Jeff's Bourbon Street Blog

Back to the Quarter: Red Dress Run 2007

2007-08-14T17:04:00.000-05:00

There's nothing better than the letters B and N with an arrow pointing right at the door containing not just the promised beer but also shade. That was the general consensus Saturday at the annual Red Dress Run in New Orleans. With a heat index exceeding 110, and few clouds to offer a break from the sun smart hashers needed to make good use of these stops for shade and that most important beverage: beer.

Trail started at Utopia, the club on Bourbon that boasts "the largest dance floor" according to some of their advertisement. The beer was flowing as some fourteen-hundred men and women all clad in various states of un red-dress arrived for the 1pm start time.

A little after 1 the hares were off, follwoing them a sea of red heading towards Canal St. and an unsuspecting sample of the tourist population in the city. At Canal the pack took a right, heading away from the lake, making their way to Dauphine and St. Ann, the location of the first beerstop of the run: Goodfriends.

The bartenders at Goodfriends, a sports bar past the lavender line for those playing the home game, were very excited to have their location swamped with hundreds in red dresses. So much that they got into the spirit and dressed up as well. a few also got a little carried away, exposing what they had or didn't have under their skirts, much to the appreciation of the harrierettes at the bar.

Leaving Goodfriends, the hashers made it back to Bourbon Street this time exiting the quarter and entering the Marigny. Ray's Boom Boom Room and two other bars would be the next stop of the day. The word of this stop was "sausage," (surprising that it wasn't the word of the last stop) as famished and thirsty hashers purchased and snacked on sausages. For those hashers that couldn't get their hands on the sausage, pizza was also supplied by the Hash to hold them over until after he run.
The next stop, Molly's at the Market proved to be another popular location, not just for me, as someone who always seems to end up there at some point while out drinking, but for the many hashers who quenched their thirst at this stop and found shade along Decatur.

Following the trail to the river the next stop under the pavilion in Waldenburg Park for Jell-O shots and a couple of songs. With this many people in red at one location, brave tourists would occasionally interact with the runners.

Heading out to Decatur, the pack took the obligatory run up and over Jax Brewery then crossing through and around Jackson Square before making way back to Bourbon St. Many hashers not able to control primitive urges found themselves on stage at Cat's Meow. An astonished M.C. Tracy coached them in the finer points of stage performance. The real beerstops, though, would be a couple of blocks ahead at Razoo's and and BBC where shotgirls stood ready with whipped cream for blowjobs (the shot) and beer.

The home stretch was upon us, the end at Bourbon Cowboy only blocks away. As the crew from Neutral Ground Films documented the faster hashers (and shortcutting bastards) were already drinking, riding the bull, or eating the hash provided BBQ. Everyone beat the heat, and that made it a good day.

Edit: As always the other hashers started posting their pictures. They're at the photo page of the NOH3.

It's about time someone took notice!

2007-08-02T19:23:00.000-05:00

This site has been rated

among the bottom 95%

of all Web sites by

Pointless Communications

Returning to Bourbon... Sort Of

2007-07-30T17:38:00.000-05:00

This year the New Orleans Hash House Harriers will start their annual Red Dress Run at Utopia, at 227 Bourbon St. The run is August 11th and registration starts at 10:00am and the run/pub crawl starts at 1:00pm. It's $40.00 at the door, includes beer and food, and some proceeds will go to City Park.

This will be my 4th RDR since I started hashing. Hopefully I can find something to wear before next Saturday.

Thanks, It's Been Fun

2007-02-25T19:16:00.000-06:00

BourboCam Live will be going on a little hiatus for a while. While I'm not sure if, when, or how it'll be back I gotta say it was fun while it lasted.

Since July 2004 I have seen a transvestite try to swallow the microphone, been bitten by a wife-swapping vampire, bitten by a frisky soon-to-be mother-in-law, met past and present silver, gold, and bronze guys, watched a woman swallow her pet snake, met Dave Andrews, been farked, ate life savers off a bachelorettes bust, drank after strangers, met Darius as he went west, read email from servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan during Carnival, met some really great people: The Chicago Bomb Squad's The Legend and TJ, Bead Whore's Debbie and John, Sherie, Waya, Swiss Vampire, Mrs. Trbl, and many of the other MG Fourmites (whose names I will not be able to recall), Dakota from the Penis Police, Casey and Todd and their lovely spouses from My Dirty Sanchez, many of both the KOE and the Parrot Heads, all of the great BourboCam hosts: Cory, Reese, Sandy, Danika, Catscan, Brooke, Red Bean, Jon, Jennifer, Nola.com's TJ, Ray, Wolfgang (Dude, thanks for turning me onto this gig), and Emily, gave spankings, read email from our regulars like Bear, Eddie from Ohio, Liz, Mike, and Lori, received spankings, interviewed a girl while she was getting whipped by a man named "Pink," helped keep Cat's Meow from burning down, met all the great people at Cat's: Dave Punch, Mac, Andy, Missy, Tracy, Kim, Mikey, Brittany, Ali, Jason, and Julio, saw plenty of tits during carnival, saw plenty of tits other times of the year, got to flirt with cute girls, interviewed Jackie Clarkson, had my ass grabbed too many times to count, covered two parades on Paradecam, met a friendly officer and his horse, had my own harem, was drawn a picture of Lum live on the show, interviewed an iguana, kissed my fiancee at New Years on the Internet, and closed out Mardi Gras two years in a row.

Not bad for 15 minutes.

Thank you.

An interview with Joe.

2006-12-31T12:31:00.000-06:00

Meet Joe, the seven year-old iguana. And let me tell you he was popular with the ladies.
But Danika was not too impressed with Joe.

Tank Trek: 2006

2006-05-31T20:16:00.000-05:00

If you're living on or near the gulf coast your chances of having evacuated are pretty good as we've had some "above average" seasons. Evacuating large amounts of people is never easy and even with preparation, contraflow, and phased evacuation plans there's still going to be traffic.

The folks at the Morning Train Wreck, KKND's morning show, are doing their part to raise Hurricane evacuation awareness. Tank, the morning show producer, will walk 11.8 miles from their studio on St. Charles Ave. to the Armstrong International Airport, a trip according to Google Maps should only take 28 minutes. The walk will start at 6:30 and Tank will periodically call the station from a cell phone to provide updates.

Evacuating for Ivan was a chore, it took me and Jessica 5 hours to get to Franklinton but we left early. Same thing before Katrina, we left first thing Saturday morning after I drug my hungover butt out of bed and saw that red line right on top of the city. The trip to Franklinton was alright but that stretch between McComb to Shreveport was 12 hours thanks to what I consider a bad decision by the Natchez police to enforce traffic lights rather than keep the traffic moving.

Vydra, the station music director and morning show co-host had a similar experience. "It took me seven hours to make it to the airport," she said in a press release on their website.

The weather tomorrow shouldn't be too bad for Tank. According to Accuweather it'll be partly clody and the temperature should be around 89°F, but after humidity it'll feel like 100°F. If you see him out, be sure to give him subblock, and some water. At least he won't be out there too long . If he can keep up a 16 minute mile, he should be done in about 3.5 hours.

You can view Tank's planned route here.
More information can be found at the station website.

Bourbon Street... a place for families to bond?

2006-05-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

There’s something about turning 21 and spending your birthday partying in the French Quarter. Although I don’t think I’d ever get in a drinking contest with my mother and aunt on Bourbon Street, this scenario was the case a couple of weeks ago when the contest pit the ages against each other in a battle to see who would last longer.

I decided it would be better not to get involved when they started talking about trading tequila and Jägermeister shots.

And what have you been drinking young lady?

Monopoly

2006-05-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

Someone posted about a new edition of Monopoly in the Mardi Gras forum at nola.com. The developers have selected cities from around the country and opened up voting to select the sites for the properties. Each city gets three spots and from what I can tell the more votes a location receives the higher the property vales.

The Mardi Gras Post Part 1

2006-05-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time coming but I've been able to make some time to share a few pictures and experiences from Carnival. Overall, I think "Mardi Gras Lite," as Jon likes to call it, fits the description of this year's celebration, especially when factoring in the shortened parade schedule and smaller crowds.

Krewe du Vieux, a local favorite, kicked off the parade season. Jessica and I met Ray one of the Nola.com producers anlong with my old manager, Mike, and his wife from the day job. This was Mike's first taste of Carnival, and for those that have been to or in KDV would know they don't pull any punches in their satire. I have a very small, quick, and dirty gallery posted. I'll try and put a better one up later.

Our first BourboCam show of Carnival went off without many problems. Everyone was working longer shifts this year and sometimes we had shifts with only two people instead of three to cover everything. The individual shows have blurred together in these two months since Mardi Gras day but I'll try and hit the high points.

First off, I have to get this out, maybe a little preachy, maybe a little bitchy, bear with me. When we use "live and uncensored" to describe the webcast it's implies unedited and unprompted. If you watch expecting a boob-fest you'll be disappointed. There's also more men flashing as more would be women flashers are turning the tables on the guys. You may watch expecting the breasts of Bo Derek and end up with Bo Diddley. If you want tits that bad I'd recommend that you come down here with a camera or camcorder or just google them (NSFW).

Ok I'm done ranting.

First off, I had the pleasure of meeting Zach who had recently launched his website I Love Bourbon Street. He's been documenting his misadventures in New Orleans for a couple of years now and made it a point to drop by the show throughout the weekend.

The Saturday leading up to Fat Tuesday traditionally is a pretty wild time. With the depressed numbers of visitors in attendance and the threat of heavy rain in the greater New Orleans area the day shift made for a wet and sometimes lonely show. The rain we did see drove a fair amount of people off the street and into the clubs and bars. It was also one of the few times all the street preachers took cover. At one point the corner was deserted except me, Jon, and one preacher from the XXXchurch.

We had to give him props for braving the weather when everyone else scattered in the rain.

As the afternoon became evening more people would come out. and people were letting their hair down. Before you knew it Willard and Danika were there to take over and Saturday was over for me.

Sunday was my first time working with Danika in a while, since before the storm. We had seen each other last night but it's not quite the same actually working together. We were both scheduled to host without a production assistant so we spent the night trading off each hour sto make sure we could print email and monitor the stream. With the exception of the normal volume issues we were having a pretty good show.

Sunday was also the night things started to gel for me. I don't know if it was not really being able to ramp up and get into that rythm before Carnival season or the attitude of some of the email, but there was a different air out in the night. People seemed to have more fun and I was feeling it.

Monday I made it out early to get some pictures from around the quarter.

We met a pirate kitty:

Debbie the Bead Whore and I swapped jobs:

I learned I had a fan club:

And was even visited by my friend and dentist with his wife:
Finally for the ladies there was some beef:

We finished up early Tuesday morning and I had to high-tail it to my day job where I would experience sleep deprivation like never before.

Tonight!

2006-04-30T12:53:00.000-05:00

Still working on my final exams but we're doing BourboCam Live! tonight from 9pm to 1am. Don't forget Jazzfest Cam at Liuzza's By the Track today from 4-6pm.

From the Elections

2006-04-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

I'm at the Marriott inside the Secretary of State's Press Room with Nola.com covering the elections. The polls will be closing soon and announcements are being made to explain how the returns will be handled. It's an experience to see the behind the scenes of this as a media event. Local and national TV, AP reporters, and the TP & Nola staffers and contract workers all covering what is probably the most important election in New Orleans history.

The next press conference is at 8:30 and several of the TV stations have been reporting that none of the returns have come in yet. To the right of me CNN is getting ready for a report, placing a small step in front of the camera for their reporter, and what was a bunch of standing around drinking coffee and mindless chatter is turning into what you'd expect from a news event.

It's also at times like this I realize just how slow I type compared to many of the journalists here.

More later...

: CNN brought in Susan Roesgen.

: The crunch is over and it looks like it will come down to Ray vs. Mitch in the runoff next month. The furvor that was common between 8:45 and about 10:15 has died down. People are polishing stories and cutting segments. There's even one person playing Freecell.

: We're waiting on the absentee ballots. One of the election staff said we were about five minutes away from and announcement and info. Everyone who remained hurried to get ready for the results and waited.

Blogging Mardi Gras

2006-03-30T21:38:00.000-06:00

Looks like people are starting to get over their hangovers or the infamous MG Crud as more and more pictures and video are popping up.

Fabio Lite, who has recorded Mardi Gras since '97, posted 2006 pictures and video. For some reason I have an urge to remind everyone the Swiss beat the Canadians in ice hockey.

Bead Whore posted the first two of what may become many galleries to their website.

The guys and gals from MyDirty Sanchez have been working overtime to get their website going. Forums, pictures, and the boobies and t-shirt of the week.

The Penis Police posted their 2006 Mardi Gras pics a while back.

If you didn't already see the galleries at I Love Bourbon Street. I'd suggest you go and check it out.

Fellow Blogger Sherry has a plethora of images on her blog at Sherryland including visits to Tropical Isle and the Cat's Meow.

As always many of the regular fourmites at Nola.com will also post their pics on the Mardi Gras Forum.

If I missed anything make sure to let me know.

Edit: I knew I'd miss someone... Howard, who was the brainchild of The Treasure of the Nola Madre has posted his pictures.

Floodgate Cam

2006-03-30T17:04:00.000-06:00

WWL-TV is getting into the cam business with their Eye On Floodgates camera.

On the left side is Bucktown in Jefferson Parish and on the right is West End in Orleans. The big square empty lot was Coconut Beach Volleyball Complex. Missing are most the the structures that once dotted West End: The Dock and Jager's among others.

It's not the most exciting camera on the net, but then again what do you expect from the Army Corps of Engineers, Corps Gone Wild?

Taking Spring Break to Rebuild

2006-03-18T18:01:00.000-06:00

Nola.com kicked off the return of the weekly BourboCam Live! last night covering the two St. Patrick's Day parades in the French Quarter. Aside from missing part of one to stuff my face with a Gyro (completely forgetting that it was still Friday and lent mind you, but that's another blog post another time), we did talk to several groups of college students out enjoying their Friday night after a long week of gutting flooded houses in damaged areas like the 9th Ward and Slidell. For them the there was little question in how they wanted to spend spring break. They wanted to make their mark helping people whos homes remained largly untouched almost 7 months after the storm.

Unfortunately, I gathered no one really explained our roach situation. One student could not believe that roaches really could get that big untill they discovered the hordes dead ones in the walls of some of the houses they gutted. One of the other girls had her own encounter when a large roach landed on her back and tried to crawl down the front of her shirt.

Cue the freak out.

Homes weren't the only things on spring breakers lists. While waiting to pick up my gyro, I had the fortune of chatting with a second year law student out of, I think, Boston. She was in town with several other law students to look at and process cases of inmates being held for minor charges before the storm hit and were still jailed.

Back on BourboCam we met wave after wave of students from various states, with Minnesota, Illinois, and Wyoming seeming to stand out the most. I've also got reason to believe there were some Canadians in the mix. All of them happy to be helping out and happier to earn what became this morning's hangover.

Along with what Jon called, "College Students Gone Mild," we saw the return of another favorite subject on Bourbon St: Any convention having to do with sex. Last year I worked the swingers convention, this year I met those kooky girls of Slumber Parties here to thank their sellers, peddle their wares, demonstrate new gadgets, and well you get the idea. While the toys may not make it into Wired News columnist Regina Lynn's review of the hi-tech they did score points with Cat's Meow MC Big Mac (Mac may have scored points with them after a discussion of shoe size, he apparently has big feet.)

All and all the first night back left me with a pretty good feeling and I'm looking forward to my next show on March 31st.

Mardi Gras 2006

2006-03-01T20:52:00.000-06:00

My throat is a little scratchy and my sleep schedule is out of wack but I had a damn fun time.

Kudos to Debbie at www.beadwhore.com, Zach from www.ilovebourbonstreet.com and www.mydirtysanchez.com who hung out at the cam this year.

Full write-up and pictures once things get a bit back to normal.

I don't think a Harry Potter Convention Is In Town...

2006-02-21T19:04:00.000-06:00

Getting into the mood of Mardi Gras, I had a BourboCam stream open while working on homework (John Hick, "The Problem of Evil", from Philosophy of Religion riveting reading btw.) All of a sudden I hear these drums... it can't be the cats. I look up and outside Cat's Meow is this orange wizards hat with gold stars. Comming down the street, a crowd of orange and red dressed people. The whole deal lasted two minutes and I wasn't quick enough to get the 20second shots so here is the beginning and end as caught by our archive.

Edit: WWL, reported this morning that the Krewe Of Ancient Druids did a walking parade through the French Quarter last night.

It's Official, BourboCam Live Viewers Like Boobies!

2006-02-19T10:09:00.000-06:00

During the course of a live show we can get a lot of email. Next to those wishing us well and to keep up the good work (wish we really appreciate, if we didn't make it clear on the show) the biggest request we get is to see boobies. Now as a general rule, we don't solicit flashing (we have to keep some form of of journalism here), but Bourbon St. being what it is, and alcohol doing what it does, the occasional breast will fall out.

For your reading pleasure I present boobie email.

People who appreciate the boobies we do capture:

Ken from TX,

Love the mams...uh I mean cams.

Jeet from IL,

cool show guys...watching it from chicago where it is -13 with windchill....your show's keeping me warm..lets see some more titties....

From DINK the DRUMMER in KY,

I love all the FEMALE TIT shots...looks like a great party ...& I would like to be there! PARTY ON DUDE!!!

Denise from CA,

Ya'll are making me wanna FLASH over here!!!

Ron from PA,

hi there ron from new castle pa love the show doing a great job and we have alot of amish here love the boobs.

* Makes sense, they'd have to get their kicks somehow.

Mark & Ali in TX,

Great show guys! We feel like we're right there with you. We're having our own Naked Mardi Gras in the living room..

* Since it is Carnival, would they be at least wearing a mask?

Requests from people who missed them or want more:

Kimber in AR,

Hey guy's!! How's the party?!?!?!? my husband and I are snowed in ( in Arkansas ) We send shout outs to all of yall from us!!!tell the guys with the camera out front "Les Le Bon Ton Roulle" oh yeah let's see some titties!!

Tim in LA,

have a party at my house and thr guys want to see some tits.

Bill from VA,

How about some more flashers!!! It's cold here in Virginia Beach.

Billy in LA,

raceland la we wana see tittes

Rachel from CO:

Now, I bet you could get a lot of ladies to flash for those bible thumper beads...must be a rare item.

Hal from SC:

How about get some fine girlies to show their boobs to the people watching at home

Don from TN:

My sister and I are lying in bed with the lap top and we wanna see some tits. Both of us.

* Ok that's just strange... even by our standards.

And finally, Mike, Steph, Esch, And Ant in NJ write:

That guy in the glasses is a flamer....I love you guys anyway....GET SOME BOOBS ON THE SCREEN....BOOOOOOBBBBSSS!!!

* I guess sometimes you can't please everybody.

BourboCam NYE 2005

2006-02-10T23:37:00.000-06:00

I found a few pictures from NYE. This was the second event show and the first in front of Cat's since the storm.

Enjoy!

Jon Call Home

Brooke Visits from her temperory home in Alabama

Happy New Year

Looks Painful

Ready for 2006

Mail bag!

2006-02-02T17:19:00.000-06:00

McSwally from Soctland writes:

Hi, love the live spider which wanders across the webcam every now and then... whats her name?

btw had a great time in New Oleans and particularly in Cat's Meow on my 50th birthday @ Mardi Gras 2004.
Best wishes for post katrina revival from Scotland, UK.

While we don't have an official name, Jester suggested "Nosferachnid." Ray and I kind of like it.

Returning the Signs to Bourbon Street

2006-01-28T09:03:00.000-06:00

Back in October Chris Rose pondered the question:"Where the hell is Bourbon Street?" More specifically, what happened to the signs? Looted by looters? Snatched by a visiting military unit? Who knew but the fact of the matter remained: The signs were gone.

Fast-forward to last Saturday's street concert for Party Gras, an unofficial gathering of philanthropic Jimmy Buffet fans. I first spoke with Jennifer a.k.a "Cheer Dancer" who explained the philanthropy side of the Parrot Head organization and as a nearby parrot head noted, "had partied little too hard last night."

Jennifer continued, "We're all philanthropists. Each Parrothead organization has charities they support and also do charity work." Seeing this chance to help their favorite city the Parrotheds acted be doing what they do best: Holding their annual Carnival event and donating the funds to have the signs replaced.

I caught up with Jerry Diaz, the organizer of Party Gras who had also sent the email rallying the troops to help give back to the city: "A lot of (the signs) were gone; a lot of them had graffiti. That's what this is about. Order has been restored. That's not to say they won't end up with a bunch of stickers on the back."

Saturday's block party also included a dedication ceremony which included District C counsel woman, Jackie Clarckason. Before the dedication ceremony she added her thoughts on the return of the signs "It's fabulous! I had six events today but I'm here because it is so important... not only to Bourbon Street but the rest of the city. It tells the rest of the world: We're open for business."

And old joke...

2006-01-22T15:24:00.000-06:00

From the nola.com Bourbon St. forum, user sandandc writes:

coming to your wonderful city with my daughter, want to show our support, are there any safety issues we should be aware of??

"Beware pickpockets and loose women."

Party Time!

2005-10-24T20:39:00.000-05:00

It's about time! Article posted from NOLA.com below.

NOLA invites New Orleans to party
NEW ORLEANS (Monday, Oct. 24, 2005) -- NOLA.com announces its first annual NOLA FEST and invites the New Orleans community to a free two-day Halloween weekend party, with live bands, dancing, masking and more - all streaming live on the Internet to a world-wide audience. Two nights of local celebrity-filled revelry will celebrate the city's unquenchable cultural landscape as locals and tourists alike are invited to dress up for Halloween and show the world their support and love for New Orleans and its rebirth.
Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers will be featured Friday night from 9-midnight at the iconic Fat Harry's on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown, as New Orleans residents and special guests celebrate their return to the city, live on NOLA.com. On Saturday, the party continues to the sounds of the Storyville Stompers, also from 9-midnight.
Fat Harry’s Bar, 4330 St. Charles Avenue near the intersection of St. Charles and Napoleon, is the site of NOLA.com’s live Paradecam webcasts during Mardi Gras.
"New Orleans has suffered greatly, and is still suffering," said Jon Donley, editor of NOLA.com. "But it's also a place where we live joyfully among the tombs of our families, and where the sounds of a funeral hymn are followed by a trumpet calling us to a second line that celebrates life. NOLA wants to share a time of music and celebration, and invite our community and visitors to mask, dance and show the world outside that we are still alive."
As masking is such a popular part of the New Orleans culture, those looking for an opportunity to costume during the Halloween weekend will find lots of others ready to do the same. Aside from the live webcast, NOLA.com will also be taking photos of costumed attendees and posting them in its popular photo galleries.
"Anyone and everyone is encouraged to attend NOLA FEST -- it is a party for the people that make this city so unique. It is a celebration of the return of nightlife back to the Crescent City and it should not be missed," said Cory Haik, managing producer of NOLA.com.

The Night The Signs Came Down In The Quarter

2005-10-16T08:55:00.000-05:00

Chris Rose, of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, did an article recently about the missing Bourbon Streeet signs. I noticed the two missing at Bourbon and St. Peter but didn't think anything of it. The problem compounds as Chris notes below:

Invisible boulevard

Judging by the street signs, Bourbon is nowhere to be found
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Chris Rose
Where the hell is Bourbon Street?
It's the question of the day down in the French Quarter as out-of-towners stumble about, blithely seeking out our Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
It is now a street with no name. From Canal to Esplanade, every Bourbon Street sign has not-so-mysteriously disappeared from its corner moorings, rendering unto one of the world's most famous avenues an eerily unfamiliar anonymity.
With the lone exception being the corner of Bourbon and Bienville, all the black Bourbon Street signs -- as iconic an element as this city has -- recently vanished overnight and now all manner of folk, from venturesome tourists to the masses of migrant workers, are wandering around asking each other: Where the hell is Bourbon Street?
It seems that the legion of karaoke, daiquiri and strip clubs, lined up like lascivious neon dominoes, would be an obvious indicator of New Orleans' alcoholic ground zero, but maybe that's only the case for jaded locals.
"I noticed that the sign on my corner was missing, but I just assumed it blew away in the hurricane," said Earl Bernhardt, owner of The Tropical Isle at Bourbon and Orleans.
But that is not the case. Because the support plates of most of the signs remain firmly intact, it's clear that most of them were methodically unscrewed from their mounts.
So what happened? Who made off with these primo souvenirs? Who stole our identity? Who looted the booty?
Sad to say, it appears that it was a commando team of either military or law enforcement personnel, making off with the spoils of war, like German Lugers and Nazi flags after World War II.
There was a witness to the crime. He works in a Bourbon Street bar. He wishes to remain anonymous:
"They were some kind of rescue cops," the witness said. "I couldn't ID them; it was the dead of night. But I saw them up there climbing the poles in their Leathermen jackets, taking down the signs. It pissed me off, but I wasn't going to go up to five heavily armed guards in some federal-looking Jeep in the middle of the night and raise a stink. But, guys -- why did you steal our signs? What's the deal with that?"
Indeed. And now, in garages, game rooms and dens across the American Heartland, Bourbon Street signs grace the walls of a bunch of guys who came to save our city.
On one hand you could say: Big deal. They came to our rescue; let them have their fun. And really, if you can't find Bourbon Street without a sign, you probably don't need another drink anyway.
For a more reverent counterpoint, we turn to City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, whose district includes the Quarter.
"This is not even funny," Clarkson said. "I can appreciate them wanting a souvenir after all they've done here, but tell 'em to go buy a pair of beads if they want something to remember us by. Whoever did this needs to be severely reprimanded. This has me very upset."
In addition to the sheer gall of the action, Clarkson points out the people who can't find Bourbon Street now include the legion of visiting safety personnel and first-responders who, if summoned to a crisis on Bourbon Street (like, say, some wobbly old retired schoolteacher menacing the cops), might not effectively find the scene in due haste.
Good point. Calls to the city's Public Works Department emergency line and sign shop both went unanswered Friday -- and will probably remain unanswered for a long time. So it's anyone's guess when the signs will be replaced.
For the final word on all of this, we turn to Brobson Lutz, the city's former health director, social gadfly and one of the few reliable post-Katrina French Quarter information brokers.
"If Bourbon Street were open for 24 hours, this never would have happened," Lutz opined. "See what happens when you have a curfew in the French Quarter? Crime goes up."
. . . . . . .
Columnist Chris Rose can be reached at chris.rose@timespicayune.com; or at (504) 352-2535 or (504) 826-3309.

A Fish Out of the Bowl

2005-09-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

I have some colorful friends. Keith Williams, a.k.a Fish, makes his way into a few of these posts and for good reason: He's a character. Normally he's well spoken and can speak intelligently on a variety of subjects, but when he gets talking about his boys the Saints anything goes. This is a sample of the obsessive Saints fan side of his personality.

Those motherfuckas!
You know, I realize we're under extreme circumstances but can't they win a fucking game!?
I don't care if the refs fucked us because they're such losers!
I'll be at Tiger Stadium.

Pornographic thoughts on the rebuilding of New Orleans (and other things).

2005-09-22T18:45:00.000-05:00

Ever since I started writing about Bourbon St. I've had the chance to read about and even write about some of the quirky stuff that happens in and around the French Quarter. Since I haven't been able to make my way back I've had to turn to what others are writing. For example, from the Diary of a Porn Pusher:

If the Bush administration is serious about spending $200 billion of our tax money in response to the flooding of New Orleans, perhaps it would be better to just give $1.6 million to each household there with the understanding that they will use their fortunes to start new lives on higher ground, somewhere else.

http://www.sexxxxpics.com/blog/archives/00001008.htm