Krewes of Freret & Themis Parades 2023

Krewe of Freret is one of my favorites of the season. The original Krewe paraded for 40 years until the 90’s. In 2011, some children of the previous membership and others gave the parade a reboot. The addition of Grammy-winner Trombone Shorty’s float with the super-long trombone prop has given the ever-evolving parade new continuity. His cover of Ernie K-Doe’s Here Come the Girls was playing as he rode past, throwing goodies to the crowd.

How To Birthday in New Orleans

From Sunday second line and Carnival parades to our many festivals and concerts, New Orleans is a city of celebration. If the city can party over everything from tomatoes to our departed, imagine how fun it can be to celebrate yourself here. For me, a New Orleans birthday has to include great company, incredible food, music whenever possible and the occasional “only in New Orleans” event.

Many people start the day by pinning money on their chest.

We Are #OnlyInNOLA

There are many reasons people come to New Orleans. The food, the booze, the music, the architecture, the history, the art, the culture and so much more. But when surveyed about what they remember, most visitors mention the people. When people refer to something being “Only in New Orleans,” they are often referring to us, the colorful, festive, resilient people of this city. Whether it’s the person walking their dog on a leash made of Mardi Gras beads or Mr. Okra rolling by in his fantastically painted truck announcing, “I’ve got fresh bananas, I’ve got fresh carrots,” we are part of the “local color,” the kooky characters visitors tell their friends about.

French Quarter Fest – Sunday

Sunday, the closing day of French Quarter Fest, was a drizzly one so we started at one of the many indoor activities – the “Let Them Talk…” interview series at the Mint. Author John Broven led legends Allen Toussaint and Deacon John in a discussion of Cosimo Matassa, founder of both J&M Recording Studio and Cosimo Recording Studio. The event started and ended with Toussiant on the piano and Deacon John singing for us. Matassa was a local legend who is credited with helping to develop the rock and R&B sounds of the 50’s and 60’s. Fats Domino, Little Richard. Ray Charles, Dr. John, Ernie K-Doe, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, Aaron Neville and the legends on the stage in front of us were just a few of the artists Matassa worked with as both studio owner and engineer.

Charleston, South Carolina and Litchfield Beach

This blog is almost always centered on New Orleans, but I left my beloved city for a week and we traveled with my niece to another city full of old manor homes, horse-drawn carriages and Civil War history – Charleston, South Carolina. Like NOLA, there was a large City Market. Our French Market may have more food but theirs went on forever and was often air conditioned. Charleston has its own French Quarter and even serves shrimp & grits at many of their local restaurants.

I’m So New Orleans #ImSoNewOrleans

The Twitter-verse and Facebook have been buzzing for the last couple days with all things New Orleans. No one seems to know who started the #ImSoNewOrleans trend but it’s brought the city together in a way usually reserved for football season. People are sharing childhood memories, old photos of long-gone places and jokes and trends so inside, only someone who grew up here could truly get them. I didn’t. I wasn’t born here and I don’t have a good answer to, “Where’d you go to school?” (meaning which local high school), but I’m so New Orleans that my family owned property on St. Charles in the 1700’s. Okay, that doesn’t help me decipher some of the local references or share some of the memories, but it does make me feel like I’m home. 

Kermit Ruffins’ Mother in Law Lounge

The Mother in Law Lounge is back thanks to NOLA favorite Kermit Ruffins. In 1961, New Orleans native Ernie K-Doe had a hit with his song, “Mother In Law.” He and wife, Antoinette, opened the Ernie K-Doe Mother in Law Lounge in 1994. Ernie K-Doe, the “Emperor of the Universe,” was known and loved throughout the community, but especially by his wife, who, upon his death in 2001, had a mannequin of him made and took it with her everywhere she went. She reportedly even took “him” to the lavish and historic Commander’s Palace for supper. Since her passing, the likeness sat in Carnival regalia inside the photo-bedecked lounge, surrounded by jukebox music and memorabilia.

Sweet Home, Louisiana

After a week in Los Angeles, returning to New Orleans felt great. On the plane, I ran into a fellow L.A. to N.O.LA actor who I’d carpooled with to Baton Rouge. I met a woman who’d run major art museums, taught college and painted part of the Ernie K-Doe mural on the (just-shuttered) Mother in Law Lounge. She was beautiful, smart, talented, over 60 and dying of cancer. I liked knowing that we were heading to a town where being older and dying wouldn’t detract from how sexy-cool she is.

Birthday Girl

My birthday was this past weekend. It started on Friday with an unexpected call from a new friend, Lena, a girl I’d worked with on my first film here. She was in the neighborhood so we decided to walk to Gott’s and have a yummy lunch.

Treme and I go down memory lane

This week’s Treme episode was like a walk down memory lane for me. I guess it shouldn’t come as too big a surprise to me that David Simon, the show’s creator, notices many of the same things about this city that I do. We were both born in D.C. and grew up in Maryland. We both work in entertainment. And we both clearly LOVE this city and want to give the world an insight as to why.