Gambit Newspaper

The best source for New Orleans news, politics, entertainment, music, dining and shopping provided by the Gambit newspaper.
Sept. 3 9 p.m. Friday Blue Nile, 532 Frenchmen St., 948-2583; www.bluenilelive.com Throughout her two-decade, DIY, punky, alt-folk career, Ani DiFranco has put out roughly an album a year (most recently Red Letter Year in 2008). She's managed to maintain a low profile while living in New...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Culture Collision 2 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Wed., Sept. 1 New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, Collins C. Diboll Circle, 658-4100; www.noma.org Free admission Sometimes the penalty for throwing a good party is not getting to enjoy it. After helping to organize the first Culture Collision at... By Will Coviello.
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Sept. 2 10 p.m. Thursday Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., 949-7532 Lead Strange Boy Ryan Sambol doesn't sing his songs, exactly — he wheezes, squeals and pants his way through them, giving singular voice to the Austin sextet's bowlegged, soul-based rock 'n' roll. Be Brave (In the R...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Sept. 5 10 p.m. Sunday Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., 949-7532 Drowning its buzz in booze, Harlem lived up to the hype of early drunken singles with April Matador debut Hippies, near the top of the heap of recent '60s/'90s garage-pop anachronisms. The relentlessly catchy Austin trio c...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Sept. 3 8 p.m. Friday Howlin' Wolf, 907 S. Peters St., 522-9653; www.howlin-wolf.com Susan Cowsill (pictured), Ingrid Lucia, Beth Patterson, Sharon Martin, Leslie Smith, George Porter Jr., Irvin Mayfield, Alex McMurray, Randy Jackson and many others perform Joni Mitchell songs as a fund...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
The landmark horror release The Exorcist (1973) spawned a slew of demonic possession films. The Last Exorcism won't be the last, but it is the only one filmed in St. Bernard Parish — shot in the shaky, claustrophic, "found footage" style of The Blair Witch Project. It's open at area cinemas, b...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Best Dance Club 1. Republic (828 S. Peters St., 528-8282; www.republicnola.com) — The closest thing New Orleans has to a New York-style velvet-rope nightlife experience, Republic features live music during the week with top local and national bands ... then segues into the weekend with Flashb...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Various Artists Dear New Orleans (ATC Benefits) Judging Hurricane Katrina tributes is a tricky business. There are no bonus points for having your heart in the right place — by definition, they all do. Observed on a purely musical basis, Dear New Orleans, produced by the nonprofit...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Is Givers for real? Blowing underwater trumpet bubbles, traveling on a school bus filled with 40 friends, beaming at all times like hyperglycemic sandbox kings — press photos and cavorting blogs may not be good a barometer of a band's mood, but the Lafayette pop quintet rarely appea...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Zach Levy's Strongman often seems like a documentary version of The Wrestler, only instead of following Mickey Rourke as an aging pro wrestler, the subject is aging strongman Stanley "Stanless Steel" Pleskun. His better gigs include lifting three people with one finger for a British TV sho...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
After years of roles in drag with Running With Scissors, Bob Edes Jr. might seem typecast as the outrageously flamboyant Mr. Charles in The New Century. Former host of the radio show "Too Gay," Mr. Charles was such an unrepentant queen that New York City asked him to leave. He reserves the...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
In the spirit of schadenfreude, competition between friends or colleagues can offer an audience a wealth of guilty pleasures. In The Four of Us, Benjamin lands a lucrative book deal for a novel, leaving longtime friend David, a struggling playwright, envious and dumbfounded. ...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
We all know how Hurricane Katrina affected the people of this region, but only the earliest storm-weary returnees got to witness a remarkable phenomenon of nature that was as dramatic as it was fleeting. Called the "Katrina Spring," it was an amazing out-of-season flowering of a vast array...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
In the dark days that followed Hurricane Katrina, returning residents were confronted with an overwhelming task. Many flooded houses needed to be gutted and renovated, and even those on the relatively elevated "sliver by the river" often needed roof repairs. The scale of the damage was dau...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
In the years before Hurricane Katrina, chef Anne Lloyd made a name for herself at Mango House, the Caribbean-inspired restaurant she opened Uptown in 2003. Mango House closed after the storm, but Lloyd recently launched Nolavore Catering Company (914-3161; www.nolavore.net), which specializes in del...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
McMinnville, Oregon / $17-$22 Retail This biodynamic Pinot Noir from the family-owned Maysara vineyards was crafted by the proprietors' three daughters. The wine is full bodied with wonderful intensity and delightful finesse. In the glass, a swirl elicits both dark and red fruit aromas wi...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
For the second year, the Crescent City Farmers Market (www.crescentcityfarmersmarket.org) is offering its MarketMatch program, which doubles the purchasing power of shoppers using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, aka food stamps). When shoppers swipe their SNAP benefit cards a...
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
M Bistro The Ritz-Carlton, 921 Canal St., 670-2828 www.ritzcarlton.com On the ritzy lunch menu, Abita-battered fish and shoestring spuds come with remoulade. Finn McCool's Irish Pub 3701 Banks St., 486-9080 www.finnmccools.com Available Monday nights only during pub quiz; try the gravy chips....
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
The very name Little Tokyo Small Plates & Noodle Bar implies that you'll have a few options for assembling meals at this new Japanese restaurant. "Small plates" references the many appetizers that make up the bulk of the menu, while the "noodle bar" aspect comes from huge bowls of rame... By Ian McNulty.
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Hemline (605 Metairie Road, Metairie, 309-8778; 609 Chartres St., 592-0242; 3308 Magazine St., 269-4005; www.shophemline.com) is holding a back to school sale featuring savings of 30 percent to 75 percent. New fall items are arriving daily. Little Laughter (5530 Magazine St., 897-4880) offers disco... By Mary Cross.
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am
Newcomers to Indian food often assume the spicy, curry-filled cuisine will make them sweat like a stroll in the August heat. However, Nirvana's (4308 Magazine St., 894-9797; www.insidenirvana.com) richly flavored Indian cuisine puts these vindaloo virgins' misconceptions to rest. &... By Mary Cross.
30 August 2010 | 7:00 am

