Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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It must be completely maddening to be a Hornets fan right now. As if teetering around .500 for most of the season isn’t enough, it seems as if every game that passes distances the Hornets even further from playoff contention (they’re currently 6.5 games back of the eighth seed). All this while David West puts up All-Star numbers and rookies Darren Collision and Marcus Thornton continue to produce in tough losses.

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Friday night’s 102-95 loss against the Denver Nuggets was almost like a microcosm of the Hornets’ season. David West put up 30 points and six rebounds, Thornton scored 23 points and Collison registered a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists. The Hornets were undermanned (only eight players dressed) and yet a game that had been close throughout fell apart in the span of around 2:30 minutes in the fourth quarter.

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“I think we made a couple of mistakes down the stretch offensively,” West said. “Then a couple of times on the defensive end, we had the rebound, then gave it back to Chauncey [Billups]. We just gave them extra possessions we didn’t need to give.”

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With the score tied at 86 with 6:05 left in the game, the Hornets proceeded to committed two fouls, two ridiculous turnovers and suddenly, with 2:46 left in the game, New Orleans was down by 10 and fans were walking dejectedly towards the exits. The Hornets are now falling completely out of the playoff picture, and every opportunity they have to build momentum seems to fall short. Granted, the Hornets have dealt with a slew of injuries, but they’re not using that as an excuse.

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“I don’t think it affected us,” Emeka Okafor said. “I think the guys knew we had to bring a little more energy. Everybody knew they were going to get more minutes.”

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Anyone who thinks that the Hornets are better than their record suggest are clearly deluding themselves into a better reality that what the rest of us see. Without Chris Paul in the lineup, the Hornets have steadily fallen farther and farther out of playoff contention. New Orleans has lost eight straight games against Western Conference teams that would be in the post-season if the playoffs started tomorrow. Their last win against a potentially playoff-bound team was January 30th against Memphis.

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“There are problem areas that we need to work on as with every game,” head coach Jeff Bower said. “We are definitely going to learn and grown form this game and make sure we apply what we learned into the next game coming up.”

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Despite what Bower said, this team has had a lot of troubler learning from their losses. As a playoff-less future comes closer to being the present, the Hornets are a team in limbo. Ever the competitor, Paul is dying to return to the court, even if it may be too late to rally his team to the post-season. Collison has played admirably in Paul’s absence and, having already played 40 or more minutes 18 times this season, letting him play out the season may be in the team’s best interest.

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There is also the issue of West. He’s playing head-and-shoulders above his teammates and, with the ability to opt-out of his contract after next season, rumors abound as to just how long he will be playing in the Crescent City. The Hornets are a relatively young team with an emerging core of players that could carry them in the years come, as well as a slew of contracts that expire after next season. As the present starts to slip away, you have to look toward the future. Then again, trying to figure out what’s in store for this team in the coming months may be as maddening and watching them play right now.

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Many of you know Chef Who Dat (note: click here for essential viewing) and the cavalcade of characters that inhabit section 641 of the Superdome. Here’s the Chef before last season’s Monday Night game versus Atlanta:

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Like many (if not all) stadium secions, the season-ticket holding patrons at “Cafe 641″ have developed a tight-knit community that’s led to silliness, some bike crawls, and now, a cancer fundraiser with a twist. Per the e-mail I received today:

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A Cafe 641 patron and season-ticket holder, Sean Niehus, is raising money for St. Baldrick’s, a foundation that raises money for children’s cancer research. Sean has agreed to shave his head at the annual St. Baldrick’s shave-a-thon AND to grow a mustache. To help him raise money, we’re auctioning off a pair of tickets to the 2010 Saints/Bucs game in Section 641, Row 40, Seats 13-14.

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I like how not only is Niehus shaving his head, but that he’s also growing a mustache in the tradition of Cafe 641’s Patron Saint. Check out his picture, going from long blonde hair to a shaved head and a mustache would be a stark transformation. Gotta give to a guy willing to do that for a good cause.

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Bid’s can be made on the tickets on eBay here or you can donate directly to St. Baldricks by clicking here. And yes, that is Chef Who Dat in a wedding dress on that eBay listing. Not sure how that will help with the bidding.

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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The easiest and most obvious way to measure the worth of a team is by looking at their record. The Hornets, after holding off the Golden State Warriors 135-131 Monday night at New Orleans Arena, the Hornets sit at 32-32 and in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. They are neither that good, nor that bad, relatively speaking and, if they played in the East, very well could be in the playoffs. In the end, you could make arguments either way as to the quality of this team.

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On one hand, the Hornets played well. Their 135 points was a season-high, Darren Collison set a new Hornets rookie record with 20 assists (also an NBA game-high this season) and six Hornets finished in double figures (including David West and Marcus Thornton, who each finished with 28 points) and three finished with double-doubles. Collison continued to show poise at the point and delivered late with the ball in his hands. The Hornets shot well and, in the end, scored more points than their opponents.

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On the other hand, the Warriors are objectively a terrible team. They have the third-worst record in the whole league, have the second-worst defense in the league and only had eight players in uniform in their loss to the Hornets (a game in which the Hornets gave up a season-high 131 points). So while there are definite positives signs to take away from the win for New Orleans, the glaring negative is that this team has been unable to show this type of production against potential playoff teams in the West.

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In their last four games, the Hornets lost all four to teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings (including two terrible double-digit losses to the San Antonio Spurs). Dating back to the start of February, the Hornets have had just two wins against teams with better records (against Boston and Orlando). Of their 19 remaining games, 14 are against teams currently in the playoffs or fighting for a spot.

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And while every win counts, some wins mean more than others. Edging out one of the worst teams in the league in a defense-optional shoot-out does not make up for getting blown out by twice in three games against a division rival. Especially when those losses are part of a four-game losing streak against potentially playoff-bound teams. The Hornets scored quality wins against the Magic and the Celtics but couldn’t carry that momentum into wins against Western Conference teams in their next games.

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No, the Hornets may not be bad enough to completely miss out on the playoffs, but they haven’t shown they’re good enough to make it in either.

Screenshot taken from this Craigslist Ad

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In this economy, the desperate search for jobs can lead people pretty much to do anything. More and more, recent college graduates are seeing the job market get smaller and smaller and are more likely than not working in the service industry or some other field that’s not related to their major and making far less money than they would have say, ten years ago.

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The problems are many and diverse, so much so that, in such a troubled economy, people have found a way to make money off of all those unemployed kids sitting on their parents’ couch. The whole idea of spending six figures on a tuition when you’d be incurring that debt for years to come has to weigh on the minds of many a college student (even the wealthy ones), and fill them with (at worst) crippling anxiety and (at best) the desperate urge to succeed where so many others have failed.

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Or as a student at Tulane or Loyola, you could circumvent your education and just put an ad on Craigslist offering $200 for a 30 page accounting term paper (not including sources) and completely lose the sympathy of any and all people (including fellow students) working hard to pay off debts or string enough freelance part-time jobs together to pay the rent. (Context: One could make more writing a 1,000-word feature story than doing this).

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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The funnest part about the Saints Super Bowl victory has to be the sort of mock hubris the Saints players and coaches have shown as part of their celebration. Whether it’s Drew Brees going mad with power or Sean Payton pissing off Jerry Jones, these are moments for Who Dats everywhere to cherish (after all, when else have the Saints had any sort of reason to act this dickish?)

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If you haven’t heard, Peter King over at Sports Illustrated gives you this story of Coach Payton, a Saints victory dinner and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ favorite bottle of wine:

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On Friday night, the Saints’ staff at the combine gathered in a private room at St. Elmo Steakhouse, an 108-year-old Indy landmark, for a final celebratory nod to the Super Bowl win over the Colts. This is a group that likes its wine, and likes to have fun.

At the restaurant, word passed that Dallas owner Jerry Jones would have his Dallas group in this exact room Saturday night for a team dinner. Jones had even phoned ahead, according to a waiter, to make sure a magnum of a wine he loved, Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon, was ready to be served at dinner.

Sean Payton told the waiter he’d like to have that wine, too. The waiter told him: Sorry, sir. We have only one bottle left, and it’s reserved for Mr. Jones.

Payton said he’d like to have the bottle nonetheless. I assume there was much angst on the part of the wait staff at that point. My God! Who do we piss off? One of the most powerful owners in the NFL, or the coach who’s the toast of the NFL, the coach who just won the Super Bowl?

Here came the bottle of Caymus Special Selection, and the Saints’ party drained it.

But drinking Jones’ wine wasn’t enough. Payton gave the waiter some instructions, took out his pen … and, well, the Cowboys party found at the middle of their table the next evening an empty magnum of Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon, with these words hand-written on the fancy label:

WHO DAT!
World Champions XLIV
Sean Payton

That’s the kind of thing Jones will get a big laugh out of. And remember.

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Now on the surface, this looks like Payton having a lot of (deserved) fun. Saints fans will surely get a kick out of Payton rubbing it to the owner of the team that ended the Saints’ bid at a perfect season. But how will the rest of the country receive it? You know, the Boston Red Sox were everyone’s darling team too. And then they won the World Series and now everyone thinks they and their fans are just a bunch of smarmy jerks.

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Regardless of how the rest of the country sees it (and who cares, really?) dealing with a Championship is new territory for the Saints and New Orleans, and it’s really been a lot of fun watching it all unfold.

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The Soul Rebels Brass band will be kicking off a big weekend tonight at their regular Thursday night spot at Le Bon Temps Roule. They’ll be getting ready to drop their new CD “No Place Like Home” at their release party at Tipitina’s on Friday night.
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Going back to June of 2009, we’ve been working with the Soul Rebels as part of our brass band documentary project (be we, I mean myself, Jonathan Bachman, Michael Seaman, Greg Rhoades, and the intern Clay Smith, among others who make up our production crew). We aim to document not only the history of brass bands in New Orleans but their cultural significance to the city and the lives of the players themselves.
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The Soul Rebels allowed us into their lives and let us record a show at the Blue Nile not too long ago to do the documentary in exchange for putting together an EPK for them. It contains some interview footage, press on the band and cuts from five songs played that night. It’s also a brief glimpse into our documentary’s subject matter. Enjoy.

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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Coming off a tough home loss to the Utah Jazz two nights ago, the New Orleans Hornets sat three games out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. With more than two-thirds of the teams left on their schedules sporting winning records, New Orleans needed to take advantage of a weak Pacers team to keep their playoff hopes alive.

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Led by surging rookie Darren Collison’s first career triple-double, the Hornets put on just the effort they needed in their 107-101 win. Contributions came from all over the floor - David West put up 29 points and notched a career-high seven assists, Emeka Okafor had a double-double, all five Hornets starters scored in double figures and 12 points off the bench. The Hornets led by as many as 21 points and, though the Pacers made a late surge in the fourth to bring the game within four, the game was never really in doubt.

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“We made some very good plays, some very good basketball reads,” head coach Jeff Bower said. “We did some instinctive things throughout the game that we’re really happy with that showed signs of guys making progress.”

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Hornets fans would be hard-pressed to remember the last time their team put forth such a complete effort that led to such a dominating win (on the heals of a rough loss against a conference foe, no less). But while the whole team won the game, the highlights had to go to the Hornets’ two rookies. Forced into extended minutes because of the injury to Chris Paul, both Thornton and Collison have responded with veteran-like performances. Collison is averaging 17.4 points, 8.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds a game and managing his team (almost) as well as Paul.

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“I was just going out ther and playing and my teammates were just telling me what I needed and being supportive,” he said. “My teammates kept telling me that I was close and reiterating that I was close to a triple-double and that I kept stealing their rebounds.”

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Talented and humble. But that’s what happens when your teammates make you walk around with a Disney princess backpack (Morris Peterson’s brilliant idea) and they find ways to keep you grounded even when you’re playing out of your mind. When Collison nearly had a triple-double a few games back, it was Paul pointing out how he came up short. This time, Collison’s teammates pointed to his eight turnovers.

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So long as the Hornets keep winning and Collison keeps putting up All-Star numbers, the rookie should be able to take everything his teammates say in stride.

You need only look into the joy filled faces of a city blanketed in black and gold regalia, to begin to quantify what Super Bowl XLIV meant the city. Some moments are far too precious to be cheapened by hyperbole. Super Bowl XLIV was without question one of them. Simply put, it was more than just a game. It was overjoyed fans writhing in tearful jubilation. It was strangers hugging strangers, uninhibited by prejudice. If ever there were questions about the impact of sports, their ability to inspire, or bring out the best in us,  they were all answered this past Sunday when for the first time ever the city New Orleans was officialy crowned champions.

By the looks of the comments section, this little incident has caused quite a stir in our little community. First, and foremost, I’d like to ask that people remain civil. As I’ve said before, name calling is not productive and while we encourage lively debate, it seems like the comments are sliding down a spiral of vitriol and racial tension. The Art House is home to a wide variety of people from different ethnic backgrounds just as is the Treme neighborhood, so trying to pigeonhole one as a “hipster commune” or the other as just “the ghetto” is completely unfair and unproductive. Come on, people, it’s Mardi Gras and the Saints are Super Bowl Champs. Let’s just try to get along.

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In any event, the New Orleans fire department sent out a press release regarding the situation at 1614 Esplanade. It mentions the cease and desist order and the numerous code violations, but makes no mention of the tree house structure or why the residents remain without power.

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Also, the art house residents have set up a blog for taking donations to help raise money to fix all of the code violations found in the house (and which, quite frankly, could be found in most houses in New Orleans).

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EDIT: Here’s the relevant quotes from Fire Chief Norman Woodridge on the subject of the code violations from Doug McCash’s article:

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As [Woodridge] explained, some electrical circuits in the Art House were overloaded and some terminals were “basically exposed.” In addition, the house lacked a fire alarm system, posted emergency instructions, lighted exit signs, and acceptable escape routes from all of the quarters.

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At 8:20 p.m., Woodridge issued a news release saying Thursday’s “cease and desist” order stemmed from the failure of the property owners to correct safety and code violations found in the Jan. 25 inspection. The violations were “based on change of use or occupancy, primary means of escape, electrical code infractions and the lack of detection, alarms or communications system.” The news release emphasized that the department had not ordered anyone out of the house or off the property.

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“It’s a residential property. It’s being used more like a boarding house,” Woodridge said in an earlier interview.

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He said the coming cold snap made things especially hazardous. If “a space heater or something like that overloads a circuit, that could be devastating,” he said.

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The full text of the Fire Department’s press release is after the jump:

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• Permits, permits, permits: More specifically, the tree house’s lack there of. Braden says that she met with Paul May in the city permits’ office and was told that no permit applications were filed. This isn’t good for the tree house. Neither is this quote from Braden: “Mr. May [said] no permits had been issued and he was aware of health violations and problems with fire regulations. He also said that he had information concerning a number of people using that as a residence far in excess of what was allowed” and “They were operating illegally and with no regard for the neighbors surrounding them. The police department as well deserves some consideration.” and “All they need to do is get legal and respect their neighbors.”
• Trash and disturbances: According to Braden, there have been many complaints about the tree house parties emitting too much noise on the weekends and the amount of trash in and around 1614 Esplanade Ave. and the neutral ground.
• The tree house itself: Apparently neighborhood residents have been complaining about the structure itself and the state of it (not to mention the actual house the residents live in). “Complaints were also expressed about the structure which they we calling a “slide” in the side yard that was very visible from the street,” Draden said. “Esplanade Ridge has been struggling for sometime to improve the living conditions in the area.”

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The full e-mail (sic’d) is after the jump:

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