To holiday shoppers lurking near the ubiquitous cute pet calendar cart at the mall, please consider this alternative:

 

The Sula Foundation released its inaugural calendar, “The Pit Bulls of New Orleans,” featuring pan-Crescent City canines and their BFFs, like Cue and Queenie and their owners Bennie Peet and Big Al from Hot 8 Brass Band, and Dag with Kim Dudek from Belladonna Day Spa and Dag’s House.

 

It’s available at Garden District Books, Faulkner House, Canine Culture, Canine Connection, Neophobia, Belladonna, Beth’s Books, Petcetera and Faubourg Art and Books.

 

And the best part: proceeds from the calendar go to the foundation’s work with pit bulls, including sponsorship of low-cost vaccination clinics, educational outreach programs and more. So — you with the bee-costumed-pugs tear-away — no excuses this year. 

Buccaneers Uniforms. Great. I can’t wait. The Hornets are participating in the NBA’s throwback promotion, called Hardwood Classics. The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter franchise in the ABA and played from 1967 until (after moving twice) it folded in Baltimore in 1975. The first game in the pirate duds is Dec. 10. Eye patches and parrots optional. 

New Orleans’ hardest-working record spinner DJ Soul Sister makes her national television debut tomorrow night on one of the cooler shows to come out of the cable-TV stew of reality dance contests, reality weight-loss shows, reality parenting and reality rehab. Nelson George’s miniseries Soul Cities, which debuted in early November on the Vh1 Soul channel and will run six episodes on its current schedule, keeps it real - but in the good way. A combination travel, food and music program, Soul Cities spotlights a different city every episode, touring musical and community landmarks, checking out restaurants and interviewing the players in each city’s musical heritage.

Each city, of course, is chosen for its soul pedigree; the premier episode visited Philadelphia (home of Soul Train) and checked in with hitmakers Gamble & Huff. Other cities on the list include Memphis, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles (we hope they renew his contract so he can hit Detroit.) Tomorrow, George visits New Orleans to spend time with Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Terence Blanchard and Soul Sister. Check the preview here on the Soul Cities blog, and stream their playlist of New Orleans artists to get you in the mood.

The show airs on VH1 Soul (Cox channel 362) at 8pm Central Tuesday, December 2.

Nathaniel Zimet (pictured with knife) has said from the beginning that Que Crawl, the big, purple catering truck from which he feeds the late-night masses outside Tipitina’s, was a steppingstone on the way to his own New Orleans restaurant.

Next week he plans to make good on that goal. Zimet says he’ll open the doors of Boucherie (8115 Jeannette St., 862-5514) on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the same Carrollton-area cottage that had until recently been home to his friend Ian Schnoebelen’s restaurant Iris, which moved to the French Quarter in October.

Since starting Que Crawl in 2006, Zimet quickly made a name for himself by serving outstanding cochon de lait po-boys on Vietnamese French bread, grit fries and barbecue all enhanced with homemade condiments well into the wee hours. But it was clear he had bigger things on his mind than sidewalk service.

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Photo by Jonathan Bachman

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So we’re back to this now, are we? This time, though, it’s pretty fair to say that the Saints’ playoff hopes are more than just dwindling, they’re on life support. In order to have any semblance of a chance to make it to the playoffs, the Saints must definitely win their last four games AND hope that no two teams ahead of them in the standings win more than two in that same span. Those aren’t the most favorable odds. Especially considering that, thus far, this season has been all-but unwatchable.

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