Gambit: March 8, 2022

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THE COLORS OF

Spring!

MARCH 8 — MARCH 14,, 2022 VOLUME 43 || NUMBER 10

CONTENTS

NEWS Opening Gambit ...............................6

SEND END AN ARRANGEMENT TO BRIGHTEN SOMEONE’S DAY!

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

FEATURES CURRENT HOURS: MON-FRI 7am-1pm /// SAT 7am-Noon

Arts & Entertainment ....................5 Eat + Drink.......................................18 Music Listings................................ 22 Music ................................................ 23 Film ................................................... 25

FINE ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES KRATOM • CBD 3137 CALHOUN ST. MON - SAT 11-7

•

Even More Film! ............................ 26

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Shaky Math

Residents are paying for the cost of New Orleans’ infrastructure failures — and the situation is only getting worse.

S TA F F

COVER PHOTO BY D AV I D G R U N F E L D COVER DESIGN BY DORA SISON

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5

Free Spirits

Lonnie Holley and Kyp Malone perform at the Music Box Village ARTIST AND MUSICIAN LONNIE HOLLEY HAS COME TO NEW ORLEANS MANY TIMES. In recent decades, he’s

been invited to assemble work from found materials following Hurricane Katrina and to present a suite of pieces involving broken and discarded instruments as part of Prospect.3, the 2014 installment of the city’s international art triennial.

Before the pandemic, he began work on a new installment at the Music Box Village, and this week — following a pandemic delay — he’s here to officially introduce and perform using the musical sculpture.

Titled “The Sound of Freedom in Captivity,” the interactive piece was created in collaboration with Davis Hart of Pulp Arts in Florida and features a contribution from New Orleans artist Dawn DeDeaux.

The work has been on display for months, and it features a large eagle with spread wings, with cutouts in the flat image.

“There are cutouts of a tree that is growing, talking about our roots, from our very existence,” Holley told Gambit. “I am still talking about myself as an artist and my parents and great grandparents and whoever was brought over and put into captivity, and we had to work to get to that type of freedom, but a lot of times we never did get there. A lot of our songs — down through the pages of history — all of the songs were a little bit about freedom.”

The eagle is housed in an open cage, and visitors can step into the cage and touch the eagle to activate sounds or use microphones to add their own vocals.

“It makes sounds of me singing, it makes sounds of me groaning, it makes sounds of me whistling,” Holley says.

The Music Box Village opened its performance season March 5, and Holley’s shows on Friday, March 11, and Saturday, March 12, highlight a busy season of art and music. Holley will be joined by Kyp Malone, best known for his work with the band TV on the Radio, and jazz drummer Michael Avery, who will direct the ensemble, as well as Spirit McIntyre, Emily Mikesell and Justin Peake. The group is familiarizing themselves with the Music Box’s musical architecture and developing the performance under Holley’s direction this week. Holley also will improvise some of the lyrical content at the shows.

The first time Holley came to New Orleans, he was 9 years old and had run away from Alabama. His young life in Alabama was anything but stable, as he was the seventh of 27 children in a poor family living in the vestiges of Jim Crow.

He says for a while he was taken in by a burlesque dancer when he was a few years old and then lived in a juke joint, or whiskey house.

He says that at least those environments exposed him to music. He was sent back home from New Orleans and later incarcerated at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, where he was forced to pick cotton. A relative rescued him from the facility when he was 14.

Holley worked at many jobs before he broke through in the art world, which came from him carving sandstone tombstones for a niece and nephew who died in a fire. That inspired him to make more stone sculptures. Much of his work is abstract, and his interest in found objects is infused with the notion of recovering or recontextualizing their meanings.

A decade ago, at the age of 63, Holley released “Just Before Music,” the first in a string of albums. He has an open-ended approach to exploring the nexus of art and music, and he’s worked with many musicians, often singing and incorporating the sounds of found objects. In an early collaboration, “On the Other Side of the Pulpit,” Holley sang a sort of gravelly blues and added keyboards and percussion from found metal objects while accompanied by Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander and Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and the solo project Atlas Sound.

The performance at the Music Box will be the first time Malone has collaborated with Holley, but he’s a fan of Holley’s art and music. He

|

by Will Coviello

Ballet Hispanico

NEW YORK-BASED BALLET HISPANICO CELEBRATES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY

with a debut tour of the ballet ‘Dona Peron.’ The vibrant piece is a portrait of Evita Peron, the young actress and activist- turned first lady and prominent figure for the government of her husband, Argentine president Juan Domingo Peron. At 8 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. Tickets $39 and up via nobadance.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO BY PAUL A LOBO

Ballet Hispanico returns to New Orleans

‘#fail’

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MUSIC BOX VILL AGE

Lonnie Holley (center) with Music Box Village staff at his installation, ‘The Sound of Freedom in Captivity.’ describes Holley’s success as a sort of alchemy.

“Artists, musicians — one of the things we should be doing, and one of the things Lonnie is very successful at is presenting alternatives,” Malone says. “If you are looking at the poetry of his music and having to explain what he’s talking about — escaping the slave ships and waking up in a ‘Fucked Up America,’ there is more room inside of that poetry, I believe, for understanding American history and the contemporary American landscape… Take something people have a difficult time facing, like the truth of American history, and not sugarcoating it, but there is something in his spirit that is building the beauty of the ugly truth.”

Lonnie Holley performs at 8 p.m.

Friday, March 11, and Saturday, March 12, at Music Box Village. Tickets $25 via musicboxvillage.com.

THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER OPENS “#FAIL,” A SHOW FEATURING 25 ARTISTS exposing various forms

of systemic failure in the world.

Opening night events include local musicians playing broken guitars as part of “Melody of Certain Damage,” a series by New Yorkbased artist Naama Tsabar, whose work was included in Prospect.4.

There’s visitor participation in throwing stones at aluminum mirrors in Sinisa Kukec’s “Sympathy for the Stone,” a piece inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The opening reception is from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 12.

The expo runs through June 19.

Visit cacno.org for details.

Mattiel

MATTIEL BROWN’S VOCALS HIGHLIGHTED THE INDIE ROCK DUO MATTIEL’S MUSIC on its first two

albums. But Jonah Swilley’s jangling guitar is a more prominent counterpoint on their third album, “Georgia Gothic.” The record is due for release by ATO Records March 18. John Roseboro opens for Mattiel at 9 p.m. Monday, March 14, at Gasa Gasa. Tickets $15 via ticketweb.com.

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OPENING GAMBIT NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Covid is still a threat, especially to vulnerable people. So get vaxxed and boosted today!

#

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

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Sex Workers Against Criminalization, a decriminalization

group working in Louisiana, was highlighted on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” in a segment about the ways society criminalizes and demonizes sex workers. SWAC was spearheaded by New Orleans’ Women with a Vision and supported by New Orleans Rep. Mandie Landry.

Baldwin & Co., the bookstore at Elysian Fields and St. Claude avenues, is now the largest Black-owned bulk book supplier in the Southeast. The bookstore opened in February 2021, and along with operating a storefront and coffee shop, it fulfills bulk book orders for schools, nonprofits and other organizations. Baldwin & Co. also has donated more than 1,000 books to local kids, the shop said on Instagram.

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, who represents the Lafayette area, embarrassed Louisiana amid the Ukraine crisis when he posted a nonsensical tweet meant to degrade “millennial leftists” who “made quite a non-binary fuss to save the world from intercontinental ballistic tweets.” The tweet fostered a barrage of sarcasm from other Twitter users, but the best response came from Dictionary.com: “We’re not entirely sure what this tweet is supposed to mean, and we’re literally the dictionary.”

THE COUNT

THE NUMBER OF DAYS THE CITY’S MOST RECENT MASK MANDATE LASTED.

P H O T O B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Archbishop Gregory Aymond places ashes on foreheads as at St. Louis Cathedral for Ash Wednesday services.

Angry conservatives have one less thing to yell about following end of mask mandate CITY HEALTH DIRECTOR JENNIFER AVEGNO LAST WEEK LIFTED THE COVID-19 INDOOR MASK REQUIREMENT for New Orleans after

weeks of continued declines in infections and other metrics — including several during the Carnival season.

Avegno also said that proof of vaccination and negative test requirements to enter other public facilities could be lifted as soon as March 21 — but that will depend on data over the next few weeks.

“Over the next two and a half weeks we will carefully monitor the effects of Carnival on our local case counts and hospitals,” she said.

Avegno said so far the mask and vaccine requirements seemed to have helped curb the spread of the virus over the past few weeks of Carnival celebrations, along with ramped up distribution of rapid tests.

Health officials distributed more than 20,000 tests along the parade route and at the Louis Armstrong International Airport.

However, she warned that while mitigation measures, mandates and vaccine requirements have been a “silver lining,” health officials are still bracing themselves for new variants of the virus.

In the meantime, she says they will continue to encourage booster shots, especially as major springtime festivals make a comeback.

“Viruses are unmatched in their ability to continue circulating, mutating and harming,” she said. “But at the end of two years, we are incredibly grateful for the patience, compassion and commitment to New Orleans.” — SARAH RAVITS

Entergy has even more Ida related bills for you to pay!

Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued the executive order on Jan. 12 during a surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19, in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in time for much of the Carnival festivities. On March 2, the city announced the mitigation measures appeared to have so far worked and lifted the mandate. Officials will continue to monitor data in the aftermath of the massive celebration and say they’re considering lifting vaccine and/or negative testing requirements for indoor establishments on March 21.

C’EST W H AT

Which New Orleans festival are you most looking forward to this spring?

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27.5%

THE DRINKING ON MY PORCH AND LISTENING TO WWOZ FEST

ENTERGY NEW ORLEANS WILL ASK THE NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL

for a green light to issue $150 million in bonds to cover past and future storm costs, passing on the expense to ratepayers.

The move would mean Entergy New Orleans’ customers would see a surcharge on their monthly bills that would run for the 15-year life of the bonds.

The surcharge before interest costs works out at about $4 a month, on average, for each of Entergy New Orleans’ 209,000 customers.

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OPENING GAMBIT

Entergy said in a prepared statement that customers can expect to pay higher surcharges initially that would decline after 10 months, and that charges for “typical” residential customers would be below the average.

The utility wasn’t immediately able to provide any further explanation of how that process would work.

The $150 million would go toward paying for some outstanding costs related to last August’s Hurricane Ida, though some portion would be put into an escrow account as a prepayment for future storm costs.

Entergy wasn’t able to provide a breakdown.

“Storm reserves allow Entergy New Orleans to access an important source of funding during a severe storm,” said Deanna Rodriguez, Entergy New Orleans president and CEO, via the statement.

In September, Entergy New Orleans drained the $39 million balance that remained in its storm fund at that time, which

it said would be used to cover some of Ida’s costs. Also in September, Entergy executives told shareholders that it estimated New Orleans’ cost for Hurricane Ida would be between $120 million and $150 million.

In the company’s latest annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, filed last week, it said it now estimates the Ida storm costs for New Orleans to be about $200 million.

The Entergy annual report also noted that the New Orleans City Council has an ongoing investigation into whether Entergy New Orleans’s preparation for and response to Hurricane Ida were deficient, and whether its transmission system was properly maintained. The failure of the transmission system cut all power to the city and was a key reason, along with the destruction of power lines and other distribution infrastructure, for the prolonged blackout after Ida. Last year’s chair of the City Council’s utility committee,

Helena Moreno, has said Entergy New Orleans restoration costs would be withheld if it was found deficient, though it is not clear what legal mechanism could be used to do so. Moreno was out of town Wednesday and not available for comment, her spokesperson said.

At the LPSC meeting last week, Eric Skrmetta, member for District 1, which covers part of Greater New Orleans, raised the idea that federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development might be available to mitigate the storm costs for Entergy ratepayers.

Entergy executives also have said they were lobbying for federal funds.

However, Michael Burns, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge’s spokesman, this week refuted Skrmetta’s claim that he had communicated with Fudge.

Burns denied the commissioner’s suggestion that Fudge would look favorably on waiving HUD’s ban on using Community Development Block Grant

Disaster Recovery funds to cover damages incurred by privately-owned utilities.

HUD allocated about $595 million of disaster block fund money to Louisiana for the 2020 storms and hasn’t yet made allocations for last year’s storms. However, Gov. John Bel Edwards would have to request that Fudge waive the ban on using any of that for Entergy repairs. Edwards’ office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The New Orleans City Council last year initiated several investigations into Entergy after widespread power outages that occurred during hurricanes Zeta and Ida, as well as during the winter storm early last year.

Last month, the outside firm contracted by the City Council to investigate Entergy’s outages determined that the utility hadn’t acted “imprudently,” which is the legal standard required in order to impose fines.

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Instead, the report recommended some procedural changes to avoid the computer glitches it found were behind the blackouts.

Foster Campbell, the only one of LPSC’s five members to vote against the bond issue last week, railed against Entergy Corp. for what he argued was a practice of prioritizing shareholders and executives over ratepayers.

Over the last two years, Entergy Corp. saw record profits and increased dividends about 6% annually, paying shareholders $1.5 billion over the period.

Entergy Corp.’s CEO, Leo Denault, saw his total compensation go from about $14 million in 2019 to more than $16 million in 2020 and to just over $17 million in 2021, according to figures in the company’s annual report posted Friday.

“A $1 million raise last year (for Entergy Corp.’s CEO) is just further proof that these people are out of touch with what’s going on with the people of Louisiana,” Campbell said Wednesday.

Burns, the HUD spokesman, also said that Entergy has alternatives to cover costs other than ratepayers and federal money.

“Entergy could recoup these costs elsewhere, they don’t have to charge ratepayers,” Burns said. — ANTHONY MCAULEY / NOLA.COM

602 incarcerated people to be moved from Angola LOUISIANA WILL TRANSFER 602 PEOPLE IN PRISON AT LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY IN ANGOLA

to other correctional facilities over the next three months in order to cope with a chronic staffing shortage.

Allen Correctional Center in Kinder will absorb the extra capacity by adding 602 beds.

Prison officials expect it will be easier to hire staff at Allen, located northeast of Lake Charles, than it has been at Angola.

“It’s a better location than something like Angola. I think they have a little bit more of an area to pull from,” Thomas Bickham, who oversees prison finances for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said of Allen.

With nearly 5,100 people incarcerated, Angola is one of the biggest maximum-security

prisons in the country and the only maximum-security prison in Louisiana. Transferring 602 people from the facility would result in a nearly 12% drop of its current population.

The swap will also involve state prisons beyond Angola and Allen. Not everyone leaving Angola will be able to go to Allen directly because it is a minimum-security facility. Instead, some will go to other state prisons with tighter restrictions, reshuffling other prisoners to Allen, Bickham said.

“There’s a little more devil in the details making sure we get the right ones out [of Angola] and the right ones into Allen,” he said.

Angola is losing funding and staff along with its incarcerated people. The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget last month voted to transfer $2.6 million and 130 vacant positions from Angola to Allen as part of the move. Those positions include not just correctional officers, but also medical personnel, teachers and social workers.

The shift will happen in stages.

Approximately 200 people will move out of Angola and into Allen each month over the next three months. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections also expects to hire 60 new staff members at Allen this month, 39 in April, and 31 in May, according to legislative documents.

“We’re not moving all 600 at one time,” Bickham said. “We realize they are not going to be able to hire all the employees at one time so we are taking a staged approach.”

Bickham said the prison system will try not to move anyone farther away from their family members and loved ones if possible. Much of Angola’s population comes from southeastern Louisiana parishes including Orleans, Jefferson, East Baton Rouge and St. Tammany. Allen is 100 miles farther away from those communities.

The prison’s isolation is part of what makes it so difficult to hire and keep staff. Louisiana’s entire prison system has struggled to attract and retain workers for years, but the problem is most “acute” at Angola, where there are 350 vacant jobs, Bickham said.

— JULIE O’DONOGHUE / THE LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR

9

Mardi Gras 2022 was a welcome taste of normalcy, but we can still do better AFTER TWO YEARS OF LOCKDOWN AND LOSS, Fat Tuesday

2022 was a beautiful, warm day in New Orleans — perfect for getting back into the streets to celebrate life. Black masking Indians once again emerged across the city in their glorious suits; the artists, weirdos and freaks of St. Anne made merry in the in Bywater, Marigny and French Quarter; and crowds thronged to the Rex and Zulu parades. Tourism was down 10-15%, according to The TimesPicayune, making this Mardi Gras feel more “local.”

Our first post-pandemic Mardi Gras also provided a chance for reflection — and change. We took a collective chance by allowing parades to return this year. COVID19 may be here to stay, but this Carnival gave us a welcome return to some sort of normalcy. Our city puts a premium on public gatherings and fellowship, so it felt like a healing, a sense everyone could see in the broad smiles and bright eyes all over town.

Hopefully, we won’t see a major spike in infections; if that happens, we hope public health officials and krewe leaders will work collaboratively to find ways to adapt.

Many immunocompromised New Orleanians couldn’t enjoy parades this year. As a community, we should find ways to fix that before King’s Day 2023.

We urge the city to abandon the shortened parade routes that City Hall imposed this year.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Police Chief Shaun Ferguson insisted that truncated routes — which packed people into tighter spaces — offered the only way to protect people adequately. Sadly, the two weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday saw social media lit up with reports of people fighting for throws and space along the routes — and gun violence.

During Muses, a 17-year-old was shot while trying to break up a fight between parade watchers.

Three people, including 15-year-old

Michael Stars line ns

pi n k w h i te n eu tral ox y g en sky

P H O T O B Y D AV I D G R U N F E L D / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

NOMTOC rolling through Algiers.

Heaven Nettles, a Houston native, were shot and killed during Endymion. A South Carolina man was killed the Friday before Mardi Gras, and early Mardi Gras morning a patron stabbed five people at The Boot.

We all need to re-examine how we approach Carnival, starting with rejecting selfish impulses. The annual Neutral Ground Carnival Land Grab continued apace this year, with the Krewes of Chad and Ladders manspreading across swaths of Mid-City and Uptown parade routes. The new but growing Krewe of Neutral Ground Glampers joined them.

City workers did their best to clear “reserved” spaces, but they lacked sufficient resources.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The Krewe of NOMTOC featured dozens of floats, marching bands and other groups. Thousands lined West Bank streets drinking, dancing and catching throws — a wonderful display of neighborhood parading at its best. Notably absent were belligerent land grabbers, sharp elbows over throws and the edgy fear impending violence.

That same feeling of shared joy and safety marked smaller walking and truck parades all over town.

We don’t wax nostalgic over “the good ol’ days,” but we do hope New Orleans can reclaim all that’s special — and local — about Mardi Gras. This year was a fine start. Let’s make next year even better.

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Entergy starts Lent with a rate hike request

IN THE WAKE OF DEVASTATING HURRICANES and

MARCH MUSIC Skeptic Moon with Zahria Simms Collective 9PM

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SUN

Luke Julien with Flighteous and DJ Novi 9PM

SAT

Kat King with Eva Lovullo and Anne Elise Hastings 9PM

MON

OEJ Presents Mattiel 9PM

SUN

Rainy Eyes with Gina Leslie 9PM

TUE

Begonia with Nari 9PM

WED

Early 4pm Show with Jhariah - 9pm Show w/ Sensi Trails with Kat Hall Band

THU

BLOOD with Family vision, Swarm Comp, & Wesley Wolffe 9PM

FRI

4 5 6

MON SUZANNE SANTO

7 TUE 8

WED

9

THU

10 FRI

11 SAT

12

8PM

Live Band Karaoke 8PM FREE Sarah and the Safe Word with GILT, Neutral Snap, and Deadsled Funeral Company 8PM OEJ pres Spirit of the Beehive 9PM Tin Can Collective with Champagne Girl and The Nocturnal Broadcast 9PM Rock Eupora with The Prescriptions and Juno Dunes 9PM

14

15 16 17 FRI

18

Caution with Sleep Habits and Student Driver 9PM

TUE

EARLY 6PM SHOW w/ LIAM KAZAR & Minor Moon 9PM SHOW w/ Lee Bains and the Glory Fires, Nana Grizol and LINQUA FRANQA

WED

OEJ Presents Virginia Man / Arts Fishing Club 9PM

THU

OEJ Presents Soft Kill 9PM

22 23 24 FRI

25 SUN 27 28

Clenchfist with Bear in The Sky and The Grooxs

SUN

Slutbomb with Donate Your Friends and Allision 9PM

30

MON

One Eyed Jacks pres Monolord + Firebreather

31

20 21

Computer with Mangata, Glass Bug, and Sertularae

MON Stand Up Comedy 8PM

SAT

19

OEJ Presents Lief Vollebekk 9PM

FREE

TUE

Live Band Karaoke 8PM FREE

WED

King Pari with Shred Flinstone and C’est Funk 9PM

THU

OEJ Presents Portrayal of Guilt 9PM

29

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winter storms that inflicted billions of dollars in damage to utility transmission and distribution systems in the last two years, you might think these are lean times for investor-owned utilities in Louisiana. You would be wrong.

Entergy Corp., the parent company of Entergy New Orleans (ENO), saw record profits and paid shareholders $1.5 billion in dividends during that two-year span. Entergy Corp. CEO Leo Denault’s annual compensation likewise went from about $14 million in 2019 to more than $17 million in 2021, according to the company’s latest annual report.

Small wonder many refer to the parent company as “Big Entergy.”

I don’t begrudge Entergy for making money. That’s what businesses are designed to do.

But Entergy Corp.’s record profits appear to have come, at least in part, from letting (or making) its Louisiana subsidiaries skimp on maintenance. Under the law, ratepayers must now bear the costs of reasonably incurred improvements.

In recent years, after numerous blackouts on sunny days, the New Orleans City Council, which regulates ENO, fined the utility for not properly maintaining its distribution grid. In the wake of Hurricane Ida, the council launched an investigation into whether ENO had prudently maintained its distribution and transmission grids, and whether it prudently prepared for and responded to Ida. Both grids failed catastrophically during Ida, causing a blackout during the scorching-hot days of late August and early September.

ENO recently pegged Ida’s damages at about $200 million. That figure pales in comparison to the $4.2 billion in damages sustained

by Entergy Louisiana (ELL) during the past two storm seasons. ELL serves 1.1 million ratepayers outside New Orleans, and the Louisiana Public Service Commission recently gave it permission to sell

PHOTO BY MA X BECHERER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez. $3.2 billion in bonds and to pass the costs of the last two storm seasons onto ratepayers.

ENO has not yet sought council permission to pass on Ida’s costs, but the utility did file a request on Ash Wednesday, March 2, to sell $150 million in bonds to replenish its storm reserve fund, which has been depleted.

Ratepayers foot the bill for utilities’ regulator-approved debts, which made ENO’s filing on the first day of Lent an extra dose of post-Mardi Gras austerity for New Orleanians.

ENO’s storm reserve fund was created after Hurricane Katrina.

It gives the utility a buffer against future storm damages without causing rate shock in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe. Ash Wednesday’s request, however, will not be ENO’s last ask of the council. The utility still must seek council approval to make customers pay $150 million or more for Ida-related damages.

There’s never a good time for utility regulators to authorize rate hikes, but ENO’s request puts the City Council on the spot in the wake of Entergy Corp.’s record profits and robust dividends. Even if council members ultimately approve ENO’s requests, you can bet they’ll give utility officials an extended public flogging first.

These may be prosperous times for Big Entergy, but for local ratepayers, not so much.

@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com

Hey Blake,

I’m familiar with the New Orleans Athletic Club on North Rampart Street, but while reading a book from the early 1900s I came across the Royal Athletic Club, Phoenix Athletic Club and Southern Athletic Club.

What do you know about them?

Dear reader,

OF THE FOUR CLUBS YOU MENTIONED, NEW ORLEANS ATHLETIC CLUB is the

oldest. It was formed in 1872 as the Young Men’s Gymnastic Club, originally located at North Rampart and Bienville streets. In 1884, it moved into a former school on Burgundy Street, then into the former Mastich family mansion in the 200 block of North Rampart. It has been known as the New Orleans Athletic Club since 1929.

The Royal Athletic Club opened in 1908 in the 100 block of Royal Street. It hosted wrestling and boxing matches featuring Pete Herman and Joe Mandot (known as the New Orleans Baker Boy), both of whom became well-known professional boxers. The club closed sometime during World War I. The Phoenix Athletic Club opened in the early 1900s in the 3000 block of North Rampart.

Newspaper articles promoted boxing, wrestling and basketball games

s

March M h

BI RT HSTON E B

W IK IM E D I A C O M M O N S / D E R E K B R ID G E S

The New Orleans Athletic Club formed in 1872 as the Young Men’s Gymnastic Club. there, as well as dances and euchre parties, where a popular card game of the day was played. The club closed in 1912. The Orleans Parish School Board converted the property into the Wiltz Gymnasium. The name can still be seen on the outside of the building, which is now home to several businesses.

The Southern Athletic Club, opened in 1889, was one of the South’s most prominent gymnasiums and athletic clubs. Built in the Moorish architectural style, it was located at the corner of Prytania and Washington Avenues. In 1910, it became city property and was renamed Behrman Gymnasium.

In 1973, it became property of the school board, then was purchased by developers in 1992 and subdivided into four lots. The rear portion of the gymnasium was demolished, but the façade of the gym was preserved when a private residence was built on the site.

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BL AKEVIE W THIS WEEK MARKS THE 90TH BIRTHDAY OF REV. ANDREW YOUNG , the New Orleans native known as a civil rights leader, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former mayor of Atlanta.

Born in New Orleans on March 12, 1932, Young grew up in the 7th Ward and attended Valena C. Jones Elementary and Gilbert Academy. He attended Dillard University before transferring to Howard University, where he graduated in 1951.

As a young minister, Young joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (which was founded in New Orleans) and began to work closely with Dr. King and other SCLC figures. In 1964, Young became SCLC’s executive director.

As a top aide to Dr. King, Young participated in the Birmingham Movement of 1963 and the Selma Movement of 1965. He also provided leadership for the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Young was with Dr. King when he was assassinated in 1968.

In 1972, Young was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Atlanta area. He served until 1977 when President Jimmy Carter named him U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He was the first African-American to hold that position.

From 1982 until 1990, Young served two terms as mayor of Atlanta.

After leaving office, he focused on his consulting business and non-profit foundation. In 1995, Young and his brother donated their family home on Annette Street to Dillard University, where there is an endowed scholarship in Young’s name.

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MATH

Residents are paying for the cost of New Orleans’ infrastructure failures — and the situation is only getting worse.

P H O T O P R O V I D E D B Y K AT I E C R O R Y K O S TA

Katie Crory Kosta’s home becomes surrounded by a moat when it rains.

BY

KATIE CRORY KOSTA AND HER HUSBAND opened the door to their Uptown home one night after a recent trip to Chicago. Luggage in tow, they flipped on their kitchen light, only to discover broken dishes and shattered glass strewn across the kitchen floor.

For a split second, there was a moment of confusion. What happened? Had they been robbed?

But once they saw their cabinet on the floor, they knew what the real culprit was: the infrastructure nightmare that has haunted them ever since they moved into their home at the corner of Short and Green streets 14 years ago.

For as long as they’ve lived there, the 1600 block of Short Street hasn’t had a working drain. A normal rain can quickly transform the street into a moat around their home, which typically doesn’t subside for days. Kosta has learned to keep rain boots in her car.

“If I have to check the mail, I have to put on waders,” she says. “If we have workers, I have to either tell them not to come or they have to have waders.”

Over the years, the standing water has done a number on their roads and sidewalks, too.

And recent construction over the last year or so has made Short Street the main route for moving heavy equipment.

“It’s just the steady parade of backhoes and trucks, and they leave the trucks idling, so d-d-

d-d-shake-shake-shake-shake,” she says. “The house has become a little bouncy.”

Kosta’s story isn’t just a tale of bad luck nor is it even an anomaly anymore. Residents across New Orleans are having to pay the price for the city’s failing infrastructure — on top of the taxes they already pay the government to handle these issues.

Between damage to their vehicles and homes from potholes, flooding, construction and drainage problems, it feels like New Orleanians are always just a moment away from a costly calamity. Then, once something does happen, dealing with the fallout and trying to get remedy from the responsible party can be a giant headache and a saga that lasts years.

As roads get older and climate change increases the frequency of natural disasters, this isn’t a problem that’s going away anytime soon.

In fact, it was something Kosta had worried about just days before they left town.

“It’s funny because I was thinking when one of the backhoes went by like two days before we left, ‘You know, the house is shaking … this is kind of a disaster waiting to happen,’” she says, “and then there was the disaster.”

INFRASTRUCTURE-RELATED REPAIRS can be so expensive because they can affect people’s two

K AYLEE POCHE

most valuable possessions: homes and cars.

TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, found in a 2021 report that New Orleans residents spend an average of $685 a year in vehicle operating costs due to driving on rough roads, and an additional $1,312 due to lost time and wasted fuel while sitting in traffic congestion. The report classified 30% of the city’s roads as in poor condition, 29% as mediocre, 17% as fair and just a quarter as good.

It’s hard to measure how much New Orleans residents specifically spend on flat tires, suspensions, frontend alignments and other repairs as a result of potholes, because people often pay these costs out of pocket. “Most drivers do not file insurance claims on pothole damages because the costs for repair or replacement are generally below the deductible,” Don Redman, an AAA spokesperson, told Gambit.

What we do know is about 5% of recent AAA claims customers made in the Greater New Orleans area involved wheel suspension and/or frontend damages that came with a hefty price tag — averaging $2,881 per claim — though they only confirmed a fraction of those to be pothole-related.

A 2021 AAA survey also found that one in every 10 drivers nationwide had their vehicles damaged enough to warrant a repair after hitting a pothole. At an average repair cost of nearly $600, that’s $26.5 billion in repair costs

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When they returned home from a recent trip, Katie Crory Kosta and her husband discovered their cabinet had fallen off their wall.

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

in 2021 alone. And many of these drivers needed an average of two pothole-related repairs throughout the year, the survey reported, “signaling that America’s roadways need immediate attention.”

Then, there’s the ongoing road work in New Orleans, sending heavy machinery down sinking and cracking streets — and for longer stretches than in other places in the state.

City Council Member Joe Giarrusso says contractors recently reported to the council that work orders typically take five to six months in the city — with some taking a year or longer — while they average one or two months in surrounding parishes.

“One major efficiency and thing to keep costs down would be to make sure that work that is on the street is being completed as timely and as well as possible,” he says.

Part of the problem is that the Department of Public Works, which is responsible for the administrative side of infrastructure projects in the city, is down approximately 70 people. Currently, the department is responsible for handling traffic signal complaints and other issues on top of the major task of answering roadwork complaints and contracting the roadwork out.

Giarrusso says he and Council Member Lesli Harris want there to be a group separate from the department assigned to the bigger roadwork projects. He also wants to ensure there’s someone out on each project site every day. Public Works told the council that’s happening, but the trade association representing the state’s general contractors — and neighbors — say that’s not the case.

“Anecdotally, we hear from neighbors that we haven’t seen anybody on site for a long period

of time,” Giarrusso says. “So you need somebody to keep situational awareness of what’s happening and to be able to ensure, particularly if there’s an open roadway, that that’s being addressed as quickly as possible.”

TRYING TO GET THE DAMAGE REPAIRED, and the responsible party to rectify it, can be such a time-consuming and frustrating process that some people end up giving up altogether.

First, you have to figure out who is even responsible for the damage.

Is it the city? Sewerage & Water Board? Or perhaps the construction company? If it’s a contractor, you’ll have to deal with their insurance company.

And even if you end up suing the city and winning, it could potentially be decades before you actually get the money. In 2019, the city owed at least $45 million in various unpaid judgments dating back to 1996, The Times-Picayune reported. The city’s payments in December 2017 were the first it had made toward judgments and settlements since 2009. The city had not provided Gambit with updated totals as of press time.

Since 2017, Giarrusso says, City Council has gotten the city to issue a line of credit covered by recurring revenue to begin chipping away at the backlog, and he hopes increased revenue this year from Carnival, festivals and March Madness will help put a larger dent in the debt.

“I think there’s probably some people who — much like Sewerage & Water Board bills — are just (like), ‘I’m gonna take care of this myself,’ because if it’s my car, for example, good luck trying to get money out,” Giarrusso says.

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SHAKY MATH Maryann Liuzza Cote, whose longtime family home is near City Park, understands the frustration all too well.

In June 2021, S&WB contractor Fleming Construction Co. was doing piping work on the side of her home and didn’t secure a valve at the end of a hose properly, Liuzza Cote says. In the middle of the night, the valve blew and sent the hose — which she says had the strength of a fire hose — pounding on her window.

Stopping the hose was a major ordeal. “It was so powerful it took like three people to wrangle the hose, and then they had to tie it with a chain to a tree — that’s how powerful the thing was — to get it to stop shooting in that direction,” Liuzza Cote says.

By that point, the hose had already completely flooded her den, ruining her carpet, sofas, curtains, musical organ and the tile in the adjoining room in the process.

She says the damage totals more than $41,000.

But Liuzza Cote says Fleming’s insurance company wants to pay her just $17,000, only giving her what they estimate her items were worth rather than the cost to replace them.

“All my carpet and everything have to be replaced,” she says.

“After depreciation they want to give me $600 to replace my carpet, and my estimates are like $8,000 to $9,000 … I’m like, how is this fair?”

Eight months later, she’s still going back and forth with the insurance agent. “It doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, so I’ll probably get an attorney involved,” she says.

“It’s just been a nightmare.”

MEANWHILE, KOSTA is eating out of small bowls and storing her few remaining dishes on the sofa as she searches for a contractor to replace or repair her cabinet. To add insult to injury, she says she’s having difficulty finding a contractor because many are busy with Hurricane Ida-related work.

She also worries about her wood floors, which were damaged by all the shattered dishes. “I’ll be stepping on glass until my dying day,” she tweeted after the incident.

This is far from the first infrastructure-related cost Kosta has incurred. She estimates she and her husband have spent $10,000 over the years in an attempt to protect their home and bide time while they wait on the city to put a drain in their street.

P H O T O P R O V I D E D B Y M A R YA N N L I U Z Z A C O T E

The hose that flooded Maryann Liuzza Cote’s den last summer.

“I spent $5,000 to put a driveway gate and build up a driveway, so that at least my elderly father can get into the house,” she says.

“We have rocks and stuff delivered to hopefully soak up some of the standing water in front and side of the house. Of course, all that washes away because they haven’t fixed the problem. So we’ve had to do that over again — all at our own expense.”

Kosta says when they built up the driveway, $5,000 was all their savings at the time. But they spent it after their hot water heater went out and they had to send away a worker who came to fix it because their street was flooded.

Over the years, they’ve had to turn away roofers and plumbers and have had trouble getting suitcases out of their house and into an Uber when traveling because of the standing water.

“It’s a very disruptive way to live,” she says, and she still has no idea when the city will ever fix the problem. According to communications Rich Arnold, a neighbor, received from the city, the current construction project in the neighborhood originally didn’t include adding a drain to Short Street, though neighbors have been contacting the city about it for more than a decade.

“Due to this area not originally being included in this project it is taking some time to survey, formulate the best approach to address the matter and work with the contractor to execute the work,” Lauren Muse, a spokesperson for

RoadworkNOLA, told Arnold over email last month. “We are still working through this process but the drainage concerns have been approved to be added to this project.”

When Kosta posted her fallen cabinet and shattered glassware on Twitter, people responded to her sharing similar infrastructure woes. She says she wasn’t surprised by their comments at all because she’s lived in the city her whole life.

“I know what it’s like,” she says.

“I know just the neglect, and you want them to do better … People we know that have moved here, friends that we said, ‘Oh, you’ll love it,’ they move here and they’re like, ‘Holy hell, this place just is not functioning.’”

“That is on top of the boil water advisories, your power just going out for no reason,” she adds.

“All that stuff I take that stride.

I know that. It’s been my way of life the whole time I’ve lived here … storms, hurricanes, we lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. So I know that’s how it is. It’s this stuff that drives me crazy because it’s just 100% neglect. It’s neglect and malfeasance at this point.”

After everything she’s been through and the rising cost of living in the city, Kosta says sometimes she thinks about leaving New Orleans, though she acknowledges that likely won’t happen.

“There are days more and more where I look at my husband and I say, ‘I don’t care where — I just want to leave here,’” she says. “I

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A car stuck in a construction hole filled with water on Cohn Street on Monday, June 21, 2021.

Italian • Steak and Seafood

don’t want to do that, and I probably never will, between you and me. But when you come home to the mess …”

BUT IT’S NOT JUST NEW ORLEANS. Neil Kleiman, research director of the Mayor Leadership Institute on Smart Cities and a professor at Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement, says nationally we’ve reached a breaking point with infrastructure.

For example, he cites New York’s subway system with signaling from the 1930s as a parallel to the significant number of S&WB pipes from before 1940.

“You’re seeing the whole system about to crack because they have this decision of do we uproot the entire signaling system, the guts of how the subways work that nobody sees, and spend billions of dollars, or do we continue to just keep Scotch taping the thing?”

Kleiman says.

In New Orleans, Kleiman says, city government has “a lot of room to improve” in terms of its communication to residents about the status of road projects and who to contact with questions about various projects.

“We now have the technology and the ability to do that in such a way that it shouldn’t be someone just waking up and having like drilling down on their street and having to run and catch all the china before it falls on the floor,” he says.

One option could be creating a “Chief of Streets” position similar to the one then-Boston Mayor Martin Walsh created in 2015. It’s a role in city government specifically dedicated to spearheading the maintenance and repair of the city’s roadways and serving as a line of communication between the mayor’s office, Public Works and other related agencies to make that happen.

“It’s not someone that has 500 people working for him or her, but it’s someone that has authority and a direct line to the mayor and authority over the three to four to five agencies that actually have to do with streets, road repair and public transit,” Kleiman says. “It’s that kind of visibility for infrastructure that residents are looking for.”

And though the situation is dire right now — especially for residents like Kosta and Liuzza Cote — federal money from both Hurricane Ida relief and the infrastructure act is on its way to New Orleans, providing city government with an opportunity to substantially improve the city’s infrastructure as we know it.

“There’s a part of me who looks at at least the dynamics and just feels like if there’s ever a time when New Orleans can pull it together and really begin to address our infrastructure issues and make sure that china and the cutlery doesn’t keep falling on the floor, it’s right now in 2022,” Kleiman says.

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SHAKY MATH

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E AT + D R I N K

Smashing success

FORK + CENTER

Chad Barlow serves smash burgers at Marie’s Bar and Kitchen WHEN CHAD BARLOW LEFT NASHVILLE IN EARLY DECEMBER, his life was playing

out like a Hank Williams song.

Out of work, broke and homeless after his now ex-girlfriend showed him the door, he and his faithful tri-pawed pit bull mix Hank hit the road. His idea was to bartend in Key West and save money to buy a food truck to serve his smash-style burgers, a recipe he’d perfected after months of experimenting in the kitchen. His pal back home in Michigan was making a killing doing just that.

But he ended up taking another direction instead.

“In Birmingham, Alabama, I could have made a left toward Atlanta and taken 95 to Key West or I could go right toward New Orleans,” Barlow says. “I have a buddy here and I love the city, so that’s where I headed.”

Once he got to New Orleans, Barlow walked by Marie’s Bar & Kitchen — near his friend’s place in the Marigny — and decided to check it out. The bar was open, but the kitchen had been vacant since chef Tres Barnard left during the pandemic shutdown.

“I talked to the owner, and he said, sure, you can lease the kitchen,” Barlow says. “I figured the universe was telling me something.”

That’s how Barlow’s menu touting “The Original Slap Burger” (his version of the smash burger) landed at Marie’s in mid-December. He cooks in the back kitchen, and the funky seating area is furnished with neighborhood donations of oddball chairs, tables and art.

Slap burgers are beyond tasty.

A blend of a quarter-pound 80% lean ground beef with three secret ingredients — one is butter — they’re juicy despite being cooked medium well. The butter renders the meat crispy on the outside, delivering a satisfying crunch in every bite.

Barlow dresses them with his special sauce — a condiment-based drizzle modeled after In-N-Out Burger’s crispy Vlasic

dill pickles — lettuce, tomatoes, onions and yellow American cheese, all on a toasted brioche bun.

This is no frozen premade patty, that’s for sure.

The menu is concise. Starting at $10, there’s a single Slap, working up with a double and the quad — four patties fully dressed. Finish one of those bad boys and you get your picture up on the wall. There’s a large Mac in homage to the Big Mac and the Heater, which adds jalapenos into the mix. Burgers come with potato tots or fries, or chips and a scoop of creamcheese based onion dip, based on Barlow’s grandfather’s recipe.

There’s a grilled cheese sandwich for vegetarians, and coming soon, Ann Linn’s locally based Life Is Good vegan “meat” and “cheese” will be featured in a plant-based option.

There’s a burger of the day, like the recent “You’re bacon me nuts!” — dressed with mayo, pickles, bacon and peanut butter.

Barlow also offers longer running specials like the shrimp burger he’s featuring for Lent.

If anyone has room, Barlow’s Oreo beignets will finish the job.

He also fills take-out orders and offers delivery through the Waitr app.

For somebody without a lick of professional cooking experience, Barlow is making it happen.

“Around the holidays it was hitor-miss, but then some foodies posted the burgers on Instagram and that’s given me a lot of

|

by Beth D’Addono

Lotus lounge

THE TINY LAKEVIEW SUSHI BAR LOTUS JUST REOPENED IN LATE FEBRUARY,

nearly six months after damage from Hurricane Ida forced a temporary closure. Dining here again revealed a big change.

Part of that is reflected in the name. Prior to the storm, this restaurant was called Lotus Bistro.

Now it’s simply called Lotus, and it resembles a lounge built around a sushi bar.

That small, eight-seat sushi bar is still in its customary spot, but the conventional restaurant tables have been replaced by groupings of sofas, low tables and lounge chairs.

The restaurant has also acquired a liquor license, so sushi with sake, Japanese whiskeys, cocktails, wine and beer are on the table.

Lotus is a shoebox-sized spot tucked into the corner of a small strip mall at 203 W. West Harrison Ave. Owner Betty Sun says she

PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER

Chad Barlow brought his Original Slap Burger to Marie’s Bar & Kitchen in the Marigny. exposure on social media,” he says. “‘Chopped’ is my favorite show. I’ve always loved to cook, and burgers are my favorite. So, I kept working on it and finally I knew I had it.”

Barlow hadn’t planned on cooking for a living, but his previous business, managing short-term vacation rentals in Nashville, got shut down by the pandemic.

“I never expected to have my own kitchen, but sometimes things just seem to work out when you least expect it,” he says. “New Orleans has a warmth and soul that I hadn’t found in Nashville. It’s exactly where Hank and I need to be.”

?

WHAT

The Original Slap Burger, @originalslapburger on Instagram

WHERE

Inside Marie’s Bar and Kitchen, 2483 Burgundy St., (504) 267-5869

WHEN

3 p.m.-10 p.m.

Tue.-Sat.

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

HOW

Dine-in, takeout and delivery

CHECK IT OUT

Smash burgers at a Marigny barroom

P H O T O B Y I A N M C N U LT Y / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

The Lotus roll is a bundle of fish and cucumber bound by nori. always envisioned her restaurant as a neighborhood spot, and she’s worked to make it a place her regulars keep in mind, rather than one that catches the eye of passersby.

The shift to sushi lounge is part of that intent, offering a place for dinner or just drinks and snacks that is also family-friendly.

Lotus opened early in 2020, but just a few weeks later, the pandemic shut down all restaurants.

Sun reopened only with outdoor service, and she kept it that way even as official restrictions eased.

It was her way of taking every PAGE 19

FORK & CENTER

precaution to protect her family, especially her parents, through the health crisis.

Some past customers may be seeing the interior of Lotus for the first time. What stands out, apart from the new lounge look, are the murals that were here from the start.

These feature accomplished Japanese women through history, from Tomoe Gozen, an epic warrior from the feudal age, to Kimie Iwata, a modern corporate president. An image of Masako Katsura, a pioneer of women in professional billiards in the 1950s, is emblazoned behind the sushi bar.

There are specialty rolls on the menu corresponding to these women. One named for Mineko Iwasaki, whose life helped inspire the novel “Memoirs of a Geisha,” is among the many lighter rolls on Sun’s menu that qualifies for the Ochsner Eat Fit NOLA program, promoting healthier restaurant choices. It has tuna, avocado and cucumber rolled in rice with salmon on top, and it gets extra flavor from spicy snow crab, roe and just a bit of crunchy panko.

Another in the same healthier category is simply called the Lotus roll, with tuna, salmon and yellowtail and a thin vein of cucumber bound in nori. Two sauces arrayed as dueling bursts of flavor include fantasy sauce, made from spicy mayo, eel sauce, and “burnt sake” (which has been flamed). It’s a blend of sour, tangy and subtly earthy flavors.

The other sauce is made with blueberries and yogurt.

Sun was born in Taiwan to parents with a mix of Chinese and Japanese heritage. They ran restaurants before moving to the U.S., where they resumed the profession in southern California.

Working at her parents’ side, Sun learned to make dumplings from an early age.

That’s why the gyoza at Lotus are a point of pride. Lusciously tender, their thin noodle wrappers are crisped on the grill and served with a dipping sauce strong on ginger.

For the new chapter of Lotus, Sun revised the menu. Some of the previous hits remain, like the chirashi sushi platter, served with spicy edamame, charred in a wok and strewn with chili peppers. Many of the former menu’s entrees — including udon and katsu — are gone. More small plates, in

the style of Japanese izakaya tavern food, will join the roster soon. Sushi catering remains an important niche Sun has been building, as she finds ways for a small restaurant to get business beyond its four walls and limited seats. — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

is HERE!

Fry-day

A RESTAURANT INITIATIVE COOKED UP IN THE VERY EARLY DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC in New Orleans is back

for its third season. The format is different now, but it still starts with the notion of the Friday fish fry, and naturally that entails a meal that helps others, too.

In March 2020, just days after the first shutdown orders limited restaurants to takeout only, a small group of local restaurants and supporters started a Friday fish fry for curbside pickup. It was devised with the intent of helping restaurants, their seafood suppliers and restaurant staff.

The same concept returned last year during Lent with dine-in service added, as many more restaurants were able to get back to a semblance of normalcy.

Dubbed Fish Fry Fridays, it returns again this season, running from March 4 through April 15, the length of Lent.

Dozens of restaurants around the area are taking part in this year’s campaign, with options for dine-in, takeout and delivery at many of them. The McIlhenny Co., maker of Tabasco, returns as a sponsor for this edition, while distributor New Orleans Fish House is again working with the restaurants on special deals to supply the program.

The restaurant roster represents a wide spectrum of styles, from taverns and brunch spots to fine dining destinations.

At each, Fish Fry Fridays serves as a fundraiser for Hospitality Cares, a crisis grant program aimed at helping people in the hospitality field with emergency funds. It’s run by the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation.

Restaurants are pledging $1 from each Fish Fry Fridays plate to help fund the grant program.

See menus and ordering details for each restaurant at fishfryfridays.org. — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Mon-Fri 10am-6pm | Sat 10am-4pm Curbside & Delivery Still Available!

5101 W. ESPLANADE • 504.407.3532 at Chastant • Metairie

3001 ORMOND BLVD • 985.603.4011

at entrance to Ormond Estates • Destrehan www.nolagiftsanddecoronline.com @nolagiftsanddecor

46TH ANNUAL

DEPRESSION GLASS AND VINTAGE COLLECTIBLES SHOW & SALE MARCH 12 & 13, 2022 Saturday 10:00am -5:00pm Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00pm

ADMISSION $8.00 Good for both days (1.00 off with ad)

Pontchartrain Center

4545 Williams Blvd.

(Williams BLVD at the Lake)

www.crescentcityglass.org

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St. Joseph and St. Patrick Decor

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WINE OF THE

WEEK

O U T T O E AT C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S A T W W W. B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M Out 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.

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

CBD

Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; juansflyingburrito. com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

CARROLLTON

Penfolds Bin 407

Cabernet Sauvignon

Mid City Pizza — 6307 S. Miro St., (504) 509-6224; midcitypizza.com — See Mid-City section for restaurant description. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola.com — Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese, and a lobster tail or fried catfish fillet are optional additions. The menu also includes wings, quesadillas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood pasta and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$

CITYWIDE

Breaux Mart — Citywide; breauxmart. com — The deli counter’s changing specials include dishes such as baked catfish and red beans and rice. Lunch and dinner daily. $

FRENCH QUARTER

Medium-bodied.

The complete package.

Fruit: Juicy redcurrant jelly, dark plum (and plum acidity), fresh rhubarb. Acidity: ‘Just right’ - a lively and lifted conveyance from initial lip-contact to sated ingestion.

Tannins: Integrated, polishedgraphite tannins. Oak: Seamlessly hidden/concealed oak. Melding well with fruit.

Overall, cabernet balance and definition, sans exaggeration.

DISTRIBUTED BY

P H O T O B Y I A N M C N U LT Y / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Nice Guys Bar & Grill (7910 Earhart Blvd., 504-302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola.com) serves char-grilled oysters on French bread.

Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood in traditional and contemporary Creole dishes, po-boys and more. Char-grilled oysters are topped with Parmesan, herbs and butter. Reservations recommended.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

HARAHAN/JEFFERSON/ RIVER RIDGE

The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot offers a menu of burgers, sandwiches and changing lunch specials. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; theospizza.com — There is a wide variety of specialty pies and toppings to build your own pizza. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 284-2898; thebluecrabnola.com — The

menu includes sandwiches, fried seafood platters, boiled seafood and more. Basin barbecue shrimp and grits features eight jumbo shrimp over creamy cheese grits and a cheese biscuit. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers coffee, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads. Tuna salad or chicken salad avocado melts are topped with Monterey Jack and Parmesan.

Takeout and delivery available.

Breakfast and lunch daily. $

METAIRIE

Andrea’s Restaurant — 3100 N. 19th St., Metairie, (504) 834-8583; andreasrestaurant.com — Chef Andrea Apuzzo’s speckled trout royale is topped with crabmeat and lemon-cream sauce. Capelli D’Andrea combines house-made angel hair pasta and smoked salmon in cream sauce. Delivery available.

Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop — 2309 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, (504) 835-2022; gumbostop.com — The Seafood Platter comes with fried catfish, shrimp, oysters and crab balls and is accompanied by fries and choice of side. There are several types of gumbo on the menu.

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; koshercajun.com

— This New York-style deli specializes in sandwiches, including corned beef and pastrami that come from the Bronx. Takeout available. Lunch Sun.-Thu., dinner Mon.-Thu. $ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; martinwine.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Nephew’s Ristorante — 4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, (504) 533-9998; nephewsristorante. com — Chef Frank Catalanotto is the namesake “nephew” who ran the kitchen at his late uncle Tony Angello’s restaurant. The CreoleItalian menu features dishes like veal, eggplant or chicken parmigiana, and Mama’s Eggplant with red gravy and Romano cheese.

Reservations required. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Short Stop Po-Boys — 119 Transcontinental Drive, Metairie, (504) 885-4572; shortstoppoboysno. com — The menu includes more than 30 po-boys along with other Louisiana staples. Fried Louisiana oysters and Gulf shrimp are served on a Leidenheimer loaf with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $ PAGE 21

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O U T T O E AT

MID-CITY/TREME

Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Frey Smoked Meat Co. — 4141 Bienville St., Suite 110, (504) 488-7427; freysmokedmeat.com — The barbecue restaurant serves pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, brisket, sausages and more. Pork belly poppers are fried cubes of pork belly tossed in pepper jelly glaze. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; juansflyingburrito.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity. com — Favorites include the Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, grilled ham, cheese and pickles pressed on buttered bread. The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — The neighborhood pizza joint serves New York-style pies, plus calzones, sandwiches and salads. Signature shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onion on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows. com — The menu includes New Orleans favorites such as red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as grilled or fried seafood plates, po-boys, raw or char-grilled oysters, pasta, salads and more.

Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza. com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

NORTHSHORE

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; thebluecrabnola.com — See Lakeview section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch Fri.-Sat., dinner Wed.-Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN

Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 891-0997; joeyksrestaurant.com — The menu includes fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and red beans and rice. Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is topped with shrimp

and crabmeat and served with vegetables and potatoes. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 5538 Magazine St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes grilled steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar-jack cheese, black beans, yellow rice, salsa la fonda, guacamole and sour cream. The menu also has tacos, quesadillas, nachos and more. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — The deli at the wine and spirit shop serves sandwiches, salads and more. The Sena salad includes pulled roasted chicken, golden raisins, blue cheese, pecans and field greens tossed with Tobasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations.

Lunch daily. $$ Red Gravy — 4206 Magazine St., (504) 561-8844; redgravycafe.com — Thin cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with chocolate. The menu includes brunch items, pasta dishes, sandwiches, baked goods and more.

Takeout available. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza.com — See Harahan/ Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — The Peruvian menu includes a version of the traditional dish lomo saltado, featuring beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and served with fried potatoes and rice. Dine-in, outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant.com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole, Cajun and Southern dishes. Fried oysters and skewered bacon are served with meuniere sauce and toasted French bread. Reservations required. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$$ The Mill — 1051 Annunciation St., (504) 582-9544; themillnola.com — Short ribs are braised with red wine and served with risotto. Reservations accepted. Dinner Thu.-Sat., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$

WEST BANK Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca, made with breadcrumbs and Italian seasonings. Curbside pickup available. Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$

Dinner served nightly OPENDAILY DAILY OPEN 7AM-9PM 7AM-9PM FRI & SAT10PM 10PM FRI & SAT VALIDATEDPARKING PARKING VALIDATED

Dine In & Takeout Dlivery.live Goldbelly.com

e m è h o b a L

401 Poydras St  MothersRestaurant.net  (504)523-9656

s ’ i n i c c Pu

APRIL 1 & 3, 20222

At the Mahalia Jackson Theatter for the Performing Arts

Friday, April 1, 2022 Nuts and Bolts Lecture 6:30PM

Performance 7PM

Sunday, April 3, 2022 Nuts and Bolts Lecture 1:30PM

Performance 2PM

TICKETS: WWW.NEWORLEANSOPERA.ORG 1 4 1 9 BA S I N S T R E E T | N E W O R L E A N S | ( 5 0 4 ) 52 9 -3 0 0 0

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > M A R C H 8 - 1 4 > 2 02 2

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

Note: Due to COVID-19, events may have certain restrictions or may be postponed; we recommend checking out a venues social media sites or call before you go for the most up to dateinformation.

TUESDAY 8 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 7 pm DOS JEFES — Tom Hook, Wendell Brunious, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm SIDE PORCH — Hunter Diamond, James Singleton & Justin Peake, 8 pm THE STARLIGHT LOUNGE — Hunter Diamond Trio feat. James Singleton & Justin Peake, 8 pm

WEDNESDAY 9 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 7 pm CAFE NEGRIL — Colin Davis and Night People, 10:30 pm DOS JEFES — Javier Gutierrez, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard "Piano" Scott, 12:30 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Sarah & the Safe Word with GILT, Neutral Snap, Deadsled Funeral Company, 8 pm HARD ROCK CAFE NEW ORLEANS — Jamie Lynn Vessels, 7 pm PORTSIDE LOUNGE — Hunter Diamond, Sasha Masakowski, James Singleton & Just Peake, 8 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars, 5, 6:15, 7:30 and 8:45 pm TIPITINA'S — Poguetry Featuring Lost Bayou Ramblers, 8:30 pm

THURSDAY 10 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 8 pm BLUE NILE — Reggae Night with DJ T-Roy, 11 pm BLUE NILE — Where Y'at Brass Band, 7 pm CAFE NEGRIL — Sierra Green and the Soul Machine, 10 pm DOS JEFES — Mark Coleman Trio, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard "Piano" Scott, 12:30 pm; Doyle Cooper Trio, 2:30 pm; John Saavedra Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Sprit of the Beehive, 9 pm HOUSE OF BLUES — Young Roddy, 7 pm ORPHEUM THEATER — Prieto Conducts Shostakovich, 7:30 pm

PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Da Lovebirds with Robin Barnes and Pat Casey , 8 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Ron & Tina's Acoustic Jam, 5 & 7 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Chubby Carrier & Bayou Swamp Band, 8 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Brian Seeger Quintet, 8 & 10 pm ST. ANNA'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH — New Orleans Street Beat, 7 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm

FRIDAY 11 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 8 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers, 7 pm; Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, 11 pm BLUE NILE BALCONY ROOM — Brass Flavor, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Sam Friend Trio, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — Champagne Girl with The Nocturnal Broadcast, The Tin Can Collective, 9 pm GEORGE AND JOYCE WEIN JAZZ & HERITAGE CENTER — Robin Barnes & the Fiya Birds, 8 pm KRAZY KORNER — DayWalkers feat.

Waylon Thibodeaux, 1 pm LIVAUDAIS HALL — Seán Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band - Album Release Celebration Concert, 7 pm NEW LOCATION — T Marie and Bayou Juju Dance Party + Dance Lesson , 7 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Rebel Cowboys, 9 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Mark Braud, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm REPUBLIC NOLA — Sully, 11 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — The Topcats, 8:30 pm SANTOS — The Well//Howling Giant//Spitfire, 9 pm; Green Gasoline w/Vacillator and Wastelander, 9 pm

PROVIDED PHOTO BY ZACK SMITH

SIDNEY'S SALOON — Hacks of the Maze with Special Guests!, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Herlin Riley Quartet, 8 & 10 pm THREE KEYS (ACE HOTEL) — Noah Young, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Dave Jordan and The NIA, 7 pm

SATURDAY 12 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Jordan Anderson, 8 pm BLUE NILE — Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, 6 pm CAFE NEGRIL — The Sierra Green Show, 10 pm DOS JEFES — Sunpie & The Louisiana Sunspots, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Trio, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band, 9 pm GEORGE AND JOYCE WEIN JAZZ & HERITAGE CENTER — Quiana Lynell, 8 pm KRAZY KORNER — DayWalkers feat.

Waylon Thibodeaux, 1 pm LIVAUDAIS HALL — Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band Album Release Celebration Concert, 7 pm PIROGUE’S WHISKEY BAYOU — Bogue Chitto, 8 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Ron Hotstream & the Mid City Drifters, 8 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious, 2:30 & 3:45 pm; Preservation AllStars feat. Shannon Powell, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm SMOOTHIE KING CENTER — JoJo Siwa, 7 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Dr. Michael White & Original Liberty Jazz Band, 8 & 10 pm

Poguetry Featuring Lost Bayou Ramblers plays Tipitina’s at 8:30 pm, Weds March 9

SUNDAY 13 BEAUREGARD-KEYES HOUSE — Electric Yat Quartet, 5:30 pm DOS JEFES — JT Hassell, 8 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Hunter Burgamy Trio, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Trio, 2:30 pm Marla Dixon Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel’s All Star Band, 8 pm HOTEL PETER & PAUL — Unheard-of// Ensemble, 7 pm PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Jelani Bauman , 11 am POUR HOUSE SALOON — The Counsel, 5 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation Legacy Band feat. Will Smith, 2:30, 3:45, 5, 6:15, 7:30 & 8:45 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition, 4:30 pm ROYAL FRENCHMEN HOTEL & BAR — Grayson Brockamp and the New Orleans Wildlife Band, 7 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — DarkLounge Ministries, 6 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Aurora Neland & The Royal Roses, 8 & 10 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Shannon Powell, 7:30 pm

MONDAY 14 CARROLLTON STATION — Hunter Diamond, Kevin Scott & Cliff Hines, 9 pm DOS JEFES — John Fohl, 8:30 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Twisty River Band, 8 pm PRESERVATION HALL — Preservation Brass , 5, 6:15, 7:30 a& 8:45 pm

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MUSIC

Brass blast

by Jake Clapp

THE 2020 NEW ORLEANS ORIGINAL BRASS FEST might have been

one of the last in-person local festivals before the city issued its stay-at-home order amid the growing coronavirus pandemic. The Rebirth Brass Band, Mamma Digdown’s Brass Band, the Original Pinettes and more played the festival in Louis Armstrong Park on March 7, 2020, and within days, Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a state of emergency for the city.

Save Our Brass Culture Foundation, a nonprofit that organizes Brass Fest and works to support New Orleans’ brass band culture, took the festival virtual the next year. The late WWOZ host Charles “Action” Jackson, trumpeter Shamarr Allen, Big Chief Romeo Bougere of the 9th Ward Hunters and more performed “in the bubble” for livestreaming audiences.

Now, the New Orleans Original Brass Fest returns to Armstrong Park on Saturday, March 12, for its fourth annual festival, featuring Glen David Andrews, Da Truth Brass Band, DejaVu, Young Fellaz, Trombone Shorty Foundation Brass Band and more. And Corey Henry will lead a Lil’ Rascals Brass Band reunion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their album “Buck It Like a Horse.”

The festival will celebrate the lives of several New Orleanians who have recently died, including Action Jackson, Hot 8 co-founder Bennie Pete and trumpeter Terry Gibson Jr. “I want to continue doing ceremonies where we’re honoring musicians,” says Ersel “Garfield” Bogan III, Save Our Brass Culture Foundation founder. “If you walk through Armstrong Park from the front gate toward Mahalia Jackson auditorium, you see names of brass bands and musicians. They did that when they rebuilt the park. I want to see if we can keep that ceremony going every year.”

Brass Fest 2022 kicks off with a show at 9 p.m. Friday, March 11, at The Rabbit Hole, a recently opened venue on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. Bogan and his band Funk’n Around will perform along with The Stooges Brass Band — the group that gave Bogan his start — and DJ Nile Ashton. And Save our Brass Culture will host a “Red Cup & Crawfish” event on Sunday, March 13, at Culture Park on Franklin Avenue.

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

Alvin Coco, right, and Mosiah Chartock hang out near the stage playing their instruments at the New Orleans Original Brass Fest in 2019 at Armstrong Park.

Bogan, who is a trombonist and drummer, attended John F. Kennedy High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and wasn’t yet out of high school when Stooges started and pulled together players from Kennedy and St. Augustine High School.

“It was rival bands come together to make a union. That was crazy.

We were only friends on the weekend,” Bogan says with a laugh.

Bogan, who has recently been splitting time between New Orleans and North Carolina, started the Save Our Brass Culture Foundation several years ago as a way to preserve brass band traditions, teach students history and work with musicians on business and financial skills. The foundation also wants to help musicians access quality physical and mental health care.

“This is a for-brass by-brass organization,” Bogan says. “I know firsthand what the community and culture needs. I felt like a lot of stuff was being undone when it came to showing and teaching the culture to people that eventually came in and didn’t know the history.”

Bogan has in the past produced block parties and brass band shows. He put together the first Original Brass Fest in 2019 as a way to put brass band culture front-andcenter in Armstrong Park.

“We are really hurting ourselves as musicians if we’re not passing the culture along,” Bogan says, “and not doing a good job as to show [people] where the culture was.”

The 2022 Brass Fest runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 12, in Louis Armstong Park. Tickets are $10 at eventbrite.com. Find information about Save Our Brass Culture Foundation at saveourbrass.org.

Written by Marcus Gardley Directed by abigail jean-baptiste March 4 - 20, 2022

SHOWTIMES

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‘The Drowsy Chaperone’

RICKY GRAHAM STARS IN THE MUSICAL CELEBRATING A VINTAGE ERA of

musical productions. A theater lover puts on the soundtrack of his favorite show and brings to life the story of a starlet, gangsters and marital intrigue from the Roaring Twenties. Shows are at 7:30 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays (plus Thursday, March 24) and 2 p.m.

Sundays from March 11 through March 27 at Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts. Tickets $37-$51 at rivertowntheaters.com.

The French Film Festival

THE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES 15 NARRATIVE AND THREE DOCUMENTARY features from France

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to Africa and North America.

The festival is highlighting the work of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski and his Trois Couleurs trilogy. In “Jane by Charlotte,” actor Charlotte Gainsbourg directs a documentary profile of her mother Jane Birkin. “The Rumba Kings” explores the importance of music in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s quest for independence. Films screen at The Prytania Theatre from Friday, March 11, through March 17. Visit neworleansfilmsociety.org for schedule and information.

Ladee Hubbard

LOCAL NOVELIST LADEE HUBBARD WONTHE2018ERNESTJ.GAINES AWARD for her novel “The Talented

Ribkins.” The acclaimed follow-up, “The Rib King,” was released by HarperCollins last year. “The Last Suspicious Holdout,” a book of interrelated short stories, is being released on Tuesday, March 8, and Hubbard celebrates the new book at 6 p.m. at Blue Cypress Books.

Tickets are required and include a copy of the book. Visit bluecypressbooks.com for tickets and details.

‘Bird Set Free’

NEW ORLEANS PERFORMANCE ARTIST DICK JONES AND CABARET UNREAL PRODUCTION host “Bird Set Free:

A Cabaret for Survivors” at The AllWays Lounge on Saturday, March 12. The variety show of burlesque, sideshow, spoken word and dance is dedicated to survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and all proceeds from the night’s raffle will go to Louisiana survivor support and advocacy group STAR (Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response).

The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $25 at eventbrite.com.

The Wild Feathers

WHEN A BUNCH OF FORMER BANDLEADERS GOT TOGETHER TO FORM

NASHVILLE’S THE WILD FEATHERS, the result was a harmonizing mellow country outfit. The group’s 2020 release “Medium Rarities” collected songs from the band’s 10 years together. Michigan country singer Myron Elkins opens for them at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Toulouse Theatre. Tickets $18 via toulousetheatre.com.

Hunter Diamond

CHICAGO WOODWIND MUSICIAN HUNTER DIAMOND, who works in both com-

posed and improvised performance, is in New Orleans for three shows with New Orleans artists. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, Diamond will be joined by James Singleton and Justin Peake at the SidePorch on S. White Street. Then Diamond, Singleton, Peake and Sasha Masakowski will play at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, March 9, at Portside Lounge. And at 9 p.m. Monday, March 14, Diamond, Kevin Scott and Cliff Hines will play the Instant Opus series at Carrollton Station.

Find more information about the shows at scatterjazz.com.

‘If You Have Ghosts’

NEW ORLEANS ART ROCK BAND MALEVITUS IS GETTING A VINYL REISSUE release of its 2019 epon-

ymous album courtesy of Houma Records — the label’s first vinyl release in 40 years. And Malevitus is celebrating by reconstructing its album into a “deconstructed” musical called “If You Have Ghosts.” Set to Malevitus’ music, the performance will unfold around attendees (cocktail hour attire is encouraged) as they witness a New Orleans socialite and her children battle unwelcome spirits in their St. Charles Avenue home. Aerial troupe The Flying Buttresses also will be featured.

“If You Have Ghosts” starts at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at The Columns. Tickets are $40 at eventbrite.com.

Big Easy Blues Festival

SOUL AND R&B SINGER TUCKA TOPS A BILL OF BLUES AND R&B PERFORMERS including Pokey Bear, Roi

Anthony, Ronnie Bell, Lebrado, Nellie Tiger Travis and DJ Captain Charles. At 8 p.m. Friday, March 11, at UNO Lakefront Arena. Tickets $35 via ticketmaster.com.

‘Shrek The Musical’

SHREK, DONKEY AND PRINCESS FIONA HIT THE STAGE singing in the musical

adaptation of the fairy tale of misfits, based on the original animated film and parts of its sequels.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society presents the show Friday, March 11, through March 20. Visit jpas.org for tickets and information.

Tooting Her Own Horn

by Will Coviello LOUIS ARMSTRONG WAS A PROLIFIC LETTER WRITER

and made numerous audiotapes, all of which have provided a detailed account of his perspective on a life largely lived as an international celebrity. A few of those letters and a cassette tape help ground the account of one part of his life mostly kept secret. Those typed and handwritten letters and audio messages went to Sharon Preston-Folta, who in 2012 announced she was Armstrong’s daughter. In the correspondence, he calls her “Little Satchmo.”

Preston-Folta followed up the announcement with a memoir released digitally. Now, she’s telling her story in the hour-long documentary, “Little Satchmo,” in which she explores the gap in their relationship.

Following some film festival screenings, it kicks off a theatrical release at The Broad Theater on Friday, March 11. Filmmakers will participate in a Q&A after that screening.

There were rumors and some biographers believed Armstrong had a child, but in spite of his four marriages and numerous affairs, he never spoke publicly about a child. In his will, Armstrong left everything to his wife Lucille Armstrong, except for some money for a sister and cousin.

The will didn’t mention a daughter, and Lucille Armstrong signed an affidavit saying he had no children.

Louis and Lucille Armstrong were married in 1942. Sharon PrestonFolta was born in 1955 to Lucille Preston, a dancer who was known as “Sweets.” She and her husband Luther “Slim” Preston were a popular performing duo known as Slim and Sweets. Preston-Folta says her mother and Armstrong began their two-decade affair soon after Slim Preston died in 1950.

Louis Armstrong always took care of Lucille Preston and Sharon financially. He provided income, bought Sharon an accordion and asked about her musical education, bought them a house in Mount Vernon, New York, and sent savings bonds to pay for her college education. Most of these arrangements were handled by Armstrong’s manager Joe Glaser.

Her mother often bought her new outfits for Armstrong’s visits, and he spent time with them.

Occasionally they traveled with him,

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CROOK & NANNY PRODUCTIONS

until a trip to Atlantic City erupted into a confrontation, Preston-Folta says in the film.

The documentary is narrated by Preston-Folta, with some additional contributions from John Boutte. Preston-Folta reads from Armstrong’s letters and plays snippets from his tapes. She also thumbs through old photos as she puzzles between Armstrong’s professed affection and his long absences. She questions ways in which it might mirror Armstrong growing up with a mostly absent father. She also lends credence to the notion that the existence of a child born out of wedlock might have damaged his career and fame.

The film is loaded with photos and clips of Armstrong in the 1950s and ’60s, performing and being interviewed on TV. Much of that came at a time when he was both incredibly successful and also subject to great expectations. He was an international cultural ambassador for the U.S. during the Cold War. He also was criticized for not speaking out more prominently on civil rights issues. But regardless of the reasons, Preston-Felta felt left out in the cold, and the film casts his fame and privacy in a new light.

Preston-Folta’s narration feels overly scripted at times, and the film might have benefitted from including a more candid interview style. Even in short pans of her face, she often doesn’t seem to be looking at the camera.

No-one else is interviewed in the film, though there are few survivors who could shed light. Lucille Preston previously declined interviews and died in 2020.

Preston-Folta gets to tell her story, though now the letters and memorabilia are a public record.

She’s donated them to the Library of Congress.

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Recovery project

by Will Coviello

UKRAINIAN DIRECTOR VALENTYN VASYANOVYCH’S “ATLANTIS” BEGINS IN EASTERN UKRAINE in 2025. A

note says that it is one year after the end of a war with Russia.

That was not entirely prophetic for the 2019 film, which won a top prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Post-Soviet Russia long had designs on regaining control of Ukraine, and it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Now, Ukraine is battling a Russian invasion of a much broader scale than Vasyanovych seems to have imagined.

“Atlantis” is a visually stunning but minimalist drama, with a deliberately slow pace. It’s dystopic, as most of its characters work in the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine, trying to remedy the collateral damage of war. For some, that means finding buried land mines. For others, there is the recovery of unidentified bodies. For those suffering PTSD, very little is bearable.

Sergiy is a former soldier who takes a job delivering water. The war has so degraded the land that safe water must be trucked into the region. He drives his massive truck through the wrecked rural roads and abandoned industrial buildings.

He’s also warned to bring his own toolkit, as everything seems to break down or barely work

drab color palette, the earth tones, of both grass plains and muddy industrial hubs, are lush, and it’s a strangely beautiful portrait of a bleak environment. At times, Vasyanovych contrasts them with brilliant red and orange fire, such as a vat of molten steel in a factory or a small fire heating water in the cold of winter. A few scenes in darkness shot with infrared cameras take on the specter of spying and the hidden secrets of people caught up in war.

There is minimal dialogue, but Vasyanovych’s setting speaks volumes. Some of the men struggle with the transition from war to peace. Sergiy practices shooting at targets in an icy field. Others can’t handle the tedium of their previous jobs. The bomb detonation team still lives under the threat of death. The pace of the film reflects the slow process of healing.

The film is not overtly political and focuses on the actions of a handful of people. Camaraderie is a powerful thing when the bond is over the terror or loss of war, even as the scarred survivors bear it silently. The film is a search for hope, but one that acknowledges it will take time for seeds planted in such rugged ground to grow.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY GR ASSHOPPER FILMS

in the former war zone. Essentially, people are on their own. That’s also true as foreign companies close down factories, leaving workers more cut off from the outside world.

Along his route, Sergiy meets a crew with a broken-down van. Katya is part of a team that recovers bodies. They work to recover remains and identify the deceased for the families. The grim cataloguing of their tattered uniforms’ boots and stripes has an air of intrigue about who was fighting for which side. There also are other clues about the circumstances of their role in the war or their death. Katya says that she was pursuing a degree in archeology before the war, and now she’s using her skills to figure out what’s happened a handful of years before, rather than thousands.

Vasyanovych shoots most scenes in long static shots. The camera rarely moves as the action seems to unfold on a portrait or a stage. Despite the film’s

“Atlantis” opens Friday, March 11, at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge. In Ukrainian with English subtitles.

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