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It goes without saying that the NFL is not a fair enterprise. Nobody cares that, agains the Broncos, it was the Saints’ turnovers and inability to advance the ball on 3rd-and-1 that contributed to the loss. The same deal seemingly goes for the Saints loss against the Vikings. Read the rest of this entry »

The ever-inventive New Orleans theater troupe Running With Scissors has a hilarious new wrinkle in self-promotion — a trailer for its latest production, the camp melodrama Die! Mommy! Die!. That’s right: a trailer, just like all those pro-fessional TV commercials for the big touring musicals that used to come to the Saenger. Enjoy:

DIE! MOMMY! DIE! tells the story of Angela Arden (Brian Peterson), a fading songbird and eternal glamourpuss married to has-been movie producer Sol Sussman (Bob Edes, Jr.). Between her loveless relationship, her spiteful daughter, Edith (Dorian Rush), her precocious, addled son, Lance (Dwayne Sepcich), and her bitter, bible-quoting housekeeper, Bootsie (Jack Long), Angela is at her wit’s end. But just in the nick of time, Angela finds love—or lust!—in the arms of hunky tennis pro Tony Parker (Leon Contavesprie). Will they achieve their dream of starting new lives together? Or will Edith and Lance send Angela on a different kind of trip? And is no one immune to the seductive effects of Tony and his “big rumor”? Join us at Le Chat Noir to find out!

The show runs through Oct. 19 at Le Chat Noir; tickets are $21-26.

Peter Nygård

 The Dillard’s store at Lakeside Mall (3301 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, 833-1075) is celebrating its newly completed renovation and grand re-opening this week with a variety of events and special guests. Peter Nygård, fashion designer and founder of women’s apparel company NYGÅRD International will make a personal appearance at the Lakeside store at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11. He will also visit other local Dillard’s stores on Friday, Oct. 10, stopping at the Esplanade Mall (1401 Esplanade Ave., Kenner, 468-6050) at noon, and at the Oakwood Mall (197 West Bank Expwy., Gretna, 362-4800) at 3 p.m.

Also on Friday, from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., Shalini Vadhera — celebrity makeup artist and author of Passport To Beauty — will be sharing makeup tips and insider tricks at the Lakeside store to celebrate the Dillard’s debut of her cosmetics line, Global Goddess Beauty. For every Global Goddess purchase of $75 or more, customers will receive a signed copy of Shalini Vadhera’s Passport To Beauty book.

The Saints have just placed Gramatica on injured reserve and re-signed kicker Taylor Mehlhaff, a sixth round draft choice from Wisconsin who has yet to kick in a regular NFL season game.  What are we doing? Mickey Loomis needs to get on the horn and call in Tom Dempsey, still the NFL record holder for the longest field goal. Sure, Dempsey might miss a 29-yard chip shot, but a 46-yard kick is something he could have made with his left foot.

All Photos by Jonathan Bachman

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Of course this will be little consolation to Saints fans, but Monday night’s game was hands down one of the top-five most entertaining sporting events I’ve ever been to. Not  just because that game was straight bananas (and when’s the last time you saw a straight banana?) but because my photographer and I spent our pre-game time hanging out with Saints fans that were tailgating on the top of the Superdome parking lot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael P. Smith, the extraordinary photographer whose photos of the city and its musicians (particularly his images from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival), will be honored with a second line this weekend.

Smith, who died Sept. 26 at the age of 71, photographed every Jazz Fest until his retirement in 2004. According to his Web site:

Smith’s work has been presented at the Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution), the International Center for Photography in New York, and the LeRoy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University, as well as numerous other museums, galleries, and jazz festivals in America and Europe. A major retrospective of his work was presented in 1999 at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans.

Smith’s photographs are in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution and, locally, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Louisiana State Museum.

(Thanks to bark, bugs, leaves, and lizards for the heads-up and the graphic.)

I often hear from my Republican friends that they support John McCain and denounce Barack Obama because they are in favor of “small government.” To this line of thinking I say: There is no such thing as big government versus small government. Not anymore. Not when supposed fiscal conservatives double down on the federal deficit in less than a decade, purported supporters of hands-off libertarianism write and pass constitutionally questionable legislation in the name of patriotism, and lifelong deregulators call for increased federal oversight and less federal interference in the same breath. In fact, there is no such thing anymore as speaking about American government in any kinds of generalized terms. There are only the people we place in charge. It is their philosophies, their instincts, values, priorities and judgments, that will determine what kind of government we have. Whether it will be one that engages the global community with international diplomacy, or employs hawkish tactics of threat and intimidation; one that speaks to its citizens as informed, empowered adults, or placates them with platitudes like naïve children. These are the terms on which we should be debating what sort of government we support — not small or large, but smart or lost.      

After a group outing to a new restaurant, the post-game analysis begins nearly the moment the car door is closed.

On our trips to O’Brien’s Grille, reviewed in this week’s issue, the drive across the Crescent City Connection back from Gretna gave us plenty of time to talk the meal over, and on each trip the car was abuzz with praise.

Some of this surely comes from the surprise of finding a place like O’Brien’s on a stretch of swampy suburbia like Gretna’s Belle Chase Highway.

I personally consider Gretna one of the area’s most appetizing destinations, primarily for its profusion of excellent Vietnamese restaurants, including Tan Dinh, Pho Tau Bay, Kim Son and Nine Roses. There’s a good mix of Latino restaurants and comfortable stalwarts like the Beef Connection and the Red Maple dot the scene.

But I don’t normally think of Gretna for a meal with well-informed wine service, crisp table linens and prices that can reach into the upper spectrum of the local range. So the high level of polish in service, atmosphere and food at O’Brien’s was accentuated by the pleasure of discovery.

Sure, a restaurant where the best landmark is the drive-through daiquiri stand sharing its parking lot, and which looks like a fortified self-storage unit (see above), does not start out with the highest expectations.

But on each of our visits, it was clear to everyone involved that O’Brien’s can go toe-to-toe with any number of high-end places in the city’s more competitive upscale market across the river. For those who live nearby, O’Brien’s is a much-needed elegant asset close to home. For those who don’t, it’s well worth the drive for a great meal.
– Ian McNulty

This is not your parents’ Bingo Parlor, unless they were carnies. The New Orleans Bingo! Show is getting a bigger playpen for its mayhem at this year’s Voodoo fest. Last year’s tent hosted Bingo! and acts like Quintron and Miss Pussycat and Lez Zeppelin, often packing the space beyond capacity and tempting those standing outside to yank at the rigging to get a view. The Parlor is considerably larger this year and will host acts like Zydepunks, Man Man, the Gutter Twins, Shudder to Think, Butthole Surfers, Morning 40 Federation, Rotary Downs and many more. Bingo’s Web site and blog have previews of bands and acts scheduled to perform in the tent.