The Information Super-Frog

Summer in the city

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:38:28 GMT

mshollie and I had a nice day on the town yesterday. We took the streetcar downtown and had lunch at The Green Goddess Restaurant in the French Quarter. Delicious! Then to the Historic New Orleans Collection to see exhibits first at the Chartres Street Research Center, then at the Royal Street Museum. We walked around a bit, then went to the Roosevelt Hotel right as it officially reopened to the public. One of the city's grand old hotels, it had been closed since Katrina. Roosevelt Hotel New Orleans Wikipedia article. Drinks at the Sazerac bar!

Green Goddess location on Exchange Alley

H. had the ploughman's lunch, I had the luau Cuban sandwich, we split an order of duck fat homefries. Good unusual juice drinks. Everything was excellent.

After a generation as "The New Orleans Fairmont" before Katrina, the hotel reopened with its historic name restored, adding a sense of time-travel to the excitement.

"Mystery Lady" 19th century figure clock in the Roosevelt's main lobby.

At the Roosevelt's Sazerac bar, what to order to celebrate the return of this New Orleans institution other than the namesake? Best Sazerac I've ever had. Hollie asked the bartender if he could make a Ramos gin fizz to which the bar tender said "of course" (can you get cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde?). Also excellent. A very happy day.

Some more pix on on my Flickr account.

Nothing so eventful today, though we did stop by the Mid-City Green Market, taste some wines at Cork & Bottle, and ate po-boys at Parkway Bakery, so no complaints about today either.

Broadcast television, RIP

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:54:01 GMT

Bye bye.

Radio says, "Nyah nyah".

Have Big Chief Fun on the Bayou

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:33:16 GMT

Went to Bayou St. John for the Downtown Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday. Good times.

Local linky stuff

Wed, 13 May 2009 13:55:30 GMT

Some local news links

WDSU: Engineer Testifies Of 'Hurricane Highway'" Testimony confirms the obvious; "MRGO" Canal funnels ocean storm surge into the heart of the metro area.

LA Coast Post: Vitter's Hurricane Hijinx Senator Vitter: Still a Weasel.

Village Voice: Hopeful Dispatches From the 40th Jazz & Heritage Festival

Gambit Weekly: Ray Nagin: the Blur Clancy DuBois riled into rant mode.

In flew Enza

Fri, 01 May 2009 02:37:14 GMT

Tracking Swine Flu on the Computer Machine

Center for Disease Control: Swine Influenza and You

World Health Organization announces Category 5 "pandemic is imminent". Uh, What? It's a good thing.

Bring out your dead!

John Barry, author of the book about Great Flu Pandemic, is concerned

Sunshine-mobile

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:15:59 GMT

While out doing errands yesterday, I saw a solar powered car on Nashville Avenue, Uptown New Orleans.

It's "XOF1". The driver/chief builder Marcelo da Luz gave a little talk about it in front of one of the magnet schools. He drove it up to the Arctic Circle and is on his way down to Key West Florida.

I have a few more photos and a short video on Flickr.

Season's Greetings

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:35:09 GMT

Anthropomorphic poultry wearing spats and smoking tobacco bring you Easter greetings!

The Easter Cock has come! (Via finsbry)

The Easter Duck brings the traditional seasonal gift of the Easter Toothpick!

(A tip o' the duckhat to twindowlicker)

Happy Holidays, all!

Escape from pirates

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:13:09 GMT

Hollie and I went down to the Marigny just after 5pm, got a good parking place, and enjoyed a meal at Tomatillos. Then over to the ARRR Barr for the "Pyrate Parade". There were 2 bands. I was playing in the Pirate Band brass band mostly recruited from the Pair-O-Dice Tumblers and BEAR/MOMs Band. The other was The Noisician Coalition with wacky noise making "instruments". There were lots of folks dressed as pirates, of course, in addition to bead cannons and wacky decorated vehicles.

Photo set on Flickr

We had a good time. Some fellow bandmembers were surprised the parade didn't stop when we passed Laffitte's Blacksmith Shop to have drinks and toast the city's historic favorite local pirate. No bar break? The Tumblers can teach the Pirates something about parading around the French Quarter.

This evening we're going to a krewe party.

Bunny Music

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:12:04 GMT

The other day I got together with some musicians to rehearse a couple numbers for the Easter parade. Between us. we remembered the tunes of "Easter Parade" and "Here Comes Peter Cotton Tale". When we tried playing "Peter Cotton Tail", the lead trumpet counted it off too slow, but we kept going, playing it as a funeral dirge, then kicking it off as a second line. It worked. We wondered if we should do it that way at the parade. Isn't Easter supposed to have a death and resurection theme anyway?

Some of us are also playing for the Pyrate Parade this Friday. Any good pirate brass band numbers? Or maybe pirates don't have their own tunes, they just pillage other people's music.

May as well get good use out of songs we've run through. "Here Comes Pirate Cotton Tail"? "In Your Pirate Bonnet, With the Black Flag on it..."

Economy articles links

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:12:14 GMT

For those who haven't yet read either of these two articles on the US & the economy, recomended:

The Quiet Coup by Simon Johnson

The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi

Super Sunday

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:38:07 GMT

mshollie and I caught the Uptown Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday by Shakepear Park today.

My set of pix on Flickr

Ms. Hollie's pix on Facebook

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YouTube

MeTuber

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:33:33 GMT

I've started messing around with uploading a few short video snippets taken with my pocket camera to YouTube here. (Hm, I wish I'd got more than a couple seconds of video of the St. Anne band, but I was too busy playing. Maybe Ms. Hollie can take video next time.)

Better than anything I've uploaded, check out "Battle of Jackson Square, Mardi Gras 2009". Christian Fundamentalists picketing Mardi Gras encounter a second line group and pirates armed with bead cannon.

Republicans & the "Religious Right"

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:52:27 GMT

Eight minute video explains exactly where the U.S. Republican Party is today and how it got there in unusually precise detail:

YouTube: Frank Schaeffer talks with D.L. Hughley

Froggy and Hollie's Excellent Mardi Gras

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:17:04 GMT

The weather was pretty much perfect for Mardi Gras Day this year. There are no doubt a thousand excellent ways to enjoy Mardi Gras in New Orleans; here's what mshollie and I did.

We drove out in the morning (with a few random float and bicyling costumers sightings on our route far from the parades) down to the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. We checked out some morning parties, chatted with friends and aquaintances.

Almost ready

Bywater backyard

Always lots of good costumes out

Then down to Bud Rip's bar, where the musicians gather for the Sociey of St. Anne parade. I was playing my trombone as one of the guests in the band, the core of which are the fabulous Storyville Stompers.

Inside Bud Rip's. I suspect they don't make hole-in the wall working class neighborhood bars like they used to.

The trumpet sounds!

The parade started a bit after 10 am. We paraded up through Bywater and Marigny, stopping at various bars and cafes where more costumers join the parade. We got up to the R Bar just below the edge of the French Quarter shortly after noon; things were getting crowded and we headed over to Frenchmen Street. We stopped in at the Dream Palace, then the Krewe of Kosmic Debris started up, and I played with the Pair-0-Dice Tumblers.

Kosmic Debris on Frenchmen Street

We did our traditional tumble parade, including a stop at the River side playing a dirge and remembering friends and aquaintances no longer with us.

Down by the Riverside

We continued on, then about 3:30 Hollie and I took a break and waundered over to CC's cafe.

Time for a spot of coffee

Coffee customers

After caffene and munchies we reconnected with Komic Debris at Laffitte's Blacksmith Shop bar. We socialized there for a while, but the remains of the parade seemed to have become stuck, so we took a leasurly stroll through the lower French Quarter taking in the sights.

Fine Art Melons

Unicorncycle

Zulu House

Then back down to Frenchmen Street for a while before heading out.

Are We Not Frenchmen?

The Savage Bees!

Many more pix!

My Mardi Gras Day photo set on Flickr (Or click the Detail version for larger thumbnails and captions.)

Flickr photographer "Cool Blonde Fun" (aka "Mustang Sally") did much of the same route as us, and got some similar photos from different angles.

Janelle Nanos of the National Geographic caught the start of St. Anne this year and has a nice description and video. You can even see Infrogmation at about 2:08.

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And YouTube video of St. Anne parade passing by a house in Bywater. (First half of the video is the most interesting, I think. Froggy can be seen c. 2:20 - 2:35.) I was surprised how long the parade continued after the band, even this early before many more people joined it later along the route.

Another YouTube of the parade with the band passing early in the route

It's Carnival Time

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:16:25 GMT

Yeah, I haven't been posting very much here. I have uploaded a bunch of Carnival photos to Flickr. Infrogmation's Flickr photos

Happy Carnival, folks.

War on Drugs: Arguements against

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:54:15 GMT

http://www.culture11.com/article/36436

http://culture11.com/article/36438

Dear Mr. President

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:07:47 GMT

From Times-Picayune advice for the new President

"The only advice I have is not to go on vacation during a hurricane." -- Mary Willis, 17, New Orleans

Signs of the day

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:09:25 GMT

Farewell Address

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:16:13 GMT

Curious Button

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:03:38 GMT

mshollie and I saw the film version of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" yesterday. We enjoyed it-- a well done work of cinema.

We went to a matinee at the Prytania-- unusually for a weekday matinee, the theater was filled up. Of course it was the day after Christmas, and 2nd day of a film with lots of local content.

Very good and extensive use of New Orleans settings. I recognized many New Orleans locations-- and was amazed at one shot of a 1920s street scene that use part of one corner and a couple buildings elsewhere in town cut & pasted together with period auto traffic going by to make a new seemless cityscape. The special effects were impressive without deliberately calling attention to themselves, and the cinematography just beautiful. Hey, any film that has Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and a 1932 Packard limousine is going be damn good looking :-)

Ho di Ho di Ho

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:06:53 GMT

Happy Holidays to all from Antlergator. And from me too!

Celebrating in the Oaks

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:34:07 GMT

Ms. Hollie & I celebrated at "Celebration in the Oaks" in New Orleans City Park Tuesday night.

Don't be naughty or Santa Gator will getcha.

Alligator with reindeer antlers. (Antlergator?)

T-Rex in the Oaks. Is there a carnivourous preditor theme going on here?

Pretty. Sculture & reflecting pool is from 1921.

WPA artwork, probably by Enrique Alfarez.

No raccons were seen at this location when we were there, much less any that played trumpet.

Mr. Bingle!

The City Park Carousel (from 1906) was back in action for the first year since Katrina.

Ms. Hollie and I rode the Flying Horses.

(We also rode the scenic railway, but no pix-- by then it was so foggy that any photos with flash just reflected back moisture droplets, and I didn't get anything good with availible light.)

So how did alligators get to be a symbol of Christmas anyhow?

A good time was had by all!

Snow on the hibiscus

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:18:13 GMT

Holy Snowly!

Snow is back in New Orleans for a rare visit. Actually sticking around for more than a couple minutes this time even. It's still falling as I post!

Noisy Bookstore; Lost Bread Found

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:52:14 GMT

A couple photos from the last couple days here in New Orleans

"Borders" bookstore chain opened up a branch Uptown at St. Charles & Louisiana, in the what had been the old Bultman funeral home building. I still do most of my book shopping at locally owned places, but they had some nice free events celebrating their opening that Ms Hollie and I went to.

The Wild Magnolias sounded as funky good as they look

Little girl was dancing up a storm.

Dr. Michael White's quartet also did an excellent set.

Borders also plied us with free chocolate and egg-nog made with Old New Orleans rum.

Monday lunch at Coffea. I had the special, pumpkin pain perdu. Yum!

Is this the end of Dollar Bill Jefferson?

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:15:00 GMT

With very low turnout, it looks like Cao is going to pull it off and be the new 2nd District congressman. Good riddence to the wasted talent of $ Bill Jefferson. I hope we haven't booted a corrupt Democrat for a corrupt Republican-- the prominence of Jay $#%*ing Batt in the Cao campaign worries me. Cao will have to do an outstanding job and keep in mind he's representing a district with large Democratic majority or he'll be out in 2 years. Should be interesting.