Gambit: August 2, 2022

August 2-8 2022 Volume 43 Number 31

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AUGUST 2 — AUGUST 8, 2022 VOLUME 43 || NUMBER 31

CONTENTS

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Street Art White Linen Night features art shows and a Julia Street block party IN UKRAINIAN-BORN ARTIST ALEXANDER STOLIN’S PAINTING

“Sand Castles,” two boys build an elaborate sandcastle with tall spires and thick walls as waves crash just beyond them. A couple of sea birds seem to watch in the foreground.

But the background is more ominous, with dark clouds dropping rain and a couple of aircraft carriers in the distance.

“It’s related to the Russian invasion, the Black Sea and Crimea, when Russia annexed it,” Stolin says. “It’s called ‘Sand Castles’ because it is a metaphor for peace.

We are trying to maintain peace like building a sandcastle. You always have to guard this. Otherwise, it’s going to get washed off.”

The paintings in his “Memories Project” look back on a century of his and his wife’s family, combining images from his native Kyiv and her roots in Mississippi.

“Memories Project” opens at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery with a reception on White Linen Night on Saturday, Aug. 6. The annual event organized by Arts District New Orleans returns with art activations in the streets and food and drink vendors spread out on the 300 through 600 block of Julia Street from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Stolin’s work has a sort of Covidera influence to it. Though his canvasses are normally bright and colorful, most of these works are black and white or sepia toned. Part of the reason is that he decided to look back on his family through the last century, and many works capture the tones and dark shadows of old black and white photography. But he also got Covid at the point he was thinking about going without color, and temporarily lost his sense of taste, he says.

After immigrating to San Francisco with his family in 1992, Stolin came to New Orleans for a show of his work in 1994 and ended up staying in the area. In addition to his art practice, he works in the film industry as a scene designer. That also suits his painting style, which he says is influenced by film noir and the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

He also describes some of his color canvasses as cinematic in style. A sense of creepiness akin to Hitchcock and film noir is evident in “Halloween,” which is based on a photo from 1911 of one of his wife’s relatives. A large group of children

PHOTO BY SCOT T THRELKELD / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Visitors check out artwork during White Linen Night. pose for the camera wearing grotesque clown masks they have made at a party.

Also at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery is “Remix,” a collection of 20 sculptures made out of hand-cut books by jazz musician Tony Dagradi.

There’s a wide array of openings scheduled for White Linen Night, including large group shows at the Contemporary Arts Center and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. There also are shows at 15 galleries and the American Institute of Architects — New Orleans Center for Architecture and Design.

The Ogden Museum opens its Louisiana Contemporary show.

Guest curator Valerie Cassel Oliver of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts culled 51 works by 49 Louisiana artists from more than 1,000 submissions. Works range from Luis Cruz Azaceta’s bright painting “POSTCARDS FROM UKRAINE 111” to Thom Bennett’s photos of dilapidated roadside signs to assemblages of found objects and other pieces by Shannon Landis Hansen and Jordan Hess.

The Contemporary Arts Center presents the ninth edition of its Gulf South Open Call show. Titled “Remember Earth?”, its works address environmental issues including climate change, pollution, coastal erosion, natural disasters, environmental racism and more.

There are works by 54 artists from Florida to Texas.

The CAC also presents work by artists currently in residence, Britt Ransom and a.r. havel. Ransom is working on sculpture incorporating 3-D printing techniques. “Oh Holy

|

by Will Coviello

Filth” is a collaborative altar project by havel, Xiamara Chupaflor and Koko Barrios. The CAC also has DJs, cash bars and more during its White Linen festivities.

LeMieux Galleries also is hosting a juried group show. Among the artists is Jimmy Descant, a former New Orleanian best known for his Deluxe Rocketship assemblages, turning things like vintage vacuum cleaners and appliances into rockets with the stylish curves of space age design. He is installing two large-scale rocket ships in Orlando prior to the show.

Though Descant’s returned to the city for recent Jazz Fest art booth appearances, he’s largely moved on to assemblage work based on the West, and he has lived in Tucson for the past four years. His works at LeMieux combine photos taken by his father of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy with assemblage elements to give him outfits invoking Indigenous American tribes and Mardi Gras Indians.

Stella Jones Gallery at Place St. Charles features the work of fine art painter and illustrator Charly Palmer. His distinct portrait style is found in the image of John Legend on his “Bigger Love” album. Palmer recently was chosen to design the cover for the NBA 2K22 video game, and he has done previous video games and numerous children’s book covers.

Most of the participating galleries are on Julia or Camp streets.

Arthur Roger Gallery has exhibitions of sculpture and video by Stephanie Patton, tapestries by Troy Dugas, paintings by Brian Guidry and works of geometric abstraction by Pard Morrison.

At Octavia Art Gallery, “Digital Reality” features several artists exploring uses of technology in the creation of art, with projections, holograms and NFTs, as well as accompanying paintings.

For information about White Linen Night, visit artsdistrictneworleans.com.

Satchmo SummerFest JEWEL BROWN, who sang with one of Louis Armstrong’s bands for eight years, is among the performers at the Satchmo SummerFest.

There are two music stages on the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and on Saturday, Aug. 6, the lineup includes Leroy Jones & New Orleans Finest, Herlin Riley, Big 6 Brass Band, Tim Laughlin and more. Sunday, Aug. 7, brings Kermit Ruffins’ tribute to Armstrong, John Boutte, Nigel Hall, Brown with Players Ella & Louie Tribute Band, and more.

PHOTO BY SCOT T THRELKELD / THE T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Nayo Jones of The Nayo Jones Experience performs at Satchmo Summerfest.

There also are panel discussions inside the museum, and Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi is one of the speakers, and he also presents film footage of Armstrong performances. On Sunday, there’s a Jazz Mass at St. Augustine Church, followed by a second line to the festival. Admission to the festival is $7 in advance or $10 at the gate (children under 13 get in free). Visit satchmosummerfest.org for information.

‘Rent’ A GROUP OF YOUNG ARTISTS AND FRIENDS struggle to scrape together rent while writing songs, PAGE 25

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OPENING GAMBIT NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Welcome to the WORST SUANA EVER portion of this year’s weather programming

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T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine awarded million-dollar

grants to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) and Tulane University for new environment-focused K-12 curricula. The grants are part of the Academies’ Gulf Research Program. LEAN received a $1.2 million grant to develop an environmental justice curriculum and education plans. Tulane will use a $1.1 million grant to teach about water issues that disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous residents of the region.

The New Orleans City Council & Mayor LaToya Cantrell have reversed a two-year ban on the use of facial recognition technology and other surveillance tools by police. Supporters of the surveillance tools say they will help cops solve violent crimes amid a recent crime surge.

However, they presented little evidence to back up that claim.

Moreover, studies have shown facial recognition technology is intrinsically biased against women and people of color.

Louisiana’s GOP House members

all voted against a bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriage in U.S. law. U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat representing New Orleans, voted for the measure. The bill, put forward after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, passed the House 267-157 and will now be taken up by the Senate.

THE COUNT

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New Orleans Police Department Superintendent of Police Shaun Ferguson is facing mounting pressure from the City Council and the public to address NOPD dysfunction and growing calls for his firing.

Frustrated by delays, New Orleans City Council to order new civilian force at NOPD THE NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY TOOK THE FIRST STEP

toward handing over responsibility for responding to non-violent criminal complaints, like car thefts and burglaries, to a new civilian-based force in an effort to reduce lengthy response times and free up more officers to handle violent crime calls.

The move comes as New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson is under increasing pressure from the council and public, including facing calls for his departure.

During a hearing Monday, council members agreed to consider a motion on Aug. 4 directing the city to begin the process of hiring civilians. Specifically, the motion orders the city’s civil service, in coordination with NOPD, to define the positions for hiring as well as pay scale and other issues. Those actions do not normally require council action, but while NOPD already employs civilians for many tasks — and Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration has floated expanding its civilian workforce for more than a year — so far nothing has happened.

“We’ve been talking about a lot of solutions” for years, a clearly frustrated Council President Helena Moreno said, noting she believes “adding professional civilians to the NOPD” is a critical

part of addressing call response times and backlogs.

“This isn’t some type of a new idea … this is actually something we’re seeing happen with law enforcement all across the country,” she said.

The goal, according to Moreno, is to add roughly 20 new civilian positions to NOPD. Using civilians to respond to non-violent crime calls has become an increasingly popular tool in communities across the country.

Earlier in the day, Jeff Asher and Rachel Weinstein of AH Datalytics presented a sobering report on NOPD’s abysmal performance in responding to 911 calls. According to data they collected, New Orleans significantly lags behind other major cities in the U.S. in estimated response times. Police in Little Rock, Arkansas, have an average response time of 20 minutes, while police in New York City respond within 30 minutes on average and San Fransisco police arrive within 76. But New Orleans police take on average 150 minutes — with some taking hours longer than that.

That, in turn, can have a direct impact on crime reporting. When police arrive after frustrated citizens have already left the scene of a crime, they log the incident as a “Gone on Arrival” (GOA). That, in turn, can mean the crime won’t PAGE 8

The company presented a timeline to the Kenner City Council July 22 and said the public should expect even longer outages for a stronger storm. Seven-day outages can be expected for a Category 1, 10 days for a Category 2 and 14 for a Category 3. Entergy New Orleans, the company’s local subsidiary, has not announced its timeline yet. Last year most residents in Orleans and Jefferson parishes experienced a blackout for at least 10 days following the Category 4 Hurricane Ida.

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count toward the city’s reported rates. And over the last year, the number of GOAs has jumped considerably. For instance, between 2018 and 2021, 11.3% of aggravated rape calls — rape incidents involving a weapon — were listed by NOPD as GOA. So far in 2022, that number has skyrocketed to 31.3%.

Asher noted that under current staffing levels, those rates aren’t expected to get any better. “I wouldn’t place a bet on it,” he said Council members hope hiring civilians to take over non-violent crime calls and other duties that don’t require an armed officer will help ease problems at NOPD, both in terms of addressing violent crime as well as winning back the trust of the public. “I believe it can make an immediate difference. For instance, I wake up in the morning, my car is gone … I don’t need a commissioned police officer to come to my house,” Asher said.

Although most of the council seems to support hiring civilians, the hearing turned heated after Council Member Eugene Green repeatedly praised NOPD, arguing the department “is doing the job” and seemed to chastise other members’ criticism — which he appears to view as signaling to criminals the city isn’t capable of catching them.

That drew an angry response from Council Vice President JP Morrell. “We are not elected to tell the public ‘we need more cops, you join the force to solve your own problems’ … when you have an exodus of police, that’s an indictment of the force,” Morrell said.

Moreno also criticized the Cantrell administration’s slow response to NOPD’s now chronic force retention problem. In addition to the lack of movement on hiring civilians, Moreno also pointed out that despite proposing changes more than a year ago to how NOPD recruits officers from other departments, Ferguson is only now promising to unveil the new policy sometime later this year. “Why is it later this year? Why isn’t it now?” Moreno asked.

“The people are looking for solutions now. The council is looking for solutions now,” she added.

MEANWHILE, FERGUSON CONTINUES TO FACE growing criticism and pressure not only from the council but from the public. For much of the last year, rising carjacking and murder rates have been accompanied by increasingly loud public complaints about NOPD — and his job performance.

Ferguson has variously argued the rate of some violent crimes have actually gone down (though

that is now very much in doubt after Wednesday’s hearing) or blamed the problem on a lack of police academy recruits. Ferguson has also on occasion sought to shift some blame to the public when he believes community members have not adequately cooperated with the police.

Morrell has already called for Cantrell to fire the police chief, and it has become increasingly clear that his support within the council has crumbled. That’s reflective of the public, and during Wednesday’s hearing at least one member of the public also called for him to be sacked.

The release of exit interviews with NOPD officers this week has proved further fodder for those seeking Ferguson’s ouster. The interviews paint a damning portrait of a department plagued by mismanagement, low morale and accusations that officers are being pressured to make questionable arrests, among many other dysfunctions.

Cantrell, however, has so far been steadfast in her support of Ferguson. But even with the support of the mayor, it’s not clear whether Ferguson is inclined to remain in the job. Multiple City Hall sources, who spoke on background in order to discuss personnel matters, told Gambit Wednesday the embattled chief may already be on the way out. While these sources speculated he could announce his resignation in the coming weeks, they also cautioned that rumors about his departure have been rampant for sometime. Still, the fact that people inside City Hall are openly discussing his future highlights the difficult position Ferguson finds himself in.

A spokesperson for Cantrell declined to comment on personnel matters.

It’s unclear who Cantrell might tap to replace Ferguson, should he indeed end up leaving. One name that’s been floated to replace him, at least temporarily, is Deputy Superintendent Jonette Williams.

Williams has had a remarkable rise through the ranks recently.

Last fall, she was promoted from lieutenant to captain, and served in Algiers in the 4th district where she oversaw field duties. Then on June 17, Williams was again promoted, this time to her current position. She runs NOPD’s Management Services Bureau.

Appointing Williams would be an historic move. She would not only become the first woman to serve as New Orleans’ top law enforcement officer, she would be the first Black woman NOPD superintendent. — JOHN STANTON

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C O M M E N TA R Y

Free at last, Williams must sell his vision for a progressive DA’s office

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LAST WEEK’S NOT GUILTY VERDICT in

District Attorney Jason Williams’ tax evasion trial brings an end to an ugly and embarrassing chapter in local politics, not just for Williams but also for New Orleans.

Whatever your feelings on Williams or the trial, it’s clear the government failed P H OTO B Y DAV I D G R U N F E L D / to make its case T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E and appeared District Attorney Jason Williams. significantly overmatched by Williams’ legal team. Now, it’s time for the DA ered weapons; and that they were to turn his full attention to the “suspected” of committing a preneeds of the city. While he has vious armed robbery. In short, the done an admirable job in the face same sort of arguments Cannizzaof a grueling process, it is also plain that his trial has been a distraction. ro and other DAs have used.

Williams was elected DA on a Whether to charge minors as promise of progressive criminal adults is just one of several policy justice reform and an end to the areas about which Williams has abuses that marked the tenure failed to communicate — and of former DA Leon Cannizzaro. effectively sell to the public — his Williams has made significant progressive vision for the DA’s ofprogress in reforming the DA’s fice and how “facts on the ground” office and the broader criminal may be forcing him to adjust it. justice system, but in some areas Public support for his policies will he has backtracked. be critical to Williams’ success In his first week in office, Williams going forward, both as a first-term instituted a policy of trying all DA and should he seek reelection juveniles, including those accused or some other office. of violent crimes, in Juvenile Court.

The DA’s office is an immensely Trying kids in Juvenile Court rather powerful and important part of the than as adults was a core — and popular — plank of his campaign local criminal justice system. It’s platform. Just four months later, also a bully pulpit for an able politamid a spike in violent crime and ical communicator, particularly as carjackings by juveniles, Williams violent crime surges and citizens’ announced his office would try trust in the system sinks two juvenile murder defendants to new lows. as adults. They became the first With his trial behind him, Wilof a growing list of juveniles to be liams should use that platform to charged as adults. help calm the nerves of citizens Rather than lay out a coherent and to explain (and sell) his evolvrationale for why his campaign ing policies as DA. Given his popupledge was no longer a viable oplarity and charisma, Williams could tion, the DA leaned heavily on worn also use it to promote the kind of and largely debunked claims: that broad, long-term policy changes — “in other cities” (as The Lens put it from mental health care access to at the time) the lower penalties of systemic reforms at NOPD — that Juvenile Court had driven adults New Orleans so desperately needs to recruit minors to commit violent crimes; that they’d used high-powright now.

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Williams’ acquittal ends a wild ride, as another begins TWENTY-FIVE MONTHS is a long

time to be on a political roller coaster, but that’s almost exactly how long it took Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams to beat a federal tax rap.

It’s been a wild ride, but the flashy DA’s fortunes are poised to soar again.

Williams was indicted on 11 counts of felony tax fraud on June 26, 2020 — just weeks before he qualified to run for DA — and acquitted of all charges on July 28, 2022. Along the way, he got elected as New Orleans’ first “progressive” district attorney on promises to reinvent the office as a bastion of criminal justice reform.

Even as the indictment hung over his campaign for DA, Williams remained upbeat and confident, flashing his hallmark smile and focusing on his progressive bona fides. He won the DA’s race in surprisingly easy fashion in December 2020.

A month later, he took over an office wracked by accusations of bullying witnesses and issuing fake subpoenas, but those ghosts didn’t haunt Williams as much as the federal indictment. Publicly undaunted, he announced sweeping policy changes, including a task force dedicated to reexamining several hundred convictions by nonunanimous juries.

Although he won national praise for his progressive policies, Williams undoubtedly was distracted by the federal charges and the specter of having to stand trial. He appeared to be struggling to find his footing as DA, having spent his entire legal career as a criminal defense attorney (see Commentary, p. 9).

Now, more than 18 months into the job, Williams can finally devote all his attention to the DA’s office. It will be interesting to see where he takes it from here, but this much is certain: His political star will likely rise again.

That’s not how things looked only a month ago, but political landscapes (and politicians’

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

District Attorney Jason Williams following his not guilty verdict.

fortunes) have a way of changing quickly.

Case in point: Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who also campaigned as a progressive. During the same 25 months that Williams battled a federal indictment, Cantrell’s approval rating fell from near 70% to just 44% amid a violent crime wave and massive resignations at NOPD. For the first time, Herroner’s negative rating, 48%, exceeds her level of support.

Unlike Williams, Cantrell’s political wounds are mostly self-inflicted. She promoted letting cops use evidence based on facial recognition software, a move that upset many progressives, and she has recently taken a series of expensive overseas trips that amount to little more than lavish boondoggles — while citizens grow weary of flooded streets, violent crime and ever longer police response times.

Williams and Cantrell have never been allied politically. In the aftermath of his acquittal, as other elected officials heaped congratulatory good wishes upon the DA, Cantrell thanked jurors for their “thoughtfulness and consideration” and subtly admonished Williams to “focus” on citizens’ safety.

If the mayor’s slide continues, as seems inevitable, look for the newly emboldened DA to seize the reins on public safety issues. That, too, should be a wild ride.

11

BLAKE PONTCHARTR AIN™

Hey Blake, How did the Ochsner name end up on hospitals and clinics? Where was the first Ochsner hospital located?

Dear reader, ALTHOUGH THE OCHSNER HOSPITALS AND CLINICS BEAR THE NAME of Dr. Alton Ochsner, he was

one of five physicians to establish the first one in 1942. Ochsner was a native of South Dakota who came to New Orleans in 1927 and became director of surgery at the Tulane University School of Medicine. In 1939, he was among the first doctors in the world to identify cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer.

Ochsner wanted to bring to New Orleans the type of group medical practice typified by the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic. He recruited four Tulane doctors: orthopedic surgeon Dr. Guy Caldwell, urologist Dr. Edgar Burns, ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Francis “Duke” LeJeune Sr. and OB-GYN Dr. Curtis Tyrone.

Each contributed $4,300 to open the city’s first private group practice clinic. According to Ochsner’s website, the idea was so controversial that the founders were shunned by fellow doctors, who called it unfair competition.

According to Ochsner’s 1981 Times-Picayune obituary, the names New Orleans Clinic and Southern Clinic were suggested for the new clinic, before the founders named it after Ochsner. They sent him a telegram while he was attending a

P H O T O B Y T R AV I S S P R A D L I N G / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Today Ochsner has clinics in much of Louisiana, including Gonzales. meeting in Utah: “The baby has a name: the Ochsner clinic.”

That first clinic opened Jan. 2, 1942 at Prytania and Aline, across the street from Touro Infirmary. It was such a success that by 1944, the founders were able to establish the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation.

In 1947, the foundation purchased a former Army hospital at Camp Plauche, a military installation located near the foot of the Huey P. Long Bridge. That became the first Ochsner hospital. It closed in 1954 when a new five-story, 250-bed facility opened at the site of Ochsner’s current Jefferson Highway campus.

There, in 1970, Dr. John Ochsner, Alton Ochsner’s son, performed the first heart transplant in the South, establishing Ochsner as a leader in transplant surgeries.

Ochsner Health System, as it is now known, operates 40 hospitals and more than 300 health and urgent care centers across Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South, employing more than 34,000 people.

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The first festival was held in 2001, which would have marked the centennial of Armstrong’s birth. That year, New Orleans International Airport was also renamed in his honor.

The city is home to two other permanent tributes to Armstrong, who died in 1971. Armstrong Park was dedicated on April 15, 1980. The 31-acre, $10 million park on North Rampart Street took more than seven years to build.

Its construction in historic Congo Square was not without controversy.

The park’s 10-foot-tall bronze statue of Armstrong is the work of sculptor Elizabeth Catlett. Armstrong’s widow Lucille was there when the park opened. “I’m on cloud nine. I’m ecstatic. This is a marvelous tribute to Louis and he richly deserves it,” she said at the opening ceremony. It featured performances from Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, Al Hirt, Allen Toussaint and others.

In Algiers, Armstrong is also highlighted on the Robert E. Nims Jazz Walk of Fame along the Mississippi River near the ferry landing. It features a statue of Armstrong created by artists at Kern Studios, along with plaques honoring other jazz musicians.

The Walk of Fame was dedicated in 2003.

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12

BABY STEPS

DESPITE RECENT CHANGES, LOUISIANA STRUGGLES TO RECRUIT FOSTER CARE WORKERS AND PARENTS

BY KAYLEE POCHE

B

randee Sandusky and her husband Rhett had been certified as foster parents for less than 24 hours in February 2018 when they got a call from the state about a newborn baby girl.

“We got certified and got our first placement that same day, which hints to how great the need is in general,” she says.

Though their goal in fostering was always reunifying children with their birth parents when safe and possible, as Louisiana teaches in its foster care training, after two years of fostering her, the Sanduskys ended up adopting that baby girl — now a giggling, tutu-wearing 4-year-old.

Following Madison’s adoption and the birth of their youngest daughter, the Sanduskys opened their home to foster children again this year. They knew the need for homes was still there, and they wanted to do their part in providing a safe place for these children.

But they quickly learned just how bad the situation still was.

Soon after agreeing to start taking in kids again, they fostered a baby boy for six weeks. In this case, his birth family was doing well and they knew he’d only be staying with them briefly.

But the calls from the state’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) — which is in charge of foster care, adoption and family services — didn’t stop there.

“We had him six weeks, and I got a call probably every four days for another child,” she says. “One of them was like, ‘Please take this child. We have nowhere for them to go, even if you have a couch for the night.’ ” The Sanduskys’ Baton Rouge home is one of just 1,670 foster homes in Louisiana. Meanwhile, there were 3,335 children in the foster care system as of July 25. More than a quarter of those foster homes were only for specific children, and only 47 were specifically for older children.

PHOTO BY KRISTEN SOILEAU

Brandee and Rhett Sandusky and their daughters Cora Jane and Madison.

“The need is so great,” Brandee Sandusky says.

There have been major shifts in the last six years that have drastically impacted everything from how Louisiana funds its child welfare system to the entire way we think about how the system should function. As a whole, the system is moving toward a more trauma-informed approach that gives birth parents a more active role in the foster care process.

But long-standing problems persist, as the state struggles to attract people to participate in the system across the board, whether it’s finding more families like the Sanduskys to foster children or filling positions at DCFS. Part of the problem is that the state has underfunded the child welfare system for years. The Legislature slashed state funds from DCFS drastically during then-Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tenure, and the department still hasn’t bounced back fully. The department has hundreds of vacant positions, pushing more cases onto existing employees and making it harder for them to support foster parents in the state.

Sandusky says she feels the state should do more to help foster parents, “besides just a letter at Christmas that’s like, ‘Thanks for your help.’ ” “You’re like, hey, well, OK, great, but I feel like there could be more support,” she says.

F

oster care in Louisiana looks a lot different than it did a decade ago — or even five years ago, for that matter.

Many children enter the child welfare system due to neglect cases, and often what the state considers “neglect” is unmet needs stemming from poverty. Historically, the state would sometimes end up putting money toward having people other than the birth parents take care of the child rather than helping birth parents access the resources and support they need to raise their child in the first place.

“If we’re saying that mom loves this kid, mom cares about their wellbeing, but she lacks whatever it is, why on earth would our reaction be to remove them from their mom,

13

BABY STEPS we had to try to build up what we were going to lose on the back side to be able to do the front side work.”

Bruce says the law has been a positive change, but that she would like to see more money go toward helping families get the resources they need to raise their children.

“I see that efforts are being made and that progress is being made,” she says. “But there’s still an enormous amount of stigma, bias … about giving money to ‘them.’ Why are we spending money on that? And then that’s a whole ’nother conversation to unpack around race, class and saviorism.”

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s research on child development and psychology builds, another major shift has been a movement nationally toward a more trauma-informed child welfare system.

More people across the whole system are beginning to understand the impact of early traumatic experiences on a person throughout their lives. Bruce is one of several educators across the state who lead training sessions on this topic, including at local public schools.

There are also Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) trainings across the state, which use what we know about the brain and the body to help build healthy relationships. Developed at Texas Christian University, judges, school employees, child and family services workers, CASA volunteers and foster parents across Texas have participated in the training, and now, experts are trying to replicate the approach in Southeast Louisiana.

Crossroads NOLA, a religious nonprofit, offers both in-person and online trainings in both the Greater New Orleans area and Northshore. They also help connect educators with people wanting to take the training in other parts of the state.

Bruce says TBRI has been a game changer for her since the first training she attended.

“I walked out of there and I thought this is the single best training I’ve ever gotten in my entire career because not only am I going to use it in my job, I’m literally going to go home and use this in conversations with my husband or my mother,” she says.

In 2016, Louisiana adopted a model called the Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) designed at PAGE 16

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put them with a stranger and then pay a stranger for that very thing that mom is saying that she needs?” says Joy Bruce, executive director of CASA New Orleans, a nonprofit that assigns volunteers to advocate for foster children in court.

“That’s ridiculous, and that’s literally how the system would sometimes work because that was the only way that we were allowed to spend those funds.”

In 2017, Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, which aimed to address this issue by investing more money to keep families together on the front end. According to DCFS Secretary Marketa Walters, it was the most dramatic policy change to the system in decades.

Under the new policy, DCFS workers visit regularly with families in need for up to 18 months and connect them to services, like medical care including mental health care, transportation, job training and education. During the last fiscal year, the state provided 2,981 families with services in their homes and served 5,749 children in foster care, according to DCFS. These in-home interventions outside the foster care system take a lot of time and resources.

“When we’re doing home-based services, we’re in the home two or three times a week, and that’s very intense,” Walters says, “as opposed to when you’re in foster care, you’re seeing the kid at least once a month.”

The transition hasn’t been easy.

Walters says the state had to opt into the Family First program at the last minute possible, because preparing for the shift took so much time and work for a department that’s already understaffed.

“It was a big change in how we fund our work,” Walters says. “It wasn’t just flip the switch and say, ‘OK, you can do this,’ because what Family First did was say, ‘OK, we’re gonna give you this money to spend at the front end of the system on prevention, but to do that, what we’re going to do is decrease how we fund your back end.’ ” Walters says the whole department had to do a ton of work on budgeting, policy and procedure to implement the change. For instance, they had to create new residential treatment programs for youth as money was moved away from existing group homes for foster kids.

“I don’t know how many states were early adopters and jumped in first, but they were not poor states,” Walters says. “Because it took us every inch of the time that

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Madeleine Landrieu, dean of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and a children’s advocate, said she was introduced to QPI during the Jindal administration but because of budget cuts, DCFS didn’t have the capacity to adopt the practice. Under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration, the department was able to make the shift.

Before the initiative, birth parents and foster parents typically didn’t have a relationship.

Sometimes, foster parents didn’t know the birth parents’ full names or where they were. Now, from the get-go, foster parents are in contact with birth parents when possible with the help of a state caseworker.

“The old way of doing foster care was pretty much, ‘We’re the state, we’re the experts. We’re going to come in, we’re going to tell the foster parents how to foster, what to do, how they should behave … We were the boss,” Walters says. “QPI turned it upside down and said, ‘Look, there needs to be a partnership between foster parents and birth parents and the state worker, the caseworker needs to be involved in that connection.’ ”

W

alters says foster parents and birth parents took some time to adjust to QPI. This was especially true for families who may have originally gotten into fostering thinking it would be a road to adoption rather than reunifying families.

“We have a lot of foster parents who were like, ‘Whoa, that is not what I signed up for. I never wanted to know who those people were. This is emotional. What do you mean I have to know who they are? What do you mean I’m supposed to have meetings with them? I don’t want to do that …

That’s too personal,’ ” Walters says. “And then we have birth parents that were like, ‘I’m gonna talk to that person that got my child?’ They weren’t real sure about that either.”

But she also says since the state started QPI, foster families and birth families have developed deep connections, even when the child leaves the foster care system either through adoption or being reunified with their birth parent.

That may mean a child goes to visit their former foster parent

for a week in the summer or a birth parent may come to milestone events in a child’s life, like graduations.

This, too, is the case with the Sanduskys. When they decided they wanted to foster, the state had already rolled out QPI and they learned in their training about the goals of reunification if possible.

Meeting Madison’s birth parents for the first time, Brandee Sandusky remembers telling them, “Hey, we’re here for y’all as well, not just for Madison. We want to help y’all as much as we can as well.”

She says the caseworker and lawyer at the meeting looked surprised by their approach.

“I looked at them like, ‘Wait. This is what you’re teaching us to do. Is this bad?’ ” she says. “And they’re like, ‘No, we’ve never had foster parents be this open about not just wanting to take a child from the parents.’ ” The Sanduskys now invite Madison’s birth mom to all the “big events” in her life, like her 4th birthday party earlier this year.

“It’s extremely important for her to know that we love her birth mom and that her birth mom does love her, and that just because she was adopted doesn’t mean that we cut off where she came from,” Brandee Sandusky says.

Of course, such relationships with birth parents aren’t always possible, and just because the state announces a new initiative doesn’t mean every caseworker and every foster family will instantly transform the way they think about foster care.

Still, overall, Walters says that stories like these are a sign QPI is working. “The difference is amazing,” she says. “When you look at what we used to do and what we do now, it is the best single decision that the agency could have made.”

W

hile major policy changes are helpful, at the end of the day, Louisiana’s child welfare system isn’t functioning properly because there aren’t enough state workers to manage the cases or foster families to welcome children into their homes.

As of press time, in the New Orleans region, there are 201 children in foster care and 110 foster homes, 17 of which are for specific children. Only three of the homes are specifically for older children, yet 81 of those children are between the ages of 12 and 17.

“When we don’t have a foster

17

BABY STEPS

home in this region that’s available to take a teenage girl, then we’re not doing any of those things well,” Bruce says. “That’s not like slamming anybody, but we’re not doing Family First well. We’re not doing QPI well.”

With a shortage of foster homes, Bruce says those working in child welfare are stuck between a rock and a hard place. In some places, the only families willing to take a child in might not also be ones who embrace working with birth families.

“Do we enforce QPI and then say that there’s nowhere for these girls to go, or do we say well, it’s not ideal but at least they’re here?” she says. “Those are really terrible choices that we shouldn’t be having to make and yet here we are.”

When the state legislature makes budget cuts, health, education and social services are some of the only places they can take money from that aren’t protected by the constitution. And during budget cuts during the Jindal administration, DCFS had to cut around 500 positions.

Though the legislature is no longer slashing the department’s budget, now the department is struggling to fill hundreds of positions. In the last year, DCFS has raised salaries to attract workers.

A child welfare specialist trainee, who would need a four-year degree, used to start at just below $30,000 and now starts at just over $36,000. Child welfare specialists of all levels got boosts of around $7,000 to $8,000, while supervisors went from around $47,000 to around $56,000 Having so many vacant positions has put a strain on workers who already have difficult jobs, who are now having to manage more children’s cases for relatively low wages.

AND MORE

“We’re in your life when you don’t want us and we’re having hard truth discussions about how you’re going to raise your children,” Walters says. “People have very strong feelings about being able to raise their children the way they want to raise their children, not the way the state tells them to raise their children.”

Put all that together and it becomes clear why some positions in the department, social services analysts and child welfare specialists, have a turnover rate of more than 40%.

“Staffing has affected every single decision we make,” Walters says. “When you’ve got somebody out on [family and medical leave] and somebody else just had a baby and three people have retired and one has quit, somebody has to pick up all those cases … which means instead of my 12 (cases) that I should have, I’ve now got 20.”

“Well, am I going to do as good of work with 20 as I would with 12? No.” The shortage of child welfare workers and foster families aren’t unrelated either. According to Walters, foster families sometimes have a hard time getting in touch with their foster child’s caseworker because that worker is so swamped.

“We don’t have enough caseworkers and so there are times that foster parents feel like they’re being ignored,” she says. “They need help and they’re calling their worker, and their worker’s not calling them back, and so they feel neglected.”

Walters says her department is doing everything they can to fix the problem and connect foster parents to mentor newer foster parents. Meanwhile, the governor and First Lady Donna Edwards PAGE 18

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SCREENSHOT FROM LOUISIANA FOSTERS WEBSITE

First Lady Donna Edwards and Gov. John Bel Edwards promote their Louisiana Fosters initiative, which aims to provide foster families with existing community resources.

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BABY STEPS PAGE 17

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Under former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, the state made drastic cuts to the Department of Children and Family Services’ budget.

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have also launched two initiatives aimed at recruiting and supporting foster families.

Louisiana Fosters is a network that connects foster children and parents with resources from nonprofits, churches, businesses and other community groups.

One Church One Child aims to encourage each of the state’s 4,000 churches to find one family willing to foster a child and have that whole church help support the child.

“If you think about it from that perspective, it doesn’t seem so complicated,” Walters says. “It doesn’t seem so hard. But somehow, we’ve never quite cracked that nut, so to say.”

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verything about the foster care system is complicated. Cases are rarely clear cut, and judges have to make difficult decisions about what’s best for children in case-by-case circumstances.

Meanwhile, foster parents have to care for and love the children in their care, even though they know that child likely won’t stay with them forever.

It’s such a difficult subject that Bruce says that people generally don’t like talking or thinking about it.

“These issues are hard, and they’re complex,” she says. “You hear about child abuse and neglect, and you don’t want to try to identify with it. We’ve hit the very first hurdle right there.”

When people do think about foster care, there aren’t simple, tidy solutions to their involvement like donating to a food bank and mov-

ing on. There are ways to donate school supplies or holiday gifts but often the needs are more specific, like paying for trauma-informed training or helping an older child pay rent after they had to call into work sick, Bruce says.

“Because the problem is so complex, figuring out what your part of the solution is is also complex,” she adds. “It means that there needs to be some level of understanding … It all has to be taken with a much heavier weight to it, not just because of the weight that it is on the child but also the weight that it is on you as an individual.”

But because the children in foster care are under the care of the state, advocates say everyone has a role to play in supporting foster children, including holding elected officials accountable for funding the child welfare system.

“Kids in foster care are our kids.

Their custodial parent is the state of Louisiana, so you, as the taxpaying citizen of the state of Louisiana, are part of their custodial parents,” Bruce says.

Kim Carver, a board member of Crossroads NOLA, says because the need is so great he thinks the entire community, including churches, nonprofits, businesses and other organizations, needs to play a part in providing for foster children and their families — not just the government.

“When any of those groups falter, when any of them take their eye off the ball, when any of them are not operating at optimal performance, families and kids are suffering,” he says. “Everybody can do better and more.”

19

Thai’d Up on Gentilly A new Thai restaurant opens near the Fair Grounds THAI’D UP NOLA IS THE CUTE NAME OF A NEWLY OPENED RESTAURANT at

1839 Gentilly Blvd., just steps from the Fair Grounds. It also sums up what happened when New Orleans native Ryan Walsh met Thai-born Saowanit “Kate” Welch five years ago at Republic.

“My world got a lot more Thai, that’s for sure,” says Walsh, who had never traveled much outside of Louisiana and didn’t even have a passport.

Since the pair got together, they’ve traveled three times to Thailand, including with Walsh’s folks, who wanted to meet Welch’s parents. “Now it’s our favorite place to go,” he says.

The couple have been working together for the past year, initially while running Bangkok Thai next to Cooter Brown’s in the Riverbend neighborhood. They’d planned on buying the place, but the deal fell through. Walsh’s family has a hospitality background — his dad was a bell captain at the Marriott for years and he worked as a valet at hotels in the French Quarter for 12 years.

“We figured, let’s try working for ourselves,” Walsh says. “We love it.”

They heard about the Gentilly Boulevard location when Catty Shack owner Catherine Smith decided to close her Tex-Mex eatery. “We are thrilled with the location and the neighbors are just wonderful,” Welch says. “When we were renovating, folks would knock on the door and ask us what was going on, when we were going to open.”

Since opening in early July, the 25-seat dining room is usually full for lunch and dinner, and there is plenty of takeout business as well.

Welch, 27, came to New Orleans eight years ago to stay with close friends of her parents. While she was waiting for her green card, she worked as a server at a sushi restaurant.

“I really didn’t know how to cook Thai food,” she says. “When we moved in together, Ryan asked me to cook for him, but I didn’t have any confidence. But he said, ‘It’s

FORK + CENTER

|

by Beth D’Addono

good, I can eat it.’ So, I started cooking for his parents and for my friends at work. Then I went to work at Bangkok Thai for two years.”

Armed with recipes from family and friends in Thailand, Welch created a menu of familiar dishes and added a few of her own favorites at Thai’d Up. She serves tender roti with curry dipping sauce as an appetizer. Deepfried tofu comes with a sweet chili sauce, and fresh spring rolls arrive packed with fragrant herbs and vegetables, perfect for swiping through house-made peanut sauce. She makes her own beef jerky, drying strips of marinated steak before baking them in a sweet-and-savory Thai chili sauce.

The menu includes the usual suspects for soups and salads, including a shredded green papaya salad dressed with fish sauce and lime. A creamy version of spicy hot-and-sour tom yum cools off the heat with evaporated milk. In a menu section of grilled items, a choice of marinated chicken or pork is served with a strident jaew dipping sauce made with shallots, fish sauce, fresh lime juice, chilis and herbs. A less potent version is served with butter-Thai shrimp, Welch’s play on butterflied shrimp cooked with butter.

Welch’s version of the popular noodle dish pad thai, offered with chicken, beef or shrimp, is bright with notes of citrus and tamarind. Drunken noodles, a popular Bangkok street food, is another winner. In every case, the heat level can be ratcheted from none to Thai hot, depending on the palate. Thai fried rice, curries and stir fries powered by basil, eggplant, cashews

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Mid-City Honduran hub YOU HAVE TO DIG A BIT FOR THE FRIED CHICKEN IN THE POLLO CON TAJADAS at Tia Maria’s Kitchen. But there’s no doubt it is the crispy-crusted, juicy center of this dish, finished with crunchy fried plantain strips, finely shredded cabbage and creamy sauce.

A few doors up Tulane Avenue at Los Catrachos, there are mixed grill platters heaped with meats and interspersed with bright red pickled red onions.

Four blocks away at Las Delicias de Honduras, the menu is anchored by seafood, including shrimp and conch that pulse with oily garlic and whole fried red snapper that should be a centerpiece for a feast but can make a quick lunch.

At each of these three restaurants, all clustered close by in MidCity, there are baleadas, the folded PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER

Kate Welch and Ryan Walsh opened Thai’d Up. and garlic offer tasty vegetarian options. She plans to introduce specials soon.

For dessert, sweet sticky rice served with mango is a must.

Welch soaks the rice overnight with pandan leaves, which turns the sticky rice bright green and gives it an herbal flavor — perfect with the sweetness of sliced, ripe mango.

Currently, the restaurant offers an all-day menu from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

The restaurant is waiting on a liquor license, and diners can bring their own or grab drinks next door at the Jockey Pub. There is a $15 corkage fee.

Although neither Welch nor Walsh expected to be running a restaurant at this point in their lives, they say they couldn’t be happier.

“I love this work,” Welch says. “I love feeding people.”

?

WHAT

Thai’d Up

WHERE

1839 Gentilly Blvd., (504) 354-8202; thaidupla.com

WHEN

Lunch and dinner Thu.-Mon.

HOW

Dine-in and takeout

CHECK IT OUT

Traditional Thai cuisine in a neighborhood spot

P H O T O B Y I A N M C N U LT Y / T H E T I M E S _ P I C AY U N E

Las Delicias de Honduras serves a whole fried snapper with plantains. flour tortillas stuffed with beans and cheese and whatever else you want.

There also is a shared heritage across these three Honduran restaurants, and a fresh view on its growing influence on the local food scene.

Kenner, especially the stretch tied to Williams Boulevard, has long been the nexus of local Latin American life, and it is thick with Honduran restaurants. More recently, Mid-City is registering some of the same energy.

Across the metro area, Hondurans represent the largest portion of the Latin American population, part of a story that goes back generations, entwined through history from the start of the fruit trade that ran from Central PAGE 20

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FORK & CENTER PAGE 19

America through the New Orleans port.

In Mid-City, Latino people comprised 11% of the population by 2019, twice the level of the rest of New Orleans, according to the New Orleans Data Center.

The area is home to the Latin American groceries Ideal Market and Norma’s Sweets Bakery, which both do a booming business from their delis at lunchtime, and also the newer Big Easy Fresh Market, which has an unmistakable Latin American component. It all contributes to the feel of a Latin American food hub, and now these distinctly Honduran restaurants are making their mark.

Los Catrachos opened at 3001 Tulane Ave. in 2016 as the second outpost for Tania and Christian Castro, who started with a restaurant of the same name in Kenner 10 years earlier. It is part of a long commercial development near the courthouse and the hospital complexes, which account for a lot of its takeout business.

Tia Maria’s Kitchen opened late in 2021 at 2931 Tulane Ave., and Las Delicias de Honduras opened last spring at 400 S. Broad St. Each of the three brings its own flavor and style, while sharing Honduran touchstones.

Tia Maria’s (motto: “where eating is a pleasure”) is a comeback restaurant for Maria Almendares, the namesake tia (aunt). She and her family had a restaurant in Gretna a few years back, but it closed in the economic fallout of the BP oil spill. Now they have a new start with a colorful, modern-looking restaurant, where Almendares prepares both staples and house specialties.

The San Pedro maduro was a recent Tia Maria’s special, described as a whole stuffed plantain. The whole fat fruit was fried, flattened and buried with carne asada strips, smashed avocado and refried beans, then heaped with pickled cabbage and finished with crema and crumbled cheese.

Tia Maria’s also showcases the Honduran way with coffee, pouring a brand called Monte Vista.

Patrons also can add it to the sweet, almond-based drink horchata for an altogether different jolt.

The menu at Los Catrachos is by far the most extensive. Even the options for baleadas run deep, including one made with fried chicken pulled from the bone and embedded between the beans and egg.

There’s also a play on queso dip, with gooey cheese thoroughly mixed with refried beans and shot through with bits of chorizo, all to scoop up on fried tortilla chips.

One area of clear specialty comes through the mixed grill platters of increasingly abundant sizes. “Parrilladas para uno” yielded enough steak, chorizo, pork and chicken to feed a family, all planted in a landscape of thick-cut fried plantains. This platter also cost $15, which underscores the value across these Honduran menus.

Las Delicias de Honduras (motto: “quality is our recipe”) was opened by chef Carolin Frederick and her family this spring.

The hand-made flour tortillas give the baleadas a wonderfully pliant texture and toasty flavor.

Whole red snapper comes apart in meaty chunks, and the mixed seafood soup teems with conch, shrimp and hunks of fish.

The décor at Las Delicias de Honduras is spare, but the Frederick family lights the place up with their hospitality.

The chef’s son, Chris Frederick, and his uncle, Edwin Lalin, sometimes break into song between the register in front and the grill in back, sparking harmony around the restaurant as videos play on TV. Then out come the crunchy, tightly rolled, generously finished Honduran tacos and the care with food is evident. — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Zee’s opens ZEE’S PIZZERIA IS NOW OPEN IN UPTOWN . Zander White launched

his pizza business as a pop-up during the pandemic and was a frequent vendor at spots like Zony Mash Beer Project. He decided to open a brick and mortar earlier this year, and that spot opened July 28 at 3914 Baronne St., in the redeveloped Fine Arts Theater building.

Zee’s serves Northeasternstyle thin-crust pizza, including a signature margherita pie and the Bambino, topped with pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella, ricotta and garlic. The shop also sells by the slice, and the opening menu includes garlic knots and Caesar salad. There’s a cooler of canned beer, wine and cocktails. There’s seating for roughly 30 at tables and a bar along the front window.

Patrons can also order online for takeout. Zee’s is open from lunch through dinner Wednesday through Sunday. — WILL COVIELLO

Theaudric Davis

OF THE

WEEK

Chef and actor

by Will Coviello THEAUDRIC DAVIS HAS SPLIT HIS TIME BETWEEN THE FOOD AND FILM INDUSTRIES. He appears in com-

mercials and auditions for film and TV roles, and he’s also catered for film sets. Recently, he’s been focusing on developing his culinary business, Real Clever Cuisine, and its signature use of matcha.

In July, he participated in the Vegan 2 the Soul Festival, and this weekend, he’ll be offering vegan and nonvegan dishes at Satchmo SummerFest. For more about Davis and his food business, see @realclevercuisine_ on Instagram or his website flavorithms.com.

How did you get interested in cooking?

THEAUDRIC DAVIS: My mom is the best chef in my family. Food has always been in the background of what I was doing. I got into restaurants when I was 14. I worked at Algiers Landing. That’s where my love for cooking and presentation sprouted. I did some serving with Black Tie Catering. I was a chef at Doctors Hospital of Jefferson. I got into Jazz Fest in the 1990s with a friend’s aunt.

My best friend’s mom had a booth in Congo Square. She used to serve vegetarian fried rice. She also did peanut soup and carrot cake.

I am an aspiring comedian and actor. I worked in the film industry for the past 17 years, prior to me getting back into cooking. I run my catering company now.

I started Real Clever Catering in 2013. I was doing Real Clever film foods as a way to provide meals on film and TV sets, because they have to provide food in a timely manner or they get penalties from the unions. My second company turned into Real Clever Cuisine. I started getting catering gigs doing big weddings and parties here and in places like Orlando.

What kind of dishes do you do at festivals?

D: Igot into the Fried Chicken Festival in 2018. I had a lot of success, and it grew on me. In 2019, I got into Essence. I just did French Quarter Festival and I was the caterer for Chevron while I also had

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HORNE

a booth. I have been doing every festival that I can.

(At the Fried Chicken Festival) I did green tea gumbo with matcha file, and I did matcha jerk chicken. That is my edge. I use matcha green tea. I experimented at home and invested in creating these flavors. Green tea is the driver of all these flavors. Green tea is like the key to your taste buds.

It’s the most savory unit next to Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. It’s almost like natural umami.

I started with the green tea chicken at home. My first dish that I tried publicly was the ParmigianoReggiano and green tea on the jerk, so it’s like a char-broiled jerk.

When you eat it, it’s almost like your mouth explodes.

At the vegan festival, most of the people getting traction were people who had good food that imitated meat. But I am moving away from the trendy vegan approach.

Everything is a cauliflower “chicken.”

I want to make regular vegan dishes.

I do Brussels Voorhees, because people hate Brussels sprouts, but they’re killer. They’re killer Brussels sprouts. It’s sweet potatoes or Yukon golds with Brussels sprouts and I lace it with signature spices and hit it with fig and truffle glaze, and people go crazy for it. We put French onions on it as well. If it’s not a vegan version, we put ParmigianoReggiano on it as well.

At Satchmo Fest, I am doing a play on a fattoush salad. I turned it into a fattoush pasta salad. We have the greens mixed with cavatappi pasta. That’s one of my vegan options. I also am doing green tea jerk chicken with Lamborghini fried rice. Lamborghini fried rice is basically boudin turned into fried rice.

Lamborghini is a play on lamb, boar, which is wild pork, and New Guinea hen. All that is in the boudin. To make it for the festival, so everybody can have it, I take away the pork and the chicken and I use lamb and turkey. I am also doing the crème bruleches, which is crème brulee, tres leches and bread pudding all in one.

DAOU 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon

How are you building your business?

D: I want to open up a brick and mortar. But I want to do it in the right way at the right time in the right spot.

I started Flavorithms because I want to create an online app and subscription-based spice service. It’ll be all my signature spices throughout the year and at a discounted cost. If you’re going to cook an Indonesian dish, you can go online and put the amount of people you’re serving and the dish. (The site) will be a repository for recipes. People can upload their recipes. The algorithm will tell you how much spice you need for the dish. You won’t have a lot of (leftover) masala or turmeric if you don’t usually use that. Or you can get a quarterly spice subscription or get spices for the holidays.

I am getting ready to launch a barbecue sauce that goes on the jerk chicken. I have the green tea umami spice. I have passion berry lemonade with sage. I am going to do green tea gumbo. I already sell these as hand-crafted products. I am talking to cold packers about how to put those products on big box store shelves.

93 Points by Robert Parker This cabernet is robust and full bodied on the palate with flavors of black cherry, cassis, and wild boysenberry.

Subtle secondary layers of cranberry and blueberry are framed with hints of vanilla, black olive and fine leather.

Beautifully balanced and precisely structured around a core of ripe tannins, the velvety texture slowly fades with lingering flavors of blackberry, plum and cocoa.

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WINE

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

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O U T T O E AT C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S A T 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 for New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: Email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

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. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, biscotti, fig cookies, tiramisu, macaroons and other treats.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant.com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole, Cajun and Southern dishes. Gulf Drum Yvonne is served with brown butter sauce with mushrooms and artichoke hearts.

Reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$ The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 284-2898; thebluecrabnola.com — The menu includes sandwiches, fried seafood platters, boiled seafood and more.

Basin barbecue shrimp and grits features jumbo shrimp over cheese grits and a cheese biscuit. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lakeview: Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. Slidell: Lunch Fri.-Sat., dinner Wed.-Sun. $$ Broussard’s — 819 Conti St., (504) 581-3866; broussards.com — The menu includes Creole and creative contemporary dishes. Rainbow trout amandine is served with tasso and corn macque choux, Creole meuniere sauce and fried almonds. Reservations recommended. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Wed.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ Cafe Normandie — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The menu combines classic French dishes and Louisiana cuisine.

Crab beignets are served with herb aioli. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Common Interest — Hotel Indigo, 705 Common St., (504) 595-5605; commoninterestnola.com — Shrimp remoulade Cobb salad comes with avocado, blue cheese, tomatoes, bacon, egg and corn relish. Debris grits features slow-roasted, beef served over goat cheese and thyme grits.

Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night daily. $$ Curio — 301 Royal St., (504) 717-4198; curionola.com — The creative Creole menu includes blackened Gulf shrimp served with chicken and andouille jambalaya. Reservations accepted.

Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The Creole menu highlights Gulf seafood and shellfish in a traditional and contemporary dishes.

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11-$20 $$$ — $20-up

There also are raw oysters and chargrilled oysters topped with Parmesan, herbs and butter. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar — 739 Iberville St., (504) 522-4440; 7400 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 3044125; felixs.com — The oyster bar serves raw Louisiana oysters, and char-grilled oysters are topped with butter, garlic, Parmesan and breadcrumbs. The menu also includes seafood platters, crawfish etouffee and more. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Frey Smoked Meat Co. — 4141 Bienville St., Suite 110, (504) 488-7427; freysmokedmeat.com — The barbecue restaurant serves pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, brisket, sausages and more. Fried pork belly poppers are tossed in pepper jelly glaze. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Froot Orleans — 2438 Bell St., Suite B, (504) 233-3346; frootorleans. com — The shop serves fresh fruit in platters, smoothie bowls such as a strawberry shortcake smoothie and more using pineapple, various berries, citrus and more. No reservations. Outdoor seating available.

Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 891-0997; joeyksrestaurant.com — The menu includes fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and red beans and rice. Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is topped with shrimp and crabmeat and served with vegetables and potatoes. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes grilled steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar-jack cheese, black beans, yellow rice, salsa la fonda, guacamole and sour cream. There also are nachos, quesadillas, tacos and more. Outdoor seating available.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant & Bar — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — A Cajun Cuban has 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 and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Kilroy’s Bar — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The bar menu includes sandwiches, flatbreads, salads and more. A Louisiana peach flatbread has prosciutto, stracciatella cheese, arugula and pecans.

No reservations. Dinner Wed.-Sat. $$ Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 6132350; legacykitchen.com — A NOLA Style Grits Bowl is topped with bacon, cheddar and a poached egg.

Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 513-2606; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes filets mignons, rib-eyes, bone-in rib-eyes and top sirloins, as well as burgers and seafood dishes. Reservations accepted.

Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — The spirits shop has a deli serving salads, sandwiches and more. The Sena salad includes pulled roasted chicken, golden raisins, blue cheese, pecans and field greens tossed with Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; 6307 S. Miro St., (504) 509-6224; midcitypizza. com — The pizza joint serves New York-style pies, calzones, sandwiches and salads. Shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onions. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab.

The menu also has sushi, sashimi, noodle dishes, teriyaki and more.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and more. Baked oysters Mosca is made with breadcrumbs and Italian seasonings. Dinner Wed.Sat. Cash only. $$$ Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant.net —The counter-service spot is known for po-boys dressed with cabbage and Creole favorites, such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and red beans and rice. No reservations.

Delivery available. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Nephew’s Ristorante — 4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, (504) 5339998; nephewsristorante.com — Chef Frank Catalanotto is the namesake “nephew” who ran the kitchen at Tony Angello’s restaurant. The Creole-Italian menu features dishes like veal, eggplant or chicken parmigiana. Reservations required. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ 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 seafood plates, po-boys, char-grilled oysters, pasta, salads and more. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola.com — The menu includes wings, quesadillas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood pasta and more. Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$

Nonno’s Cajun Cuisine and Pastries — 1940 Dauphine St., (504) 354-1364; nonnoscajuncuisineandpastries.com — The menu includes home-style Cajun and Creole dishes. Shrimp is sauteed with onion and bell pepper, topped with cheese and served with two eggs and toast. Reservations accepted. Delivery available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Peacock Room — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3073; peacockroomnola. com — Black lentil vadouvan curry comes with roasted tomatoes, forest mushrooms and basmati rice. Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Mon., brunch Sun. $$ Rosie’s on the Roof — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The hotel’s rooftop bar has a small menu of sandwiches, burgers and small plates. No reservations.

Dinner daily. $$ Tacklebox — 817 Common St., (504) 827-1651; legacykitchen.com — The seafood restaurant serves raw and char-grilled oysters, seafood, burgers, salads and more. Redfish St. Charles is served with garlic herb butter, asparagus, mushrooms and crawfish cornbread. Reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Tavolino Pizza & Lounge — 141 Delaronde St., (504) 605-3365; tavolinonola.com — The menu features signature thin-crust pizzas as well as salads, pepperoni chips, meatballs and more. A Behrman Hwy. pizza is topped with pork belly, caramel, nuoc cham-marinated carrots and radishes, jalapeno and herbs. No reservations. Outdoor seating available. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 2349420; theospizza.com — A Marilynn’s Pota Supreme pie is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — The Peruvian menu includes lomo saltado, featuring beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and served with fried potatoes and rice. Outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ Zhang Bistro — 1141 Decatur St., (504) 826-8888; zhangbistronola. com — The menu includes Chinese and Thai dishes. The Szechuan Hot Wok offers a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp or tofu with onions, bell peppers, cauliflower, jalapenos, garlic and spicy Szechuan sauce. Reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

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FOR COMPLETE MUSIC LISTINGS A N D M O R E E V E N T S TA K I N G P L AC E IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA, VISIT C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M

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TUESDAY 2 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 7 pm BB'S STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM — Stage Door Idol preliminary rounds, 6 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Collin Myers Band, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Jariah, 9 pm HOUSE OF BLUES — Robert Earl Keen, 7 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Rebirth Brass Band, 8 pm

WEDNESDAY 3 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 7 pm BLUE NILE — New Breed Brass Band, 5 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Owen Callahan Trio, 12:30 pm; Bourbon Street All Stars, 5 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Ded Debbie with Ethanol Merman, Klink Aardvark, 9 pm LONGUE VUE HOUSE AND GARDENS — Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band, 5 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Chuck Perkins & Friends, 2 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Open Jam Night, 8 pm SANTOS — DarkLounge Ministries, 7 pm THE BOMBAY CLUB — Harry Mayronne and Nanci Zee, 9 pm TIPITINA'S — American Aquarium, H.C. McEntire, 8 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Mighty Brother and Anne Elise Hastings & Her Revolving Cast of Characters, 8 pm

THURSDAY 4 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 8 pm BLUE NILE — Where Y'at Brass Band, 9 pm CAFE NEGRIL — Sierra Green and the Soul Machine, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Molly Reeves Band, 12:30 pm; Doyle Cooper Band, 2:30 pm; John Saavadra Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Vedas with Project Ascension, 9 pm PAVILION OF THE TWO SISTERS — Ladies of Soul, 6 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, 8 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Tuba Skinny, 8 & 10 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm

FRIDAY 5 ABITA BREW PUB — Cast Iron Cactus, 6 pm

AUGUST 13

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BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 8 pm BJ'S — Lawn, 9 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers, 7 pm; Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, 11 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Owen Callahan Trio, 12:30 pm; Seva Venet Quartet, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm GASA GASA — The Jinks with The Bloomies, 9 pm HIGGINS HOTEL NEW ORLEANS — Reid Poole Trio, 5:30 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — Nine Mile Point, 9 pm REPUBLIC NOLA — Deadcrow, 10 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — The Rouge Krewe, 8:30 pm SANTOS — Dave Owen, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Amina Figarova Sextet, 8 & 10 pm SOUTHPORT HALL LIVE MUSIC & PARTY HALL — Sledgehammer, 8:30 pm THREE KEYS (ACE HOTEL) — Noah Young, 9 pm TIPITINA'S — Tribal Gold, New Orleans Johnnys, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — The Brightsides & The Red Hot Gentilly Peppers, 8 pm

SATURDAY 6 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Jordan Anderson, 8 pm BLUE NILE — George Brown Band, 7 pm; The Marigny Street Brass Band, 10 pm; Stooges Brass Band, 11 pm BOURREE — Cast Iron Cactus, 6 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm; Owen Callahan Trio, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Band, 2:30 pm; Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm GASA GASA — Writhings with Fauns, Golgothan, 9 pm POUR HOUSE SALOON — The 45s, 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Neutral Snap, 8:30 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Alexey Marti, 8 & 10 pm THE ALLWAYS LOUNGE & CABARET — The New Orleans High Society Hour, 5 pm

PHOTO BY MICHEAL DEMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Iko Allstars plays Tipitina’s Saturday August 6.

THE BOMBAY CLUB — Anais St. John, 8 pm THE HIDEAWAY DEN & ARCADE — Wild Fire w/ Ventruss, 8 pm TIPITINA'S — Iko Allstars, 9 pm UGLY DOG SALOON AND BBQ — Where Y'acht, 9 pm ZONY MASH BEER PROJECT — Tyron Benoit Band, 8 pm

HAPPY HOUR EVERYDAY 11AM-6PM 5 HOUSE MARTINIS $ 5 HOUSE WINE $ 2.25 DOMESTIC BEER $

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SUNDAY 7 BLUE NILE — The Baked Potatoes, 7 pm; Street Legends Brass Band, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Band, 2:30 pm; Marla Dixon Band, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Ryan of Lynn with Manuscript, Donate Your Friends, 9 pm PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Rachel Murray and Joe Bouchá , 11 am ROCK 'N' BOWL — School of Rock, 12 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Leon Kid Chocolate Quartet, 8 & 10 pm STHE FILLMORE — Three Days Grace Explosions Tour, 6 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — James Rivers Movement, 7:30 pm

STARTING AT $ 5

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MONDAY 8 FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 5 pm; Richard "Piano" Scott and Friends, 8 pm GASA GASA — Grace Gardener with Jolie Gautreau, 9 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — The Amazing Henrietta, 6 pm; DarkLounge Ministries, 8 pm

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Higher Together

By Jake Clapp BRIAN DANOS CHOSE to put his trust in a lot of other people for his first solo record. Danos is the backbone of “Borrowed Ladders,” released under the performer name Vela Vada, but it features several New Orleans-based luminaries, including Nicholas Payton, Brad Walker and Maggie Koerner, opening doors on the album and Danos following where they led.

“I took the approach that they are professional musicians, which I am not. I brought some parts to them, but I was open to their talents and collaboration,” Danos says. “I wanted to take the doors they had opened.”

Danos might not describe himself as a “professional” musician, but “Borrowed Ladders” reflects the care and patience of a veteran.

The electronic musician hired Eric Heigle, who plays with Lost Bayou Ramblers and has worked with Arcade Fire, Dumpstaphunk and 79rs Gang, to co-produce the album. And along with Danos, who provides programming and plays synths across the album, various tracks feature Payton playing trumpet, saxophonist Walker, trombonist Jon Ramm, drummer Alvin Ford Jr. and bassist Brandon Meeks.

Koerner, Tif “Teddy” Lamson and Dominic Minix provide vocals, along with Haitian music collective Lakou Mizik. And 79rs Gang — the duo of Big Chief Romeo Bougere of the 9th Ward Hunters and Big Chief Jermaine Bossier of the 7th Ward Creole Hunters — also sing and play percussion.

The result is a downtempo yet engaging album incorporating worldbeat influences and the warm tones of horns, upright bass and vocals. “Borrowed Ladders” was released on July 22 through Ropeadope Records, and the label and Vela Vada will host a virtual panel presentation on Thursday, Aug. 4, in a VR space about New Orleans music and its history.

Danos grew up in New Orleans in a music-making family, and he played sax and clarinet at Brother Martin High School. But he also found the guitar and dove into the world of effects pedals, and from there fell in love with synths and electronic music. “I was obsessed

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y V E L A VA DA

Brian Danos collaborated with Nicholas Payton, Brad Walker, Maggie Koerner and others for his new Vela Vada record ‘Borrowed Ladders.’

with sounds and textures,” he says.

In 2017, Danos started working on the music that would end up as “Borrowed Ladders.” Mutual friends introduced him to Heigle, who then suggested other musicians who could play on Danos’ ideas. But the electronic musician didn’t want to just tell anyone what to play — he saw an opportunity to learn and hear their points of view.

“I say it’s a solo project, but it’s such a collaboration with all these other players,” Danos says. He is now working on pulling together a band to play these songs live.

Danos works in tech by day and plays music by night and has a background in product design. In recent years, he has been increasingly working in blockchain technology — especially at the intersection with the music industry — and burgeoning Web3 concepts.

While the air in conversations around blockchain and art have been sucked up by Bored Ape NFTs and other digital art projects, Danos says he sees an opportunity for musicians to directly connect with listeners and cut out the middleman of the traditional music industry.

“In the past, if you bought the album, I’d have no direct connection to you,” Danos says. “But now, I could look up public wallets and see who owns NFTs [of ‘Borrowed Ladders’] and then drop new music directly to them.”

For “Borrowed Ladders,” Danos has programmatically created 25 unique covers that will be sold with the album as NFTs. Find the album and more information at linktr.ee/velavada.

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making films and pursuing other dreams and enduring a cold winter on New York’s Lower East Side in “Rent.” The popular musical is inspired by Puccini’s “La Boheme” but set in the age of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane University presents the musical at Dixon Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, through Saturday, Aug. 6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7. Tickets $30$50 via liberalarts.tulane.edu/ summer-lyric-theatre.

Lawn

KechFest

INDIE ROCK BAND LAWN released its first three-track EP, “Big Sprout,” in 2016. Recently the duo, Rui DeMagalhaes and Mac Folger, decided it was time to give those songs a proper physical release, so they added four new tracks and created “Bigger Sprout.” The album was released last month through Born Yesterday Records, and Lawn recently hit the road for a small tour. They’re back home Friday, Aug. 5, for a show at BJ’s in the Bywater.

STANDUP COMIC, ACTRESS AND KINDERGARTEN TEACHER Nkechi

‘Dusa, Fish, Stars and Vi’

Chibueze is a founding member of No Lye Comedy, a collective of all Black women comics that produces stand-up, sketch, writing and improv workshops and more.

Chibueze will tape several onehour comedy sets and there’s a photography and fashion show in this series. There also is a taping of the It’s a Man’s World podcast.

Events are at AllWays Lounge and Theatre and Cafe Instanbul from Thursday, Aug. 4, through Saturday, Aug. 6. Find a schedule and tickets at kechfest.com.

FOUR WOMEN INCLUDING a liberal activist, a divorced mother, an anorexic teenager and an ambitious climber share an apartment in London and wrestle with the directions their lives are taking in Pam Gems’ 1976 drama. Fat Squirrel presents the drama at Bryant Park NOLA. At 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 8, through Thursday, Aug. 11, and Aug. 15-18.

Tickets $20 on fatsquirrelnola. square.site.

Tribal Gold

TEXAS SINGER-SONGWRITER Robert Earl Keen is best known for his storytelling songs, like “The Road Goes on Forever.” Keen told Rolling Stone that the party will end in September, when he will retire from touring. Catch him before he does at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, at House of Blues. Find tickets at houseofblues.com.

WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU COMBINE Tipitina’s, the New Orleans Suspects and Big Chief Juan Pardo and the Golden Comanche Black Masking Indians? A funky, free good time, of course! Head over to Tip’s for this week’s iteration of the club’s Free Friday Concert Series and watch the Suspects and Comanche’s form like Bayou Voltron! At 9 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 5. Find information at tiptinas.com.

‘The Decline of Western Civilization’ IT’S UNLIKELY THAT when “The Decline of Western Civilization” premiered in 1981 director Penelope Spheeris would have guessed the documentary would end up in the Library of Congress — or be considered a vital exploration of American culture. But her film on the L.A. punk scene in 1979 and 1980 has done both — and now you can see it at Bar Redux.

Featuring performances by X, Black Flag, Fear and other pioneers of American punk, “Decline” is a great look at what all those old people standing in the back of shows at Santos were up to in the ’80s. At 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, at Bar Redux. Free admission.

Robert Earl Keen

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AUGUST 23 AUGUST 12

‘Dear Dana’ SEVERAL YEARS AGO, writer Amy Weinland Daughters reconnected with an old friend, Dana, on Facebook after almost 30 years.

Daughters learned that Dana’s son was battling cancer, and she decided to start writing weekly letters to the two. After Dana’s son passed away, Daughters continued writing to Dana and the two became pen pals. Inspired by the correspondence, Daughters wanted to try something big: What if she sent a letter to each of her Facebook friends? She now has a book about the experience, “Dear Dana: That Time I Went Crazy and Wrote all 580 of my Facebook Friends a Handwritten Letter.” Daughters will be signing copies of her new book at 1 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 7, at Garden District Book Shop. Find more information at gardendistrictbookshop.com.

R AT E S S TA R T AT $282

Ad Director Sandy Stein 504.483.3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

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Slow Burn

By Will Coviello

SOMETHING IS SMOLDERING in Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke.” It’s just a question of whether the fire is burning out or rekindling.

Former neighbors Alma Winemiller and John Buchanan have become reacquainted in their small town of Glorious Hill, Mississippi. Alma is the daughter of the town minister and as a teenager adored John. He has become a doctor, and though he’s moved home to take over for his father’s practice, his interest in bodies is also about pleasure, including drinking and chasing women.

“Summer and Smoke” is the centerpiece of the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans’ season themed around Southern Gothic works. It opens at Marigny Opera House on Aug. 5.

The company started its season with parodies of Tennessee Williams works, including Christopher Durang’s “Desire, Desire, Desire” and “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls.” “Summer and Smoke” is more like a pillar of the Southern Gothic genre.

“We’re doing gold standard Tennessee Williams with the (Mississippi) Delta, all the foreshadowing, poetry and longing,” says company co-founder Augustin J. Correro, who is directing the work.

Sexual desire driving a character to conflict or misery is a Williams signature. He also often set works in Mississippi small towns, making the most of social pressures and religious mores.

That’s the crux of “Summer and Smoke,” as Alma still loves the church, and John prefers drinking and finding companions to go to the Moon Lake Casino.

“It’s the preacher’s daughter and the hedonist trope,” Correro says. “In the 1940s, when (‘Summer and Smoke’) came out, it wasn’t too tropey. It was just on time. It framed these Southern characters, which Williams did in a way that nobody else was doing at the time.”

With her mother stricken by mental illness, Alma had to both care for her and fill in for her in the church community while still a teenager. It was as if she was the preacher’s daughter and wife, Correro says. Embracing the role has made her look like a spinster as a young woman.

John experienced similar pressure to step into his father’s shoes as the town doctor. But being away from home studying medicine allowed him much more personal freedom.

The set features the church rectory, John’s medical office and a statue of an angel set in the center of town. Alma and John once were kindred spirits and could be again, but they’ve dealt differently with the roles set out for them.

“Summer and Smoke” was written at about the same time as “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Alma is sometimes compared to Blanche DuBois, who fled rural Mississippi when she came to visit Stanley and Stella Kowalski in New Orleans. Both struggle with desire and the social pressures of a small town. But Correro says Alma has more in common with Amanda Wingfield of “The Glass Menagerie,” which debuted in 1944. At the beginning

P H OTO B Y J A M E S K E L L E Y

Mariola Chavas, Justin Davis and Elizabeth McCoy star in ‘Summer and Smoke.’

of “Summer and Smoke,” Alma is more like the frustrated Amanda, who talks of all the suitors she attracted as a younger woman.

“Summer and Smoke” debuted on Broadway in 1948 and didn’t do well. But a revival off Broadway was a big hit and led to a film version. Williams also returned to the story a decade later and rewrote it as “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale.” Correro says the company expects to produce that show at a later date.

“Williams wouldn’t have kept coming back to it if there wasn’t something special and electric about these characters that he was trying to say,” Correro says.

“Summer and Smoke” runs Aug. 5-21 at Marigny Opera House. Find tickets and information at twtheatrenola.com.

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PREMIER CROSSWORD PUZZLE SINISTER SQUIRT

By Frank A. Longo

30 “Jolly old” saint 32 Riddle, part 2 37 “Hello, sailor!”

38 58, to Nero 39 Viral gene material 40 Silvery metallic element 44 Moseying 47 TV “dog whisperer” Millan 49 Riddle, part 3 51 Sneaky 52 Knitters’ supplies 53 Greek herald of the gods 54 Perilous thing to live on 58 Big antelope

59 Position while batting 61 Bristly swine 62 Always, to bards 63 Riddle, part 4 68 Academic URL ender 69 Person not telling the truth 70 Liam of “Schindler’s List” 71 Above, to bards 72 Dangerous snakes 74 Met, as the challenge 76 Jargon 78 Pro vote 79 Riddle, part 5 82 Up one’s auction offer 85 Starting charge, as on a utility bill

86 Enters warily 87 Master pilot 88 Former 89 Dark blue dye 90 End of the riddle 99 Completely destroy 100 “Reckless” actor Quinn 101 Above 103 Flaring dress 104 Noise from a beehive 106 Riddle’s answer 110 Country east of Fiji 111 Geisha’s sash 112 Old sitcom cousin 113 Opening in some helmets 114 Unsettled feeling 115 Hush-hush intel org.

116 Baggage inspection org.

117 32 Beethoven piano pieces DOWN 1 Brand of sneakers 2 U.S.-Can.-Mex. treaty 3 Choir parts 4 First prime minister of India 5 Fury 6 Breathed-in stuff 7 Catch a glimpse of 8 Soccer Hall of Famer Lalas 9 Prized mushroom 10 Clear as — 11 Intention 12 Reading digitally 13 18th-century powdered hairpiece 14 — chili (pepper variety) 15 See 27-Across 16 Transporting trucks 17 David Mamet play or film 18 Antares or Arcturus 24 Like some permed hair 29 — Mae (loan provider) 31 The Windy City, for short 33 Tylenol targets 34 Barak of Israel 35 CD- — (PC inserts) 36 Political columnist Molly

GARDEN DISTRICT OFFICE 2016, 2017 & 2020

40 “Wahoo!”

41 Awful event 42 Detached roughly 43 Accumulate, as debts 44 “Well, — you special!”

45 Take part in a parade 46 Via 47 Deaf school co-founder Laurent 48 Body blinker 50 “Why Can’t I?” singer Liz 51 “Hey Deanie” singer Cassidy 54 Hurry-scurry 55 Protects 56 18th-century English king 57 Have it wrong 59 French river 60 “— not to be” 61 Particle in quantum mechanics 63 Lively spirit 64 Sir Andrew — Webber 65 Irk 66 Knot anew 67 Linen fabric 73 “Bali —” (show tune) 74 Put new turf on 75 Mafia’s code of silence

ABR, CRS, GRI, SFR, SRS

76 Glove thread 77 Have 79 Major train terminals 80 Rowlands of “Hope Floats” 81 Hurt badly 82 Initial input to be processed 83 Level of command 84 Having a big smile 85 Apply with a bristly tool 88 Luau paste 89 Singer Murray 91 Salad bar utensil 92 Gripper on a shoe bottom 93 “Start playing the song!”

94 Revises 95 Crimean resort port 96 Kind of yoga 97 “Some Like —” 98 Cash, informally 102 Corp. honcho 105 Soccer Hall of Famer Hamm 107 Marks, as a ballot box 108 Philosopher — -tzu 109 Big vase

ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P 2

PUZZLES

ACROSS 1 Biblical figure slain for being a 69-Across 8 G.P.’s gp.

11 Dangerous snake 14 Detest 19 Actress Bertinelli 20 Throw slowly in a high arc 21 Cola-cooling cubes 22 Novelist Zora — Hurston 23 Start of a riddle 25 Blemish 26 Gave hints to 27 With 15-Down, no higher than 28 Skating feats

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