A trio of thieves were feeling lucky on St. Patrick's Day after they made off with a woman's purse at a CBD bar. But the Sunday incident was caught on camera, meaning there might be no pot of gold at the end of these rascals' rainbow. About 1:40 a.m. at a watering hole in the 1000 block of Poydras, the three men engaged the woman in what police describe as a "casual conversation."

Find another green shirt to throw on, or you’ll definitely get pinched. Enjoy block parties, parades, and more to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day weekend. On this day in 1999, local greats Roosevelt Sykes and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. Now, more to do this beautiful Saturday.

New Orleans' roots are French and Spanish, but at this time of year, everyone seems more in tune with their Irish heritage. St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, and The Irish House, Parasol's, and Tracey's are readying themselves for Celtic chaos.

For New Orleans, a week is enough rest after Mardi Gras. It's time to start rollin' again. A pair of parades is set to descend on downtown New Orleans this weekend. In the Bywater, the Downtown Irish Club is getting ready for their St. Patrick's Day saunter. In the 9th Ward, a Social Aide and Pleasure Club will cross the canal once again.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! As New Orleans isn't a town that takes partying lightly, there's a full slate of activities across the city to mark this country's day of Irish pride. But along with drinking green beer and flailing for vegetables, we also take a moment to remember the Irish heritage of this town. The immigrants who came to the Irish Channel helped to Americanize the city, and did a lot of the hard work that made our port so vibrant. Click through for details about today's happenings:

If you're not seeing green in New Orleans this weekend, you're probably not doing something right. Starting early on the morning of Thursday, March 15, and continuing through the bitter end of St. Patrick's Day itself, March 17, there's ample chances to get out in the street, drink some green beer and celebrate St. Patrick's Day as only New Orleanians have the livers to do.

Today, Parasol's welcomes St. Patrick's Day a couple of days early to the Irish Channel, The Poetry Brothel gets up close at Allways Lounge, Room 220 hosts a dynamic local lit duo at Antenna Gallery and the LPO rolls into First Baptist Church. On this day, Andrew Jackson, the namesake of our city's most prominent Square, and the Old Hickory that lead the pirates and privates to victory in the War of 1812, would've been 245 years old and, just before that War of 1812 win, La. Gov. William C.C. Claiborne ordered Jean Lafitte's pirates of Barataria to disband (1813). Good thing he didn't. Now back to today:

by Brad Rhines

While the Uptown factions continue to divide their loyalty between Parasol’s and Tracey’s, there’s only one spot for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in downtown New Orleans this weekend, as Markey’s Bar kicks off the season with the 2012 Downtown Irish Club Block Party.  The block party is the first of a number of events around town that will have folks seeing green over the next few weeks as the city celebrates its Irish heritage.

The Irish Channel's Third St. might end up green tonight from all the colored beer likely to be spilled. At the corner of Magazine St., Tracey's - the bar owned by Parsol's old owners - is throwing a block party to celebrate St. Patty's. Deeper into the city's original Irish stronghold, at Third and Constance St., Parasol's, under new ownership, is keeping alive the original March 17 block party. Double the block parties means only one thing...doube the roast beef po-boys!

NoDef left its comfy Marigny quarters this week to discover new digs and drinks for the second installment of our Cocktail of the Week. This time around, we found ourselves at Whiskey Blue, a CBD establishment that has been around for over ten years, set in the ground level of the W Hotel. Manager/Mixologist Sam Skydell met us for a pre-lunch fix to craft the refreshingly classy Coconut Basil Gimlet.