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New Orleans Magazine April 2006

MUSIC: Harken to New Orleans

RICK COLEMAN HAD NO WAY of predicting that Antoine “Fats” Domino’s high-profile presence at this year’s Jazz and Heritage Festival would be a harbinger of hope. In today’s broken city, musicians are more important than ever; they are our muses. For a writer who toiled two decades on the newly released biography, Blue Monday, Coleman […]

MAKING SPACES: Bright, cheerful and full of style, these three children’s rooms are made for lives in motion

Kids’ rooms are more than just a place to store stuff and sleep at night. From 2 to 13 and beyond, it’s a creative work in progress, constantly being re-imagined. The crib makes way for twin beds or one even bigger. A place for pre-school bedtime stories and time-outs becomes the only place a teenager […]

MARQUEE: Places to Go, People to See, Things to Do

AN ODYSSEY FULFILLED Where can you find ouzo, moussaka, roast lamb and dancing all in one place? If a trip to Greece is not in your immediate future, the Greek Festival, May 26-28, may be your best bet. A Memorial Day weekend tradition, this year’s festival will once again sell Greek food – including a […]

HEALTH: When the Swallows Come

I t is a long, muscular organ that expands when stimulated. Many people typically think theirs is longer than it actually is. But if performance problems develop, Viagra is not the answer. The adult esophagus is a narrow tube about 9 inches to 10 inches in length that begins at the back of the tongue, […]

ERROL LABORDE: Good Morning, Mayor Nuniz

Ed Muniz will now be the only person to hold two different high ranking executive positions in two different cities. In Kenner he will be Mayor. In New Orleans he remains as Captain of Endymion. Granted, no mere Mayor can match the absolute power that comes with the Endymion Captaincy. Nevertheless, if he can bully […]

LOOKING AHEAD: Trade mission to New Orleans

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez this week will lead a group of business leaders, including representatives from The Walt Disney Company and Goldman Sachs & Co., on an investment mission to the New Orleans area. The May 4-5 mission is designed to inform companies that already have expressed an interest in investing in the Gulf […]

GLANCING BACK

And you thought it was just the levees . . . The list of things for New Orleans to worry about grew last week when flood-damaged wires sparked fires at three area pumping stations. The pump problems were exposed when just over an inch of rain kicked the motors into action after many weeks of […]

NEW ORLEANS’ VOICES

This week New Orleans Magazine adds a new feature to its weekly news letter as Craig Kraemer of NewOrleansPodCasting.com brings you a new voice every week of someone that is rebuilding New Orleans. This week Craig interviews Michael Valentino, CEO of Valentino New Orleans Hotels. Mike has been a business and civic leader in New […]

HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN NEW ORLEANS

May 1 Instruments A Comin’, benefit for Tipitina’s Foundation, www.tipitinasfoundation.org May 1 WWOZ Piano Night, House of Blues 7pm. May 2 Alliance for Good Government Orleans Chapter, Forum with runoff candidates for Assessor District 4, City Council District C and Mayor. Hotel LeCirque beginning at 7pm. May 2 The AMA New Orleans Mayoral Debate, “Addressing […]

STREETCAR: Election of the Century

As mayoral elections go, it was a doozy. The outcome would forever change the course of – and the players in – New Orleans politics. This year marks the 60th anniversary of that campaign. Hard times often breed new leadership, and New Orleans was a laboratory for such in 1946 as the nation looked for […]

HEALTH: Bad Vibes

Loud music can be harmful The truly best seats at Jazz Fest are a healthy distance from the amplifiers and down a bit on the decibel scale. Loud music is a health risk, a risk more real than post-Katrina mold hysteria. And yet the same folks who reflexively don face masks around flooded debris rarely […]

JULIA STREET: A Monthly Pursuit of Answers to Eternal Questions

Dear Julia, Do you know anything about the old hospital that used to be on Orleans Avenue? I think it was known as the French Hospital. I was born there in 1948 but am a little puzzled about why my mother would have gone there since we’re not French. Patrick Riordan Metairie Before the French […]

ERROL LABORDE: Notes From the Election

Anyone who contests Saturday’s election with a lawsuit is being close minded, divisive, blatantly political, mean spirited and totally unjust. Administratively, the election was a masterpiece. If someone did not know about the election or how to vote, either by mail or in person, it is because that person just did not care enough to […]

LOOKING AHEAD — STORIES TO WATCH

Monday, April 24 — Sunday, April 30 They’re off! Tired of all the public political wrangling that’s played out over the past several weeks? Too bad, because there’s a lot more ahead. This week will bring intense behind-the-scenes negotiations as runoff candidates lobby the also-rans for endorsements. The toughest talks will occur in the mayor’s […]

HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN NEW ORLEANS

April 24 – 30 Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament, English Turn 342-3000 April 25 The String Quartets of Chevalier de St. Georges, Hayden and Mozart, Williams Research Center 523-4662 April 26 – May 31 Longue Vue House Presents Kinder Garden – :Creep, Crawl & Fly” Longue Vue House and Gardens, 488-5488 ext 933 […]

CHRONICLES OF RECENT HISTORY: Jazz Preservationist Doc Souchon

When you hear the gravelly recorded voice of Edmond “Doc” Souchon singing the Mardi Gras anthem “If Ever I Cease to Love,” you can tell it comes from the heart, and you can readily believe that the happiest man in New Orleans on Carnival Day 1949 was mostly likely that singer. Doc Souchon’s daughter Dolly […]

MODINE: Flash Points

This planet hit menopause at the same time I did. It has global warming; I have hot flashes. Now, this got nothing to do what the kind of flashing certain types of people do for beads. This is the kind of flashing where you heat up from the inside like somebody turned your thermostat up, […]

RECIPE OF THE WEEK: TIRAMISU

The Next Level Chef Christina of Tony Moran’s adds new layers to classic Italian dishes APPETIZER | Antipasto Misto For Two SOUP | Zuppa Alle Vongole ENTREE | Costolette Alla Milanese DESSERT | Tiramisu TIRAMISU Cake: 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate 1 cup butter 3 eggs 3 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour Salt, […]

Wise Cracks

One of this city’s grandest pleasures is dining midday on eggs Benedict, Sardou or Hussarde – they sound like names of generals marching to battle – but they’re actually glorious breakfast or brunch dishes. Eggs Louis Armstrong, eggs St. Charles and eggs St. Denis honor notable figures from local history. The classic dishes of our […]

The Raiders’ Rummel

New student at Archbishop Rummel High School to bookstore manager Lory Rummel: “Were you married to Archbishop Rummel or something? Is that how you got this job?” Lory Rummel: “No, honey, actually, I’m Archbishop Rummel’s daughter.” Mrs. Rummel disappears behind a shelf full of books, where she laughs while the kid stands there with a […]

DJ Soul Sister

In the club world, where most DJs are men, Melissa Weber, a k a DJ Soul Sister, stands out: Besides being a woman, she is the only DJ in New Orleans regularly spinning genres such as rare groove, underground disco, old-school hip-hop, D.C. go-go, boogaloo, funk and soul. She is one of a few women […]

NEW ORLEANS MAGAZINE LAUNCHES FREE WEEKLY E-MAIL NEWSLETTER

In its first major product launch since being acquired by Renaissance Publishing, New Orleans Magazine launches a weekly e-mail newsletter. Today you are receiving this newsletter as a subscriber, customer or friend of New Orleans Magazine. Every Monday morning New Orleans Magazine will send news features, columns and features from our current issue, and great […]

LOOKING AHEAD: Stories to Watch

Monday, April 17 — Sunday April 23 Candidates play hardball The race for mayor winds toward the primary this week with several more televised candidate forums. Leading off will be a nationally televised event airing live on local NBC affiliate WDSU and MSNBC. Channel 6 anchor Norman Robinson and Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” […]

ERROL LABORDE: Warm and Fizzy on the Avenue

Another Easter has passed and the memories of an Easter tradition is another year removed, just when we need our traditions more than ever. There was a charm about the bunny village on display each year in front of Scheinuk the Florists on St. Charles Avenue. Part of the local Easter week ritual was to […]

LOOKING AHEAD – Stories to Watch: Monday, April 10 — Sunday, April 16

Follow the bouncing block grants • The Louisiana Recovery Authority’s plan for divvying up $6.2 billion in federal Community Development Block Grants has been moving through the Legislature, and if lawmakers manage to sign off this week, its next step will be the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD must approve the spending […]

ERROL LABORDE

A Message to Visionaries – “Oh Yeah!” • Just about every time I hear planners talk about the redevelopment of the city, inevitably and immediately someone will preach about the need for diversity and affordable housing. Wow, I think to myself what visionaries. In fact many of the city’s neighborhoods, including mine in Mid-City, have […]

MARQUEE: Places to go, people to see, things to do.

Festing Up • So, you finally lost that five pounds you gained eating your way through Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day. Say goodbye to all that, because the month of April brings festivals for which overeating is considered the norm. No, it won’t matter how much you dance because you’ll end […]

SPEAKING OUT: A Proposal

We have a proposal, one that we hope whoever wins the mayoral election will consider carrying out. Let’s create a one-time event for the city called “New Orleans Open House 2009.” We envision something that will draw visitors, and the world’s news media, to revisit the city and see how far it has come since […]

TABLE TALK: Opportunity Knocks

Old restaurants with new faces • Will Peters and Leigh Sledge had relocated to Shreveport after Hurricane Katrina. They had found new jobs. They planned to stay. So when Jennifer Benz, who co-owned Dick and Jenny’s with her husband, Richard, asked them to return to New Orleans and manage the restaurant, they weren’t interested. “I […]

RESTAURANT INSIDER

“Restauration”: Part of the “Lorin lexicon” for the rebuilding and re-emergence of New Orleans’ restaurant industry. In addition to the reopening of numerous restaurants in the metro area (almost 600 to date), an unusually large number of new restaurants – more than 10 and counting – have opened their doors, despite “limited” everything: menus, staff, […]

SPECIAL COMMENTARY: Prince of the City

If Louis Armstrong personified the jazzman as a cultural ambassador, Wynton Marsalis defined a new role, the emergency politician, a role he has performed with surpassing skill since devastations of the flood. Soon after Katrina, when Mayor Nagin met in Dallas with power brokers of the broken city, Marsalis was there via speaker phone, giving […]

MARCHING BACK IN

This is our 17th annual Jazz All-Stars issue, in which we honor musicians who perform locally. The selections are divided into traditional and contemporary styles. These, plus those honored in the past, catalog the finest jazz talent to work in the city through the last two decades. Detroit Brooks Detroit Brooks hails from another great […]

STREETCAR: Midnight for St. Augustine

Even on Good Friday, St. Augustine Church rocked. On what is the most solemn day of the Christian year, the interior of the old church maintained the atmosphere appropriate for the day, but at some point, usually around noon, the buzz of a procession could be heard approaching the Treme church. In the foreground was […]

FOOD: Gumbo z’herbes

Lent and soups have shared a connection on European tables for centuries. Here in New Orleans that link was strengthened when innovative Creole cooks incorporated American Indian ingredients, African techniques and Caribbean flavors. They turned meatless meals into powerhouses of taste and nutrition, using legumes, corn and other vegetables. Fish and shellfish stocked many fasting-day […]

JULIA STREET: Questions & Answers About New Orleans

Dear Julia, I was in attendance at a UNO basketball game in the old “Chamber of Horrors” recently. The atmosphere was exciting as the modest-sized crowd produced a loud roar for the hometown Privateers. My question has to do with the urge for pizza after the game. What was the name of the nearby pizzeria […]

MARQUEE

Bouncing Back The New Orleans Hornets are creating a buzz with three games in the New Orleans Arena. On March 8, the Hornets play the Los Angeles Lakers; March 18, the Denver Nuggets; and on March 21, the Los Angeles Clippers. Tip-off is 7 p.m. Ticket prices start at $10. Information and tickets, www.nba.com/hornets or […]

PUTUMAYO SWINGS: Retro music with local influences

With 39 definitions of “swing” in one dictionary, we approach this irrepressible idiom mindful of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who famously said of pornography that, although he had no definition for it, he knew it when he saw it. (James Joyce, who had to go to court to get Ulysses published in the […]

NEW ORLEANS TRAVEL MAGAZINE: Road trip: clothes for hitting the highway

UNEASY RIDER White button-front shrunken blazer and knee-length walking shorts from Ballin’s, orange stretch-knit top from The Red Carpet, kiwi-green cloche from Hoi Polloi, sunshades from Turncoats, orange-and-jade-green necklace from Il Negozio, white-leather tote bag and kiwi-green floral wedges from The Red Carpet. A Driving Force Strapless blue-and-white polka-dot dress from The Red Carpet, blue […]

NEW ORLEANS MAGAZINE TRAVEL: Corleone, Sicily; Napa Valley; Seattle/Victoria, British Columbia; and Houston

Our scheduled trip to the Aeolian Islands was canceled due to bad weather, but within view of our hotel-room windows was the smoking Mount Etna, which on September nights glowed with two red stripes of molten lava. With enough of Sicily’s volcanic activity right there beside us in Acireale, just a skip from the east […]

NEW ORLEANS MAGAZINE TRAVEL: Wanna get away? Travel challenges for New Orleanians

Local travel agent Juli McInnis tells a story of how one of her clients, the owner of an insurance agency, dealt with flagging morale at his company, post-Katrina. Early this year he arranged a trip to New York City for his several-member staff in an effort to reinvigorate and bolster them for the continuing onslaught […]

TRUE BLUE: Katrina and the cops: the other side of the story

You’ve heard the rumors. They were printed in every newspaper and broadcast on every TV news program. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Police Department bugged out. They ran, leaving the city and its citizens to fend for themselves. Most reports said that at least one-third – some claimed as many as half – […]

KITCHENS WITH A MISSION: Three kitchen makeovers

When Jane and Charles “Chuck” Mentz decided to build in Lake Vista, they knew they wanted a large family kitchen with a view of the nearby park. The couple also knew the kitchen would be a gathering place for their three children, so they wanted the space to have plenty of light. “Since my husband […]

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