I’ve heard older people say many times that they’re lonelier because all of their friends have passed on. Once they’re gone, all you have are memories. It’s the nature of life: things change, people die, old familiar faces and places pass away.
That happened this month, with the passing of someone I was proud to call [...]
The last mainstay of live local music on North Rampart Street has closed its doors.
Donna’s Bar & Grill, which has been the home of brass bands for almost 20 years, is closed forever.
“We’re done. We turned in our license,” said Donna Poniatowski, for whom the club was named. “When we went to city hall to [...]
I am very sad to report the death of Herman Leonard, one of the world’s great photographers, and a longtime friend. Herman moved to New Orleans in 1992, and immersed himself in the New Orleans music scene. He lost his house and some of his work to Hurricane Katrina, and subsequently moved to Los Angeles. [...]
We play in the August heat, too.
Satchmo SummerFest celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Originally funded by the Louisiana Office of Tourism, Satchmo SummerFest is more than just a local festival; its intent was to inform and educate locals and visitors on the heritage and legacy of Louis Armstrong, and the importance of New Orleans [...]
Last week, the New Orleans Police Department announced that they would enforce an ordinance on the books that prevents live music from being played on Bourbon Street from 8 p.m. until 9 a.m. They served notices to the To Be Continued Brass Band, who plays on the corner of Canal and Bourbon. While the NOPD [...]
Oak Street has a long history in New Orleans’ retail history. My mama used to shop there all the time, and I can remember going to the stores when I was a little girl. Oak was one of the “shopping streets” in New Orleans, along with Dryades (commercial area now renamed after Oretha Castle Haley) [...]
It’s so hard for me to believe that I will have been publishing OffBeat for almost 25 years. Damn! That’s a quarter of a century, a lot longer than many of our readers are old.
In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d still be doing this, but as it turns out, OffBeat was exactly the [...]
If you’d like to experience New Orleans and OffBeat all year long, any time you want, download the newest addition to our media family: our OffBeat Mobile app on your iPhone. It’s free and a very complete guide to Jazz Fest, and after the event is over, it’ll continue to give you access to OffBeat [...]
As I write, two weeks before the beginning of 2010 Jazz Fest, I’m watching crowds of people heading towards the French Quarter to enjoy French Quarter Fest. And in two weeks, I’ll be heading to the New Orleans Fair Grounds to get me some Jazz Fest.
I often wonder about the appeal of Jazz Fest. This [...]
It’s festival time in New Orleans! That’s not to say that we don’t have festivals all year long, but the springtime is special because the French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest take place. The French Quarter Fest is a homegrown operation, run by a small board of locals (disclosure: I am on that board), a [...]
