Mae$e NOLA UPTdate

Saints Billboard on Earhart Expressway

2010-01-11T20:48:00.003-06:00

The Saints are rolling into their first playoff game this weekend, and so we decided to join a group of like-minded fans in putting up a billboard on Earhart Expressway with an oft-used local benediction for the Boys in Black & Gold. Hopefully, some of them will see it on the way from their practice facility to the Dome. You can see our names in gold below the message (although it is kind of hard to read).

New Orleans was founded/governed by the Catholic French and Spanish in its early stages, and the city was home to many Catholic Italian/Sicilian immigrants in the early 20th century. The Saints' Fleur-De-Lis symbol is considered an old representation of the trinity and the French monarchy, and it has long been a symbol for the city of New Orleans. This history and epic tunes like "When the Saints Go Marching In" might explain how the Saints received their name. As a franchise, the Saints have never had consistent success in the NFL until recently, yet fans never lost faith in the team even during years of losing records and dismal performances. Now that the Saints are successful, this quasi-religious devotion to the Saints is at a fever pitch. Given the religious fervor with which the local fan base embraces this team, the Saints' team name really is appropriate for this team in this City. The Saints' performance this year truly has uplifted the spirits of New Orleans residents, many of whom are still going through a difficult recovery process.

We will be going to see John Scofield with George Porter, Jr. & Jon Cleary at Tipitina's for New Orleans-style gospel/blues afterwards no matter what happens, but we would be going in much better spirits with a W. The Who Dat Nation will be watching closely this weekend.

Who Dat?!?

2009-11-09T16:43:00.006-06:00

Okay. I didn't even want to write this post, because I don't want to jinx them. I still won't make any predictions, but I will simply say... the New Orleans Saints have a great football team this year. We don't want to get our hopes up too high, as the Saints have started great and let us down in the past. However, something just feels different this time around. The City is behind them. The fans are behind them. They finally have a competent, *great* defense and a diversified running game. We will be watching, and we will be behind them the entire way. If you want to read the real deal Saints blog reporting/commentary, please check out my friend Dave's Canal Street Chronicles Web site here: http://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/

White Christmas (The Drifters)

2008-12-04T12:04:00.003-06:00

Top 10 PoBoys in NOLA

2008-11-21T13:09:00.005-06:00

In honor of this weekend's Po Boy Fest , here is the much anticipated Top 10 list of New Orleans-area po boys by a self-described po boy professional (me). This report has taken years of diligent research to produce. I hope you find it useful.

Mae$e Top 10 Po Boys

1.) Domilises Oyster Po Boy - New Orleans
2.) Cafe Minh Char Grills Pork Po Boy - New Orleans
3.) Parkway Bakery & Tavern Roast Beef (or Corn Beef) Po Boy - New Orleans
4.) Mahony's Fried (or Grilled) Shrimp Po Boy - New Orleans
5.) Vaucresson Creole Hot Sausage Po Boy
6.) R&O Shrimp or Italian Roast Beef Po Boy - Bucktown
7.) Crabby Jacks Paneed Rabbit Po Boy - Jefferson Hwy.
8.) Radosta's Italian Sausage Po Boy - Metairie
9.) Guy's Shrimp (or Catfish) Po Boy - New Orleans
10.) Bozo's Oyster Po Boy - Metairie

Please do not take the order of this list too seriously. It is certainly possible to do a Top 10 list for each type of po boy. I would be hard-pressed to put one type over another, and these are just my favorites in the order they occurred to me. Feel free to comment or write me with your recs.

How We Feel About the Election

2008-10-13T17:05:00.002-05:00

NY Times' Sensational Reporting on NOLA

2008-05-29T10:42:00.002-05:00

I used to regard the NY Times as one of the country's top newspapers, and I still think this paper produces some excellent articles and reporting. However, the NY Times coverage on New Orleans has been incredibly one-sided and sensational, and its constant output of negative material on NOLA is souring me on the entire publication. You can view a comprehensive list of these depressing articles and sad faces here:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/nationalspecial/index.html
(they actually still list all of these New Orleans reporting/articles under "complete coverage of Hurricane Katrina" - like that is all that defines the city)

Look at the pictures and titles of the articles on the above Web page. They are all incredibly depressing and negative, and the only smiling face in the whole section is Stevie Wonder. Not to worry, even the smiling Stevie picture comes with a headline like "Scars Amid the Party in New Orleans". Today's NY Times article on homelessness in New Orleans (a constant problem, even before Katrina) prompted me to write this e-mail. In particular, this sensational line in the sixth sentence towards the top:

"Not far from the French Quarter, flanking Canal Street on Claiborne Avenue, they are living inside a long corridor formed not of walls and a roof but of the thick stench of human waste and sweat tinged with alcohol, crack and desperation."

This is EXACTLY the type of negative sensationalism I would expect from Fox News or the "new" CNN, not the NY Times. If I searched hard enough, I am sure I could sub "French Quarter" for "Times Square", writing the same sentence about NY and using NY streets. What is the point of language like this?

It is one thing when you believe investigative reporting will bring some type of positive attention to correct an existing problem. However, I have yet to read where a NY Times article on New Orleans (or, Hurricane Katrina Aftermath, as they prefer to call the city) has actually directly helped to affect change or improve conditions in NOLA. Sure, I realize that keeping attention on the city and emphasizing the reality of how things are still not "back to normal" could help to keep the city in the national spotlight for much-needed recovery aid and assistance. But at this point, and after so many negative articles, one can only conclude that the paper is simply reporting on negative issues and human misery to increase readership. It is will known that sex, violence and problems sell in today's media, and New Orleans has all of the above. All these continued negative articles, with no reference to any positive developments, only serves to scare potential visitors away from the city (tourism is still NO's biggest industry) and depress the city's residents. In this way, the NY Times reporting of New Orleans has only ended up hurting the city and its economy through all of its negative coverage. Plenty of residents who have actually LIVED here since the storm have witnessed many positive improvements and progress in recovery after the storm. We acknowledge that progress is slow and there is still work to be done, but we can at least appreciate the amount of progress we HAVE made. 200,000 homes will take more than 3 years to repair, and even 10 years may not be long enough to return to "normal". Many of the problems the city faces now (poverty, poor public education, violence, crime, homelessness), it faced even before the storm. It was only after the storm that any of these problems received national attention, as the national media discovered our existing negative problems (like they were new?) and started increased coverage to boost their ratings. Anderson Cooper is a lovely example of this. He claims to be a "friend of the city", but he did a sensational story on New Orleans entitled "New Orleans: Murder City USA" that, no kidding, actually showed a Fleur De Lis rotating in dripping blood as part of the program. In my opinion, AC360 is NO friend of New Orleans by promoting this type of sensational journalism about the city. I know for a fact that some tourists even canceled their trips to NO after watching this drivel.

Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly on the subject. And, I just wanted to let you (my friends) know that you should take the NY Times coverage on NOLA with a grain of salt. I will still continue to read the paper for the breath and depth of its coverage, particularly in the international arena, but I will never trust it for news on NOLA. If you want more accurate information (and even some cautious optimism) on New Orleans' recovery, please look at the Brookings Institution's (a think tank) monthly .pdf reports on the subject here: http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2007/08neworleansindex.aspx

This month's report was not so great, but the reports are generally more constructive than the negative media coverage on the subject. There is no substitute for actually visiting NOLA yourself, so please come down and support our City.

Second Lines & Mardi Gras

2008-02-11T12:11:00.000-06:00

We just finished another Mardi Gras in N.O., one of the earliest in the last 70 years, and it was cold. The colder weather did not stop the holiday fun, and we enjoyed parades with friends and catching/chasing our 4 Muses shoes and 4 Zulu coconuts, among other random throws. We caught the super parades at nice locations, and all our local parking credentials came through. Lisa & I also enjoyed a couple of 2nd Line parades, including the first annual Lundi Gras Social Aid & Pleasure Club Task Force 2nd Line, with three S&P club divisions/brass bands. It was a short 2nd Line by our standards, but it was just as well, with our feet aching from days upon days of parade-going. We managed our perfect Mardi Gras trifecta by making it to Zulu for the parade & coconuts, watching the Mardi Gras Indians march through central city and marching masked (in costume) in the Krewe du Jieux Julu 2nd Line parade from Uptown to Frenchman. Instead of Soul Rebels, the brass band this year was the T.B.K. To Be Kontinued Brass Band, and they brought the fiyah, covering tunes like Michael Jackson's Im Bad, Outkast's Fresh & Clean, and many of the classic songbook tunes. Young turks on the rise, and good to see there are some new players coming up. S&P 2nd Lines are one of the best things about this city, they happen every Sunday, and most people here have no idea. Shout out to the Hot 8 Brass Band, my current favorite marchin' the streets almost every weekend. Come check it out...M$