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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Last week the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated creating more instability for an island already know for disorder. Even the legitimacy of his presidency was questioned, yet another sign of a country teetering. There is seldom good…
John Moore, known to the world as “Deacon John,” was acknowledging a picture taken at an event he had attended recently. Pictured with him was Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Moore broke into his characteristic loud laugh, which punctuates nearly every…
Once while performing at the city’s Municipal Auditorium country singer Hank Williams got married. That was on a Saturday. The crowd loved it so much that he got married again, to the same woman, during the Sunday matinee. There…
Last Sunday afternoon (June 6) around 6:15 I was driving toward the river on Canal Street waiting for a light to change on the block between South Rampart St. and University Place (Now called “Roosevelt Way”). All was quiet,…
Some kids were playing on Omaha Beach, building sandcastles. Nearby an adult couple walked along the sand at shore’s edge, presumably looking for shells, the nautical kind rather than those fired from cannons. The shards of war have long…
Sometimes neighboring political bodies join together to forge historic agreements. Few are as anticipated by those who remember the old days along the lake as the efforts by Jefferson Parish’s and New Orleans’ councils to redevelop West End. The…
According to the legend, “the night was clear, and the moon was yellow, and the leaves came tumbling down.” At this point Lloyd Price, a native of Kenner who was one of the top rhythm and blues performers of…
Several years ago, when e-mail was young, I got a message from a freelance writer in New York state who was pitching a story idea. A couple of times during our exchanges she used the word “scrum.” Born and…
May Day, last Saturday, was spent at a St. Joseph’s Day altar. I know, according to the calendar, someone got the dates wrong, but a world turned upside down has made the liturgically improbable more possible. Two local churches…
When we last had a chance to see the former New Orleans Baby Cakes in person in 2019 they were playing their final games on Airline Highway. The franchise, it was announced, was relocating to Wichita, Kansas where community…
We were regulars at a certain neighborhood restaurant and always knew the food to be good and the service efficient, but on a Friday night a few weeks ago things just were not right. Service was slow; very slow.…
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.
