Gambit: April 13, 2021 by Gambit New Orleans

April 13-19 2021 Volume 42 Number 15

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WHATEVER YOUR

APRIL 13 – APRIL 19, 2021 VOLUME 42 || NUMBER 15 NEWS

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3 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 1 3 - 1 9 > 2 0 2 1

CONTENTS

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Shake the body

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y L E S L I E S C OT T

PIANIST BRIAN HAAS will be joined by three first-rate New Orleans horn players, saxophonists Aurora Nealand, Dan Oestreicher and Brad Walker, for an improvheavy performance on Tuesday, April 13, at the SideBar’s new SidePorch outdoor space. The performance starts at 7 p.m. and admission is free. More information can be found at sidebarnola.com.

Newcomb Dance returns with performance at Music Box Village BY JAKE CLAPP

Same page

A YEAR INTO THE PANDEMIC, it’s

easy to think we’ve forgotten certain sensations, like the feeling of being in a festival crowd or the sounds of an unexpected brass band passing your street. But sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to reawaken those feelings: The whiff of jasmine starting to bloom and the sound of someone practicing trombone on the porch could be just enough to re-light the fire. The body has a way of deeply holding on to memories, both good and bad. This week, Tulane University’s Newcomb Dance Company will ignite those dormant memories in the dance program “The Body Remembers” at Music Box Village. The show will feature contemporary dance pieces choreographed by Tulane University Theatre and Dance Department faculty Leslie Scott and Diogo de Lima and performed throughout the Bywater venue. The works will be paired with poetry read by Kelly Harris-DeBerry and soundscapes performed on the Music Box Village’s musical architecture. “I was thinking a lot about all the things that we’re just not hearing, we’re just not seeing” during the pandemic, says Scott. “We were talking about it like a phantom hug — almost like you can remember the last time you were hugged, even though it might be a long time ago. The ways in which our body holds on to some of that sensory information, I think, is such fertile ground to spring from.” Newcomb Dance Company will perform “The Body Remembers” 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday, April 15, through Saturday, April 17. Audiences will be limited to 75 people for each performance and distanced around the space, and tickets are available for a virtual screening option to watch from home. The show is presented in partnership with New Orleans Airlift, the artist initiative that operates Music Box Village. Newcomb Dance Company hosts a major program each spring at Dixon Concert Hall on Tulane’s campus, but the pandemic and the need to maintain physical distancing prompted the company to reimagine this year’s performance. The idea to perform an outdoor show or to get off campus

Sax appeal

THIS YEAR’S ONE BOOK ONE NEW ORLEANS SELECTION is Sarah M. Broom’s “The Yellow House,” which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. The community-wide reading campaign hosts its next virtual book discussion, led by India Mack, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15. Admission is free; register at eventbrite.com.

Greased up

and into a community space in New Orleans had been in mind for a while, Scott says. The pandemic had just presented the necessity. The spring performance normally features around 40 student performers and several choreographers, and again, the company knew this year’s performance would need to be different. “The Body Remembers” will feature 20 performers with only Scott and de Lima as choreographers. With only two choreographers rather than five or six, though, Scott and de Lima were able to bring more cohesiveness to the program, they say. The pandemic has “completely changed the way I choreograph,” says Scott, the company’s artistic director. “My work usually centers around intimacy and physical contact through partnering and large groups of people quite close together. And so all of that had to be rethought.” Scott’s dance piece will open “The Body Remembers” and will be set to spoken word by Harris-DeBerry. The New Orleans author also will read her new poem, “The Body Never Forgets,” commissioned for the performance. “Her poetry is so beautiful and she was able to gel a lot of the ideas we were talking about,” Scott says, “the things about New Orleans that aren’t there but you know are still inside of her.” For his longer piece, de Lima, a native of Brazil, wanted to build on the Afro-Brazilian rhythms he grew up with as a way to “heal the soul,” he

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says. Musicians Xavier Molina, Logan Schutts and Neil Todten will create the performance’s music using the Music Box Village’s houses and traditional Brazilian percussion. Separately, Scott and de Lima “had similar ideas, playing on the themes of absence and healing and wakening the body that was dormant for a while,” de Lima says. De Lima says he wants the audience to experience the performance as if walking into a ritual where the Afro-Brazilian-rooted music and movement will light a fire and shake the body awake for the coming summer. “Our response is what do we do next?” he says. “Where do you go from this dormant phase and what is live performance going to look like from here?”

NEW ORLEANS ROCK ‘N’ ROLLERS GREAZY ALICE will play the recently re-opened Gasa Gasa at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 17. Seating is limited to tables, but hey, live music is coming back. Tickets are $40 for a table seating four people at ticketweb.com.

Feet can’t fail me now THE BROADSIDE’S MONTH-LONG NOLA FOOTWORK FEST continues 1 p.m. Sunday, April 18, featuring the We Are One Social Aid and Pleasure Club and Sporty’s Brass Band. Every Sunday this month, the festival will spotlight a different social aid and pleasure club, its dancers and brass bands, in outdoor celebration. Tickets are $15 at broadsidenola.com.

P H OTO B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Sporty’s Brass Band marches through the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the New Orleans Fairgrounds on Thursday, May 4, 2017.

Always dreaming UPTOWN SHOP BLUE CYPRESS BOOKS will host a sidewalk signing with Jason Berry, author of “City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300,” at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 18. Berry’s 2018 book traces the city’s history through stories and profiles of its residents over the centuries. Admission is free; copies of the book are available for $22 via eventbrite.com.

L TO CH AST RE ANC GI E ST ER

PRESENTS

FELICITY TO FRENCHMEN A NOLA THEMED FAMILY ADVENTURE! Grab your krewe and hit the streets of New Orleans with your family this spring. On SATURDAY • APRIL 17TH, Gambit will host a

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13.4

State Reps. Candace Newell and Richard Nelson

have both introduced bills in the legislative session that begins this week to decriminalize cannabis possession and distribution in Louisiana. Newell, a New Orleans Democrat, and Nelson, a Republican representing the Mandeville area, also have filed bills for the regulation of recreational cannabis use. A recent poll by JMC Enterprises showed that 67% of Louisianans favor legalizing cannabis.

President Joe Biden’s administration in the outline

of its new infrastructure plan, specifically named the Claiborne Expressway as an example of a historic inequity that would be addressed through the $2 trillion jobs package. The elevated section of I-10 runs along N. Claiborne Avenue and cuts through the middle of Treme. Its construction sliced apart the historically Black neighborhood.

The estimated percentage of COVID-19 cases in Louisiana that are of the B117 variant, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. S C R E E N S H OT TA K E N F R O M G O O G L E M A P S S T R E E T V I E W

The Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston

Ruston Police investigating abuse allegation at Louisiana Center for the Blind THE RUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION

into an alleged incident of sexual abuse that occurred by a “worker or former worker” of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, according to a department spokesperson. The alleged incident happened in summer 2018 while the woman was a student at the center and when the alleged abuser was an employee by LCB, according to Deputy Chief Chad Hamlin. The investigation is in its early stages and the police department is still gathering information. “We haven’t gotten to the point where we’ve interviewed anyone or gotten any information from the alleged suspect,” Hamlin told Gambit. “But we do have enough information to start the investigation.” Hamlin said Ruston PD has investigated student complaints of sexual misconduct at the center in the past, but that the current allegations were the most severe he’d seen over the years. The police department is not currently investigating the Louisiana center, which has had multiple former students allege sexual assault and abuse against employees and students, as a whole. But Hamlin said if through this investigation, the department determines LCB employees at the center knew about the alleged incident and didn’t take action, then the investigation could “spill over to the center.” — KAYLEE POCHE

This mutation is known to be even more contagious and more virulent that its predecessor — meaning it could lead to more severe symptoms and hospitalizations. Nationally, it’s estimated that 27.2% of new cases are from this strain, as of the latest data. State health officials say there’s an urgent need to prevent its spread, and a potential surge that could lead to restrictions after much progress has been made. One more reason to get your shot of vaccine, all of which are effective against the B117 strain.

C’est What

? Would you use a passenger rail line between New Orleans and Baton Rouge?

Jeff Landry’s office targets whistleblower who reported sexual harassment

56.3% SURE! IT

TWO MONTHS AFTER ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF LANDRY FILED A LAWSUIT to prevent records about sexual harassment accusations

Republicans state lawmakers have filed two bills

that would restrict access to sports for transgender Louisianans. The bills, SB 156 and HB 542, would ban trans women and girls from participating in sports that align with their gender at the K-12 and university levels. The bills are similar to other regressive laws recently filed in more than 20 other states.

against one of his top employees from becoming public, his office has released a new memo that targets the whistleblower who filed the original complaint. Sandra Schober, deputy director of Landry’s administrative services division, sent her boss a memo, dated April 7, that explains how the office handled the complaint against former criminal division director Pat Magee. It’s unclear what prompted Schober to write the new memo, given nearly three months have passed since the Attorney General’s Office wrapped up its investigation into Magee, who resigned last month after the office received a second sexual harassment complaint. But the memo takes clear aim at the whistleblower, who filed a formal complaint about Magee’s behavior in November of last year. That complaint alleged Magee often harassed women in his office and

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OPENING GAMBIT against him for coming forward. “You constantly wonder what will happen if and when you finally have the courage to come forward,” the employee wrote. “This is especially true when the person you need to report reminds you over and over how he is close personal friends with the Attorney General. This is not Walmart, this is the Louisiana Department of Justice and when someone is close friends with the most powerful law enforcement officer in Louisiana, coming forward is not an easy decision.” The employee who is believed to have written the complaint did not respond Thursday to an email sent to his work account. Schober’s memo analyzed four instances of alleged sexual harassment reported by the whistleblower; she disagreed in some cases with the whistleblower’s view of what took place. For instance, she insisted the woman whom Magee allegedly declined to promote because of her good looks actually had “numerous work-related issues” that disqualified her for the role. While Schober called for more review into whether Magee made the alleged comments, it’s not clear if such a review is occurring. But her memo indicates she did not regard most of the whistleblower’s assertions credible. “The speculations included in the initial grievance complaint were false as there was evidence to the contrary,” she wrote. Schober’s memo goes on to say a “confidential informant” recently came forward and told her the whistleblower was known to have falsified information in the past. Most of that section of the memo is redacted. Schober’s memo said there was nothing in the whistleblower’s file about such an allegation. But she added that “due to the pattern within this matter for misrepresenting information, we … are in the process of investigating this matter further to determine if (name redacted) lacks the requisite judgment, honesty, and integrity required of all LADOJ personnel.” Kevin Vogeltanz, a Mandeville employment and discrimination attorney, said even if the whistleblower were found to have engaged in some misconduct, it might not protect the Attorney General’s Office from a claim of retaliation, which is outlined in the Civil Rights Act. “The issue is whether Mr. Landry’s office is investigating a whistleblower just to punish him for complaining about illegal discrimination or harassment,” Vogeltanz said. “If so, that action is retaliatory and illegal under Title VII.” — ANDREA GALLO/ THE ADVOCATE | THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

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affected their career paths, suggesting one woman be assigned to a criminal trial “because male jurors would want to have sex with her” and declining to promote another because her attractive looks might cause Magee to lose his self-control. Landry’s office hired the law firm Taylor Porter to investigate the complaint. The investigation found Magee’s actions made others uncomfortable but did not rise to the level of sexual harassment. How that conclusion was reached remains unknown: Landry’s office has only released heavily redacted results of the Taylor Porter investigation. Those documents remain at issue in a lawsuit that Landry filed against a reporter for The Advocate | The Times-Picayune who requested copies of them. A judge last month ordered his office to turn over all relevant records, with names redacted to protect the privacy of victims, witnesses and whistleblowers. Landry’s office did not answer detailed questions last week about the purpose of Schober’s memo, what led to its production and whether it was meant to make a case for firing the whistleblower. Spokesman Cory Dennis only said his office produced the document because it was a public record. The memo contains several curious assertions. While Landry’s office eventually concluded Magee himself did not engage in sexual harassment, Schober’s memo suggests the whistleblower who came forward about Magee could be in violation of the office’s sexual harassment policy, based on his failure to report Magee’s misbehavior. Magee has denied ever committing sexual harassment and has said he does not condone it. Schober also wrote she had reviewed text messages between Magee and the whistleblower, provided by Magee, and that some of the whistleblower’s texts were questionable. “These texts were sent by (name redacted) to Pat and a determination needs to be made if these text messages violate our professionalism and integrity policy, and if these may also constitute sexual harassment, albeit the potential victims are likely unaware of their existence,” she wrote. “In addition, it is also a violation of our Sexual Harassment policy for a supervisor not to report inappropriate behavior in a timely manner and the complainant knew about the alleged inappropriate behavior for years before finally reporting it to me,” she added. Schober’s memo makes clear the complainant is a man, and it more or less identifies him by specifying the job he holds. In his initial complaint, the employee expressed fear that Landry’s office would retaliate

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There’s something very rotten in Ruston OVER THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS,

Gambit’s Kaylee Poche has investigated the Ruston-based Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB). The center receives millions of dollars annually in federal and state grants and contracts. It presents itself as a place of hope for blind Louisianians, a place where they can learn fundamental life skills. Poche’s reporting shows otherwise. According to many students, the center has a disturbing, decadeslong history of racism, LGBTQ discrimination, sexual assault and psychological abuse. In this week’s issue, Poche reports the Ruston Police Department has launched an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault dating back to 2018. According to Deputy Chief Chad Hamlin, the investigation is in the early stages, and they have not yet begun interviewing witnesses. However, Hamlin did say that while the woman is now of age, based on the timeline police investigators currently have, there is a chance she was underage when the assault occurred. Significantly, Hamlin also told Poche this is not the first time the Ruston Police Department has investigated allegations of sexual abuse against LCB staff, but the new allegation is the most serious that he has seen. Additionally, Hamlin said that while the LCB itself is not currently the subject of an investigation, if there is evidence the center covered up the assault or otherwise withheld information, the department could begin broader inquiry into the center. This is welcome news. It is imperative for law enforcement officials to take allegations of assault seriously and vigorously investigate them. LCB and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) with which it is affiliated have acknowledged longstanding problems with how they handle allegations of sexual assault. In recent months, they have taken needed steps to begin correcting those problems, including partnering with state and national sexual assault organizations. That process still lacks accountability, however. LCB Director Pam Allen, who also serves as NFB’s vice

S C R E E N S H OT TA K E N FROM GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW

The Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston

president, learned of sexual assaults at the center in at least 2018 but took no significant action at that time. To date, no official with either organization has resigned or been fired. This is wholly unacceptable. Allen should immediately step down from her positions — or be fired if she is unwilling to go voluntarily. Given the substantial amount of money in contracts LCB has received from Louisiana Tech, a public university, the Legislative Auditor should conduct a full review of how the group spent taxpayers’ money. Depending on the auditor’s findings, law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels should consider criminal investigations. Justice must be done for the survivors. Finally, we urge state lawmakers and our congressional delegation to open investigations into LCB and NFB. Thanks to reporting by Poche, the Des Moines Register and other outlets, we now know allegations of assault and abuse go back years, not only at LCB but at NFB-affiliated centers in other parts of the country as well. Because LCB has received millions of dollars in state and federal funds over the years, they have an obligation to use their oversight powers to shine a bright light in the darkest corners of this organization’s history to ensure the long history of abuse has ended and will never happen again. The time for a reckoning in Ruston is long overdue.

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Feckless Landry now going after the whistleblower EVERY TIME I THINK THERE ARE NO MORE WAYs to

describe what an insouciant dumbass Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is, the feckless AG steps up and provides new and innovative ways of proving me wrong. Ever since he won his current office, Landry has distinguished himself as the state’s most clownish demagogue. He never tires of the kind of shameless grandstanding that more often than not comes off as mindless self-mockery. If he had an ounce of self-awareness, he might restrain some of his baser political instincts. Nah. Landry first caught my attention in 2016 when he described a man living in the U.S. without legal status as benefitting from New Orleans’ alleged “sanctuary city” policies — only the man lived in Jefferson Parish (and New Orleans was never a sanctuary city). Then, there was his string of unsuccessful lawsuits against Gov. John Bel Edwards, particularly when Landry tried to gut the governor’s executive orders that helped reduce the number of Covid cases in Louisiana. He doubled down in spectacular fashion after one loss by publicly dissing the trial judge — a flagrant ethics violation that should have landed him in hot water with the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Disciplinary Board. More recently, Landry betrayed his office’s long history of championing transparency by suing The Advocate | The Times-Picayune reporter Andrea Gallo after she filed a public records request seeking records from his office about a sexual harassment complaint against one of Landry’s top aides. So far he has lost that one, too, and the aide — Criminal Division Chief Pat Magee — resigned after another complaint against him surfaced. Even a bad lawyer would have learned a lesson from that last debacle, but Landry is no ordinary laughingstock. He’s doubling down yet again, this time releasing a memo that takes aim at the whistleblower who filed the initial complaint against Magee.

P H OTO B Y B I LL F E I G / T H E A DVO C AT E

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry

According to a story by Gallo, the memo “contains several curious assertions,” among them a hamfisted attempt by Landry to turn the tables on the whistleblower. The AG’s office officially cleared Magee of sexual harassment allegations in January, but the facts unearthed by Gallo paint quite a different picture. Now comes the April 7 memo, no doubt sought by Landry, suggesting the whistleblower might actually have violated the office’s sexual harassment policy — for failing to report Magee’s alleged harassment. This is Vladimir Putin-level retaliation. Because the memo is addressed to Landry, and because it comes three months after the AG’s office purportedly wrapped up its own “investigation” into Magee’s conduct, it seems obvious that this is yet another attempt by Landry to cover for his pal Magee, who reportedly had a habit of reminding people in the office of his close friendship with the boss. It may also be a typically inept attempt by Landry to build a case — I use that expression loosely in relation to Landry — for firing the whistleblower. Hopefully, as he has so often since taking office as AG, Landry will soon learn yet another lesson in the law: that retaliation against whistleblowers is illegal.

BLAKE PONTCHARTRAIN™

Hey Blake, I know The Beatles played City Park Stadium in the ‘60s, but did they visit any other spots in the city during their time here?

ned. F a m i ly O w

HA HARD SEL LTZER

Dear reader,

Beatlemania hit New Orleans just before 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1964, when the plane carrying the Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — touched down at New Orleans International Airport in Kenner (now Armstrong International Airport). The Fab Four arrived from Cleveland, one of 24 stops on their 32-day North American tour. Among their opening acts was New Orleans music great Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Local hotels such as the Roosevelt and Monteleone opted not to host the band, fearing throngs of fans would descend on the hotel. Instead, a suite was reserved at the Congress Inn, a motel on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans East. It has since been demolished. According to author Steven Y. Landry’s book “Beatles Day in New Orleans,” once the band arrived at the motel, Ringo Starr expressed interest in going to the French Quarter, but his handlers rejected that. The afternoon of Sept. 16, The Beatles held a press conference at the Congress Inn. Mayor Vic Schiro (whom John Lennon jokingly referred to as “Lord Mayor”) presented them with keys to the city and made them honorary citizens. Some 12,000 screaming fans paid $5 per ticket to attend the concert

E R AT E D. F A M I LY O P

fest

T I M E S - P I C AY U N E F I L E P H OTO B Y V. A . G U I D R Y

This was the scene shortly before the Beatles’ appearance at City Park Stadium.

that night. Like so many other early Beatles concerts, pandemonium broke out in the crowd, with hundreds of screaming fans trying to storm the stage. The next day was supposed to be a day off for The Beatles, who were huge fans of New Orleans music and had hoped to experience it for themselves. But they were lured away when the owner of the Kansas City Athletics baseball team offered $150,000 (about six times their normal fee) if they would add Kansas City to their tour. The band did get to meet one of their musical idols while in New Orleans, when “Frogman” Henry arranged for Fats Domino to visit them in their trailer at the stadium. In 1984, for the 20th anniversary of the concert, an historical marker was placed at Tad Gormley Stadium memorializing the band’s concert.

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Spectators sit in the rafters of a punk show in an unlicensed space.

REVEL YELL Beau Patrick Coulon captures protests, punk shows, mischief nights, Mardi Gras and more in his New Orleans-focused photo book ‘Revel & Revolt’ BY WILL COVIELLO P H OTO S F R O M F R O M B E AU PAT R I C K CO U LO N ’ S ‘ R E V E L & R E VO LT ’

BEAU PATRICK COULON’S PHOTO BOOK “Revel & Revolt” follows several threads. There are punk shows, with band members and spectators almost toe-to-toe, hair flying as the background falls into the shadows of unlicensed, makeshift spaces. Police and crowds of demonstrators face-off in protests following the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge in July 2016. A masked man slams a sledgehammer into the base of the Battle of Liberty Place monument in the darkness of a “mischief night.” Revelers in costume navigate Bayou St. John on improvised rafts in the Loup Garou boat parade on Lundi Gras. While many photographers seek out such events, the view here is from the middle of the action. Coulon’s intimate views and his documentary style stem from his personal connections. “I just shoot the things that are happening in my life,” Coulon says. “Whatever you’re into and that you show up for — I always think those are the things to document. It’s more natural than being like, ‘Oh there’s this cultural phenomenon coming. I am going to show up there and document it and sell pictures.’ That’s not my style.

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Police approach a protest following the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge in 2016.

I love going to punk shows and I really want to capture this thing that’s magic to me, so I photograph the punk shows I go to.” Still, even as it’s a deeply personal book, Coulon also provides a fascinating view of the New Orleans underground during the Trump era. “Revel & Revolt” is co-published by Coulon’s Burn Barrel Press and Defend New Orleans. Coulon has followed a DIY path since moving out on his own at 13. He spent many years unhoused, and there’s a raw, pointblank quality to his perspective. Most of the photos in the book were taken in New Orleans, with the exception of the protests following the killing of Sterling by police. Many images were created with simple cameras. “I have a small 35 mm point-and-shoot camera, and every time I go out it’s with me,” Coulon says. “There are certain things where I think the space allows for a bigger, better camera, something I can switch out the lens on. But generally, for the punk shows and some of the rowdier protests, I bring a small, low-profile, point-and-shoot camera. What those cameras are great at is — when you’re immersed in the action, they’ll capture something. They aren’t like, ‘Hey, take some time, set up your shot.’ They’re not big-honking-lens, big-flash cameras. Those things distract. They make a target out of you.” There also are times when he doesn’t raise his camera. “There is an etiquette,” he says. “I have gotten a weird look, but I have made myself a known entity in a lot of these environments. I hope I am trusted. It’s OK if I am not. People need to be safe. “When Alton Sterling was killed, we found out about it the next night and went up to Baton Rouge. It wasn’t national news yet, and a lot of people were like, ‘What are you doing here?’ “I wanted to document it, because that is my tool, but it didn’t feel appropriate, so I didn’t take photos the first night. I probably missed some

People celebrate the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee from Lee Circle.

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A demonstrator holds a sign at a local protest following the death of George Floyd.

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Police clash with demonstrators after the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge in 2016.

amazing stuff. There was a lot of emotion present; there was a lot of grief and sadness and anger — and yeah, a lot of that stuff makes for powerful imagery, but I don’t need to be that person. I don’t need to insert myself or put my needs in front.” “Revel & Revolt” is a Covid pandemic project. While many of the events he’d normally attend were not happening, he started going through his photographs. “In shutdown and semi-isolation, it seemed like all these examples of community and these lovely people in New Orleans that come together in all these different ways — it filled a need that wasn’t being met at the time in a different way,” he says. The photos go back as far as 2015, and all were originally shot on film. The title of the book comes from a photo exhibition he did at Zeitgeist MultiDisciplinary Arts Center, when it was located on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in Central City (before it relocated to Arabi). Photos of demonstrations fill many of the 123 pages. There are demonstrations by sex workers against city regulations, but many of the protests are against racism and police brutality. There are images of men with Confederate flags and guns surrounding now-removed monuments to Confederate leaders. There are Black Lives Matter protests. And there’s the vandalism of the Liberty Place monument.

“That whole series, I had no idea what was happening, and then out come the sledgehammers and the spray paint,” Coulon says. “There had been a lot of talk about what should be done with the monuments. And I sort of captured some people who weren’t talking. They were acting. I follow that image with some historical context. “I don’t know that any of those photos are what I would consider amazing photos, but I think the story it tells is really important.” Coulon also has many photos from Carnival, and for the book, he chose photos that reflect the same energy and crowded action as the protests. After Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were killed by police last year, Coulon left pandemic isolation to go to local protests. The book has a handful of photos from those events. “There’s a lot about Alton Sterling and Black Lives Matter and the good work Take ‘Em Down NOLA has done,” Coulon says. “I am not a Take ‘Em Down NOLA organizer. I support that, and I have shown up for it, but I am not going to insert myself into that narrative. I hope people can tell this book is not about that. This is more about the communities themselves. I am shooting crowds; It’s not about individuals. It’s about the group and the kinetic energy that’s being created by everyone present.”

P R OV I D E D B Y B U R N BARREL PRESS

‘Revel & Revolt’ by Beau Patrick Coulon

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Coulon has always followed his own, unconventional path. He moved out of his mother’s home at age 13 and lived on the streets in California. During his teens, he spent time in New Orleans. Although his father’s family comes from Louisiana, and many of his ancestors are buried in a family cemetery in Lafourche, he came here for other reasons. “I was a little street rat,” he says. “I traveled all over the country. I was one of these kids that was on the neutral ground asking for money for beer. I came here in 1995 to party, plain and simple, and I lived here off-and-on throughout the ’90s and early 2000s. I would often live in a squat, or I was homeless and I would sleep out wherever I could, or I would get a job busting suds in the Quarter.” Coulon spent years moving around, never living in any situation for more than six or seven months, he says. He took photos of his friends and travels with cheap cameras and swapped duplicate prints. His love of photography grew. “I had an SLR that I saved up for when I was 15 or 16,” he says. “I think I washed dishes. That was the first

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expensive thing I ever bought myself, and it was like $100.” In San Francisco, he worked at a book bindery and learned to make his own portfolios. But his life took a turn that interrupted his interest in pictures. He had been living out of a car, and when it was impounded, he lost everything he had. He didn’t pick up a camera again until he was 30. “I made conscious efforts to settle down and put down roots and to stabilize my life, and largely so I could improve the quality and content of my creative output,” he says. “I wanted to take photography seriously. It’s hard to maintain that without a studio or workshop or bedroom or closet or something. Living out of your backpack and xeroxing zines at Kinkos? Don’t get me wrong, I love doing that. I could be happy returning to that, but I also want to do other things in life.” Now 42, his life is more grounded. He says he signed his first apartment lease four years ago. He’s married and has a job in the film industry in the art departments of film productions and in the camera shops of documentary films. When he sees teenagers hanging out in the streets like he used to do, does he feel a connection? “I’ll see oogles on the street and give them a couple bucks and say, ‘What’s up?’ ” he says. “Every once in a while they’ll be like, ‘Oh you’ve got the Colossus of Rhodes tattoo,’ or ‘You have freight train symbols on your hands.’ They recognize little signifiers. But for most intents and purposes, I am a middle-age white guy that has a union job and a nice place to live. So no, I am not that person anymore, and on another level, I’ll always be that person.” As he’s settled in the city, he’s fit into many communities. “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to New Orleans and my community here,” Coulon says. “This book is about how all these different groups overlap and support each other and share so many similarities. This book is for them.”

Protesters strike a pose at a women’s march in January 2017.

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I DON’T KNOW THAT ANY OF THOSE PHOTOS ARE WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER AMAZING PHOTOS, BUT I THINK THE STORY IT TELLS IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

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IN MEMORIUM

The life and legacy of Lee Meitzen Grue BY JOHN STANTON | GAMBIT EDITOR A LIFE WELL LIVED IS A RARIFIED THING, and to capture it is the

highest calling of this otherwise often lowly profession. A life well lived on your own terms is even more improbable, and to this day only the old poet vast in their multitudes has really come close to telling it. And then there’s Ms. Lee. How do you even begin to tell the tale of a life so full and improbable it would confound even the most verbose ancient Greek scribes? There are, of course, the facts. Lee Meitzen Grue was born Feb. 8, 1934 in Plaquemine and would relocate to New Orleans with her mother following her parents’ divorce, and though she’d move around a bit, it was here that her heart and life would always reside. As a child, Grue became a voracious reader, and throughout her life she surrounded herself with books. A graduate of Sophie B. Wright High School, Grue went on to attend Louisiana State University of New Orleans (now University of New Orleans) and Warren Wilson College. In 1963, she married an affable seaman named Ronald Grue. The two would quickly become a mainstay in New Orleans’ literary and artistic worlds: They rented a room in the famous Quorum Club, the city’s first integrated coffee house. It was there that Grue forged many of her relationships with musicians, artists and writers in New Orleans, and her readings at Quorum Club established her as one of the city’s premiere poets. Over the years Grue would publish numerous books of poetry, including “Downtown” and “French Quarter Poems,” a novel and a book of short stories. She fought the forces of segregation and racism, directed the New Orleans Poetry Forum, edited The New Laurel Review, taught at Tulane, transformed her Lesseps Street residence into an event space and haven for writers, musicians, drunks and artists from around the world, owned a bar, raised three children of her own and had a hand in the rearing of countless other 9th Ward babies … if you’re out of breath reading that, well, imagine living it. And that’s just the introduction to the Cliff Notes version of the Life and Times of Lee Grue.

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y J E N N I F E R C A L L A N

Late Sleeper for Teal The boy sleeps in deep feathers under the wing, his foggy mouth dampening the down pillow. Lifted by quiet breath leaves tremble on the rain tree. The sun, belly full, lolls on the floor of his room. The night swimmer’s legs dream burdened, sink like lead weights. A mocking bird worries the grey cat. No lost time, this sleep gathers, swells, blooms. The boy’s eyelids open slowly stare: A perfect black fly, drunken and slow, hums, washing his hands over the coarse radiant sheet of morning. Heavy afternoon yawns into street lights burning in the daytime, games of red rover. Daddy, blue pant legs sprawling on the front step. Mama, hands in her spread lap, holds a heavy flower, a white trumpet blowing perfume into her wide summer skirts. — LEE MEITZEN GRUE

Lee Meitzen Grue.

“She claimed to be lazy, but she got a lot of shit done,” her son Teal jokes about his mother’s accomplishments. But Lee Grue was also Miss Lee, the mama to Teal, Ian and Celeste, and the Patron Saint of Lesseps Street. True, Miss Lee was all the things Lee Grue was, but she was so much more. A force of nature in the lives of everyone she met, all of them the better for having known her. “She was always giving me advice and presents,” her friend Jennifer Callan said. “I took the presents but regretfully not a lot of the advice.” Callan and Miss Lee met several years ago and over the last decade had formed a close relationship. Like with a lot of the people around her, Miss Lee was an encouraging and steadying force in Callan’s life. “She taught me how to truly appreciate each moment, see beauty in each moment and how to live inside it,” Callan said. She was also a deeply calming power in the lives of those around her. As a child, Teal and his siblings were constantly surrounded by poets and musicians, and many nights a week their house was transformed into a performance space. Being children, of course, they’d act like idiots, chasing each other through the house and interrupting readings with their antics. But his mother would just smile and calmly watch them. “When she was angry, she’d let

you know with a quickness,” Teal said. But it was rare. He recalls one of his mother’s many parties when she’d hired a musician to dress like a court jester and play courtly minstrel tunes. What nobody had banked on was the jester’s drinking problem. “He was sneaking into the closet, and drank a whole bottle of whiskey,” Teal recalled. At the point of inebriation when such things happen, the musician shat in a bucket and promptly put it on as a hat. “I have no idea why,” Teal said, laughing. As his father tried to usher the drunken bard out of the house, Teal remembers seeing his mother watching calmly from the other room. “I was always impressed with her patience,” Teal laughed. Nowhere is the legacy of Miss Lee more obvious than in the children she raised, natural born or otherwise. Her son Teal, in particular, has the same penchant for unflappability even in the most chaotic of moments. She taught Teal and her other children the value of generosity and kindness, traits you can see in them to this day. Her grandson Joren, meanwhile, is also a poet and rapper. He says that even in the times he found himself at odds with Miss Lee, she remained fiercely supportive of his creativity. “She inspired the poet in me,” he said. “Everyone else was putting this blanket of doubt on my work … but she told

me I could do it.” There’s a lot of tears and smiles on Lesseps right now. Johnny Cisco grew up down the block from Miss Lee’s house. He smiles when he talks about her. “She was like my second mom,” he said one evening recently. It’s been a bittersweet week for Johnny: On the evening that Miss Lee passed, he was on his way home with his new baby and her mother, Ally. On April 16, friends and family will gather at BJ’s at 2 p.m. to celebrate the remarkable life of Miss Lee Meitzen Grue. Fittingly, there will be at least one new addition to the fold: baby Mary Jo.

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y J E N N I F E R C A L L A N

Lee Meitzen Grue.

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opened last week, serving breakfast tacos, quiche, soups and menu items that are sure to evolve as it grows. Proprietor and chef Michael Patrick Welch decided opening the joint, called Beside the Point, was the logical next step in a culinary venture that evolved over the last year of COVID-19 shutdowns. Welch also is a musician and writer and has contributed to Gambit in the past.

Charly Pierre opens Fritai in Treme BY B E T H D ’A D D O N O IN 1809, MORE THAN 10,000 HAITIANS

fleeing the revolution taking place in their country came to New Orleans, doubling the city’s population. The similarity between the two cultures is profoundly robust, overlapping in areas from music to history and architecture. But nowhere is the sisterhood more apparent than on the plate. Thanks to a shared cultural root system drawn from French, Spanish and African cultures, many Haitian dishes track with iconic New Orleans specialties. “We have gumbo, red beans and rice, Creole sauces,” says chef Charly Pierre, who is Haitian American. Pierre was born in the Boston area, but is anchored to Haiti on both parents’ sides and grew up visiting the island every year, he says. Pierre is opening Fritai, his first brick-and-mortar restaurant, at 1535 Basin St., close to N. Claiborne Avenue on the edge of Treme. It’s an expansion of what started as a pop-up and soon became a food stall in St. Roch Market. A mix of modern and traditional Haitian cuisine, Fritai showcases Pierre’s fine dining chops while staying resolutely simple and true to the island’s heart and soul. Once it opens in the next few weeks — he’s still waiting on some permitting and inspections — Fritai will offer many of the same dishes Pierre featured at the market, spotlighting common ingredients like watercress and oxtail and making frequent use of epis, the Haitian version of the Louisiana holy trinity or Hispanic sofrito. Beyond bell pepper, onion and celery, epis is rich with green onion and herbs like cilantro and parsley and spiked with garlic and Scotch bonnet peppers. “We use it on everything, including roasted fish and beans,” Pierre says. The 32-year-old chef came to New

Orleans six years ago after going to culinary school and cooking in and around Boston. He made a splash early in his career as a winner on Food Network’s “Chopped.” One of Pierre’s favorite homey menu dishes is smoked fish pasta, just called spaghetti by Haitians. “We even eat it for breakfast,” he says. The popular street food is a sauté of smoked herring with epis and tomato paste, tossed with homemade pasta instead of typical dried spaghetti. Epis is the base of a vinaigrette for a watercress and shaved mirliton salad, studded with candied plantains and shaved red onion. The menu features plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, like the root veggie fritter made with malanga, spices and herbs and served with a side of pikliz, a spicy relish mixture of cabbage, carrot and pickle. The menu will offer a pan-roasted fish, usually red snapper, or whatever’s freshest, rubbed with epis and roasted until crispy, with red beans, plantain and Creole sauce on the side. A simple stewed Creole chicken is kissing cousins to the smothered chicken served by home cooks here in New Orleans. A griot po-boy is like a crispy cochon de lait, topped with pikliz and served with plantain chips. Fritai, in the space where Kermit Ruffins operated his Speakeasy for

P H OTO B Y C H E R Y L G E R B E R

Fritai owner and chef Charly Pierre serves a Haitian-style oxtail dish.

a minute, has a lounge vibe, with dim lighting, banquettes, a corner bar and side lounge area outfitted with a Haitian symbol that you won’t find in too many pubs. “I got this in Mississippi,” says Pierre, gesturing with pride to an old school console cabinet television. “We had one, my aunts had one — when it stops working you put lace on it and it becomes a table. So Haitian.” The rum-forward bar program is led by beverage manager Ian Julian, who has worked around town from Dominique’s on Magazine to Hilton Riverside. Besides classic cocktails like French 75s and Sazeracs, he’s mixing up tropical sips, such as the Fritai house Pimm’s fruit cup, spiked with booze-marinated melon, mango and papaya. A weekly happy hour between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. is in the works. Pierre lived in the Treme for a few years before moving to the Bayou St. John area. “I saw investment money going Uptown, but around here, not so much,” he says. “This is an old-school Black neighborhood and my neighbors are great. When I first visited New Orleans in 2009, I knew this was my city. I feel at home here.”

? WHAT Fritai

WHERE

1535 Basin St.

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

WHEN

Opening soon

HOW

Walk-ins accepted once open

CHECK IT OUT

Haitian street food on the edge of Treme

P H OTO PR OV I D E D B Y M I C H A E L PAT R I C K W E LC H

Beside the Point is a new breakfast and lunch spot in Algiers.

A former educator at Delgado Community College’s West Bank campus, Welch was put out of work last year because of the pandemic. He became a stay-at-home dad helping his two young daughters navigate remote learning and began to brainstorm creative ways to earn a living. He quickly realized his longtime hobbies of cooking and fishing could become lucrative. “I was always fishing — but I’d usually give it away to my neighbors,” he says. Welch began selling some of his dishes, including ceviche, quiches and other seafood dishes — made from fish and crabs he caught himself — at affordable prices which he would deliver to friends. His culinary skills soon spread by word of mouth and on social media. “It evolved, and it spun out of control in a good way,” he says. Expanding to a nearby brick-and-mortar location seemed like a natural fit. He notes that the restaurant is not in in the trendy Algiers Point neighborhood — hence the cheeky name. “When you tell people you live in Algiers, people are always like, ‘Oh, I love the Point.’ We’re like, we live beside the Point.” Welch is also giving discounts to locals of the area, including military members and families from nearby Federal City, the hundreds of teachers PAGE 27

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PAGE 25

Open gates THE DISH CALLED PATACON GLORIA

at Golden Gate Bistro starts with a long plank of pounded, fried plantain buried under bits of grilled steak, chicken and pork, streaks of creamy salsa rosada and a cap of melted, stretchy queso blanco. Atop it all goes a toothpick-sized Colombian flag, proclaiming the national pride that every inch of this restaurant makes vividly clear anyway. Folded into the whole operation is a story of lifting other people on your way up and how food opens doors. Golden Gate Bistro is a small restaurant for platters of grilled meat and sticky-sweet fried plantains, garlicky whole fried fish, stuffed arepas and juices made from South American fruit. The plates are generous in the way that makes a workday lunch feel like an everyman-a-king feast. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the Colmex Construction office, on a bend of Earhart Boulevard in Gert Town. This restaurant came about through a partnership of two Colombian women who have made their home in New Orleans. Bleidys Lobelo is the self-taught chef who first created Golden Gate Bistro in her own home kitchen. Angelica Rivera is the self-made businesswoman who runs Colmex. Rivera is here because her husband, Roman Lopez, came to New Orleans for construction work in the post-Katrina rebuilding boom. Joining him meant leaving an omnipresent extended family in Orlando, Florida, their previous home, for an unknown city. But the warmth of New Orleans people won her over; it felt familiar to her hometown of Bogota. The couples’ first employees were two Mexican men, so they combined Colombia and Mexico to name their new company Colmex. Years later, when she redeveloped an abandoned commercial building as the Colmex headquarters, Rivera built in space for others too. Part of the ground floor was reserved for a possible future café. Upstairs, Rivera added a business incubator, with six shoebox-sized office units. She offers them to other entrepreneurs at nominal fees until they can afford to move on. “The incubator is something that I didn’t have when I was starting out,

but I thought other people should have now,” Rivera said. The incubator also brought Golden Gate to Colmex. A few years ago, Lobelo was selling plate lunches from home as a side gig to her hotel jobs. By 2019, she had opened a stand at Nawlins Market, a flea market in Harvey. She named her stand Golden Gate after the nickname for her hometown, Barranquilla, a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Her dream, as she told anyone who asked, was to grow the business into a proper restaurant. She got that chance after she catered an event in the Colmex incubator. Her empanadas reminded Rivera of home; the chef’s drive to make her own business reminded her of herself. Golden Gate Bistro opened on July 20, Colombian Independence Day. Arepas anchor the menu. These thick, dense, corn cakes are moist with cheese blended in and crisp from the grill. The sancocho de castilla is thick, creamy stew served next to a hunk of beef rib of prehistoric proportions, with a precise dome of rice and slices of avocado to intersperse between bites. The empanadas that got Lobelo in the door are Colombian classics, with shredded beef wrapped in a golden cornmeal coating that’s crisp as chips. Lobelo makes up different lunch specials that are a bargain at $12. The list of juices draws from some Colombian specialties, like lulo, which gives a creamy, citrusy juice. The restaurant recently acquired a liquor license, so in addition to a small selection of beer it also serves spiked versions of the juices. All around Golden Gate, there’s a feel of tropical vibrancy and stylish craftsmanship, from the light fixtures above to the swirling lacquered floor. Much of it was made by Rivera’s husband. That handmade approach extends to the kitchen. Rivera and her family have a small farm in Pearl River where they’re producing an increasing number of staples for the restaurant, including eggs and potatoes. On a normal weekday, many in the lunch crowd are speaking Spanish and wearing logo gear from various local construction companies. More families turn up for dinner. Lately, the waitresses report more newcomers to Colombian cooking are finding their way through the doors too. To Rivera, that’s a glowing affirmation. “I mean, this is New Orleans. It has very high culinary standards, so to open a restaurant here is serious,” Rivera said. “We’re so happy that people seem to like it.” — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

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business I’ve ever been a part of.” Pittman operates Louisiana Medical Marijuana Doctors, which helps connect patients with physicians via online appointments and with one of the nine Louisiana dispensaries. The appointments can usually happen quickly. Patients choose their dispensary, and products are often available in a few hours. Some stories have brought Pittman and his staff to tears. A young man with autism was able to go to dinner with his family for the first time in nine years. A 91-year-old woman with chronic pain began doing chores again after years of being bed-ridden. Many people have said they have fewer seizures after taking medical marijuana. “It really makes you proud to be working in this space,” Pittman said. “When it is used in this way, it truly is a medicine. I think you will continue to see more acceptance of it as more people see the amazing benefits of it.” For more information on Louisiana Medical Marijuana Doctors, visit lamedicalmarijuanadoctors.com or call 504-442-9634.

27 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 1 3 - 1 9 > 2 0 2 1

who work in the area and members of New Orleans Most Talked Of Club. He also still takes delivery orders. Beside the Point is open from 7 a.m. until 2:30 Monday through Friday, and on Sunday he hosts a pop-up series called Dinner by DJ’s. This month, Tony Skratchere is serving gourmet tacos on Sunday nights and playing DJ sets. The restaurant is located at 3211 Gen. Meyer Ave. — SARAH RAVITS

EAT+DRINK

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FELICITY TO FRENCHMEN A NOLA THEMED FAMILY ADVENTURE! Grab your krewe and hit the streets of New Orleans with your family this spring. On SATURDAY • APRIL 17TH, Gambit will host a

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EAT+DRINK

Nikki Thompson Ice cream maker NIKKI THOMPSON STARTED MAKING HER OWN ICE CREAM during the

pandemic. Though she moved to New Orleans six years ago to work as an interior designer for a furniture company, she was drawn to the hospitality industry. After studying hospitality management at Delgado Community College, she started working in hotels. Since figuring out how to make nondairy ice cream, she’s experimented with flavors and launched Hood Cream (hoodcreamnola.com). Thompson takes orders directly from customers and pops up at local markets, such as the For Us By Us Market in Central City, where she also runs a volunteer neighborhood clean-up effort she calls Hood Clean. Thompson has upcoming markets at New Orleans Trap Kitchen on April 18 and at the Champagne Classic event on April 24 at Culture Park.

How did you become interested in making ice cream? Nikki Thompson: I started making ice cream during the pandemic, but it’s something I’ve known how to make for some time now. Like the rest of us, I was just sitting there consuming pints of ice cream during lockdown. My grandmother had sent me her ice cream maker, which is pretty ancient, but it’s something you can still buy in a store. I had to refresh myself. I remember her making ice cream with it while I was growing up. I started using the machine and playing with different flavors and all the crazy ice creams that I would like to try but can’t buy at the store without dairy. It started as a pandemic hobby, but I said, you know, “Why not transform this into something else and see where it goes?”

Why did you focus on nondairy ice cream? T: [My grandmother] loves her cow milk. That’s her. As for me, I am not vegan when it comes to dairy. But (many) people in my culture, being African American, are lactose intolerant. I am not lactose intolerant. I just don’t like the smell of cow milk. I was thinking let me try to

RIDGEWOOD

PREPARATORY SCHOOL Knowledge • Wisdom • Discipline

make this dairy-free and see how it tastes. And it turned out great. My base is coconut milk. I used condensed coconut milk as well — as a thickener. Recently I have been experimenting with sweeteners because people have been sending me little diet lists and asking me if things are possible. The first flavor I tried was coconut. I also tried cookies and cream, which I call Rich Boy. Rich Boy is coconut cookies and cream, so you get coconut with caramel and coconut crunch. I use Oreos in it too. It’s my favorite. I also started with a plantain ice cream. I did a basil-infused ice cream with pecan shortbread and a blueberry syrup. I made lavender-honey cornbread ice cream. I make Champagne ice cream. I try to keep it interesting with my flavors. Someone asked, “Can you make oyster ice cream?” and I was like, that’s ridiculous, but I am still trying to figure out how to make oyster ice cream. Now, I am doing rolled ice cream, which I did at the last pop-up at [the Southern Food and Beverage Museum]. I recently purchased this rolled ice cream maker because I saw it on YouTube. That’s my new adventure: dairy-free rolled ice cream. I can do any of my flavors, the only thing is, there has to be sugar involved, because that helps the freezing process when you’re rolling.

How are you developing Hood Cream? T: I also am doing the rolled ice cream because I want to interact more with customers. It’s a

PR OV I D E D B Y N I K K I T H O M P S O N

conversation starter — watching me chop up ingredients for their roll. People were like, “Why don’t you get a shop? Why don’t you get a truck?” Right now, I am trying to see where Hood Cream feels most comfortable. I would like to travel and go to restaurants, do demos, or be hired on the catering end or to have me hand out ice cream. I always had the desire to be an entrepreneur, but I honestly never thought it would be ice cream — the thing I love so much. I have some aspirations to take it to another level and get some culinary schooling if possible. I wanted to create a product. Once it became a thing, I wanted to create a feeling of “I can make this in my own damn kitchen.” I wanted it to be out-ofthe-box flavors. But I want it to be like soul food. I want it to inspire people to say, “Hey, I can make my own at home and add my own flavors and twists to it.” That’s why I named it Hood Cream. I wanted it to be neighborhood ice cream. Not shoot ’em up, terrible-hood ice cream — I know that’s what some people think when they hear the word “hood.” But growing up in the hood all my life, I have found that it’s literally sparked my imagination. That’s why I named it Hood ice cream. I want people to know that not everything that comes from the hood has to do with drugs, violence, gangs and things like that. Sometimes it’s just a girl who knows how to make ice cream. — WILL COVIELLO

We are currently accepting applications for the 2021-2022 academic year. OPEN HOUSE DAILY Please call 504.835.2545 or email rps@ridgewoodprep.com for more information. 201 Pasadena Avenue Metairie, LA 70001 ridgewoodprep.com

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3-COURSE INTERVIEW

OUT EAT TO

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Contact Will Coviello wcoviello@gambitweekly.com 504-483-3106 | FAX: 504-483-3159 C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S AT W W W. B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M Out 2 Eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. Unless noted, addresses are in New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

Notice: Due to COVID-19, dining at restaurants is impacted, with limited indoor seating and other recommended restrictions. All information is subject to change. Contact the restaurant to confirm service options.

BYWATER Luna Libre — 3600 St. Claude Ave., (504) 237-1284 — Roasted chicken enchiladas verde are filled with cheese and served with house-made cheese dip. The menu combines Tex-Mex and dishes from Louisiana and Arkansas. Curbside pickup is available. Breakfast Sat.-Sun., dinner Wed.-Sun. $

CARROLLTON Mid City Pizza — 6307 S. Miro St., (504) 509-6224; midcitypizza.com — See MidCity section for restaurant description. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11 to $20 $$$ — $21 or more

Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Pyramids Cafe — 3151 Calhoun St., (504) 861-9602 — Diners will find Mediterranean cuisine featuring such favorites as shawarma prepared on a rotisserie. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$

CITYWIDE Breaux Mart — Citywide; breauxmart.com — The deli counter’s changing specials include dishes such as baked catfish and red beans and rice. Lunch and dinner daily. $

FAUBOURG MARIGNY Kebab — 2315 St. Claude Ave., (504) 3834328; kebabnola.com — The sandwich shop offers doner kebabs and Belgian

fries. A falafel sandwich comes with pickled cucumbers, arugula, spinach, red onions, beets, hummus and Spanish garlic sauce. No reservations. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Wed.-Mon. $

FRENCH QUARTER Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood in traditional and contemporary Creole dishes, po-boys and more. Char-grilled oysters are topped with Parmesan, herbs and butter. Reservations recommended. Takeout available. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

HARAHAN/JEFFERSON/ RIVER RIDGE The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot offers a menu of burgers, sandwiches and changing lunch specials. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 7333803; theospizza.com — There is a wide variety of specialty pies and toppings to build your own pizza. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers coffee, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads. Tuna salad or chicken salad avocado melts are topped with Monterey Jack and

Parmesan. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $ Lotus Bistro — 203 W. Harrison Ave., (504) 533-9879; lotusbistronola.com — A Mineko Iwasaki roll includes spicy snow crab, tuna, avocado and cucumber topped with salmon, chef’s sauce, masago, green onion and tempura crunchy flakes. The menu also includes bento box lunches, teriyaki dishes, fried rice and more. Takeout and delivery are available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$

METAIRIE Andrea’s Restaurant — 3100 N. 19th St., Metairie, (504) 834-8583; andreasrestaurant.com — Chef Andrea Apuzzo’s speckled trout royale is topped with crabmeat and lemon-cream sauce. Capelli D’Andrea combines house-made angel hair pasta and smoked salmon in cream sauce. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; koshercajun.com — This New York-style deli specializes in sandwiches, including corned beef and pastrami that come from the Bronx. Takeout available. Lunch Sun.Thu., dinner Mon.-Thu. $ Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing — 2035 Metairie Road, Metairie, (504) 832-8032; marktwainpizza.com — Mark Twain’s serves salads, po-boys and pies like the Italian pizza with salami, tomato, artichoke, sausage and basil. Takeout and curbside pickup are available. Lunch Tue.-Sat., dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 5104282; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

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MID-CITY/TREME

NORTHSHORE Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN CR Coffee Shop — 3618 Magazine St., (504) 354-9422; crcoffeenola.com — The selection includes Coast Roast coffees made with beans roasted in antique roasters, and the sweet vanilla cream cold brew

is a signature item. There also are pastries and snacks. Indoor and outdoor seating, online ordering and delivery available. Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. $ Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 8910997; joeyksrestaurant.com — The menu includes fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and red beans and rice. Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is topped with shrimp and crabmeat and served with vegetables and potatoes. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Red Gravy — 4206 Magazine St., (504) 561-8844; redgravycafe.com — Thin cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with chocolate. The menu includes brunch items, pasta dishes, sandwiches, baked goods and more. Takeout available. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza. com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — The Peruvian menu includes a version of the traditional dish lomo saltado, featuring beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and served with fried potatoes and rice. Dine-in, outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole, Cajun and Southern dishes. Fried oysters and skewered bacon are served with meuniere sauce and toasted French bread. Reservations required. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$$

OUT TO EAT Carmo — 527 Julia St., (504) 875-4132; cafecarmo.com — Carmo salad includes smoked ham, avocado, pineapple, almonds, cashews, raisins, cucumber, green pepper, rice, lettuce, cilantro and citrus mango vinaigrette. The menu includes dishes inspired by tropical cuisines. Takeout and delivery are available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ NOLA Caye — 898 Baronne St., (504) 302-1302; nolacaye.com — The menu features Caribbean-inspired dishes and Gulf seafood. Seared ahi tuna is served with mango, avocado, mixed greens, citrus vinaigrette and sesame seeds. Takeout, delivery and outdoor seating available. D daily, brunch Sat.-Sun. $$$ Provisions Grab-n-Go Marketplace — Higgins Hotel, 500 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higgingshotelnola.com — The coffeeshop serves salads, sandwiches, pastries and more. Takeout available. Service daily. $

WEST BANK Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca, made with breadcrumbs and Italian seasonings. Curbside pickup available. Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$ Specialty Italian Bistro — 2330 Belle Chasse Hwy., Gretna, (504) 391-1090; specialtyitalianbistro.com — The menu combines Old World Italian favorites and pizza. Paneed chicken piccata is topped with lemon-caper piccata sauce served with angel hair pasta, salad and garlic cheese bread. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$

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Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream. com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Window and curbside pickup. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Brown Butter Southern Kitchen & Bar — 231 N. Carrollton Ave., Suite C, (504) 6093871; brownbutterrestaurant.com — Sample items include smoked brisket served with smoked apple barbecue sauce, smoked heirloom beans and vinegar slaw. A Brunch burger features a brisket and short rib patty topped with bacon, brie, a fried egg, onion jam and arugula on a brioche bun. Dine-in, takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$ Doson Noodle House — 135 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 309-7283; facebook.com/dosonnoodlehouse — Bun thit is Vietnamese-style grilled pork with cucumber, onions, lettuce, mint, cilantro and fish sauce served over rice or vermicelli. The menu includes pho, spring rolls and more. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. $$ Five Happiness — 3511 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 482-3935; fivehappiness.com — The large menu of Chinese dishes includes wonton soup, sizzling seafood combinations served on a hot plate, sizzling Go-Ba and lo mein dishes. Takeout and delivery available. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — Favorites include the Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, grilled ham, cheese and pickles pressed on buttered bread. The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$

Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — The neighborhood pizza joint serves New York-style pies, plus calzones, sandwiches and salads. Signature shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onion on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst. Dine-in, takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes New Orleans favorites such as red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as grilled or fried seafood plates, po-boys, raw or char-grilled oysters, pasta, salads and more. Dine-in and takeout available. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Nonna Mia — 3125 Esplanade Ave., (504) 948-1717; nonnamianola.com — A Divine Portobello appetizer features chicken breast, spinach in red pepper sauce and crostini. The menu includes salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza and more. Curbside pickup and delivery are available. Dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

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MUSIC

WIN A

BY JAKE CLAPP

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

CLARINETIST AND VOCALIST DOREEN KETCHENS has aimed to

release an album every year since the mid-’90s — and occasionally has hit two or even three releases. The plan going into 2020 was to keep up the pace when she and her band, Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans, booked studio time in February and started working on the new recordings. Of course, no one’s plans worked out in 2020. Ketchens is a Royal Street icon, having played near the corner of St. Peter Street for decades, but March 19, 2020 — her husband, tuba and valve trombone player Lawrence Ketchens’ birthday — was the last time Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans performed in the French Quarter before everything shut down. And at the same time, they couldn’t go back into the recording studio. “One of my biggest fears was wasting time, you know, I just didn’t want to waste time,” Doreen Ketchens says. “So we just started doing some things online and stuff like that. And we had some particular tunes that we had grasped on to through requests, so one project became two because we were sitting, waiting to go into the studio anyways.” As the year went on, they were able to record piece by piece whenever they could, and earlier this month, Ketchens and her band released two new albums, the 29th and 30th releases as Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans. Both albums are now available as CDs and as downloads through her new website, doreensjazz.org. “Vol. 29: Pandemic 2020” is an assortment of largely cover songs from Ketchens and her band’s repertoire, from “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” and Danny Barker’s “The Palm Court Strut” to “Meet the Flintstones,” as well as a cover of the radio hit “Feel It Still.” The album’s final track, “BMW Blues,” is a relatable original about a new car that’s been nothing but trouble. Album number 30, “Up Above My Head,” is a gospel record, Ketchens aiming her clarinet right at the heavens in the black and white cover photo taken by Diane Danthony. The album opens with the title track, the traditional gospel

STAYCATION F I L E P H OTO B Y D E VA U N S H I M A H A D E V I A

Clarinetist and vocalist Doreen Ketchens

song best recognized for Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s electric rendition. Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans puts its touch on “This Train,” “Do Lord, Do Remember Me” and “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” among others. No matter the setting — Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans has played internationally, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and other venues — Ketchens and her band always start Sunday shows with a gospel set. But the only time she’s recorded those songs was for “Vol. 8,” years ago. “I always wanted to do another gospel album,” Ketchens says, “it’s just that we do these things on our own and it’s pretty expensive. “One of the things I really wanted to do was ‘Up Above My Head’ and ‘The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow,’ ” she adds. “I came up in church and I did sing in the choir, but at that time I hadn’t found my voice … [The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow], this is one of those root songs and I broke down a few times while I was doing it in the studio.” On the two albums, Ketchens is joined by her husband and daughter, Dorian Ketchens-Dixon, on drums. Guitarist David Hammer is featured on “Pandemic 2020” and Rickie Monie Sr. plays organ on “Up Above My Head.” “A lot of [the work on the albums] was remotely,” Ketchens says. “But we were able to finish and happy that we got there. It’s that pat-onthe-back kind of thing that, hey, you have something to show for a year of not doing your normal thing.”

Submit a photo of YOUR favorite Blue Moon moments to enter to win a night at select hotels, a gift card to Kayak-iti-Yat AND a $1,000 gift card to use at your favorite New Orleans bars and restaurants.

ENTER TO WIN:

bestofneworleans.com/bluemoon2021

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Shining down

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73 Cato’s “I love” 75 Brainteaser 79 Sacred spots 81 Soviet spacecraft series 86 “Lord Jim” novelist Joseph 87 * Buyer’s final figure 88 Membrane covering a lung 89 Creole cooking pods 90 Temporarily stylish thing 91 Take to court 93 Leash, e.g. 94 Tony winner Schreiber 95 Roofing material 96 “It’s so-so” 99 Winter illness 101 Director Preminger 102 Roof part 103 Mine car load 104 Yoko of art 105 Shark part 106 Sped 107 Genesis twin 109 Small stream 111 “Smooth Operator” singer 113 * Vessel for crustacean fishing 117 * Removes tenderly, as a lover’s tears 122 City in central Illinois 123 Hawaii’s nickname 124 Super-corny 125 Occupancy levies

17 Tough 18 Many a virtual bidding event 19 Ork, Krypton or Melmac 20 Lion’s home 27 Paris airport 29 “Righteously” singer Williams 30 Desk wood 31 Pseudonym 32 Groups for devotees 34 Vast Asian mountain system 35 Satirical device 36 Tent securer 38 Straight up, in a bar 46 Reeves of “The Matrix” 48 Fair booth 51 Straight up, in a bar 53 Sutured 54 Like altruists 55 Singer Fitzgerald 58 Obtain by threatening 59 Singer Rita 62 Church teachings 65 Film holders 68 Rock’s Clapton 71 Launching platform 74 Star athlete, for short 75 Place to learn, in Lyon 76 Smartphone company

77 The opposite way 78 Cemetery plot 79 Animal trap 80 Pack full 82 Information group for analysis 83 Big name in car cleaning products 84 Speechify 85 “Thwack!” 90 Remote 92 Moniker for a Yale student 95 Coverer of a bald spot 96 Unlike gods 97 Brian of Roxy Music 98 Pipe with a flexible tube 100 Open, as a Ziploc bag 108 Band blasters 109 Renege (on) 110 Drug bust unit 112 Mgr.’s helper 113 “Wait a —!” 114 “In your face!” 115 Actor Saget 116 Singer Rita 118 Toping sort 119 That girl 120 Supped 121 “Definitely!”

DOWN 1 Talk smack to 2 Like official public statements 3 Freed from federal restrictions 4 Give off light 5 “Look, mice!” 6 Ripen 7 Lil Jon’s genre 8 Around H’wood, e.g. 9 French card game 10 Actress Jane 11 One asked to attend a party 12 Less remote 13 Eye creepily 14 Thanksgiving mo. 15 Summer, to Jeanne 16 Form a lap

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