Can a song be considered a living thing? The tracks laid down by A Living Soundtrack — a local instrumental quartet consisting of Rotary Downs alum Matt Aguiluz along with Nick Lauve, Marshall Flaig and Jenn Gosnell — seem to breathe, blossom and bloom rather than verse, chorus and bridge. Witness “Germination,” a disorienting cut off the band’s self-titled 2006 debut, whose four primary voices are an inquisitive acoustic guitar, a Massively Attacking bass-beat hammer, a nervy R2D2 computer and, finally, a reverberating Dr. Who synthesizer that quiets the crowd in preparation for the refracted third-act coda. It’s a lovely kind of auditory decompression sickness, the bends in frequency form.    

A Living Soundtrack performs at the Dragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade Ave., tonight at 9 p.m. 

by Alejandro de los Rios

Pop-quiz: If you’re a professional basketball coach, what is the best way to get a contract extension?

A: Amass a 151-177 (.460) record in four years

B: Lead your team to an 18-game improvement on the previous season

C: Win the Coach of the Year award.

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by Alejandro de los Rios

Reason #4613423 New Orleans is amazing: neighborhood events like the Jena Street 500.

Organized by Jena St. resident Alex Tilling the event pitted adult men and women on children’s bikes and trikes in a 500-foot race that featured a boxcar pitstop (racers had to stop, fill up with an alcoholic beverage and drink it before they could continue). And, like any good community event, it was all for the children. No, seriously. Afterwards all the bikes and trikes were donated to Bridge House for the children there to use.

Really though, no words can describe the scene that unfolded when the race began. That’s why I brought a camcorder.

It looks like Reggie Bush found a good way to escape the unbearable New Orleans summer: head up to the more chic Hamptons summer. That’s Reggie posing alongside girlfriend/reality show star Kim Kardashian at the couple’s white party in the Hampton’s this past weekend.

According to People Magazine, the couple schmoozed for the cameras on the red carpet and on the dance floor but Saints fans might want to take note of this doozy:

As for the sparkling ring she was wearing, Kardashian told PEOPLE, “I’m about two months pregnant right now and we’re getting married on August 8th of 2008.”

Bush appeared stricken until she added, “It’s a joke.” But the possibility is still very real. When asked if she’d like to have kids one day and get married, Kardashian said, “Yes, of course. I’d love to get married.”

And then on cue, for photographers, she and Bush smooched on the lips.

Who wants football season to start already?

(Photo by: Tana Lee Alves/WireImage)

John McCain might have thrown the Reich-minded Reverend John Hagee under the “Straight Talk Express”, but it doesn’t matter because Hagee can always turn to his good friend, Senator Joe Lieberman.

As this Huffington Post  article points out, Lieberman considers Hagee to be an “Ish Elochim,” or “a man of God,” and Lieberman is scheduled to be the headliner at Hagee’s 2008 Christians United for Israel Washington-Israel Summit. If you managed to cut down your Jazz Fest attendance this year to only a couple of days, then you might have the money to attend this glorious event.

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By: Allen Johnson

Interim Orleans Parish District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson is waiting on the final report of a management audit of her office by the standard-setting National District Attorneys Association.

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Civil District Court Judge Paulette Irons will be the guest of honor this week at a re-election fundraiser for her Section “H” campaign this fall. Meanwhile, her latest campaign finance reports, dated Feb. 14, show the incumbent judge has both funds and debts left over from two previous races Read the rest of this entry »

By: Jeremy Alford

Fueling your ride gets more expensive every day, and now some lawmakers want you to know they feel your pain.

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An odd thing about the most interesting experimental bands in New Orleans is that they seem to be better appreciated by just about anyone but New Orleanians. Case in point: Belong, the totally out-there twosome of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich, is getting to be pseudo-renowned in certain circles for its refined metamorphosing of ambient white-noise sheets into riveting shoegazer swells — and this is likely already the most ink, digital or otherwise, any NOLA writer has spilled about the band in more than five years of existence. Read the rest of this entry »

by Sam Winston

My recent post on whether or not all post-Katrina New Orleans are libertarians deep down gets a response on The Huffington Post by John McQuaid. You can also see comments and response to the original post here or pasted below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »