I didn’t watch last night’s CNN Soledad O’Brien special about crime in New Orleans — the commercials were too Jerry Springer-ish, and from the immediate reviews, I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, I’d rather focus on the fact that Liz McCartney was selected from a field of 10 as CNN’s Hero of the Year:

Liz McCartney, dedicated to helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes, has been named the 2008 CNN Hero of the Year.

McCartney, of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, received the honor at Saturday night’s taping of “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The telecast airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Thanksgiving on the global networks of CNN.

McCartney, who will receive $100,000 to continue her work just outside New Orleans, was selected from among the top 10 CNN Heroes after six weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 1 million votes were cast.

“To the country and the world, I ask you to please join us,” McCartney said. “Together we can continue to rebuild families’ homes and lives. … If you join us, we’ll be unstoppable.”

OK. That I’ll watch. Congratulations, Liz.

In this week’s Gambit, in newsboxes on Sunday:

• I’ve got the cover story — the long, strange story of the classic New Orleans sitcom Frank’s Place, how it went from Emmy Awards to cancellation to absolute obscurity (no reruns, no DVD release, no nothin’)…and how executive producer and star Tim Reid found the master tapes discarded in a studio Dumpster. Will you ever be able to see it again…and if you missed it, will you ever be able to see it at all? Short answer: Tim is working on it. (I watched the whole thing start to finish, and, yes, it holds up. Does it ever.)….

• We’ve also got our occasional guide to drinking well, Swizzle. In this edition, Noah Bonaparte Pais interviews one of the city’s best barkeeps, Alan Walter of Iris, and Alison Fensterstock quizzes local musicians as to their favorite drinking songs. And there are guides to the best beers and wines for the holidays….

• In Commentary, we float a radical notion: Why not take the money from those nonworking crime cameras and reallocate the cash to new DA Leon Cannizzaro so he might actually be able to take some criminals off the street? It’s so crazy it just might work….

• D. Eric Bookhardt reviews Prospect.1 at NOMA, Dalt Wonk takes in the offerings at the New Orleans Fringe Fest, and Ian McNulty eats way too many oysters….

• and Greg Peters cracked me up with his latest installment of Suspect Device (hint: Stacy Head).

That’s about it. See you at the Po-Boy Fest:

Behold: Fast Food Tattoos (tipoff courtesy of The Gurgling Cod). This one in particular seems relevant to our readership — a permanent salute to the enduring culinary accomplishments of one Mr. Al Copeland (image under the cut just in case you’re eating):

Read the rest of this entry »

I never again want to hear how singularly corrupt Louisiana politicians are after watching this amazing clip from this morning’s Senate session, in which one senator after another (not Mary Landrieu or David Vitter…thank God) stood up to sing the praises of recently defeated, recently convicted felon Ted “The Internet is a Series of Tubes” Stevens:

The full list of shameless bastards distinguished colleagues speechifying for the disgraced senator:

Harry Reid (D-NV)

Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Robert Byrd (D-WV)

Pete Domenici (R-NM)

Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Patty Murray (D-WA)

Pat Roberts (R-KS)

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)

Daniel Akaka (D-HI)

Norm Coleman (R-MN)

Larry Craig (R-ID)

Jim Bunning (R-KY)

Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Thad Cochran (R-MS)

Larry Craig saluting Ted Stevens. Your elected representatives (and your tax dollars) at work, ladies and germs.

It’s finally here. In response to your requests, we’ve completely redesigned Gambit Weekly’s Web site, and it’s going live today with a soft rollout as we tweak and de-bug things here and there. Some things you may notice:

- A new, very logical drop-down menu bar at the top of the site will take you where you want to go quickly, wherever you are on the site.

- Content from the Blog of New Orleans is now integrated on the front page of the Web site.

- Our improved listings section is fully searchable by a number of customizable fields…if you’re looking for Thai food on the Northshore or who’s playing Uptown on Dec. 17, you can find it with a few quick clicks, and get a Google Map to take with you.

- We’re making it easy for readers to follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, or buddy up with us on MySpace.

- And we’ll be adding lots of multimedia — music, video, podcasts, and whatever else we come up with.

- Don’t forget: free stuff!

Have patience with us for a bit. This isn’t just a new shell around the old site — it’s brand-new, and we’re still tweaking it. Things may load slowly; content may be unavailable; links may be broken. We’re working on it.

Let us know what you like, and let us know what’s not working. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks!

We’ve had these posters for this weekend’s Po-Boy Preservation Festival all over the office for the last week, and they’re graphic masterpieces as well as seductive little reminders that it’s been too long since I had a Patton’s hot sausage po-boy on Leidenheimer bread.

This poster is by local artist Jon Schooler, and it’s for sale at the Fest’s online shop in a set of 250 numbered/signed prints. $100, which seems reasonable for a nice print on archival paper. But if you can’t afford one, you can always afford a po-boy at the festival this weekend. Details here.

- In our cover story, David Winkler-Schmit examines citizen groups who are keeping others abreast of crime in their neighborhoods by using email, Google Maps, and other high-tech neighborhood watch tools…

- Clancy DuBos composes another valentine to Ray Nagin’s unique brand of leadership in the wake of this week’s City Council/Sanitation Department blowout….

- Jeremy Alford watches Gov. Bobby Jindal eye the 2012 presidential race…and wonders why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco is suddenly sending out press releases praising Barack Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff….

- Bryan Davis previews the annual Words & Music literary festival, and Alison Fensterstock scopes out next weekend’s concert by the Cool Kids…

- and our monthly home and fashion magazine, CUE, is out with a December edition featuring holiday clothes and gifts, Champagne accessories and some cool handmade local items, curated by Kara Nelson.

What about that cold front last night? It’s a beautiful day. Get off the computer. I am.

Ethan Brown, one of the city’s best investigative journalists (and a man underappreciated in his own hometown), has an eye-opening portrait of Ray Nagin in the new issue of Details. It’s not on newsstands yet, but it’s online and sure to spark discussion. A few tidbits:

Nagin on the Gustav evacuation and subsequent re-entry cock-up:

“I’d do it all over again.”

Nagin on the NOAH scandal:

“Everybody’s looking at it, which is great. Because now I’ve got professional investigators versus bloggers.”

Nagin on the New Orleans blogosphere:

“To me, some of those blogs have become the new sheets for racist people. They’re not marching around with white sheets. They’re on the blogs and in the comments sections.”

(He’s got a point there, but it would’ve been nice if he would’ve recognized the difference between thoughtful individual bloggers and, well, this.)

Nagin on Nagin:

“I’m a lifelong Democrat, but I have supported some Republicans. I’m all about results, man.”

Read it all here. Good work, Ethan.

Happy Veterans Day to all the Louisiana vets (and to my dad).

The Greater New Orleans Veterans Council and the Military Order of the Purple Heart are hosting this year’s Veterans Day parade in downtown New Orleans, and the National World War II Museum has a full day of activities planned, with free admission to the museum for all veterans, active military, Guard and Reserve and their immediate families.

If you want to help out local vets in a more material way, blogger Greta Perry, who raises funds for Soldiers’ Angels, is now collecting funds for the group’s new endeavor, Project Valour, which provides high-tech help to the wounded:

When a soldier receives their voice-activated laptop, they can reconnect to the world and it helps their mind and body heal at a faster pace. Valour-IT has also expanded to include Wii systems and GPS systems. The Wii is proven to help the wounded with rehabilitation. Just listening to personal accounts about it will sell you on this. Also, personal GPS and Handheld GPS are needed to help those compensate for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to TBI and severe PTSD.

Greta can fill you in on all the details.

In Louisiana, we often find ourselves playing “defensive politics.”

When someone from elsewhere brings up Ray Nagin, we say “Oh, yeah? What about Kwame Kilpatrick?”

David Vitter? “At least he’s not Larry Craig!”

Bill Jefferson? “Heard of a guy called Ted Stevens?”

So the next time a New Orleans City Council member becomes the subject of national ridicule, remember these words: “Oh, yeah? What about Steven Lipski?”:

Pea-brained Jersey City Councilman Steven Lipski swore off booze Sunday - two days after he was busted for urinating on a crowd of revelers at a Washington D.C. nightclub.

“I’ve resolved not to touch alcohol again,” Lipski told reporters outside his home.

He called the incident “deeply humiliating, very embarrassing” and “troubling.”

Still, the two-term Democrat refused to admit that he drunkenly relieved himself from the second-floor balcony of the 9:30 club Friday night.

“I can’t comment on that,” Lipski told Fox 5. “I’m going to continue to do all the good things, and I’m not going to let this overshadow me.”….

Lipski, 44, in Washington to see a Grateful Dead tribute band, was hauled out of the concert hall by cops after staffers spotted him in the act about 9:50 p.m., club sources said.

He was charged with simple assault.

I think the “Grateful Dead tribute band” is just as embarrassing.