The Quintessential Carnival
There’s a new addition to my annual list of the “Best of Carnival,” proof that even without parades, Carnival showed last year that it can thrive and create new ideas. New to the List The Krewe of House…
Author: Errol Laborde
Taking The Booster: Safe At Third
This was supposed to be the week for getting my booster shot. It wound up happening sooner than I expected. I had had my previous two shots months ago and had resolved to get the third by the week…
Heralding on the Evening of Twelfth Night
True New Orleanians never have to worry about post-Christmas letdown. That's because, to most of the world, the the day that is the twelfth and final day of Christmas is recognized locally as Twelfth Night, the first day of…
Empire of The King Cake
When I first met Will Samuels he was operating Pizza Nola, a small Lakeview lunch place on West Harrison Avenue whose fare also included pasta, calzone and specialty ice creams. Then one day he mentioned that he was selling…
Christmas Eve '44: The Angel Of Bastogne
Seventy-seven years ago this month, the deadliest European battle in World War II broke out, like an uncontrollable disease, just when the world was beginning to believe that the war was almost over. It would be known as the…
Local Christmas Songs That Scored
Just for fun, here are two locally themed Christmas season songs that happened to be popular at times worth dancing to, one when LSU won its first national football championship and the other when the Saints won the big…
St. Tammany Rolls The Dice
On the matter of a casino in Slidell, I stand firmly in the middle of the road, undecided either way. I am, however, fascinated by the debate because so much of it is common to casino arguments. St. Tammany…
Doc the Halls
Christmas Eve 2020 and not a critter was stirring, including myself who laid semi-passed out on a bed. An ambulance med tech guy had the nerve to interrupt my slumber to ask me what month it was. I would…
Kennedy In Dallas: New Orleans And The Conspiracies
For the past 58 years, ever since the assassination of President John Kennedy on November 22, 1963, the discussion about what happened has continued, so has the skepticism. New Orleans has frequently been mentioned as part of the debate,…
Beyond City Hall: Mayoral Futures
Winning the job as a big city’s mayor is a significant political achievement, all the more significant if elected to a second term. Being a mayor is one of the toughest jobs in all of politics. It deals with…
A Mayor On The Rocks: The Saga of Louis Roffignac
In this the week of city elections in which, I suspect, the city’s first ever female mayor will be re-elected, we pause to remember a much earlier mayor with his own superlatives: Louis Roffignac. Roffignac was the city’s last…
How Houston Baseball Changed New Orleans
One rule I live by while watching sports is to never pull for teams from Atlanta or Houston. Not that there is anything wrong with those cities but fan support is usually based on irrational geographic biases. Most often…
Dale and Grace
This will be the 58th November since Dale Houston and Grace Broussard stood outside the Dallas hotel where they and their group were staying. They were waiting for a motorcade to zoom by. Grace was a native of Prairieville,…
Let Endymion, Thoth and Zulu Be
At some point during the afternoon of the Endymion parade a neighbor in our Mid-City neighborhood hitches a couple of wagons to his rider lawn mower. He fills the wagons with kids, each supplied with a stash of beads…
A Proposal: How About a Carnival of Neighborhoods?
A friend of mine recalls the time when she first moved into her Mid-City home. It was near Canal Street, on the river side, near the cemeteries. South St. Patrick Street ran alongside the house. One Sunday morning, she…
Parading Again, The Cosmic Connection
In answer to the question, "will there be a Mardi Gras next year," the answer is – 100 percent, totally, absolutely, honest to goodness, yes. Am I positive? Bet your bottom dollar, yes. For there not to be a…
Benson's Vision vs. Jazz's Departure
Tom Benson liked to tell the story about the phone call he received in 1985 from then Governor Edwin Edwards. John Mecom Jr., the original owner of the New Orleans Saints franchise, wanted to sell and there was a…
Before They Were Meteorologists
Watching the Hurricane Ida coverage remined me that long before they were called “meteorologists,” the people who forecast the weather on TV were known simply as “weathermen.” In New Orleans the first and best known of the climate watchers was…
Stirring It Up: The Governor's Gumbo Debate
Not that Governor John Bel Edwards doesn’t already have enough to worry about, but each year around this time as the weather teases us with a slight chill a person, even a Governor, can be forgiven if his thoughts…
Saved by the Fest: George Wein's Legacy
Not to be bragging or anything but I once met one of the Jazz Fest’s all-time biggest celebrities. I think it was at a cocktail party, I’m not sure where or why, when I fell into a conversation with…
September 11 – When Louisiana Provided Refuge For The President
Twenty years ago this past weekend, Louisiana was a part of the story as a staggering nation looked for stability. What happened at Barksdale Air Force base across the Red River from Shreveport would also provide the setting for…
The Future Crashing Into The River
I thought I saw a ghost of New Orleans, a sad apparition of a glorious city that once was. I will always remember the moment during the evening of August 29 as the city lights flickered then went out.…
The Spin of the Ball
On my desk is a baseball - now browned and tattered, bruised in places, its innards exposed in spots. It was found in a box on the bottom rung of a shelving unit, pushed to the back of the…
In Need of Eloquence
On Jan. 28, 1986, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, approached the White House podium that is used for televised addresses. The nation that he was about to speak to was in shock that day. Many Americans craved…
Making a Comeback: Survival in the Year After a Paradeless Carnival
As the 1980 Mardi Gras season neared, there was anxiety among Carnival watchers. A year earlier, in 1979, all parades had been cancelled in Orleans Parish during a tense Carnival season. The local police had gone on strike wanting…
Next Stop: Area 51
There is a lot to see from looking upward in Las Vegas. There is the Big Apple roller coaster which races along the top of New York, New York casino; the High-Roller, a Ferris wheel is so big and…
North Broad Street Is Becoming Cool; Lets Give It A Chance
One evening this past April, I attended a wine tasting that was held in a converted warehouse that wine expert James Moises has made into the location of his distribution business. The idea was to also use a section…
Why Bon Temps Rouler?
Have you noticed? There is a fleet of new RTA buses around town. Look at their upper right side corner - there in full glory, written in bold script is a phrase which has been flummoxing me for years:…
Caesars Football Palace: A Story of Louisiana Politics That Worked
It just so happened that during the week that began with Edwin Edwards’ funeral a deal was finalized, nearby at the capitol in Baton Rouge, for the Superdome to be named after Caesars Entertainment. Edwards had been a supporter…
Edwin Edwards' Legacy Was No Joke
Accused of having taken an illegal campaign contribution, Edwin Edwards, who knew the law better than most judges, once offered a novel defense. For someone to have made the contribution was illegal he explained, however it was not illegal…
The Editor's Room
Weekly Commentary with New Orleans Magazine’s Errol Laborde
about
Errol Laborde holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of New Orleans. He also serves as executive editor of New Orleans Magazine and Louisiana Life magazine.
Errol is also a producer and a regular panelist on Informed Sources, a weekly news discussion program broadcast on public television station WYES-TV, Channel 12. Errol is a three-time winner of the Alex Waller Award, the highest award given in print journalism by the Press Club of New Orleans. He also received the National and City Regional Magazine Association Award for Best Column for his New Orleans Magazine column, beating out 76 city magazines across the country. In 2013, Errol received the award for the "Best News Affiliated Blog," awarded by the Press Club of New Orleans.
Errol’s most recent books are Krewe: The Early Carnival from Comus to Zulu and Marched the Day God: A History of the Rex Organization. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis and traveling with his wife, Peggy, to anywhere they can get away to, but some of his favorite spots are the Caribbean and historic locations around Louisiana. You can reach Errol at (504) 830-7235 or errol@myneworleans.com.
