Boogie at Boogaloo
Bayou Boogaloo is back this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Mid-City festival along Bayou St. John will feature music on four stages, with an all-new floating Brass Barge, according to a recent release. Since its first year 16 years ago, the festival has grown in size and popularity from a small neighborhood get-together to a go-to gathering from music and food lovers from across the city. Music highlights this year include: Ani DiFranco, Dragon Smoke, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Soul Rebels, Sonny Landreth and Maggie Koerner, and, new this year, Inferno Burlesque
Festival food is always a huge draw for New Orleanians, and Boogaloo’s line-up looks to truly have something for everyone. Returning Mid-City favorites include Clesi’s and Mid-City Pizza, with new offerings from Soule Café, with vegan options, and Jamaican Jerk House, Dat Dog and Bub’s Burgers offering up a variety of options.
If music’s not your thing, there will also be an arts market featuring works by local artists and designers, yoga from Swan River Yoga, a kids’ tent and more.
Broadway Bound
Broadway in New Orleans presents “Mean Girls” at The Saenger Theatre, May 17-22. The show is a musical adaptation of the 2004 movie of the same name. The creative team behind the scene includes: director Casey Nicholaw (“Aladdin,” “The Book of Mormon”), composer Jeff Richmond (“30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), lyricist Nell Benjamin (“Legally Blonde”), and writer Tina Fey (“Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock,” “Bossypants”). The story follows teen Cady Heron as she navigates the world of high school popularity and what it truly means to be a “Queen Bee.” It’s been so great to have the return of theater at The Saenger. It’s always been such a special place, but it feels even more so, since COVID precautions. I’ll be the first in line (and possibly the front row).
Pottery-ing Around
I am a huge fan of the HBOMax British TV series “The Great Pottery Showdown,” so I was excited to learn about the new NOMA exhibit “Katherine Choy: Radical Potter in 1950s New Orleans.” Choy, who was born in Hong Kong in 1927, became an influential ceramicist in the 1950s, and established a distinctive career while working and creating in New Orleans as director of ceramics at the innovative Newcomb College. The new exhibit, on display through this fall, details her “radical” take on ceramics, local influences and teachers, and her lasting influence on modern ceramic art.
Sip + Socialize
This Thursday, New Orleans Magazine is hosting its first Sip & Socialize event, 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hotel Indigo in the French Quarter. It’s out first opportunity to host happy hour since pre-pandemic, and we are all pretty excited. Proceeds from the $5 admission supports the music education program Second Line Arts Collective, and there will be drink specials plus complimentary snacks.
