13 years after he was shot and “killed” in Las Vegas … a man appearing to be 2pac was spotted in a bar on Bourbon Street last weekend.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2009/04/29/tupac-is-alive/#ixzz0V1p6KcFl
On October 26, 2009, In /, By dno
On October 26, 2009, In /, By dno
NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans’ most famous street is a nightly swirl of bright neon and happy tourists strolling with a beverage in hand.
A blend of jazz joints, strip clubs, bars and restaurants, Bourbon Street has everything from four-star dining to sex shows. And visitors can count on being snared by barkers determined to lure them into one place or another, or another, or another.
“It’s cheesy, and, in the last few years, it’s gotten way out of hand,” said Louis Sahuc, a photographer who has a studio and a home in the French Quarter. “Getting past them is like running a gauntlet.”
An ordinance passed 25 years ago was designed to outlaw barkers. But, until recently, it’s been thinly enforced.
Now, businesses and residents say the barkers are straying from the informally tolerated confines of Bourbon Street to other parts of the Quarter and they want it stopped.
The city’s Alcohol Beverage Outlet Control Board and New Orleans Police Department have stepped in.
“The reason we decided to try to do something was because of the proliferation,” said Meg Lousteau, executive director of Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates Inc. “It’s spreading to other streets. I’ve seen them at art galleries, retail outlets, massage studios.”
New Orleans had 7.6 million visitors in 2008, spending $5.1 billion, according to a University of New Orleans study. The French Quarter is the big attraction.
“How do you think being accosted on our streets makes people from Minnesota feel about returning?” Sahuc said. “What do we want, to be known as the Big Easy or the Big Hustle?”
The Bourbon Street tradition springs from the days when doors at strip clubs were closed. A barker would call people over and open the door for a quick peek at a dancer on stage, tempting them to go inside.
Nowadays, the doors are open and photos of strippers posted outside, leave nothing to the imagination. Still, barkers try to steer customers inside, often working in pairs and moving well out into the street to snare passers-by. The practice also can be found at music clubs and other attractions.
On October 26, 2009, In /, By dno
Jazz guitarist and New Orleans native Davy Mooney relocated to New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After one of his periodic return visits over a year later, I asked him to assess the state of the recovery of the music community. “When I go down to Frenchman Street, it’s still a great ‘hang.’ I know everybody on a first name basis,” he said. “It’s always like a homecoming. It’s like Cheers. Everybody knows your name. It’s a small scene. Everybody’s family.”
Indeed, Frenchman St. is the best hang to get a sense of the local jazz scene and of the close knit community of local musicians and music lovers in New Orleans these days. And it all started decades ago with one iconic club and one visionary supporter of both music and musicians—the late George Brumat.
George was a local club owner who opened a venue called the Faubourg (referencing the area of New Orleans called the Faubourg Marigny), later changed to Snug Harbor, its current moniker. Snug Harbor has stood as the premier jazz venue in New Orleans and the anchor of Frenchman St. for decades. Given the club’s location outside of the French Quarter and away from the primary concentration of music venues of the day during its inception, there were skeptics of Brumat’s vision of a new jazz epicenter.
My brief personal encounter with George came in the spring of 2007 during an interview with Ellis Marsalis, Jr., the patriarch of the renowned first family of jazz in New Orleans and beyond, only months before George’s passing. I conducted the interview in Snug Harbor’s small second floor office just prior to the first set of Marsalis’ regular Friday night performance there. George sat at the computer in the corner of the office, half browsing the web for music news and half listening to our discussion. He affectionately referred to Marsalis as “Coach,” a term that reflected the impact that the jazz educator had on so many young musicians.
After the interview, I asked Brumat to give his assessment of the significance of having a legendary musician such as Marsalis on the regular schedule at his club. “He’s the man who put this place on the map. He’s the franchise,” said Brumat emphatically. Their mutual admiration was wonderfully evident.
Pat Jolly, a local photographer, arts educator, all-around New Orleans cultural aficionado, and self-proclaimed “jazz junkie” had a bird’s-eye view of the birth of Brumat’s dream and of the subsequent evolution of Frenchman street over a period of nearly three decades. Her affection for her friend grew from the early stages of that experience.
“It was so exciting to have this place that was away from the maddening crowd that had all of this great jazz,” said Jolly. “New Orleans was a 24-hour town in those days,” she added. “(The club) never had music until 1 am through 5 am. We lived in the nighttime then. I felt like it was free of tourism. It was the undiscovered thing. It was the real New Orleans. There were these extraordinary jams that would happen until 8 in the morning, after everybody was finished playing (the scheduled performance). There was a lot of magic that was in that music. It sort of created this home away from home feel.
“He’s always been fair (with the musicians),” Jolly said of Brumat’s reciprocity toward the artists he hired. “It was sort of like a ‘socialist, share the wealth’ program. If he made more money, then they got more money. If he made less, then they still got what he agreed to pay them.”
Perhaps Brumat’s generosity toward the musicians he hired stemmed from his appreciation for what the music that he loved did for his own emotional well-being.
“George’s taste was impeccable. He had this extraordinary ear for solos and innovation,” she explained. “George was very gruff, but he had this extraordinary tender side that I think the music was pulling out of him, because when he was running Port of Call (a local restaurant without live music), that wasn’t happening. It (Snug Harbor) gave him his home in life. Then all of that gentleness came out.”
Jolly added that Brumat had no family in the immediate area, and that the club, its musicians, and its patrons filled that void.
On October 26, 2009, In /, By dno
…and we’re back!
On October 25, 2009, In Photo, By dno
Black and gold budlight
On October 25, 2009, In Photo, By dno
Dim Sum on the West Bank
On October 24, 2009, In /, By dno
Life is Art Foundation | KKProjects is delighted to present
Sugar Cane Labyrinth
An Agricultural Land Art piece by Anne Katrine Senstad
In collaboration with Sugarcane farmer Ronald Waguespack
“I leave to several futures (not to all) my garden of forking paths.”
The Garden of Forking Paths, Jorge Luis Borges, 1941
Saturday Oct 24th
12 – 4 pm
Yes, this Saturday. We are subjects of the life cycle of the cane, the weather, the time for harvest. Bring your picnic baskets and wander with us Senstad’s acre and a half living sculpture.
Location:
Says Senstad: This is an address close by, found on a real estate page. The road to the farm is route 315, but the only name for the farm entrance is 7 oaks court. Bayou Dularge is a biggish road nearby, so when you get there, look for 7 oaks court and the Kleentek Seedcane sign.
1437 Bayou Dularge Rd, Theriot, LA 70397
Parking, on the left by farm office / abandoned machinery
Sugarcane Drinks by Cane Elysée
Two nonalcoholic beverages:
Freshly crushed Sugarcane Juice (with or without fresh squeezed lime
juice) Lemonade and/or Satsuma juice (from Louisiana)
And two cocktails:
Old New Orleans Amber Rum + Sugarcane Juice
Caipirinhas (with Old New Orleans Rum).
Special Thanks to for Their Very Generous Support:
Triple K & M Farms,Thibadaux
The Royal Norwegian Consulate General Houston
David Grunyard,The Louisiana Sugarcane League
Russell Redmond, Cajun Helo, LLC
Alexandre Vialou
Emile Dumesnil
Pamala Bishop
Spanky
We look forward to a beautiful day in the rural Louisiana cane fields!
Life is Art Foundation | KKProjects
2448 north villere street
new orleans | la
70117 usa
www.kkprojects.org
m +1 504 415 9880
On October 21, 2009, In /, By dno
As the extras casting assistant for the HBO syndicated series, Treme, set and shot here in New Orleans, I would like to announce that we will be having a public, open casting call on Saturday, November 7th.
It will be in the Armstrong Ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel (500 Canal St.) from noon to 3PM.
Those interested are encouraged to fill out a size card, found at www.rpmcasting.com, and bring it along with a recent photograph or headshot.
Interested parties may also mail in hardcopies of the size card and photos to our office:
RPM Casting843 CarondeletSuite 3 NOLa 70130
**Office is by appointment only— please, no walk-ins
Thanks so much! The more New Orleanians we can involve in this project, the better it will be!
Feel free to contact me with any further questions.
—Savannah Strachan
Extras Casting Assistant, Treme
RPM Casting
843 Carondelet St, Ste 3NOLA 70130
c 504.525.2278
On October 21, 2009, In /, By dno
Tonight at One Eyed Jacks! http://bit.ly/3qtncN