-shell is cooked skin-on and served with crab-boiled potatoes, frisee and lemon buerre blanc. The bar offers a wide selection of bourbon and whiskies. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$
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. $$
Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — The Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. The eclectic menu also includes char-grilled oysters, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, fried seafood platters, pasta, salads and more. Delivery available. Reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner daily. $$
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. $$
Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 613-2350; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes oysters, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, salads and sharables plates like NOLA Tot Debris. A slow-cooked pulled pork barbecue sandwich is served with coleslaw on a brioche bun. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$
Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 5132606; legacykitchen.com — The selection of steak and chops includes filet mignon, bone-in rib-eye, top sirloin and double pork chops. There also are burgers, salads, pasta, seafood entrees, char-broiled oysters and more. Reservations accepted. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
Luzianne Cafe — 481 Girod St., (504) 2651972; luziannecafe.com — Boudin Benedict features two poached eggs over boudin and an English muffin, served with green tomato chow chow and hollandaise. No reservations. Delivery available. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sun. $$
Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. The menu also has noodle dishes, teriyaki and more. Reservations accepted. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.Fri., dinner daily. $$
Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves Italian dishes and specialties including chicken a la grande, shrimp Mosca, baked oysters Mosca and chicken cacciatore. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$
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. $$
Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes red beans and rice with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as shrimp Creole, seafood platters, po-boys, chargrilled and raw oysters, salads and more. Side items include carrot souffle, mac and cheese, cornbread dressing, sweet potato tots and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ 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. $$$ Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro 720 Orleans Ave., (504) 523-1930; orleansgrapevine.com — The wine bar offers cheese boards and appetizers to nosh with wines. The menu includes Creole pasta
with shrimp and andouille in tomato cream sauce. Reservations accepted for large parties. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$
Palace Cafe — 605 Canal St., (504) 5231661; palacecafe.com — The contemporary Creole menu includes signature dishes like crabmeat cheesecake with mushrooms and Creole meuniere sauce. There also are steaks, pasta, a burger and Gulf seafood dishes. Outdoor seating available. Reservations recommended. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Fri., dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$$
Parish Grill — 4650 W. Esplanade Ave., Suite 100, Metairie, (504) 345-2878; parishgrill.com — The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, pizza and sauteed andouille with fig dip, blue cheese and toast points. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$
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) 3247144; 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. $$
also performs. At 8 p.m. Friday, July 25, at House of Blues. Tickets $52.50 via ticketmaster.com.
Creed
At a point in the late ’90s, Creed was one of the biggest rock bands in the world. The band exploded with their album “Human Clay” — and then things quickly unraveled, largely a result of vocalist Scott Stapp’s addictions. Then mainstream musical tastes changed in the mid-2000s, and Creed joined Nickelback to become an eye-rolling shorthand for the bro-rock era. In the last few years, though, Creed has had an unexpected revival, whether that’s because of ’90s nostalgia, irony or an acceptance that people like the things they like. The band is now on the Summer of ’99 tour with Daughtry and headline the Smoothie King Center at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26. Tickets start at $120 via smoothiekingcenter.com.
Tim Smith
Comedian Tim Smith got his start in Louisiana before moving to Chicago and then New York. He’s the co-host of the podcast “Roommates-In-Law” with Tommy Brennan. He performs at 7 & 9 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Sports Drink. Tickets $32.36 via sportsdrink.org.
The Meditations
The harmonizing Jamaican trio of Ansel Cridland, Danny Clarke and Winston Watson had their first reggae hit in the late 1970s, and they collaborated with Lee Scratch Perry and sang on some of Bob Marley’s songs. Cridland is the sole remaining original member, but the group is on tour and performs at 9 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Chickie Wah Wah. Tickets $39.29 via chickiewahwah.com.
Trailer Park Fest
Urban South Brewery has promoted its flagship Paradise Park beer with images of trailers and pink flamingos. Its Trailer Park Fest celebrates its new, higher octane Paradise Premium, and the festivities include an appearance by Neuty the Nutria, music by Sean Riley & The Water. Trailer park attire is encouraged and best dressed win gift cards. At 2-5 p.m. Saturday, July 26. Free admission. Visit urbansouth.com for information.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
ColombiaNola Fest
The Colombian Association in Louisiana celebrates Colombian Independence Day with music by Bryan Caceres, Eder Polo Jr., Rumba Buena, Fuerza Tropical, DJ Dotcommer and more at The Broadside. There’s also Colombian food and more. Doors open at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 26. Tickets $44.79 via colombiaenlouisiana.com.
Mini Kiss
Arguably the world’s shortest tribute band, Mini Kiss celebrates Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and the arena-rocking Kiss. The New Yorkbased group is on tour, and performs at 9 p.m. Sunday, July 27, at No Dice. Tickets $32.30 via dice.fm.
Kyle Roussel
Keyboardist Kyle Roussel showed his handle on an array of local sounds with the album “Church of New Orleans.” He’s joined by vintage soul and funk singer Erica Falls for two shows at Snug Harbor. At 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 25. Tickets $41.30 via snugjazz.com.
‘Hot Spring Shark Attack’
This summer marks five decades since the release of “Jaws,” launching the rise of horror blockbusters and spawning over-the-top shark flicks as its own niche. This recent addition from Japan features an ancient shark terrorizing the hot springs of a small town in an absurd story full of less than state of the art digital effects. It won the audience award at last year’s Tokyo International Shark Film Festival. It runs at 7 p.m. nightly at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge. Tickets $8-10. Visit zeitgeistnola.org for information.
Grayson Capps
For his latest studio album, “Heartbreak, Misery & Death,” Alabama folk and blues musician Grayson Capps turned to the songs of many of the singer-songwriters he grew up hearing, like Randy Newman, Doc Watson and Jerry Jeff Walker. Many of those musical introductions came from his father, Ronnie Capps, and each song on the album carries a memory for Grayson. He may share some of those memories when he plays at 9 p.m. Thursday, July 24, at Chickie Wah Wah. Tickets are $26.96 via chickiewahwah.com.
Memory CareatThe Carrollton is anchored by GEMMS (Genuine, Engaging, Meaningful,Moments)based up on Te epa Snow’sPositiveApproach to Care® which fosters authentic conne ctions and meaningful activitiesfor those withcognitivechanges. Our se cure and nurturing environmentrespects the dignit y and needsofeach resident , while empowering themtolive meaningful lives and providing youmoreopportunitiesto create special moments.
PURPLE MEMBERSHIP PERKS
• 10% discount at Gambit store: bestofneworleans.com/shop
• Invites to Gambit Krewe events
• Exclusive email ofers
• Support of local journalism
PERKS
• Gambit tote bag
• Name listed monthly in print as Gambit Krewe member (optional)
• 15% discount at Gambit store: bestofneworleans.com/shop
• Invites to Gambit Krewe events
• Exclusive email ofers
• Support of local journalism
$365 MEMBERSHIP PERKS
• All Purple Krewe benefts
• A ¼ page print ad to donate to your favorite non-proft or small business. Value: $475
• Paid annually
• Support of local journalism
Thank You For Supporting The Gambit Krewe & Local Journalism
We Love Our Readers & Advertisers
• AJ Allegra
• Alexis Morvant
• Alicia LaRose
• Alisha Reed
• Allison Henderson
• Alyson Dewar
• Amanda Kogos
• Andrew Ravits
• Angela OMalley
• Ann Macdonald
• Ann Thompson
• Anna Clayton Bullock
• Anna Hugel
• Anthony Bentley
• April Sanchez
• Arlette Labostrie
• Ashley Rice
• Audrey Coulter
• Barbara Harding
• Barbara Poche
• Barry Bavister
• Betsy Oprea
• Bobbi Ritz
• Bruce Terrell
• Caroline Ross
• Cassi Ernst
• Cassie Lentz
• Cathy Green-Miner
• Celeste Gauthier
• Celeste Schexnaydre
• Charli Guest
• Chere Theriot
• Cheryl Marie DeCuir
• Christina Tucker
• Claiborne Christian
• Cory Brown
• Cotty Chubb
• Dan Askin
• David Katz
• David Singleton
• David Snyder
• Deb and Cary Grant
• Debi Benoit
• Declan Lyons
• Denise Hillburn
• Diana Shaw
• Diane Katz
• Dianne Hunter
• Dolores Hall
• Doreen Adams
• Doug Friedman
• Douglas Marshall
• Ed Sherman
• Edward Branley
• Eileen Miller
• Elaine Belshaw
• Elise Dabezies
• Ellen Byron
• Ellie Rand
• Emily Maw
• Emily Schoenbaum
• Empress Collectibles
• Erica Cardosi
• Erin Fitch
• Ernestine WashingtonHarris
• Evelyn Maier
• Fritz Westenberger
• Gay Rivet Pearson
• George Kulman
• Gerald Karcher
• Gordon Blau
• Gretchen Caillouet
• Guy Brierre
• Guy Rich
• Henry GermainMcCarthy
• Holly Bailey
• Howard Turof
• Ileana Ledet
• Jamiles Lartey
• Jason Richards
• Jeanne Exnicios
• Jennifer Dessort
• John Millett
• Jonathan Singer
• Joseph Marsiglia
• Juan Barreto
• Julius Cain
• Karen Downs
• Kathleen Edmundson
• Kathy Manchester
• Kaye Courington
• Kelly Sonnier
• Kevin Boyd
• Kimbra Metaxas
• Kipp Rhoads
• Kirk Bowles
• Kourtney Peters
• Kyle DeVries
• Larry Dupont
• Lee Wrage
• Leila Labens
• Lesa Lemons
• Liliane bavister
• Lillian Benitez
• Linda Mauskopf
• Lorelei Cropley
• Loren Hall
• Louis Lustenberger
• Lucia Caballero
• Mandie Lucas
• Marc Savoy
• Margaret Rakowski
• Margo Moss
• Marilyn Metzger
• Marisa Naquin
• Marlane Drake
• Mary Hall
• Mary Marshall
• Mary McCarthy
• Mary-Claire Maggio
• Maxwell Rieman
• Meghan Champagne
• Michele Goldfarb
• Mike Kaki
• Mindy Milam, LCSW
• Monet Brignac
• Morgan Kennedy
• Nate Alston
• Nina Dhurandhar
• Orlando Flores Jr
• Pamela Booton
• Pat Galloway
• Patricia Gallagher
• Patricia Ledoux
• Paul Tamburello
• Paula Harrelson
• Paula Hartley-Moise
• Pepper Caruso
• Phyllis Lawton Cosentino
• Phyllis Stevens
• Rebekka Veith
• REF Bull
• Richard Hill
• Richard Plaisance
• Rick Bogren
• Rita Amedee
• Robert K Gramenz
• Robert Lecher
• Robert Levy
• Robert Pastor
• Ron Benson
• Roxanne Shepherd
• Sally Gaden
• Sam Foster
• Sandra Albert
• Sandy Stein
• Scott D’Aunoy
• Shanna Bray
• Sharla Boothe
• Shayna Hall
• Skyler Manley
• Stacey Burke
• Stephanie McShane
• Steve Cochran
• Steve Piucci
• Steve Polo
• Steven Crimaldi
• Susan Gordley
• Suzanne Dicharry
• Suzanne Kayian
• Terry Ryder
• Thomas Suddes
• Tina Lowers
• Tony Laska
• Torri Green
• Vance Ceaser
• Victoria Person
• Vincent Scorsone
• Vonnie Good
• Whitney Fisler
• Ximena Smith
• Zachary Fish
FOR COMP L ETE M U SIC L ISTINGS AND MORE EVENTS TAKING P L ACE IN THE NEW OR L EANS AREA, VISIT CALENDAR.GAMBITWEEKLY.COM
To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com
THE MAISON Brett Gardner, 4:30 pm; Single Malt Please, 8:30 pm
MAPLE LEAF BAR Booker Piano Sessions with Donnie Sundal, 6 pm
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM Victor Atkins, 2 pm
OKAY BAR — “Femme Fest” Sapphic Dance Party, 8 pm
THE RABBIT HOLE — Clejan, 8 pm
ROYAL FRENCHMEN HOTEL Glen David Andrews, 9 pm
SALON SALON Geovane Santos, 7 pm
SANTOS BAR — Tainted Love 80’s Dance Night, 10 pm
SNUG HARBOR — Don Paul & Rivers
Answer Moons, 7:30 & 9:30 pm
VAUGHAN’S LOUNGE — Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet, 10:30 pm
FRIDAY 25
30/90 — Jef Chaz Blues, 2 pm, Jon Roniger & The Good For Nothin’ Band, 5 pm; Soul Tribe, 8 pm; Live Band Karaoke with Caitie B. & The Hand Me Downs, 11 pm
30/90 UPSTAIRS DJ Flamingeaux, 10 pm
BACCHANAL — Tangiers Combo, 1 pm; Willie Green III, 7 pm
BAMBOULA’S — The Rug Cutters, 11 am; Felipe Antonio’s Quintet, 2 pm; Les Getrex & Creole Cookin’, 6:30 pm; Bettis & The 3rd Degree Brass Band, 10 pm
BANKS STREET BAR Naomie April, 9 pm
BJ’S LOUNGE — Brasinola, 9 pm
BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers’ Funk Box, 8 pm; Kermit Rufns & The BBQ Swingers, 11 pm
BMC — Jazz Band Ballers, 5 pm; The Jay Walkers, 9 pm
BOURBON O BAR — Mem Shannon Trio, 8 pm
BOURBON STREET HONKY TONK — The Bad Sandys, 8 pm
BUFFA’S Washboard Chaz, 8 pm
CAFÉ NEGRIL Dana Abbott Band, 6 pm; Higher Heights, 10 pm
CARROLLTON STATION — Antonia & The Scum Band + Mickey Hayes, 8 pm
FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott , 12:30 pm; Sam Friend Jazz Band, 2:30 pm; Sam Lobley Band, 6 pm; Fritzels All Star Band w/ Kevin Ray Clark, 9 pm
GASA GASA — Glish with Kelly Duplex and Spllit, 8 pm
THE GOAT — The Links + Mars & Other Planets + Noble Apes + Rare Seed, 9 pm
FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Doyle Cooper Band, 1 pm;Sazerac Jazz Band, 5 pm Fritzels All Star Band w/Mike Fulton, 8 pm
HOWLIN’ WOLF — Hot 8 Brass Band, 10:30 pm
NO DICE — Mini Kiss, 9 pm
THE RABBIT HOLE — FEELZSOGOOD –
A Bubblegum Pop Dance Night!, 10 pm
ROYAL FRENCHMEN HOTEL — Chris Christy’s Quintet, 9 pm
TheBlakeisproud to introducethe Reunion Program, an individualized approach to memory carethat puts your lovedone’s happiness at theforef ront.This month, youcan getthe Reunion peace of mind andenjoy special savings when your lovedone movesintoour memory care neighborhood by August 31st.Call todaytolearn more! R EUNION MEMOR YC
Call (504)217-2916 today! blakeseniorliving.com/colonial-club 7904 Jefferson Hwy, Harahan, LA 70123
CANNABIS
OFTENNEVER DUPLICATED
COMEDY
Hollywood ending
by Will Coviello
AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF VOLUNTEER WORK helping New Orleans rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, Amanda Golob moved here. Having finished law school in New York, she put everything she could fit in her car and came here to do legal work on housing issues, especially helping people facing eviction.
She still does legal assistance, but she’s also a decade into a comedy career and is known on stage and hosting local shows as Amanda G.
She’ll record a comedy special Friday, July 25, at Sports Drink. It’s a swan song, as she prepares to move with her new wife to Los Angeles in August. It’s her original hometown and the next step in her comedy career.
“This is my last hurrah in New Orleans,” she says. “It’s called ‘Happily Lesbian After.’ I got married last year, and it’s about everything leading up to that, married life and leaving New Orleans and starting over.”
Jokes about being married have already worked into her act, like a story about buying wedding rings on Temu. The new material also covers their honeymoon in Greece.
She says jokes about married life are widely relatable, but she is mostly upbeat about it.
“I like to talk about being married,” she says. “It’s a happy thing for me. I don’t want to be like, ‘Ahhh, my wife …’ ”
Golob is the host of a couple of local stand-up shows. She and Mallory Head host Comedy Beast on Tuesday nights at The Howlin’ Wolf. She also has hosted Bear With Me at Twelve Mile Limit on Monday nights for the last few years. It’s the longest running femaleled stand-up show and open mic in the state, she says.
“A lot of my material is about being gay,” she says. “That’s been important to me, being a queer person with a microphone, talking to non-queer people and making those connections.”
She also hosts the storytelling show Greetings, From Queer Mountain at AllWays Lounge & Theatre. The show features longer-form storytelling and is not all comedy.
“What I like about it is it gives stand-up comics the chance to stretch out,” she says. “Stand-up has a format. You set up punchlines. But with storytelling, you can go into details that don’t work in stand-up.”
Comedy is a family business for Golob. Her father was a comedy writer for Joan Rivers on her late-night TV show. Golob had always wanted to try stand-up.
“Since I was 30, I have been like, just go try,” she says.
She went to an open-mic at Carrollton Station and did three minutes of jokes about the troubled Sochi Olympics.
“Stand-up is like you’ll love it or hate it,” she says. “For me, it was this adrenaline rush like I’ve never had before, and I am going to keep chasing that.”
Golob has already released a half-hour special, “Sturdy Lesbian Lumber,” which she recorded at the House of Blues. She also tours, doing a week in New York every year and going to events like the Midwest Queer Comedy Fest. She recently did a short tour of the Gulf Coast with shows in Pensacola and Mobile.
The taping at Sports Drink is part of its Toledano Tapings series. Golob hired her own film crew and will release the show herself in three months.
She hopes it’ll help her get going in Los Angeles, though she already has some stand-up gigs lined up. She also hopes to be able to take advantage of the bigger scene and wider array of comedy opportunities.
And it’s a homecoming.
“Growing up, we went to Hollywood all the time,” she says. “There were premieres, and we got to see sneak peaks. It was magical. I miss that.”
Amanda G performs at 7 & 9 p.m. Friday, July 25, at Sports Drink. Tickets are $26.48 via sportsdrink.org.
PROVIDED PHOTO BY NKECHI CHIBUEZE
This 2BR, 2BAGem combines old NewOrleans Charmw/modern conveniences. Upscalekitchen w/ newSSappliances, &Granite counters.Bothbathrooms were recently redone w/ Beautiful ItalianBlueMarble. Primar y Bdrm suitew/GorgeousBathroom. Orig hdwd flrsin
