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)

Comic Con and Butcher

This weekend, I attended my first ever Comic Con. I’ve heard about them for years, mostly stereotypes about nerds who love fake universes more than deodorant. Walking through the convention center in my Video Archives t-shirt (the video shop where Tarantino worked for a decade), we passed through a crowd heading to the car show and another group for the jewelry show before finding our way to the costumed crowd of Comic Con. New Orleans loves any excuse to wear a costume, but this was different. Rather than the petticoats and beaded concoctions we donn with second line umbrellas, these were elaborate soldiers from future wars, intergalactic creatures with blue or orange skin and chain mail-covered warriors and their corseted damsels.