News and information from New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. NOLA is most associated with the French Quarter when tourists think of the New Orleans. Also popular are the Saints NFL Football Team, Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. The nola411 website is here to roll up information from around the web that locals ad visitors will hopefully find as a useful tool and check back frequently for the latest news.
It's not easy being a comedian in New Orleans. Sparse audiences and a dearth of appropriate venues have given new depth and meaning to the whole "dying is easy, comedy is hard" line. Like so many in New Orleans' large creative community, local comedians do what they do because they love it — even though the abundance of entertainment choices in New Orleans on any given night makes it that much more difficult to attract audiences and further their careers...
Lovers of fine food are returning to post-hurricane New Orleans that is rebuilding its devastated restaurant community, once known around the world for its cuisine. So why is a New Orleans native and life-long foody leading more than two Louisiana friends on an eating tour of Chicago? Tom Fitzmorris says Chicago is his favorite food town, next to New Orleans, of course...
The Essence Music Festival will continue to occupy the Louisiana Superdome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on the Fourth of July weekend through 2014, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Essence Communications Inc. President Michelle Ebanks announced Wednesday at City Hall flanked by state leaders and members of the hospitality community...
“I listen to Rebirth and the Soul Rebels a lot -- Soul Rebels, they have fun too. And Rebirth, it’s like, that’s tradition.”
The Young Fellaz also look to their big brother band, TBC. “We went to them, and they taught us a lot—different things to look out for, like how much we should be getting paid,” ...
As concerns mount about the aging infrastructure of thousands of miles of natural gas pipelines across the country after a gas transmission line exploded in central California and killed at least four people, local utility officials downplayed the possibility that a similar disaster could happen in southeastern Louisiana.
The HBO series “Treme,” named for the historic neighborhood where jazz was born, follows musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The soundtrack includes 19 tracks featuring music heard throughout the first season of this groundbreaking series, offering a cross-section of New Orleans-bred music that includes rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, rock and roll, funk, folk and country...
United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., announces that six schools in Louisiana received more than $6.8 million as a part of the U.S. Department of Education's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Institutional Aid Program.
"I have long supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities and fought to provide them with the resources they need to build up their facilities and academic programs," said Sen. Landrieu. "Louisiana has a rich tradition of strong HBCUs. The funding awarded today will allow these schools to continue to grow, both physically and academically to provide a better education for their students."
The purpose of the HBCU Program is to provide financial assistance to establish or strengthen academic resources, financial management, endowments and physical plants to enhance these academic institutions.
The following HBCUs that received grants from the U.S. Department of Education:
Dillard University will receive $863,050
Grambling State University will receive $1.2 million
Southern University and A&M College will receive nearly $1.6 million
Southern University at Shreveport will receive $946,102
Southern University at New Orleans will receive $1 million
Xavier University will receive more than $1.1 million
Back in the day, “Fat City” in Metairie was the nightlife district in da Parish, a hotbed of clubbing, massage parlors, music clubs and restaurants. It was considered to be the “French Quarter” of Jefferson Parish. After a while though, the area turned nasty, with a lot of strip malls, drugs and some violence...
An artist's rendering of a Restaurant Depot restaurant supply store that will be built on the site of the old Universal Furniture store at Earhart and Broad. Construction is scheduled to begin this week.
Construction is set to begin this week on a first-of-its-kind big-box restaurant supply store at the corner of Earhart Boulevard and South Broad Street, with developers hoping to capitalize on the city's booming food and hospitality sectors...
The Riverbend International Tapas Crawl began in July and has become a regular event held the last Wednesday of the month. Participating neighborhood restaurants serve a tapas-style dish along with a short glass of wine for $5 (cash only). The next installment is 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29...
Chris Connolly has reported a where-is-he-now? profile of former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason, to air on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” this week (September 26)...
At the moment, tour planners have nothing to offer clients interested in a Mississippi River overnight cruise. But that will change in 2012. Connecticut-based American Cruise Lines (ACL) announced this week that it is building a 140-passenger paddlewheeler that will travel the routes of the defunct Delta Queen Steamboat Co. and RiverBarge Excursions. Besides the Mississippi, the new ship will cruise the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers...
Residents of the Iberville public housing complex said that they want to steer the proposed Iberville redevelopment, and distrust the Housing Authority of New Orleans...
By the time Hurricane Katrina passed to the east of New Orleans, it wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime storm; the city probably experienced no more than Category 2 conditions. And many of the levees that failed weren’t breached, but simply gave way because they had been improperly built on ground vulnerable to seepage...
Roughly 55 percent of New Orleans area roads are in poor condition, costing area drivers nearly $700 a year in additional expenses, according to a report released this week by a national transportation research group...
Thousands of water professionals and nearly 1,000 top water companies from around the world are expected at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center to attend the five day event. Scheduled for October 2-6, 2010, WEFTEC is recognized as the largest annual water quality conference and exhibition in the world...
Folgers Coffee Co. will spend almost 90 percent of the $69 million it plans to invest in its New Orleans area manufacturing plants and distribution center on equipment for its facilities on Old Gentilly Road and Chef Menteur Highway...
Members of To Be Continued Brass Band play music on a New Orleans street behind a sign reading “Please Don’t Stop the Music!”
An ordinance giving a curfew for all street musicians in New Orleans has been put on hold while officials redraft a better compromise between residents and musicians...
Federal officials announced earlier this month that nationwide highway deaths in 2009 fell to their lowest level since 1950. Safer cars and trucks and higher rates of safety-belt usage help explain the drop in fatalities...
The New Orleans Police Department has asked for, and received, assistance from the federal Department of Justice in analyzing how the department investigates murders...
J&M Studios, arguably the studio where rock ‘n’ roll was born, is going to be designated an historic rock ‘n’ roll landmark by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
The Mennonite Disaster Service sent skilled carpenters down to New Orleans to rebuild after Katrina. Now volunteers from the Pennsylvania-based group are helping to revive the Hopkins Street District in New Iberia, La. WSJ's Joel Millman reports.
Kenneth Smith, a longtime executive chef in
New Orleans, Louisiana, is on his way to becoming a priest.
Kenneth Smith had been a fixture in the highly rated Upperline Restaurant of New Orleans, Louisiana, where for the past 11 years he served as the executive chef. But after about two decades working there, he has moved out of the kitchen and into New Orleans' Notre Dame Seminary, on his way to becoming a priest. CNN sat down this summer with Smith, 50, before he took off his apron. Below, in his own words, he explains how serving up faith is a logical leap.
Today, on Monday Night Football, the New Orleans Saints will travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers. Even though the defending champions are the heavy favorites to win the game, I believe that the red and gold still have a good chance as well. Therefore, here are the five keys to a 49ers upset tonight...
Whole Foods is celebrating 30 years of making groceries today 3 to 6 pm. Celebrate New Orleans style with a brass band and beer tasting. Spin the birthday wheel for a chance to win fabulous prizes.
Keep Louisiana Beautiful announces a statewide educational grant program that provides up to $5,000 for student-led, litter-reduction projects.. The KLB Leadership in Education Grant program helps develop youth leadership skills by building partnerships and creating opportunities for students to keep Louisiana beautiful.
Jewell Parker Rhodes, known for her American Book Award-winning novel "Douglass' Women" -- as well as her popular three-volume voodoo series set in New Orleans -- has turned her hand to writing a novel for younger readers. 'Ninth Ward, ' by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown and Company) is a powerfully evocative novel, which brings the days just before and during Hurricane Katrina vividly to life...
A permanent cement plug sealed BP's well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Green-building expert Ron Jones will discuss building techniques today at the New Orleans Home + Interior Design Show's Green Building Expo taking place this weekend at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, 900 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans, Louisiana. Jones runs a sustainable-design building company in Santa Fe, N.M., and he founded "GreenBuilder" magazine in 2006.
While families are making tough decisions to give up their pets after disasters strike New Orleans one after another, a group of volunteer pilots is opening its arms to give them a second chance at life...
Pilots, help Pilots N Paws out, download this flyer, print it out and put it up in the airports you visit.
Government officials could declare the blown-out BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico dead Sunday, as they await results from an overnight pressure test. The test result could declare the end of the leak, five months after an explosion killed 11 workers on a drilling rig, leading to the worst offshore oilspill in U.S. history...
The Army Corps of Engineers' plan to do millions of dollars worth of remediation work along three New Orleans outfall canals has reignited charges by a 17th Street Canal homeowners coalition that the government uses their property for flood protection without compensating them...
BP Plc and other companies will face “thousands” of lawsuits over the oil spill set off by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April, a judge with about 400 such cases in his court said...
Music Rising, an award winning initiative co-founded in 2005 by U2's the Edge, legendary producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz announced a $1 million program in partnership with Tulane University to develop a college curriculum that will provide a permanent, comprehensive and definitive study of the musical heritage of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. The Music Rising program is administered by the Gibson Foundation.
Music Rising has worked closely with Nick Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American studies and creator of Tulane's public radio program American Routes in creating the connection with Tulane. The curriculum for the program on music and culture of the Gulf Coast will be implemented at Tulane and available to other universities through web and print materials. In addition to drawing from field, studio and live interviews, programs and performances of the American Routes Collection, the curriculum will draw upon the resources of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz as well as the Maxwell Music Library, the Louisiana Collection, the Southern Institute and the New Orleans Gulf South Center, all housed at Tulane...
I think some of the voices that really haven't been heard in these five years of recovery are those that are still displaced: a hundred thousand or more former residents who were dispersed around the country in the aftermath of Katrina and still have not been able to come home...
Equipment used to clear oil sat by the beach in Grand Isle, La., last month. When BP’s oil started flowing into the Gulf of Mexico in April, beachgoers and money stopped flowing into the town. (Win Mcnamee/ Getty Images)
New Orleans' ''cocktail'' culture is an evolving entity. Ten years ago, cloyingly sweet Hurricanes and weak bourbon on ice. Today? Thanks in part to Tales of the Cocktail -- a five-day extravaganza celebrating bartenders, brands and booze -- the art of fine cocktails is coming back to the Crescent City...
... the school will start with a two-year course and expand to a four-year curriculum. The graduates will not only know their way around a kitchen-they will also learn the technical aspects of running a kitchen and a restaurant, managing finances and understanding the business of restaurants...
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), is the the national organization for theatre in the United States. Its member theatres produce outstanding professional productions in communities across the nation.
The New Orleans Seafood Festival will hold its 4th annual celebration in Lafayette Square this weekend, Friday through Sunday, September 10-12. The festival is free and open to the public, and will feature live music, an artists’ market and food from over 20 of the city’s restaurants as well as daiquiris and snowballs. The festivities begin at 4 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. during the weekend...
Play of the Game: On third-and-11 from the Saints 44, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre fired a pass just inches out of the reach of an open Greg Camarillo, who trapped the ball on what would have been a 13-yard gain and a first down...
Yesterday, Michelle Obama stopped by the Brock Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana, to attend a press conference for the NFL's Play 60 campaign to fight childhood obesity...
Are you involved in digital design and development? Learn how you could benefit from the states Digital Media tax credits.
The Louisiana Internet Software & Technology Association Presents: The Louisiana Digital Interactive Media Tax Credit Workshop
September 16, 2010 - 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Venue: House of Blues
225 Decatur St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
Join LISTA for a workshop on the Louisiana Digital Interactive Media Tax Credit. The workshop will consist of four seminars that will walk attendees through the Louisiana Digital Media Act and how to monetize the tax credits to increase their bottom line.
Schools will release students early and New Orleans City Hall will shut down completely on Thursday, as the NFL hosts a concert and party in Jackson Square...
BP concluded that the cement failed to do one of its main jobs: preventing natural gas from flowing into the well. This was the first in a chain of failures that led to the deadly explosion in April, the report says...
Turns out, San Jose actually can dish up spicy gumbo that opens the pores, and even the hearts, of lifelong New Orleans residents. When Laurie and Art Emery of La Selva Beach read the lamentations of Reggie Melancon and his wife, Jewel Dixon, about the lack of authentic Cajun cooking they found since resettling here following Hurricane Katrina five years ago, they decided to dish out a little hospitality -- Bay Area style...
You’ve worked hard for that New Orleans vacation, and while you may consider doing some volunteer work, you’d also like to have time to relax and enjoy your time off. Sound right? That’s no problem for the New Orleans Marriott’s Spirit to Serve program, which offers plenty of opportunities to give back while having a fun time in the Crescent City...
Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Welcoming Community? Saturday, September 11, 2010
9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Audubon Room - Danna Center - Loyola University
A free conference looking at how well residents and newcomers alike have been welcomed back in the last five years and what still needs to be done.
Part One: Welcoming Back Our Own
Allison Plyer with the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center will present key findings on the recovery of New Orleans.
Jarvis DeBerry, a columnist with The Times Picayune, will discuss how New Orleans has welcomed residents, especially the poor, elderly, and people of color.
Workshops to follow
Part Two: Welcoming Newcomers
Martin Gutierrez, the Executive Director of Neighborhood & Community Services of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, will give an overview of the experience of immigrant workers coming to New Orleans after Katrina and how well they have been received.
Workshops to follow
Made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Free and open to the public.
First Lady Michelle Obama is in New Orleans today, urging kids to get some exercise! The White House is bringing its campaign against childhood obesity to New Orleans ahead of the NFL Kickoff...
From Southern Decadence last weekend to this week's Saints season opener, the New Orleans tourist season is in full gear. To rest up over Labor Day, we enjoyed a staycation housesitting a friend's retro home in Mid City. Walking through revamped City Park with its hand-made Venetian gondola, dining on seafood at Liuzza's and simply staying in, here are photos from Labor Day weekend...
New Orleans has always had an affinity for cocktails; the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz were created here. While New Orleans wasn’t at the forefront of the current cocktail craze, the addition of several new cocktail bars, as well as mixologists at some of the best restaurants and hotels, have helped us catch up quick. If you want to experience the cocktail culture in New Orleans, check this out...
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans office of Global Green last week unveiled its New Orleans Green Map, an effort to track sustainably rebuilt residences, businesses and public buildings...
Baskin-Robbins, the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, today announced the Grand Opening of the company’s first shop to open in New Orleans since the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. The location opened on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and stands in the exact location of a Baskin-Robbins shop that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The original shop, along with five other local-area Baskin-Robbins locations, closed due to damages sustained during the hurricane...
There's now an official gay and lesbian destination guide for New Orleans. The Navigaytour will launch just in time for the 39th Annual Southern Decadence Festival, which welcomes on average 100,000 attendees for events over the Labor Day weekend...
Engineers have removed a temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well in mid-July. The cap was removed Thursday as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The government wants to replace the failed blowout preventer first to deal with any pressure that is caused when a relief well BP has been drilling intersects the blown-out well.
The city was virtually uninhabitable. No utilities, no public services, no health care facilities. For the next several months, as the painful process of rebuilding began, some wondered publicly whether New Orleans could or even should be resurrected. Today, few are asking that question as the city boasts a population close to 80 percent of its pre-storm level...
An explosion on an oil platform 90 miles south of Vermillion Bay sent the 13 people on board into the water Thursday morning around 9:30 a.m. The platform is in shallow water and is much easier to manage than in deepwater, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
The producers of TREME are releasing a digital soundtrack (release date: September 28, with a physical CD due out the fall). The disk is overflowing with great music...
The resurgence of classic cocktails is opening door after door for these brews of yesteryear, and we are beginning to realize that they may be a bit more work to construct, but the finished product is amazing.
The NFL announced that Brad Pitt is the narrator for the America's Game documentary about the New Orleans Saints' win in Super Bowl XLIV. The NFL Network began producing America's Game in 2006 to celebrate the first 40 years of the Super Bowl and has since created a new documentary every year since...
The city of New Orleans is overhauling its take-home vehicle policy and slashing the number of take-home vehicles for employees, according to a statement from Mayor Mitch Landrieu...
As New Orleans looks back to the tragedy the city experienced after Hurricane Katrina five years ago, local officials and community leaders are giving special praise to the role played in the recovery by one of the city's crown jewels - Tulane University...
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a lot -- Soul Rebels, they have fun too. And Rebirth, it’s like, that’s tradition.” 
,” named for the historic neighborhood where jazz was born, follows musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 
) Institutional Aid Program.
, on his way to becoming a priest. CNN sat down this summer with Smith, 50, before he took off his apron. Below, in his own words, he explains how serving up faith is a logical leap. 
" -- as well as her popular three-volume voodoo series set in New Orleans -- has turned her hand to writing a novel for younger readers. '
, ' by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown and Company) is a powerfully evocative novel, which brings the days just before and during Hurricane Katrina vividly to life...
