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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.

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Photograph by Greg Rhoades

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OK, I know I promised to be done with the VooDoo posts but I forgot about this one and, seeing as how it’s an ongoing story, it doesn’t really count.

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Anyways, if you know anything about brass band music in this city you should know that Derrick Tabb, the snare drummer for Rebirth, was featured on CNN’s Heroes segment for his Roots of Music foundation. The kids that Tabb has worked with over the years were out in full force at VooDoo, performing every day of the event and even finding time to do some marching.

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If you were wondering who all those people with blue signs were that said “Vote Derrick Tabb” and maybe dismissed it as some politician, well, shame on you. This is to make Tabb CNN’s Hero of the Year and everyone should cast their vote immediately. You can vote as many times as you want until 6 a.m. on Thursday November 19. There will also be a tribute to all the Heroes on CNN on Thanksgiving night.

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Rock the vote, New Orleans.

Derrick Tabb, founder of The Roots of Music — a music education program for middle school students in New Orleans — has been nominated as one of 10 nominees for CNN’s Hero of the Year Award. Tabb, who is also snare drummer for the Rebirth Brass Band, will receive $25,000 as part of the nomination. On November 26, CNN will broadcast “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” and as part of the celebration, the hero of the year will be announced, who will receive an additional $100,000.

In a recent interview with CNN’s Larry King, Tabb said the program has 103 participants and another 400 kids on a waiting list. If you would like to cast your vote for Tabb, visit this site.

Today at Gambit everyone is hustling to put together the 2009 Best of New Orleans issue.  It is hard to believe that 4 years ago as we were putting the 2005 issue to bed, we logged out of our computers that Friday afternoon, completely unaware that we would return to 3923 Bienville to find the building caked in mold.  The last email I read that day simply alerted the staff  “we were watching the storm”.  

And today the memories are still unavoidably real (the view out my office window is a boarded up house that is leaning toward the right, it’s next door neighbor was just knocked down last week).

In my opinion the “best” thing to come of the storm were the thousands of volunteers who came from all over the world to help rebuild New Orleans.  And four years later, thankfully they are still here- visiting and living.

The St. Bernard Project (SBP) has played host to many of those volunteers and next week they will be launching their 4NOLA campaign; to commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane “K” and keep the cause alive as they continue to fundraise and build homes to help residents return.  The 4NOLA campaign will include a 24-hour build and a kick-off party at House of Blues.

If you want to get your hands dirty
The SBP 24-hour build will begin on August 28th at 4 p.m. and will finish with a moment of silence on August 29 at 4 p.m.  Call Gretchen at 504-723-6837 to volunteer.

If you would like to rebuild a home without sweating and a cocktail in hand
Attend the Saturday night fundraiser (8/29) at House of Blues.  The ticket price includes open bar and musical performances by Kermit Ruffins, Spencer Bohren and more.   The event’s fundraising goal is to completely fund four homes, a cost of $60,000.  Ticket Cost: $75.  Call the SBP office at 504-277-6831 to order.

And as a testament that the rest of the country is still thinking of us, 100 additional 4NOLA fundraisers will be taking place across the country throughout the next year coordinated by past SBP volunteers.

• Rising Tide 4, the annual conference of bloggers and others concerned about the Crescent City, will be held Sat. Aug. 22 at the Zeitgeist. Gambit’s “Suspect Device” cartoonist, Greg Peters, designed the striking poster, and the keynote speaker will be Harry Shearer. More details on the Rising Tide blog as they get finalized.

• A rep for Arnie Fielkow emails a statement from the councilman this morning:

My family and I continue to discuss our future and my professional plans and I anticipate announcing a final decision on or before Labor Day.

• Clancy DuBos is on a plane today, but he has confirmed with NOPD Crisis Intervention Unit director Cecile Tabo that she will not be runnng for the District A council seat being vacated by Shelley Midura. Tabo told him, “You can look for me possibly in 2014, when all the kiddies are off to college and, hopefully, life is dandy.”

• Lutherans, Lutherans everywhere! And, boy, are they excited to be here for a week to do public service. Here’s a nice story from a Wisconsin newspaper about their mission.

• Cliff’s Crib blogger Clifton Harris reviews last night’s CNN special Black in America 2, and finds it an improvement over the (depressing) original.

• The federal minimum wage goes up to $7.25/hour tomorrow (it’s currently $6.55). Not surprisingly, a writer for The New York Times approves and a writer for Bloomberg sees gloom and doom. Perhaps more interesting is this piece from an org that calls itself Business For a Fair Minimum Wage:

“A minimum wage increase at this time could be the most important factor in powering our economy out of the recession,” said Camille Moran, owner of a paralegal service and Christmas tree farm in Louisiana. “The higher the wage an employee receives, the more income he or she has to purchase goods and services for their family, which is indeed ‘the best medicine’ for our economy.” More than 8% of workers will be affected by the minimum wage increase in Louisiana.

• The hideous story about the local baby killed by rats plays out elsewhere, with a similar instance in Ohio.

• Newsbusters is the latest to take up cudgels regarding Arianna Huffington’s policy about not paying her bloggers:

In any case, it all makes me wonder how many HuffPo bloggers are realizing that “the exposure” does them no real good at all if there isn’t any actual, real reward in it for them? Further, how many are becoming irked that Arianna Huffington is pulling in millions of dollars in investment cash and advertising fees made on the backs of the thousands of those bloggers that toil for free on a daily basis?

• …and local rockers Rotary Downs are currently previewing songs from their upcoming album. Listen here.

The local chapter of Volunteers of America is sponsoring a community beautification project tomorrow in the 1800 block of St. Roch Avenue. Starting at 9 a.m., the 200-person group — with the assistance of 50 volunteers amassed by two area hip-hop collectives, the Soundclash and Large Marge Music Group — will lead residents in repainting the perimeter fence of the St. Roch/Sampson Playground, a former FEMA trailer park. Among the volunteers are New Orleans MCs Truth Universal and Dee-1, and DJ EF Cuttin is set to soundtrack the event. No word yet on whether this woman is scheduled to attend: