We’re only five days out from Christmas, and the New Orleans Craft Mafia is setting up a last stop shop event to help you get your gifting in order. Check out Mary Poppins at Mahalia Jackson, some Acrocats at the Shadowbox, and more! Happy Birthday to Walter “Wolfman” Washington, born on December 20, 1943.

by Emma Boyce

Take out your light sabers, the wookie calls: it’s Chewbacchus time!  Saturday, these oversized ewoks strut down the intergalactic catwalk along with friends like dead-beat dad Darth Vader, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke’s prize pet R2-D2 for the third annual “Set Your Phasers to Stunning” Fashion Show.

Today in New Orleans, enjoy some soft jazz from Norah Jones, Take Back the Night for victims of gender-based violence, or hop around at the Big Top for a night of pop punk. Happy Birthday to Barbara Ann Hawkins (1943), founding member of the NOLA band The Dixie Cups, famous for their songs “Iko Iko,” along with, “Chapel of Love.”  

July 7th, when Joan of Arc was acquitted of heresy charges, 25 years too late (1456), when sliced bread was sold for the first time by Missouri’s Chillicothe Baking Company (1928), when President Reagan announced the nomination of who later became the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Arizona’s Sandra Day O’Connor (1981), The San Fermines Bulls run in Pamplona, Italian film director Vittorio De Sica (1901), Ringo Starr (1940) and Shelley Duvall’s (1949) birthdays, and Gone With the Wind’s Scarlet, actress Vivian Leigh’s death (1967). And today? Voila:

June 22, when the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was founded at Yale, (1844), when Congress created the Department of Justice (1870), when FDR signed into law the G.I. Bill (1944), when Nixon signed a measure lowering the voting age to 18 (1970), when Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled in Berlin (1990), when Eastman Kodak Company announced the discontinuation of all Kodachrome Color film, (2009), and most importantly, when Jon and Kate (+8) announced plan to divorce (2009). It’s Louisiana’s own chess master Paul Morphy’s birthday (1837), along with Meryl Streep (1949), Cyndi Lauper (1953), and Erin Brockovich (1960), while the voice of Judy Garland (1969), the moves of Fred Astaire (1987) and the jokes of George Carlin (2008) came to an end. So do what one should on the 173rd day of the year: 

May 14th, the day of the World’s Largest Burrito, 1,126 lbs (1991),  the last episode of Seinfeld (1998), the births of Diane Arbus (1923), George Lucas (1944), David Byrne (1952), and Cate Blanchett (1969), the death of Emma Goldman (1940), and the first and last day for Sidney Bechet (1897-1959). Lots to celebrate, as there is today in NOLA. There’s so much going on, in fact, that we’re breaking out the cubes, ‘After the Fest’ style, to display 5/14’s offerings:

April 21, when Henry VIII ascended England’s throne (1509), when Noah Webster published the first American dictionary (1828), when the first Polaroid camera was sold in the U.S., when the Beatles met The Stones (1963), when ‘Annie’ premiered on Broadway (1977), when Howard Stern went on air (1980), the protests at Tiananmen Square (1989), Iggy Pop (1947) and Tony Danza’s (1951) date of births, and Mark Twain (1910) and Nina Simone’s (1910) deaths. Lots to take in, and lots to do:

Photos by Chris Klarmann

It may be a far trek to the Boardwalk (especially a non-oily one), but the Crescent City has proved it can host a fine send-up to Coney Island, New York.

Yes kids, the circus was in town, and this was no shoddy tiger tent. The Coney Island Cockabilly Road Show put the bearded lady to shame: Saturday night at The Big Top was an affair to remember, and not just because of the unisex bathrooms.