Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Beyoncé to headline this year's Essence Festival
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Kid Rock, Britney, now Beyoncé...lots of New Orleans-related celebrity news today (and we didn't even touch Brad and Angelina's date at Elmwood last night). We'll just quote here:
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, next year's Essence Music Festival in New Orleans is featuring a 15 percent discount on select tickets through Jan. 31, 2009. Beyoncé will make her third appearance at the Essence Fest by headlining the 2009 edition, which will take place July 3-5. Additional performers will be announced soon. Organizers hope the upcoming edition of Essence is just as triumphant as this past July's, which was its most successful ever and hosted more than 270,000 attendees.
To hold you over until July, take a gander at the trailer for Beyoncé's latest, the Etta James bio-pic Cadillac Records, then tell us whether she "performs dynamic versions of Etta James classics and delivers the dramatic goods" or "doesn't seem to have splurged on acting lessons since her wooden turn in Dreamgirls":
Bingle All the Way
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:15 PM
New Orleans gets its first holiday procession in 15 years this Saturday, when the Downtown Development District will present a Christmas-themed parade down Canal Street, followed by a free outdoor concert:
The parade, which will begin at 10:00 a.m., will roll from Convention Center Boulevard up Canal Street to Robertson Street (near Claiborne Avenue) and back to its starting point. It will be followed by an all-star outdoor concert beginning at 12 noon at Elk Place. Entertainers include Jeremy Davenport, Rockin Dopsie, Jr., jazz trumpeter Marlon Jordan and vocalist Stephanie Jordan, the Batiste Brothers, Rebirth Brass Band, Amanda Shaw and James Andrews.
Lauren Hotard
Staging the concert on Elk Place at Canal, according to Hotard, was a deliberate decision: "We're trying to bring life to all of Canal Street, not just the places people already go [to shop]."
The DDD plans to make the parade (which doesn't seem to have an official name yet) an annual event, says Hotard: "We actually have a 3-year deal with the Roosevelt Hotel to be the title sponsor." The Roosevelt (formerly the Fairmont, formerly-formerly the Roosevelt) opens its doors next June.
Since New Orleans loves its traditions, we had to ask: Will the Roosevelt's Christmas spirit extend to bringing back the Fairmont's much-lamented Angel Hair Lobby in 2009?
"Yes!" said Hotard.
Full Stop
Posted by Ian McNulty on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:07 PM
The second restaurant venture from chef Guillermo Peters at his lower St. Charles Avenue property has come to an end with the closing of Stop 9 Refueling Station & Culinary Specialties.
The restaurant, named for the streetcar stop just outside, opened last spring as a breakfast/lunch café with a sideline of gourmet groceries. It never seemed like the right fit for the huge, two-level building, which is because the property was built out for grander things.
One-Sheet Sherlock
Posted by Noah Bonaparte Pais on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Introducing a new series in which we highlight press releases that either a) go above and beyond the sales call of duty, or b) simply reek of sheer, unadulterated awesomeness. This inaugural one-sheet winner has a foot in both camps: Last week, supposedly, Cash Money recording artists — including, purportedly, CEO Birdman and homegrown GOAT Lil Wayne — took to Taylor Park to hand out more than 1,200 holiday dinners for the 12th annual Turkey Give-A-Way. (Can anyone confirm this actually happened?) The clincher is the generous header, courtesy of Universal Music’s Nicole Garvey:
Britney and T-Pain... great minds think alike?
Posted by Alison Fensterstock on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Apparently albums with a circus motif are really hot for the end of '08. Imagine the harried phone calls from the photo-shoot producers: "T-Pain already reserved the elephant? Dammit. No, just get her a lion. And a really big tent. Bigger than his tent. Okay, ciao."
In other news, Axl Rose picked up on the trend and will be dropping his own big top-themed record in late 2024.
Also, click "read more" to see a picture of T-Pain riding an elephant.
Introducing: Clay A. Smith, Sports Intern
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:01 PM
by Clay A. Smith
-
-
Photo by Jonathan Bachman
-
(Quick Disclaimer: Alejandro here. I wanted to take a quick moment to introduce the new intern on Blog of New Orleans, Mr. Clay A. Smith. Clay's a native New Orleanian, attended UNO and is a passionate Saints and Hornets fan.)
-
So here we are again Saints fans – lodged in an all too familiar position, seduced by the lure of that Black and “Fools Gold” only to be left staggered, languishing inconsolably in the doldrums of dejection as the flavor of the week leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the collective “Who Dat?” nation. It's an odd phenomenon: perennial underachievers, the Saints historically have turned the “second half collapse” into an art form. They’ve squandered leads, turned the ball over, given up big plays, and committed “boneheaded” and often untimely penalties, and yet we are still genuinely shocked every time they find away to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
-
Mildly Well-known Songstress and Former Mouseketeer, Late of Kentwood, La., to Launch Series of Concert Dates in Downtown Nouvelle-Orléans
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 7:37 PM
Dr. Pepper, meet Mr. Brownstone
Posted by Will Coviello on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 7:35 PM
It's cute that CNN does Axl Rose the courtesy of referring to Chinese Democracy as a Guns N' Roses album. But it seems that the biggest impact the project has had, after 17 years of hype, is crashing the Web site of Dr. Pepper, which promised to give away free cans of soda if the album came out in 2008. Not everybody got their downloadable coupon. (And currently there is no mention of the promotion on the site.) So Welcome to the Bungle, you can call Dr. Pepper's customer service line and the company may cough up a coupon. If not, contact Axl and see if he'll launch a class action suit. Seriously, Dr. Pepper promised "everyone" a soda. The consolation prize is that CNN links to what is probably the best review yet of Chinese Democracy, a B- from Entertainment Weekly. And notes that the Communist party of China hated the album.
The best time to be a wine lover
Posted by Jessica Bride on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 5:19 PM
Like lots of people we spent Thanksgiving week traversing the highways and byways of Louisiana. We started with dinner in Lafayette on Sunday night, New Orleans on Tuesday, Baton Rouge on Wednesday and New Orleans again on Thursday. Punctuated by a super rainy weekend, by Saturday evening we had no groceries and no energy. The only option was dinner out. We were treated to the braised short ribs (to be specific, "sweet and sticky fried beef short ribs with hearts of palm, cucumber and lime-ginger vinaigrette") by Lilette at Gambit's Red Whites & Blues fundraiser and swore we would visit the restaurant "soon." Though that turned out to be a month later, we were thrilled that we stuck with it. Lilette is a neighborhood brasserie without the pastiche of a brasserie. The service was attentive without being annoying, the atmosphere was charming and lively and the food was fabulous. Once again I found it refreshing to visit a New Orleans restaurant lacking a sibling rivalry amongst the entrees, with each trying to outdo the other in size, number of ingredients and colors.
-
The other great thing about Lilette was the wine list - which included an interesting and diverse collection of wines from $24 to $135 (not including a few expensive Champagnes). We selected a 2005 Bordeaux for $42 that was a fantastic match for our meals. I had not heard of the particular wine before, Chateau Tour Bayard, but I knew the region in Bordeaux (Montagne-Saint-Emillion) and I knew that 2005 Bordeaux was already building a reputation for being one of the best in decades.
The Judges Have Eaten
Posted by Ian McNulty on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 4:16 PM
November's second annual New Orleans Po-boy Preservation Festival grew substantially this year, attracting twice as many po-boy vendors as last year. Official judges were tasked with trying them all to pick their favorites in several categories, while festival-goers could vote for the "People's Choice" award.
