Oh No You Didn't: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

Kneecapped: The Advocate hires away four Times-Picayune journalists

Kevin Allman — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:26:00 -0500

Since New Orleans businessman John Georges bought The Advocate just a week ago, things have been moving quickly. Georges installed former T-P managing editors Peter Kovacs and Dan Shea as editor and general manager, and there was word that The Advocate's Baronne Street offices were adding several additional parking spaces immediately.…

Le Diner en Blanc: The Great Doucheby

Kevin Allman — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:26:00 -0500

Hey New Orleans — here's a dinner deal for you!

First you pay $35, then you bring your own food, utensils and your own goddam table.

You don't know where you're going, but you must wear white from head to toe.…

Michelle Shocked to discuss anti-gay comments on Internet radio

Kevin Allman — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:26:00 -0500

UPDATE: Shocked has released a statement to Fox News, which says in part, "When I said… ‘Michelle Shocked says God hates f**s,’ I was predicting the absurd way my description of, my apology for, the intolerant would no doubt be misinterpreted. But I am damn sorry.…

Report: Michelle Shocked tells concert audience "God hates fags," denounces same-sex marriage

Kevin Allman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:28:00 -0500

Folk singer and former New Orleans resident Michelle Shocked created a firestorm at a San Francisco concert last night when she delivered a homophobic tirade from the stage, according to observers:

The crowd had come, presumably, to hear songs like “Come a Long Way” and “On the Greener Side,” which got airplay on MTV back in the day. (“Greener Side” was even up for a VMA against Madonna’s “Vogue.”)

Instead they were treated to a tirade that allegedly included Shocked announcing “God hates fags.”

Matt Penfield, who was live-tweeting the show from onstage called her rant, delivered during her second set, “totally sincere [and] super anti-gay and hateful.”

We’re still trying to get the full text of her speech, but apparently she told fans “you can go on twitter and say Michelle Shocked said ‘God hates fags.’”

Another Twitter user posted that Shocked “said she lives in fear that the world will be destroyed if gays are allowed to marry.”

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Gridiron shows: Bobby Jindal and Stacy Head

Kevin Allman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:18:52 -0500

Gov. Bobby Jindal's performance at Saturday night's Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C. went over well — at least with President Barack Obama, who praised Jindal's material and delivery at the ~~logrolling~~ annual chance for politicians and the D.C. press corps to share a laugh:

"I have to say, I thought Bobby (Jindal) was incredibly funny this evening. I thought he was terrific," Obama said last night at the high-profile Gridiron Dinner, in his remarks after Jindal made a highly impressive speech full of fun and jokes, wiping out his 2009 lacklustre speech which was in response to the first State of the Union Address by Obama.

Jindal's entire speech has been posted online by The Washington Post.…

CNN: Lack of communication aboard Carnival Triumph = Hurricane Katrina

Kevin Allman — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:18:00 -0600

Last night I saw a bloated vessel filled with crap dock in Mobile, Ala. — but enough about CNN. The story, of course, was the arrival of the Carnival cruise ship Triumph, which had an engine failure that stranded it in the Gulf of Mexico and turned it into the Good Ship Lollipoop for a few days.

But for CNN's Martin Savidge, the lack of communication aboard the ship was equivalent to the lack of communication on the ground in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures ...…

Mardi Gras report: Endymion -1 day

Kevin Allman — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:13:00 -0600

Orleans Avenue/Canal Street neutral ground report, Friday (yesterday's report is here).

Spray paint: check
Netting around front lawns: ubiquitous
Trash cans blocking off parking: everywhere
Stakes, tape and string: oh, mais oui
Port-o-lets: take your pick
Tents 'n' chairs 'n' stuff: boy howdy
People: hordes
Guy with a rattail buying smokes at Walgreens: we've got that covered
Furniture: some
Sketchy carny-style food trucks selling funnel cakes: not yet

We'll start on Canal Street, just off Carrollton:

More under the jump!

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Mardi Gras report: Endymion -2 days

Kevin Allman — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:42:00 -0600

Orleans Avenue neutral ground report, Thursday (yesterday's report is here).

Many of the "good spaces" have already been claimed, Endymiongoers:

Spray paint: check
Netting around front lawns: check
Trash cans blocking off parking: check
Stakes, tape and string: check
Port-o-lets: check
People: a few

Furniture: not yet

Let's go to the photos:

"Maomi & Friends" (?)…

Mardi Gras report: Endymion -3 days

Kevin Allman — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:02:00 -0600

Orleans Avenue neutral ground report, Wednesday:

Spray paint: check
Netting around front lawns: check
Trash cans blocking off parking: check

Stakes, tape and string: not yet
Furniture: not yet
People: not yet

The KREWE OF CHAD is ready. (#KreweofChad is already a Twitter hashtag.)

More under the jump ...…

They will see us waving from such great heights...

Kevin Allman — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:16:00 -0600

... come down now, they'll say ...…

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Pro tip: Don't wire $5,900 to someone on the Internet who promises you Super Bowl tickets

Kevin Allman — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:35:00 -0600

From KCBS-TV in San Francisco:

HAYWARD (CBS SF) — An East Bay couple is out nearly $6,000 after falling victim to a scammer offering fake tickets to the Super Bowl.

The Osgood family found four seats for sale on Craigslist through an individual claiming to be a Baltimore Ravens season ticketholder.…
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Independent Monthly in Lafayette: Edwin and Trina Edwards expecting a child

Kevin Allman — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:50:00 -0600

We haven't confirmed this ourselves, but Walter Pierce of Lafayette's Independent Monthly is reporting that former Gov. Edwin Edwards and his wife Trina Scott Edwards (of soon-to-be reality show fame) are expecting a child. Or, as The Ind puts it: "Ermahgerd!…
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Y@ Speak: The naughty list

Lauren LaBorde — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:04:00 -0600

Eggs...that's cute. Lol.
— Courtney Roby (@robyslyfe) November 29, 2012

While many — even dive bars — begin to get in the holiday spirit, it seems others are asking to get coal in their stockings this year.…
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Atlanta TV station report on the Saints egged bus incident

Kevin Allman — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:58:45 -0600

Fox 5 Atlanta has a story about last night's egging of a New Orleans Saints charter bus as it pulled out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. (We'd provide a link to the story, but is there anyone in New Orleans who doesn't know it by now?)

Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor spoke with veteran bus driver Clarence Lester, who was behind the wheel of the bus when it was hit.…
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Happy Birthday, Y@ Speak!

Lauren LaBorde — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:18:00 -0600

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Y@ Speak, in which we capture notable 140-character bon mots, newsworthy items, gaffes by Saints players and local politicians and whatever else pops up on the New Orleans Twittersphere. To celebrate this occasion, I've rounded up some of my favorite or most memorable tweets — like a multi-layered digital birthday cake of sorts — and divided them by categories: we got NFL players saying dumb stuff, #neworleansproblems, anguish over the Saints' challenging year, reactions to the Times-Picayune cutbacks, interesting celebrity encounters, deep thoughts from Ray Nagin and so much more.…
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Public Transit Tuesdays: St. Claude

Megan Braden-Perry — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:59:00 -0500

Ever have a day where your mind is clouded with memories, one triggering another? That's the kind of day I was having when I was on my St. Claude bus adventure for the final Public Transit Tuesday, before I take my new position as a general assignment reporter for The Times-Picayune.…
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CEOs for Cities: New Orleans is the least cultured city in America

Kevin Allman — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:54:48 -0500

All that music, art, theater and costuming for which New Orleans is famous around the world? It ain't worth squat, we found out today.

The group CEOs for Cities just issued a report ranking "City Vitals 2.0" of 51 metro regions across the country, and ranked New Orleans #51 — dead last — when it came to "cultured cities."…
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Michael "Encyclopedia Brownie" Brown on Hurricane Isaac

Kevin Allman — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:18:00 -0500

Michael Brown, who bounced from a job as an incompetent FEMA chief to a job in Denver as Mainstream Media Radio Host Who is Well-Compensated for Railing Against Mainstream Media, used that mighty brainpan of his over the weekend and ferreted out Mainstream Media Bias when it came to Hurricane Isaac:

... which might have made a better point if CNN and Anderson Cooper weren't here, or if CNN hadn't done the story on power outages before Brownie raised the question, and followed it with another one today.

As for O'Brien, she had already been covering Isaac for more than a week.…
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Y@ Speak: AHHH HURRICANE

Lauren LaBorde — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:35:00 -0500

Bob Breck is the Kanye West of local meteorologists.
— MyNameIsJohnMichael (@mynameisjm) August 27, 2012

Storm's a comin'! Time to freak out on the Internet!!…
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"Dressed like he was attending a corn husking party"

Kevin Allman — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:23:00 -0500

ActionNews17 is a Northshore news website that bills itself as "Your Digital Mainstreet for the crossroads of I-55 and I-12 in south Louisiana," and it's a good source of small-town news for Hammond, Amite and the areas around rural Tangipahoa Parish — with straightforward stories ranging from "Body of Mandeville man found in lake" and "Olive Garden names O'Neill manager, gears up for Monday opening at Hammond Square." But reporter Don Ellzey's story yesterday, about Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White's appearance before the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, will probably earn Action News 17 fame far beyond the Tangipahoa Parish borders:

AMITE — State Supt. of Education John White addressed the Tangipahoa Parish School Board Tuesday, giving the same insipid speech he gave about a month ago in Amite.…
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Public Transit Tuesdays: Lake Forest

Megan Braden-Perry — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 23:59:00 -0500

The East is coming back and it's pretty close to what I remember. Ah, the East.…
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$500 Hubig's Pies on eBay — and a message from the bakery's owners

Kevin Allman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:04:29 -0500

At this moment, eBay sellers are hawking Hubig's Pies — not cases of them, but individual, $1.19 Hubig's Pies — for the low, low price of $500.

Your choice of chocolate, banana or apple.…
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Sen. David Vitter urges Newhouse to sell The Times-Picayune

Kevin Allman — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:57:00 -0500

Sensing a trend today? On the heels of Tom Benson releasing a letter to Steven Newhouse asking Newhouse to sell The Times-Picayune (and getting an immediate no), now Sen. David Vitter has released his own letter to Newhouse — and specifically criticizing NOLA.com yes he went there.…
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A Very Special Y@ Speak: Summer Meltdowns

Lauren LaBorde — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:11:31 -0500

Tweakout. Noun.…
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Bluth Ipsum

Kevin Allman — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:02:00 -0500

At lunch today, I fired up the NOLA.com iPad app to read about Frank Fradella's court appearance. That story wasn't on the front page, but this one was — click to embiggen:

"Everybody's laughing, and riding, and cornholing except Buster.…
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