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October 26-November 1

2026 Volume 47 Number 43

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If It’s Trending or If It’s New, It’s Probably Already On Our Shelves. Regional finds, specialty foods, and the brands that haven’t hit the big chains yet are items you will probably find at Rouses. Plus, we carry local products, including our own, that are made just for the Gulf Coast. Mam Papaul’s Gumbo Mix with Roux is the “Soul of South Louisiana in a Bowl” that has an authentic dark roux, so all you need to do is add your protein, simmer, and serve over rice. Olipop, “A new kind of soda,” is a refreshing, healthy soda combining the classic soda flavor you love with functional ingredients that support your microbiome and digestive health. Our Halloween cupcakes are our customers’ most popular choice every year, with flavors of almond, chocolate or yellow, topped with our smooth and creamy buttercream. While you’re here, stop by our floral department for beautiful Peonies or potted Mums for All Saints’ Day.

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OCT 26 — NOV 1, 2026 VOLUME 47 || NUMBER 43

CONTENTS

JUST TREAT

NEWS Opening Gambit ............... 8 Blake Pontchartrain.......... 11 TUES - SAT

10AM - 10PM

APPLE CRISP

PUMPKIN

SUNDAY

Funkateers From Another Planet ............................21

10AM - 9PM

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Arts & Entertainment ........ 7 Eat & Drink .................... 33

WE GOT

ED VOT HE OF T ONE IVE

TD BES RS BA

THE BOOS!

Music Listings ................. 42

WEEKLY DRINK SPECIALS!

Going Out ...................... 45

MON $1 OFF DRAFT PINTS TUES $3 TITO’S TIL 7PM WED $3.50 JAMESON TIL 7PM EVERYDAY SPECIAL HIGHLIFE & JAMESON OR FIREBALL $7

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The Robotaxis Are Coming

Is New Orleans ready for driverless cars?

Puzzles ......................... 47 C OV E R A R T & D E S I G N BY JA S M Y N E W H I T E

@The_Gambit @gambitneworleans

S TA F F

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Providing cover Community Printshop hosts 16th Halloween cover show OVER THE LAST 15-plus years, the New Orleans Community Printshop & Darkroom’s cover shows have seen local musicians put their spin on all kinds of bands, from Alice Cooper and Smashing Pumpkins to Enya, Madonna and Paramore. Sometimes, the lineup might not make a lot of sense at first glance. For the Printshop’s cover show in spring 2025, Madeline Deller Smith, who has helped organize the shows over the last few years, deliberated over the order to a lineup of people covering System of a Down, Green Day, The Clash, The Strokes, Alan Jackson, Sparklehorse, Billie Eilish and Neil Young. How do you make sense of a setlist ranging from the heaviness of System of a Down to Jackson’s traditional country? They ended up putting the Alan Jackson set last, “after all this heavy music and then everyone ended up square dancing,” Smith says with a laugh. “It ended up working out really well, and it was funny how stressful it was and worrying about how it’s gonna work. In the end, it was such a fun sort of calming down at the end of the night.” There will be another wide-ranging lineup during the Printshop’s 16th annual Halloween cover show, on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Okay Bar. This edition will feature New Orleans musicians covering Nirvana, Hole, Daniel Johnston, Spice Girls, Jim Croce, Soundgarden, Beastie Boys and Linkin Park. The Printshop hosts two yearly cover shows, one on Halloween and another early in the year, usually before Mardi Gras. They’re crucial fundraisers for the artist collective, which offers volunteer-run, affordable access to printmaking and art-making equipment and a darkroom at its space on Franklin Avenue. Artist members also help people use the community shop during its open hours on Thursdays. But along with benefitting the Printshop, the shows at spots like the AllWays Lounge, Saturn Bar, Poor Boys and Okay Bar have grown to be calendar staples for many artists in the DIY music community. They’ve become a chance for musicians to pay tribute to bands they love and maybe form one-off partnerships with friends — which, in a few cases, has led to new bands. “It’s usually Halloween, so you’re really feeling like you’re putting on the costume of being these artists you love, and who knows what kind of collaborations get

NOLA Zydeco Fest THE FESTIVAL FEATURES TWO DAYS of

by Jake Clapp The New Orleans Community Printshop & Darkroom hosts its Halloween cover show on Oct. 31. PHOTO BY THORN CHEN / PROVIDED BY NEW ORLEANS COMMUNITY PRINTSHOP & DARKROOM

born after you work with people in this new context,” says vocalist and keys player Laura Fisher, who has taken part in covers of King Crimson, Tom Waits, Radiohead and St. Vincent. Those King Crimson and Tom Waits shows ultimately led Fisher to form the math rock and alt-pop band Matron with Bobby Burvant, Jordan Bodzin, Phil Stafford and later Adam Keil. And Fisher and vocalist and producer Sasha Masakowski reprised their St. Vincent act in 2024 at the Joy Theater. “It’s such a little vortex and explosion of inspiration,” Fisher says. “The Printshop is so cool because it offers these community services, and then [the show] is this opportunity for musicians to get together and raise some funds to keep that going.” The Printshop has always overlapped with the city’s punk and DIY music scenes, says Anthony Ford, who helped organize cover shows for several years. A lot of musicians use the Printshop’s equipment and services to screenprint merch or create show posters, Smith adds. The cover shows began in 2012, and longtime former Printshop member Rachel Speck helped establish them as staple downtown events on Halloween and during Carnival, Ford says. For a while, the Printshop also partnered with Girls Rock New Orleans, the music education summer camp for girls, transgender and gender non-conforming kids and teens. Around 40 musicians usually end up playing in eight bands for each edition, and the list of covered acts include Aqua, Bauhaus, Blondie, Cake, Cocteau Twins, Dr. John, Eminem, Korn, Lucinda Williams, Mr. Bungle, Pixies, The Cure

and ZZ Top. The spring 2024 show featured a group performing the music of “Grease” at Poor Boys. “There’s something to, like, it’s on a deadline and it’s low stakes, and that’s often what creative people need to birth something into the world,” says guitarist and DJ Kerem Ozkan. Ozkan joined friends to do Blink-182 one year and then Portishead during another edition. Then at the suggestion of vocalist, puppeteer and costumer Jules Merino, they formed a group to take on LCD Soundsystem in 2018. It was Halloween, so they wanted to put some kind of costumed twist on the show, Ozkan says, and their drummer, Karl Tear, suggested dressing as clowns. It wasn’t a far leap to integrate it into the band name as LSD Clownsystem. The show went great, and the group was asked to play more parties. New Orleans’ best clown-themed LCD Soundsystem tribute band continues to play raucous, joyous shows both at home and on the road. In Smith’s experience, musicians also have been really generous with their time for the volunteer-run shows. It’s an important fundraiser for the Printshop, and it’s “honestly cool to see all the people come out and do this just so we can keep it going,” she says. The Printshop will open the call for bands a month or two before each edition — and spaces usually fill up within 24 hours, Smith says. “We’re making the money to keep our doors open, but it’s the musicians who are doing all the work,” she says. “They put together a band and practice it and come and throw down … We couldn’t do it without them.” Doors for the Halloween cover show open at 7 p.m., and admission is $10-$20. Find more info on Instagram: @ nolacommunityprintshop.

zydeco music and more at Heritage Park in Slidell. Saturday’s lineup includes Tonio Armani, Jeremy Fruge & the Zydeco Hot Boys, Jeffery Broussard & Nighttime Syndicate and more. Sunday features Rusty Metoyer, Robin Barnes, Alphonse Ardoin & Zydeco Kingz and Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie. There also are dance lessons, a gumbo cook-off, trick-or-treating and a market with more than 40 vendors. Music begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday, Nov. 1. Single-day tickets start at $33.85 and festival passes are available at nolazydecofest.com.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ZAK TOSCANI

Zak Toscani PORTLAND COMEDIAN ZAK TOSCANI jokes

that he looks like both Jesus and Charles Manson. He’s built his career touring comedy clubs and doing home shows, playing living rooms and basements. He performs at 7 & 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, at Sports Drink. Tickets $25 via sportsdrink.org.

Atlanta Rhythm Section THE SOUTHERN ROCK BAND has been going since 1970 and is known for its hits “So Into You,” “Imaginary Lover” and “Do It or Die.” Led by original member, vocalist Rodney Justo, ARS comes through New Orleans for a show at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Joy Theater. Tickets start at $28.65 via thejoytheater.com.

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ BARRY BOSTWICK STARRED as Brad in the film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Tim Curry, who died in August, starred as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a pansexual mad scientist in the rock musical. B-grade horror movies inspired the story’s mansion of crazy characters and happenings. A 4K restoration of the film PAGE 41

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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Voting is the sexiest thing you can do

# THE COUNT

THUMBS UP/ THUMBS DOWN

4 The number of felony counts a former New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits employee is facing for allegedly creating fraudulent short-term rental licenses.

Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine recently received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, allowing the new school to begin enrolling students for its inaugural class. A partnership between Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health, XOCM is the fifth medical school from a historically Black college or university and the first in the Gulf South. The New Orleans City Council

Elisha Collier faces counts of malfeasance in office, forgery, computer fraud and injury to public records after allegedly confessing that she used her city credentials to create fake short-term rental licenses and changed names and addresses in the permit system — and then deleted the entries to cover her tracks. If convicted, she could face ten years in prison.

Photo by Sophia Germer / The Times-Picayune

The Rooted School and Southern University New Orleans have launched a new partnership where high school students can begin taking nursing courses through SUNO, earn college credits and potentially enter the university as a sophomore nursing major. Along with taking college courses in anatomy, physiology and more general curriculum, participating students also will have a chance to earn internship hours, receive mentorship and learn about trauma-informed care.

Louisiana will use more than $260 million in funds related to the 2010 BP oil spill for two large coastal restoration projects, including work to renew the East Orleans Landbridge, an area between Lakes Pontchartrain, St. Catherine and Borgne that helps protect the city and Northshore from storm surge. The other project will restore Raccoon Island off the coast of Terrebonne Parish.

Officials warn proposed city budget cuts put ‘entire criminal legal system at risk’ BETWEEN CITY CUTS IN RECENT YEARS AND CHANGES AT THE STATE LEVEL , New Orleans’ Criminal

District Court is facing a funding crisis, Chief Judge Juana MarineLombard told city council members during an Oct. 21 budget hearing. Lombard said that under the budget proposed by Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration, the court would have a $4.3 million deficit. That budget plan is part of Moreno’s effort to make up for a $77 million shortfall the city faces in 2027. But a cut of that size would result in the court not being able to meet constitutional requirements, Lombard said, and would end up costing the city more money in the long run. “What that means is that statutorily mandated items that the court is required to adhere to from a constitutional purpose, we will not be able to adhere to those requirements,” she said. In 2026, the court saw a nearly $3 million deficit but was able to plug that hole by using funds it had on hand. Now, “those funds are completely depleted,” Lombard said.

Contributing to the problem are new laws state lawmakers passed this year that both eliminated three criminal judgeships and changed how the court is funded. That reduced the court costs by $1.1 million. But the state legislature also pulled back the funding it historically has given to fund the criminal court. According to Lombard, the state typically gave the city’s criminal court around $4.5 million. The state is only funding the office through June 30, meaning it’s projected to receive half that in 2027 and potentially nothing in 2028. “There’s no provision that I’m seeing for the state to fund us past June 30,” Lombard said. Lombard said state law only requires the clerk to put 60% of civil court filing fees into a judicial expense fund. Because it doesn’t clarify whether that’s 60% of total fees or fees once civil court expenses are taken out, Lombard said they’re only getting the latter, which is then split between civil and criminal.

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“Here’s the problem the legislature created in their ridiculous rush to eliminate the clerk of criminal court: They did not put a mandate on the Orleans Parish clerk to fund criminal court,” City Council President JP Morrell said. Legislators eliminated the position of clerk of criminal court, a seat Calvin Duncan, a Black man who was wrongfully incarcerated for decades, was elected to fill. Instead, they put Clerk of Civil Court Chelsey Richard Napoleon in charge of both civil and criminal courts. Morrell accused Napoleon of “sitting on surpluses” and not meeting with Lombard to discuss funding criminal court. Lombard said the clerk’s office specifically, not civil court itself, has a surplus. Civil court, she said, is just “keeping their head above water.” “If you want to be the clerk of Orleans Parish, you have to do your job by funding all of the courts, not just the court where your office is,” Morrell said, adding, “It’s very disappointing right now that in the midst of the city having a deficit, the clerk has not stepped up with their surplus to solve this problem.”

Moreno’s proposed budget gives about $7 million each to the District Attorney’s Office and Public Defenders Office, which District Attorney Jason Williams and Chief Public Defender Danny Engelberg warned were dangerously low and would also end up costing the city more money. Williams said the amount was a 56% decrease from 2025 and would mean cutting divisions related to violent offenders. “There is a point when absorbing cuts begins to trickle out into the community in devastating ways,” he said. According to Williams, the office could eliminate its entire homicide unit, special victims unit, adult diversion unit, nearly all of its investigators and most of its victim advocates and still not shrink its budget enough to match the proposal for 2027. Engelberg asked the council for about $12.4 million instead to make up for the cuts the Public Defenders Office faced in 2025 and 2026. He said the office, which provides free legal representation to people accused

of crimes, used its reserves to help soften the blow in those years. But Engelberg said he thought his office could reduce the jail population to 1,430 to less than 1,000 if they received $11.4 million, which would keep their funding at 2026 levels. On the proposed budget of $7 million, Engelberg said his staff wouldn’t be able to continue representation and advocacy at first court appearances. They’d also have to cut overall case expenditures, cut staff and freeze hiring, which he said would result in delays in assignments, unconstitutional caseloads and higher jail costs. Officials with both the DA’s and Orleans Public Defenders offices said they were working together to reduce the jail population by moving cases more efficiently. The jail is supposed to have a cap of 1,250 but had 1,430 people as of the morning of Oct. 21, according to Sheriff Michelle Woodfork. About 122 people were just waiting to be transferred to the state Department of Corrections, she added.

Keeping people in jail is expensive. Woodfork said to house someone in jail in general population, it costs $160 a day. For women or individuals with mental illnesses, that cost rises to between $200 and $250. Housing a juvenile costs around $250. Woodfork is requesting $68.8 million for 2027, an increase of around $17 million from this year. That includes $10 million for a medical contract for the jail. The sheriff said she needs an additional 27 deputies to accommodate for Phase III, a new medical and mental health wing at the jail set to open in November. That would cost around $1.2 million. Morrell said he believes hiring for those positions is necessary. Throughout the meeting, council members appeared sympathetic but also stressed how tight city finances are. “It is going to be a whole lot of Sophie’s Choice and robbing Peter to pay Paul to get things done,” Morrell said. — Kaylee Poche

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Hey Blake, I came across a yearbook for the old Kenner High School. Where was it? Did it change names or is it no longer standing?

get ready gget set top $78 bottom $78

Dear reader, THE FORMER SCHOOL WAS LOCATED AT THE EDGE

of what is now Kenner’s Rivertown district, at 1610 Rev. Richard Wilson Drive, formerly Third Street. It opened as a school for kindergarten through 12th grades but was best known as Kenner High School. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Built at a cost of $100,000, the school was dedicated in 1924. The New Orleans States newspaper called it “modern in every respect and considered one of the finest in the state.” According to The Times-Picayune Joe Yenni, the legendary former Jefferson Parish president and Kenner mayor, taught and coached there when the school’s teams were known as the Thunderbolts. His players included Willie Hof, who in 1987 was appointed to succeed Yenni as parish president, and Freddie Wilcox, a future Harahan mayor. Other notable Kenner High or Junior High alums include former Jefferson Parish President and Kenner Mayor Aaron Broussard, former Jefferson Parish Public Schools Superintendent

The Kenner High School building burned down in 2018. PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

and Parish Council Member Elton Lagasse and Martin Marino, who taught and coached there before becoming a Jefferson school board member. In the 1940s and ’50s, the school hosted Carnival balls of the Krewe of Kenner. They were staged in the school gymnasium, which was named after longtime Jefferson Parish Sheriff and Kenner native Frank Clancy. In the 1950s, the school was converted to a middle school. In 1973, it was renamed in honor of Stephen J. Barbre, an early principal. It closed in 1996. The Cervantes School for Art, a Hispanic nonprofit offering art and music classes, opened there in 1997 but closed in 2007. The city of Kenner, which acquired the property in 1995 after a land swap with the Federal Aviation Administration, used it for various purposes before the building was vacated then heavily damaged by fire in 2018. It was demolished in 2021.

B L AKEvIe W WITH THIS WEEK’S HISTORIC SAINTS GAME in Paris showcasing the ties between Louisiana

and France, we remember three visits by presidents of France to New Orleans. In April 1960, French President Charles de Gaulle visited the city, making stops in Jackson Square, at St. Louis Cathedral and the Bienville monument (then located near the Union Passenger Terminal on Loyola Avenue). He also spoke at a luncheon at the Roosevelt Hotel, recalling the ties between France and New Orleans. At City Hall, he was presented with a copy of a New Orleans City Council ordinance which renamed Victory Drive in Algiers as Gen. de Gaulle Drive. Sixteen years later, in May 1976, President Giscard d’Estaing came to New Orleans. During a six-day tour of the U.S., he and his wife celebrated the U.S. Bicentennial with President Gerald Ford by also visiting Houston, Lafayette and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here, the couple attended a luncheon on the floor of the Superdome and toured the French Quarter, including St. Louis Cathedral, the Old Ursuline Convent and the Cabildo. In December 2022, President Emmanuel Macron became the third French leader to visit New Orleans. He shook hands in Jackson Square before walking through the French Quarter to the Historic New Orleans Collection. There, he met with Gov. John Bel Edwards to discuss the impact of climate change. He and his wife also visited the New Orleans Museum of Art and ended their trip by enjoying some music on Frenchmen Street.

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51 Former & Current Jeﬀerson Parish Elected Oﬃcials 150 A�orneys . 5 Retired Judges . 15 Law Enforcement Leaders

Law Enforcement Leaders

are Supporting Sal Brocato for Judge Sal brought honor to both the badge and the briefcase. He will bring a grounded understanding of law and justice to the bench. Joe Lopinto, Jeﬀerson Parish Sheriﬀ

His command of both civil and criminal law is rare and impressive.

Sal Brocato’s years as a police oﬃcer and lawyer give him a rare perspective that’s deeply valuable.

Sal Brocato is highly qualiﬁed to serve as First Parish Court Judge.

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Police talk to a Waymo driver in the French Quarter PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

BY KAYLEE POCHE AND SARAH RAVITS

DRIVING IN NEW ORLEANS can feel like navigating an

obstacle course in a video game at times — but with much higher stakes. There’s the constant swerving to avoid potholes, manhole covers jutting up from the ground ready to catch your oil pan and those deep, bone-jarring dips in the pavement that seem to come out of nowhere. Many of us have learned the delicate art of vehicular Tetris, moving seamlessly between lanes to avoid sudden blockages from construction and street cars, and we’ve developed a sixth sense for when a puddle is just a puddle — and when it’s a deep, tire-popping sinkhole. We know the rhythm of the city. If it’s the first Sunday of February, locals know you’ll probably need to avoid huge parts of the 6th Ward because the Treme Sidewalk Steppers are steppin’ out. And only a fool immediately hits the gas on green anymore in these parts. But over the last year and a half, New Orleanians may have noticed a new, strange kind of player rolling down St. Charles Avenue, cruising City Park Avenue and creeping through the CBD. These futuristic-looking cars aren’t manned by people on the way to the club or grocery store. Instead, they use complicated algorithms to get around on our streets. In fact, the person behind the wheel isn’t even doing the driving most of the time. They’re the vanguard of a new army of robotic taxis that are coming to New Orleans — whether we want them or not. Although locally the robotaxi industry has largely been driving under the radar, that’s about to change. Since February 2025, the industry’s biggest player, Waymo, has been testing its driverless taxis with a trained human specialist inside, mapping the streets and potholes of New Orleans and parts of Jefferson Parish. Although there’s been no official announcement, the company is expected to begin taking fares as soon as early next year. Meanwhile, Tesla’s distinctive, gold Cybercabs have also been spotted on New Orleans streets recently, and other companies like Amazon’s Zoox could soon turn their robotic sights on the city. But what hasn’t been happening until recently is any real discussion of whether there should be robotic taxis in a city with seemingly more broken roads than smooth ones — and if so, what rules should be put in place to regulate them.

With Waymo prepping to roll out its unmanned vehicles in earnest, New Orleans officials are racing to regulate robotaxis before the company starts offering rides to the public. The tech industry as a whole loathes regulation and has repeatedly sprinted to open shop in communities before local governments can set up adequate regulatory controls. And, as New Orleans has seen in recent fights with the rideshare and short-term rental industries, many times these companies fight tooth and nail to stave off rules when they do finally come. “I’m just trying to treat them like cabs and have them all be in a level playing field,” City Council President JP Morrell told Gambit. But that may be easier said than done.

Josh Fleig, chief innovation officer at Louisiana Economic Development PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS / THE ADVOCATE

Safety record Instead of human drivers, Waymos and many other robotaxis use cameras, radars, lasers and ultrasonic sensors to get around. The vehicles also use AI machine learning to take in information and translate that into decisions about when to brake or accelerate based on driving patterns. Tesla is attempting to only use cameras and machine learning, not other sensors. Waymo is at the forefront of the robotaxi industry. Its cars completed its first 1,000 autonomous miles back in 2009 in California. The company started offering

City Council President JP Morrell PHOTO BY ENAN CHEDIAK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

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driverless rides to the general public in Phoenix in 2020 and has since expanded to more than 4,000 cars across 15 cities nationally. The whole draw of the autonomous vehicle industry rests on the idea that they’re safer than human drivers and will decrease accidents. So far, the data seems to support that claim. This summer, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that Waymos in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin were involved in 68% fewer “police-reportable crashes” per mile traveled than human drivers there. Crashes resulting in injuries were even lower at 81% fewer per mile. According to Waymo, its cars have driven more than 200 million miles autonomously. However, it’s worth noting that the company only has around 4,000 cars across 15 cities nationally, and they’re operating in limited conditions. Waymo, in particular, has been slow to roll out its vehicles in favor of more testing and has been quick to limit where they can drive after issues arise. For instance, Waymo in June restricted its cars from driving on highways after 13 incidents of them driving into highway construction zones. The companies seem to understand serious safety incidents early on could tank their reputation, and several have made headlines. January marked the first fatal accident involving a Waymo, but it was a multi-car crash, and San Francisco law enforcement determined the human driver of another car to be at fault, not the Waymo. Also in January, a Waymo hit a 9-yearold child near a school in Santa Monica. The company said the kid ran out into the street from behind a double-parked vehicle and that its car slowed down from 17 miles per hour to 6. The child sustained minor injuries.

Last October, a Waymo struck and killed a bodega cat named KitKat in San Francisco. Video footage showed the cat crouching down in front of a parked Waymo’s tire at night. A witness saw and crouched down in front of the vehicle to lure the cat away, but the car started moving forward. The witness moved out the vehicle’s path, but its back tire hit the cat.

‘Edge cases’ There have also been a host of kinks beyond crashes that still need to be worked out as the machines learn from all of the company’s vehicles’ combined experiences. Many of these situations are common in New Orleans, such as flooded streets. The vehicles so far haven’t been good at calculating water depth. Waymo paused operations on its robotaxis in five cities in May after an empty Waymo in San Antonio drove into a flooded section of road and got washed into a creek and another empty one got stuck on a flooded street in Atlanta. In September, a video captured a Waymo in Phoenix that encountered a flooded street, stalled and kept driving backward and forward indecisively, nearly hitting a car. It’s also unclear how robotaxis will respond to New Orleans’ special events and the street closures around them, particularly second lines, parades and festivals. In Denver last month, an empty Waymo drove through a farmers market as vendors were setting up. No one was harmed, but if they’re having trouble with a static event like a farmers market, it raises serious questions about what will happen when they encounter a second line, which often don’t have publicized routes and which move at their own pace through the city. The company will also have to better navigate power outages if they’re going to work in New Orleans, given the unreliability of our power grid. In

THE robotaxis ARE COMING

December 2025, a widespread power outage in San Francisco turned off traffic lights through much of the city and caused Waymos to freeze up and jam traffic. In fact, Waymo’s vehicles have had multiple issues with snarling traffic under a variety of circumstances, including blocking emergency vehicles and creating traffic jams. A Waymo spokesperson said the company has helped train more than 400 first responders, including police and fire workers, in the New Orleans area on interacting with its cars. The company also has said it will share maps of the city’s potholes with officials. Matthew Raifman, a lead policy researcher on autonomous vehicles at UC Berkeley calls these types of relatively common scenarios that require more complex problem solving “edge cases.” He sees them as one of the biggest challenges for autonomous vehicles so far. “In a place like New Orleans, you’re going to get flooding. There are going to be heavy rains,” Raifman says. “These vehicles may not be ready.” Morrell says he’s worried about these situations. “My biggest concern is not necessarily the Waymo plowing into a pedestrian,” he says. “It’s when a Waymo is put in a situation that is unpredictable.”

A ‘warm’ welcome from business leaders Josh Fleig says when he started in the role of Louisiana Economic Development chief innovation officer in the summer of 2024, he reached out to Waymo almost immediately and encouraged them to expand to Louisiana. Fleig says he had a call with Waymo higher-ups and told them, “I just want to make sure that Louisiana is prioritized in your expansion plans, and that we are welcoming you to Louisiana with

A broken traffic light PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

open arms, and we’re working with you on anything that you need to launch commercially in Louisiana.” Within a few weeks, they told him they were moving New Orleans up a year in their rollout schedule, according to Fleig. Public records obtained by Gambit also show that officials with GNO, Inc., the regional economic development nonprofit, invited Waymo executives to corporate networking events during the Super Bowl in 2025. On Feb. 17, 2025, the company began testing its vehicles in New Orleans, first with a human manually driving them, then with a human supervising the autonomous technology. “The hospitality and collaboration Waymo has received in New Orleans has been incredible,” John Tupps, the southeast policy manager for Waymo, told city officials in an email on Nov. 20, 2025. Fleig says he believes the rise of robotaxis, AI and similar technologies are inevitable and wants to embrace them. “We’re in the middle of a new industrial revolution, new technological wave, and it’s coming, whether we want it to come or we don’t want it to come,” Fleig says. “This is about making sure that New Orleans and Louisiana both are squarely positioned at this next industrial revolution, which is all led by AI and automation.” He says he hopes developing a “warm relationship” with companies like Waymo will make them consider investing in the state for potential maintenance or other operations. “It’s better to get in early and work with these companies and figure out what the impacts will be locally, and invite them in the front door, so that we control our own destiny, and we have a seat at the table,” he says.

However, two years after he first invited Waymo officials to operate in the state, Fleig said he hadn’t at all looked into the impact the company launching in New Orleans would have on the local economy. He also said he hadn’t directly talked to anyone in other markets where Waymo has already been operating. “We just haven’t gotten that far along in the conversation, frankly,” he said in June, despite the company originally planning to begin offering rides in its robotaxis to the public in 2026. At the time, he predicted it’ll be early 2027. Waymo executives meanwhile told Gambit on Sept. 4 that the company has no “substantive updates to share” on its rollout.

Creating city regulations Council President Morrell is leading the charge on city council to put regulations in place for Waymos and other for-hire autonomous vehicles before they start operating in the city. Morrell told Gambit the city waited too long to regulate Uber and Lyft, allowing the state to argue they, not the city, were the ones with the final say over who was on the roads. The city lost that battle, and with it, he says, a “tremendous amount of oversight, particularly fees.” “I don’t want to do that again,” he says, adding, “If we choose not to regulate Waymo in any way, shape or form, and the state provides a blanket like they did for Uber, then it becomes a problem.” Morrell says he’s heard from residents and even some New Orleans area state legislators who want the city council to ban robotaxis altogether. However, he doesn’t think that’s the best approach. “It is evident from the Waymo cars doing all the mapping across our streets that their entry into our market is pretty much inevitable, and my position on all technology of this type is to try and

GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

A taxi sits behind two Lyfts in traffic. PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

regulate it before it [is] on the street versus after,” he says. By creating regulations upfront and using rules that already apply to taxis, he hopes to create a framework that can withstand legal challenges. He also thinks regulating robotaxis will be more straight-forward than regulating Uber or Lyft because the robotaxi companies own their vehicles. On Oct. 16, he introduced legislation that would create permit fees of $7,500 for the company and $50 per vehicle. Autonomous vehicle companies would also have to submit quarterly payments to the city of 50 cents per trip that begins in New Orleans. It would require a state-certified mechanic to inspect the vehicles annually and the companies to have insurance coverage of about $2 million. The proposal would also allow the city’s Department of Public Works or city council to designate temporary areas where robotaxis wouldn’t be allowed, such as around special events. The companies would have to have plans for cybersecurity and public safety, the latter of which must include a 24/7 hotline where someone could be connected to a Waymo employee who can control the vehicle within 60 seconds. The city would also require companies to keep collision reports that would be available to the city upon request. The city could fine companies that don’t follow the rules $1,000 or suspend or revoke their permits to operate in the city. The Government Affairs Committee will discuss it on Oct. 27, allowing the public to weigh in on the proposal for the first time. A Waymo spokesperson said the company is not commenting on the ordinance. According to Morrell, Waymo officials are already pushing back on the regulations, telling his staffers in an Oct.14 meeting that a state law prevents the council from regulating robotaxis. Morrell told Gambit he believes that law applies to autonomous semi-trucks, not for-hire vehicles. A Waymo spokesperson said state law defines autonomous commercial motor vehicle as any vehicle used in commerce that has an automated driving system. Morrell compares Waymo’s resistance to the regulations to Airbnb’s resistance to the city’s short-term rental laws. Airbnb was “helpful until they decided that they weren’t, and that fractured relationship has carried through all the litigation they had with the city,” he says.

THE robotaxis ARE COMING

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“These disruptive companies, their profit model is kind of part and parcel with not following regulations because part of the profit is they don’t have to do all the things that other companies that are traditional companies have to do,” he adds.

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Outside of New Orleans, there are a few instances of Waymo battling regulations so far. In 2022, Waymo sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles to keep crash data about its driverless cars from being publicized. The company is also fighting the city of Santa Monica in court, after the city ordered Waymo to close its two charging stations at night following noise complaints. In April, Waymo representatives also declined to show up for an Austin City Council committee meeting after a video went viral that showed one of the company’s vehicles blocking an ambulance trying to reach the scene of a mass shooting. Following his office’s meeting with Waymo, Morrell posted a video on Oct. 16, posing with Thor’s hammer and striking a harsher tone on self-driving taxi companies. “Companies like this, their profit margin literally revolves around things like not paying their parking tickets, not paying when they run red lights and not paying when their stupid robot cars block an intersection for hours,” he said, adding, “These companies operate under the assumption that they can use your streets, use your resources and pay for none of it.” He brought up Colorado, where police have said they don’t have a way to give moving violation citations to self-driving vehicles. That meant there wasn’t a way to fine the Waymo that drove through the farmers market. Under Morrell’s proposal, robotaxi companies would have to pay any speeding or parking tickets or any other fines to renew their annual permits. “If a cop can ticket you for running a red light, if a cop can ticket you for blocking traffic, why in the hell should a Waymo car have more rights than you?” he said. “And to be clear, that’s what Waymo wants. They think those robot cars should have more rights than you do.”

Rideshare and taxi drivers wonder what’s next In the cities where Waymo and other robotaxis have launched, it’s been a slow rollout, so it’s difficult to tell the

impact they’ve had on rideshare and taxi drivers or the local economy — or how that’ll intensify as they scale up operations. Data from Yipit showed Waymo accounting for an estimated 15% to 19% of rider spending in San Fransico, Los Angeles and Phoenix in the first half of 2026. Jason Munderloh, an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United in the Bay Area, where robotaxis launched, told Gambit in July that Waymos were more expensive than Uber or Lyfts in the area on average. But, he said, “Who knows when that’s going to change? That depends on how many of them there are.” Raifman, the Berkeley researcher, says many drivers are worried about how robotaxis will impact their livelihoods. He says robotaxi companies could reach a point where it’s easy for them to expand rapidly. “Once the vehicles are mainstreamed and accepted, a company can deploy a lot of vehicles quickly because they use the (same) software. So you can imagine going from a thousand to ten thousand very quickly if they’re authorized to do it,” he says. A mass rollout of autonomous vehicles, he adds, can “effect an entire industry.” Munderloh says he believes robotaxis will eventually have a ripple effect on the economy that goes beyond rideshare and taxi drivers. He notes that drivers typically live in or around the cities they work in and spend their earnings locally, but with robotaxis, those fares go straight to Silicon Valley’s major players and their investors. “Waymos don’t shop. They don’t pay rent,” he says. “They don’t do any of this economic activity that circulates money in the local economy and gives back. All of that giving back that just naturally happens with your paycheck, that’s not there anymore, and so your next job might not be there because that money isn’t there.” Waymo and proponents of robotaxis argue that they’ll create other job opportunities. In Nashville, for instance, Lyft’s Flexdrive subsidiary is opening a facility to clean and maintain Waymos. It’s projected to employ 70 full-time workers, roughly half former Lyft drivers, by the end of the year. Flexdrive already cleans and maintains cars that Lyft drivers rent from it. It’s unclear, however, if those are long-term jobs and if they’ll fully offset the number of drivers that could be displaced by robotaxis and their pay. Some also don’t have the flexibility of rideshare work that draws in so many

THE robotaxis ARE COMING

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

drivers, some of which drive part time around their work and school schedules. A big question that remains is when or if robotaxis will become profitable. For example, Uber only started turning a profit in 2023, after 15 years of losses. That was the same year it started using a dynamic pricing model. For drivers, this means the company offers different drivers different prices for the same ride based on what its algorithm determines that specific driver will accept. The algorithm is also designed to offer riders the most expensive rides it predicts they’ll accept. Casey Seneca, who drove full-time in the New Orleans area for both Uber and Lyft for a decade, said she stopped picking up rides after her take-home pay decreased so much that the wear and tear on her car just wasn’t worth it anymore. She called autonomous vehicles entering the market “a slap in our face.” To Seneca, an artist, robotaxis are another nail in the coffin for locals trying to make a living or earn extra income to cover their skyrocketing bills, while tech companies funnel money to the top. “To take away the type of hustle — that has flexibility — is devastating,” she says. Anthony, a New Orleans area rideshare driver who did not want to use his last name, says he doubts robotaxis will completely replace human drivers. He’s been driving part-time for the last eight years to earn extra income for his own travels and “get out of the house” and meet new people. “Tourists like to get advice on safety and restaurants here in the city, and the advice they need won’t be coming from a car,” he says. “Not to mention, the damage that will result to the cars from the potholes might make this city less profitable.”

The future? Are robotaxis inevitable? It was a word both Fleig, the person who invited Waymo to New Orleans, and Morrell, the council member attempting to regulate robotaxis, used in conversations with Gambit. But Munderloh, the Bay Area rideshare driver, says he’s tired of that line of thinking. “Technologists like to say that they know the future,” he says. “Nobody knows the future. These technologies that come into our communities, they affect people’s lives in a real way, and they interact with people’s lives, and they’re not unstoppable.” There are some communities where residents and officials are pushing back against robotaxis — or at least where lawmakers are avoiding taking action to legalize them. New York City officials let a permit to test robotaxis expire earlier this year. Massachusetts lawmakers haven’t legalized them so far, despite urging from Waymo. In Minneapolis, the city council recently passed a measure that would have required a human monitor in self-driving vehicles. But the mayor vetoed it, and the council failed to override that veto on Oct. 15. Munderloh says he commonly hears this refrain of inevitability of robotaxis in response to people pointing out their negatives. “It’s such a cynical way of looking at things because if that’s the case, then it just shuts down all discussion, and you have no power at all,” he says. “And so, if you accept that, you’ve accepted somebody else’s future. You have not even tried to exert your will on the world and look at the way you want things to be ... It’s not something you should accept uncritically.”

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A car stalls in floodwaters at the Canal Underpass in 2023.

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T E N A PL P-Funk’s Mothership landed in New Orleans 50 years ago this week A vintage photo of George Clinton

BY MELISSA A. WEBER

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM GEORGE CLINTON PRIVATE COLLECTION

A SPACESHIP LANDED inside New Orleans’ Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1976. It was a giant spaceship, a concert stage prop that intersected with Parliament’s album “Mothership Connection,” released in December 1975. Bandleader George Clinton had already imagined the Mothership in the science-fiction universe of the album — especially in its cover photographs showing him flying on the ship through space and descending from it on Earth. But outside of the imagery conveyed in the album’s artwork and music, Clinton contended it was time for the real thing, complete with a tour and a real spaceship. New Orleans was chosen to kick off the P-Funk Earth Tour and debut the Mothership’s first public landing anywhere. Fresh off the heels of the album’s successful second single, the million-selling “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker),” Parliament’s label Casablanca Records was eager to provide tour funding, unprecedented at that time for a Black band. As Clinton wrote in his autobiography, “Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?,” when he said “spaceship,” Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart “just nodded and set up a million-dollar loan for me. What I had in mind was big: bigger than the Beatles at Shea (Stadium), bigger than (The Who’s rock opera) ‘Tommy.’ ” He added, “A good deal of the spaceship money also went to buy cars for everyone connected to the band … I think there were 26 cars in all. I didn’t need a car. I didn’t drive. I just wanted my spaceship.” And P-Funk’s young, mostly Black fans in New Orleans were eager to give up the funk. For those who witnessed it, the Mothership landing wasn’t just an exciting concert. It was a spectacular expression of Black possibility. More than a promotional gimmick for an album release or an excuse to throw a big media trip with unparalleled excess, the Mothership expanded ideas about Black representation during a time that was just a few years removed from legalized racial segregation.

Byron St. Cyr, then an 18-year-old freshman at the University of New Orleans, was so devoted to P-Funk that he brought the “Mothership Connection” record around the city for anyone who would listen. “I literally carried it with me,” he recalls. “I always worked a way to get it played in the house parties and up around Tulane (University) and the campuses and UNO when parties were going on. We did what we could to spread the word.” Oliver Jackson, who was 19 and a freshman at Southern University at New Orleans, remembers arriving early at the Municipal Auditorium. When the doors opened, he and his friends sprinted for seats near the stage. “They didn’t have reserved seats, so when the door opened up, we ran to the front. We were on the fifth or sixth row,” Jackson says. Anthony Wilson, then 21, was also on the floor. He was a radio disc jockey on WYLD 98.5 FM, where Parliament and Parliament’s alter-ego band Funkadelic were part of a mix that included jazz and album tracks. New Orleans-born saxophonist Reggie Houston, along with the fellow young musicians he attended the show with, were trained under improvisational greats like Alvin Batiste and Kidd Jordan. Curious and appreciative of all bands regardless of genre, they wanted to hear what Clinton’s sprawling ensemble could do. While everyone was already a fan of the “Mothership Connection” LP (or 8-track tape), no one quite realized what they would experience at the show. While fans prepared for a concert, ParliamentFunkadelic’s publicist Tom Vickers was preparing behind the scenes for the national unveiling in New Orleans.

The poster for Parliament-Funkadelic’s Oct. 27, 1976, show at the Municipal Auditorium. PROVIDED PHOTO

Vickers spoke with Clinton about the planned spaceship tour, shortly after he was hired due to his experience and ability to pitch stories to rock magazines and white writers alongside Black music magazine staffers. The production called for outrageous costumes by fashion designer Larry Legaspi, professional riggers, rehearsals in Upstate New York and a crew experienced and equipped to set up and break down a heavy (and expensive) spaceship designed by Broadway and concert lighting designer Jules Fisher. The spaceship itself was kept under wraps. New Orleans was an intentional choice, Vickers says. Its musical history, hospitality, and reputation for celebration made it both an appropriate birthplace

21 GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

Parliament-Funkadelic at Essence Fest

22 GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

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for the tour, but an especially appealing destination for visiting journalists. “If any place … could lay claim to owning the funk, it’s New Orleans,” Vickers says. According to Vickers, Funkadelic’s label Warner Bros. Records flew in more than 100 radio programmers, promoters, journalists, tastemakers and other industry figures from around the country for the debut. Casablanca Records offered to foot the bill for hotels. This resulted in an estimated cost of up to $50,000 for each label. “You wanted to fly them into a place where the party was on. And you don’t want to fly them into, no offense, Cleveland,” Vickers says. “New Orleans has a history of partying, of great food and of fun. People go to New Orleans to have fun. And three-quarters of funk is fun. So, people want to have fun. Where should we do this? New Orleans!” Vickers arranged media interviews during horse-drawn carriage rides through the French Quarter with Clinton and Bootsy Collins, whose P-Funk offshoot Bootsy’s Rubber Band was second billed on the show, which also featured opener and Parliament’s labelmate Hugh Masekela. “I’d take a writer,” Vickers remembers, “put him in the seat with George and Bootsy. We’d ride around … All the writers loved it, and George and Bootsy loved it.” The record companies and band’s management and staff were investing in the unveiling. Inside the Municipal Auditorium, the audience was about to supply the reaction no publicity campaign could manufacture. Donald Demas was a Parliament-Funkadelic devotee who had played in a P-Funk-inspired band called ZipNot while attending John McDonogh High School a few years earlier. The band had even built a spaceship prop about five feet across.

For the concert at the Municipal Auditorium, he was seated high in the venue with a young woman he had fallen for. “I heard about the concert, and I really wanted to go,” Demas said. “I was (also) trying to impress this young lady that I wanted to be my girlfriend.” He saw a glimmer at the top of the building, close to where they were seated. “There was a … little sparkle, like when you do fireworks. Sparks went from the corner of that auditorium all the way down to the stage,” Demas remembered. “And when it got down to the stage, there was an explosion. And when the explosion came, there was the Mothership. Boom.” Houston recalls looking up and behind him, trying to make sense of the movement overhead. “We look up overhead and look behind us, and we see all these sparks and this thing. I mean, what the? When it gets to the stage, we see this big explosion, boom!” Houston says. “It was pandemonium.” After a small UFO traveled on a wire from the rear of the auditorium toward the stage, a larger silver spacecraft descended from above onto a raised platform. When the spaceship opened, Clinton emerged dressed as his latest P-Funk character, Dr. Funkenstein, introduced on Parliament’s then-newly released album “The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.” Surviving footage from P-Funk’s performance at The Summit arena in Houston four days later, on Halloween 1976, shows Clinton making a slow, deliberate descent down the Mothership’s flight of stairs, stretching out the entrance for dramatic effect, in towering platform boots, a full-length white fur coat, a matching oversized white-fur applejack cap and a long black wig with locks flowing down his back. “When that thing descended from the ceiling. The place went nuts,” Wilson recalled about the Municipal Auditorium scene. The applause was so overwhelm-

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A world apart, right here in New Orleans Funkadelic PROVIDED PHOTO BY WARNER BROS.

ing, he thinks the show may have been briefly interrupted. “New Orleans is a city where people don’t hold anything back,” he said. “And when they saw what we had imagined up to that point in real life … the show had to be delayed for a while because people were so excited. They were cheering and hollering.” Jackson remembers people climbing on top of the auditorium’s folding chairs. “People were dancing, standing on the chairs because everyone wanted to see it. You can’t do that now.” Vickers recalls Clinton coming down the spaceship’s steps into what he calls “bedlam.” “People (were) going bananas,” he said. “Mothership descends. George comes out, and people went fucking out of their minds. I’ve been to a lot of shows. I’ve never seen a reaction like this.” Vickers, who is white, adds, “I was a rock guy. I saw ZZ Top’s Texas Tour with buffaloes and snakes and all this other crazy shit on stage. I’d seen Bowie, Pink

Floyd, a lot of extravaganzas. But for an African American audience to see a show such as this, it had never happened.” “There had been a number of white rock acts doing these kinds of shows, but there’d never been an R&B (or) funk band doing this level of production and showmanship … and just unusual, dramatic events that would transpire during the course of a show. (Parliament-Funkadelic) was the first (Black band) to do it.” The spectacle’s stakes extended beyond marketing. P-Funk’s costumes, characters, humor and grooves had already created a universe in which Black musicians could invent their own rules. The Mothership gave that freedom physical scale. Here was a Black funk collective mounting a technically ambitious show on a scale that was far from routine for the genre. To see Clinton step out of a spaceship before a largely Black New Orleans crowd was to watch that imaginative world become real, on its own terms. PAGE 27

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Your DNA. Your Care. Introducing a new program that can help you understand how your DNA impacts your health. Beginning in January, eligible Louisiana adults can participate through a simple process at no cost: 1. Learn and decide. Find out more about Uniquely You and what participation will involve for you. 2. Enroll and consent. Enrollment will be online, fast, easy, and secure. You’ll need to complete an informed consent process before joining the study. 3. Provide a DNA sample. You’ll provide a blood sample at an LCMC Health lab. Your sample is then sent for confidential genetic testing. 4. Get the results. Confidential results will be returned to you via MyChart. 5. Understand what comes next. Participants with a positive result are provided genetic counseling at no cost to help them understand their results and potential next steps.

What is Uniquely You? Uniquely You is a no-cost community health initiative and research program brought to you by LCMC Health to help you understand how your DNA impacts your health. The program aims to improve access to more personalized healthcare, for you and your family, while supporting new research discoveries for our community. (Because it’s a research program, there is no cost to participate and health insurance is not required.)

Healthcare that’s more personalized and preventative Gaining a better understanding of your genetic health risks through conﬁdential results can help you and your healthcare provider personalize your healthcare and plan for a healthier future, for you and your family. All participants will learn about their inherited risk for several common cancers and a leading cause of heart disease.) You also have the opportunity to learn about your regional ancestry and other traits like caffeine sensitivity, sleep patterns, and more!

Helping our community through research The information you consent to contribute to Uniquely You (coded from your medical record and your DNA sample) can be used by researchers in a conﬁdential way to study how DNA may impact health, what may cause certain diseases, and to learn more about how to best treat them so people can live longer, healthier lives. All participants may receive updates on our research study and its impact.

How you can get started today Official enrollment begins in January 2027, but if you scan the QR code (or visit LCMChealth.org/UniquelyYou) now, you can learn more about the program and sign up to be notiﬁed when it’s time to enroll.

26 GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

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← PAGE 23 For Jackson, who was just starting to attend concerts, the Mothership landing was “a lifetime memory.” More than that, it revealed what made Clinton’s vision for Parliament-Funkadelic stand apart. “Black acts didn’t do that kind of theatric stuff at that time,” he says. With P-Funk, “you kind of expect the unexpected. And that’s just what they did.” St. Cyr agreed. “When (you) think of Parliament, you don’t think of a traditional funk band. They created their own funk … They didn’t just walk out and sing songs. They created characters going with the ‘Mothership Connection.’ So, for me, I expected different (at the concert).” He wasn’t as shocked as others when the spaceship made its landing amidst a cloud of smoke and sparks. “(I) expected that anything could happen, but it was in line with the album, with the whole idea of the Mothership coming down,” St. Cyr said. Demas remembers dividing his attention between the spaceship and his date’s expression. He wanted to know if she was as impressed as he was. “That lady I was trying to impress, Sheena, actually became my wife, so it worked,” he says. The elaborate production had worked, and those who witnessed the unveiling knew they’d experienced something unlike anything they had seen before. “(Backstage) everybody was high-fiving, everybody was hugging each other. ‘Oh man, we did it, we did it, that was great,’ ” Vickers says. “After the show, there was an after-party that capped all after-parties. There was a tower of crawfish, shrimp, oysters, you know, huge. I mean, 6-foothigh tower. Open bar. Some people serving gumbo … beignets and things like that.” “I remember (Parliament-Funkadelic band members) Michael Hampton and Garry Shider, they saw that mountain of crawfish and shrimp. And they just made a beeline to that. A lot of the band were like,

‘Man, we got that done, now let’s eat.’ So there was … a sense of relief that it all came off so well.” When Vickers had interviewed Clinton for Rolling Stone, they discussed what the Mothership connection was. Clinton’s “whole thinking, or mindset, was that … Black people were the first people to inhabit the Earth, and they came here on a spaceship, and that was the Mothership,” Vickers said. “And that you could call them aliens or whatever you want to call them, but the reality is that the Mothership connection was reestablishing, among African American culture, the birth of it through this spaceship landing on Earth.” Demas understood the message. “We’re coming from … the real motherland, not the motherland in this world, but of another world, the actual existence or the initiation of who we are,” he said. P-Funk “presented themselves (in) their individual style … (that) they weren’t from this world. It was from another world. (Seeing) that kind of freedom … as a teenager, you know, you’re still trying to find your way. All this was like giving you options of saying, ‘Hey, you don’t have to fall in line … do your own thing.’ ” For Houston, the spectacle also carried meaning beyond its machinery, its expense or the industry attention it attracted. “When you find yourself describing that initial (feeling) of what you just experienced, and even hours later you try to express in words what you just experienced … you find yourself tongue-tied with excitement, you know,” he says. Watching the first Mothership landing, he also felt a sense of pride and cultural recognition, grounded in Black creation and New Orleans’ participation. “This is our stuff. Look at our stuff,” he remembers thinking. St. Cyr, who is still spreading the word about P-Funk, said he didn’t realize the legacy that night would have.

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

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George Clinton at Essence Fest PHOTO BY ENAN CHEDIAK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

The 20th anniversary version of the spaceship, which landed at a concert for George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars in Central Park in New York City on July 4, 1996, is on permanent view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. And on July 5 this year, the Mothership made its return to New Orleans, with a specially built 50th anniversary edition descending inside the Caesars Superdome during George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic’s performance at the Essence Festival of Culture. It was both a celebration and a reminder that the first Mothership landing was in New Orleans, and it all started with the vision of George Clinton. “A lot of artists I know, their art is more important to them than money, and anything they can do to further their art they do it. And sometimes, damn the consequences. They may go broke doing it, but they don’t care. They want to make a statement,” Vickers said. “George made a statement that still resonates to this day.”

MELISSA A. WEBER is a musicologist and historian who can be seen as DJ Soul Sister performing around New Orleans and on air at WWOZ. She’ll host a few events this week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mothership landing at Municipal Auditorium. Find more info at djsoulsister.com/mothershipmonth. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Ruthie’s Frozen Custard will have a special flavor of the day, Cosmic Jam — cake batter custard with strawberry ripple and “Starchild” sprinkles — in honor of the anniversary. And a portion of proceeds will benefit Agenda for Children and Black Education for New Orleans. Soul Sister on Wednesday, Oct. 28, will moderate a conversation with ParliamentFunkadelic veteran Shirley Hayden and author Seth Neblett about the women essential to the P-Funk legacy. Neblett last year published “Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic.” The conversation and book signing starts at 6 p.m. at the Community Book Center. And on Friday, Oct. 30, Soul Sister will DJ an all-P-Funk vinyl set starting at 8 p.m. at Junebug.

GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

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Gambit’s BEST of NEW ORLEANS 2026

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We had a blast celebrating this year’s Best of New Orleans winners at Rosie’s on the Roof! Thanks to everyone who joined us for a fun evening of mingling and celebrating local favorites.

Read it now at bestofneworleans.com/2026

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Gambit’s BEST of NEW ORLEANS 2026

MISSED THE 2026 Best of New Orleans issue?

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Hawaiian getaway Little Aloha BBQ opens in Mid-City WHEN IT COMES TO HOSPITALITY, New Orleans leans into the lagniappe — a little something extra. Similarly, Hawaiian culture reflects the spirit of aloha, a sense of graciousness and warmth that permeates the island experience. At the new Little Aloha Hawaiian BBQ on Tulane Avenue, you can find both. Little Aloha is John McSpadden’s passion project. McSpadden, who was born on the Big Island of Hawaii, first came to New Orleans to work in construction after Hurricane Katrina but ended up sticking around. He started making the dishes of his childhood and hosting pop-ups at bars in Bywater and Uptown in 2020. “Like so many people, I live here kind of by accident,” he says. He opened his first restaurant at 2901 Tulane Ave. last month, joining other restaurants brightening the once-gritty corridor, from Hot & Soul and Melba’s to Tia Maria’s Kitchen and Casa Verde. For now, he’s focused on his menu of Hawaiian staples. “Hawaiian barbecue isn’t smoked, it’s grilled,” he explains. “It’s all about the marinade, similar to Korean barbecue.” Typically, proteins like steak, short rib, chicken and pork shoulder are marinated anywhere from four to 48 hours. The flavor punch comes primarily from pineapple juice, garlic, chilies, ginger and brown sugar. Little Aloha is a laid-back place with a tropical, intimate atmosphere. A small, makeshift beach hut frames the bar, where McSpadden’s French bulldog, Pearl, likes to sit on a stool. The island-inspired food is portioned generously and won’t break the bank. “Nobody I know can afford to go out to eat,” McSpadden says. “I wanted to keep prices as cheap as possible.” Beyond the always happy hour $3 domestic beer and well drinks, there are burgers and barbecue chicken and pork sandwiches for $14-$16. Wings are flavored with Hawaiian barbecue or Buffalo, with chili kimchi and ginger lemongrass offered as an add on for an

FOR K + CE NTE R

by Beth D’Addono

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Top pop-up bars THE FRENCH QUARTER RESTAURANT AND BAR JEWEL OF THE SOUTH is on the map for

John McSpadden of Little Aloha PHOTO BY MADDIE SPINNER / GAMBIT

extra $2. The generous mixed barbecue platter, with marinated beef short ribs and chicken served with rice and mac salad, is $18 and plenty for two. Marinated and grilled jackfruit, chicken or pork along with sides are available for $14. Another island special is the loco moco, a half-pound burger served on rice with brown gravy and a sunny side egg, also $14. The grilled spam or chicken musubi is a staple of Hawaii’s melting pot food culture, with notes of Japanese and Polynesian flavors. The appetizer is rolled in nori with rice, an ideal bar snack for $5. McSpadden hopes to offer more Pacific Islander specials in the near future. The bar leans towards divey, in the best possible way. Craft cocktail options are priced $8-$12, and include options like a

mango margarita, whiskey tiki sour (with Buffalo Trace bourbon, pineapple and tiki bitters) and a Mai Tai made with Don Q rum. A painted alligator floats serenely at the water’s surface on the ceiling overhead, a striking mural from artist Lillian Aguinagua. Pineapple lanterns cast a cozy glow. McSpadden, who promoted bands and concerts on the Big Island and is wellconnected in the local music industry, was initially hoping to host lots of live bands and DJs in the cavernous space. After he signed the lease, a daycare center moved next door, and now he’s limited to one show a month. He’s hoping to find a way to get around that, especially because the daycare isn’t open at night. “Music was always part of the plan here,” he says. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get past this.”

? WHAT

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great cocktails. Now, it’s creating a new multi-faceted destination for cocktails, food, music and art that is ambitious in scale, ever-changing and collaborative. It will host some of the top-rated bars in the world for a schedule of 30 different guest bar residencies. The new concept is called the Cocktail Hour, and it’s slated to open in late October with a scheduled run through the summer of 2027. “It’s an experience that will change every time you come for a year, and then it’s over,” says managing partner John Stubbs. It’s taking shape at 1104 Decatur St., the large, two-story property long known as Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and, more recently, as B.B. King’s Blues Club. It’s been idle since the pandemic. Each week, a different guest bar from across the globe — with their own international bartenders and drinks — will set up shop for their own three-night pop-up experience.

Jewel of the South PROVIDED BY JEWEL OF THE SOUTH

It’s intended to give visitors a taste of what these bars do back home, and show their own interpretation of New Orleans source material. Visiting bar teams will get customized tours of the city for inspiration. The residencies begin Oct. 29 with Panda & Sons of Edinburgh, followed the next week by Brujas of Mexico City. More names on the list include Bar Leone of Hong Kong, ranked No. 1 on The World’s 50 Best Bars list, and Sip & Guzzle of New York City, ranked No. 1 on North America’s 50 Best Bars list. “Having any one of these come to town would be a big deal; having them all will be kinetic,” Stubbs says. PAGE 35

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The Cocktail Hour will bring new life to the long-shuttered address and, its creators hope, bring new life to a stretch of Decatur Street that endured prolonged infrastructure work, during which businesses struggled and several closed. Jewel of the South has leased the property and brought on a creative director, Deke Dunne, a bartender who has many national accolades for his work at the Washington, D.C., bar Allegory. Immersive and theatrical design is part of the Cocktail Hour, which will change with the seasons: Halloween and harvest, the winter holidays, Carnival, spring festival season and summer. It will be home to several distinct concepts. One entrance will lead to a new concept called “& the Wolf,” a counter-service restaurant and bar developed with chef Mason Hereford of Turkey and the Wolf. A different entrance will lead visitors to the main stage and ground floor bar for cocktails and live music. Upstairs, a mezzanine level overlooking the stage will have a 60-seat lounge that will be a dedicated space for guest bar residencies, with a food menu of canapés and small plates. The Cocktail Hour includes cocktail master class videos and podcast-style episodes that will live online and create a different type of access to what these collaborations create. The Cocktail Hour will operate daily from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., while & the Wolf will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. — Ian Mc Nulty / The Times-Picayune

New approach RESTAURANTS EVERYWHERE ARE CONTENDING WITH HIGHER COSTS,

more competition and a changing business climate. At one longrunning New Orleans restaurant, the answer is to stop operating as a conventional restaurant. Boucherie has been a fixture of the Carrollton neighborhood for nearly two decades, but now it has shifted to events and catering. Chef/owner Nathanial Zimet has a new business model that cuts out daily service, at least most of the time, to focus instead on hosting parties and private dinners in the cottage restaurant and around the lush outdoor spaces Boucherie has gradually developed around it. “It hasn’t been working, and it hasn’t been working for a long time,” Zimet says of the normal business model. “This has been a long time

0TH BER 3 OCTO 1ST BER 3 OCTO 2PM 11AMBoucherie PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

coming. It’s a depressing reality that we lose money every single month. So to continue, we need to cut out the unknowns, and the big unknown is who’s coming in today.” Boucherie will resume something like regular service during spans that have been busy, namely in December with its Reveillon prix fixe menu and August for Coolinary menus, as well as for certain holidays, like Valentine’s Day. Essentially, Zimet will run Boucherie as a restaurant for the times when that has proven financially viable. The chef’s second restaurant, Bourrèe, located around the corner and connected by an L-shaped garden space, continues as usual. It’s a fast/ casual, counter-service eatery for sandwiches and wings and smoked Cajun meats. This is a much “lighter lift” than the demand of the more upscale Boucherie, the chef says. Zimet came up through New Orleans fine dining. He started a food truck in 2006, serving late-night food with a chef’s touch. It was perhaps the first manifestation of the modern food truck trend in New Orleans, and the truck is still part of his operation today. In 2008, the food truck led to the restaurant Boucherie, staking out ground for midrange upscale/casual dining, with elevated versions of his food truck fare. Wagyu brisket, blackened shrimp on a grit cake, smoked scallops and Krispy Kreme doughnut bread pudding became signatures. Zimet has tried other tactics to manage the business, including closing outright for the slowest months of summer and adding a five-course chef’s tasting menu. Closing for regular dining room service means shifting Boucherie, not ending it, he says. He foresees parties and art markets and other events around the Boucherie and Bourree spaces. “We’re not disappearing, it’s the same chefs, the same space, the same staff, but with a safer approach for us,” Zimet says. — Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune

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Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, chef Brian Landry created QED Hospitality with Emory Whalen in 2017 when they broke off from the Besh Restaurant Group. QED runs The Bayou Bar, Jack Rose and Hot Tin in the Pontchartrain Hotel, as well as restaurants in Nashville and Kentucky. Landry grew up in New Orleans, and he enlisted childhood friend and bassist Peter Harris to program live jazz at the Bayou Bar. They recently collaborated on “Rhythm & Roux,” a coffee table and cookbook with more than 100 food recipes, 25 cocktail recipes and interviews with 31 musicians who have performed at the Bayou Bar, including Branford and Jason Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, John Boutte, Dee Dee Bridgewater and more. The book will be released Nov. 3. For information, visit rhythm-and-roux.com.

How does the book reflect what you’ve done at the Bayou Bar? BRIAN LANDRY: The Bayou Bar has great bones. The Pontchartrain has lived many lives in the 99 years it has been open. The Bayou Bar has worn a ton of different hats. There was a little bit of music taking place when we got there (in 2018). Part of us getting there, with the addition Hot Tin, and Jack Rose replacing the Caribbean Room — we also wanted to modernize the Bayou Bar’s music program. Peter Harris has been a friend of mine since middle school. I went to him and said, “Would you come check out the Bayou Bar? I would be interested in having you program some music for the space.” He came, and the first thing he did was look at the very old, beat-up Steinway piano. They had actually added a wooden drink rail to the outside of the piano for people to rest their drinks. He said, “I would love to play here, but I can’t get a serious musician to play this piano. So if you can get a piano, we’ll do some music.” I said, no problem, but I had no idea what a piano cost. It started very humble. He’d bring a bass and a drum kit from home. He started with one night, and then two nights.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRIAN LANDRY

Then Covid happened, and we converted the Bayou Bar into a livestreaming music studio. We got some more music equipment and let musicians use the room for free so they could play music and sell it online. Fast forward to after Covid, there was pent-up demand for live music and real experiences, so Peter starts doing music four nights a week. The cast of musicians exploded. The musicians you see in the book are the musicians who were playing the room.

What types of recipes did you include in the cookbook? L: It is mostly based on the food we cook at the Pontchartrain, whether at Jack Rose or the Bayou Bar. Some of them are specials that people are really attached to. Some have been longstanding menu items, like the fried chicken Parmesan. It has been on the Jack Rose menu since we opened in 2018. The conception of the book came from constant conversations with the musicians. There were a lot of themes that came up, but one of them is true in both New Orleans food and music culture. We are very much tied to our past in a beautiful way that I think most other cities in North America are not. I think the recipes tell that story. I do have a red beans and rice recipe in there. I have gumbo in there. There are some classics. That’s what I grew up eating, the first Creole dishes I learned how to cook. I also fast forward into a modernized version of what I think modern Creole cuisine looks like.

An example would be the shrimp cassoulet. I grew up eating a lot of beans. But then I learned how to cook classic French dishes and learned what cassoulet is. It’s slow stewed beans with some sausage in it. The modern take on it is that we can lighten that up and use shrimp stock and shrimp and white beans, all things that are very familiar to a Creole version. But you have a new version of white beans. One of my favorite dishes in the book is pompano with broken romesco. Pompano is a phenomenal fish. One of the reasons I like this dish is that it leans into Spanish influence. It is olive oil based, heavy on the garlic, lots of acid, and it eats so light. But you’re not missing any of the flavor. Most people’s introduction to the fish was probably with a beurre blanc or a cream sauce or something that’s pretty heavy. Those dishes are still delicious, but not all Creole food has to be that heavy.

What are some of the recipes stretching beyond familiar Creole dishes? L: Venison saltimbocca. We eat venison all the time. All my friends hunt. There’s not so much in the repertoire for what to do with it when they get venison. But there’s so much Italian food in New Orleans. When you use venison and country ham and make the sauce with bourbon, all of those things make complete logical sense in terms of what it is and how we eat. There are nods to (former) New Orleans restaurants because I want to keep the past and the present connected as a continuous thread. My version of Muddy Waters is not really close to the Uglesich’s version, but that was the first place I had a dish named that. I remember it vividly. I loved it. With those restaurants, I don’t think I would make it the exact same way, but I think it is important to remember that those places existed. Without them, I probably wouldn’t exist in the way I do. The book feels like a snapshot of how I cook. Peter and I have joked that if this book does well, Peter has 30 more musicians he’d like to interview, and I have 100 more recipes. But I think it is a little taste of what I like to cook.

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. 3rd Block Depot — 316 Chartres St., (504) 552-

4095; 3rdblockdepot.com — The menu ranges from seafood and sausage gumbo and Gulf shrimp ceviche to smashburgers and steaks. Brunch brings crab cake Benedict with hollandaise on an English muffin. Reservations available. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Acropolis Cuisine — 3841 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 888-9046; acropoliscuisine.com — The menu of classic Greek dishes includes souvlaki, gyros and pita wraps, spanakopita, hummus and Greek salads. Moussaka has layers of eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, ground beef and bechamel. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ 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 fish Capri includes artichokes, crawfish, tomatoes and capers. There also are oysters, seafood pasta dishes, salads, steaks, lamb chops and desserts like bananas Foster bread pudding and lemon icebox tart. Reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$ Audubon Clubhouse — 6500 Magazine St., (504) 558-1200; audubonclubhouse.com — The menu by Dickie Brennan and Co. includes crabmeat cheesecake, shrimp remoulade, fried oysters, burgers, sandwiches and more. Shrimp Tchefuncte combines house-made andouille, mushrooms, popcorn rice and Creole meuniere sauce. Outdoor seating available. Reservations recommended. Brunch, lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Banana Blossom — 500 9th St., Gretna, (504) 500-0997; 504bananablossom.com — There are traditional Thai dishes like pad thai, green curry, pineapple fried rice, drunken noodles and coconut shrimp as well as original creations. Beef rib Chiang Mai features a slow-braised beef rib with yellow curry, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, cilantro and chili oil. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Budsi’s Authentic Thai — 1760 N. Rampart St., (504) 381-4636; budsisthai.com — Chef Budsaba Mason prepares dishes from her native Issan region of Thailand and other popular Thai dishes like papaya salad, grilled pork shoulder, larb, khao soi, pad thai and red curry. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop — 2309 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, (504) 835-2022; gumbostop. com — The Gumbo Stop has several gumbo varieties including chicken and sausage gumbo and seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab and crawfish. The menu also has boudin balls, Bayou shrimp scampi, crawfish etouffee and fried shrimp po-boys. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ The Commissary — 634 Orange St., (504) 274-1850; thecommissarynola.com — Dickie Brennan’s Commissary supplies his other

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11-$20 $$$ — $20-up 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. $$ The Country Club — 634 Louisa St., (504) 945-0742; thecountryclubneworleans.com — The Bywater restaurant and pool has a menu of crab beignets, truffle mac and cheese, shrimp and grits, burgers and more. Seared redfish is served with kale, toasted chickpeas, sesame seeds, chili crisp and whipped tahini. Outdoor seating available. Reservations recommended. Lunch, brunch and dinner daily. $$$ Delacroix Restaurant — 1 Poydras St., (504) 655-9002; delacroixrestaurant.com — With views overlooking the Mississippi River, the restaurant serves a mix of South Louisiana dishes like smoked duck gumbo, crawfish bisque, shrimp Creole, blackened redfish and crawfish étouffée. Drum amandine is served with green beans and stewed potatoes. Reservations available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — A menu full of Gulf seafood includes oysters served raw on the half-shell or char-broiled with with Parmesan, garlic and herbs. The menu also includes po-boys, gumbo, blackened fish, fried seafood platters and more. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ 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. $$$ Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse — 716 Iberville St., (504) 522-2467; dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com — The menu includes a variety of steaks, plus seared Gulf fish, lobster pasta, barbecue shrimp and more. A 6-ounce filet mignon is served with fried oysters, creamed spinach, potatoes and bearnaise. Reservations recommended. Dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ Domenica — 123 Baronne St., (504) 6486020; domenicarestaurant.com — The Italian restaurant offers a mix of wood-fired Napolitano-style pizzas and house-made pastas. Appetizers include various salumi and cheese boards, antipasti, roasted cauliflower and more. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Don’s Seafood — 4801 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 888-1555; donsseafoodonline.com — The seafood options range from char-broiled oysters to seafood gumbo, fried shrimp and catfish platters and stuffed flounder. The menu also has rib-eye steaks. Reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner daily. $$

Elizabeth’s Restaurant — 601 Gallier St., (504) 944-9272; elizabethsrestaurantnola. com — Elizabeth’s is known for its signature praline bacon, and the menu also includes boudin balls, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles and eggs Florentine. Outdoor seating available. Reservations accepted for parties of 10 or more. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — The Cajun Cuban is stuffed with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. The eclectic menu also includes char-grilled oysters, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, fried seafood platters, pasta, salads and more. Delivery available. Reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ King Brasserie & Bar — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3000; kingbrasserieandbar.com — The restaurant’s menu is inspired by the cuisine of the Riviera and southern France. There are dishes like steak frites and bouillabaisse as well as blackened Gulf fish and barbecue shrimp and oysters. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and 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 steaks and chops includes filet mignon, bone-in rib-eye, top sirloin and double pork chops and a la carte toppings include bearnaise, 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. $$ Luke — 333 St. Charles Ave., (504) 378-2840; lukeneworleans.com — The raw bar offers oysters, boiled shrimp, cured tuna, smoked trout dip and more. The menu has dishes like shrimp and grits, crab omelets, crawfish etouffee and steak frites. Reservations encouraged. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Lyons Corner — 537 Gravier St., (504) 5270006; lyonscornernola.com — The eclectic menu includes Cajun prawns, bang-bang fried oysters, chicken sandwiches, salads and more. In the morning, there are breakfast empanadas, muffins, croissants, scones, beignets and more. Delivery and takeout available. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The menu of Japanese cuisine includes sushi, signature rolls, tempura fried items, udon noodles, teriyaki, salads and more.The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado, snow crab, green onion and wasabi roe. Reservations accepted. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves Italian dishes and specialties including PAGE 39

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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. $$$ Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant. net — This counter-service spot serves po-boys dressed with sliced cabbage like the Famous Ferdi filled with ham, roast beef and debris. Creole favorites include jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice and more. Breakfast is available all day. Delivery available. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro — 720 Orleans Ave., (504) 523-1930; orleansgrapevine.com — The wine bar offers a selectoin of cheese boards and appetizers. Creole pasta combines shrimp and andouille in tomato cream sauce. Reservations accepted for large parties. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$ Pascal’s Manale — 1838 Napoleon Ave., (504) 895-4877; pascalsmanale.com — This Creole-Italian spot invented New Orleansstyle barbecue shrimp, and the menu also includes seafood gumbo, crab cakes, oysters and Italian-style pasta dishes. There’s also an oyster bar. Reservations recommended. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$$ 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. $$ Pizza Domenica — 4933 Magazine St., (504) 301-4978; pizzadomenica.com — Pizza is the focus of this offshoot of the Italian restaurant Domenica. There also are meatballs, roasted cauliflower and house-made pastas. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Restaurant August — 301 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 299-9777; restaurantaugust.com — The fine dining restaurant serves Creole and contemporary dishes featuring foie gras, Gulf fish, duck and more. Gnocchi are served with crab, summer truffles and Parmesan. Reservations recommended. Dinner Sun.-Fri., lunch Fri. $$$ Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, Jefferson, (504) 834-4938; rivershacktavern. com — This tavern along the levee offers a casual menu of roast beef po-boys, burgers, wraps, fried shrimp platters, catfish and gumbo. A country fried steak is served with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetables and salad. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Shaya — 4213 Magazine St., (504) 891-4213; shayarestaurant.com — The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern menu includes dishes like hummus, falafel, kebabs, grilled chicken and wood-oven pita bread. A chicken schnitzel sandwich is dressed with little gem lettuce, pickles and harissa mayonnaise on sesame brioche bread. Outdoor seating available. Reservations recommended. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Stingray’s Restaurant & Bar — 1303 W. Esplanade Ave., Kenner, (504) 443-4040; stingraysseafoodrestaurant.com — Zydeco fish is stuffed with crabmeat dressing and

topped with shrimp cream sauce. The menu also includes fried shrimp and oyster platters, grilled redfish, crabmeat jalapeños, and boudin egg rolls. Reservations available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Tableau — 616 St. Peter St., (504) 934-3463; tableaufrenchquarter.com — The menu features traditional and creative Creole dishes. Pasta bouillabaisse features squid ink mafaldine, little neck clams, Gulf shrimp, squid, seafood broth, rouille and herbed breadcrumbs. Outdoor seating available on the balcony. Reservations recommended. Dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Thu.-Sun. $$$ 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. $$ Tavi — 330 N. New Hampshire St., (985) 2002045; tavirestaurant.com — The menu combines dishes from the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean. There’s hummus, falafel, kebabs, flatbreads, grilled fish, lamb burgers and more. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ 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 vegetable sandwich with avocado, onions, arugula, red pepper and pepper jack cheese. No reservations. Delivery and outdoor seating available. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Vyoone’s — 412 Girod St., (504) 381-4384; vyoone.com — The French-Creole menu includes dishes like escargot, crawfish beignets, crab cakes, shrimp pasta, duck a l’orange and lamb chops. Reservations recommended. Dinner Wed.-Sun. $$$ Willa Jean — 611 O’Keefe Ave., (504) 509-7334; willajean.com — The bakery and cafe serves biscuits with honey butter, cookies, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, shrimp and grits and more. Avocado toasts are made with house-baked ciabatta topped with tomatillo, spiced pepitas, pickled onion, cilantro and chipotle aioli. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Yinzer’s Amazing Cheesesteaks — 1514 Delachaise St., (412) 860-6801; yinzersamazingcheesesteaks.com —There are classic and original cheesesteaks filled with steak, chicken and more. Diners can opt for toppings like provolone, housemade cheddar whiz, mushrooms, onions, banana peppers and more. Delivery available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Wed.-Sun. $

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screens, along with a shadowcast performance of some parts, and Bostwick will do a Q&A after this show at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at Mahalia Jackson Theater. Tickets $30.50-$234.50 via mahaliajacksontheater.com.

Daniel Sloss SCOTTISH COMEDIAN DANIEL SLOSS is known for a joke in his 2018 special “Jigsaw” about the signs of a bad relationship, which inspired many people to leave unsatisfying situations. His brutally honest and dark humor has filled specials including “Hubris” in 2024 and “CAN’T” last year. He performs at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at The Fillmore. Tickets $64 and up at ticketmaster.com.

and includes a copy of the book via gardendistrictbookshop.com.

Low Cut Connie PIANIST ADAM WEINER is known for driving the energetic rock of Low Cut Connie, which features a changing lineup of backing musicians. He released the protest anthem “Livin in the USA” last year, after cancelling a performance at the Kennedy Center, and this year followed up with an album of the same name. Low Cut Connie is in town for two nights at Gasa Gasa. At 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31. Tickets $30.50 via gasagasanola.com.

Freaky Deaky New Orleans

‘Brass Band Headquarters’ opening

THE ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC FESTIVAL

DONNA PONIATOWSKI SIMS and Charlie

Freaky Deaky has been a Halloweentime staple in Austin, Texas, for a few years. It now expands to New Orleans with a two-day festival at Mardi Gras World. There’s two areas of music, and the lineup includes Porter Robinson, Of the Trees, Know Good, Layla Benitez, CID and more on Friday, Oct. 30, and Fisher, Chris Lorenzo, William Black, Distant Matter and more on Halloween. There also are after parties each night at The Metropolitan. Friday tickets are $79.95; Saturday is $89.94; and two-day passes are $139.95 via freakydeakynola.com.

Widespread Panic SOUTHERN ROCK AND JAM BAND

Widespread Panic is entering its fifth decade. It’s in town for two shows at the LSUNO Lakefront Arena. At 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31. Single show tickets start at $108.25 and two-day passes are available at ticketmaster.com.

‘Interview with the Vampire’ celebration FIFTY YEARS AGO, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac began to tell the story of his 200-year-long life and his encounters with Lestat de Lioncourt in Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire.” The first entry in the New Orleans-born author’s “Vampire Chronicles” series is a modern classic of horror literature, spawned a movie with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and made Rice an international icon. Her son, Christopher Rice, and authors Leigh Bardugo and Eric Shaw Quinn will discuss the 50th anniversary of “Interview with the Vampire” and release a new edition of the book at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Loyola University’s Roussel Auditorium. Hosted by Garden District Book Shop. Admission is $68

Sims ran Donna’s Bar and Grill on N. Rampart Street for nearly 18 years, and their neighborhood bar became a hotspot for brass band music as well as Black Masking Indian traditions. The Dirty Dozen, Olympia and Hot 8 were among the many brass bands to play Donna’s, and the Sims took photos of the many musicians and patrons to pass through their doors. The New Orleans Jazz Museum now hosts “Brass Band Headquarters,” an exhibition of those photos. The show opens at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. Find more info at nolajazzmuseum.org.

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‘Alley Pat: The Music is Recorded’ MANY NEW ORLEANIANS remember R&B singer Ernie K-Doe’s time as a radio host at WWOZ, full of his entertaining bravado. Decades earlier, some Atlanta listeners tuned into WERD AM, the first Black-owned radio station, to hear Alley Pat, aka James Patrick. He spoke his mind before and often over the R&B hits he played, talking about everything from music to civil rights. Filmmaker and WWOZ host Tom Roche made a documentary about Alley Pat. There’s a free screening at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at The Broad Theater. Visit thebroadtheater.com for information.

‘Dracula’ NEW ORLEANS BALLET THEATRE presents an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire story with choreography by Oliver Halkowich. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Orpheum Theater. Find information at neworleansballettheatre. com. Tickets $51.55 and up at ticketmaster.com.

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FOR COMPLETE MUSIC LISTINGS A N D M O R E E V E N T S TA K I N G P L A C E IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA, VISIT C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M

To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com

MONDAY 26 30/90 — Dapper Dandies, 6 pm; Velvet Collective, 10 pm ALLWAYS LOUNGE — Betsey Propane’s Smoke Show, 7 pm APPLE BARREL — Decaturadio, 6 pm; Mark Appleford, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Byron Asher, 6 pm BAMBOULA’S — The New Orleans Rug Cutters, 12 pm; Ted Hefko Duo, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Red Beans & Blues with Washboard Chaz & Jonathan Freilich, 9 pm BUFFA’S — David Doucet, 7 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Brass Flavor, 9 pm CARROLLTON STATION — Biscuits n’ Jam with Meryl Zimmerman & Friends, 10 pm DBA — Secret Six Jazz Band, 6 pm; Corey Henry & the Treme Funktet, 9:30 pm DOS JEFES — John Fohl, 8:30 pm FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Tin Men, 5 pm; Richard Scott & Friends, 8 pm HOLY DIVER — Octopoulpe, 10 pm JOY THEATER — PROF, 8 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Victor Campbell, 6 pm; The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, 8 pm THE MAISON — Andy J. Forest, 5 pm; Gene’s Music Machine, 8 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — George Porter Jr. Trio ft. Chris Adkins, 7 pm; 10 pm REPUBLIC NEW ORLEANS — Boy Harsher with True Blue + Kassie Krut, 8 pm SATURN BAR — BC Coogan, 8:30 pm SIBERIA — PONS, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Charmaine Neville Band, 7:30 & 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Jenavieve Cooke & the Winding Boys, 2 pm; Dominick Grillo & the Frenchmen Street All-Stars, 6 pm; Saskia Says, 9:30 pm ST. ROCH TAVERN — Chicken Milk + Meagan Gillis & Company, 9 pm TRUE SOUTH — Danny Alexander Blues Jam, 8 pm

TUESDAY 27 30/90 — Justin Donovan, 6 pm; Kayla Jasmine, 9 pm APPLE BARREL — Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Jackson’s Flying Circus, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Tangiers Combo, 6 pm BAMBOULA’S — Caitie B. & The Hand Me Downs, 9 pm

BANKS STREET BAR — The Saint Cecilia, 8 pm BAR REDUX — Stumps DuhClown + Goodtime Sam + Banjo Jon, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Lobelia Jazz Band, 9 pm BUFFA’S — Alex McMurray, 7 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — The Super-MostFantastic-Blues-N-Such Jam, 7 pm CAROUSEL BAR — Naomie April, 8 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — Playlunch, 8 pm DBA — T Marie & Bayou Juju, 6 pm; Midnight Brawlers, 9 pm DOS JEFES — Raphael Bas, 8:30 pm GASA GASA — Miss B. Haven, 9:30 pm HI HO LOUNGE — Taco Tuesday w/ Otto’s Gothic Cumbias, 9 pm HOLY DIVER — Bobcat & Punami Tsunami, 10 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Big Joe Kennedy, 6 pm; Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound, 8 pm THE MAISON — Jacky Blaire & the Hot Biscuits, 5 pm; Paradise Jazz Band, 8 Saenger Theatre — Disney’s The Lion King: The Musical, 7:30 pm SALON SALON — Nat & Kat Cajun String Band, 7 pm

SATURN BAR — Fraxiom, Delish da Goddess, and HEELTURN, 9 pm SIBERIA — Juice + Christopher Blair, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Roland Guerin’s PROG: Funk, 7:30 & 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Chris Christy Band, 2 pm; Sweetie Pies of New Orleans, 6 pm; Smoking Time Jazz Club, 9:30 pm VAUGHAN’S LOUNGE — Cuttin’ Up with Lil Prince & the Youngbloods, 10 pm

WEDNESDAY 28 30/90 — Tetrad, 6 pm; Kim in the Wind, 9 pm ALLWAYS LOUNGE — Jeez Loueez’s Black Ass Halloween Show, 7 pm APPLE BARREL — Felipe Kerra, 6 pm; The Budz, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Jesse Morrow, 6 pm BAR REDUX — Vintage Halloween Music + Cartoons ft. DJ Deja Du, 8 pm BAYOU BAR — Firm Roots, 8 pm; 10 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Soft Opening ft. Christin Bradford & Anna Laura Quinn, 9 pm BLUE NILE — New Breed Brass Band, 9 pm BROADSIDE — Nosferatu Improvised Live Score (Night 1) ft. Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, Rurik Nunan & James Singleton, 8:30 pm

DJ Soul Sister brings Hustle Night back to Hi Ho Lounge Saturday, Oct. 31 at 11 p.m. PROVIDED PHOTO COURTESY MELISSA WEBER

BUFFA’S — Beach Angel, 7 pm CAFÉ ISTANBUL — Slow Burn Live : Violin-led Fusion, 8 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Jam-ilton, 7:30 pm COMMONS CLUB — James Jordan Trio, 6 pm DBA — Johanna Rose & the Dreamboats, 6 pm; The Next Level Band, 9 pm DOS JEFES — Joe Krown, 8:30 pm FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 1 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band with Gunhild Carling & Kevin Ray Clark, 8 pm HOLY DIVER — The Amazing Henrietta, 8 pm JOY THEATER — Atlanta Rhythm Section, 8 pm THE MAISON — Justin Donovan 5 pm; Gene’s Music Machine, 6 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Ashlar Organ Time, 8 pm NEW MARIGNY THEATRE — Shadow Hours’ 2026 Haunted House - Isles of the Damned ft. The No Quarter Sea Shanty Choir & More!, 6 pm PAULIE’S — PUPS Jam, 8 pm

SAENGER THEATRE — The Lion King, 8 pm SANTOS BAR — Chambre Noir with Paco, 10 pm SNUG HARBOR — James Rivers Tribute with Peter Cho, 5 pm; D Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Terrance Taplin, 7:30 & 9:30 pm TIPITINIA’S — Rakim With Special Guests, 8 pm TRUE SOUTH — Ugly Rumors, 7:30 pm VAUGHAN’S LOUNGE — Robin Rapuzzi’s Glo Worm Trio, 8:30 pm

THURSDAY 29 30/90 — Xcitement, 9 pm ABITA NEW ORLEANS — Jazz Series ft. Shake ’Em Up Jazz Band, 6 pm ALLWAYS LOUNGE — Van Ella Bordella, 7 pm APPLE BARREL — Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Johnny B, 9 pm BACCHANAL — Raphael Bas, 6 pm BAR REDUX —DJ Jumpcut, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Irvin Mayfield’s Music Church, 9 pm; DJ T-Roy (upstairs), 10 pm BMC — Dapper Dandies, 6 pm; Keep It Rollin’ Brass Band, 9 pm BROADSIDE — Nosferatu Improvised Live Score (Night 2) ft. Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, Rurik Nunan & James Singleton, 8:30 pm BUFFA’S — Tom McDermott with Aurora Nealand, 7 pm CAROUSEL BAR — Leslie Martin, 5:30 pm; Lena Prima & Her Band, 9 pm CARROLLTON STATION — Few Blue + Terra Cognita + Emma Zeck, 9 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — Susan Cowsill’s Covered in Vinyl Series presents Court & Spark by Joni Mitchell, 8 pm CIVIC THEATER — Osees ft. Brigid Dawson + Traps PS, 8 pm DBA — Ethan Santos, 6 pm; Vegas Cola Band, 9 pm DOS JEFES — The Mark Coleman Band, 8:30 pm DOUBLE DEALER — Jake Gartenstein Trio, 9:30 pm GOOD MEASURE — Vibe with Ayanna & Zahira, 8 pm HOLY DIVER — RADE, 10 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULE — The Soul Rebels, 11 pm MAHALIA JACKSON THEATER — The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 7:30 pm THE MAISON — Dane Harter, 4:30 pm; Single Malt Please, 8:30 pm

MAPLE LEAF BAR — Booker & Beyond with Davis Rogan, 6 pm; Johnny Vidacovich Trio with Brad Walker & Chris Senac, 8 pm OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART — Dia de los Muertos ft. Mariachi Los Primos, 6 pm PAULIE’S — Ian Cunningham, 6 pm PEACOCK ROOM — Da Lovebirds: Robin Barnes & Pat Casey, 8 pm SALON SALON — Juan Tigre, 7 pm SANTOS BAR — Meal Ticket ft. DJ JustinTC, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Harold Battiste Birthday Tribute with Jesse McBride & The Next Generation, 7:30 & 9:30 pm VAUGHAN’S LOUNGE — Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet, 10 pm

FRIDAY 30 30/90 — Sean Hobbes + the Hi Res, 5 pm; Half Shell Boogie, 8 pm; The Soulcial Club, 11 pm ANNA’S — Spooky Italo with DJ OTTO, 9 pm BACCHANAL — David Sigler, 1 pm; Willie Green, 7 pm BANKS STREET BAR — Honest Man Happy Hour with Domenic Fusca, 4 pm BAR REDUX — Big Leather + Rubber Chicken, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — The Baby Bitches Ween Tribute + Benny Poppins, 9 pm THE BLUE CRAWFISH — Free Agents Brass Band, 6:30 pm BLUE NILE — The Rozes (Caribbean Funk), 8 pm; Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, 10 pm; DJ WestBankRed (upstairs), 10 pm THE BROADSIDE — Bon Bon Vivant + Boot Juice + Tribe Nunzio, 8 pm BUFFA’S — Dead Magnolia String Band, 8 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Decaturadio, 2 pm; Higher Heights Reggae, 10 pm CARROLLTON STATION — Halloween Throwback Party with That’s So Fetch, 9 pm CHAPEL CLUB — Brother Dan, 8 pm; Bouffant Bouffant, 11 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — Nether Hour, 11:30 pm COMMONS CLUB — Nell SimmonsBradley, 7 pm DBA — Michael Watson & The Alchemy, 6 pm; New Breed Brass Band, 10 pm DOS JEFES — BassX, 9 pm DOUBLE DEALER — Matt Wilson & the Sinking City, 9:30 pm

THE FILLMORE — Victoria Monét, 8 pm GASA GASA — Low Cut Connie, 10 pm GOOD MEASURE — Gov’t Majik ft. Ten Spencer, 8 pm HI HO LOUNGE — Where My Girls At: Heroes & Villains Halloween Party, 10 pm HOWLIN’ WOLF — Saint Social + Rare Seed, 7 pm JUNEBUG — Mothership Selection: Uncut P-Funk, 8 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULÉ — Colin Davis & Night People, 11 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Polytoxic, 4 pm; Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, 8 pm; Bloodkin with CR Groover: WSP Afterparty, 11 pm MUSIC BOX VILLAGE — The Crossroads Cabaret ft. Johanna Rose, 8 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Halloween with Dr. Romance & Friends, 10 pm SANTOS BAR — Deathcharge + Come to Ruin, 10 pm SIBERIA — Damag3 with $leazy EZ, Jamal Malachi & Connor Cristi, 9 pm TIPITINA’S — All Hallows Eve Spooktacular! with The Soul Rebels, 9 pm TRUE SOUTH — Ed Wills Blues4sale, 8 pm

SATURDAY 31 30/90 — Bangarang Peter, 2 pm BACCHANAL — Miles Berry, 1 pm; Steve Lands, 7 pm BAR REDUX — Halloween Dance Party with DJs Jumpcut & Johnny Vista, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Morning 40 Federation + Tasche & the Psychedelic Roses, 9 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers’ FunkBox, 8 pm; Afrobeat NOLA, 11 pm BROADSIDE — Beyond the Veil ft. The Iceman Special, Flow Tribe, HollyRock & More!, 6 pm; Andrew Jobin & Thick Smoke + Two-Step Dance Classes, 8 pm BUFFA’S — Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, 8 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Bon Bon Vivant Halloween Show & Costume Contest, 11 pm; Boot Juice, 12 am CARROLLTON STATION — Gravehuffer, Vacillator, Totem & More!, 8 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — George Porter Jr. & His Runnin’ Pardners, 11:30 pm DBA — Kortana, 6 pm; Lyndsey Smith, 10 pm DOS JEFES — The Dale Spalding Trio, 9 pm GASA GASA — Low Cut Connie, 10 pm GOOD MEASURE — DJ Twin Peaks Halloween Bash, 8 pm

HI HO LOUNGE — Hustle! with DJ Soul Sister, 11 pm HOLY DIVER — Flesh Parade + Moral Disorder, 9 pm KERMIT’S TREMÉ MOTHER-IN-LAW LOUNGE — Kermit Ruffins & The BBQ Swingers, 6 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULÉ — Billy Iuso & Friends, 11 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, 4 pm; Pocket Chocolate, 8 pm; Bloodkin with CR Groover : WSP Afterparty, 11 pm NEW MARIGNY THEATRE — Shadow Hours’ 2026 Haunted House - Isles of the Damned ft. BLOWGUN & Miriam Hacksaw, 11 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Daft Disko, 10 pm; The Late Night Show: Halloween After Party with Dr. Jax & Tchoupo, 3 am SIBERIA — Punk Black Halloween Fest, 7 pm TIPITINA’S — DJ RQ Away: Lagniappe Halloween Edition, 9 pm WILD BUSH VINEYARD — Jazz’n the Vines ft. SUN KIL MOON, 6:30 pm

SUNDAY 1 ALLWAYS LOUNGE — Sunday Swing, 8 pm BACCHANAL — Pete Olynciw, 1 pm; Noah Young, 7 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — James McClaskey & the Rhythm Band, 9 pm BROADSIDE — Alborosie & Shengen Clan, 7 pm BUFFA’S — Mark Winters, 7 pm GASA GASA — An Evening with Alash Ensemble: Tuvan Throat Singers, 8:30 pm HOTEL PETER & PAUL — The Piety Market ft. Nat & Kat Cajun String Band, 1 pm HOWLIN’ WOLF — Hot 8 Brass Band, 10:30 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Higher Ground, 8 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Sunday Service: Siisko + FTK, 9 pm SATURN BAR — HEAP (Hook, Eder, Anderson, Page) and Klyph, 9 pm SIBERIA — Torture Garden + Mehenet + Grand Bewitchment + Mortalize, 9 pm S C A N FO R THE COMPLETE GAMBIT C A L EN DA R

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > O C T O B E R 2 6 -1 > 2 0 2 6

MUSIC

GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

SATURDAY,

1 3 R E B O T OC AM -6PM 11

ONT

ON TO VALM

LE FROM NAPO

Issue No. 48

OCTOBER 2026 | Friends of the Cabildo Presents

THE GHOSTLY GALLIVANT

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Support the Louisiana State Museum by bidding on unique items, local experiences, art, and more, all while funding essential exhibits, collections, and educational programming.

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Page 13

WORDS

by Will Coviello

ANYONE WHO HAS LOCKED EYES with a dolphin in

an aquarium may have wondered about what was on the mind of the creature looking back. For New Orleans writer Keith G.C. Twitchell, that experience came in the wild, while on a trip to swim with Atlantic spotted dolphins off the coast of the Bahamas. “The very first time I got in the water with wild dolphins — who are there because they choose to be there, not because they’re in some tank — the first time I looked into a dolphin’s eye, the sense of a presence looking back at me was equivalent to any human eye contact,” Twitchell says. “It was way beyond what you get with a cat or dog or horse. The presence is indicative that intelligence is incredibly strong. I was hooked immediately.” It set him on a course to becoming a founding board member of the nonprofit research institute the Wild Dolphin Project, and later to write a novel exploring what an encounter with humans could look like from the other side. “The Strangest Life” arrives this week, and Twitchell has several book events in coming weeks. After his experience in the Bahamas, Twitchell went on another research trip in the Peruvian Amazon, an area home to pink river dolphins. There he found a researcher who was fudging their data, but those fictions were not as interesting as local myths of dolphins taking human form and coming up on land. Those stories had persisted for ages and spread. The novel starts in those waters, as an acquisition agent for the Baltimore National Aquarium supervises an effort to catch a pink dolphin. After many unsuccessful attempts, they finally net one of the elusive creatures and bring it to the aquarium. In an aquarium tank, Ponchas is not impressed by the scientist trying to teach him retrieving tasks in exchange for dead fish. He senses there are more interesting humans, and more importantly that he may need the help of other people if he is to get out of the tiny enclosure. Security at the aquarium is run by George Winslow, a former pro hockey player who’s now more content to play chess. He’s also a former cop, who got

G N I GIV

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KEITH TWITCHELL

tired of city bureaucracy and left the force for less complicated and frustrating environs. After years working the docks and the seedy area of the waterfront known as The Block, keeping tabs on a dolphin wouldn’t seem like a hard job. As Ponchas finds ways to communicate with more humans and other friendly travelers, the novel becomes both a fantastical combination of science and myth and a page-turning thriller. Ponchas’ only advantage is what no-one knows or believes he is capable of. Twitchell wrote the first draft of the novel in 1991. It’s mostly set around Baltimore, near where he went to college. With an agent and editor, he revised it in the late ’90s, but it got shelved while he focused on other things. Twitchell became the captain of the satirical Krewe du Vieux. And then he became the director of the Committee for a Better New Orleans, which he led until 2020. As Ponchas draws the attention of mystics and crooks, there is no question of a gap in intelligence. Bridging the divide in perception is explored from several different angles. But as Ponchas observes what humans have built and how they live, big questions spill over about what it means to live a good life. Is Ponchas the only one trapped in the concrete blocks and wharves near the waterfront? “Virtually every answer should lead to another question,” Twitchell says. “Questions are a wonderful thing.” Keith Twitchell signs “The Strangest Life” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Community Book Center, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at Nomad Books, and at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at Blue Cypress Books.

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GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

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60 Skilled crafter 64 Sheets and blankets 68 Divisions of history 69 Riddle, part 4 71 With 92-Across, easily donned shoes 72 One way to track aircraft 74 Lays new concrete on 75 Gent 76 Rejoinder to “It ain’t so!” 78 Make illegal 79 Untruth 80 Riddle, part 5 90 Roadhouses 91 Wall-climbing vines

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92 See 71-Across 93 By way of 94 Public health agcy. 95 Riddle, part 6 101 Pre-euro Spanish money 103 Mined matter 104 Bruins’ Bobby 105 Riddle’s answer 113 Model Kate 114 Wrestle (with) 115 Pathetic 117 Chutzpah 118 Oven-fresh dinner, e.g. 119 Poem type 120 Celtics’ org. 121 Clothes may tumble in it 122 Memphis-toMilwaukee dir. 123 Couple in “Emma” 124 Born, in bridal bios 125 Paranormal gift, for short DOWN 1 Musical gift 2 Gush violently 3 Extreme bliss 4 Creators of dreamworlds 5 Theater magnate Marcus 6 Dino of the late Jurassic period 7 Jewish campus group 8 Did superbly on, as a test 9 “Dragnet” star Jack 10 Actress Suvari 11 Online journal 12 When it’s 12:00 p.m. 13 Resides 14 -- -Barbera cartoons 15 Remove the kinks from 16 Subcontracts 17 Arctic chunk 21 Fannie -24 Longest Swiss river 28 Kind of port on a PC 29 Fall mo. 33 Corpulent 34 --Kosh B’gosh 35 Foot’s five 36 Survivor’s elated shout 37 Plant in a field

79 It’s close to the heart 38 -- polloi 80 Ocasek of rock 39 Rx order 81 Heavy sheet inside a 40 Biblical utopia 42 Give it a shot book’s cover 46 Mixture for avians to 82 Family line peck at 83 Actress LaRue 48 Certain mast 84 A, in Munich attachments 85 Susan of “L.A. Law” 49 Action word 86 Study intensively 50 Perfumery compound 87 Subtle implication 51 Picked-up feelings 88 Vardalos of 52 Grows old Hollywood 53 Ruby, e.g. 89 Tit for -57 Zodiac sign 95 Noted “Mansion” 58 Footed vase dweller Hugh 59 Deface 96 Part of NATO: Abbr. 60 Hairstyles seen in “Hair” 97 “Wedding Crashers” 61 Mo. before 29-Down actor Vince 62 Expert on the 98 Bellhops’ workplaces Middle East 99 Author Levin 63 Ship-related 100 Author Sarah -65 Fluish, e.g. Jewett 66 Zilch 102 Skillet locale 67 Student transcript stat 105 Finance 69 Like the taste of 106 Press clothes Cheerios 107 Prom partner 70 Folks born in the ‘80s 108 Engine stat are part of it 109 Sort of sword 73 Internet access inits. 110 Shut noisily 75 Is perfectly suitable 111 Cab it, e.g. 77 -- and Anthony (long- 112 Deli heroes time radio duo) 116 Syrup source

ANSWERS LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P2 ANSWERS FOR TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON P4

PUZZLES

27 Start of a riddle 30 “... man -- mouse?” 31 Memphis-to-Mobile dir. 32 Briny bodies 33 Riddle, part 2 41 Captured 43 “Do -- say!” 44 Debtor’s note 45 Copied a cow 46 Make fuzzy 47 Riddle, part 3 54 Extra NFL periods 55 Class for U.S. immigrants 56 Its capital is Niamey 57 Sugar cubes

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GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLE ANS.COM > OctOber 26 - NOvember 1 > 2026

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