Our New Orleans Wedding and Second Line

If you’ve read this blog’s ABOUT page, then you know that one reason I moved to New Orleans after 18 years in Los Angeles was to find my mate. “I followed my heart here. My gut told me that everything I was looking for, denying myself while I furthered my career, was right here where I always wanted to be.” I met Andy at the Lost Love Lounge (yes, really) 8 months after moving here and we’ve been slowly walking toward the altar ever since. A few weeks ago, we finally tied the knot – New Orleans-style with everything from DancingMan504 and The Roots of Music to the Pussyfooters and “The Dude” (okay, he’s not New Orleans, but he abides everywhere).

Pussyfooters Blush Ball

The Pussyfooters, a spectacular gathering of impressive women over 30, is best known for dancing in parades dressed in burlesque-ish pink and orange figure-enhancing confections. The organization also holds an annual Blush Ball to raise money for various causes benefitting women, children and the community. This year’s “Party with a Purpose” raised $30,000 for the Metropolitan Center for Women & Children (Metro). 

BlackKoldMadina, Thanksgiving and HBO’s Treme

Wednesday, the super-cold day before Thanksgiving, the French Quarter was quiet. Even the eternal party on Bourbon Street was poorly attended. On our way to BlackKoldMadina‘s CD release party, we stopped into the Lost Love Lounge in the Marigny. The bar was promoting Hot Toddies and an American Horror Story-watching  party, though it was a re-airing. Lost Love started as a neighborhood bar but has quickly become a destination club with a Vietnamese kitchen, karaoke and comedy nights, TV watching parties for HBO’s Treme, NOLA-shot American Horror Story, Walking Dead and, of course, Saints games.

Oscars in Hollywood South

When I was a kid, the Academy Awards was about dresses and hairdos. I was too young to have seen most of the movies and had no idea what sound design was or why it should get an award, but those dresses and hairdos and jewels and shoes had my full attention. By my 20’s, I had opinions about who should win and got excited when they picked one of my favorites (and I loved the dresses). A funny thing happened in my 30’s – I started noticing how many people I knew in the audience, how many I’d worked with, how many were friends. The Oscars became personal for me. Then movies I acted in got nominated and some won awards. I was thrilled but I never really thought I’d contributed in any way to that win. Tonight, as Best Screenplay winner Quentin Tarantino thanked the actors who bring his characters to life (and pretty much no one else), I felt like I personally contributed to an Oscar win.