Jeudi

Today, Tuba Fats Tuesday rolls in Treme, DJ Rusty Lazer celebrates a birthday with a few of his Bounce buddies, Room 220 presents an evening of Live Thought and the World War II Museum explores 9-11. On this day in New Orleans history, the first gas lighting was used in the American Theater (1823), and legendary pianist and composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born (1829). Now click through to find out more about today's happenings:

Tuba Fats Tuesday (corner of N. Robertson and St. Phillip Sts., Treme; All Evening) - For the past few years, Treme musicians have been taking it upon themselves to honor a true New Orleans music legend on the Tuesday after JazzFest ends. Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen was a master of the insturment in his nickname, a crucial neighborhood voice that bridged the gap between City officials and the people trying to keep New Orleans culture alive and a teacher of the insturment to all who paid him a visit on Jackson Square. The band for the event has typically been an all-star cast of Treme musicians, and tonight should be no different.

Rusty Lazer's Birthday Party (Siberia, 10 p.m.) Big Freedia's DJ has his own birthday bash with a few of his Bounce friend.s. Nicky da B, Luckylou, Nolafam and many more, plus Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship's Walt McClements.

September 11, 2001: A Global Moment (WWII Museum, 6 p.m.) More than 10 years since the heinous attacks in New York, the World War II Museum explores the events thorough prism of one of the first (and finest) novels of the events, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

An evening of Live Thought with philosopher Tamler Sommers in conversation with attorney Billy Sothern (6 p.m., Community Book Center (2523 Bayou Road)). The pair will discuss the philosophy of punishment and related topics. Readings by authors Pia Z. Ehrhardt and Kristina Robinson on the theme of criminal justice will precede the interview.

Tamler Sommers’ interviews on philosophy appear in The Believer and the Times Literary Supplement, and have been collected in the book A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain, published by McSweeney’s . He is a respected figure in the academic field of moral philosophy, yet adeptly presents complex moral ideas in an accessible and often entertaining manner. An assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, Sommers is presently at Tulane on a fellowship studying the philosophy of punishment. His most recent book, Relative Justice: Cultural Diversity, Free Will, and Moral Responsibility,was recently published by Princeton University Press.

Billy Sothern is an anti-death-penalty attorney in New Orleans, as well as a Soros Justice Media Fellow, a frequent contributor to The Nation, and author of Down in New Orleans: Reflections from a Drowned City (University of California Press). His writing has also appeared in The Believer and other publications, and is forthcoming in Immortal City: A New Orleans Atlas, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedecker.

Pia Z. Ehrhardt is the author of Famous Fathers and Other Stories and a contributing editor to Narrative magazine. Her work has been published widely in periodicals such asMcSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Oxford American, and The Mississippi Review, and anthologized in the Norton Anthology of Sudden Fiction. She lives in New Orleans with her husband and son and recently helped rescue two baby owls.

Kristina Robinson was born and raised in New Orleans. She is a graduate of Xavier University and presently a candidate for an MFA in poetry from the University of New Orleans. She is currently at work on a collection of essays on race, class, and shape-shifting, and blogs about hip hop, sexual politics, and other topics at Life in High Times. -Room 220