Living in New Orleans – the first 5 years

My family is from Louisiana for generations on both sides but my path home was winding. After living in Maryland, Washington D.C., Japan, Alabama, New York and Los Angeles, I finally moved to New Orleans in late 2009. And I’ve never been happier. When I got here, the Saints were on their way to winning the Superbowl and the city was vibrating with optimism. Most of the people who would come home after the Storm were back. Katrina money was being spent on street repairs and schools were getting instruments from places like Tipitina’s Foundation. Buildings, homes, t-shirts and more exclaimed, “Believe” and “Renew, Rebuild, Rebirth.” It was intoxicating.

Favorite Things in NOLA 2013

The categories are: Food & Beverage, Music & Entertainment, Culture, Shopping and Giving & More. Anything named previously in my Favorite Things in NOLA 2012 is marked with an Asterix*. Most items have links to their site, but if you’d like to know more, use the search window on the right to find photos, videos, history and stories.

This year, I’ve added a gallery of photos. The first photos are of items listed and the last half are of stuff I love in New Orleans from Creole tomatoes to Ashley the Traffic Tranny.

I’m also revealing Your Favorite Posts of 2013.

3 – Saints Soundtrack Vol. 2

2 – Street Musicians – Tanya and Dorise

1 – Endymion Extravaganza – My First Ball! – which is also your favorite post of all time.

Okeanos, Mid-City, Thoth and Bacchus Parades

Saturday was a big parade day. I envy the children and imagine the marathon party of Mardi Gras is so much more fun for kids than the one single day of Christmas. If we adults look forward all year to wearing costumes, playing in the street and catching beads and toys, the kids must go bananas!

Endymion Parade from the Bleachers

Endymion, a super krewe, delivered a new topper to an already dazzling parade – a 9 car float honoring Pontchartrain Beach, a long-gone beach and amusement park where many locals spent their childhoods and even Elvis played a concert. I’ve attended the parade on Canal St. (only for tourists and the truly daring), on St. Charles when rain rescheduled it (which was more mellow), inside the Morial Convention Center when I attended the Endymion Ball (which rocked – catching beads in ball-gowns and tuxedoes!) and this year, for the first time, we watched from the bleachers near City Hall.

Krewes of Babylon, Chaos and Muses Parades

Last year, I had very little time to luxuriate in Mardi Gras madness. Django Unchained was ramping up to arrive on Ash Wednesday and I was traveling and working hard to prepare for filming. This year, the movie is out and it’s a hit – #1 globally 3 weeks in a row, 2 Golden Globe wins and 5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. I can hardly believe I’m a part of it. But between the movie and my new book, Know Small Parts: An Actor’s Guide to Turning Minutes into Moments and Moments int a a Career, I’m again traveling and working hard during Mardi Gras.

Krewes of Nyx and Ancient Druids

Though the last 2 weeks have been a very big adventure, I’ll admit I’ve missed the simple joy of hanging out with neighbors, dancing to marching bands and collecting a haul of plastic treasure. After a break to host the Super Bowl, Carnival began again last night and the city turned out despite the constant rain. First up was Krewe of Ancient Druids. Founded in 1998, the krewe honors the Celtic priests who acted as mediators between the people and their gods and nature. Their krewe is fairly small with never more than 200 members and secrecy shrouds their membership.

Krewe du Vieux and Krewe Delusion 2013

Last week, I attended the last My Darlin’ New Orleans event thrown by the producers of HBO’s Treme. It was bittersweet as it means the show will end next season. Our city is the better for the jobs the production created, the peek it gave others into our unique local culture and the light it shined on the Mardi Gras Indians and a little known parade called Krewe Du Vieux. Among the many amazing performances that night was Al Johnson singing his classic It’s Carnival Time.