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THE

Defender Picks

 

Mercredi

June 19th

Walter Wolfman Washington

d.b.a. (10:00 PM)

Fiery blues on Frenchmen - every week

 

Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, plus Brynn Marie

House of Blues (8:00PM)

Legendary rock icon and four-time Grammy winner  

 

Bassik Underground feat. Baths + Houses + D33J

Hi Ho Lounge (9:00PM)

Feel the bass drop   

 

Wednesdays at the Point

Algiers Ferry Landing (6:00PM)

Today, Vivaz Latin Band and Paky Saavadra 

 

Curren$y's Jet Lounge

Blue Nile (10:00 PM)

The NOLA rapper's weekly party

 

 

Major Bacon

Banks Street Bar (10:00 PM)

Blues rock and BLTs!

 

SIN Night

Country Club (All Day)

Weekly Wed Gig- $3 martinis and free admission for the service industry folks.

 

 

Tom McDermott and Meschiya Lake

Chickie Wah Wah (8:00PM)

Weekly Wed Gig- Piano man meets a golden voice.

 

 

Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses

Mimi's (10:00PM)

Weekly Wed Gig- Gypsy jazz upstairs in the Marigny

 

Busker's Ballroom

Hi-Ho Lounge (8:00PM)

Weekly Wed Gig- from the street to the stage. Midnight Snax throwdown follows at 10pm.

 

Tin Men

dba (7:00 PM)

Weekly Wed Gig- The world's premiere washboard-sousaphone-guitar trio.

 

Treme Brass Band

Candlelight Lounge (9:00 PM)

Weekly Wed Gig- Pass on by and see the 6th Ward’s home band.

 

Marc Stone

Little Gem Saloon (5:00PM)

Traditional Blues, Gospel, and R&B in the CBD

 

Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Snug Harbor (8:00PM)

Delfeayo Marsalis’ award-winning orchestra

Jeudi

June 20th

Barry Stephenson's Pocket

Maison (10:00PM)

Come see the in-demand bassist perform with his own band tonight

 

Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers
Vaughn's (7:00 PM)
Red beans, rice, Kermit, and you'll get to bed early

 

Soul Rebels

Les Bon Temps Roule (10:00 PM)

Brass Uptown!

 

Hot 8 Brass Band

Candlelight Lounge (8:00PM)

Shake your brass in the Treme with a blend of hip hop, R&B, and pop

 

The Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich & Guests

Maple Leaf (8:00PM)

One of New Orleans’ best percussionist invites his friends to the stage

 

Brass-A-Holics

PubliQ House (9:30PM)

Brass with electric guitar and keyboard

 


Coalition of the Filling

New Orleans Food Trucks to Rally for Reform



On Tuesday evening, a fleet of our city’s food trucks are looking to tout their cause with education and edibles. Under the banner of the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition the carts will congregate at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center on 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. for a Food Truck Rally.

 

The gathering's purpose is to promote reform of current city laws, which the participating purveyors say hinder the national food truck takeoff rom flourishing in New Orleans, through the best way to prove a point – a delicious meal.

 

The New Orleans Food Truck Coalition was founded earlier this year by food truck vendors in partnership with Neighborland. It is an open group made up of food truck operators, eaters, and New Orleans residents with a mission to bring awareness to the city’s constricting regulations on the mobile food industry.

 

One such law is the limit on mobile vendor permits, said Rachel Billow, president of New Orleans Food Truck Coalition and operator of the South American-style food truck La Cocinita.

 

“There was a 100 permit cap, which apparently 20 extra were added this year. But whatever the number is, I’ve talked to people who have gone to City Hall to try to start their own food truck and were told that there were no more permits,” Billow said.

 

Taylor Jackson and Eric Lind are members of the Food Truck Coalition and operate Empanada Intifada, a New Orleans food truck that serves South American cuisine with local and seasonal ingredients. They recently returned from a tour of the food truck scenes in the northwest. In their 1981 Chevy Grumman Stepvan, the duo drove through Denver, Portland and San Francisco, where those city governments have accommodated the mobile food trend much more than our own, Jackson said.

 

“What they are doing [in those cities] is amazing for eaters, but also for the feel of their downtown areas,” Jackson said. “There is definitely a different experience for someone who is walking through one of those city’s – there’s a density of options.”

 

Jackson said those cities have reserved specific places with built-in power for food trucks to set up shop and have permits.

 

“In Portland, almost every unused parking lot is now food parks, even three miles outside the city. It creates a cool and innovative space where [vendors] have room to experiment,” Jackson said.

 

When Jackson and Lind visited Denver’s Central Business District, 20 food trucks spontaneously congregated in a square, bringing a large crowd of customers for lunch via social media.

 

Jackson used to work in a cubicle in the CBD of New Orleans, where he often had to leave the district in order to get lunch for lack of options in the downtown area.

 

“It’s frustrating,” he said. If the city reformed its current law banning food trucks in the CBD, Jackson believes food trucks could provide an easy and diverse lunch hour for the district’s employees.

 

Current city laws hold back the competitive food truck scene of other cities from existing in New Orleans citywide as well, Jackson said.

 

“One selectively enforced regulation says trucks can’t be within 600 feet of a restaurant, school or church, which is the entirety of New Orleans. Another law on the books, [which I] haven’t seen as enforced, says a vendor cannot be on the same block for 30 minutes, or you can be fined,” Jackson said. “By the time you park, put up a sign, and get a line going, you’ve got to leave.” (The law was changed to 45 minutes in recent years, which is a short time to set up shop, Billow said).

 

Along with the policy talk, there will also be food tomorrow night. Jackson and Lind will serve: sasquatch with local yellow squash, roasted butternut squash from Mississippi, caramelized onions, and sharp cheddar cheese; seasonal meat pie with Angus brisket, green pepper, onion, veggies, olives and potato; and Cuban-style black beans and fried plantains over coconut Jasmine rice.

 

Other participating food truck vendors at the Food Truck Rally are Taceaux Loceaux, La Cocinita, Foodie Call, Nola Foods, Ye Olde Kettle Cooker, and Linda “Yakamein Lady” Green. Rue Chow was going to attend, but their transmission blew.

 

The Food Truck Rally is from 6:00pm-9:00pm, Tuesday, July 25, at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

Thanks for the shout out,

Thanks for the shout out, Shay! If anyone can't make it to the event but would still like to join in the conversation we are live tweeting via #NOLAneighbors and discussing food trucks in detail via http://bit.ly/MrAxpp

Matt
Community Manager at Neighborland

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Dead Huey Long, Emma Boyce, Ian Hoch, Sarah Esenwein, Will Dilella, Chris Rinaldi, Lianna Patch, Phil Yiannopoulos, Cate Czarnecki, Jonas Griffin, Jennifer Abbot, Mary Kilpatrick, Elaina Patton, Mike Horst, Devin Bambrick, Katherine McGuire, Norris Ortolano, Joe Shriner

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