by Alejandro de los Rios

Can you even believe that just three years ago, the Hornets won just 18 games? Byron Scott remembers. That was his first year coaching this team and only he, David West and Chris “Birdman” Anderson remain from that squad.

“It’s a long process,” Scott said. “These guys gotta be very proud of what they’ve done this season.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Alejandro de los Rios

There are just too many things going on today. Chris Paul getting his “NBA Player for the Month” award, Sean Payton, VooDoo player Henry Bryant, the Incredible Shouting Fan Lady That Screams at Opposing Teams During Free Throws (not her real name) and the cast of Final Destination 4 all in the stands (more about all of this tomorrow) and it’s Fan Appreciation Night. OK, that last one has nothing to do with me but still, the Hornets are playing the Clippers which is a terrible team and really the only thing worth reporting is that the Hornets are still in that phase where they play down to terrible, non-playoff teams. If the Hornets win tonight, they clinch their division. But even if they do, I doubt Byron Scott will be impressed with this performance.

I’ll get back to y’all with a more detailed report after the game. Read the rest of this entry »

by Alejandro de los Rios

The Hornets play their last home game of the season tonight, facing off against the Los Angeles Clippers with tip-off at 7 p.m., so there’s plenty of time to get down to the Hive Nest and go boo the City of Los Angeles. The folks from Hornets Hype will be there, getting to meet Chris Paul. Also, Hornets247.com has a nice post in defense of Chris Paul as the league MVP. If CP3 can somehow steer this team into the No. 1 seed after their recent slide of late, I’ll be casting my vote for him (that is, if I had one).

“Dude, you’ve got to here this stuff called Kuduro. It’s like Baile Funk, but from Angola. I dj’ed with this kid who played it and he just killed it!” I’m on the phone with Jay P, aka DJ Rusty Lazer. He’s in New York for work and we’re discussing the future of our weekly Saturday dance parties at the St. Roch Tavern. The evening started out late last year wih me playing my old soul forty fives, mostly obscure New Orleans stuff. There’s only so much of that, though, and I started getting bored. That’s when I asked Jay to hop on board. “Yeah,” he said, “That would be awesome. I just bought a mixing board that let me dj off of my ipod.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a tax day special. Both last spring and this one, I was intrigued and a little perplexed by the lawn signs stuck in the neutral grounds on Esplanade and St. Claude Avenue advertising “Joe Blakk - Income Tax help.”The Joe Blakk I know of is an old-school bounce rapper who had a local hit in 1993 with the upbeat, positive-thinking track “It Ain’t Where Ya From.” Apparently, when he’s off the mic, Blakk is also a tax professional, slinging 1099’s as effortlessly as he does rhymes. I wish I had known this before I filed - paying Uncle Sam could have been way more crunk this year.Once his busy season is over, Blakk will celebrate by taking the Congo Square stage at Jazz Fest as part of the Throw Back Jamm on Sunday, April 27. Ya heard?

Vintage
4536 Magazine Street (upstairs)
Thursdays 6 p.m. - midnight

Friday classes optional. It was a kind of unwritten rule many of us lived by, back in my days as a happy little co-ed at LSU. Thursday was the big night to go out. Fraternity mixers, drink specials and live music at the bars, etc.

But out here in the real world — inasmuch as New Orleans can be considered the real world — Fridays are mandatory. Or maybe that doesn’t apply to everyone, because lately I’ve noticed that wherever I go, Thursday nights are happening. Restaurants are packed; bars are hopping. People are out. .

However, it takes more than a hip crowd, a hot meal or a drink special to get me out on a school night these days. Still, for the past two Thursdays, I’ve been bellying up to a new bar in town, one that is exclusively a Thursday night thing. It’s called Vintage (4523 Magazine St.), the beautiful, newly renovated space above Savvy Gourmet. Read the rest of this entry »

Shop the $1 Sales Rack at Buffalo Exchange this Saturday, April 19th and help the Pinta Tortoise.

Lonesome George is lonely again this Earth Day. Lonesome George is the very last of his kind, the Pinta tortoise. But with your help, the closely related Espanola tortoises will soon restore the ecosystem of George’s home. Bring tortoises back to Pinta Island in the Galapagos Islands as you shop for hip used clothing at a bargain! All proceeds from Buffalo Exchange’s Dollar Day Sale will go to Galapagos Conservancy to fund a project to repopulate Pinta Island with giant saddleback tortoises. All sale items offered for $1 each at your local Buffalo Exchange store on April 19 will support this ground-breaking work  

www.buffaloexchange.com

www.galapagos.org 

by Sam Winston

A Washington Post columnist reports of “ongoing whispers” that Jeremy Shockey could be traded to the Saints.

Also being reported is that Kobe Bryant is favored to win the MVP over Chris Paul, including an ESPN.com poll/balloting of their writers and reporters that narrowly favored Bryant. The real ballots are due Thursday at 3 p.m.

Saints negotiations with Deuce McCalister appear to be progressing but not 100 percent official yet.

by Sam Winston

Senator David Vitter won’t be called to testify in the DC Madame case as the collective phrase rings out across the media that Vitter “dodged a bullet.”

The Washington Post had perhaps the most insightful look into the trial itself. Saying it had become “a squalid, pathetic affair”, with no big names testifying, only humiliated former prostitutes giving painfully detailed accounts of their work.

As for the fallout, or lack thereof, our editor Clancy Dubos reported before the news broke that Vitter would not testify that the senator is still enjoying strong support among Republicans on capitol hill. Louisiana political analysts quoted in the Picayune and the Shreveport Times agreed that it was a major victory for Vitter but differed on how big of a factor it would be in Vitter’s 2010 re-election race.

A political satire website tried to make light of the issue by saying Barack Obama, in his latest tiff with Hillary Clinton over his remarks about working class voters being “bitter”, actually said “Vitter” (though not entirely all that funny).

More clever was bitter voters uniting on a new blog.

In other political news, Read the rest of this entry »