Conspiracy Theories
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
City Council standoff: The emails are flying
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, May 16, 2012 at 5:57 PM
- Will they be at City Council tomorrow?
Council president Jackie Clarkson and Councilwoman At-Large Stacy Head have fired off a statement regarding the quorum stalemate at the council — while AWOL councilmembers Jon Johnson and Cynthia Hedge-Morrell have done the same.
The takeaway: Clarkson and Head find the standoff "disappointing," but will try for a quorum again tomorrow morning at the council's regular meeting. Meanwhile, Hedge-Morrell and Johnson want you to know "the absence of City Council legislative action at its May 3rd regular meeting" in no way will affect the ongoing project to fix the city's streetlights ... which sounds like they won't be in chambers tomorrow. (Though we certainly will. Join us on Twitter tomorrow morning, won't you?)
Under the jump: She said she said she said he said ...
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Going 'birther' in Baton Rouge?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Tired of fielding what he says are “many inquiries concerning President Barack Obama’s citizenship and requests that the Secretary of State prevent his name from being place on the ballot in Louisiana’s Nov. 6 Congressional and Presidential elections,” SOS Tom Schedler is asking state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell for an opinion on the matter. Schedler’s plan was posted on his Facebook page March 13 via a letter signed by “William E. Crawford, Attorney, Department of State.”“We have received a huge amount of letters, faxes and emails on the subject,” Brandee Patrick, Schedler’s public information officer, told The Independent this morning.
Amanda Larkins, Caldwell's communications director, said she wasn't aware of the request. Read the whole story at The Independent.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The sudden dubiety of his redoubt
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 6:52 PM
In terms of volume, disgraced Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone has rivaled his assumed namesake, noted newspaper columnist and essayist H. L. Mencken, but that’s as far as it goes. Suffice it to say that the prosecutor who masqueraded as the acerbic — and prolific — “Henry L. Mencken1951” in the reader comment sections of nola.com is no H. L. Mencken.
For starters, the real Mencken had the guts, and the integrity, to use his own name. Mencken also was a great wordsmith; Perricone is, by comparison, a quasi-literate poseur. His rants betrayed not so much a keen mind as a disturbed one.
By his own admission, Perricone posted some 600 comments under the “Mencken” nom de plume. Many suspect he had several other online alter egos, all of whom, like “Mencken,” had a penchant for pretentious but archaic words (“dubiety” was a favorite), alliteration and, above all, hubris. The other fake names ascribed to Perricone include “campstblue,” “legacyusa” and “dramatis personae.”
If those suspicions are correct, one has to wonder when Perricone did any work. Those respondents posted well over a thousand comments in recent years. In fairness, Perricone put a lot of crooks where they belong.
Why the anonymity, then?
Friday, November 18, 2011
The police are following you
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 3:27 PM
Many people got spooked after receiving emails notifying them that "Louisiana Police (@LouisianaPolice) is now following you on Twitter!" ("I swear that time I tweeted about how I don't agree with school zones because I think abolishing them would teach children valuable lessons I was just joking.") Could the state's law enforcement entities be conducting convert policing operations via social media? Better watch out when you livetweet your bank robbery adventures and all-night hookers-and-coke ragers, because the police are watching!
According to the @LouisianaPolice Twitter bio, the handle is run "by the ppl (people) for the ppl" and it "tweets up-to-date information on police activities in Louisiana." The account seems pretty benign thus far: they've been tweeting traffic and extreme weather updates, a link to a page where you can file an online complaint of suspicious activity, and a few friendly reminders to "Support your local Louisiana PD !"
I tweeted the account yesterday to ask them exactly what their deal is, but I got no response. But the next morning I woke up to find this in my email:
Uh oh.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
TSA-style wanding and patdowns mandatory at remainder of Saints home games
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Take your pick. You can either get the news from a New Orleans Saints press release or an identically written "news" story on WVUE's website ... either way, it's only good news for those who find TSA-style wanding procedures and Russian-hand, Roman-finger searches to be oddly pleasurable:
The New Orleans Saints would like to take this opportunity to alert fans attending the team’s remaining four regular season home games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome of security measures that are in place:*In our continuing effort to ensure the safety of our patrons and venue, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has adopted the NFL’s recommended enhanced security screening which will begin on Monday, November 28th. This enhanced security screening will include hand-held metal-detecting wands and/or pat down searches.
More under the cut ...
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Ray Nagin puts house up for sale
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 10:57 AM
The Albert Ledner-designed, mid-century modern residence was built in 1962. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, as well as a pool (and a pretty sweet kitchen). Known as the "Ashtray House," it also has beaucoup gold glass ashtrays embedded along its roofline.
Not a word about the sale on Nagin's Twitter feed, but music lovers might want to know that he's been on the town recently, enjoying performances by Ledisi and Frank Ocean.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Cheap Trick: We didn't lip-sync at Voodoo!
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 2:32 PM
After reports that Cheap Trick was lip-synching some of the band's performance at the Voodoo Experience on Sunday, we heard from Ben-David Fenwick, the band's publicist, this afternoon, who says any talk of lip-sync shenanigans is "completely untrue."
Fenwick also has statements from the group's sound engineer and manager:
Bill Kozy, Cheap Trick front-of-house sound engineer:
"No pre-recorded vocal tracks, or any musical content whatsoever, were ‘flown-in’ or played back during the Cheap Trick performance at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Sunday October 30, 2011 (nor anytime EVER in the nearly ten years I have worked for the band). I use (antiquated?) analog gear to mix the band, and Robin Zander's vocal is not manipulated with any pitch correcting or ‘auto tuning’ devices at all. If anything, a 30 year-old Yamaha effect unit is used for a touch of chorus on the vocal, and I also employ my very analog fingers to tap on a delay-echo foot pedal to do things like repeat the word 'crying' in the song “I Want You To Want Me” or add long delay, and sometimes an 'Elvis' slap repeat to the vocal as the particular song dictates."
Dave Frey, Cheap Trick's manager:
"Cheap Trick's biggest songs were from a LIVE record that sold 6 million units and people are surprised to find the band sound exactly the same at a LIVE concert. And lip-synching can be so challenging. A band would require a very specially trained sound-person to time exactly when to insert ‘...go, get away from the stage!’ just prior to a storm arriving that in part caused a 45-ton stage roof to fall on the band and their crew during their performance in Ottawa this past July."
Both commenters on our original post expressed their belief that Robin Zander was indeed singing live. Here's one of the vids of the band at Voodoo (they seem to be taken off the Web as soon as they're posted) — you can definitely hear that delay-echo pedal in use:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Did Cheap Trick lip-sync at Voodoo?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:26 AM
I wasn't there for Cheap Trick's Sunday night set at the Voodoo Experience, but the consensus among several people who did go was that CT performed a real cheap trick and lip-synched through most (if not all) of their set.
Gambit A&E editor Will Coviello:
On the disappointing side, Cheap Trick was scheduled to play the Bingo! Parlor stage, the notion being that the show would be a more intimate affair. The band sounded exactly like it does on its albums — because it appeared to lip-sync the entire set.
The Times-Picayune's Alison Fensterstock:
[Robin] Zander’s voice, which couldn’t really be expected to stay in its pristine register after 40 years, got help. There were a couple of awkward moments when he didn’t quite sync up with the vocal track that was laying a comfortable foundation for his live efforts. One local musician was upset. “It’s undignified,” he said, before skipping out to catch the Meters.
Based on the YouTube captures from the show — well, the vocals sound awfully good, pitched in an arena register that doesn't quite match the small Bingo! stage at Voodoo:
"I Want You to Want Me":
Were you there? What did you think?
Friday, September 9, 2011
That Emeril movie, A House Divided? Total hoax
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Shire Mountain Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 theatrical film release of “A House Divided” a new romantic “dramady” written, directed and starring Celebrity Chef Phenomenon Emeril Lagasse. The film which centers around a family (The Bensons) going through a rough patch after losing a teenage son in a “random act of violence.” The film touches on issues as diverse as infidelity, abortion, religion, art and unemployment, all through the lens of wry humor and real heart. “A House Divided” also stars Cheryl Hines, Marc Maron and Timothy Hutton.For some, the name Emeril Lagasse immediately congers up the image of “gourmet southern cuisine” along with his signature catch phrases and influence in the cooking community. But soon, the name Emeril Lagasse will be regarded as a new cinematic force to be reckoned with.
Uh, yeah. "Conger"-ed it up a little too far there. The press release also had some eyebrow-raising, leg-tugging "quotes" from purported co-stars Marc Maron (“I signed on because I said ‘F**K, at least I know the catering will be good!”) and a misspelled "Sheryl" Hines, star of Curb Your Enthusiasm ("As a directror [sic] he [Legasse] was great. And no he never asked me to 'kick it up a notch'"). In addition, a quick Google search doesn't show any other results for "Shire Mountain Entertainment," and the Internet Movie Database has no listing for the movie (much to the chagrin of Sandy Duncan fans).
Eater, the national food gossip site, fell for it (welcome to town, by the way!), but a quick call to Jeff Hinson at Emeril's Home Base confirmed the obvious: "I saw something about that this morning," Hinson said with a laugh, "but, no, there's no truth to it. Totally false."
So: no Emeril. But that godawful Gordon Ramsay romantic comedy Love's Kitchen? Now that one is real, and we highly recommend watching the trailer, because the reality is far funnier than the hoax:
Thursday, September 8, 2011
David Vitter really wants you to know he doesn't want to watch the Obama speech
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Sen. David Vitter's plans to ignore President Barack Obama's jobs speech by flying home to have a Saints party in Metairie have now been dashed, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has now called for floor votes around the time of the speech. And just as he took to Facebook yesterday to announce his Saints party, now Vitter is back with a status update for Who Dat Nation:
Typical Harry Reid. He's now scheduled votes that should’ve been held this morning for right before and right AFTER the prez's speech. Pens in those who would have skipped speech, like me. So now I'll miss my own Saints game party at home. Always knew Harry was a Dirty Birds fan! Don't worry—only strengthens my Who Dat resolve. On to the Super Bowl!
Wonkette noted the diss in a completely witless post that lapsed into racist crap (if a conservative-leaning satirical political site ever said "David Vitter don’t have time fo’ this nonsense, he gots to be back in his crib," we'd never hear the end of it), but the comments on the Facebook page are a lot funnier than Wonkette. Though you'd think Vitter's Facebook people would have instituted some comment filter that automagically rejected responses with the words 'hooker' or 'diaper' ...
Yee-owch. More under the jump, including some in favor of Vitter's position.
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