Ash Wednesday 1883 in New Orleans: two men arrested for wearing women's clothes are released after police verify that they were still out in their costumes from a Mardi Gras ball the day before

Sex work was legal in Storyville, and cocaine was sold over the counter, but this dude got arrested for speeding when his car went over 6 miles per hour (in 1904).

Didn’t realize Willie Colon’s album covers went this hard. RIP.

As gentrification pushes longtime residents out of the neighborhoods where the tradition was born, chiefs and tribes use the art of masking to hold fast to the community, history, and joy that built Black New Orleans. capitalbnews.org/mardi-gras-i...

I do my best Paul Theroux, attempting to turn the four hour Mardi Gras Express into an epic journey, with plenty of meals along the way. Perhaps today it becomes the Lentan Local? gardenandgun.com/feature/amtr...

Monogram Hunters under the bridge yesterday

Bust ‘Em Up: Behind the scenes of Edna Karr marching band’s 2026 Carnival season Karr is widely regarded as one of the best marching bands in New Orleans.

I went as a Wobble Cop on Mardi Gras Day years ago and people kept coming up to me like I was an actual cop. Had to keep pointing out that I was drinking a bottle of whiskey in a brown bag and my badge said Officer Wobble—I can’t help you find your friend, ma’am.

An all-timer!

Good stuff here, including a shout out to the Ponderosa Stomp

Not pictured: Shough on the moving float tilting his head back, holding a beer can a foot over his open mouth, pouring it down his gullet, then doing a little shimmy. My rookie of the year.

Rosa Hawkins of the Dixie Cups put out a book about the group a few years ago that was really good but seemed not to get much attention. It’s called Chapel of Love. Recommended.

The Pelicans lack of winning is directly correlated with the loss of locker favorites and dawgs such as JV, Larry Nance, Dyson Daniels, Naji Marshall, and now Jose Alvarado. Not only were they good basketball players and people, they showed up every night and outworked everyone.

Dont know if anyone on Bluesky cares about this but Lareezy shooting a video outside Quintron’s house is a truly phenomenal New Orleans crossover event www.instagram.com/reel/DUOkGDd...

Would love to see New Orleans leadership take this level of interest in what remains of Armstrong’s (and his contemporaries’) legacy here.

RIP Emperor of the Universe

Afraid the cold is gonna make those Krewe du Vieux floats shrivel up

As one of the very few people in the world who has written one word about the history of dentistry in New Orleans, I am obligated to repost this.

There are some A+ names in the Hogan Jazz Archive. Say hello to Knotsie Butts.

Say what you will about the Pelicans’ creepy king cake baby but he knows Boots on the Ground

Dr. John on the brilliance of Wardell Quezergue and the recording of “Big Chief” with Professor Longhair and Earl King. One of my favorite moments from the Ponderosa Stomp conferences. The full panel is on the Stomp’s YouTube page.

Thanks to Damn History for bumping this, about the precarious state of New Orleans' most precious group of jazz history landmarks.

How nice to be included in @americanstudier.bsky.social’s weekly roundup!

Looking forward to this! I referenced the Hennessy assassination, which led to the lynching, in this article yesterday about the fate of the jazz history landmarks on S. Rampart Street: thelensnola.org/2026/01/22/h...

I wrote about the most important collection of jazz history landmarks on the planet all going on the market at once. This includes the Eagle Saloon, one of Buddy Bolden’s main venues, and is a major plot twist in the saga of S. Rampart Street.

Remembering Allen Toussaint on his birthday. This delightful interview he did with @petepaphides.bsky.social in 2014 is a beautiful way to celebrate the great man and his wonderful music ▶️ www.mixcloud.com/longplayer/l...

I wrote about how Hooper could’ve hit the big time but was undermined by an incorrigible crawfish magnate acloserwalknola.com/places/seafo...

Not everyone has left New Orleans for Minneapolis yet. Armed personnel on Burgundy Street in the French quarter at 1pm Saturday. The bird behind them is a bit of a local celeb—he talks to passers by.

This piece on affordable housing quotes no affordable housing advocates or HANO—just private developers. Makes me curious what others have to say. www.nola.com/news/busines...

I stayed in a FEMA motel in Astoria for a few months after Katrina. When it got cold that fall folks in the neighborhood donated a roomful of coats to the evacuees there. It was so compassionate I cried. Then I pulled myself together and got a badass leather jacket with a huge ‘70s collar.

In 1946, "Bess, the wonder horse of the screen...performed for the children" in Charity Hospital in New Orleans. They got her up to the ninth floor! And hopefully disinfected when she left.

Just in time for the holidays, a feature story on the 1977 Xmas party that changed the marijuana legalization movement forever. There was a rock band, strobe lights, a juggler, silver trays full of joints, and an allegation that Jimmy Carter's drug czar did cocaine ... slate.com/news-and-pol...

Arranged by Eddie Bo. He was everywhere!

One of the three extant buildings from Storyville, the famous red-light district in New Orleans, is facing demolition. I found that it'd been a Black bar, making it the only link to the community of color that lived and worked on the backstreets of the district. acloserwalknola.com/places/joe-v...

My 14-yo-son has recreated the climax of Back to the Future in gingerbread and I thought you should know.

Happy belated birthday to the pride of the 13th Ward

1949: Mahogany Hall, the last of the grand Storyville bordellos is demolished, replaced by a "respectable" row of parking lots and white-only public housing on Basin Street.

Verite News is seeking a managing editor. veritenews.org/careers/mana...

Wardell Quezergue called it his national anthem

This is beautiful annual event where families can get free winter coats and toys for their kids. Last year 100+ Latino folks came out. This year, with ICE/CPB in New Orleans, I feared a raid. That didn’t happen, but only two Latino families showed up.

For those following the current threat to the First and Last Stop, a Black bar in a gentrifying neighborhood: here’s a similar threat to the same barroom from 125 years ago, quoted in the book Spectacular Wickedness by Emily Epstein Landau thelensnola.org/2025/11/20/l...

New Orleans culture bearers may be forced out of Musicians’ Village after property sale www.nola.com/gambit/news/...

Whenever I’m around Times Square, which drains my life force, I try to go there to get my mind right. It’s not about the boxing for me, just the feeling that something human is tucked away amid the mishegas.

The Lens New Orleans: To combat violence, Young Rollers offer a happier alternative: New Orleans culture thelensnola.org/2025/12/07/y... #NewOrleans #NOLAsky

The Esplanade used to support not one but two airbrushing stores. Happier times.

1920: Writers Express Sorrow About Absence of Mint Juleps From Their Buffets. (Apparently, entries to a limerick contest for readers of the New Orleans Item overwhelmed the editor.)

I wrote for @theatlantic.com about the NFL's baffling scoreboard mystery: Why has a game never ended 36-23? Join me (via gift link!) on this @nflscorigami.bsky.social quest w/help from @jonbois.bsky.social, Dave Mattingly, some Scorigami-loving academics, and more www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

After my dad’s health forced him to retire, I spent a decade organizing his research and uncollected writing, finishing after he died in 2018. Now @tomsugrue.bsky.social has edited this volume of it (and written a great intro) for @uchicagopress.bsky.social. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

RIP to one of the greatest. Made every note feel like the perfect one for the moment.