ARiaDneOne Rockin New Orleans Witch's blog: "NATURALLY NAWLINS"

Jazz Fest announces 2009 lineup 04:01 PM CST on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 Tom Planchet / Eyewitness News The 40th edition of the Jazz and Heritage Festival will again feature a mixture of national and local acts, it was announced Tuesday. Associated Press Aretha Franklin Aretha Franklin; Dave Matthews Band; Earth, Wind and Fire; Tony Bennett; Joe Cocker and Bonnie Raitt are some of the national headliners that will join local stalwarts like the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas. A complete list of performers is below. Festival organizers announced a discount ticket package for fest lovers who want to purchase tickets for an entire weekend. A limited number of the packages are available for the first three-day weekend for $105 and for the final four-day weekend for $140. Single day prices in advance remain $40. Tickets at the gate are $50. Children under 11 are $5. The list of performers: First weekend, April 24-26: Wynton Marsalis, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Earth Wind & Fire, Wilco, Spoon, Erykah Badu, Irma Thomas, Orishas, Third World, Robert Cray, Etta James & the Roots Band, Mavis Staples, Drive-By Truckers feat. Booker T. Jones, Johnny Winter, Pete Seeger, Hugh Masekela, Better Than Ezra, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Galactic, Roy Haynes, Pete Fountain, Avett Brothers, Kinky, Roy Rogers, Del McCoury Band, Terence Blanchard, Marc Broussard, DJ Jubilee with 5th Ward Weebie and Ms. Tee, Buckwheat Zydeco’s 30th Anniversary feat. The Hitchhikers, Tab Benoit, Locos por Juana, Trombone Shorty, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Yacub Addy and Odadaa of Ghana, Rebirth Brass Band Reunion with Kermit Ruffins, Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Donald Harrison, The Anointed Jackson Sisters, Tribute to Mahalia Jackson featuring Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, and Pamela Landrum, Chris Smither, Henry Butler, Papa Grows Funk, Robert Mirabal, Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Sonny Landreth, Benjy Davis Project, The Vettes, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Stephanie Jordan, Warren Storm, Willie Tee and Cypress feat. Tommy McLain and T K Hulin, Astral Project, Ladysmith Redlions of South Africa, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Amammereso Agofomma of Ghana, The Dixie Cups, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Germaine Bazzle, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Marlon Jordan, Tabby Thomas, Spencer Bohren, Savoy Music Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Dew Drop Inn Revisited hosted by Deacon John feat. Wanda Rouzan, Eddie Bo, Allen Toussaint, Robert Parker, and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Leroy Jones presents the Fairview Brass Band Reunion Tribute to Danny Barker, Bruce Daigrepont, Vivaz!, Pfister Sisters’ 30th Anniversary, Gringo do Choro, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band, Thais Clark, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, Henry Gray & the Cats, Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & Russell Batiste, Jr., Lil’ Buck Sinegal Blues Band, EOE, Ebony Hillbillies, Crescent City Allstars feat. James Andrews, Hot 8 Brass Band, Schatzy, Jake Smith, 19th Street Red Blues Band, Brasilliance!, Mighty Chariots of Fire, Sharde Thomas & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band, Chris Owens, Topsy Chapman, New Bumpers’ Revival Jazz Band of France, Zulu Male Ensemble, Jo “Cool” Davis, Leah Chase, Herlin Riley, Roderick Paulin, Mahogany Brass Band, Ingrid Lucia, MyNameisJonMichael, Texas Johnny Brown & the Quality Blues Band, Rockie Charles & the Stax of Love, AsheSon, Jim McCormick, Lil’ Malcolm & the House Rockers, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Thomas “Big Hat” Fields & his Foot Stompin’ Zydeco Band, Guitar Slim, Jr., Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Willis Prudhomme & Zydeco Express, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Waterseed, Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, DJ Hektik & the New Orleans Society of Dance with Freedia and Nobi, Tipsy Chicks, Jonno Frishberg & Bayou DeVille, Christian Serpas & Ghost Town, Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective, NewBirth Brass Band, High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band, New Orleans Night Crawlers Brass Band, Hadley Castille & the Sharecropper Band, Carrollton Hunters and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Big Steppers, Furious Five, and Untouchables SAPCs, Patrice Fisher & Arpa feat. special guests from Brazil, Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders feat. Butch Thompson, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir, Sophisticated Ladies feat. Barbara Shorts, Leslie Smith, Cindy Scott, and Judy Spellman, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, N.O.C.C.A. Jazz Ensemble, Real Untouchables Brass Band, Olympia Aid, New Look & First Division SAPCs, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Tommy Sancton, Society Brass Band, Connie Jones, St. Joseph the Worker Music Ministry, UNO Jazz Combo, June Gardner & the Fellas, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Smitty Dee’s Brass Band, Kid Simmons’ Local International Allstars, Semolian Warriors, Comanche Hunters, and Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, Franklin Avenue B.C. Mass Choir, Small Souljas Brass Band, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Single Ladies, Family Ties, Big Nine, and Keep N It Real SAPCs, Second Mount Carmel Gospel Choir, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Heritage School of Music Band, Gospel Soul Children, Nine Times Men, Single Men, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, and Lady Jetsetters SAPCs, Red, White & Blue and Wild Mohican Mardi Gras Indians, Reverend Charles Jackson & the Jackson Travelers, Nineveh B.C. Mass Choir, Kid Simmon’s Local International Allstars, Voices of St. Peter Claver, David & Roselyn, Grayhawk, Washboard Leo, Red Hot Brass Band, Kayla Woodson & Louisiana Lightnin.

Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview POSTED: 1:08 pm CDT October 20, 2008 [NEWSVINE: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [DELICIOUS: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [DIGG: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [FACEBOOK: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [REDDIT: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [RSS] [PRINT: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] [EMAIL: Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade Preview] Halloween is a week from Friday and this year, New Orleans is getting into the spirit with a new parade. The Krewe of Boo parade, the city's first official Halloween parade, not only celebrates the season but raises money for the police and fire departments. The parade is being run by Mardi Gras impresario Blaine Kern who is planning to make Halloween the next big thing in New Orleans. The parade will have is Kern's famous floats as well as a lavish Halloween Costume Expose at the end of the parade at the former River City Casino on the riverfront. The parade will begin at 7 p.m. at the corner of Elysian Fields and Decatur, and will roll down Decatur to South Peters, turn right on Canal Street and continue to Bourbon Street. Then, the parade will make a U-turn and to go Canal Street to Tchoupitoulas, make a left on Julia then right on Convention Center Boulevard and finishing at the former River City Casino for the costume ball. People can still signed up to be a member of the Krewe of Boo and ride in the parade just like the Krewe member. All proceeds will go to First Responders Fund, which aids police and fire personnel with housing

Ruthie the Duck Girl dies of cancer at 74 08:15 PM CDT on Saturday, September 13, 2008 Associated Press NEW ORLEANS -- Ruthie the Duck Girl -- a holdover from a time colorful characters were as much a part of everyday life in the French Quarter as beignets and cafe au lait -- has died of cancer at 74. Ruthie, whose real name was Ruth Grace Moulon, was a French Quarter eccentric who zoomed from bar to bar on roller skates, often wearing a ratty fur coat or wedding gown and trailed by a string of her beloved ducks, died Sept. 6 at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, where she was evacuated for Hurricane Gustav. She had been suffering from cancer of the mouth and lungs, said Carol Cunningham, a close friend who watched over her for nearly 40 years. "I've always looked at Ruthie like a little bird with a broken wing, " Cunningham said. "She was always so dear to me." Moulon, a lifelong New Orleanian, became a French Quarter fixture, achieving legendary status in a city that treasures people who live outside the mainstream. Along the way, she acquired a coterie of people like Cunningham who found places for her to live, paid her bills and made sure she got home at night. A tiny woman with a constant grin, Moulon frequently sported abridal gown and veil on her forays because, people said, she considered herself engaged to a man she met in New Orleans in 1963 when he was a sailor. But when asked about marriage, she always answered: "I got engaged; that's enough!" Moulon's daily routine consisted of roaming from one bar to another, mooching drinks and cigarettes. She could be sweet one minute and unleash a torrent of profanity the next. Miss Moulon's mother, who put her daughter's hair in sausage curls to make her look like Shirley Temple, came up with the idea that little Ruthie should be a duck girl, Cunningham said. "She dressed her in evening dresses and bought her skates, and she skated through the Quarter with these little ducks following, " Cunningham said. Moulon's mother, who grew up in rural Louisiana, initially let the ducks live in the house, although the two women sometimes fought over them. According to legend, problems arose when Ruthie's mother wanted to oust the ducks from the bathtub so she could bathe and Ruthie didn't want her to, fearing it would upset the ducks. In the documentary, artist George Dureau recalled a conversation with Moulon after the death of another French Quarter character, Eloise Lopez Arollo Samakintos, who always carried a cross through the Vieux Carre. "There ain't a whole lot of us left, George," she said. A Mass will be said Monday at noon Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home confirmed on Saturday. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery. (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved