French Quarter Fest 2023 – Friday

French Quarter Fest (FQF) expands on Fridays to more of the eventual 20 stages of indigenous music and 60 local food booths scattered throughout the historic Vieux Carre. My favorite festival of the year, FQF is also one of the city’s most profitable – generating an economic impact of $190 million in 2019. We started our day at the Abita Stage with Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & the Wild Magnolias singing local favorites, some wearing their beaded and feathered Mardi Gras Indian suits.

We’d been intrigued by the offerings from fest-newcomer, Monday, since spotting their sign yesterday promising – Whole Snapper (deep fried)

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.

Treme and Bayona Restaurant

Week 2 of HBO’s Treme covered topics from the Danziger Bridge incident and the school system to the governor’s race, FEMA subcontracting, Bounce music and fried turkey for Thanksgiving. As someone who’s lived here over 17 months and is still learning this city, I sometimes wonder how someone unfamiliar with the politics, food, music, history and tragedy of this place 14 months after Katrina (the setting of this season) can even begin to follow all the intricacies. I’m so glad people are watching and making the effort. 

Krewe of Oshun Video

As promised, here’s the video of last week’s official Mardi Gras parade season opener, the Krewe of Oshun. I uncharacteristically stood on the neutral ground side (where the streetcars run, rather than the sidewalk side). Local Who Dat shop, Fleurty Girl, has cute t-shirts declaring your viewing side.

Oshun Rolls and Mardi Gras begins!

Parade season has officially begun in Uptown with the rolling of the Krewe of Oshun (founded in 1996). The weather has been glorious for a couple weeks. I donned a purple shirt and scarf (in my hair) and green shoes and headed up to St. Charles. We have a new toy this year, Mardi Gras Parade Tracker, a parade tracker using a GPS system and actual manpower to walk at the front of each parade.