by Joe Shriner

On Monday, December 9, New Orleans Friends of Music presents the third concert of their 59th season, bringing to the Crescent City award-winning violinist Arnaud Sussmann and pianist Michael Brown. Performing works by Bach, Dvorak, Strauss, and Webern, the chamber duo appears at Dixon Hall on Tulane University’s campus at 8 pm.

The interstate is closed at Louisa due to a fatal accident, according to NOPD. A truck on I10-E hit the guardrail this morning, and all lanes are currently closed. 

Now that Kristin Gisleson Palmer is out of the race, Jackie Clarkson is moving in for a chance at her former District C council seat. The current Council Prez and former Representative for Algiers (District 102) is vying to continue her long history with Downtown and the West Bank. 

From Press Street's Room 220: 

This year’s PhotoNOLA festival includes a panoply of offerings for lovers of photography books.

Tonight, catch Jose Torres Tama's performance Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evil Doers, on St. Claude. Cafe Istanbul is hosting another free moving screening this week, showing the Japanese film Rent a Cat. On this day in 1872, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became Louisiana’s first, and to date only, Black governor. Now, more to do this Monday. 

Round one goes to the Black and Gold guys. For at least the next couple of weeks, the New Orleans Saints gained the upper hand in the NFC South race with a 31-13 throttling of the Carolina Panthers. A week after Seattle made them look like mere mortals, a night game in the Superdome was just the balm the Saints' needed to rise back into exalted territory.

The LSU football team has been Between the Hedges and to JerryWorld this season. For their bowl game, the Bayou Bengals are headed to the Outback. The Tigers accepted an invite to play in the Outback Bowl in Tampa on New Year's Day, the athletic department confirmed Sunday.

In the past couple of years, St. Roch Market has gone from a shell of a grocery store to a coveted space for food vendors. Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m., the public is invited to a community meeting to voice their hopes and fears for the revamped space.

by Brandon Robert

The ladies of NOLAW focused more on power than poise in their production of The Nutcracker. Last night at One Eyed Jacks, the arm wrestling league brought nutcrackers, princesses, and rat queens to the stage for a night of holiday-themed bouts. Proceeds from the bets and the $5 cover went to Womanspace Louisiana, a nonprofit for women struggling with mental illness, homelessness and/or substance abuse. Click through for photos by Brandon Robert: 

New Orleans’ expanding literary community is not just for the grown ups this holiday season. State Senator J.P. Morrell of District 3 announced yesterday that elementary, middle, and high school students are invited to enter an essay contest. Kids from Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard Parishes can send in their essays on what the season means for them. Each winner will receive a Kindle Fire. 

by Brandon Robert

There is no occasion too small for a parade in New Orleans, and locals would not let the holiday season fly by without floats and marching bands. With the stretch lit up for the holidays, the Downtown Development District brought New Orleans' official Christmas parade to Canal Street yesterday. Click for photos of the Krewe of Jingle, which rolled on December 7 at 1 p.m.   

A thief tested his luck when he nabbed a 4 ft. Vodooo doll from a French Quarter business in the 600-block of Dumaine St., and police have released footage from the November 20 incident. NOPD has also released video from a robbery that took place on the same day, in the 300-block of Royal. 

Councilwoman Stacy Head kicked off her re-election campaign for Council-at-Large on December 7, at the Botanical Gardens' Pavilion of Two Sisters, joined by fellow politicians and supporters. 

The New Orleans Saints have emerged from what many probably circled as their toughest four-game stretch of the season with a 3-1 record. If they put up the same record over the last four games of the year, it'll go a long way toward winning the division, and heading to a playoff game under the Dome's climate-controlled roof. Still, for reasons that are based in both hype and reality, Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers (7:30 p.m., NBC) has the feel of a must-win for the Black and Gold.

Who Dat! The Saints are playing the Panthers in the Dome tonight. Get into the Christmas spirit at City Park, or see the NOLA Project's unauthorized Scientology-themed holiday musical. On this day in 1879, the state capital was moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Now, more to do this Sunday. 

A.L. Davis Park (Washington and LaSalle) is familar to many as the starting point for Super Sunday. But the park sees some traditional New Orleans colors and action in the fall with the New Generation Social Aide and Pleasure Club. On Sunday, the park is the start and end point for the Club's annual parade, which begins at noon.