FQ Fests

We ventured into the French Quarter yesterday to attend the Creole Tomato and Seafood Fests. What a great idea!!! We walked thru Waldenberg Park to the French Market and it was sunny and breezy.

But...when we hit the Market, the lack of moving air, the number of people and all of the vendors cooking in a small area kind of took the enjoyability away for me.
Now, I'm not an old fart by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't like the combination of 90+ degree heat, 100% humidity and a whole bunch of people crowded into one space;it's not my idea of a great time. But we persevered and ventured down to the old US Mint at Esplanade Ave.

The grounds were covered with food booths, beverage booths, a craft booth, a food demo stage and two music stages. We grabbed cold beers and got to work checking out the food.

The BBQ shrimp was absolutley delectable. The crab balls by Deanies were the best crab cake-type eat I ever had: crunchy on the outside and moist and crab claw meat-filled on the inside. Daughter wanted the seafood pasta, but the lines were getting very long. Next we had boiled crawfish by Pigeon Caterers...very tasty.

By this time Tab Benoit was playing, so we headed over to the stage. It was 2 pm and the sun was high in the sky and brutal. My daughter couldn't take the heat, so we found some comfort under the shade of the crepe myrtles while Hubby enjoyed the cajun BB King Entertainer of the year . She and I caught a little of Prudehomme cooking andouille.

Back at the Creole Tomato Fest we watched a demo by a young Commanders Palace chef as he demo'd a mouthwatering, cool creole tomato and mozarrella dish and a creole tomato bloody mary. Delicious! We purchased five pounds of the tomatoes and made our way back to the car and were home by 6. A fun day.

here's Chris Rose's take
And you have to admit, it is a little strange: The fewer people live here, the more festivals we have.

Japan Fest?

I suggested -- in total seriousness -- to a friend in the hospitality business that what we needed this summer, every summer, to liven up the two weeks between the Essence Festival and the Satchmo Festival is the Louisiana Humidity Festival.



Note to Lt. Gov-Tourish Czar Mitch: Next year think about combining the two fests and having them in Woldenberg park along the river where it's cooler. And less hot food and more things like boiled shrimp and grilled catfish with creole tomatoes. Hmmm...my love of cooking makes me want to take part in something like that!!!

Grammys add Cajun/zydeco category

Grammys add Cajun/zydeco category


The Recording Academy announced Thursday the creation of a Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category in its folk music field.

The first winner will be chosen Feb. 10 at the 50th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. CBS will broadcast the ceremonies live.

The announcement caps a six-year campaign by Lafayette's Cynthia Simien and her husband, zydeco veteran Terrance Simien, to establish the category. The Simiens actively petitioned the Academy and rallied local musicians to become members and submit their records for Grammy consideration.

Although zydeco and Cajun musicians often are nominated in the Grammy's folk category, victories are rare. They often have been paired against Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and other legendary figures.
Ten years have passed since Lafayette Cajun band BeauSoleil won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. The last zydeco winner came in 1985 when Rockin' Sidney won Best Ethnic recording for My Toot Toot.

NOLAready

Here is the website to get alerts on your cell phone, etc. in case of an emergency in New Orleans.
Here are examples of when NOLAReady may be used:

Life-threatening weather
Amber Alerts
Highly disruptive road shutdowns
Evacuation or Shelter in Place information
Boil water notices
Information about emergency shelters
Other emergency information

When an emergency occurs, authorized senders will instantly notify you using NOLAReady. NOLAReady is your personal connection to real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, who to contact and other important information.

It's run by the city of New Orleans and powered by Roam Secure Alert Network.

Pirogue Races

This past Sunday (June 3rd) was the Bayou Liberty Pirogue Races.
The Times Pic featured a short video with interviews of race participants.

Here is the link

In the background you can hear the squealing of the Bayou Liberty Bridge as cars cross the bayou.
Click on picture for larger view

This is one of my favorite sounds of this area.

The sights, sounds and smells of the bayou is what has kept me living in this area for 20+ years.

Welcome Back, Cap

WGSO AM-990 has changed owners and formats. Out is William Metcalf Jr.'s MC Media. In is Northshore Radio LLC, a consortium of investors who primarily reside and do business on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The new owners have installed a news-talk format targeted at north shore listeners who've largely been overlooked by New Orleans broadcast media, said Michael Starr, a local broadcasting veteran who is the new station's general manager.

The station's studios are in Slidell. Its tower and transmitter are atop an office building on Canal Street in New Orleans. Though targeting St. Tammany, its programming may appeal to Jefferson and Orleans listeners as well.

Ed Clancy has joined the roster of north shore talk radio hosts on WGSO AM-990.
"Some of the topics we're talking about are topics without borders," Starr said. "We might be having a problem in St. Tammany Parish that's universal. The Road Home is a common problem for everybody. In addition to that, (north shore) residents work in other parts of the metro area.

"Whether people are driving to work or play or whatever, they can keep in touch with what's going on (at home)."

In the station's new talk-host lineup is Hugh Dillard, who many local listeners will remember as rock-radio's Captain Humble.

Dillard, a marquee jock at album-rock WRNO FM-99.5 in its air-guitar-windmilling prime, has recently been running a po-boy shop in Slidell, and intends to do his noon-2 p.m. show from there most days.

Other hosts include Jeff Crouere, Ed Clancy, Bernie Cyrus, Ken Trahan and John Marie.

"You know how you kind of say your prayers and at the end of them say something you know is pretty spectacular? 'I want to win the Powerball' or something?" Dillard said. "I always used to say, 'I'd sure like to be back on the radio.' "

He gets it....

Dan Baum has been blogging from New Orleans for the New Yorker since August 30, 2005 and has just left the city. In his final journal post, he yearns for the city....

“Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” an old song asks; another reminds us, “You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.” Since Katrina, I’ve often been asked (though never by someone in New Orleans) why the country should bother rebuilding it. Is it really worth the billions it would take to protect this small, poor, economically inessential city, which is sinking into the delta muck as global warming raises the sea around it? But the question of “whether” has been settled—New Orleans is rebuilding itself, albeit slowly, fitfully, and imperfectly. Now it’s only a matter of how and how long. That is better news than perhaps the rest of America fully understands.


It’s the American way to focus on the future—we are dreamers and schemers, always chasing the horizon. Looking forward has made us great, but it comes at a price. .... New Orleanians, on the other hand, are excellent at the lost art of living in the moment. Étienne stopped at our house one afternoon to drop off some papers he wanted me to see. No, he said, he couldn’t stay; someone was waiting for him downtown. But we got to talking, and gradually moved to the chairs on the porch. We had a beer. The shadows lengthened as the day cooled, the jasmine across the street smelled sweet, and a few houses away someone was practicing the saxophone. Margaret brought out a dish of almonds. We all had another beer. It was dark by the time Étienne left. And here’s the true miracle of New Orleans: the person waiting for him downtown no doubt had an equally pleasant couple of hours, and Étienne surely paid no social penalty for being late.
.....
Right before Katrina, a Gallup poll found more than half of New Orleanians “extremely satisfied” with their lives, despite the city’s wretched state, a higher percentage than in any other city surveyed. New Orleanians have more time than money, and they like it that way...... I can tell you that, wherever we live, I’m comforted knowing that New Orleans is there. It’s no exaggeration to say that, without New Orleans, the United States would be lost.

Thanks, Dan. Godspeed.

Weekend Plans

This weekend (June 8-10) offers a few interesting options

WEEKEND PLANS

There's the Creole Tomato Fest as well as

New Orleans first annual Seafood Festival located at the old US Mint
During the New Orleans Seafood Festival, locals and tourists will be able to view live “Chefs' Secrets” cooking demonstrations from some of the best chefs in the country and purchase mouth-watering dishes from local restaurants serving up their seafood specialty at the special food and beverage booths. The sound of musical beats and French Quarter mayhem are definitely on the menu of events at this French Quarter fun-loving “Foodie” festival with live music on Saturday and Sunday, beginning noon at the historic U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Avenue. Some scheduled events include a cookbook autograph session and Behind-the Scenes Kitchen Tours with private cooking demonstrations.

People Powered Rebirth

New Orleans' people- powered rebirth
an article by Jonathan Capehart

…….People are now trying to say, 'Been through the stages. How do I move forward? What can I do?' "….
What they are doing is driving the recovery. "Recovery is being done by the people, not by government,"

Honoring Gate

A stretch of U.S. 11 from the southern boundary of Slidell to Lake Pontchartrain will be designated the Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Memorial Highway if state Rep. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, gets his way.

Gate lived on this stretch of road that includes camps and apartment buildings, all of them just about flattened in Katrina's wake.
He was evacuated August 28, 2005 to Orange Texas where he died from emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease two weeks later.

I had the opportunity to see Gatemouth Brown up close and personal several times in Slidell. He would show up at Palmetto's in Slidell and
play a few sets. His guitar playing was excellent despite all his health problems. He loved his music and enjoyed entertaining.
He played the 2005 Jazz Fest despite the need to carry around oxygen wherever he went.
At this website is a shot of him at the end of his last Jazz Fest set.

Miscellanea

Three websites to check out:


The Psychogeographic Guide to the City of New Orleans
The photographs posted to this site were taken during the winter of 2006, roughly from early December through Mardi Gras (late February). At the beginning of that time, homes in flooded areas were mostly not reoccupied. The city streets had been cleared of debris, but flooded cars were everywhere, and by the side of the street, houses were littered with broken branches, overturned cars, swamp grass, and stranded boats.



Recent aerial photographs of Louisiana's wetlands are evidence of the damage done by oil and gas companies throughout the decades.
taken by Clay over at noladishu


Clancy DuBos talks about the New Orleans Culture front in the May 29th Gambit.

Hurricane Season

June first ...... the calendar moved from May to June. In Pre-K times, the change in months only signaled the beginning of the long, lazy days of summer. Katrina changed that. I avoided a majority of the madness about the beginning of the hurricane season
There's just no reason for this feeding frenzy by the news and weather people.

I stand by my post of last year
as far as the local meteorologists are concerned.

Our evacuation plans are gelling. We have MRE's left over from Katrina, the box with all of the important papers in it is
ready to go at anytime; there's a big old box in the attic filled with the necessities for leaving home for some time as well as
five carriers: one for each of our cats.
I've also checked out Pets Welcome dot com , a website devoted to finding pet friendly establishments.
The boards to cover up the windows are in the shed. (Note to self: buy AA batteries!).
We were handed our contraflow map, as
well as hurricane "tips" as we entered Wally World over the weekend. Where we go depends upon the track of the offending
storm, but it will be somewhere in the middle of the state.
So, we're ready, but not doing the "hurricane boogie", like all of those crazy news folks!!
Here are some good links to make sure you're ready:

Hurricane Evacuation Tips
some more from Gambit Weekly