Krewe du Vieux and Krewedelusion (R-rated)

Though Carnival doesn’t “officially” start until 12 days before Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), the city’s unofficially-official start is certainly the one-two satirical-parade punch of Krewe du Vieux and Krewedelusion. The bawdy R-rated parades lampoons local, national and even international politics with the addition of jabs at the Olympics-host Russian policy toward gays. With throws ranging from earplugs to liquor, it’s a fun adult night parade in the French Quarter.

Trombone Shorty and Second Harvest

September is Hunger Action Month and what better way to help those in need (1 in 6 households) than to eat, drink and celebrate great local music at Harvest the Music in Lafayette Park! All proceeds go to Second Harvest Food Bank. This week, New Breed Brass Band opened for Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. New Breed is a brand new brass band of young men born and raised in New Orleans who play originals and covers of traditional NOLA favorites. They may be new to performing onstage but they sounded like pros as they got the crowd moving and primed us for Trombone Shorty’s first stop on his Say That to Say This concert tour. Shorty’s latest album dropped last week and has dominated on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart.

Why Football Matters Vol. 2

The city of New Orleans is debating whether to move Halloween to make way for the Saints game that Sunday. Beyond figuring out how to watch a game and trick-or-treat at the same time, we’d never figure out how to wear our Saints’ gear and a costume at once.

Silly? Maybe. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my country, about how divided we’ve let ourselves become over everything from red and blue states to which creature to like in the Twilight series. Maybe a city willing to move what’s become a children’s holiday to make way for a football game seems backward somehow, but this city understands something that the country seems to have forgotten – united we stand, divided, we fall.