Tuesday, May 6, 2008
First TV Ads in N.O. DA's Race — and Poll Results
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Former appeals court Judge Leon Cannizzaro has made the first TV ad buy in the campaign for district attorney in New Orleans. Cannizzaro formally announced his candidacy last Wednesday (April 30), and now he has upped the ante in the race by going on TV less than a week later.
Cannizzaro kept politicos guessing for months as to whether he would quit his judgeship (as required by state law when judges run for any non-judicial post) to run for DA. Once it became clear that he was indeed going to run, the speculation immediately switched to whether Cannizzaro could raise the money to match his most visible announced opponent, former first assistant DA Ralph Capitelli. Capitelli, who announced his own candidacy months ago, has raised approximately $450,000 so far and spent about $100,000 — none of it yet on TV. Cannizzaro’s opening buy sends a message that the former judge has no intention of being out-spent.
Everybody Loves Chris: Happy Birthday Edition
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 9:34 PM
by Alejandro de los Rios
So today is Chris Paul's birthday and, accordingly, local blogs are marking the event with Chris Paul blog day (read the roundup here). Though this isn't technically a Hornets blog and I'm not technically a blogger (I prefer the term "online journalist" because, well, I'm a tool) I still thought it appropriate to post my thoughts.
First, some disclosure: A couple of years ago, I used to hate Chris Paul. Not on any personal level — how could I considering I only first met him a couple of months ago — but on a crazy fanatical level. See, I grew up outside D.C. in Maryland and, thusly, became a die-hard Maryland basketball fan. Paul played for Wake Forest. Anyone who knows anything about ACC basketball knows that if you're a fan of one team, you hate all the rest. It also didn't help that Paul consistently killed my Terps, a team I thought (and still think) should be in the ACC's top-3 every year (along with Duke and UNC).
William Moss, better known as musician Billy Ding, dies in 9th Ward car accident
Posted by Alison Fensterstock on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 6:20 PM
William Moss, the pianist better known as Billy Ding, died last Sunday evening. Moss was walking between Vaughan’s Lounge and BJ’s Lounge, two downtown taverns where he often played music and visited with neighbors, when a truck turning onto Lesseps Street bizarrely sped up and drove onto the sidewalk, striking Moss and a friend. Moss died from internal injuries at the scene; his companion was hospitalized.
Moss, 42, was the longtime proprietor of French Quarter Bicycles on Dumaine Street (now closed), and a talented boogie-woogie pianist with a dedicated local following of friends and neighbors. He gigged frequently with his band the Hot Wings on Frenchmen Street and in the Bywater.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, May 12 at St. Louis Cathedral, followed by a second line through the French Quarter and refreshments at BJ’s Lounge on the corner of Lesseps and Burgundy Streets.
Intriguing at Iris
Posted by Ian McNulty on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 3:01 PM
The Carrollton area restaurant Iris is hosing a special wine dinner with Beringer Vineyards on Thursday with an eye-catching menu and a visit from the winemaker herself.
The chef and co-owner of Iris, Ian Schnoebelen, was named one of the 10 best new chefs in 2007 by Food+Wine Magazine. That's an honor he shares with his former boss, John Harris of Lilette, where he worked as sous chef for several years before opening Iris in the months after Hurricane Katrina.
Iris has been among my favorite New Orleans restaurants ever since it opened, and it's the kind of place where I have faith that the impressive list of high-end groceries going into this special menu (see below) will get its due. The chef takes an eclectic approach, borrowing elements from classic French, Italian and Asian cuisines, among others. What ties it all together is the friendly professionalism that pervades the restaurant, a place where the food is taken very seriously but not placed up on a pedestal. One recent example of Schnoebelen's approach was a memorable preparation of Alaskan halibut with green garlic and blood orange vinaigrette (pictured above).
Things You Might Not Have Noticed: Hornets Won, Glenn Dorsey is Large, "Stop the Flop" is Funny/So Last Week
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 5:19 AM
by Alejandro de los Rios
It's not my job to compare how approachable celebrities are at sporting games. I'm out their reporting.
I didn't notice that Danny Glover could spare only a couple of seconds after halftime while Glenn Dorsey gave me a solid two minutes. I didn't notice Forrest Whitaker or Isaiah Washington or Deuce McCallister.
They didn't talk to me, it's not their job. I was out reporting.
I didn't notice how large of a man Glenn Dorsey is in real life. It's not my job to measure a man's size.
Dorsey said that this was the second Hornets' game he's been to and that he was at the Boston game earlier in the year (didn't notice him then). He said the Hornets crowd compares well with LSU football crowds (I've seen both, but didn't notice that).
