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ADOPTED BY MARGO AND CLANCY DUBOS

CONTENTS

JUNE 16 -22 , 2020 VOLUME 41 | NUMBER 22 NEWS

OPENING GAMBIT

COMMENTARY 9 CLANCY 10 BLAKE PONTCHARTRAIN 12

FEATURES

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 5 EAT + DRINK

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New Orleanians share their pandemic stories in the A Journal of the Plague Year

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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) 4865900. 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 2020 Capital City Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

Midnight Snack

Recording History

PRESERVATION HALL DRAWS ON LIVE AND PAST PERFORMANCES from its Midnight Preserves concert series for ’Round Midnight Preserves, to be livestreamed 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 20. In recent years during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival,

Terence Blanchard on his latest two movies BY WILL COVIELLO TRUMPETER AND COMPOSER TERENCE BLANCHARD and director Spike Lee

have had a productive relationship that spans more than 30 years. Blanchard has composed scores for more than a dozen of Lee’s films and won a Best Instrumental Composition Grammy Award for “Blut Und Boden (Blood and Soil),” which was on the soundtrack for Lee’s 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman.” Blanchard has gotten used to Lee enlisting him on new projects on short notice. “We were at the Oscar party (for ‘BlacKkKlansman’), when he asked me about doing ‘Da 5 Bloods,’ ” Blanchard says. “He was leaving to film in Vietnam the next day.” “Da 5 Bloods” is Lee’s latest movie, released June 12 on Netflix. It’s one of two current releases featuring Blanchard, though in the “Up From the Streets” film about New Orleans music and culture, he’s on screen as the narrator. “Da 5 Bloods” is an action movie in which four black Army veterans return to Vietnam to search for the remains of their former friend and squad leader Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman), but they have another mission as well. While battling Vietnamese forces, they discovered and hid a cache of gold bars. After decades, they think they’ll be able to locate it using satellite images. And while the trip at first seems like a chance at catharsis — to reunite with each other and recover their fallen friend’s remains — they have changed over the years and inevitably old wounds are reopened. Lee places the film in the history of racism and the war and military. It opens with interview footage of Muhammad Ali talking about his refusal to fight for the U.S., noting that the Vietnamese never referred to him with racial epithets. The film also references Crispus Attucks, a black man who was the first casualty of the American Revolution. Lee recreates propaganda radio broadcasts by “Hanoi Hannah,” in which she asks black servicemen why they fight for a nation plagued by systemic racism. The soundtrack includes Marvin Gaye songs that address inequality and the desire for social change. Blanchard composed 21 pieces for the score, which was released May 29 on Milan Records.

P H OTO B Y DA NN Y C L I N C H

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

“Up From the Streets” celebrates a wide array of New Orleans music and puts it in historical context. That history starts with Congo Square and the legal assembly of enslaved people to play their own music in colonial Louisiana. As many musicians, including Wynton Marsalis, and experts including former Tulane University jazz archivist Bruce Raeburn point out, that music became the foundation of jazz and much of New Orleans — and thus much of American — music. The film highlights many musicians one would expect: Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, James Booker and members of the Neville family. It also lauds drummer Earl Palmer and Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The array of current artists includes Mannie Fresh, Lil Wayne, Big Freedia, Juvenile, Galactic, Tank and the Bangas and others. Director Michael Murphy takes an overly broad approach, however, and the narrative breezily hops from one genre and time period to another. Many interview subjects talk about music bringing people together to second line with brass bands, and the film doesn’t attempt to reconcile that sentiment with historical divides it mentions, such as struggles over segregation,

P H OTO B Y H EN R Y A . D E B O N O J O

Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard

“UP FROM THE STREETS” DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MURPHY SCREENING VIRTUALLY VIA THE WEBSITES OF THE BROAD THEATER AND ZEITGEIST THEATRE & LOUNGE

school integration or the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. Blanchard shares a memory of the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statue being removed from Esplanade Avenue at the entrance to City Park. He says that he passed the statue regularly on his way to school for years, and it was only after it was removed that he noticed what it felt like being relieved of the burden. That moment in the film resonates in view of recent protests about the killing of George Floyd, police brutality and inequality. “That story itself goes to what we’ve been going through,” Blanchard says. “Some people have been blind to these issues and don’t realize they’ve built up a tolerance to injustice. But it’s like there’s a new emotion now. When you feel it, it’s like it’s a different thing now.”

Pres Hall has presented late-night concerts featuring visiting artists in collaboration with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This livestreaming event will be hosted by bassist and Artistic Director Ben Jaffe and feature recorded music and interview segments with performers including Dave Grohl, Elvis Costello, Beck, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Nathaniel Rateliff, Irma Thomas, Jon Batiste, PJ Morton and Dave Matthews. The event will stream for free on www.preshallfoundation.org, but the organization is accepting donations to the Preservation Hall Foundation Legacy Relief Fund.

Broadway bandwidth SETH RUDETSKY USUALLY BRINGS HIS BROADWAY @ NOCCA SERIES to the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. It features stars of Broadway singing in cabaret-style performances, accompanied by Rudetsky on piano. This summer, Rudetsky launched a virtual version which will feature Jessie Mueller on Sunday, June 21, Lea Salonga on Sunday, June 28, Melissa Errico on July 5 and Audra McDonald on July 12. Mueller recently starred alongside Tracy Letts in his new play “The Minutes,” and she has starred in “Waitress,” “Beautiful — The Carole King Musical” and more. Salonga won a Tony Award for her role in “Miss Saigon,” appeared in “Les Miserables” and sang the voice of Princess Jasmine in “Aladdin.” The events are broadcast at 7 p.m. Sundays and rebroadcast the following Monday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 through Tuesday, June 16, and $25 afterward. Visit www.thesethconcertseries.com for information.

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Reassessing public funding … reopening the city … more on demonstrations

# The Count

Thumbs Up/ Thumbs Down

5:18 p.m. The time of day during which the average Louisiana employee working from home starts drinking alcohol, according to a recent survey from Alcohol.org, a nationwide provider of addiction treatment services. The national average is 4:36 p.m.

The Gia Maione Prima Foundation awarded the New

Orleans Jazz Museum $25,000 for its Education Outreach Program, which seeks to improve distance learning opportunities for New Orleans students and teachers through online music education programs, workshops, musician-led programs and more. The foundation was established in 2011 by Gia Maione Prima, an artist and widow of New Orleans jazz artist Louis Prima.

P H OTO B Y S A R A H R AV I T S

Protesters, organized by the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, gathered at the steps of City Hall June 11 to demand that city officials reallocate funding from the police department to social programs.

DEMONSTRATORS PRESENT DEMANDS TO CITY COUNCIL A RALLY ORGANIZED BY THE ORLEANS PARISH PRISON REFORM COALITION (OPPRC) brought hundreds of protesters to the steps of

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has given the

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) a $50,000 grant to go toward the LEH’s Louisiana Culture Care Fund, which provides grants of between $3,000 and $20,000 to humanities organizations that need help paying operational expenses because of COVID-19. The LEH program has awarded more than $450,000 in grants to 50 organizations in Louisiana.

New Orleans Police officers fired projectiles, including “stinger” rounds loaded with hard rubber pellets, to disperse protestors trying to walk onto the Crescent City Connection during a peaceful demonstration against police brutality over the police killing of George Floyd — then denied doing so. The officers also used tear gas and paint cartridges. Police Chief Shaun Ferguson later said officers were not authorized to fire rubber pellets into the crowd.

City Hall June 11, where they called for city officials to reallocate funding from the Police Department and direct it toward community programs. The gathering took place just before the New Orleans City Council met to question representatives of the New Orleans Police Department, including Supt. Shaun Ferguson, about the department’s use of tear gas and rubber bullets at a protest June 3 on the Crescent City Connection. The rally started with OPPRC describing a list of eight demands, which aligned with the national organization 8ToAbolition. Those include demilitarizing communities, investing in safe housing and funding social programs aimed at preventing crime. Protest leaders, including striking sanitation workers, spoke about systemic racism, low wages and environmental problems in New Orleans and the surrounding area. The peaceful assembly took a surprise turn after a shooting unrelated to the gathering occurred nearby. People in the crowd rushed to the other side of Duncan Plaza after hearing that a black trans woman — described as a potential witness to the shooting — was being detained by NOPD and state troopers. Protesters surrounded the police and called for the woman’s release. After several minutes, she was let go and escorted away to cheers and chants of “We protect us.” After the incident, demonstrators moved back to the center of the outdoor plaza for a moment of silence before tuning into a live broadcast of the council hearing. Council President Jason Williams noted that more than 1,500 public comments had been submitted regarding the police’s behavior. Williams also told Ferguson, “I would ask you not to use tear gas or rubber bullets on protesters.” In a follow-up statement to the afternoon’s protest, a spokesperson from OPPRC said, “Our community was present to bear witness and intervene today to protect a black trans woman from a police department and a city jail that have proven that they cannot be trusted with her life. As a city, we must do the same with every budget and city council hearing until police violence against black New Orleanians comes to an end.” The grassroots group also said it hopes the City Council will move forward with a proposed ban on the use of tear gas. — SARAH RAVITS PAGE 8

West Virginians start drinking the earliest at 3:24 p.m., while Hawaii residents wait until 7:30 p.m. Alcohol.org surveyed more than 3,000 people currently working from home to find out how their drinking habits have changed during lockdown. An increase in drinking often means an increase in hangovers, and one in 10 people also confessed to experiencing more hangovers during lockdown than before it started. For those choosing to drink, 37% said it is easier to handle hangovers amid the shutdowns, presumably due to the availability of snacks and water, while being able to avoid coworkers face-to-face.

C’est What

? Should the Louisiana Legislature interfere in lawsuits aiming to make oil and gas companies pay for environmental damages they cause on the coast?

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86.8% NO, THE COMPANIES SHOULD PAY FOR DAMAGES

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NOPD admits using rubber bullets on demonstrators

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The New Orleans Police Department admitted using tear gas on people marching on the Crescent City Connection Bridge during a protest June 3, but for five days NOPD brass denied deploying other types of ammunition — despite evidence to the contrary. Some marchers at the demonstration protesting police brutality and racial injustice showed reporters wounds they sustained from projectiles. At a news conference June 8, NOPD confirmed officers also used rubber bullets on the crowd. NOPD Supt. Shaun Ferguson said he received “inaccurate” information about the incident and added that Arlinda Westbrook, deputy superintendent and head of the Public Integrity Bureau, had launched a formal investigation into what Ferguson called an “unfortunate incident.” The police chief apologized for the action and said he did not give approval for officers to use rubber bullets. “That is part of our investigation,” he said. “How did that occur?” Protesters had gathered to demonstrate peacefully all week, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, at the hands of white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. Participants also sought justice for hundreds of other black victims and called for widespread changes to eradicate systemic racism. The June 3 protest included marchers going to the bridge where they chanted, “No justice! No peace!” and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” and repeated the names of black victims of police brutality in recent years. After a small group linked arms and attempted to walk through the police department’s human barricade, law enforcement shot tear gas into the crowd. Rumors also swirled that rubber bullets had been deployed, but NOPD denied it — until June 11. Other events that unfolded throughout the week had featured cordial exchanges between protesters and officers. “We are against [systemic] racism,” Ferguson said. “Change is needed; change is necessary. As a black man in this nation, as the father of three young black men in this nation, I understand your very concerns. ... I also understand, as a leader, that there are actions that must be taken to assure the safety of everyone in our city. This was an anomaly. This does not define us as a city, as an agency.” — SARAH RAVITS

S O P H I A G E R M E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E | N E W O R L E A N S A DVO C AT E

Dr. Jennifer Avegno gives a presentation on the milestones to move to phase one of reopening the city at City Hall in New Orleans. The city moved into Phase 2 of reopening on June 13.

City enters Phase 2 reopening New Orleans entered Phase 2 of reopening the economy June 13, with bars allowed to open and more customers allowed in other businesses. Indoor concerts and live events are still banned. Here’s what it means: Bars without food permits can reopen at 25% capacity, recreational sports can be enjoyed — with physical distancing measures — and businesses that reopened in Phase 1 can move into hosting customers at 50% of their prepandemic capacity. The Louisiana Children’s Museum can reopen, and houses of worship and movie theaters can allow up to 250 people. Casinos and video poker venues, along with outdoor pools, also can welcome visitors at 25% capacity. Officials continue to urge people to wear masks during activities that bring them near others. The New Orleans Health Department will continue to operate COVID-19 testing sites throughout the city, with a focus on workers returning to their jobs and people with limited access to health care. Ramped-up testing also will continue at nursing homes and shelters.

There’s still a moratorium on indoor concerts and other live events, which Mayor LaToya Cantrell said was a difficult call given the city’s normally vibrant music and arts scene. “This is a real tough one for our culture bearers and musicians,” she said. City Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno added, “There’s been a lot of [COVID-19] spreading rapidly through events that involve singing.” Cantrell, who spoke at a radio town hall on WBOK-AM, said the city moved into Phase 2 because of a steady decline in new cases of the virus, contact tracing capabilities and the availability of hospital beds. “We have declined by over 96% and we have remained steady in terms of new cases — about 2% are coming back positive,” she said. Slightly more than 13% of residents have been tested — more than 700 residents per day — and, the mayor said, “anyone who wants a test can get one.” Phase 2 will be monitored for at least 21 days before the mayor and public health experts make decisions about the third stage. Cantrell says she will look at the numbers on July 3 to “reassess” the situation and consider moving forward. — SARAH RAVITS

COMMENTARY

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After tear gas and rubber rounds, NOPD needs to rebuild public trust

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IT TAKES YEARS TO EARN THE TRUST of a community, but

sometimes only minutes — or even seconds — to lose it. The leadership of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is learning that hard lesson in the wake of cops firing tear gas and hard rubber balls into a crowd of overwhelmingly peaceful protesters on the Crescent City Connection the night of June 3. Before and after that evening, a string of local protests against police brutality and racism, sparked by the May 25 killing of 46-year-old George Floyd by Minneapolis police, remained peaceful. Protesters and cops even knelt together the night before police fired the tear gas and rubber ammo. Longtime civil rights leaders in New Orleans say nonviolence has always been a hallmark of local protests. In the wake of the June 3 violence, NOPD Chief Shaun Ferguson had to walk back his initial denial that cops fired anything other than tear gas at protesters. After witnesses produced evidence that police had fired rubber ammo into the crowd, the chief apologized for putting out false information. He blamed rank and file for not reporting accurate info up the chain of command and promised investigations into both the use of force and the failure to report the extent of force used. Eight days after the encounter on the bridge, Ferguson also had some explaining to do before a skeptical City Council committee. He promised council members that NOPD would alter its use-of-force policies by clarifying when — and what types — of force can be deployed. Members of the council’s criminal justice committee welcomed that news but made it clear they will push for additional changes. The chief said he was open to discussing alternatives to tear gas, but he did not commit to suspending its use. That raises an ugly American paradox. International law bans the use of chemical weapons, including tear gas, but U.S. police can use it to control crowds. Critics of that policy cite the Geneva Convention in their arguments for banning tear gas and rubber rounds, saying both can cause serious injury or even death.

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P H OTO B Y DAV I D G R UN F E L D/ T H E T I M E S - P I C AY UNE | T H E NE W O R L E A N S A DVO C AT E

NOPD Supt. Shaun Ferguson

Many people find it odd that NOPD’s 2012 federal consent decree contains a detailed policy on the use of force but does not specifically mention tear gas and other “nonlethal” projectiles its tactical team may use. Members of the tactical squad were on the bridge the night of the June 3 protest. Tear gas is generally reserved for use against barricaded subjects, and no one could recall a time when NOPD used it for crowd control. At-Large Councilman Jason Williams, who chairs the council criminal justice committee, has suggested forming a community group to see if money currently spent on criminal justice system budgets could be used more effectively on social services and other forms of crime prevention. “Now is the time to shift,” Williams said. Not everyone will embrace the concept of “defunding police,” but it’s always appropriate to examine how — and how effectively — City Hall spends taxpayers’ money. Communities need policing even in the best of times. In the worst of times, they need better (not necessarily more) policing, which starts with building — or in NOPD’s case, rebuilding — hard-earned trust.

The Next Great Judge for the People of New Orleans. Right now is a diﬃcult time for our city and a critical time for our future. But it’s also an opportunity to come together. In a crisis, we realize what’s really important and it’s clear we are all in this together as one community. One of the most crucial, essential operations for us to keep running during this pandemic is voting. We all face greater risks from Covid19 and many are eliminating unnecessary trips to minimize risks. That should not mean forfeiting your right to vote. You may be eligible to vote by mail and I know a lot of people have concerns about the safety of voting in person. Voting by mail is secure, easy, and convenient. If you have already applied for and received a mail-in ballot, don’t forget to send the ballot in. We need leaders with ideas and energy at every level of government to keep New Orleans safe, healthy, and moving forward, and those leaders are blessed by our prayers and support.

“It’s not the judge’s courtroom—it’s the people’s. As judge, I will make sure the people have their voices heard—and actually feel like they are being heard—when they have their day in court.” — Marissa Hutabarat

Endorsed by Voices We Trust:

State Representative Jason Hughes

State Representative Royce Duplessis

State Representative Stephanie Hilferty

Councilmember Cyndi Nguyen

All the information you need and more is available at my website, marissaforjudge.com. Councilmember Joe Giarrusso

Councilmember Kristin Palmer

Clerk of 2nd City Court Darren Lombard

ORLEANS PARISH

DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

ELECTION DAY: JULY 11, 2020 • EARLY VOTING: JUNE 20th - JULY 4th # 395

The Next Great Judge for the People of New Orleans. Website: MarissaForJudge.com Email: MarissaForJudge2020@gmail.com

@MarissaForJudge PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT MARISSA HUTABARAT

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CLANCY DUBOS @clancygambit

Louisiana Chief Justice Johnson: ‘We are part of the problem they protest’ AMERICA’S JUDICIAL SYSTEM STANDS on the pillars

of independence, integrity and a commitment to justice. Judges thus are constrained from political involvement, so much so that courts decline to decide cases that pose purely political questions. At the same time, judges have a duty to actively defend the independence and integrity of the judiciary and to promote the impartial administration of justice. That’s why, for example, Chief Justice John Roberts made a rare public statement in response to President Trump’s attacks against “Obama judges” in 2018. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts told the Associated Press. “What we have is an extraordinary group of

dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.” He added that an independent judiciary “is something we should all be thankful for.” Closer to home — and more recently — Louisiana Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson on June 8 sent a letter to fellow judges, state lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards expressing her concerns about the Louisiana judicial system’s historic role in denying equal justice to African Americans. Johnson is Louisiana’s first African-American chief justice. “Recent tragedies have compelled me to write this letter today,” Johnson’s 1,200-word letter begins. She notes that the recent spate of protests, “though triggered by recent events,” are not

about isolated incidences of police violence. “Rather, the protests are the consequence of centuries of institutionalized racism that has plagued our legal system.” Citing statistics that show, among other disparities, Louisiana’s criminal justice system “disproportionately affects African Americans, who comprise 32% of our population, but 70% of our prison population,” Johnson bluntly admits, “We are part of the problem they protest.” She urges her colleagues in all three branches of government “to hear the voices of the protesters. So many feel our criminal legal system is part of the problem. I entreat all of us to resolve to be part of the solution. ... Like all of you, I firmly believe in the rule of law. But its legitimacy is in peril when African-Amer-

Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson

ican citizens see evidence every day of a criminal legal system that appears to value Black lives less than it values White lives.” Johnson’s message is a clarion call to judges, lawmakers and the governor to recognize “that we have been part of the problem, so that we may all today become part of the solution in achieving equal justice for all.” Some no doubt will criticize

her for making a “political statement” or for taking the side of protesters. She has done neither. She, like Chief Justice Roberts in rebuking President Trump, has simply affirmed the judiciary’s duty to promote the equal and impartial administration of justice, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. In Johnson’s case, she also acknowledged that Louisiana’s courts have fallen short of that goal in the past. “If we continue to deny the problem, we can never expect to reach a solution,” she notes. As a lawyer — and as a member of the A.P. Tureaud Inn of Court, which Johnson founded — I’m proud of both Chief Justices. America will never achieve perfect justice, but we must never stop pursuing it.

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Allen Toussaint, who died in 2015, is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th century New Orleans music. Born in Gert Town in 1938, Toussaint started playing piano at age 15, and began writing and recording songs soon after. His first album as a solo performer, “The Wild Sound of New Orleans,” was released in 1958 under the name Tousan, because the record label feared customers would have trouble pronouncing his given name. The album featured his version of “Java,” which in 1963 was recorded by Al Hirt, who won a Grammy Award for it. Toussaint recorded other early songs under the name Al Tousan. He turned to his mother and father for two other pseudonyms. He wrote songs as C. Toussaint (borrowing his father Clarence’s name) and others, including Naomi Neville, which was his mother’s maiden name. He later explained that he used his mother’s name when he was changing record labels. “I knew when we were dealing with contracts that they were going to spend a lot of time from one lawyer’s desk to the next, and while they were doing that I didn’t want to sit dormant, so I assumed a pseudonym,” he said in an interview for “Going Back to New Orleans: The Deacon John Film.” “There was no name I could trust more than my mother’s maiden

P H OTO B Y DAV I D G R U N F E L D/ N O L A . C O M | T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Allen Toussaint and his band perform at the French Quarter Festival in 2015.

name. In case they got the writer’s royalties mixed up, I wouldn’t mind it going to my mother,” he said. The list of songs credited to Naomi Neville includes the 1960s hits “Fortune Teller” and “Lipstick Traces” for Benny Spellman; “A Certain Girl” and “I Cried My Last Tear” for Ernie K-Doe; and “Ride Your Pony” for Lee Dorsey. Toussaint, who said his mother was not related to the Neville Brothers, also used the pen name to write “All These Things” for Art Neville and “I’m Waitin’ at the Station” for Aaron Neville. Naomi Neville’s name also is credited on some of Irma Thomas’ best-loved songs, including “It’s Raining” and “Ruler of My Heart.” Toussaint also wrote the song “Whipped Cream” as Naomi Neville. A 1965 recording of the song by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass became widely known when it was used on TV’s “The Dating Game.”

BLAKEVIEW WE CONTINUE OUR SUMMER STAYCATION TOUR OF LOCAL MUSEUMS AND HISTORIC HOMES by visiting Gallier House in the French Quarter.

As the name suggests, it was designed by architect James Gallier Jr., the son of noted architect James Gallier, who is best known for designing Gallier Hall. James Gallier Jr. designed the French Quarter townhouse at 1132 Royal St. as his home and the family moved in in 1860. After Gallier’s death in 1868, the house remained in the family until 1917. Known for its wrought iron balcony and beautiful Victorian furnishings, the home also features innovations of the time, such as indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water, a flush toilet and a double skylight. In 1969, the Ella West Freeman Foundation purchased the home and financed its restoration. Gallier House opened as a museum in 1971 and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Later donated to Tulane University, the home now is owned and operated by the Woman’s Exchange. Currently it is closed but offers virtual tours and online programming at www.hgghh.org.

13 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > J u n e 1 6 - 2 2 > 2 02 0

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y M I D LO C E N T E R FOR NEW ORLEANS STUDIES / A JOURNAL O F T H E P L AG U E YE AR PROJECT

A quarantine calendar during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Orleans.

WHEN LEONA “MS. CHINE” GRANDISON DIED IN APRIL, a memorial for her sprang up at the doorstep of the Candlelight Lounge bar and music venue she owned in Treme. Grandison, who died at the age of 69 due to COVID-19, and her yellow-painted club were beloved figures for the neighborhood, and regulars came to the memorial to leave notes on a table next to the entrance. Others wrote messages in chalk on the sidewalk: “Music for Leona,” a blue and red heart, musical notes, bass and treble clefs, and sentences saying “We miss you.” Colorful chalk art and chalk memorials were a steady occurrence in New Orleans during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kids — and a lot of adults — suddenly had a lot more time on their hands, so chalk became a favored way to communicate with the world while staying physically distant, with messages like “Wear a mask” and “Stay home” or birthday wishes. The memorial to Grandison along with photos of chalk art from across New Orleans can be seen regularly in A Journal of the Plague Year, a digital archive of stories and media about life during the COVID-19 pandemic. “One of the most popular submissions is public displays of celebration that still maintain social distancing,” says Kathryn O’Dwyer, who curates local submissions to A Journal of the Plague Year project through the University of New Orleans’ (UNO) Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies. The project is continuing to collect materials. P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y M I D LO C E N T E R F O R NEW ORLEANS STUDIES / A JOURNAL OF THE P L AG U E Y E A R P R O J E C T

A chalk art memorial was created at the doorstep of the Candlelight Lounge after the death of Leona ‘Ms. Chine’ Grandison, the bar and music venue’s owner. PAGE 14

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A letter from 4-year-old Hattie of Alabama to her great aunt in New Orleans, sent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What really strikes me about that is everyone’s still trying to talk to each other — even as they’ve been remaining inside their homes,” O’Dwyer says. “New Orleans is a community that is used to coming together on a street, and even though those physical bodies aren’t out on the street right now — well, they are with the protests (against police brutality and racial injustice) — but they’re still expressing themselves on the street through artwork and through signage.” A Journal of the Plague Year is driven by public submissions to its website (www.covid-19archive.org), collecting materials from people around the country and world about what day-to-day life is like during the pandemic. The archive accepts all kinds of materials — text, audio, video, photos, artwork, tweets, posts from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Snapchats, memes and more. “Historians and archivists are doing their best to keep up with the constantly evolving world of social media, because we know it’s a primary repository of 21st century cultural and social history,” says Mary Niall Mitchell, Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Endowed Chair and co-director of UNO’s Midlo Center. “The prospect of preserving so many different types of media — vital modes of expression and communication — is daunting, but it can be done. We also know that while people of a certain age may use Facebook, younger people use social media in wildly different ways. So in order to capture the widest number of perspectives on COVID-19, we have to accommodate multiple formats.” The project launched in March at Arizona State University (ASU). History professors there recognized the need to document the history un-

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Chalk art on a New Orleans sidewalk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

in New Orleans, LA. The letter reads: “I hope we can visit you soon. We can come visit you when the germ is gone. We are at the beach right now. We are having fun swimming and Dada got a new sticker book for me, We want to have fun with you but we can’t until the germ is gone. ‘Hi Shaun the Sheep!’ ” Another submission, a photo taken by Al Kennedy, shows Rev. John Restrepo of St. Dominic Catholic Church sitting outside, a large tube of Lysol wipes stationed on the table next to him. “When the quarantine started and the church had to close, [Restrepo] moved his ministry outdoors. He has come outside most days and continues hearing confessions, talking to parishioners, and offering advice and counsel. Last Monday when I drove by the church, there were four people (at appropriate distances) waiting to speak to Restrepo.” A photo by Rick Olivier shows a luthier, turning to a non-typical project, working on cabinet doors. Olivier also submitted a photo of a timely vanity license plate that simply read “UGH WHY.” In an interview with Gambit in March, Midlo Center Co-direc-

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folding during the era. To help pull in submissions, ASU associate professor of public history and digital historian Mark Tebeau assembled the website for A Journal of the Plague Year and reached out to a network of academics across the country, including forming a strong relationship with UNO’s Midlo Center. The Midlo Center is active in curating accessible archives for New Orleans history, with projects like New Orleans Historical; Your Story, Our Story, which was created in partnership with the Tenement Museum in New York City; and Freedom on the Move. And in 2005, UNO worked with George Mason University’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, the Smithsonian Institution and other partners to create the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, an online archive of firsthand accounts, images, blog posts and podcasts detailing the human impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When Tebeau “conceived of the Journal project,” Niall Mitchell says, “in fact, he saw it as an extension of the work of our late colleague at UNO, Michael Mizell-Nelson, who created the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank after Katrina, modeled on the Sept. 11 digital archive. We partnered with Mark because we wanted to acknowledge the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the cultural community in New Orleans.” The name of the coronavirus project comes from Daniel Defoe’s 1722 book, giving an account the 1665 Great Plague of London, and so far the archive lists 4,780 public submissions from across the world, including 319 submissions from New Orleans. There’s also a dedicated, searchable page for submissions from the Crescent City, which was an early hotbed for the virus and has a history of dealing with pandemics over the past 300 years, including the 1918-19 Spanish influenza and several outbreaks of yellow fever. Along with loads of chalk art, local submissions include family letters, videos of brass bands performing to distanced audiences, handwritten college homework, Facebook posts about community meal programs, obituaries, artwork painted on Frenchmen Street and photos of people in masks and gloves. Most photos and videos weren’t shot by professionals, and there’s an intimate, snapshot-of-life quality to each entry. Each listing in the archive also comes with a description giving more context about the displayed image. The paragraph under “A letter from 4-year-old Hattie to her Great Aunt, New Orleans, LA” says: “A letter from 4-year-old Hattie Jane Parker of Josephine, Alabama, dictated to her mother, to her 73-year-old great aunt

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tor Connie Atkinson spoke about the importance of documenting the experiences of New Orleans’ musicians, artists and service industry workers. “This city depends for its economic survival on entertainment, tourism, hospitality,” Atkinson says. “What happens to a city such as ours when disaster strikes? And what strategies do we employ to rebuild? Seeing the response of the New Orleans music community in P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y M I D LO C E N T E R F O R Katrina’s aftermath, NEW ORLEANS STUDIES / A JOURNAL OF I was struck by its T H E P L AG U E Y E A R P R O J E C T ingenuity and resilA Facebook post from Brass-A-Holics about ience. If we can doca COVID-19 parody song. Social media posts ument not just the like this are displayed in the A Journal of the plight of artists and Plague Year project. cultural institutions but also the varied ways they meet the challenge, this project could be useful for the future.” Submissions to A Journal of the Plague Year from around the country also reflect the recent weeks of protests against police violence and racial injustice following the police slaying of George Floyd, leading to discussions among curators, O’Dwyer says. “The protests are a huge part of the COVID [year],” O’Dwyer says, “and we want to make sure that’s well-documented, but we want to do it responsibly. A big concern that we have discussed is … protestors are often requesting that they not be photographed, particularly people of color, because there is this threat of retribution after the fact, with images being shared publicly. The Journal of the Plague Year team throughout the world is talking about how can we best protect the protestors. What we’re doing right now is permitting anyone to submit anything they want, but if there are images that have personally identifying information, we keep that in the archive so that years down the road, researchers can access those images if it’s deemed safe to do so. But right now, we’re moving cautiously to make sure the protestors are protected.” A Journal of the Plague Year will take submissions for at least another two years, O’Dwyer says. Anyone is welcome to submit materials at www.covid-19archive.org/s/neworleans. A curator will review submissions before placing them on the website for public viewing. Once the pandemic subsides, O’Dwyer says, Midlo Center staff working on A Journal of the Plague Year hope to start talking with New Orleans community organizations to document their experiences, along with gathering the stories of people who may not have internet access. “We hope this digital archive will be not only a kind of personal journal that folks can look back to really kind of remember their own experience during COVID, but for researchers to look back and see personal accounts of how people were experiencing COVID, just as we saw with the Hurricane Visual Memory Bank,” O’ Dwyer says. “These types of publicly sourced archives are really unique because it’s not just images and object uploaded, but it comes with a personal perspective of the person who uploaded it. That’s not something you’re going to get at a traditional archive.”

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On the go

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Magazine Thai CHO THAI (3218 Magazine St., 504-

381-4264; www.chothairestaurant. com), a Thai restaurant that was in the works before the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled to open June 18, beginning with takeout and

Peewee’s Crabcakes expands during the coronavirus pandemic BY I A N M C N U LT Y IT’S NOT AN EASY TIME for restau-

rants, but one homegrown local takeout restaurant always seems ready to grow, expanding its offerings of contemporary Creole cooking. Peewee’s Crabcakes on the Go (2908 Martin Luther King Blvd., 504264-7330; www.peeweescrabcakes. com) is a tiny operation, serving takeout meals from an old barge board cottage in Central City. Founder and chef Charles “Peewee” Armstrong has big ambitions for it despite the challenges of the coronavirus. “There’s a lot going on right now, but this is my time,” Armstrong says. “You have to keep your vision and your goals. You have to keep going if you’re going to achieve those goals.” This week, work begins on a second location for Peewee’s Crabcakes on the Go in the former We Dat’s Chicken & Shrimp location at 4500 Old Gentilly Road. This much larger space will have dine-in service with up to 50 seats and will offer takeout as well. It’s slated to open Aug. 1. Armstrong also has a new food truck set to hit the streets around the same time. All the while, Armstrong has been keeping up a self-funded community feeding program from his restaurant that has been giving free meals to school kids during the pandemic. Armstrong is part of the next generation of black New Orleans chefs making their mark in the city’s culinary scene. Armstrong’s food flows from a long tradition of black Creole cooking and adds his own creative personal spark. He grew up in Central City, and started with nothing. After working in restaurants for 20 years, he began Peewee’s Crabcakes on the Go in his own kitchen, cooking buttery-crisp crabcakes, adding his spicy-sweet Aysa sauce (named for his daughter) and delivering plates to friends. In 2018, it was a one-man operation. Today he has 14 people on payroll. They prepare an ever-growing menu, including stuffed crabs topped with cream sauce and crawfish, split lobster tails bubbling with garlicky seasoning over shrimp pasta and specialty plates like the “seafood disaster” that have enough food for three or four people. Loaded pota-

PH OTO BY IA N M C N U LT Y/ TH E TI M E S - PI CAY U N E | TH E N E W O R LE A N S A DVO C ATE

Jimmy Cho opened his Thai restaurant Banana Blossom in 2009 before relocating to a new address in Old Gretna.

toes, boiled seafood and char-grilled oysters are newer additions. Peewee’s once shared its current address with a doughnut shop, and Armstrong later had a stint in the CBD as an extended pop-up. Last summer, he took over the doughnut shop completely. He also brought in a second business, Kaybeesweets, a cake and dessert brand from local baker Kennara Braud, giving her home-based business its first storefront location. Though Peewee’s Crabcakes on the Go had a few tables, most of the business remained takeout. When the pandemic hit and many restaurants scrambled to set up takeout, Armstrong was already doing that. That business has stayed steady and he serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Armstrong said he’s inspired by the example of Al Copeland, the late founder of Popeyes fried chicken. Armstrong’s first job was at Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro. He got a taste of higher culinary ambitions when Copeland sent his kitchen crew to take classes at the Culinary Institute of New Orleans, a training program then located near the restaurant. “I watched Al Copeland ever since I was 17,” Armstrong says. “He expanded. It wasn’t just about New Orleans for him; it was Louisiana — he brought that flavor everywhere.”

P H OTO B Y I A N M C N U LT Y

Charles “Peewee” Armstrong greets a neighbor outside his Central City restaurant Peewee’s Crabcakes on the Go.

The original Peewee’s Central City location will remain a takeout operation as the food truck and second restaurant get rolling. This cottage location has also served as the hub for Armstrong’s own community giving endeavor. Mondays are giveback day, when he cooks meals to distribute to the homeless. Since March, when schools closed because of the pandemic, he’s been making grab-and-go plates for children, knowing many of his neighbors relied on school-based meal programs. He usually makes fish or chicken plates for the giveaway, and dishes out hundreds each week. He plans to continue the giveaways until school resumes in August. “It is a hard time for everyone,” Armstrong says. “But I think about the people who have been supporting us, pushing us, encouraging us — that’s the momentum I have now, and that’s the momentum that’s keeping this going. I’m pushing hard.”

delivery and adding full service in its dining room in the weeks ahead. The restaurant is a partnership between Jimmy Cho, owner of Banana Blossom (500 Ninth St., Gretna, 504-500-0997; www.bananablossom504.com), and BRG Hospitality, formerly known as the Besh Restaurant Group, which previously ran Warbucks at this address. Cho says his new restaurant will offer traditional Thai items from Banana Blossom’s menu as well as some home-style dishes and streetfood standards. The final menu likely will include spicy clams, calamari, grilled shrimp pad thai, crab fried rice, braised beef Chiang Mai noodles, papaya salad and hat yai chicken, a type of fried chicken marinated with garlic and pepper. Cho Thai is much larger than Banana Blossom. The restaurant space had long been home to Byblos before becoming Amici Ristorante and Warbucks, which closed last year. Cho Thai will have a large bar and art pieces Cho collected in Thailand. Cho grew up in northwest Thailand, where his family ran a combination noodle shop and grocery. He came to New Orleans, where he studied to be a surgical technician before trying his hand at the restaurant business. Banana Blossom made a modest debut in 2009, opening with a few tables in a small storefront in a strip mall. In 2018, Cho moved to a larger spot in downtown Gretna. Over time, Cho expanded the menu with a wider range of flavors in

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over police brutality, Weathered Souls Brewing (www.weatheredsouls. beer) in San Antonio, Texas, launched the Black is Beautiful initiative. Weathered Souls founder Marcus Baskerville shared a recipe for an imperial stout named Black is Beautiful and is asking participating breweries to release their own versions of the brew and donate 100% of sales of the beer to a local organization that builds equality and inclusion or addresses police brutality and reform. Urban South Brewing announced it will release a version of the beer in early July, with funds being donated to New Orleans’ Youth Empowerment Project (YEP). NOLA Brewing Co. is working on a version with Piety and Desire Chocolate. Miel Brewery will brew a beer and donate funds to the Innocence Project New Orleans. A website created for the initiative counts more than 540 participating breweries in 43 state and 11 countries. There are eight Louisiana breweries listed. Weathered Souls is donating funds to the Know Your Rights Camp. — WILL COVIELLO

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943-0010; www.nolacakes.com), Steve Himelfarb was known as “the cake man” for the slices of red velvet, German chocolate and coconut cake he sold door to door in New Orleans. He’s planning to close the doors on his business on June 28. Himelfarb and his spouse Becky plan to put the business up for sale. Himelfarb says the decision to close is a natural progression. The couple had been considering a life change for some time, and the challenges of the pandemic convinced them the time is now. Before Cake Cafe, the location at Chartres and Spain streets was home to La Spiga, an early addition to the artisan baking revival in New Orleans. Cake Cafe & Bakery is open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. — IAN McNULTY/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

Creole revival TUJAGUE’S, (823 Decatur St., 504525-8676; www.tujaguesrestaurant. com), the second-oldest restaurant in New Orleans, has been closed since the coronavirus shutdowns began in March, but its plans to relocate to a new French Quarter home are progressing. Tujague’s will reopen for one weekend for a series of farewell dinners on

Thursday, June 25, through Saturday, June 27. The five-course menu will include its signature brisket. The restaurant’s new home at 429 Decatur St., the former location of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., is under renovation. Tujague’s is slated to reopen there in September. Owner Mark Latter framed the decision as a difficult one gauged to keep Tujague’s viable for the future as he faced the end of a long-term lease. Tujague’s originally opened at 811 Decatur St. in 1856 and moved to 823 Decatur St. in 1914. Some of the original restaurant’s fixtures will be moved to the new location, but the bar will not. The plaster back bar was deemed too fragile to survive the move, Latter says. — IAN McNULTY/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

Backatown options BARBECUE CRAWFISH OVER GRITS is

a buttery, spicy, rib-sticking signature dish at Backatown Coffee Parlour (301 Basin St., 504-3724442; www.backatownnola.com). It’s also part of the effort to keep a black-owned community space open through the coronavirus crisis. The coffeeshop was a neighborhood space beforehand, and its food options are helping it survive. Jessica Knox, an attorney, and Alonzo Knox, a Marine Corps veteran and business school graduate, opened Backatown in 2017. It was the first business of their own, after co-owning Cafe Treme (now closed) with partners. Backatown Coffee Parlour is part of the Bienville Basin apartments, built on the site of the former Iberville public housing complex. The coffeeshop bridges the divide between the French Quarter and Treme neighborhoods. Backatown was among the small businesses badly affected by the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site in October. With road closures and redirected traffic continuing over the months that followed, business slowed. Then the pandemic hit, and business practically ceased. No one was traveling downtown, and takeout coffee wasn’t cutting it. The answer was to focus on food, with the hope that people were more likely to order meals for pickup and delivery than just a coffee drink alone. Backatown has always had breakfast and lunch menus and now takeout food is a more important part of sustaining the business. Dishes include palm-sized sweet potato pies with crimped, flaky crusts. There’s quiche with spinach and crawfish tails. Coffee comes from BeanFruit, a blackowned roaster in Jackson, Mississippi, and local purveyor Orleans Coffee. Backatown is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. — IAN McNULTY/ THE TIMES-PICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

Locally owned & serving the New Orleans area for over 30 years

3-COURSE INTERVIEW

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Eric Cook CHEF

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CHEF ERIC COOK grew up hunting

and fishing in south Louisiana, and he is a veteran of the Marine Corps and the kitchens at Commander’s Palace, Bourbon House and other local restaurants. In 2018, he opened Gris-Gris (1800 Magazine St., 504-272-0241; www.grisgrisnola.com) in the Lower Garden District, where he serves his refined take on New Orleans and rustic Louisiana dishes. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay enlisted him to participate in a cook-off in the marshes around Venice, Louisiana, on “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.” The episode airs on NatGeo on June 21.

How is Gris-Gris coping with the pandemic? COOK: We’re going to plan on reopening in-house dining in July. We just recently reopened in midMay with takeout, trying to get the wheels greased, get everyone back on key. I had 46 employees; I now have six. When this began, I knew it would be a marathon. Historically, New Orleans can’t support its restaurants in a great year. Now we’re forced to have instead of a three-month summer (of slow business), basically a 10-month summer — March to December. Now more than ever it’s about managing your back office and the business side.

What was it like filming “Uncharted”? C: They filmed during Mardi Gras, in the week leading up to Endymion. We were going south, so we stayed away from the mayhem. The first day, we met in Venice and the water there is deep, so you get this heavy fog, but then you break off the channel into the marsh and it’s 100 degrees and 110 percent humidity. We’d come back to the restaurant (after filming). He saw it in full swing during Mardi Gras. It was a big shot in the arm for staff and guests to have Gordon pop in the kitchen and high-five guys. He really is down to earth; he’s humble. He’s an amazing chef. TV is TV. He’s portrayed as the villain in many things. We spent a lot of time ahead — months preparing the show — what do we want to do? What was in season? (Ramsay) had no idea of

Call Sandy Stein (504) 483-3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

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Eric Cook

the availability of natural resources. To mention just seafood, there’s the crabs, oysters, the fish, but then there’s the things that grow wild. We had satsumas and made jams and preserves and things like foraging for mushrooms and thistle; the abundance of andouille, boudin, venison, blood sausage, boar sausage. He was kind of blown away. I kind of gave him an introduction to south Louisiana. But my biggest point was the fact that we’re losing our wetlands so drastically. That really hit him. He was like, “I have to talk about this.”

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How was the cook-off? C: A lot of these ingredients they’re unfamiliar with. We did some basic stuff — a gumbo, an etouffee, a fricassee. We got him in the spirit. There was lots of trial and error. He was like, “How do you get the roux so dark?” To do the “big cook” on the last day, we were cooking on open wood fires, which you can’t control the heat on. I swear they were 600 degrees and we’re cooking in cast iron pots. You’re trying to move them around to keep from burning things. With his whole fish, he took it to another level — that speckled trout with satsuma vinaigrette was mind blowing. I think he wanted to pull off that cassoulet because his training is classic French. We had a lot of fun, but the goal for me was not to misrepresent south Louisiana. I wanted it to be organic. — WILL COVIELLO

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OUT EAT Contact Will Coviello wcoviello@gambitweekly.com 504-483-3106 | FAX: 504-483-3159

C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S AT W W W. B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S .C O M Out 2 Eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. Unless noted, addresses are in New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

BYWATER Luna Libre — 3600 St. Claude Ave., (504) 237-1284 — Carnitas made with pork from Shank Charcuterie and citrus from Ben & Ben Becnel farm fills a taco topped with onion and cilantro. The menu combines Tex-Mex and dishes from Louisiana and Arkansas. Curbside pickup is available. B Sat-Sun. $

CBD 14 Parishes — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave.; www.14parishes.com — Jamaican-style jerk chicken is served with two sides such as plantains, jasmine rice, cabbage or rice and peas. Delivery available. Curbside pickup and delivery available. L and D daily. $$ Eat Well — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave.; www.pythianmarket.com — Phoritto is a spinach tortilla filled with brisket, chicken or tofu, plus bean sprouts, jalapenos, onions and basil and is served with a cup of broth. Curbside pickup and delivery available. L and D daily. $ Kais — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave., (941) 481-9599; www.pythianmarket.com — A Sunshine bowl includes salmon, corn, mango, green onions, edamame, pickled ginger, ponzu spicy mayonnaise, cilantro, masago and nori strips. Curbside pickup and delivery available. L and D daily. $$ La Cocinita — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave., (504) 309-5344; www.lacochinitafoodtruck.com — La Llanera is an arepa stuffed with carne asada, guasacasa, pico de gallo, grilled queso fresco and salsa verde. Curbside pickup and delivery available. B, L and D daily. $ Meribo Pizza — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave., (504) 481-9599; www. meribopizza.com — A Meridionale pie is

B — breakfast L — lunch D — dinner late — late 24H — 24 hours

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11 to $20 $$$ — $21 or more

topped with pulled pork, chilies, ricotta, mozzarella, collard greens and red sauce. Delivery available. L and D daily. $$ Red Gravy — 125 Camp St., (504) 5618844; www.redgravycafe.com — Thin cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with a chocolate drizzle. The menu includes brunch items, pasta dishes, sandwiches, baked goods and more. Takeout available. Check website for hours. $$ Willie Mae’s — Pythian Market, 234 Loyola Ave.; www.williemaesnola.com — The Creole soul food restaurant is known for its fried chicken, red beans and more. Takeout available. L and D Mon-Sat. $

CARROLLTON/UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOODS Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; www.mikimotosushi.com — Sushi choices include new and old favorites, both raw and cooked. The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. Takeout and delivery available. L Sun-Fri, D daily. $$ Pyramids Cafe — 3151 Calhoun St., (504) 861-9602 — Diners will find Mediterranean cuisine featuring such favorites as shawarma prepared on a rotisserie. Takeout and delivery available. L, D daily. $$

CITYWIDE Breaux Mart — Citywide; www. breauxmart.com — The deli counter’s changing specials include dishes such as baked catfish and red beans and rice. L, D daily. $

FAUBOURG MARIGNY Kebab — 2315 St. Claude Ave., (504) 383-4328; www.kebabnola.com — The

A DVO C AT E S TA F F P H O T O B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R

Carmo (527 Julia St., 504-875-4132; www.cafecarmo.com) serves tropical-inspired dishes in the Warehouse District.

sandwich shop offers doner kebabs and Belgian fries. A falafel sandwich comes with pickled cucumbers, arugula, spinach, red onions, beets, hummus and Spanish garlic sauce. No reservations. Takeout and delivery available Thu-Sun. $

HARAHAN/JEFFERSON/ RIVER RIDGE The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; www.therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot offers a menu of burgers, sandwiches and changing lunch specials. Curbside pickup and delivery available. L, D daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 7333803; www.theospizza.com — There is a wide variety of specialty pies and diners can build their own from the selection of more than two-dozen toppings. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches. Curbside pickup and delivery available. L, D Tue-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; www.lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers gourmet coffees and a wide range of pastries and desserts baked in house, plus a menu of specialty sandwiches and salads. For breakfast, an omelet is filled with marinated mushrooms, bacon, spinach and goat cheese. Tuna salad or chicken salad avocado melts are topped with melted Monterey Jack and shredded Parmesan cheeses. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. B, L daily, D Mon-Sat, brunch Sat-Sun. $ Lotus Bistro — 203 W. Harrison Ave., (504) 533-9879; www.lotusbistronola.com — A Mineko Iwasaki roll includes spicy snow crab, tuna, avocado and cucumber topped with salmon, chef’s sauce, masago, green onion and tempura crunchy flakes. The menu also includes bento box lunches, teriyaki dishes, fried rice and more. Takeout and delivery are available. L and D Tue-Sun. $$

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OUT TO EAT METAIRIE Andrea’s Restaurant — 3100 N. 19th St., Metairie, (504) 834-8583; www.andreasrestaurant.com — Chef/owner Andrea Apuzzo’s specialties include speckled trout royale which is topped with lump crabmeat and lemon-cream sauce. Capelli D’Andrea combines house-made angel hair pasta and smoked salmon in light cream sauce. Curbside pickup and delivery are available. L, D daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; www.koshercajun.com — This New York-style deli specializes in sandwiches, including corned beef and pastrami that come from the Bronx. Takeout available. L Sun-Thu, D Mon-Thu. $ Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing — 2035 Metairie Road, Metairie, (504) 832-8032; www.marktwainpizza.com — Mark Twain’s serves salads, po-boys and pies like the Italian pizza with salami, tomato, artichoke, sausage and basil. Takeout and curbside pickup are available. L Tue-Sat, D Tue-Sun. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; www.theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description.

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Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; www.angelobrocatoicecream.com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Window and curbside pickup. L, D Wed-Sun. $ Brown Butter Southern Kitchen & Bar — 231 N. Carrollton Ave., Suite C, (504) 609-3871; www.brownbutterrestaurant.com — Sample items have included smoked brisket served with smoked apple barbecue sauce, Alabama white barbecue sauce, smoked heirloom beans and vinegar slaw. A Brunch burger features a brisket and short rib patty topped with bacon, brie, a fried egg, onion jam and arugula on a brioche bun. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. $$ Doson Noodle House — 135 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 309-7283; www.facebook. com/dosonnoodlehouse — Bun thit is Vietnamese-style grilled pork with cucumber, onions, lettuce, mint, cilantro and fish sauce served over rice or vermicelli. The menu includes rice and vermicelli dishes, pho, spring rolls and more. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. $$ Five Happiness — 3511 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 482-3935; www.fivehappiness.com — The large menu at Five Happiness offers a range of dishes from wonton soup to sizzling seafood combinations served on a hot plate to sizzling Go-Ba to lo mein dishes. Takeout and delivery available. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; www.katiesinmidcity. com — Favorites at this Mid-City restaurant include the Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, grilled ham, cheese and pickles pressed on buttered bread. The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic, scallions and olive oil. There also are salads, burgers and Italian dishes. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. L and D Tue-Sun. $$ Nonna Mia — 3125 Esplanade Ave., (504) 948-1717; www.nonnamianola.

com — A Divine Portobello appetizer includes chicken breast, spinach in creamy red pepper sauce and crostini. The menu also includes salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza and more. Curbside pickup and delivery are available. Service daily. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; www.theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Willie Mae’s Scotch House — 2401 St. Ann St., (504) 822-9503; www.williemaesnola.com — This neighborhood restaurant is known for its wet-battered fried chicken. Green beans come with rice and gravy. There’s bread pudding for dessert. No reservations. L MonFri. $$

NORTHSHORE Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; www.theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description.

UPTOWN Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 891-0997; www.joeyksrestaurant.com — This casual eatery serves fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and Creole favorites such as red beans and rice. Daily specials include braised lamb shank, lima beans with a ham hock and chicken fried steak served with macaroni and cheese. Takeout and delivery available. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; www. theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description.

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT Carmo — 527 Julia St., (504) 8754132; www.cafecarmo.com — Carmo salad includes smoked ham, avocado, pineapple, almonds, cashews, raisins, cucumber, green pepper, rice, lettuce, cilantro and citrus mango vinaigrette. The menu includes dishes inspired by many tropical cuisines. Takeout and delivery are available. Mon-Sat. $$ Provisions Grab-n-Go Marketplace — Higgins Hotel, 500 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; www.higgingshotelnola. com — The coffeeshop serves salads, sandwiches, pastries and more. Takeout available. Service daily. $

WEST BANK Mosca’s — 4137 Hwy. 90 W., Westwego, (504) 436-8950; www.moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery has changed little since opening in 1946. Popular dishes include shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca, made with breadcrumps and Italian seasonings. Curbside pickup available. D Wed-Sat. Cash only. $$$ Specialty Italian Bistro — 2330 Belle Chasse Hwy., Gretna, (504) 391-1090; www.specialtyitalianbistro.com — The menu combines Old World Italian favorites and pizza. Chicken piccata is a paneed chicken breast topped with lemon-caper piccata sauce served with angel hair pasta, salad and garlic cheese bread. Takeout and delivery available. Service daily. $$

MUSIC

27 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > J u n e 1 6 - 2 2 > 2 02 0

Songs from inside Prison Music Project tells stories of incarcerated men BY JAKE CLAPP ALMOST HALFWAY THROUGH “Long Time

Gone,” the new full-length album from The Prison Music Project, the track “I Can’t Breathe” pumps the brakes. In contrast to the previous songs’ instrumentation, multiple vocals and production, “I Can’t Breathe” is sparse — and it hits the listener like a load of bricks. “I Can’t Breathe” is just P R OV I D E D P H OTO B Y ZO E B O E K B I N D E R over two minutes long and Nathen Jackson Brown, from left, with Zoe simply features Sincere, Boekbinder and Alex Batriz. the performance name for Bruce Dixon, freestyle rapthe U.S. and the need to radically ping over slow, steady beatboxing by change the criminal justice system Alex Batriz, also known as Baby Shell by having the people inside prisons Dogg. Dixon’s vocals were recorded tell their stories. over the phone in 2014 while he was A few of the tracks, including “I Can’t incarcerated at New Folsom Prison in Breathe,” Banks’ song “Breakthrough,” Sacramento, California, and his lines Brown’s “Ain’t Trippin’,” and Gadlin’s end abruptly as his phone call is cut “Monster,” feature the men singing off. Batriz also was incarcerated at or rapping the lyrics they wrote. But New Folsom Prison, and has since given the restrictions on recording been released. Dixon is currently a devices in prisons and the difficulty prisoner at the California Medical of trying to record over the phone, Facility. The song was timely when Boekbinder and DiFranco employed a Dixon wrote it, and it is sadly pertilong list of musicians — mostly women nent amid the current nation-wide and non-binary people and people of protests against police brutality and color — to help interpret and record racism. A video for the track, released the songs on “Long Time Gone.” June 8, features the song’s lyrics Leyla McCalla, free feral, Amanda written out on cardboard along with Palmer, Princess Shaw, Mirah, Dorota photos taken by New Orleans folk Szuta, Danah Olivetree and Krikor singer-songwriter Zoe Boekbinder Andonian are just a few of the musifrom local protests. Signs saying “I cians that perform. And close friends Can’t Breathe” appear frequently. and family members of the men also Produced by Boekbinder and provide vocals. Ani DiFranco, the 15-track “Long There is a lot of variety in the Time Gone” features work written tracks on “Long Time Gone,” from by nine incarcerated or formerly the blues lament “Coffin Song” incarcerated men: Batriz, Dixon, by Ken Blackburn with singer Doc Greg Gadlin, Spoon Jackson, Jacob Gattis and DiFranco’s folk take on John Allen, Nathen Jackson Brown, Spoon Jackson’s “Nowhere but BarAbraham Banks, Ken Blackburn and stow and Prison” to Samuel Brown’s Samuel Brown. synth-heavy track “Aint’ Trippin.” The Prison Music Project grew “Look, all of this beautiful music out of songwriting workshops and is coming from individuals that are concerts Boekbinder participated in incarcerated, or formerly incarcerat the New Folsom Prison from 2010 ated, that some may never see the to 2014. During that time, Boekbinder streets again,” Jackson Brown says. says, they met incarcerated men who “But they can still find this beautiful wanted to share their stories and perwork to share with the world. This spectives through songs and poetry. information, this light, is still being Boekbinder began collaborating with shined out from behind those walls. those men and to “carry these stories “I just hope that people not only out with permission” through new see what it’s about, but see that we songs, they say. Work on “Long Time can do better.” Gone” began about six years ago. “Long Time Gone” was released “Every song kind of became its on June 5 through Righteous Babe own thing,” Boekbinder says. “This Records. Profits from the album is nothing like any album I’ve ever will go to the Southern Center for been a part of before.” Human Rights for programs benThere’s a larger mission behind efiting communities impacted by The Prison Music Project: To inform mass incarceration. people about mass incarceration in

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June 11, 2020 For immediate release: Michael McKenzie Chief Executive Ofﬁcer, EINSTEIN SCHOOLS

In the book, The Soul Black Folk, DuBois asserts that “We have no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for a harvest of disaster to our children, black and white.” What this tells me is that addressing racism, injustice, and inequity requires real action. Moreover, it is amazing to see New Orleanians from all walks of life and racial differences marching for justice. As an urban educator, I am ﬁrst a Black man in America. The hard reality for me is that: No amount of education, civility, or ‘respectability politics’ serves to guarantee me (or anyone who looks like me) equity or justice. Also, in the world of public education, where Black men comprise only 3% of the talent force, men and children who look like me experience microaggression that is as visible as the Coronavirus. Microaggressions are statements, actions, or incidences of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination. Sadly, social media fuels the ﬂames of both the racists and the fake woke alike. Then, there are the macroaggressions that I have faced (and continue to face), which looks like being pulled over by police, or held to unequal standards of excellence. Despite the uphill battle ahead for equality and justice, leaders of all races, nationalities, and creeds carry the responsibility to sow seeds of resilience and hope in our children and communities of color. With this call of action, I am inspired by Einstein: Sarah T. Reed High School’s valedictorian. Jon’Nae Sylvester overcame homelessness to earn nearly 3 million dollars in scholarships. Jon’Nae’s spirit and resilience inspires and informs Einstein’s mission to nurture students to be academical-

Michael McKenzie in front of Six Flags. Sign the petition at www.change.org/TransformOleNewOrleansSixFlagsNow

ly STRONG as well as socially and emotionally resilient. In the interest of our mission, and on behalf of our children in New Orleans East, we need your support. Please sign the petition to transform or reimagine the dilapidated Six Flags in New Orleans East at (www.change. org/TransformOldNewOrleansSixFlagsNow). I invite you to contribute to our Resilience Fund and sponsor our upcoming Equity Walk on Thursday, June 18, 2020, starting at 10:30 am. Simply make a CashApp donation of any amount to $GiveEinstein. Lastly, the questions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are as relevant in the year 2020 as they were in the 60’s: “Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? He would conclude that “And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” America is [still] wrestling with the question of right versus wrong as it relates to equity and justice. For the citizens of New Orleans, we must ﬁght together and do what is right: Sign the petition and sow into our youth in New Orleans East. With love, togetherness, and urgency, Michael McKenzie CEO, EI NS T EI N S C HO OL S

Enroll in Einstein today!

Graduate Jon’Nae Sylvester with CEO Michael McKenzie.

FILM

BY WILL COVIELLO IN “YOURSELF AND YOURS,” DIRECTOR HONG SANGSOO’S DEADPAN ROMANTIC COMEDY

featuring a group of South Korean slackers, Minjung (Lee Yooyoung) meets a filmmaker and they go to a neighborhood bar. “There’s so much we’ll never know,” she tells him. “Don’t try to know everything.” She’s not being philosophical. She’s enjoying drinking and flirting, and she’s P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y C I N E M A G U I L D not interested in an- Lee Yooyoung, left, stars in Hong Sangsoo’s ‘Yourself other man who asks and Yours.’ too many questions. Minjung has just broken up with she has no problem finding drinking Youngsoo (Kim Joohyuk), a painter. partners. Mixed messages seem He was told by a friend that Minjung almost as irresistible to her. She tells has been seen drinking with other the filmmaker she doesn’t drink men at a local bar. It’s not clear alcohol before proposing they go if Youngsoo is more upset about to a bar. She bluntly critiques the her drinking too much or drinking attractiveness of her companions with others, but he focuses on the and complains that she’s surrounded booze. He tells his friend that five by “wolves” and “children.” Minjung drinks is her limit. seems to want to live a carefree life, “Yourself and Yours” is sparsely but men swarm to her, and it doesn’t set, taking place in a handful of always seem flattering. She’s not spots, including a bar, a coffeeshop, just noncommittal, though, and the a noodle house and Youngsoo’s lengths to which she pushes her claustrophobically tiny bedroom, games of denial risks casting the with a mattress on the floor and a story in an entirely different light. stack of books for a nightstand. EvThat’s also not as funny as Sangeryone in the neighborhood seems soo’s unmasking of the constraints vaguely acquainted. There’s plenty of social taboos, double standards of gossip, speculation about roabout drinking and people’s desire mantic prospects and a whole lot of for simple companionship. drinking. Some variation of “Haven’t The film is in Korean with English I seen you before?” is everyone’s subtitles. It screens virtually via a link pickup line. on the Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge Sangsoo toys with vagueness and website (www.zeitgeistnola.org). miscommunication as the elements that make relationships possible POWER PLAY and impossible. When Minjung and Zeitgeist also screens “The Black Youngsoo have their talk about Power Mixtape 1967-1975,” and half her drinking, it escalates quickly to of the proceeds benefit Patois: The indignance on both sides, and the New Orleans International Human facts of the matter are left in a haze. Rights Film Festival. Originally reHe says she’s broken a promise. She leased in 2011, the documentary feais insulted that he doesn’t trust her. tures interviews with leaders of the He curses. She says he’s disrespectBlack Power movement of the 1960s, ful. He demands that she quit drinkincluding Angela Davis, Stokely ing or the relationship is over, and in Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Eldridge a flash she’s out the door. Cleaver and others. The original Pretension and hypocrisy add to footage was filmed by a Swedish the fun. In a fit of virtue, Yangsoo camera crew and subsequently lost. tells his friend that he’d never date The tapes were discovered decades a woman that he wouldn’t marlater, and “Mixtape” also includes ry, and yet, he seems not to trust interviews with musicians such as Minjung at all. But without her, he’s Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib a self-pitying wreck. Kweli and others. Minjung clearly loves alcohol, and

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