New Orleans News

“New Orleans is alive and well”

Sam Lemheney wants to take home gardening to the "next level." "Jazz it up," offered the design director for the Philadelphia Flower Show. via Gloucester Co. Times

“Topiary is a perfect marriage of two things I love: art and gardening”

For the third year, Finger Lakes artist Michelle Masters will be featured in the upcoming Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center March 2-9, 2008. via Tri State Observer

“The concert just gets bigger and better every year, and the musicians enjoy coming back each time to jam with each other”

Playing to a sold-out crowd for the last several years, established jazz masters and promising prodigies will treat audiences to another red-hot performance at Prairie State College 20th annual Jazz Festival. via NWI Times

“We are the second highest destination for African-American travelers in the country. What we want to do is direct them to all of Louisiana. So we set about by bringing in historians to look at points throughout Louisiana”

Paintings like this one are part of a Martin Luther King exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of African American History and Culture on Governor Nicholls Street. via The Advocate

“We only learned our house hadn't been flooded because a reporter friend from the Times Picayune drove down our block and reported that it was okay”

Sara Roahen was four chapters into writing her just-published book - Gumbo Tales , an exploration into the culinary wonders of New Orleans - when Katrina hit her adopted city. via Philadelphia Weekly

Brint Anderson strums his guitar during Friday night's finale of the Big Easy in Buffalo series in the Town Ballroom. via Buffalo News

“They went armed with fictitious spears and tomahawks and so forth and their main object was to make their enemy bow”

The Wild Magnolias, a Mardi Gras Indians band, holds a free concert in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Saturday, Feb. via Tuscaloosa News

Founded, but not much valued, by the French, New Orleans was passed back and forth with the Spanish and finally sold to the Americans. via MyTELUS

“R r r r a a a a? R r r r a a a a? R r r r a a a a?”

To Cajun cooking and Cajun culture you can add the Cajun frog. The brown-and-tan, ground-dwelling Cajun chorus frog - kin to spring peepers and green tree frogs - was introduced this month to the scientific ... via WFAA-TV Dallas

“They're happy, in good spirits and income does go up.”

That happy, singsong sound heard on Bourbon Street is trickle-down economics at its best as hundreds of thousands of Carnival season visitors spend themselves silly before Fat Tuesday. via International Business Times

“I think this is a real boost psychologically for the city of New Orleans and economically, as we said. I'm just thrilled they're doing this”

The ongoing effort to make New Orleans whole featured prominently in former Senator John Edwards' announcement to drop out of the Democratic presidential primary on Wednesday. via 4 WWL-TV

“I should be at Robert Street at 5:04”

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, city buses were again running up and down St. via InterestAlert.com

“New Orleans is open for business.”

During his final State of the Union Address delivered last night, President Bush announced that this April's North American Leaders' Summit will be held in New Orleans: Tonight the armies of compassion continue ... via Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch

“Pinstriped wrap dress from Spiegel. Jessica Simpson pewter platform shoes with a black accent. A black Coach Carly Signature bag and black accessories.”

The subject of this week's Style File, where we catch people out and about, calls New Orleans home, but is a regular visitor to Baton Rouge for church services. via 2theadvocate.com

Single mother, soldiers join first lady for speech As has been the custom, the White House invited a mix of prominent and ordinary citizens to sit with first lady Laura Bush during the president's speech. via Denton Record-Chronicle

New Orleans is considered the birthplace of Dixieland jazz, so be sure to play music from native son Louis Armstrong to create an atmosphere reminiscent of Canal Street. via Sun Chronicle

“Otherwise people would have been laughing into the middle of the bridge.”

I have been to every IAJE conference beginning in 2000 , but the 2008 Toronto event was a bit unusual in many ways. via All About Jazz

“Maybe we have a future doctor here”

A gospel hymn thumped from dual onstage speakers, bathing thousands of onlookers in music and spilling out into the skywalk. via Indianola Record-Herald

“Stevie was a Meters fan ... he got on stage and started playing the keyboard, then he got on drums. He's so talented it's beyond comprehension”

Wonder Returns To Jazz Fest Friday, Jan 25, 2008 11:03AM Stevie Wonder has not performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 35 years, and has never headlined the event. via Pollstar News