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Concerts in the Courtyard returns at HNOC

Friday: Concerts in the Courtyard with Hot Club of New Orleans

Show: 6–8 p.m.; Doors: 5:30 p.m.
533 Royal Street
Admission is $10, free for THNOC members.

Now in its seventh year, Concerts in the Courtyard offers a fun, casual way to kick off the weekend with live outdoor performances by Louisiana musicians. The fall series opens Friday, March 14, with a performance by Hot Club of New Orleans.

Hot Club of New Orleans, whose performance at the November 2013 event was rained out, takes swing-era music and retains a classical groove, melding it with modern sensibilities. They count greats like Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, and Stephan Grappelli among their influences, and their tight but fun sound has led to performances at various festivals including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Fellini Jazz Festival, and Jazz Ascona Festival in Switzerland. Band members include Christopher Kohl (clarinet), Matt Rhody (violin/vocals), Nathan Lambertson (bass), Larry Scala (guitar), and John Rodli (guitar).

All concerts this season will feature white wine from Republic National Distributing Co. and beer from NOLA Brewing Co. Republic National Distributing Co. is the second-largest beverage alcohol distributor of premium wine and spirits in the U.S. NOLA Brewing Co. was launched in 2008 by local entrepreneur Kirk Coco and Peter Caddoo, a former brewmaster at Dixie Beer.

Mark your calendars for the rest of the spring 2014 season:

Thursday, April 17: New Orleans Nightingales
presented in conjunction with the exhibition Shout, Sister, Shout! The Boswell Sisters of New Orleans

Friday, May 16: Viváz
presented in conjunction with the exhibition Creole World: Photographs of New Orleans and the Latin Caribbean Sphere

Friday, June 13: Africa Brass

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“Hating Bourbon Street”

From Rich Campanella’s upcoming book, “Bourbon Street, A History” published this month by Louisiana State University Press. Campanella has long been one of my favorite (quirky) New Orleans historian/writers, as he brings his own flair and point of view to everything he does. He tirelessly walks and bikes and searches for tidbits of history in our city and does much to point out the delicate line between history and lore, while reminding us that sometimes it doesn’t matter which is which.

For all its flamboyance and swagger, Bourbon Street is one of the least pretentious places in town. It’s as utterly uncool as it is wildly successful, and in an era when “cool capital” is increasingly craved and fiscal capital increasingly scarce, there’s something refreshing about a place that flips off coolness and measures success the old-fashioned way: by the millions. And authenticity? Not only does Bourbon Street not try to be authentic, it doesn’t even think about it.

Hating Bourbon Street: Places: Design Observer.

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Societies of Saint Anne and Saint Cecelia march today

“Some parading organizations are longtime closed groups; others are more open, like the famous Society of St. Anne, which has been parading through the Marigny and French Quarter for years. It was that group’s extraordinary growth and worldwide recognition that was the impetus for the creation of St. Cecilia, in an effort to scale down the number of paraders and be more “neighborhoody,” Kate says.
St. Cecilia Society was created in 2007, along the lines of the older St. Anne Society.

It’s off through the Marigny to the French Quarter, with a stop at Harry’s Bar on Chartres Street, and down to the Mississippi River.
Once we got to the river, people often had small bags of ashes,” Kate McNee explains. “They would do an offering. The band calmed down and played a dirge, much like a New Orleans funeral. Then when that ceremony was done, they would be back up, and we moved on joyful and triumphant. In St. Cecilia, we do continue that tradition.”

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Landrieu hands keys to city to Rex

In Spanish Plaza, this year’s queen of Carnival, Carroll Gelderman, stood by as Rex issued a proclamation.
“I do hereby ordain decree the following,” Laborde said, “that during the great celebration all commercial endeavors be suspended. That the children of the realm be freed from their studies and be permitted to participate in the pageantry.”
And to the city’s political leaders, he added:
“That the mayor and City Council cease and desist from governance.”

“We will fulfill the will of the people and turn over the key to the city to you, so that tomorrow in New Orleans will be a day of abandon,” Landrieu said. “Happy Mardi Gras.”

Landrieu hands keys to city to Rex | wwltv.com New Orleans.

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Dreamie Weenies

Listen, I like poor boys and muffalettas. You’ll find me in line at Johnny’s and at Central Grocery often, patiently waiting behind visitors who are nervously practicing saying muffaletta or ordering it dressed without feeling foolish.
But every once in a while, you just want a quick American treat done in a New Orleans way. That’s when I head to North Rampart to get a hot dog at the place next door to Mary’s Hardware’s new location between Orleans and Saint Ann. The owners of Dreamie Weenies are cool guys who take the dog and its surrounding environment seriously. I almost always get a Genchili dog (which I think should be called a GentillyChili) with polish sausage and then only add mustard and ketchup (you get your choice of type of dog and added condiments) as needed. The Genchili comes with their own “creole mix” and homemade chili which add just enough spice and residual flavor to make you want to slow down after each bite to savor.
What works against these guys is that people think of the hot dog as the crappy thing you see in the roller at the gas station or the burnt thing to the side of the grill at your neighborhood bbq, but these are made as meals and should be treated that way. I ain’t no slip of a girl that gets filled up from a latte; I eat food like my Polish and Greek and Cajun peops did before me and even I cannot always finish my Genchili in one setting. So the 8 bucks spent there feeds tummies well, the lovely inside feeds the eye and ears (music is local and lively) and the caring and onsite owners with their homemade ingredients feed the New Orleans soul.
So don’t be a snob- go get a dog done right.

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Give blood to help musician this weekend

Musicians’ Clinic is organizing a blood drive for Sunday – at 619 Frenchmen Street (the Frenchmen Art Market) for 1-7pm. People can sign to give blood at nomaf.org/blooddrive

This drive is to benefit Doug Potter, a musician brutally attacked while leaving a gig in the French Quarter a couple of weeks ago. He remains in a coma.

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