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SEPT. 14 — SEPT. 20, 2026 VOLUME 47 || NUMBER 37

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CONTENTS

FALL E VENT S GUIDE Fall Festivals and Events....17 Second Line Schedule.......31 Concerts ....................... 33 Comedy ........................ 39 Sports............................41 NEWS Opening Gambit ............... 8 Stanton ..........................13 Blake Pontchartrain..........15 Book Excerpt:“Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art and Obsessions” ........ 43

P H O TO BY E VA N Z I M M E R M A N

Fall Events Guide

@The_Gambit @gambitneworleans

Fa l l

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EDITORIAL (504) 483-3105 // response@gambitweekly.com Arts & Entertainment Editor | WILL COVIELLO

Special Sections Editor & Staff Writer |

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ADVERTISING Advertising Inquiries (504) 483-3150 Advertising Director |

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Staff Writers | JAKE CLAPP, KAYLEE POCHE

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Contributing Writer | IAN MCNULTY

Sales Representatives

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The Rook Café

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S TA F F

Editor | JOHN STANTON

O ONLINE ORDERING AVAIL ABLE 214 N. CARROLLTON IN MID CITY

F E AT U R E S Arts & Entertainment ........ 7 Eat + Drink .....................51 Music Listings ................. 59 Westbank Heritage Festival Preview ..............61 Puzzles ......................... 63

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GAMBIT (ISSN 1089-3520) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY CAPITAL CITY PRESS, LLC, 840 ST. CHARLES AVE., NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130. (504) 486-5900. WE CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OF UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS EVEN IF ACCOMPANIED BY A SASE. ALL MATERIAL PUBLISHED IN GAMBIT IS COPYRIGHTED: COPYRIGHT 2026 CAPITAL CITY PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Yat fluency

Rod Wave

Florida rapper Rod Wave’s newest album, “Don’t Look Down,” dropped on Aug. 28 and immediately shot to the top of the Billboard 200 chart. It’s his fourth time to top the chart — and his other two albums both hit No. 2. On “Don’t Look Down,” Wave sounds smoother and more grounded, and it’s still hip-hop that’ll hook in the listener. He plays the Smoothie King Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Tickets start at $223.10 via smoothiekingcenter.com.

New book details life and work of cartoonist Bunny Matthews | by Jake Clapp BUNNY MATTHEWS’ 9TH WARD had no set boundaries, Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand write in the new book “Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions.” As the late New Orleans cartoonist, writer and commentator himself put it, “The Ninth Ward is everywhere … They’re the ones that have these marching clubs, they have all the neighborhood bars, the truck floats and stuff. To me, that’s really the soul of New Orleans.” Although Matthews’ 9th Ward may have been a mythic neighborhood, it was quickly recognizable to readers of The Times-Picayune when Matthews’ first Vic and Nat’ly comic strip ran on Jan. 3, 1982. Vic and Nat’ly Broussard were the boisterous proprietors of a 9th Ward bar — complete with AC running February through December; a jukebox full of Louis Armstrong, Led Zeppelin, Dr. John, Ernie K-Doe and Professor Longhair; and an official pitcha of Vic as king of a truck float. It’s where the Broussards, along with the chihuahua Tootsie and a cockroach named Rex, floated in and out of the public space, commenting on New Orleans life in thick Yat accents on the pages of The Times-Picayune’s Sunday magazine, Dixie. Matthews, writing later in Offbeat, placed Vic and Nat’ly’s “at the intersection of two streets named after, respectively, an obscure Alsatian saint and one of the cardinal sins,” possibly St. Claude and Desire. “There was Vic with that greasy hair, that 5 o’clock shadow and that nasty cigarette stuck in his mouth,” Dixie editor Jeannette Hardy recalled in a 1983 collection of Vic and Nat’ly comics. “And there was Nat’ly with those pointy eyeglasses, that 1930s print dress and that mad, upswept hairdo. They looked like creatures spawned in the swamp and seasoned with 50 years’ worth of fried oyster, hot sauce and pickled eggs.” Vic and Nat’ly became Matthews’ best-known characters, and locals would clip out old cartoons of the rumpled, preposterously proportioned duo and stick them to refrigerator doors or pin them to bar walls. Leidenheimer bread trucks still roll across town with Vic and Nat’ly splashed on the side. But Matthews’ career spanned more than 40 years, and his range of cartoons

PHOTO BY RASHAD MILLIGAN / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Bill Burr Bunny Matthews at work in 1985. PHOTO BY G. ANDREW BOYD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVE

and prolific writing celebrated, poked fun at and critiqued New Orleans and its institutions — and often drew ire and criticism right back to the writer. Matthews’ work appeared in nearly every print publication in town, including Gambit, Figaro, Wavelength and Offbeat, and he was a regular on the television show “Steppin’ Out.” He also was an insider at the beginning of several of the city’s enduring cultural organizations, like WWOZ, Jazz Fest and Tipitina’s. Will Bunn “Bunny” Matthews III died in June 2021 at the age of 70 after battling brain cancer. Now, the new book “Bunny Matthews” digs deep into his life, writing and art in the first monograph of his work. Published by The Historic New Orleans Collection, Fensterstock and Tisserand’s hefty, 300-plus-page book details Matthews’ biography and includes many of his cartoons and drawings, collected into sections focused on things like food, chihuahuas, Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras and the many musicians Matthews knew and wrote about. Matthews pursued authenticity, and New Orleanians for better — and sometimes for worse — recognized themselves in his pieces.

Matthews’ lifetime “spanned desegregation, white flight, gentrification, Hurricane Katrina, and the invention of the internet and social media,” Fensterstock and Tisserand write. “His columns, reviews, and oddball features about New Orleans culture and its purveyors were always opinionated, often provocative, and sometimes maddening to readers as he observed his hometown during the pivotal shift form the twentieth century into the twenty-first.” HNOC celebrates the book and Matthews with Bunny Day on Saturday, Sept. 19. There will be an author talk with Fensterstock and Tisserand, a lecture by Katie Carmichael about the disappearing Yat accent and a Vic and Nat’ly costume contest. And HNOC opens a year-long exhibition on Matthews at its Royal Street location. Fensterstock and Tisserand, who both formerly worked at Gambit, spoke to dozens of people for the book, and combed through archives of publications as well as a trove of Matthews’ notebooks, sketches and items held by Matthews’ son Jude Matthews at his home in Algiers Point. Matthews and his No. 2 Rapidograph pen were prolific, and although he retired from publications in 2009, Matthews continued to do private commissions from his home in Abita Springs. PAGE 42

Bill Burr began his career doing stand-up, did characters on “Chappelle’s Show” and broke into acting, playing a conman on “Breaking Bad” and appearing in comedies like “Old Dads.” He’s known for his low-key, plain-talk style, and his most recent comedy special is 2025’s “Drop Dead Years.” He performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Saenger Theatre. Tickets $39.50-$102.58 via saengernola.com.

Celebracion Latina

The Audubon Zoo’s celebration of Latin culture features music by Los Guiros, Papo y Son Mandao and Cristina Kaminis, performances by Lucha Krewe and Ritmeaux Krewe, Latin food vendors and more. Free with regular zoo admission at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20. Visit audubonzoo.com/celebracion for information.

DOMi & JD Beck

Keys player DOMI Louna and drummer JD Beck met in 2018 and began making note-packed waves as a duo with frantic re-interpretations of Coltrane and mash-ups of Madvillain songs. They demonstrated their genre-blending on their first album, 2022’s “Not Tight,” with features from Thundercat, Herbie Hancock, Mac DeMarco, Snoop Dogg and Anderson .Paak. DOMi & JD Beck released their second full-length PAGE 57

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NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Who’s got that good pumpkin spice gumbo hookup?

# TC OH EU N T

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

Louisiana has seen opioid-related deaths fall 59% since 2022 and is doing better than the national decline rate at 46.2%, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. Still, federal data shows Louisiana remains last in the nation for opioid misuse and is 49th in the country for opioid misuse disorder.

THE NUMBER OF TIMES CIVIL RIGHTS ICON RUBY BRIDGES HAS MADE IT AROUND THE SUN.

Sanitation employees pick up trash in the Bywater PHOTO BY ENAN CHEDIAK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

City Council oks trash pickup fee hike Susan Larson, the now-former host of WWNO’s “The Reading Life,” was recently honored by the city council for her contributions to the New Orleans literary community. Larson hosted “The Reading Life” for 16 years before her retirement from the air at the end of August. She also spent two decades as The TimesPicayune’s book editor, penned “The Booklover’s Guide to New Orleans” and twice served as chair of the Pulitzer Prize’s fiction jury.

Louisiana has a waitlist with more than 7,700 children eligible for government-funded childcare assistance, The TimesPicayune reported. That’s a 70% increase from last year. During the pandemic, federal funds allowed Louisiana to expand a program helping low-income families afford childcare — which would then give parents the chance to work or go to school. But Congress allowed that aid to expire in the fall of 2024, and state funding has not kept up with the need.

THE NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL SEPT. 3 VOTED 6-1 to increase the

city’s sanitation fee for the first time in more than a decade, despite pushback from residents. Starting Oct. 1, the city will raise rates from $24 to $32.25 for residential customers and from $48 to $64.50 for non-residential customers. Services will remain the same: once-a-week trash and recycling pickup. The city hasn’t raised the fee since 2011, and it hasn’t covered the cost of services for years, despite switching from twice-a-week to once-aweek trash pickup after Hurricane Ida in 2021. Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration has said the hike is a necessary step in stabilizing city finances. Last year, officials had to take an additional $21.7 million out of the city’s operating budget last year to cover the gap between the $38.2 million from the fee and nearly $60 million in costs. Council Member Jason Hughes, who represents New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward, voted against the fee hike as he said he would in a video posted the prior night following a series of community meetings. Residents spoke for more than half an hour, expressing frustration with the idea of the council raising fees for

once-a-week service and concern for how it would impact residents on fixed incomes. “I don’t mind giving y’all $3 more, but $8, you’re going into my medication money,” said resident Larry Morgan, a frequent public commenter. Council President JP Morrell defended the decision. He said comparisons to sanitation costs in other parishes didn’t take into account that Orleans Parish has a living wage ordinance for its contractors, while other parishes don’t. Morrell said that raising the sanitation fee would help free up money from the general fund that the city could then use to help seniors, such as when he negotiated a cost-of-living adjustment for city retirees in his first council term. He also noted the council and public can come back later and weigh the costs of other options such as moving to twice weekly pickup, cutting recycling or adding glass recycling. “But something has to move because everything costs money,” he said. — Kaylee Poche

New Orleans library’s music platform Crescent City Sounds is open for submissions

Crescent City Sounds, the New Orleans Public Library’s gem of an all-local music streaming service, is now calling for more music to add to

Born Sept. 8, 1954 in Tylertown, Miss., Bridges would make history at the age of six when she and five other Black children helped integrate the city’s public school system. Despite constant threats, Bridges continued to attend William Frantz Elementary School. Today she runs the Ruby Bridges Foundation which works to help “young people understand the past, find their voice, and build a more just and connected future.”

C’EST W H AT

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the platform. Launched in fall 2022, Crescent City Sounds is all about music made by New Orleans-based artists, and the site already hosts more than 200 albums and EPs by locals working in all genres. New Orleans musicians and bands can submit their music to crescentcitysounds.org through Oct. 2. The platform aims to add 60 projects this year, and artists who are accepted will be paid a $300 honorarium. All genres are accepted, but Crescent City Sounds is looking for projects made within the last five years by artists who primarily perform in New Orleans. EPs and albums should have at least four tracks or be 20 minutes in length. And submissions with hate speech will be thrown out. Submissions will be combed through by a team of community curators led by library associate Joshua Smith, who spearheaded Crescent City Sounds. This year’s curator cohort includes DJ and producer Erick Santero; musician A’oleon Broomfield; WWOZ DJ Murf Reeves; vocalist Kayla Jasmine; New Orleans Record Press co-owner and Sinking City Records co-founder Scott

A screen shot of the crescentcitysounds.org. SCREENSHOT

Borne; LOCALS Fest producer Ryan Batiste; Michael Wilson, who produces the COUCHES concert series; and talent booker Renata Robertson. The library also will host informational sessions during the submission period to answer questions from interested musicians. There are sessions at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at Central

City Library; and 5:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at the East New Orleans Regional Library. “If you have an album or EP that was recorded in the last five years, we want to hear it,” Smith said. Smith led the launch of Crescent City Sounds in 2022 after seeing the success of similar streaming platforms created by other public library systems. The hope, he has said, is to offer a service where local musicians could be heard and where people interested in New Orleans music could find something fresh. Now in its fifth submission round, Crescent City Sounds hosts projects by rappers Nesby Phips, Kr3wcial and 504icygrl and PoppyH. There are also albums from the Free Agents Brass Band, Leroy Jone’s Original Hurricane Brass Band, the New Orleans Nightcrawlers’ Grammy-winning

album “Atmosphere” and many more — all available to stream for free. To stream music and find more info about submissions, go to crescentcitysounds.org. — Jake Clapp

NOLAPickup.com is an online garage sale for ‘people who hate Facebook’

Longtime friends and New Orleans natives Rami Sharkey and Dan Fox are taking their corner of the internet back to the basics. Earlier this year they officially launched NOLAPickup.com, an independent online marketplace that allows users in Greater New Orleans to buy and sell used items from each other, including appliances, furniture, and clothing. Users can also find services, like landscaping or even skateboarding lessons. “It’s a way to subvert the retail market,” Fox says. “We’re also in a recession in New Orleans, so anything you can do to save a buck is crucial.” Navigating the site is simple: Locals can sign up via email for free to shop or sell stuff and browse by category or by using the search bar. Listings indicate which neighborhood the seller is based PAGE 11

“ In the early days of COVID, Juliet got really sick.

During that time, her heart stopped twice. Thankfully, the doctors were able to bring her back. Because of Louisiana Blue, we didn’t have to worry about paying for the care she needed. We were able to focus on her recovery. Now she’s healthy and we’re all back to normal. Sometimes normal is the best thing. Boring is wonderful! “

Right Card. Right Care.

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in, and there are opt-ins for instant messages or price drop alerts. And users can be notified when certain items hit the marketplace. If all that sounds familiar, it’s because Sharkey and Fox are driven by a sense of nostalgia for the internet before it was completely taken over by algorithm-based ads and short-form video content meant to keep users addicted. “There was an era (where the internet) was much more user-friendly — it was more about community than shareholder value,” Sharkey says. “That’s what we’re trying to do: get back to that golden era of just being useful, which seems revolutionary these days.” NOLAPickUp.com instead operates similarly to old-school Craigslist – that is, before it became a hotbed for scammers and slumlords. And in an era where one can endlessly scroll for products, it takes away the indecision fatigue. “There’s a curated garage sale” nature to it, Fox says. It’s also becoming an alternative to Facebook’s Marketplace feature, which is full of deceptive ads disguised as local listings. In fact, they duo describes NOLAPickup as a “marketplace for people who hate Facebook.” “We’ve got people that are like, ‘We hate Facebook, we’re so glad you did this,’ ” Fox says, likening the site’s launch to “offering someone a fresh clean glass of water after they’ve been drinking sewer water after 10 years. It’s refreshing against the monolith of the big tech companies.” So far there are roughly 1,200 people who have signed up for accounts. The co-founders are also trying to encourage a sense of community that might start online but spill over into real life. Sharkey says NOLAPickup “encourages meeting your neighbors, and getting off your device, whether you’re buying or selling. We saw this as an important byproduct: We’re actually meeting each other” in person. Fox and Sharkey monitor the site’s listings throughout the day for safety purposes and to weed out potential scammers. They’ve partnered with local spots like Hey Cafe, Mojo Coffee and Stein’s Deli to serve as spaces where people can meet-up for exchanges in person. The DIY spirit is central to the website and mission.

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Dan Fox and Rami Sharkey, longtime friends and co-founders of NOLAPickup.com

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PHOTO BY SARAH RAVITS / GAMBIT

Sharkey taught himself how to code in the early aughts while promoting his West Bank indie rap alter-ego, Ballzack. Fox is the longtime publisher of New Orleans alternative monthly magazine, Antigravity, and has a background in film production and set decorating, which has given him plenty of experience shopping in the secondary market. “Everybody has too much stuff,” he says. “There’s something to be said for sourcing things that come from someone else — you don’t have to throw away a bunch of packaging, or introduce something new into the cycle. I think people enjoy that market.” He says it’s a win-win for both buyers and sellers. As a seller, it’s not necessarily about making a big profit. There’s a satisfaction in “purging things you don’t need, and if you make a few bucks that’s amazing, and that object can take on a second life and it’s new to (someone else). There’s a lot to be said for that.” Right now it’s still in the early stages, and they’re continuing to experiment with new features while maintaining the site’s simplicity. They’re also considering expanding to be more supportive of local artists looking to sell their crafts online. Sharkey and Fox have sold a handful of ads to local businesses that are displayed on the site, and they offer users the option to “boost” posts for $5 a week. But they’re not trying to become the next tech oligarchs. They hope it can serve as a model for other communities to keep things local. “I hope there’s a reaction against all this big tech that leads to local tech,” Sharkey says. — Sarah Ravits

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Marking the anniversary of the 1874 terrorist attack on New Orleans SEPT. 14 MARKS THE 152ND ANNIVERSARY of the terrorist attack on New

Orleans by the Crescent City White League, the white nationalist organization made up of former Confederate soldiers and led by wealthy white New Orleanians. Their goal was to overthrow the state’s government, end efforts to extend and protect the civil rights of Black Louisianans and restore white power in the state. The Sept. 14 attack came after a previous failed coup attempt and less than a year and a half after the Colfax Massacre when as many as 150 Black men were killed during a Ku Klux Klan attack in Grant Parish. During the afternoon of the 14th, some 5,000 terrorists attacked an estimated 3,500 members of the New Orleans Metropolitan Police, which included many Black men, and quickly took control of the state legislature, armory and much of downtown New Orleans, resulting in at least 35 deaths. As they laid siege to the U.S. Customs House where the legitimate governor William Pitt Kellogg was holed up, the White League installed their own legislature, declared white supremacist leader John McEnery governor and even held an “inauguration” for him. Although the occupation would only last a few days before federal troops arrived, it was a key turning point in the efforts of white nationalists to retake power in Louisiana and the rest of the South. Less than three years later, on March 3, 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes would pull federal troops out of

U.S. Deputy Marshals escort six-year-old Ruby Bridges from William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in Nov. 1960. FILE PHOTO / THE AP/ THEADVOCATE.COM

Henry Clay statue at foot of Canal Street prior to 1874 white supremacist attack on New Orleans FILE PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION

Louisiana, ending Reconstruction and ushering in the brutal Jim Crow Era. Despite this pivotal role the attack played in our history, it has sadly but unsurprisingly largely become forgotten. The city holds no formal memorial ceremonies to remember the fallen members of the Metropolitan Police force. No wreaths are laid or official proclamations marking the day issued. In fact, the only memorial to the attack was erected by white supremacists and included an inscription praising Hayes’ 1876 election as recognizing “white supremacy in the South.” The monument was put into storage in 2017. It also doesn’t appear to be a part of the state’s history curriculum. For instance, the “Land of Liberty: Louisiana High School U.S. History” curriculum developed by the state Department of Education does not mention the attack in its section on Reconstruction. Current and recent graduates of high schools in New Orleans and other parts of the state not only say it wasn’t taught to them — some New Orleanians had never heard of it at all.For decades after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., rather than come to terms with our past, America sought to declare the civil rights movement successful and “move on” from Jim Crow and our violent, racist history. But that history, from the 1874 attack on New Orleans to the 1963 March on Washington, isn’t really history at all. Ruby Bridges, who helped desegregate New Orleans’ schools at the age of 6, just made 72 on Sept. 8. The fight over racial equality isn’t some long ago relic. It is her living experience. As any Black person in America can tell you, for all its immense strides the civil rights

movement didn’t end discrimination. Indeed, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow still weighs heavily on Black and white people alike, no matter how much we may wish it was ancient history. And that relevance certainly isn’t lost on those who still yearn for the “great” days of Jim Crow. For instance, in recent years we’ve seen efforts to force public schools in Louisiana to teach a false, benign version of slavery. Black political power and representation is once again being undermined. A duly elected Black New Orleanian had his office eliminated before he could take office. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, Louisiana lost one of its two majority Black congressional seats — despite Black people making up a third of the state’s population. At the same time the court is busy chipping away at the protections of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Universities are shuttering African American studies programs and references to the brutality of slavery are being stripped from national parks and monuments. Lonnie Bunch, a well-respected Black historian and educator, was forced out as head of the Smithsonian over false claims he was pursuing an “anti-white” agenda. The hardest moments in our lives don’t just help shape who we are. They help us better understand who we are in order to hopefully become better versions of ourselves. The same holds true for our society. The U.S. Constitution begins with the aspirational goal of establishing a “more perfect union” — not an already perfect one. That constant struggle to better ourselves as people and as a nation has always been the hallmark of American greatness. We do ourselves, and those who came before us like the victims of the 1874 attack on New Orleans, a disservice when we forget our past. Especially the hard parts.

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Hey Blake,

Is it true that Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis once owned a music club on Bourbon Street? If so, what was its name and when was it open?

Dear reader,

THE STORYVILLE DISTRICT OPENED ON DEC. 29, 1998,

at 125 Bourbon St., a building that was part of the former D.H. Holmes department store at Bourbon and Iberville. The 12,000-squarefoot music club and restaurant was a $3 million project developed by the men behind the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — longtime producer Quint Davis and festival founder George Wein — along with Davis’ father, noted architect Arthur Q. Davis, restaurateur Ralph Brennan and other investors. Named after the New Orleans red-light district where prostitution was legalized from 1898 until 1917, the Storyville club was designed as a permanent home for jazz and other local music forms. The music director was Gregory Davis, no relation to Quint or Arthur but the longtime bandleader of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Performers during

The Hard Rock Cafe on Bourbon, formerly the home of Quint Davis’ Storyville District.

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the first week of business included R&B legends Eddie Bo and Wanda Rouzan, blues singer Marva Wright, modern jazz saxophonist Clarence Johnson III and trumpeter Leroy Jones. Brennan, who owns and operates Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill next door, provided the menu for the club. “Quint is out to recreate the Jazz Fest experience, where you have quite a variety of mostly New Orleans food,” Brennan said in a February 1998 Times-Picayune article. Storyville District was sold and closed in 2002. It was replaced by Howl at the Moon before becoming a Hard Rock Café in 2012.

BLAKEVIEW THIS PAST SUNDAY THE SAINTS NOT ONLY KICKED OFF their regular season against the Detroit Lions, they began their 60th season in the league. The team will also mark another milestone this month: the 20th anniversary of the Black and Gold’s return to the Caesars Superdome on Sept. 25, 2006, for the first game there following Hurricane Katrina. Then next month they’ll make history by participating in the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in Paris on Oct. 25. On Nov. 1, 1966, All Saints’ Day, New Orleanians celebrated the news that the city had been awarded a National Football League franchise, to be known as the Saints. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle joined congressional, state and local leaders to make the announcement at the Pontchartrain Hotel, including businessman Dave Dixon, who led the effort to land the team. Texas oilman John Mecom Jr. became the youngest owner in NFL history when he bought the Saints for $8.5 million. Tickets for the inaugural season went on sale in March 1967. Around 20,000 season tickets were sold on the first day, breaking NFL records. Under head coach Tom Fears, the Saints faced the Los Angeles Rams in their first home game at Tulane Stadium on Sept. 17, 1967. John Gilliam returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown on the first play, but the Saints lost 27-13, and ended their first season 3-11. Unfortunately, losing seasons were common for the next 30 years, with the team finally celebrating their first playoff run in 1987 under head coach Jim Mora, general manager Jim Finks and owner Tom Benson, who purchased the team in 1985. The Saints’ first Super Bowl victory was in 2010, under head coach Sean Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis. Gayle Benson has owned the team since her husband’s death in 2018. For the 60th season, commemorative merchandise is available, and players and mascots will wear special uniform patches. Anniversary branding also will appear on field markings, stadium signage and the team’s digital platforms.

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Fall EVENTS

GUIDE A SEASON FULL OF FESTIVALS, CONCERTS, COMEDY, SPORTS and more

THE FALL CALENDAR is always full in New Orleans, and there’s always something new and different. This October, the We Belong Here electronic music festival debuts on the riverfront. Skankfest, the rowdy national comedy festival, returns with more than 120 comics for its second year at Mardi Gras World. The National Fried Chicken Festival marks its 10th anniversary with a big lineup of musical headliners. And the New Orleans Fringe Festival under new leadership debuts in November. Familiar events include the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival in October, Deutsches Haus’s Oktoberfest celebration along Bayou St. John, and Celebration in the Oaks in City Park and more. Outside of New Orleans, there’s the Three Rivers Arts Festival in downtown Covington, and a host of Halloween events at Rougarou Fest in Houma. There’s also plenty going on at local theaters, from comedy to dance, dramas and musicals. Theatrical productions range from water ballet troupe Aqua Mob’s adaptation of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in a pool in Mid-City to touring Broadway productions of “The Lion King” and “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” at Saenger Theatre. There’s also plenty of action on the field for the New Orleans Saints and in college football. Gambit’s Fall Events Guide has schedules for all sorts of festivals, events and performances, including lists for comedy, concerts, sports and second lines. Many events have yet to release full entertainment lineups and schedules, so check Gambit and bestofneworleans.com in coming weeks and months for more previews and highlights.

'The Lion King' PROVIDED PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY

SEPTEMBER THRU SEPT. 18

‘Cain’

The Marigny Opera Ballet and Verismo Opera present a ballet-opera with a reimagined take on a Baroque composition about the Cain and Abel story. At the Marigny Opera House. Find tickets and information at marignyoperahouse.org. THRU SEPT. 20

‘Come from Away’

Fried Chicken Fest celebrates its 10th anniversary on Oct. 2-4 at the Lakefront. PHOTO BY MATTHEW PERSCHALL / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

As the 9/11 attacks happened, 38 planes were diverted to a remote airport in Newfoundland, where residents of a small town welcomed thousands of stranded travelers. In the musical, a dozen actors play many of the people who met and waited out the bewildering circumstances. Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show at Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Find tickets at jpas.org. THRU SEPT. 27

‘Finding Neverland’

In a musical about the creation of the story of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie is a playwright in London who befriends a family with a young boy who is strug-

gling with grief. At Rivertown Theaters. Find tickets and information at rivertowntheaters.com. THRU SEPT. 27

‘Something Cloudy, Something Clear’

In a drama inspired by his own young life, Tennessee William’s “Something Cloudy, Something Clear” follows August, a young playwright living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as he is trying to steer his play toward a Broadway premiere. But he’s distracted by his feelings for Kip, a young Canadian dancer who is avoiding the draft. The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans presents the show at Loyola University’s Lower Depths Theatre. Find information at twtheatrenola.com. SEPT. 14-15

Three’s Company, Four’s a Quartet The Musaica Chamber Ensemble performs work by Bach, Mueller and Franz Doppler. At Metairie Ridge Presbyterian Church and St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church. Find tickets and information at musaica.org. PAGE 18

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

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PAGE 17

2026 FALL LINEUP 9/23: Bruno Elisabetsky • 9/30: Indigo Strings 10/7: An Evening with Amici • 10/14: Eight Dice Cloth 10/21: Freddie Blue and the Friendship Circle 10/28: Nat & Kat Cajun String Band WEDNESDAYS IN SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER

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The Swampus Returns parade is Oct. 3 in the French Quarter. PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

SEPT. 15

SEPT. 18

Moth GrandSLAM

Curtain Call Ball

Winners of The Moth’s monthly open-mic storytelling contests compete in the finals. The story theme is “off the rails.” At Le Petit Theatre. Find tickets at themoth.org. SEPT. 16

Evgeny Konnov

Evgeny Konnov won a gold medal at the New Orleans International Piano Competition in July and has won numerous competitions across the globe. The Musical Arts Society of New Orleans presents the concert at a private residence. Visit masno.org for details.

Bookk Y Your T Tours T Today d The best New Orleans nights begin when the shutters close, the gas lamps flicker, and the French Quarter starts telling on itself. Our expert guides are ready to lead you through the city’s oldest arguments, wildest legends, unsolved crimes, and beautifully haunted architecture bringing the stories to life, one eerie stop at a time.

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SEPT. 16

Taste of America

The tasting event includes tasting stations from 20 chefs named as chefs to watch by the James Beard Foundation. Sophina Uong of Mister Mao represents New Orleans on the list. The event is at the Josephine. Visit jamesbeard.org for tickets and information. SEPT. 17

‘Laurel Canyon 1979’

The Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles was known as a home to many musicians and a font of popular music. In Grace Caroline Curley’s new play, the neighborhood is changing and some of the older hippie residents are leery about what’s going on. The Irene Collective presents a staged reading at New Marigny Theatre. Find information at irenecollective.net.

Local performers sing Broadway show tunes in the fundraiser for Le Petit Theatre, and there is an auction, cocktails and food. At Le Petit Theatre. Find tickets and information at lepetittheatre.com. SEPT. 18-20

Batture Contemporary

The festival showcases new work by Louisiana composers including Byron Asher, Lewis Blakely, Jeremi W. Edwards, Tucker Fuller, Mara Gibson, Odaline de la Martinez, Ben Robichaux and others in concerts, open rehearsals and workshops at New Marigny Theatre and other venues. Find details at versipel.org. SEPT. 19

Art Jam

KID smART holds the family festival with live performances, hands-on activities, workshops and more from presenters including KID smART, Art Camp 504, NOLA Artist Incubators, New Orleans Public Library and more. The daytime event is at the Andre Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice, and the Free People’s Farmers Market happens concurrently at the neighboring Waldorf School of New Orleans. Visit kidsmart.org for details. SEPT. 19

Crescent City Connection Bridge Run

The 6K run goes from the West Bank to Mississippi Heritage Park in front of the convention center and is followed by a party with live music and

Fall EVENTS GUIDE SEPT. 19

Krewe du Vieux Kickoff Party

The satirical and raunchy Carnival krewe holds a party and krewe fundraiser with music by Ghalia Volt, live and silent auctions and more at the Broadside. Find tickets and information at broadsidenola.com. SEPT. 19

Tailgate Fest

Urban South Brewery hosts a college football celebration with viewings of the Tulane versus Kansas State and LSU versus Ole Miss games. There’s also live music, games, a kids’ area and a new beer, Orange Wheat Winner. Visit urbansouth.com for details. SEPT. 19-20

Westbank Heritage Food & Music Fest

Performers include Joe, King George, Donte Allen, Yirmey Yisrael, DJ Captain Charles, DJ Polo, DJ Poppa, Roots of Music and more. There are more than 15 food vendors offering Creole food, seafood, Mexican dishes, desserts and more. At the John A. Alario Event Center in Westwego. Find information at westbankfest.com. SEPT. 20

Celebracion Latina

The Audubon Zoo’s celebration of Latin culture features music by Los Guiros, Papo y Son Mandao and Cristina Kaminis, performances by Lucha Krewe and Ritmeaux Krewe, Latin food vendors and more. Visit audubonzoo.com/celebracion for information. SEPT. 22 & 25

‘Flamboyants!’

Big Chief Juan Pardo is in the cast of the touring show about a man caught on Reunion Island during a cyclone. The show blends history and fiction in an exploration of Creole identity. At the New Orleans Jazz Museum and Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. Find tickets and information at linktr.ee/flamboyantstour. SEPT. 22-27

‘Jersey Boys’

The musical tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and it’s full of their hits, including “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Oh, What a Night,” “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man” and more. The touring Broadway production comes to Saenger Theatre. Find tickets via saengernola.com.

SEPT. 24-26, OCT. 2-3, 5 & 9-10

‘2001: An Odyssey into the Deep’

New Orleans’ water ballet theater company Aqua Mob adapts “2001: A Space Odyssey” for the pool. It’s a mind-boggling search for the mysteries beyond the stars, with a live score from The Kissing Disease. At the Midtown Hotel. Find tickets on eventbrite.com. SEPT. 25

Hot Fix Sideshow

The Coney Island sideshow troupe features Alaska Lostboy, Cyclone Jack Sullivan, Kita St. Cyr, Maggie McMuffin and others doing aerial work, fire tricks, escape acts, sword swallowing, glass walking and more. At Cafe Istanbul. Find tickets via hotfixsideshow.com. SEPT. 25-26

Black Americana Fest

The festival lineup includes Tray Wellington, Seratones, Joy Clark, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Denitia, The Lilli Lewis Project, Bolton Serunjogi, Dusky Waters and more. There are two music stages and panel discussions and presentations at the Broadside. Find tickets and information at blackamericanafest.com. SEPT. 25-27

Relax with selections of

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International Arts Festival

The music and arts festival lineup features Nigerian artist Seun Kuti, Jamaica’s Bushman, Donald Harrison Jr., Britain’s Peter White, Alexey Marti, Corey Henry & the Treme Funktet, Irvin Mayfield and more. At The Public Market at South Shore Harbor. Find tickets and information via internationalartsfoundation.com. SEPT. 25-26, 28 & OCT. 5

‘I Wrote a Song’

In the original musical, a gay Baptist minister starts his journey to come out of the closet. The show stars Laveau Contraire, Kieva Banks, Patrick Smith, Nicholas Anthony Smith, Peachy King and Justin Betweener. At AllWays Lounge & Cabaret. Find tickets on eventbrite.com. SEPT. 25-OCT. 11

‘My Fair Lady’

In the classic musical, a couple of upper class British phoneticists tutor a flower girl on how to speak proper English, and she charms one of the professors. Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show at Westwego Performing Arts Theatre. Find tickets at jpas.org. PAGE 21

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FAIRSCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30TH 7:30am – 9:30am Cut Flowers Exhibits Accepted 7:30am – 1:30pm Crop Exhibits Accepted 8:00am – till Commercial Vendors Set Up 9:00am Judging of Jr and Adult Home Economics Exhibit, Booths and Educational Exhibits 10:30am Judging of Floral Exhibits Begin 2:00pm Crop Exhibits Judging Begins 4:00pm – 8:00pm Poultry and Rabbit Exhibits Accepted 5:00pm – 10:00pm Midway Rides $1 each Ride 4:00pm 8:00pm Mini Farm Open (Lee Road Jr./Boyet Jr FFA) 6:00pm – 8:00pm Weigh Animals and turn in Livestock forms THURSDAY, OCT. 1ST 8:00am – 9:00am Commercial Vendors Set Up

9:00am – 12:00pm Mini Farm Open (Pearl River High FFA) 10:00am – 8:00pm Exhibits Open for Viewing 1:00pm – 4:00pm Mini Farm Open (Fontainebleau High/Lakeshore High FFA) 5:00pm – 8:00pm Mini Farm Open (Monteleone/Fontainebleau Jr High FFA) 5:00pm – 10:00pm – Midway Rides Open $27 Pay One Price 6:00pm – 8:00pm Gospel Night, Stage FRIDAY, OCT. 2ND ENTRANCE FEE $5 ADULTS, $3 FOR CHILDREN UNDER 12 AFTER 1:00PM

9:00am Parade Line Up, Jefferson Ave 10:00am Parade Begins on Jefferson Ave 10:00am – 9:00pm Exhibits Open for Viewing 10:00am – 3:00pm Midway Rides Open $27 Pay One Price

SEPT.30TH TO OCT.4TH

11:00am – 12:00pm 7:30pm to 10:00pm Opening Ceremony, Stage Twisted H Ranch Rodeo, Rodeo Arena $15 Adults $10 Children 12 years and under 12:00pm – 12:15 pm JFK Martial Arts Demo Team 11:00pm – 12:00am Midway Rides Individual Ride Tickets 1:00pm Entrance Fee at Gates $1.00each; Rides take 3 – 7 tickets $5 Adults, $3 children under 12 SATURDAY, OCT. 3RD 1:00pm – 4:00pm ENTRANCE FEE $5 ADULTS, Mini Farm Open $3 FOR CHILDREN UNDER 12 (Fifth Ward/Creekside Jr High FFA) 8:00am 1:00pm – 3:00pm Dairy Cattle Show Cheer & Dance Team Competition, Stage 9:00am 2:00pm Beef Cattle Show•Old Barn Action Youth and Community Resources, Stage 9:00am – 9:00pm 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm Exhibits Open For Viewing Harvest Gold Band, Stage 10:00am – 11:00pm 4:00pm – 11:00pm Midway Rides $32 Pay One Price Midway Rides $32 Pay One Price 10:00am – 1:00pm 4:00pm – 6:00pm JoJo the Magician, Main Stage JAEE Band, Stage 5:00pm – 8:00pm 12:00pm Mini Farm Open Swine, Sheep & Goat Show (Swine Barn) (Northshore High School FFA) 1:00pm – 3:45 pm 7:00pm – 10:00pm BIRD Band, Main Stage Hwy 190 Band, Main Stage 4:00pm – 7:00pm 7:00pm Rodeo Queen Crowning – Rodeo Arena Gracie Marie Band, Main Stage

5:00pm – 8:00pm Mini Farm Open (Slidell/Folsom Jr. High FFA) 7:30pm – 10:00pm Twisted H Ranch Rodeo, Rodeo Arena $15 Adults $10 Children 12 years and under $15 Adults $10 Children 12 years and under 8:00pm – 10:00pm Nola Groove Band, Stage 11:00pm – 12:00am Midway Rides Individual Ride Tickets $1.00 each; Rides take 3 – 7 tickets SUNDAY, OCT. 4TH 12:00am – 10:00am Livestock Released 8:00am – 9:00am Poultry & Rabbit Release 9:00am – 12:00pm Mini Farm dismantled (Lee Road/Boyet Jr High FFA) 11:00am – 6:00pm Midway Rides $32 Pay One Price 12:00pm – 5:00pm Education Booths dismantled

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PAGE 19

OCT. 8

SEPT. 26

La Fete Creole

L.O.C.A.L.S. Fest

OperaCreole presents a program including scenes from its past productions of “Porgy and Bess,” “Thelma” and “Minette Fontaine,” as well as songs from the musicals “Ragtime,” “Carmen” and “The Wiz.” Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes and Don Vappie join a salute to Beyonce and women Creole composers. At Cafe Istanbul. Visit operacreole.org for tickets and information.

The festival has three music stages and a lineup including Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Sporty’s Brass Band, Keep It Moving Brass Band, Ryan Batiste and Raw Revolution, Spin Griffey, DJ RQ Away and more. There also are food and craft vendors and more in Louis Armstrong Park. Visit localsfestnola.com for details. SEPT. 26

NOLA East Festival

OCT. 8

There’s entertainment, food vendors and more in Joe Brown Park. Visit friendsofjoewbrownpark.org for details.

Taste of Italy

SEPT. 26

The tasting event aims to create a massive antipasti spread representing numerous regions of Italy. There also are dishes from participating restaurants including Italian Barrel, Tana, Pulcinella!, Pascal’s Manale, Procida, Copeland’s, Saint John and more. On Fulton Street. Proceeds benefit the Italian-American St. Joseph Society. Find tickets on eventbrite.com.

Siam Night Market

OCT. 8-24

SEPT. 26

Pagan Pride Festival

The event features rituals, speakers, performers, vendors and more at the Music Box Village. Admission is free. Find information on facebook.com.

The event highlights Thai and Southeast Asian dishes from more than 20 local vendors including Nori Guys, Taste of Kulture, Thai D-Jing, Sogbu and more. There’s also entertainment and a market at the Westwego Fisheries and Farmers Market. For information, go to @nolathaifoodfest on Instagram.

‘The Curse of the Mummy’

'Buena Vista Social Club' comes to Saenger Theatre Dec. 8-13. PROVIDED PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY

SEPT. 30-OCT. 10

‘Amadeus’

In Peter Shaffer’s drama, the composer Antonio Salieri is stunned and jealous of the talents of the young and flamboyant Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who he watches rise to fame and indulge himself in Austrian society. Clint Johnson and Rahim Glaspy star in Fat Squirrel’s production at CANOA. Find information at fatsquirrelnola.square.site.

OCTOBER OCT. 1-4

New Orleans Ragtime Festival

and on the main stage, and there’s a singer-songwriter stage as well. There are also craft, food and drink vendors. At the Abita Springs Trailhead. Go to abitafallfest.com for tickets and details.

Max Prince, while also dodging censors in the era of creeping McCarthyism. At Le Petit Theatre. Find tickets and information at lepetittheatre.com.

OCT. 2

Fall Garden Festival

Terry Fator

In his “Pure Imagination: Once Upon a Voice” show, Terry Fator combines ventriloquism with his own characters and celebrity figures, impressions, comedy and more. He performs at Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets via mahaliajacksontheater.com. OCT. 2-4

The festival features music, dancing and more at venues across the city. The musical lineup includes Victor Campbell, Kyle Roussel, Steve Pistorius & the Southern Syncopators, the Matt Lemmler Ragtime Trio, Margie Perez, Lars Edegran’s New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra and more. Find tickets and information at theneworleansragtimefestival.com.

National Fried Chicken Festival

OCT. 2

Inspired by entertainment legends Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, Neil Simon’s comedy “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” is about TV writers working for TV star

Abita Fall Fest

The music lineup includes Dumpstaphunk, Bonerama, Flow Tribe and more

The National Fried Chicken Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary by expanding to three days and a big lineup of Nelly, 2 Chainz, Dillon Francis, Ying Yang Twins, Keri Hilson, Big Freedia and more. There’s also food from 40 vendors at the Lakefront. Find tickets and information at friedchickenfestival.com. OCT. 2-18

‘Laughter on the 23rd Floor’

OCT. 3

The New Orleans Botanical Garden in City Park hosts 50 vendors, gardening experts, crafts, educational programs, cooking demonstrations and more at the daytime event. Find more information at neworleanscitypark.org. OCT. 3

Swampus Returns

The Halloween parade features the swamp creature Swampus and giant puppets as well as Carnival marching groups on a route through the heart of the French Quarter. Find details at swampusreturns.com. OCT. 5-6

Bard @ The Batture: Ladies Night

Crescent City Stage presents a show highlighting of some of Shakespeare’s leading women, with monologues from Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and more. Outdoors at The Batture. Find tickets and information at crescentcitystage.com.

The NOLA Project presents the comedic and family-friendly version of the horror tale. The adaptation was written by former company actor Pete McElligott, who also wrote their versions of “Frankenstein” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” At Greenway Station on the Lafitte Greenway. Find tickets and information at nolaproject.com/ mummy. OCT. 9-10

HUMP Film Fest

Dan Savage’s amateur porn film festival returns to the Broad Theater with a new slate of 24 short films featuring all sorts of sexualities, body types, kinks and more. Films range from serious to comic with stories about cowboys, mad scientists, food, vengeance and more. Find tickets and information at humpfilmfest.com. OCT. 9-11

Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival The free festival features Samantha Fish, Booker T. Jones, Little Freddie King, Johnny Sansone, Erica Falls & Vintage Soul, Mia Borders and more. There also are a dozen food vendors offering an array of barbecue dishes in Lafayette Square. Presented by the Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Visit crescentcitybluesfest.com for details. OCT. 9-11

Festival of the Lake

The musical line-up includes Marc Broussard, Flow Tribe, Christian Serpas PAGE 23

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Fall EVENTS GUIDE

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

NIGHT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 6–9 PM Get your tickets today for an evening of music, art, and more celebrating the opening of Second Nature: Japanese Rinpa Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection.

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PAGE 21

and Ghost Town and Four Unplugged. Admission is free, and the event is a fundraiser for Our Lady of the Lake church in Mandeville. For information, go to festivalofthelake.com.

era. There’s live music, art and food vendors and more in Lafreniere Park in Metairie. Check quepasafest.org for schedule and details.

OCT. 9-11

Ghosts in the Oaks

Gentilly Fest

The neighborhood festival features live music, a kids area, a market, food vendors and more. The free event takes place in Pontchartrain Park. Visit gentillyfestival.com for details. OCT. 9-10, 16-17 & 23-24

Oktoberfest

Deutsches Haus presents its annual celebration of the German fall festival complete with bratwursts, schnitzel and plenty of German food, imported and local German-style beers, live music, chicken dancing and more. At Deutches Haus along Bayou St. John. Find information at oktoberfestnola.com. OCT. 10

Japan Fest

The Japan Society of New Orleans and the New Orleans Museum of Art present the celebration of Japanese culture with demonstrations of taiko drumming, martial arts, tea ceremonies, Japanese food and more. Visit noma.org for information. OCT. 10

‘My Hero Academia’ in Concert

The anime series follows Deku, a boy who dreams of becoming a hero. This show screens scenes from its eightseason saga with a live 15-piece band providing the score. At Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets via mahaliajacksontheater.com. OCT. 10

Money in the Bank

The WWE pro wrestling event features Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Liv Morgan & The Judgment Day, Oba Femi, Jade Cargill, Trick Williams, Jacob Fatu and many more. At the Smoothie King Center. Find tickets via smoothiekingcenter.com. OCT. 10

Old Arabi Sugar Fest

The festival features live music by the Irene Sage Band, Epic and Cypress Pop Trio, and there’s a doughnut-eating contest, a dessert competition, a kids tent and activities, a sugar giveaway by Domino, food and drink vendors and more at the Aycock Barn (409 Aycock St. in Arabi). Find information at oldarabi.org. OCT. 10-11

Que Pasa Fest

The Latin music festival marks its 15th anniversary, and programming will include nods to a traditional quincean-

OCT. 15-18

The Halloween event features unlimited rides in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park in City Park, and there are activities, food and more. Visit neworleanscitypark.org for information. OCT. 15-25

Crescent City Chamber Music Festival

The festival features performances by the Manhattan Chamber Players, clarinetist Mark Dover and bandoneonist JP Jofre at venues across the city, and some performances are free. Visit crescentcitychambermusicfestival.com for details. OCT. 16

Morgus Madness

Local public TV station WYES salutes Morgus the Magnificent in a Halloween event at the station with music by Consortium of Genius, a costume contest and food and drink. Find information at wyes.org.

The Oak Street Po-Boy Festival is Nov. 8. PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

OCT. 16-18

Boo at the Zoo

The Audubon Zoo opens for daytime trick-or-treating, and this year there’s a new Li’l Boo event for very young attendees on Friday that concludes with a movie at twilight. Visit audubonzoo. com/boo for tickets and information. OCT. 16-18

NOLA Funk Fest

The music festival lineup features George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Dumpstaphunk, Galactic, Anders Osborne, Erica Falls, Cimafunk, Lost Bayou Ramblers, CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Brass-AHolics and more. At the Audubon Aquarium Riverfront Park. Find tickets and information at nolafunkfest.com. OCT. 16-18

‘Piecework’

Choreographer Eris Noelle’s contemporary dance piece is about a personal journey through exploration, grief, rage and rebellion. At the New Marigny Theatre. Find tickets via newmarignytheatre.com. OCT. 16-18

Praise Fest on the Bayou

The daytime festival features gospel and live entertainment, worship, a market and food vendors and more. On Bayou St. John at 500 N. Norman C. Francis Parkway. For details, visit praisefestnola.com.

OCT. 17

Pilobolus

The modern dance company, now under the direction of Renee Jaworski and Matt Kent, is known for its athleticism, creative movement and visual illusions. The performance is presented by the New Orleans Ballet Association at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets and information at nobadance.com. OCT. 17

Tour da Parish

Tour da Parish offers cyclists a chance to explore St. Bernard Parish on a choice of routes that are 10, 15, 30 or 51 miles long. All routes end at a festival at the Los Islenos Museum Complex. For information and to register, go to stbernardchamber.org/tdp. OCT. 17-18

Louisiana Oyster Culture Festival

The festival features live music, oysters and other food from local vendors, an art market and more at the Frederick J. Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette. For information, visit louisianaoysterculturefestival.com. OCT. 17-18

Wooden Boat Festival

Along the Tchefuncte River, the Maritime Museum Louisiana hosts the

festival with wooden boats on display, live entertainment, a quick boat-building competition, a market and more. Visit maritimemuseumlouisiana.org for details. OCT. 16-17

‘The Dean Martin Story’

Las Vegas singer Drew Anthony stars as Dean Martin in the musical show featuring Rat Pack hits and portrayals of Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Lewis, Peggy Lee, Johnny Carson and more. At Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Find tickets at jeffersonpac.com. OCT. 18

Louisiana Shrimp Festival & Shrimp Aid

The festival raises awareness about threats to Louisiana shrimpers and the seafood industry. The music lineup includes Sweet Crude, Sunpie’s Afro-Louisiana Music and Drew Landry. There’s a boiled shrimp peel-and-eat contest and more. At the Broadside. For information, visit louisianashrimpfestival.org. OCT. 19

Isidore String Quartet

The Isidore String Quartet has its roots at New York’s Juilliard School, and its members play a range of classic to contemporary compositions. PAGE 24

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@mojocoffeehouse @mojocoffeeroasters

PAGE 23

Pilobolus performs Oct. 17 at Mahalia Jackson Theater. PROVIDED PHOTO BY JASON HUDSON

SOUTHERN PECAN

ICED FROZEN OR HOT!

At Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. Find tickets and information at friendsofmusic.org. OCT. 21-NOV. 8

‘The Lion King’

Set on the African savanna, the story follows the young lion Simba as he tries to succeed his father Mufasa in leading the pride. Along the way, he also befriends Pumbaa the warthog and Timon the meerkat. The touring Broadway musical comes to Saenger Theatre. Find tickets via saengernola.com. OCT. 21 & DEC. 21

The Greenhouse

Fat Squirrel Productions presents slates of new 10-minute plays by local writers at Big Couch. Find tickets and information at fatsquirrelnola.square.site. OCT. 22-27

New Orleans Film Festival

The festival opens with “Victory,” Ben Chance’s documentary about Irma Thomas, and there are several documentaries about regional music. Features include the comedy “Loves Company,” starring former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Rachel Dratch, Jack Plotnick, Sarah Baker and local actor Bryan Batt. There also are narrative features, documentaries, short and experimental films, as well as a film conference during the festival. Visit neworleansfilmsociety.org for a full schedule, tickets and information.

OCT. 23-24

Boos and Brews

The Halloween event in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park includes rides, beer bars and more. Costumes are encouraged. At City Park. For information, go to neworleanscitypark.org OCT. 23-24

Krewe of Boo

The Mardi Gras-style Halloween parade with floats, marching groups, bands and more is the highlight of the krewe’s events. There also are parties, a happy hour, a ball following the parade on Saturday, and the Zombie Run. For event tickets and information about riding, go to kreweofboo.com. OCT. 23-25

ACAB Zine Fest

The Arts, Crafts, and Books Festival features music from bands and DJs, author talks, panel discussions, workshops, small press vendors, art and more at the Fred Hampton Free Store in the Lower 9th Ward. Find information @acabzinefest on Instagram. OCT. 23-25

Rougarou Fest

The Houma festival is named for the Cajun werewolf legend and includes entertainment and cultural activities, including a parade, live music, carnival rides, costuming, a folklife village and more. The festival grounds are near the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. Visit rougaroufest.org for details.

SALES SERVICE RENTALS BIKE FITTING

The Human Horse Races are at Easton Park on Thanksgiving Day.

TUESDAY - FRIDAY 10 - 6 SATURDAY 10 - 5

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

OCT. 23-31

‘The Rocky Horror Show’

In the stage version of the cult classic rock musical, Brad and Janet seek refuge in the strange mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. The production is for mature audiences. At Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts. Find tickets and information at rivertowntheaters.com. OCT. 24

Louisiana SPCA Carnival

The Louisiana SPCA holds its carnival-themed fundraiser with music by George Porter Jr., games, live music, food and more. At the Louisiana SPCA home at 1700 Mardi Gras Blvd. Visit louisianaspca.org for tickets and information.

OCT. 25

Kenner Food Truck Festival

OCT. 25

Nocturne XXIII

Pianist Emanuel Ax is known for collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Isaac Stern. He performs at the fundraising gala for the musical Arts Society of New Orleans. At the Ritz-Carlton. Find tickets at masno.org. OCT. 29

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’

Matt Fraser

Matt Fraser is a psychic medium and star of the reality TV show “Meet the Frasers.” He performs at The Fillmore. Find tickets and information at thefillmorenola.com. OCT. 24

OCT. 29-NOV. 2

Treme Fall Festival

The music lineup features Corey Henry & the Treme Funktet, Juice, New Orleans Catahoulas, Jeffery Broussard & The Nighttime Syndicate and Wanda Rouzan & A Taste of New Orleans. Outside of St. Augustine Church. For information, visit tremefest.org.

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The event features live music, food trucks and art and craft vendors. For information, go to kenner.la.us.

In the cult classic, Brad and Janet seek refuge in the strange mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, where they meet a host of bizarre residents. This celebration of the film features a screening of the 4K restoration, a shadowcast performance and original cast member Barry Bostwick, who stars as Brad. At Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets at mahaliajacksontheater.com.

OCT. 24

L O C A L LY O W N E D S I N C E 1 9 8 8

Brujeria Carnaval

The dance event features salsa and bachata workshops and performances. At the Crowne Plaza New Orleans French Quarter — Astor hotel. For tickets and information, visit brujeriacarnaval.com PAGE 27

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Fall EVENTS GUIDE

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other. Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts presents the drama. Find tickets and information at rivertowntheaters.com. NOV. 7

Beignet Fest

The music lineup includes Dragon Smoke, Maggie Koerner, Amanda Shaw, the Imagination Movers and more. There will be more than 50 types of sweet and savory beignets, including new offerings like a crab rangoon beignet and versions with sweet potato and strawberry shortcake. The festival also has an art market. At the New Orleans City Park Festival Grounds. For information, visit beignetfest.com NOV. 7

DL Hughley and Don Lemon

The program includes a comedy set by DL Hughley, commentary by former CNN host Don Lemon and a discussion led by both. At Orpheum Theater. Find tickets via orpheumnola.net. NOLA Funk Fest returns to the riverfront on Oct. 16-18. PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

OCT. 29-31

‘Dracula’

New Orleans Ballet Theatre presents an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire story with choreography by Oliver Halkowich. At Orpheum Theater. Find tickets and information at neworleansballettheatre.com.

NOVEMBER NOV. 2

Dia de los Muertos

The Krewe de Mayahuel leads a celebration honoring ancestors. The event begins in Markey Park. Find information @mayahuel.nola on Instagram.

OCT. 31

NOV. 5-8

Dia de los Muertos Festival

Garden Bros. Nuclear Circus

The Day of the Dead celebration features music, an ofrenda (Day of the Dead altar), kids activities, a market and food in Lafayette Square. Find information at hispanicchamberla.com. OCT. 31

Freret Street Festival

The festival features live music, food and craft vendors lining Freret Street and more between Napoleon Avenue and Valmont Street. Visit freretstreetfestival.org for information. OCT. 31-NOV. 1

NOLA Zydeco Fest

The lineup includes Tonio Armani, Rusty Metoyer, Robin Barnes, Geno Delafose, Alphonse Ardoin, Jeffery Broussard and more. There also are dance lessons, a gumbo cook-off and a market with more than 40 vendors. At Heritage Park in Slidell. Find tickets and information at nolazydecofest.com.

The traveling circus features acrobats, aerialists, daredevil stunts, jugglers, clowns and more. At the Shrine on Airline in Metairie. Find tickets and information on gardenbroscircus.com. NOV. 6-22

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’

In Stephen Sondheim’s musical adaptation of the macabre tale, Sweeney Todd returns to London from exile and seeks revenge in a murderous spree. Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show at Westwego Performing Arts Theatre. Find tickets at jpas.org. NOV. 6-22

‘Steel Magnolias’

A beauty shop is the gathering spot for a group of women in small town in northern Louisiana. Shelby is recently married, pregnant and looking at the challenges ahead, and the women share stories and support each

NOV. 8

Oak Street Po-boy Festival

The festival fills Oak Street with live music and plenty of creative and traditional po-boy sandwiches. Roughly 50 vendors offer a variety of po-boys and there are several music stages from S. Carrollton Avenue to Eagle Street. For more information, visit poboyfest.com. NOV. 8

Carpenters Songbook: A Live Celebration

The show features hits of the Carpenters, including “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays,” and there’s a narration about the career of Karen and Richard Carpenter. At Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets at mahaliajacksontheater.com. NOV. 11

John Cameron Mitchell: Hedwig 25th Anniversary Tour

John Cameron Mitchell is on tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his landmark rock opera “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” He’s got a hometown date with a restored 4K screening followed by a Q&A at The Fillmore. Visit thefillmorenola.com for tickets. NOV. 12-14

‘Flying Dreams’

James Bartelle and Zarah Hōkūle’a Spalding adapted their version of the Icarus tale, as young Icarus and his father Daedalus escape the island of Crete by devising wings. The NOLA Project presents the show at The Temple House. Find tickets and information at nolaproject.com.

NOV. 12-15

New Orleans Fringe Festival

The alternative theater festival presents theater, dance, music, circus arts, drag, burlesque, puppet shows and more at Marigny and Bywater venues including New Marigny Theatre, Siberia, The Twilight Room at AllWays Lounge and more. Visit nolafringe.org for information. NOV. 12-21

‘for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf’

Fat Squirrel productions presents Ntozake Shange’s drama about seven Black women sharing their experiences and outlooks in a work combining poetic monologues, dance and music. At LSU New Orleans. Find tickets and information at fatsquirrelnola.square.site. NOV. 12-15 & 19-22

‘The Bacchae’

Aaron Brewer directs Quinn Bishop’s adaptation of Euripides’ drama about the god Dionysus seeking vengeance on the king of Thebes for not worshipping him. Kaleidoscope NOLA presents the show at the Music Box Village. Find information on facebook.com. NOV. 13-15

LUNA Fete

The festival of art, light and technology stretches between Gallier Hall and the Piazza d’Italia. Installations and displays use projection mapping, lasers, interactive exhibits and more. For more information, visit lunafete.org. NOV. 13-15

Skankfest

The comedy festival returns to New Orleans with more than 120 touring comics on multiple stages in a rowdy carnival atmosphere. Headliners including Mark Normand, Matt Braunger, Sam Tallent, Big Jay Oakerson, Rachel Feinstein, Doug Stanhope, Shane Gillis, Maddy Smith, Jim Norton, Kurt Metzger, Luis J. Gomez and more. There also are podcast tapings, amateur boxing matches and more. At Mardi Gras World. Visit skankfest.com for information and tickets. NOV. 13-15

We Belong Here Music Festival

The new electronic music festival’s lineup includes an Odesza DJ set, Carl Cox, Steve Angello, Sammy Virji, Blond:ish, Max Styler, Chasewest and more. There will be two music stages on the Woldenberg Riverfront Park. Find tickets and information at webelonghere.world. PAGE 29

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Fall EVENTS GUIDE

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NOV. 14

Forestival

The daytime festival in lower Algiers features live music, art presentations from current resident artists, guided walks in the woods, art and science activities for kids, a photo booth and more at A Studio in the Woods. For more information, visit astudiointhewoods.org NOV. 14

Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Choreographer Alonzo King’s contemporary ballet company is based in San Francisco. This program is presented by the New Orleans Ballet Association. Visit nobadance. com for tickets and information. NOV. 14-15

Three Rivers Arts Festival

More than two hundred artist booths line Columbia Street in downtown Covington and there’s music, food vendors and a kids area. Vendors offer paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, ceramics, woodwork, leather goods and more. Visit covingtonthreeriversartfestival.com. NOV. 14-15

Destrehan Plantation Fall Festival

The festival features live music, a market with more than 150 craft vendors, and kids activities. The music lineup features the Peyton Falgoust Band and Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition. At Destrehan Plantation at 13034 River Road in Destrehan. Find information at destrehanplantation.org. NOV. 16

Goblin

Italian musician and film composter Claudio Simonetti’s band Goblin performs the score live for a screening of the slasher film “Tenebre,” directed by Dario Argento. At the Music Box Village. NOV. 17

‘Rocky’ in Concert

On its 50th anniversary, the original “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone, screens with an orchestra providing a live score. At Saenger Theatre. Find tickets at saengernola.com. NOV. 18

Stefan Jackiw and Kevin Ahfat

Violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Kevin Ahfat perform at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. Find tickets and information at friendsofmusic.org.

The Skankfest comedy festival returns to Mardi Gras World on Nov. 13-15. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALLISON WOJTOWECZ

NOV. 19

New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots

The Fair Grounds opens its racing season, and highlights include the Thanksgiving Classic, Fair Grounds Oaks, the New Orleans Classic and the Louisiana Derby. Post times are at 12:55 p.m. most days, and the season runs through March 21. For information, visit fgno.com. NOV. 20

‘Il Trovatore’

In Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, the count and a troubadour are rivals courting a noble woman, and an ongoing quest for vengeance entwines their plights. The New Orleans Opera Association presents the show at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets via neworleansopera.org. NOV. 21

Sober Fest

The alcohol-free music festival returns to the Broadside with perfor-

mances by Ivan Neville & Friends, Robin Barnes & The Fiyabirds, Flow Tribe, the School of Rock House Band and the Trombone Shorty Foundation Alumni Band. There also is a kids area with games and activities. Find information at bridgehouse.org/events/soberfest. NOV. 21

Umbrella Walk & Gumbo Gras

The Krewe of Tucks’ annual charity event includes a second line and a gumbo cookoff, and proceeds support local nonprofits. In Audubon Park. Visit tucksfoundation.org for details. NOV. 26

Human Horse Races

Attendees can sign up to be the horses and jockeys in this Thanksgiving Day event in Easton Park. There are races for adults and families with kids. There also is entertainment, food and drink vendors and more. For information, visit humanhorseraces.com.

NOV. 26-28

Bayou Classic

The Bayou Classic pits the Grambling State University Tigers against the Southern University Jaguars, and there are entertainment and alumni events filling the weekend. There’s a parade on Thanksgiving, the annual battle of the schools’ marching bands, and the fan fest. Visit mybayouclassic.com for tickets and information. NOV. 27-JAN. 1, 2027

Celebration in the Oaks

The annual holiday celebration features displays and decorations with more than one million lights in City Park. Highlights include holiday scenes as well as alligators, dinosaurs and more. Visitors can drive, walk or cycle through the displays. Find tickets and information at celebrationintheoaks.com. PAGE 30

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PAGE 29

SEE NEXT YEAR'S FAVORITE FILM OCT. 22-27, 2026! Discover bold new films and meet the people who made them. NEWORLEANSFILMSOCIETY.ORG

'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical' is at Saenger Theatre Dec. 15-20. PROVIDED PHOTO BY JEREMY DANIEL

DECEMBER DEC. 2

‘Outlander’ in Concert

The evening features screenings of scenes from eight seasons of the historical fantasy drama about Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall meeting in 18th century Scotland, and the score is performed live. At Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets via mahaliajacksontheater.com. DEC. 2-6

PhotoNOLA

The New Orleans Photo Alliance presents the annual photography festival. Festival events include portfolio reviews, a keynote address, a gala, workshops and more. There are photography shows at dozens of local galleries, museums and other spaces, many of which remain on display throughout December and beyond. Visit photonola.org for information. DEC. 3

David Sigler

The Musical Arts Society of New Orleans presents a concert by guitarist and composer David Sigler, a founding member of the New Orleans Guitar Quartet. At Pitot House. Find tickets at masno.org. DEC. 4-13

‘A Mardi Gras Carol’

In Ricky Graham’s drama, Ebeneezer Scrooge hates Carnival, and on Lundi

Gras, three ghosts of Carnival visit him to try to show him the joy of Mardi Gras. Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show at Westwego Performing Arts Theatre. Find tickets at jpas.org. DEC. 4-13

‘Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer’

In the musical adaptation of the holiday TV special, Rudolph helps guide Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The show features songs like “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and characters including Hermey the Elf and the Abominable Snow Monster. Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show at Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Find tickets at jpas.org. DEC. 4-27

‘The Secret Garden’

In the musical based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book, an English girl orphaned in India is sent to live in Yorkshire. There, her dedication to reviving a neglected garden inspires everyone. At Le Petit Theatre. Find tickets and information at lepetittheatre.com. DEC. 5

Improvisations Gala

The fundraiser for the New Orleans Jazz Museum turns the 400 block of Esplanade Avenue into a lit spectacle. There are multiple music stages and a lineup featuring Soul Rebels, Big Freedia, Sunpie & the Louisiana

Sunspots, Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, Mahmoud Chouki, Dr. Michael White, the Taipei Jazz Orchestra and the Danny Barker All-Stars with Detroit Brooks, Herlin Riley, Freddie Lonzo, Gregg Stafford and more. Find tickets via nolajazzmuseum.org. DEC. 5

‘Ballad of the Brown King’

OperaCreole presents Margaret Brown’s cantata “The Ballad of the Brown King,” and there’s a visit from King Balthasar and tea at the children’s event at the Treme Market Branch and Cultural Arts Theater. Visit operacreole.org for information. DEC. 5

Krampus Parade

The Krewe of Krampus holds its 10th anniversary parade. Inspired by Alpine and northern European traditions and giving them a New Orleans twist, the procession features a Krampus figure, Swampus, the Y’ules, Sisters of Shhh and more. The route crosses Bywater, and there’s an accessibility zone with a quiet area, sign language translators and more. Find information at kreweofkrampus.com. DEC. 7

Akropolis Reed Quintet

The chamber music group won a Best Instrumental Composition Grammy for its 2025 album “Strands,” as well as other national awards. Friends of Music presents the group at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. Find tickets and information at friendsofmusic.org. DEC. 8-13

‘Buena Vista Social Club’

The musical bridges the era of pre-revolutionary Cuba and a recording session in the 1990s that results in the landmark, namesake album. The story follows musicians including singer Omara Portuondo and Ibrahim Ferrer. The touring Broadway production comes to Saenger Theatre. Find tickets via saegnernola.com. DEC. 10-20

‘Million Dollar Quartet Christmas’ The jukebox musical “Million Dollar Quartet” animates a studio recording session between Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. This musical revives the concept for the holidays, with hits from “Blue Christmas” to “Santa Baby.” At Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts. Find tickets and information at rivertowntheaters.com. DEC. 11-20

‘Die Sieben Todsunden’

Marigny Opera Ballet presents Kurt Weill’s sung ballet about a singer and

dancer traveling to find better lives for themselves. At the Marigny Opera House. Find tickets via marignyoperahouse.org. DEC. 12-23

‘Nutcracker’

New Orleans Ballet Theatre presents the holiday classic with professional principal dancers and young dancers from its training programs. At Orpheum Theater. Find tickets and information at neworleansballettheatre.com.

SECOND LINES Here’s a list of Social Aid & Pleasure Club parades scheduled this fall.

DEC. 15-20

‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical’

The musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ holiday classic follows the small-hearted Grinch’s attempt to ruin Christmas for the Whos. The show is narrated by Max the Dog, and it includes the songs “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas” from the animated show. The touring Broadway production comes to Saenger Theatre. Find tickets via saegnernola.com. DEC. 19-20

‘The Nutcracker’

The Black Men of Labor second line down St. Bernard Avenue in 2025. PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

SEPT. 13 Young Men Olympian, Uptown

In the classic ballet with a score by Tchaikovsky, young Clara receives a nutcracker for Christmas and it comes to life. Jefferson Performing Arts Society and Jefferson Ballet Theatre present the show at Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Find tickets at jpas.org.

SEPT. 20 Good Fellas, Uptown

DEC. 19-20

‘The Nutcracker’

SEPT. 27

Young Men Olympian, Uptown

OCT. 4

Family Ties, Downtown

OCT. 11

Prince of Wales, Uptown

OCT. 18

Men & Ladies of Class, Uptown

Delta Festival Ballet presents the holiday classic with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra providing the score live. At Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets at mahaliajacksontheater.com.

OCT. 25

Black Men of Labor, Downtown

OCT. 25

Original Four, Uptown

NOV. 1

We Are One, Uptown

DEC. 23

NOV. 8

Sudan, Downtown

NOV. 15

Women of Class, Uptown

NOV. 22

Nine Times, Downtown

NOV. 29

Men & Lady Buckjumpers, Uptown

DEC. 6

Dumaine Street Gang, Downtown

DEC. 6

Westbank Steppers, West Bank

DEC. 13

New Generation, Uptown

DEC. 20

Big Nine, Downtown

DEC. 27

Lady Rollers, Uptown

‘Love Actually’ in Concert

A variety of people find love during the holidays in the popular film starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley and many more. It screens with a live score at Mahalia Jackson Theater. Find tickets via mahaliajacksontheater.com. DEC. 23-JAN. 2, 2027

NOLA ChristmasFest

The holiday attraction inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center has ice skating, games, activities, live entertainment, photos with Santa Claus, a holiday market, food and more. Find tickets and information on nolachristmasfest.com.

31 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

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New Special Exhibit on Display Now! See original WWII cartoons and reflect on how one illustrator helped generations of Americans understand the war—one drawing at a time.

SCAN TO LEARN MORE AND BUY TICKETS

SEP TEMBER SEPT. 14 Danzig, Twin Temple The Fillmore SEPT. 14 DOMi & JD Beck Joy Theater SEPT. 15 Fai Laci Siberia SEPT. 15 Lunar Vacation Gasa Gasa SEPT. 16 Bruno Mars Caesars Superdome SEPT. 16 Lucki The Fillmore

SEPT. 16 Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Strange Lot, Blue Widow Tipitina’s

CONCERT PREVI EVIE EW

Touring bands and special shows coming to New Orleans area venues this fall

SEPT. 20 Iron Lung Siberia

SEPT. 27 Built to Spill Tipitina’s

SEPT. 20 King 810 Gasa Gasa

SEPT. 27 Six Foot Blonde Chickie Wah Wah

SEPT. 21 Chief Keef The Fillmore

SEPT. 29 Monsieur Perine Tipitina’s

SEPT. 21 Geordie Greep House of Blues

SEPT. 30 Damien Jurado Gasa Gasa

SEPT. 21 Jim E. Brown Siberia

SEPT. 30 Lawrence Rothman Siberia

SEPT. 22 Dopethrone Siberia

OCTOBER

SEPT. 22 Steel Beans Gasa Gasa SEPT. 23 Dirty Sound Magnet Siberia

SEPT. 17 Cyrille Aimee Jazz & Blues Market

SEPT. 23 Remo Drive, sports. Gasa Gasa

SEPT. 19 Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Jazz & Blues Market

SEPT. 24 Bobby Rush Jazz & Blues Market

SEPT. 19 Kam Franklin Chickie Wah Wah SEPT. 19 Gregg Allman The Fillmore SEPT. 19 Morgan Wade House of Blues SEPT. 19 Rod Wave Smoothie King Center SEPT. 19 Stanley Simmons Gasa Gasa

OCT. 1 Pouya The Fillmore OCT. 2 Ancestral Tongue Buffa’s

OCT. 6 Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs Joy Theater

OCT. 2 Of Monsters and Men Civic Theatre

OCT. 6 Skitz Kraven Southport Hall

SEPT. 24 Cordovas Gasa Gasa SEPT. 24 Julian Primeaux The Broadside

OCT. 3 Maggie Koerner Tipitina’s

SEPT. 24 Zack Fox The Fillmore

OCT. 3 Tand, The Howlin’ Wolf

SEPT. 25 Emmaline Sinatra The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 3 Third Eye Blind, Peabody Gretna Riverfront

SEPT. 19 Witch Ripper, Siberia

SEPT. 26 Big Chief Monk Boudreaux tribute, Tipitina’s

SEPT. 20 Chandler, TuffLuckKid Double Dealer

SEPT. 26 The Meditations Chickie Wah Wah

PROVIDED PHOTO

OCT. 2 Bayside House of Blues

OCT. 3 Dana and Alden Chickie Wah Wah

SEPT. 25 TajMo Mahalia Jackson Theater

Amyl & The Sniffers perform Oct. 8 at The Fillmore.

OCT. 4 Jose Madero House of Blues OCT. 6 Chris Smither Chickie Wah Wah OCT. 6 LP House of Blues

OCT. 7 Noga Erez House of Blues OCT. 7 S.G. Goodman Chickie Wah Wah OCT. 7 Teddy and the Rough Riders Siberia OCT. 7 Vincent Neil Emerson Gasa Gasa

OCT. 8 Sophie Hunter Gasa Gasa OCT. 9 Keller & The Keels Tipitina’s OCT. 10 Hayley Williams, Rico Nasty Champions Square OCT. 10 Laundry Day Gasa Gasa OCT. 10 Norman Brown Jazz & Blues Market OCT. 10 Parcels Saenger Theatre

OCT. 8 Amyl & The Sniffers, Hunx and His Punx The Fillmore

OCT. 10 Paul Oakenfold, The Crystal Method House of Blues

OCT. 8 Joshua Ray Walker Chickie Wah Wah

OCT. 10 The Spinners, Irma Thomas Gretna Riverfront

OCT. 8 Sherelle, Chore Boys, Freak POV Republic NOLA

OCT. 11 Blackberry Smoke The Fillmore

OCT. 11 The California Honeydrops Tipitina’s OCT. 12 Tom Jones Saenger Theatre OCT. 12 Ward Davis Chickie Wah Wah OCT. 13 Bright Eyes Tipitina’s OCT. 13 Modest Mouse The Fillmore OCT. 13 The Yawpers Siberia OCT. 14 $uicide Boy$ Smoothie King Center OCT. 14 Ancestral Tongue The Howlin’ Wolf OCT. 14 Chad Gray, Devil’s Cut House of Blues OCT. 14 Joey Cash Siberia

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33 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

Fall

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

ktoberfest

DEUTSCHES HAUS DEU

NOLA'S FAMILY FRIENDLY GERMAN FEST

Okt 9 & 10, 16 & 17, 23 & 24

German Bier • Food • Schnapps • Live Music • Family Fun DeutschesHaus.org/Oktoberfest

1700 Moss Street

PAGE 33

OCT. 14 She’s Green Gasa Gasa OCT. 14-15 Marilyn Manson, The Fillmore OCT. 15 Lost Bayou Ramblers, CC Adcock Tipitina’s OCT. 16 Trip to the Morgue, Skeleton Crew No Dice

Bobby Rush will perform Sept. 24 at the Jazz and Blues Market.

OCT. 17 Dent May, Siberia

PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

OCT. 17 Shane Smith and the Saints, Them Ol’ Ghosts Gretna Riverfront

OCT. 21 Cupcakke House of Blues

OCT. 23 Acid Mothers Temple Siberia

OCT. 18 Bayonne Gasa Gasa

OCT. 21 Visit Neptune Siberia

OCT. 23 KELS Chickie Wah Wah

OCT. 19 Machine Girl Civic Theatre

OCT. 22 Badvril Siberia

OCT. 23 Mac Sabbath Tipitina’s

OCT. 19 Tyler Hilton The Broadside

OCT. 22 Black Joe Lewis, JD Simo with Luther Dickinson Tipitina’s

OCT. 23 PeelingFlesh House of Blues

OCT. 20 Dear Maryanne Siberia OCT. 20 Felicity No Dice OCT. 20 Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail Joy Theater OCT. 21 Cardinal Bloom Gasa Gasa

OCT. 22 Clutch House of Blues OCT. 22 Snarky Puppy Joy Theater OCT. 22 Rata Blanca Southport Hall OCT. 22 Slomosa House of Blues

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

OCT. 23 Sap, Sludge Mother Gasa Gasa

Thundercat will perform Nov. 5 at The Fillmore. PHOTO BY MICHAEL DEMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

OCT. 24 Kirk Whalum Jazz & Blues Market

OCT. 27 Playlunch Chickie Wah Wah

OCT. 24 Sorry Ghost Gasa Gasa

OCT. 30 Saosin House of Blues

OCT. 28 Atlanta Rhythm Section Joy Theater

OCT. 30 Soul Rebels Tipitina’s

OCT. 24 We Came as Romans House of Blues

OCT. 23 Dawn Richard Music Box Village

OCT. 26 Prof Joy Theater

OCT. 24 CeCe Winans Smoothie King Center

OCT. 27 Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds UNO Lakefront Arena

OCT. 24 Gretchen Wilson, Amanda Shaw Gretna Riverfront

OCT. 27 Juice Siberia

OCT. 28 Cameron Whitcomb House of Blues OCT. 28 Rakim Tipitina’s OCT. 29 Osees Civic Theatre OCT. 30 Damag3, $leazy EZ Siberia

OCT. 30-31 Low Cut Connie Gasa Gasa OCT. 30-31 Widespread Panic UNO Lakefront Arena

NOVEMBER NOV. 1 Alash Gasa Gasa

PAGE 37

35 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

Gem &Mineral Show

gem & mineral society of louisiana, inc.

54th ANNUAL

October 2nd-4th Fri & Sat 10-6 Sun 10-4

$1.00 off admission when flyer is presented.

Alario Center Westwego, LA gmsofla.org

Limit to one flyer per person.

• Browse fossils, precious gemstones, minerals, beads & jewelry • Geode Cracking, Gem Mining & Much More

• FREE ADMISSION FOR KIDS 11 & UNDER • $7 weekend pass • Lots of kid-friendly activities

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

Billy Strings will perform Dec. 4 at Saenger Theatre and Dec. 5 at Smoothie King Center. PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

NOV. 1 Alborosie & Shengen Clan The Broadside

NOV. 7 Dinosaur Jr. Tipitina’s

NOV. 16 Goblin Music Box Village

NOV. 1 Skilla Baby House of Blues

NOV. 7 Nils Public Market at South Shore Harbor

NOV. 17 Hot Mulligan Civic Theatre

NOV. 3 The Brook & the Bluff Gasa Gasa

NOV. 8 Hawthorne Heights House of Blues

NOV. 3 City of the Sun Chickie Wah Wah

NOV. 9 Eli Winter, Mike Baggetta Gasa Gasa

NOV. 4 Nick Shoulders Tipitina’s NOV. 4 The Living Tombstone House of Blues NOV. 4 Trapt Southport Hall NOV. 4 Wax Monkey Siberia NOV. 5 Thundercat The Fillmore NOV. 6 Crobot Siberia NOV. 6 Jon B. House of Blues NOV. 6 Bowling for Soup, Ballyhoo! Tipitina’s

NOV. 10 Mannequin Pussy, Wednesday, Snooper Civic Theatre

NOV. 18 Kurt Vile and the Violators Joy Theater NOV. 18 Celtic Christmas Jefferson Performing Arts Center

NOV. 24 Sir Woman, Gasa Gasa

DEC. 4-5 Kitchen Dwellers Joy Theater

NOV. 25 Mama’s Broke, No Dice

DEC. 5 Billy Strings Smoothie King Center

NOV. 25 Miss May I, House of Blues

DEC. 5 La Reezy Gasa Gasa

NOV. 27 PJ Morton, Orpheum Theater

DEC. 7 Beartooth, Windwaker The Fillmore

NOV. 28 Boogie T Joy Theater NOV. 28 Project Pat House of Blues

DECEMBER DEC. 1 John R. Miller Chickie Wah Wah DEC. 2 American Aquarium Chickie Wah Wah DEC. 2 Jodeci Saenger Theatre DEC. 2 Shakey Graves Tipitina’s

DEC. 9 Kendall Street Company Chickie Wah Wah

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DEC. 9 Venna Gasa Gasa DEC. 10 Chris Mitchell House of Blues DEC. 10 Futurebirds Tipitina’s DEC. 15 Lemon Twigs Chickie Wah Wah DEC. 17 Marc Broussard Tipitina’s

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NOV. 10 Radiator Hospital Gasa Gasa

NOV. 19 Halocene Gasa Gasa

NOV. 11 Cory Branan Chickie Wah Wah

NOV. 19 Michelle Shocked Chickie Wah Wah

NOV. 13 6lack The Fillmore

NOV. 20 Fruit Bats Tipitina’s

NOV. 13 Bill Kirchen Chickie Wah Wah

NOV. 20 Robyn Hitchcock Chickie Wah Wah

MISSED AN ISSUE?

NOV. 20-21 Chris Brown, Usher Caesars Superdome

VISIT

NOV. 13 Tommy Castro and the Pain Killers Jazz & Blues Market NOV. 14 Red Rockers The Normals Tipitina’s

NOV. 6-8 Pretty Lights The Fillmore

NOV. 15 Buena Vista Orchestra House of Blues

NOV. 7 David Nail Chickie Wah Wah

NOV. 16 Amble House of Blues

NOV. 19 Afghan Whigs House of Blues

DEC. 4 Boney James The Fillmore

DEC. 17 Will Downing The Fillmore

DEC. 4 Billy Strings Saenger Theatre

DEC. 20 Scott Bradlees Postmodern Jukebox The Fillmore

DEC. 4-5 Boyfriend Siberia

DEC. 20 The Wooten Brothers Tipitina’s

BESTOFNEWORLEANS.COM/

NOV. 20-21 Pantera, Down, Black Label Society UNO Lakefront Arena NOV. 21 River Shook Siberia NOV. 23 Diles Que No Me Maten Siberia

CURRENT

Tom Jones will perform Oct. 12 at Saenger Theatre. PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

TO READ THE LATEST ISSUES

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

PAGE 35

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

FREE ADMISSION

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K E N L U D W IG ’S

, k c a J r a e D DEAR LOUISE OCTOBER 2–4 | OCTOBER 9–11

SCAN FOR TICKETS

WHEN TWO STRANGERS MEET BY LETTER DURING WORLD WAR II,

a love story begins.

CALENDAR Touring comedians coming to New Orleans this fall SEPT. 14 Amy Miller and Billie Lee, Sports Drink

OCT. 16-17 Mohanad Elshieky, Sports Drink

SEPT. 17 Willie Macc, Sports Drink

OCT. 17 Charlene Kaye, The Howlin’ Wolf

SEPT. 18-19 Jenny Tian, Sports Drink

OCT. 17 Luke Severeid, The Howlin’ Wolf Den

SEPT. 18-19 Tina Friml, The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 22 Abby Govindan, Sports Drink

SEPT. 19 Bill Burr, Saenger Theatre

OCT. 23-24 Eagle Witt, Sports Drink

SEPT. 19 Marcus Monroe, The Howlin’ Wolf Den

OCT. 28-29 Max Castillo and Aaron Monte, Sports Drink

SEPT. 20 Bo Johnson, Sports Drink

OCT. 29 Daniel Sloss, The Fillmore

SEPT. 23 Nasser Al-Rayess, The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 30 Zak Toscani, Sports Drink

SEPT. 24 Salma Zaky, Sports Drink

NOV. 1 Chris Overalls, Sports Drink

SEPT. 25 Bert Cornelius, The Howlin’ Wolf Den

NOV. 5 Anthony Jeselnik, Mahalia Jackson Theater

SEPT. 25-26 Jamie Wolf, Sports Drink

NOV. 5 Skyler Higley, Sports Drink

NOV. 28 Tim Smith, Sports Drink

SEPT. 26 Therapy Gecko, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 6 Zoltan Kaszas, Joy Theater

DEC. 3 Luke Null, Sports Drink

OCT. 2 Mike Goodwin, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 6-7 Chris Redd, Sports Drink

DEC. 3 Maria Bamford, The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 2-3 Caitlin Peluffo, Sports Drink

NOV. 8 Holly Ballantine and Amy Brown, Sports Drink

DEC. 5 Desi Alexander, The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 3 Corey O’Brien, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 12 BK Sharad, Sports Drink

DEC. 5-6 Liza Treyger, Sports Drink

OCT. 8 Dave Ross, Sports Drink

NOV. 14 Ahmed Al-kadri, The Howlin’ Wolf

DEC. 10 John F. O’Donnell, Sports Drink

OCT. 9-10 Peyton Ruddy, Sports Drink

NOV. 15 Jack Grady, Sports Drink

DEC. 11 Atsuko Okatsuka, Civic Theatre

OCT. 10 Sarper Guven, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 19 Jay Badlani, Sports Drink

DEC. 12 Brian Posehn, The Howlin’ Wolf

OCT. 13 Gabriel Rutledge, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 20-21 Eddie Pepitone, Sports Drink

DEC. 18-19 Emma Willmann, Sports Drink

OCT. 15 Tanael Joachim, Sports Drink

NOV. 22 Jaboukie Young-White, Sports Drink

DEC. 20 King Bo, Sports Drink

OCT. 16 Amber Wallin, The Howlin’ Wolf

NOV. 28 Ali Siddiq, Saenger Theatre

DEC. 31-JAN. 1 Mojo Brookzz & Desi Banks, Saenger Theatre

Atsuko Okatsuka performs Dec. 11 at Civic Theatre. PROVIDED PHOTO

Comedian Zak Toscani is at Sports Drink on Oct. 30. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ZAK TOSCANI

39 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

FALL COMEDY

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

OCTOBER 8 - 11, 2026 • LAFAYETTE, LA " , * " " " / ( " - (

# - " ) . ) , '+/ ) $ ) %& # ! 0 "(

G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

Home schedules for local teams including the Saints, Pelicans and LSU and Tulane football

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS All games at Caesars Superdome

Visit neworleanssaints.com for tickets and information SUNDAY, SEPT. 27 vs. Las Vegas Raiders, 3:25 p.m. MONDAY, OCT. 5 vs. Atlanta Falcons, 7:15 p.m. SUNDAY, OCT. 11 vs. Minnesota Vikings, noon SUNDAY, NOV. 8 vs. Cleveland Browns, noon SUNDAY, NOV. 15 vs. Carolina Panthers, noon SUNDAY, DEC. 6 vs. Green Bay Packers, noon SUNDAY, DEC. 27 vs. Arizona Cardinals, noon TBD vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, time TBA

TULANE GREEN WAVE All games at Yulman Stadium

Visit tulanegreenwave.com for tickets and information SATURDAY, SEPT. 26 vs. Southern Miss Golden Eagles, time TBA FRIDAY, OCT. 16 vs. Memphis Tigers, 6:30 p.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 24 vs. UT San Antonio Roadrunners, time TBA SATURDAY, NOV. 7 vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane, time TBA SATURDAY, NOV. 21 vs. North Texas Mean Green, time TBA

LSU TIGERS

All games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge

Visit lsusports.net for tickets and information SATURDAY, SEPT. 26 vs. Texas A&M Aggies, time TBA PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

SATURDAY, OCT. 3 vs. McNeese State Cowboys, 6:45 p.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 17 vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs, time TBA

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS All games at Smoothie King Center

Visit nba.com/pelicans for tickets and information FRIDAY, OCT. 16 vs. Washington Wizards, 7 p.m. (Exhibition) WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21 vs. Indiana Pacers, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28 vs. Denver Nuggets, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOV. 7 vs. Alabama Crimson Tide, time TBA SATURDAY, NOV. 14 vs. Denver Nuggets, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOV. 14 vs. Texas Longhorns, time TBA

MONDAY, NOV. 16 vs. Golden State Warriors, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, NOV. 18 vs. Detroit Pistons, 7 p.m. MONDAY, NOV. 23 vs. Phoenix Suns, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2 vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 7 p.m.

BOWL GAMES Bayou Classic

Find information at mybayouclassic.com

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16 vs. New York Knicks, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOV. 28, 1 p.m., Caesars Superdome

FRIDAY, DEC. 18 vs. Sacramento Kings, 7 p.m.

New Orleans Bowl

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4 vs. Utah Jazz, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY, DEC. 20 vs. San Antonio Spurs, 6 p.m.

Find information at neworleansbowl.org

FRIDAY, NOV. 6 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, DEC. 21 vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11 vs. Brooklyn Nets, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, NOV. 13 vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, DEC. 31 vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCT. 29 vs. Sacramento Kings, 7 p.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 31 vs. Atlanta Hawks, 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23, 1 p.m., Caesars Superdome

Sugar Bowl Find information at allstatesugarbowl.com FRIDAY, JAN. 15, 2027, Caesars Superdome

41 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

FALL SPORTS

Fall EVENTS GUIDE

42 G AMBIT > BESTOFNE WORLE ANS.COM > SEPTEMBER 14 - 20 > 2026

A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T PAGE 7

Bunny Matthews in 1990

FALL IS COMING! GET READY!

Mon-Fri 10am-6pm | Sat 10am-3pm Curbside & Delivery Still Available! 5101 W. ESPLANADE • 504.407.3532 at Chastant • Metairie www.nolagiftsanddecoronline.com @nolagiftsanddecor

“They keep popping up,” says Fensterstock, a music journalist who first met Jude and then Bunny while he was the editor of Offbeat. “You walk into a restaurant in Baton Rouge … and see he drew a poster of a muffuletta for the restaurant in 2012.” A former Gambit editor, Tisserand worked with Matthews during his time at the publication. Tisserand also wrote the book “Krazy,” about New Orleans-born cartoonist George Herriman. “I regret that I never took a trek to the Northshore to talk about cartooning. I didn’t fully appreciate until this book, just the breadth of his work,” Tisserand says. Matthews was born in Monroe and outside a short stint in Dallas as a young child, grew up in Metairie. He took to making art and drawing comics at a young age, learned to play the drums and would continue playing music throughout his life. He entered his teens at a time when underground comix, artists like R. Crumb and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, and alternative newspapers and magazines were emerging. But he also had fine art inspirations, and later in his life Arthur Roger Gallery represented him. Before Vic and Nat’ly made their debut in The Times-Picayune, Matthews spent several years in the ’70s working for the then-new alt-weekly Figaro, writing about music and drawing the slice-of-life cartoon “F’Sure.”

PHOTO BY HARRIET BLUM / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVE

Later, his works would move to the publication Wavelength and Gambit (across two stints), and Matthews spent five years as the editor of Offbeat. Matthews, who moved to Abita Springs in the late ’80s, also created a comic for the Tammany Picayune called “Tammany ’toons,” commenting on life on the Northshore. Matthews was known to be opinionated and contrarian, and he fought with editors, readers and peers. He either was fired from or quit several jobs over the years. And, in the age of social media, he posted frequently to Facebook, a practice that became toxic in his later years, Tisserand says. Fensterstock had always appreciated Matthews for “being snarky and being contrarian and being a little punk rock and weird in the whole New Orleans jazz-industrial complex,” she says. “I think a lot of what I learned corroborated that and made me appreciate him more.” “But I also, when we get to the later part of his life, maybe the last 25 years of his life and it’s not all brain cancer, he’s just kind of being a dick … There’s much more appreciation than disappointment, but having studied what was behind him behaving that way, it’s like, I can’t condone that, Bunny,” she adds. Matthews was a lover of alternative media, and burgeoning publications

like the L.A. Free Press, Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone come up several times in the book. Inspired by the Boston Phoenix, Jim and Mary Glassman launched the local alt-weekly Figaro in the early ’70s. Along with being a left-leaning paper covering news and popular culture, the paper also was preservation minded, and co-founder Jack Davis later launched the Preservation Resource Center. In 1972, Matthews joined the staff, which included his friend Jon Newlin, and used the space to run lengthy interviews with musicians like James Booker and Dr. John. And his comic “F’Sure” captured the conversations and dialect he heard in the beer lines at Jazz Fest, riding the streetcar or inside any of the bars around the city. The strips were satirical, but they also were a form of cultural preservation, documenting New Orleans life, Tisserand says. “Preservation and celebration of what makes New Orleans, New Orleans,” he says. “There were glossaries and dictionaries.” Matthews also drew maps crammed with small characters and text and reframed the city from his point of view. Fensterstock and Tisserand close the book with a short chapter on the ways Matthews’ legacy continues. Importantly, Matthews inspired several cartoonists working today, like artist Jacq Francois and Antigravity cartoon editor Caesar Meadows. A couple of years ago, Francois interpolated the iconic Leidenheimer bread

truck image of Vic and Nat’ly for the cover of an EP by rappers PoppyH and 504icygrl. “I think this book, its primary audience is going to be New Orleanians and people who love New Orleans, but I think there’s a big hope the cartooning world will discover Bunny for the first time,” Tisserand says. Matthews maybe “never broke outside the confines of New Orleans but has something to say about cartooning as well as New Orleans and, as Alison convinced me, to music journalism.” Find the “Bunny Matthews” book and details about Bunny Day at hnoc.org. Below is an excerpt from Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand’s “Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions” taken from chapter two, “Speaking New Orleansese.” The excerpt details Matthews’ connections to New Orleans music as well as his part in the “Fabulous Fo’teen,” the group that founded Tipitina’s. •••••••••• A FIRSTBORN SON WAS SURELY THE

Bunny Matthews at Gallery deVille in 1985 PHOTO BY BRIAN SMITH / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVE

most important new arrival of 1977 for Bunny Matthews, personally speaking. But he’d helped midwife a significant addition to the New Orleans scene at large as well. At the

end of ’76, hints began to emerge: “197&7 equals fo’teen,” an ad in the weekly alternative newspaper Figaro read. “Squeeze da tips.” The ad was for a New Year’s Eve party at the 501 Club at the corner of Tchoupitoulas Street and Napoleon Avenue, which had become a popular spot for Bunny and his circle to promote the kind of local, independent music they wanted to see Uptown. “All of my life, I would throw dances at the 501 Club,” Bunny said. “I would make money to pay for both of my children’s births throwing dances at the 501 Club.… If you had a dance and had the Meters or somebody play at the 501 Club, you’d have fifteen hundred people, easy, and make good money because everybody in Uptown New Orleans, that’s where all the kids lived at, would come to this thing.” Bunny had promoted some dances at the 501 Club, the Mushroom, and the Kendall Cram Room in Tulane’s University Center building under the name Sisters of Tri-Alpha, with acts like Earl King and the Rhapsodizers, a cosmic roots-rock band that featured his friends Clark Vreeland on guitar and Ed Volker, who co-wrote some Figaro music columns with Bunny, on keyboard. There were nicknames, Volker said, for the loosely knit groups of young people on the

A Leidenheimer’s bread truck with Vic and Nat’ly on the side PHOTO BY G. ANDREW BOYD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

scene. The kids who hung out at the early Rhapsodizers shows at Luigi’s Pizza by Bunny’s alma mater, now just called UNO instead of LSUNO, were the Lakefront Losers. Down in the Quarter, there was the Cosmic Debris, whose name wound up years later on a subkrewe of Krewe du Vieux, the bawdy, satirical French Quarter Carnival parade. Bunny and his Uptown friends were the Gator People: they threw public daytime “Gator Ball” concerts at the Harrell Playground (“The Harrell Intergalactic Spaceport”) on Leonidas Street Uptown on the Sundays before Fat Tuesday. Those Gator Balls were credited to a mythical promoter called “Poppa Gator da Foteenth.” As Bunny explained it: “The idea of Poppa Gator arose from the dance move known as ‘poppin’ the gator.’ The dancer falls on the floor (and the 501 Club had an exceedingly grimy linoleum floor), does a variation of the push-up and more or less mimics sexual intercourse, sans a sexual partner. A 501 Club dance was at its PAGE 44

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A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T PAGE 43

zenith when dancers (almost always male) started poppin’ the gator. As far as ‘getting down,’ this was as down as you could get.” The Gator People also got down during Sunday hangouts at the Carrollton Avenue home of Georgia Schneidau and her roommates, whom Ed Volker called the Gator Gals. He’d bring gear and run sound for house concerts there, which in the mid-’70s featured acts like James Booker and Professor Longhair. Anyone familiar with New Orleans dining habits will recognize “squeeze da tips” as a variation on instructions for eating crawfish: “suck the heads and squeeze the tails.” The code Bunny planted in the Figaro ad was also a reference to a brand-new nightclub, named after a Professor Longhair piano classic. Tipitina’s opened

Bunny Matthews shows off the poster for the 2012 Taste of the Lake fundraiser. PHOTO BY ROBERTA GROVE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

officially at 501 Napoleon in January 1977. As the tale goes, there were fourteen Gator People who each contributed $1000 to take over the lease at the 501 Club, once a popular watering hole for longshoremen and sailors working or disembarking on the Mississippi River wharves on the other side of Tchoupitoulas. Some versions of the story estimate that there were more early investors than fourteen, but the group, known New Orleans–historically as the Fabulous Fo’teen, clearly loved the number. Bunny would make posters for the

“fo’teenth annual” version of a show or party, when clearly fourteen years ago he and his co-conspirators had all been in middle school. The playmoney flyers he drew for the club, called “kwazolas,” “kwaloozas,” or sometimes—if they had an alligator on them—“klawzolas,” came in denominations of fourteen. (The inside joke, Bunny said, originated in hearing the number pronounced in a heavy New Orleans accent.) The opening date that January? It was the fo’teenth, of course. The nightclub at 501 Napoleon had a history of insulting its Black patrons, for years only serving them drinks on the street through a service window. Even a decade and change after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when Bunny and his friends were promoting dances at the venue, they got static when they booked Black acts or courted integrated crowds. And it wasn’t the only venue to ill-treat performers of color. One night at the bar Jed’s University Inn, Bunny’s group—which included Jazz Fest co-founder Allison Miner—watched in dismay as Professor Longhair was made to set up his keyboard on the floor because the stage was already dressed with expensive gear the venue had rented for a white touring act— Michael Martin Murphey, the Cosmic Cowboy. “Professor Longhair and all these other famous New Orleans guys were playing but he made them set up on the floor in front of the stage. And then he had to plug his electric piano and his one mic into the same little amp, so it sounded terrible,” Bunny remembered. For the idealistic fo’teen and their friends, a mostly white group who grew up under Jim Crow with a passionate ear to the R&B charts, having their own club felt like it would be an act of vindication for both New Orleans music and racial equality. Bunny created dozens of show posters, monthly music calendars, flyers, and kwazolas for Tip’s in the early days. In this venue, he could be even freer and wackier than in his Figaro comic F’Sure, as long as the appropriate bands, dates, and times were listed. He pasted in commercial clip art of incongruous images— internal organs, farm animals, and religious iconography—next to cut-out photos and weird newspaper classified ads for things like voodoo cures by mail, beside his own fantastical portraits of musicians. One kwazola depicts Professor Longhair (“Fess”), flanked by alligators in heaven, reaching down to Dr. John on Earth, a crab standing proudly on his guitar

neck, in an homage to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. For Bunny, who was always scrambling to cobble together his freelance artist’s income, it was also a nice extra revenue stream. In November 1978, on a hand-lettered invoice collaged with a photo of Earl King, he charged $100 for a ticket, handbill, and monthly calendar—$480 in 2024 dollars. Collaborating with photographer Michael P. Smith, Bunny also crafted a complex and delightful official Tipitina’s fourteen-month calendar. “My favorite photograph from this project defines what was good, evolutionary and revolutionary about Tipitina’s,” Bunny remembered years later. The Rhapsodizers were on stage; in the foreground, a Black man and a white woman were spinning on the dance floor. “Less than two decades before this photograph was taken, the interracial couple, as well as the club’s owner, could have been arrested for the crime of dancing together in public,” he wrote. “For people who grew up in New Orleans under segregation, with segregated schools, water fountains and bathrooms, the very idea of blacks and whites dancing in the same room was a heady, inspirational notion.”

Bunny Matthews was honored as monarch of Krewe du Vieux 2017, but he was not able to make the parade. His son, Jude, stepped in in Bunny’s absence. PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Each calendar page was topped with one of Smith’s dynamic New Orleans music-scene images and a few of Bunny’s choice handwritten quotations. There were photos of Earl King, Rockin’ Dopsie, Danny and Blue Lu Barker, among others, and an esoteric selection of lyrics, poetry, prose, and declamations from Ishmael Reed, the Clash, Marcus Garvey, and many more. On individual dates, Bunny wrote in the feast days for Catholic saints, the birthdays of celebrities as well as friends from the Tip’s scene, and significant moments in history: Dylan crashes bike, Pigpen of the Grateful Dead dies, Russian czar executed, DDT invented. Clip art and doodles straddled calendar squares like comic-book characters escaping their panels. It would have been a challenge to find room to write in your own appointments for 1980–81, or to look away from all the detail and go on with your day. The only thing Bunny avoided using in his Tipitina’s artwork was the now-iconic banana logo.

“My feeling was that logos were what straight businesses utilized, logos symbolized corporate gravity,” Bunny wrote. “Tipitina’s was strictly monkey business.” The club worshipped elders like Fess, honoring him with a huge painting of his head draped behind the stage, and later with a bust sculpted by swamp bluesman Coco Robicheaux. Hank Drevich explained the club’s mission like this: “We wanted to create kind of a shrine to the history of New Orleans music, a living thing. Artists like Professor Longhair and Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and K-Doe were all starving, basically, living on welfare and stuff like that. It was like at that time in the ’70s they were a forgotten culture, but they were revered around the world…we tried to revive as many of those originals as we could, even though we often lost money on them.” As at Jazz Fest, though on a smaller scale, the R&B originators eventually did start to draw numbers to PAGE 46

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Tipitina’s, and they became essential to its entire vibe and brand. Fess remains the club’s totem to this day, but Tipitina’s wasn’t a museum. It was, like Drevich wanted, both a shrine and a living thing—one that took on a life of its own. “It’s a very creative time for New Orleans musicians,” said Bruce Raeburn, the future director of Tulane’s Hogan Jazz Archive. In the ’70s, he was working on his PhD there and also playing drums in a range of projects, including a brief stint with James Booker. “Late ’70s, all this is germinating and creating a renewed youth culture, because pretty soon, Fess and Booker are going to be gone. And there needs to be something to fill that vacuum.” Tip’s was there to host rising stars like the Radiators, the Neville Brothers, and the Meters. The upstairs of Tipitina’s also became the first home to WWOZ, the listener-supported community radio station started in 1981 by brothers Walter and Jerry Brock. Bunny, by chance, had a small hand in that too. The Brocks’ mentor was a man named Lorenzo Milam, who’d earned the nickname “The Johnny Appleseed of community radio,” in part by writing the how-to manual Sex and Broadcasting: A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community. Walter came to New Orleans from Dallas in August of 1976 interested in starting a non-commercial station like KCHU, the one he directed there, but he knew almost nobody in town. Two New Orleanians had ordered a copy of Sex and Broadcasting, Milam advised Walter, and one was the family friend that Walter was going to be staying with. Why not look up the other one—a Bunny Matthews?

Bunny Matthews at his home in Abita Springs in 2016. PHOTO BY KEITH SPERA / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Walter Brock went to Tipitina’s with Bunny for a Dutch Morial campaign fundraiser and saw Leigh “Little Queenie” Harris and Professor Longhair. He met the other denizens of the Tip’s scene, like Hank Drevich, Steve Armbruster, and Michael P. Smith, who gave him a crash course on the current New Orleans social scene and the classic New Orleans music their new club was celebrating. Brock immediately clocked that something interesting was going on. “Because the music, it was so rich,” he said. “And it was this thing that was happening there with Tipitina’s coming up, and Jazz Fest was finally starting to get successful, that it just…this thing was ready to erupt.” The exciting new combination of Tip’s, Jazz Fest, and WWOZ all getting started or hitting their stride made it even more important that Bunny, his friend and mentor Jon Newlin, and their Figaro arts-desk colleagues were writing, as Rolling Stone cofounder Jann Wenner had said in that magazine’s first issue, “not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces.” Bunny always kept himself in the story, and that was likely as much egoism as technique. But his kind of vivid, holistic, aside-filled narrative journalism was what the complex and vibrant New Orleans music scene in the ’70s needed, if it was to be explained even halfway right. In a piece about Fess less than a year before the piano player’s death, Bunny is a master of context and scene-setting.

Scene one takes place at the stillyoung Jazz Fest: First of all, Professor Longhair is not my favorite New Orleans musician. He is probably in the Top Ten but he is not Numero Uno. Don’t ask me because my tastes change almost daily, but I will say I prefer the pianistics of James Booker (when he’s feeling inspired, that is, less paranoid than usual) or Ed Volker or Mac Rebennack to Professor Longhair most of the time. But when you’ve been out at the Fair Grounds for eight straight hours in the sunshine, and you’ve had a couple of six-packs of contraband Dixie, untold illicit mood elevators and it’s late in the day on the very last day of the entire Festival and you’ve got exactly one fat joint of prime Louisiana-grown sensimilla left which you have just stuck between your lips as Professor Longhair launches into “Tipitina” at the exact moment you ignite the end of the gage with a match made in Kenner from willow trees grown along the banks of the Mississippi and you take that first long sweet draw of the burning herb and several thousand people are doing the best mambo they can do all about you, there is very little doubt who is New Orleans’ Numero Uno musician. Scene two: Bunny attends a Baton Rouge show, a double-header of Dr. John and Professor Longhair backed by the Neville Brothers and catches a ride there in Fess’s own car. “Actually, it was the first and only time I’d ever ridden in a Cadillac; certainly no other vehicle would be quite as suitable for a 90-minute drive with a living legend,” he wrote. Bunny packs his new reggae tapes (“and some new batteries for my cassette player”) and hops in the back seat but is dismayed to find that Fess wants to spend the ride “making lewd comments over the airwaves” to his guitarist, Big Will Harvey, who’s driving to the gig in a separate car with his “utterly vivacious girlfriend.” “Here I was, trying to broaden everyone’s horizons with contemporary Jamaican music and all Professor Longhair could think about was talking dirty on squawky CB radio! The lesson learned, I no longer try to broaden anyone’s horizons, except my own,” he wrote, adding: “And I am no longer surprised that as much as I desire to reject my middle class roots, the average black New Orleans musician (including Professor Longhair) would eagerly swap his right arm to swandive head first into the conspicuous consumerism of the American bourgeoisie: CB radios, dinette sets and

cars that get 5 miles to the gallon.” It was a rare moment of humility in print for Bunny, making himself the butt of the joke by admitting that this paragon of cool might have ideas that conflicted with his own about what, in fact, was cool—and that the white middle-class trappings he was so eager to reject in the name of “cool” were a privilege. The revivalist efforts of Jazz Fest and Tipitina’s were probably what got Professor Longhair a front-page (though not above the fold) obituary in the Times-Picayune when he died at sixty-one in January 1980. But it had none of the juice of Bunny’s heartfelt and memoiristic tribute in Figaro. He first encountered “Go to the Mardi Gras” in a pile of R&B records he planned to practice drums to, he wrote. “I was supposed to be practicing rudiments for the school band—parade beats and such—but this Professor Longhair (whoever he was) was doing some wild rhythmic things and I was addicted immediately.” Next, he’d observed the music’s effect on teenagers in the wild, the fearsome pits of East Jefferson High. For recreation, they would skip class and head across the street to Frostop and play the jukebox. Their favorite song was always “Big Chief.” Whenever “Big Chief” came on, an amazing thing happened—the pits would start poppin’ the gator—right in broad daylight. Two or three or more bad-ass pits bumping each other on the floor of the Frostop as Fess came blaring out of the Wurlitzer. They were supposed to be in civics class learning about the Electoral College but shit, you try to tell them that. The pits did what they wanted and they wanted to listen to “Big Chief” and act nasty. And he returned to a favorite motif: that magical confluence that happened when Fess would close the Jazz Fest. “He could somehow tune himself and several thousand spectators into the exact same wavelength and you didn’t know where you were. You certainly weren’t in the middle of some horse-racing track. I guess you were in that place where everyone imagines drugs and alcohol and sex and money and meditation and religion will take you. Except they seldom do and Professor Longhair almost always did.” Now this was New Orleans terroir. Excerpted from Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions by Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand, now available at shophnoc.com. Copyright © 2026 by the Historic New Orleans Collection. Reprinted by permission of the Historic New Orleans Collection.”

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Bar 1865 revives a secluded CBD spot | by Beth D’Addono BAR 1865 IS THE DEFINITION OF A HIDDEN GEM. While it sits on a quiet

street not far from Lafayette Square, the block has a long and lively past. A free woman of color and her family lived in a Creole cottage on the site in the early 1800s. Decades later, Frenchmen Sebastian Swoop purchased the land and had the current building designed, occupying it in 1865. It’s been a boarding house, and around the turn of the 20th century, it may have been a brothel, operating outside the confines of Storyville. The space has been home to a bar and restaurant in some iteration since the 1960s. Now Linda Novak owns it, and she’s brought on chef Lisa Marie Frantz and Taylor Bonds as business partners. “There are a lot of ghosts and stories here for sure,” says Novak, a Toronto native who co-founded Pal’s Lounge. She also ran the Starlight Lounge, a music venue off Bourbon Street, until the pandemic and other factors caused its closure in 2020. Most recently, the space was occupied by the CellarDoor restaurant and event space. In 2022, Novak bought the three-story brick property, notable for its Victorian elegance and Art Nouveau accents. It’s also her home; she lives in a top-floor apartment. “Buying this place reignited my interest in being part of the New Orleans hospitality scene,” Novak says. “The key was getting the right team in place.” That team includes Frantz in the kitchen and bar manager Taylor Bonds overseeing the cocktail program. Novak worked with Frantz before, and Frantz had worked with Bonds on private events outside of his job at Bar Loa. “Taylor and I always loved this building, so when Linda called me, I told him he had to come with,” Frantz says. A California native, Frantz earned her culinary degree at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was hired to open the flagship of the Founding Farmers brand, a busy 255-seat

Lisa Marie Frantz, left, Linda Novak and Taylor Bonds at Bar 1865 PHOTO BY MADDIE SPINNER / GAMBIT

restaurant in Washington, D.C. This led to her running Farmers Fishers Bakers, a 9,500-squarefoot, high-traffic restaurant on the Georgetown Waterfront. Frantz’s interest in historic properties later took her to the Majestic Cafe in Old Town Alexandria, and then she moved to New Orleans and worked on chef Rebecca Wilcomb’s opening team at Gianna. “My cooking is very much a melting pot of the places I’ve traveled, the food and ingredients I’ve experienced, and the restaurants and kitchens I’ve worked in over the years,” Frantz says. Her version of a seasonal Caesar has tender greens that were hard to source in the heat of summer, so she swapped them out for local heirloom tomatoes, which she layered with a smoked oyster Caesar vinaigrette and topped with everything bagel-Parmesan crumbs. Pan-seared Prince Edward Island scallops are served in a silky, corn-forward aerated cream sauce and topped with peeled heirloom cherry tomatoes and fried capers.

Email dining@gambitweekly.com A pounded butterflied pork tenderloin is dredged and fried to order, served atop goat cheese grits with seasonal squash and tomato salad drizzled with basil oil. There are always house-pickled vegetables and other items, which might include a watermelon rind, beets and local mushrooms, served with house ciabatta on the side. Her father was a butcher, and there’s usually some kind of steak on the menu, most recently a wagyu flank steak seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning. Plump fingerling potatoes are smashed, fried, and served with a lemon zest brown butter. “I think what makes everything feel cohesive is less about one particular cuisine and more about how we approach food,” she says. “We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. We use classic techniques to create simple, delicious food that isn’t overly fussed with.” Her outlook is complemented by Bonds’ seasonally driven cocktail menu. His La Lavandou is made with a California vodka infused with chamomile, lemon peel and marigolds, with just the right notes of honey and lavender. The restaurant is open Thursday through Saturday night, but it’s available for private events, so it’s best to make reservations. The Bar 1865 experience adds up to joyful discovery, whether it’s sipping cocktails in the pretty courtyard or diving into chef Frantz’s innovative menu. “Like so many restaurants, we have stories to tell,” Frantz says. “It’s a collection of experiences, memories, techniques and ingredients that make sense together in this special place.”

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Second Thai’d

FRERET STREET HAS MULTIPLE PLACES FOR TACOS, more for burgers

and a few options for pizza. Soon, though, the Uptown restaurant row will get its first Thai spot. Thai’d Up is planning to open at 4520 Freret St. It will be the second location for the restaurant from Thaiborn Saowanit “Kate” Welch and her partner Ryan Walsh, who run the first Thai’D Up at 1839 Gentilly Blvd. They are working toward opening in October, and eyeing the Freret Street Fall Festival on Oct. 31 as an official debut. “We’re planning this as our second location, and we’ll see what the response is like and how we can juggle both,” Walsh says. The couple, who met in New Orleans, opened their first restaurant in 2022 in a tiny storefront near the Fair Grounds Race Course. Its menu of Thai standards and friendly, mom-and-pop feel has made it a neighborhood standby for flavorful, affordable meals.

PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

They initially looked at restaurant spaces on Freret Street before finding the Gentilly spot, so they see the move as coming full circle. On Freret Street, the new address had long been home to the Cuban/ Mexican restaurant Sarita’s Grill, a low-key place that was one of the first of the post-Katrina generation to begin the revival of Freret Street. To begin, the menu on Freret Street will be similar to the Gentilly restaurant, running through a range of noodle dishes and soups, moo yang (grilled pork), Thai beef jerky, papaya salad and fried tofu, along with the house nam jim jaew chili dipping sauce. PAGE 52

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PAGE 51

Mango sticky rice and “Thai biegnets,” made with fried roti breads, are on the dessert list. The couple is seeking a liquor license for the Freret Street location. — Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune

Cochon de later WHEN THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL OPENS EACH DAY during its spring run, some

people dash to secure a spot by their preferred stage. For others, it’s a beeline to the food booths. For many, the first bite is the cochon de lait po-boy from vendor Walker’s BBQ/Love at First Bite. For those in the know, the popular sandwich has long been available year-round at Walker’s Southern Style BBQ (10828 Lincoln Beach Blvd.), the takeout restaurant in the Little Woods stretch of New Orleans East run by the same family as the fest booth. But that has changed. Proprietor Jonathan Walker and his family have shut down the restaurant after 22 years, saying it’s “time to shift gears.” They will, however, maintain their presence at Jazz Fest and other local events, including French Quarter Festival and the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival. But between staffing woes, the rising cost of supplying the restaurant’s meatladen menu and the workload for parents in their late 70s, Walker says it is time to stop daily restaurant operations. Now, they are ramping up catering, from football tailgates to corporate events, and other festivals. They’ll continue to work out of the same shop, next to Castnet Seafood by the lakefront levee. “The restaurant is closed, but the smoker is still going,” Walker says. The cochon de lait po-boy was part of a larger barbecue menu, with wings and ribs being the top sellers, and costs for both of these items have been on the rise. The restaurant opened in 2004, and it was among the first businesses back in action in the neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina, largely feeding work crews early in the recovery, Walker says. His parents, Wanda and Skip Walker, started the family business in 1992 by catering an event at Uptown Square. They worked events locally and around the country, and made the leap to become a Jazz Fest food vendor in 2000. Their sandwich, made with pulled pork, cabbage and horseradish sauce packed into a Dong Phuong pistolette, became a sensation, drawing long lines and often selling out at the festival. Demand was such that the

family stripped down the festival menu to focus solely on the po-boy. Its success helped popularize the idea of traditional Cajun cochon de lait more broadly, and now it’s a term found on menus around New Orleans. The Walker’s catering operation includes po-boy trays and many other types of smoked meats, sides and barbecue sandwiches. — Ian McNulty

Yogurt stop AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR OF SERVING FROZEN YOGURT from a 10-foot

vintage camper along the banks of the Mississippi River, Stelly’s will have a permanent home in Uptown along Freret Street. Stelly’s is expected to open on Oct. 1 inside the building that formerly housed Sucre, says owner Morgan Sullivan. She said the shop will start with four flavors, including tart and a vegan option. Sullivan, a New York native, opened Stelly’s as a pop-up at the Batture, the riverfront park, where she served a rotating and innovative menu of frozen yogurt flavors. The vintage trailer also went to other parts of the city, from restaurants like Vals to boutique spaces like the Blackbird Hotel and the Garden District Hotel. Its expansion on Freret comes as the thoroughfare has become a hub for restaurants and grocery stores. This summer, Trader Joe’s opened at Napoleon Avenue, and Ruthie’s Frozen Custard converted a shotgun house into an ice cream parlor. Stelly’s also jumps on the trend for frozen yogurt shops to offer sophisticated flavor combinations that use organic ingredients. In 2024, Sullivan began making frozen yogurt for her baby from scratch with milk, maple syrup and salt, creating recipes that would broaden his palate while using organic ingredients. She gradually introduced fruit purees and experimented with flavor profiles, using the same techniques she developed as a bartender at the cocktail bar Cure. Sullivan realized there was “a gap in the market,” she says. Few shops were making “stripped down and clean” versions of the often artificially sweetened dessert. Sullivan brought that simplicity to the Batture, serving tart frozen yogurt made with four ingredients, including lemon oil and juice. As her clientele grew, so did her list of flavors, from lavender honey and fig to black sesame and vanilla with notes of brown sugar and molasses. Stelly’s will continue operating at the Batture once the permanent location opens next month. — Poet Wolfe / The Times-Picayune

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

Chef/Restaurateur by Will Coviello

CHEF SOPHINA UONG OPENED MISTER MAO FIVE YEARS AGO, and its menu

focuses on tropical flavors from across the globe. She’s been nominated for James Beard Awards and was named to its current TasteTwenty national cohort of chefs to watch. The Beard Foundation is hosting its first Taste America event in New Orleans on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Josephine, and attendees can sample dishes from all 20 chefs. Uong also is hosting a happy hour on Monday at Mister Mao featuring her friend and fellow TasteTwenty honoree chef Christian Irabien, from Washington, D.C.’s Amparo Fondita. For tickets to Taste America, go to jamesbeard.org/ events. For more about Mister Mao, go to mistermaonola.com.

How have you been involved with the James Beard Foundation?

SOPHINA UONG: With James Beard, I have gone through their chefs advocacy program, their chefs boot camp for food policy advocacy. There’s also a program called Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (WEL). The boot camp was a couple years ago in Seattle at Carnation Farms. You go, and it’s a two-day training program about policy, like the Farm Bill, and then you learn how to butcher a whole animal. It’s bringing chefs together to teach them how to have voices and to educate them on policy and sustainability, but mostly about the Farm Bill. No one realizes that SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is heavily funded by the Farm Bill. That segues into that we’re having an advocacy event on the 17th at OneKitchen Louisiana, which is fairly new. We’re trying to get the chefs to come together and realize there is so much we could do better in New Orleans. We work with our partner Food Policy New Orleans. There’s a lot that they’re doing for New Orleans that people don’t know about, whether it is procuring food for kids during the summer or educating people that a Dollar General actually feeds people because they had frozen vegetables. There are so many people we need to feed. The coalition we are forming for OneKitchen Louisiana is trying to find out who wants to get involved in what, and being able to go to Capitol Hill or Baton Rouge and say you can’t cut funding for this.

GHOSTS VAMPIRES HORRORS HISTORY PROVIDED PHOTO

What will Taste America be like?

U: It’s James Beard’s Taste America. It’s 20 chefs from across America that are chefs to watch. It’s the first time they are having them together in one building. It’s amazing for New Orleans to show the community and the hospitality we have here. It takes a lot to bring 20 people and their sous chefs to town. It’s an honor to be included and an honor to host. It’ll be a fun event. There’s 20 chefs plus some James Beard people, and they’re selling tickets. I am doing a shrimp and crab dish with Cambodian flavors and some corn espuma. A friend of mine, Christian Irabien is coming, and we are having a happy hour pop-up. There are other Taste America events. I hope to go to some of them. There are set dates for San Francisco and the different cities.

ALL AGES TOURS 6PM & 8PM NIGHTLY SMALL GROUP, ADULTS ONLY TOURS 8PM NIGHTLY

How are things at Mister Mao?

U: It was a brutal summer. It was better than last year. We did an inexpensive happy hour. What struck me was that there are a lot of people in the neighborhood that have kids. It’s nice to feed all the kids. I am looking forward to having a bar manager this year. I don’t have a GM. It’s a struggle. It’s due to finances. But fall is looking up. Reservations are coming in, and people are starting to book parties. Mister Mao is having broader appeal to Uptown and people outside New Orleans.

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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 restaurant kitchens and also has a dine-in menu and prepared foods to

$ — average dinner entrée under $10

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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. $$$ Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 5860300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — A menu full of Gulf seafood includes oysters served raw on the half-shell or char-broiled with with Parmesan, garlic and herbs. The menu also includes po-boys, gumbo, blackened fish, fried seafood platters and more. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ 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. $$ Luke — 333 St. Charles Ave., (504) 3782840; lukeneworleans.com — The raw bar offers oysters, boiled shrimp, cured tuna, smoked trout dip and more. The menu has dishes like shrimp and grits, crab omelets, crawfish etouffee and steak frites. Reservations encouraged. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Lyons Corner — 537 Gravier St., (504) 527-0006; lyonscornernola.com — The eclectic menu includes Cajun prawns, bangbang 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 shrimp Mosca, baked oysters Mosca and spaghetti

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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. $$ Tavi — 330 N. New Hampshire St., (985) 200-2045; tavirestaurant.com — The menu combines dishes from the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean. There’s hummus, falafel, kebabs, flatbreads, grilled fish, lamb burgers and more. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ 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, house-made cheddar whiz, mushrooms, onions, banana peppers and more. Delivery available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Wed.-Sun. $

PAGE 7

Luke Faillaci recorded the first Fai Laci EP in his college bedroom, but after the songs “Five” and “Gypsy Lover” began to take off, he figured he’d need to put together a band. The five-piece Fai Laci has been touring consistently since 2022 and released an EP in 2024. The garage rock band worked with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach for its recently released full-length, “Elephant in the Room.” Fai Laci is in New Orleans for a show at 9 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Siberia. Tickets are $24.92 via siberianola.com.

Tailgate Fest

Urban South Brewery hosts a college football celebration with viewing of the Tulane versus Kansas State and LSU versus Ole Miss games. There’s also music from a Tulane alumni band and the Tiger RagTag Marching Band, plus games and a kids’ area and a new beer, Orange Wheat Winner. From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Visit urbansouth.com for details.

Leonard Cohen tribute

The third annual Leonard Cohen birthday celebration features music by Luke Allen, Clint Maedgen, Alex McMurray, David Symons and the Cohens of Uncertainty, Ladybabymiss and Dusty Santamaria. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at AllWays Lounge & Cabaret. Admission is $25.

Krewe du Vieux Kickoff Party

The satirical and raunchy Carnival krewe holds a party and krewe fundraiser with music by Ghalia Volt, live and silent auctions and more at the Broadside. Doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Tickets $27.47 via broadsidenola.com.

Jenny Tian

Born in Finland, raised in Australia and now acclimating to life in New York, comedian Jenny Tian is constantly learning how to adjust and noticing what’s odd about her new home. She debuted her first show, “Picture This,” in 2023. Her current tour brings her to Sports Drink for shows at 7 & 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19. Tickets $28.99 via sportsdrink.org.

Evgeny Konnov

A native of Uzbekistan, Evgeny Konnov has won numerous piano competitions in the last decade, including the Maria Canals International Music Competition in Spain in 2018. In July, he won a gold medal at the New Orleans International Piano Competition. The Musical Arts Society of New Orleans presents him in concert at a private residence in Uptown at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16. Tickets $78 via masno.org.

Tina Friml

In her “Don’t Tell Comedy” special, Tina Friml tells the audience that having cerebral palsy actually helps her comedy career: She can’t do other comics’ jokes, so there’s no hacks. And as a New York comic, she has her own disarmingly funny accounts of subway encounters and more. She returns to The Howlin’ Wolf for shows at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19. Tickets $25 via laughlife.standuptix.com.

Heaven’s Pets at Lake Lawn Metairie Cemeteries Every step supports local animal rescues. Register, donate or fundraise today!

Jafet Perez’s tribute to Bad Bunny

Hispanic Heritage Month runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum is hosting a number of concerts to celebrate. Drummer Jafet Perez kicks things off with a tribute to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. The Latin rapper started 2026 by winning the album of the year Grammy for “Debí Tirar Mas Fotos,” the first record entirely in Spanish to win the award. He then played a blockbuster Super Bowl halftime show — and caused a MAGA meltdown in the process. Perez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, will lead a band applying its touch to several of Bad Bunny’s songs at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, on the museum’s balcony. Admission is free. Find more info at nolajazzmuseum.org.

LPO plays Rachmaninoff

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 2026-27 season Thursday, Sept. 17, with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto, which brough fame to the Russian composer when the dramatic work premiered in 1901. Pianist Evgeny Konnov, who won the gold medal at this year’s New Orleans International Piano Competition, joins the LPO for the concerto. The program also includes Anna Clyne’s “Masquerade” and Brahms’ grand fourth symphony. Matthew Kraemer conducts. The LPO performs at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater. Tickets start at $45 via lpomusic.com.

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MONDAY 14 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 Duo, 7 pm BAMBOULA’S — The New Orleans Rug Cutters, 12 pm; Jon Roniger & The Good For Nothin’ Band, 4:30 pm; Ted Hefko & the Thousandaires, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Red Beans & Blues with Washboard Chaz & Jonathan Freilich, 9 pm BROADSIDE — Hot Summer Salsa Nights with DJ Lady B, 7 pm CAFÉ ISTANBUL — Gio’s Giazz Giam, 8 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 THE FILLMORE — Danzig, 5 pm FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Tin Men, 5 pm; Richard Scott & Friends, 8 pm HOLY DIVER — Up the Hammers with DK Konrad, 10 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULÉ — VetJams, 7 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Tom Hook, 6 pm; The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, 8 pm THE MAISON — Gene’s Music Machine, 8 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — George Porter Jr. Trio ft. Chris Adkins, 7 pm; 10 pm SATURN BAR — BC Coogan, 8 pm SIBERIA — Automatic + Accessory + Weird, 9 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 — Slow Motion Cowboys + Lily Unless & the If Onlys, 9 pm

TUESDAY 15 30/90 — Justin Donovan, 6 pm; Kayla Jasmine, 9 pm ANNA’S — Disco Liquid’s 3rd Birthday Party, 5 pm

APPLE BARREL — Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Jackson’s Flying Circus, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Tangiers Combo, 6 pm BAMBOULA’S — F K-rrera Group, 12 pm; Giselle Anguizola, 4:30 pm; Caitie B. & The Hand Me Downs, 9 pm BANKS STREET BAR — Lizette, 8 pm BAYOU BAR — The Season ft. Peter Harris, Oscar Rossignoli, and Amari Ansari, 8 pm; 10 pm CAFÉ ISTANBUL — Sharon Martin & Friends, 6:30 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — The Super-MostFantastic-Blues-N-Such Jam, 7 pm DOS JEFES — Tom Hook, 8:30 pm FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 1 pm; Colin Myers Orchestra, 5 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band with Jamil Sharif, 8 pm GASA GASA — Lunar Vacation + Closebye, 9 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Big Joe Kennedy, 6 pm; Leroy Jones & the Home Team, 8 pm THE MAISON — Jacky Blaire & the Hot Biscuits, 5 pm; Paradise Jazz Band, 8 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Very Good Tuesday, 8 pm OKAY BAR — Big Easy Stompers Line Dancing & Lessons, 8 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Rebirth Brass Band, 10 pm SALON SALON — Jérémie Henan, 7 pm SIBERIA — Fai Laci + Superstar, 9 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 16 30/90 — Jeff Chaz, 6 pm; The Magicians, 9 pm APPLE BARREL — Felipe Kerra, 6 pm; Joey Houck, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Jesse Morrow, 6 pm BAMBOULA’S — Jacky Blaire & the Hot Biscuits, 12 pm; Swinging with John Saavedra, 4:30 pm; Jelly Roll Stompers, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Soft Opening ft. Anna Laura Quinn & Christin Bradford, 9 pm CAESAR’S SUPERDOME — Bruno Mars, Raye & DJ Pee.Wee, 7 pm CAFÉ ISTANBUL — Poets on Poets, 8 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Jam-ilton, 7:30 pm DBA — The Next Level Band, 8 pm DOS JEFES — Kris Tokarski, 8:30 pm FAVELA CHIC — Better Late Than Jake, 8 pm THE FILLMORE — LUCKI + Sk8star, 7 pm

FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 1 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band with Chuck Brackman, 8 pm GASA GASA — Dremm + Tortuous + Pot of Greed, 8 pm HOLY DIVER — Besatt, Sardonic Witchery, Bestial Necropsy, Wythersake & Nokturnal Sorcery, 8 pm HOUSE OF BLUES — 3QUENCY, 7 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Paul Longstreth, 6 pm; Mahogany Hall All Stars ft. Tom Fischer, 8 pm THE MAISON — Gene’s Music Machine, 6 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Happy Organ Hour, 7 pm MARIGNY OPERA HOUSE — CAIN : A Newly Reimagined Ballet-Opera, 8 pm PAULIE’S — PUPS Jam, 8 pm SANTOS BAR — Chambre Noir with DJ Paco, 10 pm SATURN BAR — The Romantic Ramblers and Rosie’s Rabbit Fangs, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Johnny Sansone, 5 pm; Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Chris Christy Band, 2 pm; Shotgun Jazz Band, 6 pm; Marty Peters & The Party Meters, 9:30 pm TIPITINA’S — Psychedelic Porn Crumpets + Strange Lot + Blue Widow, 8 pm

THURSDAY 17 30/90 — Flowmotion, 6 pm; Xcitement, 9 pm APPLE BARREL — Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Johnny B, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Raphael Bas, 6 pm BAMBOULA’S — JJ & the A-OKs, 12 pm; Cristina Kaminis & The Mix, 4:30 pm; Caitie B. & The Hand Me Downs, 9 pm BAR REDUX — Children of Judas + Drew Frank + NateTRILL Dizaster, 8 pm BAYOU BAR — Double Bird, 8 pm; 10 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Hanoun Brass Band, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Irvin Mayfield’s Music Church, 9 pm; DJ T-Roy (upstairs), 10 pm BMC — Dapper Dandies, 6 pm; Kat Kiley Experience, 9 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — The Blues at Work with Phil Breen, 6:30 pm; The Sierra Green Show, 10 pm CAROUSEL BAR — Leslie Martin, 5:30 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — Everything Yes, 8 pm DBA — Vegas Cola Band, 8 pm DOS JEFES — The Mark Coleman Band, 8:30 pm DOUBLE DEALER — Shawan Rice, 9 pm FAVELA CHIC — Daryl Johnson & FunkFix, 8 pm

FRITZEL’S JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12 pm; Doyle Cooper Band, 2 pm; John Saavedra Band, 5 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band with Ellis Seiberling, 8 pm GASA GASA — Surco + DJ Zevyman, 8 pm GOOD MEASURE — Sari Jordan, 8 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULE — The Soul Rebels, 11 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — The New Orleans Catahoulas, 6 pm; Jamil Sharif New Orleans Extravaganza, 8 pm THE MAISON — The Champagniacs, 4:30 pm; SingleMaltPlease, 8:30 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Booker & Beyond Piano Series with Donnie Sundal, 6 pm; Johnny Vidacovich Trio, 8 pm ORPHEUM THEATER — LPO Opening Night: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, 7:30 pm PAULIE’S — Atom Cat, 6 pm PEACOCK ROOM — Da Lovebirds: Robin Barnes & Pat Casey, 8 pm SALON SALON — Juan Tigre, 7 pm SATURN BAR — Jamogi & the Jammers + Sean Hobbes + Blue Tang People, 9 pm SIBERIA — Saia: Dean Lobrono + Thesmoothcat + 2Baggshwaty + DJ Jake Ryan, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Jason Marsalis Trio Excursions, 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Chris Christy Band, 2 pm; Jenavieve Cooke & the Winding Boys, 6 pm; Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band, 10 pm URBAN SOUTH — Dizzy + Fantasy Non Fiction, 7 pm VAUGHAN’S LOUNGE — Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet, 10 pm

FRIDAY 18 30/90 — Decaturadio, 5 pm; Strange Roux, 8 pm; Street Lyfe, 11 pm ANNA’S — Tropical Gems with C’est Funk, 9 pm APPLE BARREL — Bubbles Brown, 6 pm; Joey Houck, 10 pm BACCHANAL — David Sigler, 1 pm; Willie Green, 7 pm BANKS STREET BAR — Honest Man Happy Hour with Domenic Fusca, 4 pm; FOWK, 8 pm BAR REDUX — Nuddie Pipper + Mike Hazel + Pauly + Troy Duchane, 8 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — T Marie & Bayou JuJu + Horace Trahan & the Ossun Express, 9 pm THE BLUE CRAWFISH — Free Agents Brass Band, 6:30 pm BLUE NILE — The Rozes, 8 pm; Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, 10 pm; DJ FTK (upstairs), 10 pm PAGE 60

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BMC — Woody’s Rampage, 6 pm; Andre Lovett Band, 9 pm BRUTTO AMERICANO — Jazz to Table ft. Julian Lee Trio, 6 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Dana Abbott, 6:30 pm; Higher Heights, 10 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — The Hawtsies, 8 pm DBA — Michael Watson & The Alchemy, 6 pm; Ashton Hines & Big Easy Brawlers, 10 pm DOS JEFES — Sax & the City with Tom Fitzpatrick, 9 pm DOUBLE DEALER — The Satin Strings, 9:30 pm FAVELA CHIC — J.A.M. Brass Band, 4 pm; Hypno Nun, 10 pm GASA GASA — Third Fridays with Sweet Magnolia + Jamogi & the Jammers + Left Hook, 9 pm GOOD MEASURE — Zehrin Sims, 9 pm HOLY DIVER — Vacillator + The Pause + Malevitus, 8 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULÉ — Jon Sheckler, 11 pm LE PONCE — Manny Artega, 8 pm MAHOGANY JAZZ HALL — Khris Royal Trio, 3 pm; Victor Campbell & Son del Sur 7 pm; Mahogany Hall Jazz Band ft. Mike Fulton, 9:30 pm THE MAISON — Shotgun Jazz Band, 5 pm; The Kazzettes, 9 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Steve Kelly, 8 pm MARIGNY OPERA HOUSE — CAIN: A Newly Reimagined Ballet-Opera, 8 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — Vienna Notarianni + Rare Seed + The Hand Grenades, 7 pm SANTOS BAR — Obsidian Cult Records Showcase, 8 pm; Electrique Circus ft. DJs Paco, Justintc, Free-U & More, 10 pm SIBERIA — Club Hex - Witch House Dance Party, 10 pm SNUG HARBOR — Davell Crawford & Company, 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Paradise Jazz Band, 2 pm; New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, 6 pm; Kid Chocolate & the Free P.O.C, 10 pm VENUE VAPAILLE — Cheryl Brown, 7 pm

SATURDAY 19 30/90 — Carson Lewis, 5 pm; Tyler Kinchen & The Right Pieces, 8 pm; Armani Smith, 11 pm APPLE BARREL — Hobo Gadget, 6 pm; Smokey Greenwell, 10 pm ANNA’S — PURO ft. FTK + C’est Funk + Sana + OTTO + Legatron + Mikey Offline + Pudge, 9 pm BACCHANAL — Miles Berry, 1 pm; Pete Olynciw, 7 pm

BAMBOULA’S — Aaron Levinson & Friends, 11 am; James McClaskey & The Rhythm Band, 2:15 pm; Paggy Prine & Southern Soul, 10 pm BANKS STREET BAR — Norco Lapalco + Blood Lovely, 8 pm BAR REDUX — Ill Funeral + Ayakashi Krewe + Billy Pilgram, 8 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — Kumasi, 9 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers’ FunkBox, 7:30 pm; Afrobeat NOLA (upstairs), 10 pm; The Soul Rebels, 11 pm BMC — Tropical Weather, 3 pm; Sugar & the Daddies, 6 pm; The Fleurtations, 9 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — Orphaned In Storyville, 1:30 pm; Gabe Stillman Band, 6 pm; Zena Moses & Rue Fiya, 10 pm CHICKIE WAH WAH — Kam Franklin, 9 pm DBA — Young Lion Showcase, 2:30 pm; Tuba Skinny, 6 pm; Ado Soul and the Tribe, 10 pm DOS JEFES — Yoshitaka Z2 Trio, 9 pm DOUBLE DEALER — The Slick Skillet Serenaders, 9:30 pm FAVELA CHIC — Dead Men Don’t Play Jazz, 4 pm; St. Anthony Dalcoe with The Stitch, 7 pm; Thee Tim Brown Arrangement, 10 pm GASA GASA — Stanley Simmons + Velvet Daydream, 9 pm GOOD MEASURE — Victor Campbell’s Son del Sur, 9 pm HOLY DIVER — Filth Abyss: Mange + Scythe, 9 pm KERMIT’S TREMÉ MOTHER-IN-LAW LOUNGE — Kermit Ruffins & The BBQ Swingers, 6 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULÉ — Joey Houck, 11 pm THE MAISON — Giselle Anguizola, 1 pm; Smoking Time Jazz Club, 4 pm; Street Lyfe, 8 pm; DJ KVng Fred, 11 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Carson Station, 8 pm; Gov’t Majik, 11 pm RABBIT HOLE — Kyle Walker, 3 pm SANTOS BAR — Space Disco Presents: RAVE!, 9 pm SIBERIA — Friendship Commanders + Witch Ripper + Chesticle, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Matsiko Singers from Liberia, 4:30 pm; Mahmoud Chouki’s Cigar Box Project, 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm TIPITINA’S — Tchoup Making Sense: A NOLA Tribute to Talking Heads + Sub-Division, 8 pm VENUE VAPAILLE — Brian Tovall & the Vision, 6 pm

SUNDAY 20 30/90 — Funhouse, 3 pm; Krewe De Bauchery, 6 pm; Single Malt Please, 9 pm APPLE BARREL — Shwag, 6 pm; Steve Mignano, 10 pm BACCHANAL — Nahum Zdybel, 1 pm; Noah Young, 7 pm BAMBOULA’S — Jay Dufour Band, 11 am; Laura Doyle, 2:15 pm; Midnight Brawlers, 5:30 pm; Kat Kiley Experience, 9 pm BJ’S LOUNGE — James McClaskey & the Rhythm Band, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Juice presents Sypher Sundays, 7 pm BMC — Deej Flava & Mother Ruckus, 3 pm; JAM Brass Band, 6 pm; Armani Smith, 9 pm BROADSIDE — Tophouse, 8 pm CAFÉ ISTANBUL — RED DOG Live ft. Truth Universal, S.O.L.O.M. & Don Jackson, 6 pm CAFÉ NEGRIL — John Lisi & Delta Funk, 4 pm; Ado Soul & The Tribe, 9 pm DBA — Paradise Jazz Band, 6 pm; The Jump Hounds, 9:30 pm DOS JEFES — Tony Testa, 8 pm GASA GASA — King 810 + Guerilla Warfare, 8 pm HOWLIN’ WOLF — Hot 8 Brass Band, 10:30 pm THE MAISON — Eight Dice Cloth, 4 pm Jenavieve and the Winding Boys, 7 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — Pastor J Funky Revival, 8 pm OKAY BAR — Mystery Flicks + Dr. Goat + Kwalms, 7 pm SATURN BAR — Siren Night: Anna Laura Quinn + Friends, 9 pm SIBERIA — Iron Lung + Paprika + The Mall + Heaven Forever, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR — Joshua Starkman & Clint Maedgen, 4:30 pm; Kim Prevost & Bill Solley with Amina Figerova, 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm SPOTTED CAT — Jacky Blaire & the Hot Biscuits, 2 pm; Treme Brass Band, 6 pm; Pat Casey & the New Sound, 9 pm TIPITINA’S — Fais Do-Do With Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, 5:15 pm

SCAN FOR THE COMPLETE GAMBIT CALENDAR

GOING OUT

by Will Coviello and Jake Clapp THE WESTBANK HERITAGE FESTIVAL WAS FOUNDED to

expand event offerings on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish, and as it prepares for its 10th edition, it’s hitting new milestones. “We’ve expanded with a larger stage, more vendors and national acts,” says Jonathan Stewart, president of the New Growth Economic Development Association, which founded the fest. “It has really taken off.” Westbank Fest is at the Alario Center Saturday, Sept. 19, and Sunday, Sept. 20. Headliners include R&B singer Joe, King George and gospel singer Jonathan Nelson. Admission is free. The two-day celebration features a music stage and festival grounds outdoors on Segnette Field, and gospel programming inside the center on Sunday. Saturday is headlined by Joseph Lewis Thomas, better known as Joe. He had early success in the 1990s with his sultry R&B and soul singing on songs like “I Wanna Know.” He left Jive Records to release music independently in 2007, and has released a couple of albums and still tours regularly. On an NPR Tiny Desk concert in June, he revisited some of his throwback hits, like “Good Girls,” which hit No. 1 on U.S. R&B charts. Atlanta’s The Renaissance Orchestra blends orchestral elements, including violins, cellos and brass instruments, with genres like hip-hop, trap, R&B and pop. The group is only a couple of years old, but it has collaborated with the rapper Boosie and the gospel singer Fred Hammond, and videos of the ensemble playing Ginuwine’s “Pony” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” have gone viral on social media. The son of Shamarr Allen, teenaged trumpeter Donte Allen has been stepping into the spotlight this year. In April, he joined his father and Cyril Neville onstage at Jazz Fest, and he appeared on Neville’s latest album, “Don’t Wait ‘til I’m Gone.” This is Donte’s first billed festival appearance. Sunday brings a performance by rapper Baby Boy da Prince, who made a big splash in 2007 with “The Way I Live,” which climbed into the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. He followed it with the album “Across the Water,” which has features by Boosie and Mannie Fresh. He has focused more on other ventures in recent years but still released a handful of new singles, including last year’s “1Time.”

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Sunday’s headliner is King George, a former rapper turned blues and soul singer. Also on the schedule are rapper Daniel Heartless and vocalist Kortana, a regular performer at Frenchmen Street venues, performing with singer Raven. On Sunday, there’s a worship service at 10 a.m. inside the Alario Center. Gospel performers take the stage beginning at 1 p.m., including the women’s choir Jessica Harvey and the Difference, and Geismar, Louisiana’s Joel Jones and 3MC, who’ve performed in the city before at Jazz Fest. Headliner Jonathan Nelson grew up in the church in his native Baltimore. He’s spent more than two decades singing contemporary Christian music and has written songs for others, including Donald Lawrence & Company’s hit, “Healed.” He’s climbed the Billboard gospel chart on his own with “My Name is Victory.” Most recently, he released the single “When I Think (I Thank).” The weekend also includes music by Roots of Music, DJ Captain Charles and DJ Polo. The festival’s 20 food vendors offer everything from Creole seafood from Daddy & Me Catering and Young Johnson & Dnola’s Kitchen to ribs and fries from Food Symphony Restaurant to Caribbean dishes from Numada, tacos from Z-Tecas, and desserts like beignet bites, Italian ice and snowballs. There’s also a vendor market and a kids’ area with inflatables, bounce houses, a video gaming trailer and arts and craft activities. Festival admission is free. Parking on site is $15, and there is a clear bag policy. Attendees can bring folding chairs, but ice chests and outside food and drink are prohibited. For more information, visit westbankfest.com.

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PREMIER CROSSWORD PUZZLE OLD HAND ON DECK By Frank A. Longo

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

PUZZLES

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