Mad Men Actor Bryan Batt, New Orleans Saints Draft Breakdown & Jazz Fest Highlights | Ep. 14

Episode 14 of The Mark Romig Show brings together a powerful mix of New Orleans culture, sports, food, and storytelling.

🎭 Bryan Batt—New Orleans native, actor, and Mad Men star—joins the show for a heartfelt and entertaining conversation about his career, family roots, and deep connection to the city. From Pontchartrain Beach memories to life on set, Bryan shares stories that reflect the spirit of New Orleans.

🏈 In Move The Chains, FOX 8 sports reporter Sean Fazende breaks down the New Orleans Saints draft, highlighting key picks, offensive upgrades, and what fans can realistically expect heading into the upcoming season.

🎷 In 5 Minutes With (presented by New Orleans & Company), longtime music journalist Keith Spera recaps the first weekend of Jazz Fest and previews what’s ahead. From standout performances to Fest After Dark, it’s everything you need to know about one of the world’s most iconic festivals.

🍽️ In On The Table (presented by Blue Runner Foods), restaurateur Alex Pincus shares the story behind Holy Water, his new French Quarter restaurant concept. It’s a full-circle moment rooted in New Orleans hospitality, history, and flavor.

🌆 Mark closes with Positively New Orleans, reflecting on the impact of festival season and why events like French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest are essential to the city’s identity.

🙌 Special Thanks to Our Sponsors

Blue Runner Foods
New Orleans & Company
Visit the Northshore / All The Waves Podcast

🎧 About the Show

The Mark Romig Show is a weekly podcast celebrating the people, culture, food, music, and stories that make New Orleans unlike anywhere else.

The Mark Romig Show is produced by LOVE NOLA TV, the official tourism and visitor information channel of New Orleans, seen in thousands of downtown hotel rooms and locally across all major digital platforms.

🎧 Subscribe to The Mark Romig Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube
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 📍 Filmed in New Orleans, Louisiana

New episodes weekly.
 For the love of New Orleans.

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:00

It's for the tourists. You know, you're gonna get the guitar peeled up. It's a crap.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

It's intense. And that's when we all tell our wives see y'all in the football season here.

SPEAKER_06 0:14

I am so excited because I feel like I have like a member of the family now in the studio. Brian Bat, an American actor, producer, and author, best known for his role. Many roles, but of course, people know you from Mad Men. Of course. We'll get into that. You do one TV show and then they know you think. Yeah. Two SAG Awards, uh Broadway performer, author, entrepreneur, and an all-around good guy. Why thank you. Brian? How's the family?

SPEAKER_08 0:41

Oh, everybody's hanging in there. You know, we're doing okay. We just had a um Crime Stoppers honored my brother the other day. I saw the Jay Bat Award, which I was able to present, and it was just, you know, he did so much good for the city, and I was so proud to be able to present that for him.

SPEAKER_06 0:57

Well, you know, okay, uh let's talk about Jay and his two lovely daughters um and Andre. I mean When Jay You are the you are the uncle. I am I am the you're the you're the patriarch.

SPEAKER_08 1:08

Yes. Well, you know, when they were having their children, and you know, I'm I was not gonna have children, he said, just think of them as yours too. And I have. But it it it we have a great relationship. Oh, I know they treat treat you as uh not only a an uncle but a best friend too. Yeah, it's it's it you know it's great when your your nieces call and say, Hey, what are you doing? You want to go grab a bite, or let's go get a drink, or just want to hang out with you. You know, you know, did something right.

SPEAKER_06 1:34

Yeah, we were together at a wedding over the weekend, um uh and uh it was great to see them so dressed to the nines. Well everyone was. It was a beautiful wedding. So growing up in New Orleans, uh the envy that I had was that your dad was part of Punchatrain Beach. Yes.

SPEAKER_08 1:52

My grandfather started Punch Train Beach way back in 28. And I wrote a book about it called uh Punch Train Beach A Family Affair. And um it was an interesting way to grow up with a you know roller coaster and your Did you go like every day? No, no. We would go, and you know, because if you know, like if your parents owned a restaurant, you didn't want to eat the rest the same restaurant, you know. But I would write this up to you about getting a lot of people. I would write the stuff for every day if I could. I well I when I would go, I would I would do that. And I I I really enjoyed it, but it was kind of a litmus test to see who my friends really were. But if all they wanted to do was go to Punch Train Beach, then like, aha, you don't want to climb, you know, climb trees and ride bikes and all that stuff. But it was it was an interesting, one for one of one of my favorite memories was when we would go as a family and we'd go to Bally High for that's where we had most of our like Easter dinners with a very special place. Polynesian and Chinese food. And then we'd cross over to the bandstand and watch the from from there watch the fireworks. Right. It was it was built like a uh a deck of a ship. A deck of a deck of a ship, yeah. Uh what was it called? Something like that.

SPEAKER_06 2:59

Yeah, my dad was with uh WDSU for so many years, and they would do a lot of broadcasts from there.

SPEAKER_08 3:06

I think they were in each other's weddings.

SPEAKER_06 3:08

My mother stood in your mother's wedding and vice versa.

SPEAKER_08 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:11

And that's why we got to know each other, and that was Uncle Gail and Aunt Gail. Sorry. That's a whole nother story. Don't go Burbank. I'm going rogue. Um go now. So um let's talk about uh some of the nonprofit work that you've been doing.

SPEAKER_08 3:30

Oh, recently, just this last week, um I helped with um Hotel Hope's uh Hope Fest. Um Hotel Hope is a wonderful organization uh headed by uh Sister Mary Lou Speck, um at and it's right on Martin Luther King in Broad, and it's this old motel that she acquired, had it renovated, and it's for homeless mothers and their children. And they can be there about three months, and in that time there they get all this counseling. The children get the their meals are taken care of, they get counseling, they get tutored, medical care, everything they need to get back on their feet and and be a productive member of society and take care of their children.

SPEAKER_06 4:07

Yeah, and and I know um the work that you put into that event.

SPEAKER_08 4:11

The event was really it was great. It was at Dickie Brendan's Audubon Clubhouse, and it was a gorgeous night. You know, one of the two weeks where the weather is so beautiful in New Orleans, you don't want to be anywhere else because it was just one. It's a magical setting. Oh I mean, you look right out over the all the oaks, and and it it was and the food was great. It was it was fantastic. There wasn't a line for drink or food. It flows well. It flows well. Yeah. But you spread everything out, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:38

Uh so did you ever think you'd be an author?

SPEAKER_08 4:41

No.

SPEAKER_06 4:42

No. And you you've now written several books.

SPEAKER_08 4:45

Three books. It it really was organic. I I was um I started writing these short stories, and it was kind of therapeutic. Uh, and I'm let a friend read them, and they go, Th these are funny. You ought to give them to at the time a friend of ours, uh partner was a book agent. He read them and thought, Oh, these are great, but you know, short stories, I don't know. And then when Mad Men hit, he called and goes, I think I can get you a book deal. So I got the basically called that over. But then you had to finish it, you know, and then because originally I was just writing for the fun of it.

SPEAKER_06 5:16

Your process was you were actually at the keyboard, or were you scraping your thoughts?

SPEAKER_08 5:21

No, I was I was typing them. And then I got stuck. And my friend Joe Keenan, who was a wonderful, uh multi-Emy award winner for uh Frasier, he wrote a lot of the Frasers. I said, Well, how did you, you know, he goes, just write the stories like you're writing a letter to a dear, dear friend that you haven't seen in a long time, and you have to explain everything to them. And then let your editor, you know, don't edit yourself, get it all out there. So that was that was an impetus to finish it. And then we did a not, but at the same time, right around that time, right when I was going to sign the book deal for that, a young lady came into the store who was an editor at Random House, and for the design set, you know, area, and she goes, I love Hazelnut, I love your store, I love your aesthetic, whatever. And she goes, If you write a book about interiors, you know, what would you do? Come pitch it to us. And I'm like, I'm not a designer, I've designed homes. I've done like I've helped with my mom's and my brothers and my sister-in-law and other friends, but it that's not the shingle that I hang on the door. Uh, but I did, I walked in and I pitched the idea. I said, I was just gonna take pictures of beautiful homes and tell you why I like it and my philosophy. And some of my philosophical uh design tips are don't be afraid of color. What did it ever do to you? If it if it looks right, it is right, you know, and paint your house in the colors that you look good in. You know, I remember there was a this color came in, this kind of acid y green, apple green, and like, oh, I love this color, it's so pretty. And I painted the bathroom, a bathroom, little bathroom in New York, this color. And the next morning I woke in, well, walked in, and you I looked in the mirror like I looked sick in the room. And I was like, nope, this I don't look good in this color, we gotta fix that. So, but it was and they liked it and they bought it. And as I'm walking out of there, the book agent said, Brian, be careful. You're biting off a lot right now. And it was like, oh, it's fine. And that was the hardest book to do. Was it? That was because we had to do all the photo shoots. You had to set up the photo shoots, you know, and you know, be in the trenches. And it's it was harder. But now literally going around to all these different homes, scouting homes, and it was very eclectic. We wanted to have a, you know, a whole, you know, it wasn't just uh this pretty old French New Orleans, you know, style. It had a complete myriad of styles. And then the third book um uh about Ponchetain Beach came about because I um the uh tricentennial was coming up, and no one had ever written a book about Ponchettain Beach. And, you know, as we get older, you know, l less and less fewer fewer people uh remember it. Yeah uh but when my mother passed, we were going through her boxes in the garage. We thought we were gonna find a Lindbergh baby. I'm not kidding. I was like, she kept everything. Letters from me from camp, I think my brother. It was crazy. It was sweet, but we could only go through a certain amount, my brother and I, and then we'd start to tear up and we'd have to stop. But we found these two boxes, these big boxes, that had not been opened since Pontchet Train Beach had closed. And they were from my father's office. And it was all his memorabilia, all the pictures from his walls, all everything. And I found, and that's what the that was the idea. And also that year, they introduced the big float, the Ponchet Train Beach float in Endymion. Oh, yes. And my cousin Kevin uh texted me with the picture because I was out of town, I couldn't see it. And he goes, It's like Uncle Johnny's right here. He's like, This is so beautiful, and it was made my heart, you know. Uh so that's what that's why we wrote the book. Yeah, but that was an interesting thing because I kept on saying, you know, who's my the graphic editor, who's gonna do the design? And then like the publisher was like, Oh, don't worry, we have someone to do that. And we're getting closer to it, closer to it. And I'm like, Well, who who I gotta meet with this person because it's a visual book. There's all these great pictures, it's gotta be colorful, it's got ideas, but and they said, Well, no, we just have a copy editor. I'm like, that isn't what you told me. So within like three weeks, I had to put together, you know, like when you're in like fourth grade or fifth grade, you make a book. Like, and you do the design. That's what I had to do with exactly you know what font, what how angle the pictures, what's gonna be a full bleed, what's gonna go two pages, what's everything. It was almost like self-publishing. Yes. It was. It's amazing. But it was it was a lesson, you know. Make sure you get it in writing.

SPEAKER_06 9:33

Yeah. Um the the book, Sheen Heavy, She's My Mother, was the first. The first. The first. And uh that very special book I met my family has enjoyed every now and then go back into it because I I did a doctor. Gail Battery.

SPEAKER_08 9:48

She was a she was a force of an iconic lady. She uh I I adore I adored her, I adore her. Um uh just recently at the Tulane Book Fair, uh, the New Orleans Book Fair, uh, Cheryl Andrew does an incredible thing. Yeah, Cheryl Andrew and it's amazing. And she had just lost her mother right before the book fair, and she was there and did the whole thing. I don't know how she did it. But Michael Lewis was one of my brother's good friends uh from Newman. And um he was Jay and he were at Newman together, and his brother and I were in the same class together. And um he wanted to do, they asked him to do a panel, and he said, Well, I don't have a book out, I don't have a new book. And he said, Wait, wait, wait, he wasn't able to be in for Jay's funeral, so he says, I want to do Brian's book, we'll do it together. And we're just gonna talk about New Orleans, and I'm like, Well, okay, if if Michael's gonna do it, fine. And then he said, We're gonna talk about your book. I'm like, Michael, my book's 15 years old. And he read it, he'd not read it, and he read it, and in front of it, in the place was I will say this, I'm not bragging, but it went, we had overflow. Yeah, that was because of Michael. I mean, because Michael's this huge famous author.

SPEAKER_06 10:54

I would say I would say both of you.

SPEAKER_08 10:56

Well, we had so much fun. But he said in front of this whole crowd, he's like, Brian, you're a natural writer. You have to continue writing. Write another book. And I said, Well, I have an idea. He goes, You heard it here. Heard here first.

SPEAKER_06 11:08

You know, I was like, here's your famous last words. That's great. Well, good good point about the New Orleans Book Fest Festival and what they've done.

SPEAKER_08 11:16

It's like one of the best in the country. And it's only five years old. Yeah. I mean, what what a testament.

SPEAKER_06 11:21

Cheryl Andrew and Walter I have really, really made it work. All right, talk about your current projects. What's what's happening?

SPEAKER_08 11:28

Well, I just wrapped a wonderful film um called The Statement. And it's directed and written by um Tom McCarthy, who won the Oscar for Spotlight. He also wrote and directed uh The Station Agent.

SPEAKER_06 11:41

Spotlight was the story of the Boston. The Boston Priest.

SPEAKER_08 11:46

And then um he also did the Station Agent, which gave which Patty Clarkson was nominated for uh, I think a Golden Globe. And um it was he's just a wonderful, wonderful director, writer. The nicest, it was the most wonderful film experience I've ever had. And a lot of the other actors on on the projects thought the same thing. Um and also in the cast is Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, John Tuturo, Amy Ryan, Evan Peters, Michael Cerverus, Dylan Baker. I mean, it's it's just the best. And I was so honored to be a part of that. Wow, what a cast. And it's it's in post-production now. It's in post-production, so who knows when it's gonna come out. But you know, with that pedigree, I'm knocking wood that it's gonna because it really everyone was so passionate about it. Yeah. And um he was just he he he thanked the stand-ins by name at the end of filming. And I've never, and Amy and I were talking, like, have you ever seen anybody do this? And we're like, no, I've never seen anyone do that. And I just thought, wow. Well, sounds like a great um teamwork. It was a joy to go to set every morning at 6 a.m. Yeah. My favorite thing, I was I did tilt uh t texted Tom one day and I said, I'm leaving my trailer in Chalmette right now. I never thought I'd ever be typing right now.

SPEAKER_06 13:02

That's good.

SPEAKER_08 13:03

But it's be I mean, the the studio's fantastic. And you know, it's you know, when you leave your house at 5 30, you know, there's no one on the streets practically. Straight down St. Claude. Exactly. Yeah. Uh anything in New York? No, but there might be something in London. So we were, you know, it looks like I might be in London doing a mu new musical this summer.

SPEAKER_06 13:23

Very nice.

SPEAKER_08 13:24

With my friend Harry Shearer.

SPEAKER_06 13:25

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_08 13:26

Yeah, so it's gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_06 13:27

When you when you know more about that or you can say more about it, you can come back, right?

SPEAKER_08 13:32

And we're also we just they've I I wrote a play called Dear Mr. Williams that I did at Le Petite uh several years ago, and they finally worked it worked all the details out with the uh the agents that represent Tennessee Williams estate because one third of the play is Tennessee Williams' words from his plays, his movies, his short stories, his poetry, interviews, you name it. Um and they had to figure out how to do the rights because one and then two-thirds are my words. And it took quite a it took like four years for them to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_06 14:05

Well, we saw we saw a production of that at Le Petit. Um it's just fascinating.

SPEAKER_08 14:10

Well, it was exhausting. It's it's just you solo on that stage. It's it that is it was the most exciting but also the most frightening thing at the same time. So it's you gotta be careful what you wish for.

SPEAKER_06 14:27

Um, entrepreneur, you and Tom have uh operated Hazelnut for 23 years. Tell us about the uh creation of Hazelnut, the name, and uh what you have enjoyed about that.

SPEAKER_08 14:38

Well, it's named Hazelnut because my wonderful grandmother Hazel, uh well, I like to say, you know, her name was Hazel and she was a nut. Is Hazel Mackin wrong? Hazel Mack, but her maiden name was Nuss, which actually means nut in German. So my great-grandparents had a sense of humor. Um but we adored her, and flat years ago, many years ago, we produced um Tom D was in Forever Plaid off Broadway and all over the country and directed it all over the country. And we loved the show, so we wanted to do it at Le Petit, Owen Bourth Summer, while I was in Sunset Boulevard. And we my grandmother just recently passed away, and we had to come up with a production company name. And he goes, How about Hazelnut Productions? Of course, mom and I teared up and like, yes. So we kept the name, and it's been successful for like 23 years on Magazine Street, 55, 25.

SPEAKER_06 15:27

It's been sort of an anchor on Magazine Street, you know, many years.

SPEAKER_08 15:30

I'd like to say that. As I was walking into the studio today, a young lady said, I love your store. Like Thank you. That's what I'm saying. You know, it's it's always nice to hear and positive, because you know, a lot of times you know, everyone's so uh eagerly uh ready to c uh uh to criticize. But uh I always my I tell I got this trait from my mother. If when someone something's really great and somebody does something wonderful, let them know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:54

Well, you know what's good about uh many things about Hazelnut that's so nice, locally owned, and there's always an owner in the store. Pretty much, yeah, and you walk in and there's either Tom or you or both or Katie, you know, or Katie. And uh people like that, you know.

SPEAKER_08 16:10

Yes, and we you know, nowadays, because shopping, everyone's a lot of it's mostly online now. You have to make it an experience. You know, I still like going into you know clothing and everything else. I want to touch it, you know, see it. Yeah, you know, and yeah, it it it's nice because people come in and every time people come in, they're like, Oh, I just love it in here, it's so happy, or and we always have some great scented candle burning and they say, Oh, it smells so good, and I go, It's me. It's me. I smell that good. Well, talk about that retail along magazine street, the importance of that. Well, I never thought I'd be in this business. I really didn't. Um, but it's you know, I I when an opportunity appear uh uh happens, you just I I was like, try it, why not? And Tom and I always wanted to do something like this, and I was supposed to do this big Broadway show for Cameron McIntosh, and I had done the workshops, I had they had even recorded the CD, the promo CD, and then he pulled at the last minute to do Mary Poppins on Broadway. And I was like, Oh, I have all this time, I you know, the everybody the auditions, I I've turned down other things, and just at that time I planned, I'd done the business plan to do the store. And we said, I said, well, let's just let's do it now and open it up, and then I can go back. And really, that was the plan to open up the store, then go back to New York and go back and forth. Well, you know, a business is like a child, you have to be there. But the deal was I got to, you know, once we opened, I could go back and forth and do my thing. So I did a couple more Broadway shows and plays after that, and then Mad Men out in LA, and and it really has worked out, it really has been. But I've always loved design. I've always loved interiors and home furnishings and and making things look nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:52

Can we talk about the Mad Men experience?

SPEAKER_08 17:54

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_06 17:55

Tell us about the Mad Men experience.

SPEAKER_08 17:56

Tell about the Mad Men experience. Well, I I turned down my first audition. Turned it down. I didn't was it for Salvatore? It was for Salvatore, yeah. Um okay, it has a Katrina uh uh thing to it. So Katrina was coming, we were in California, we could not get back. And I saw, you know, you saw the radar, you saw the Gulf is just and my mother's was terrified of hurricanes. Jay was a councilman at the time, so he was taking care of getting his family out, and mom said, I'm fine, I've got my flight, everything's fine. So Jay got his family out and was coming back, and mom, my mother called in a panic, saying, My flight's been canceled, and she needed like a hip replacement and knee replacement at the time, and she was getting up in age. So right I said, Don't worry, we're gonna figure this out. Right then, my my godchild Ramsay Schmitz called and she goes, B, I I I I thought I was gonna have to stay, but I've been released, but my car won't start. And I said, Well, you have the keys to our house, my cars with key car keys in there, go get the car, but you have to take my mother with you to use Dallas. So she said, Of course, of course. So not only did she take our car and our mother, she and her father boarded up our our house, raised everything up in the house in case water came in, right, and did the same for the store. So she saved the house, the car, my mom, not necessarily in that order, but you know, everything. So we thought, how are we gonna thank her? And we said she had never been out of the country. She always wanted she got a passport, but she hadn't been out of the country yet. So we planned a trip to Paris for her to surprise her. You know, broke the bank. We said, You how do you you have to do a proper thank you? And my audition for Mad Men came right in the middle of that trip. And you know, Tom's like, you have to turn it down, you can't. But I said, Can you can they see me at another time? Like, no, this is when they're seeing people. And this is before people were ta self-taping and all that. You know, this is way back in 2006. Um So I turned it down and I said, Well, if you don't find who if they don't find who they want, you know, I'll be happy to come in. So I was in New York several months later, rehearsing a little off-Broadway play, and my agents called and they said they didn't find who they wanted. Can you go in on your lunch break? And I went in on my lunch break, and when I came out, I called my agents. They said, Well, you got it. So it was like the first time I chose life over.

SPEAKER_06 20:15

I've never heard that story, Brian.

SPEAKER_08 20:16

I chose life over show business, and it paid off. And it paid off. And Tom was a casting director for a little while, and he goes, Brian, you don't understand the power of no. Because the sometimes when you say no, they just want you more. Very good. You always want, but you can't have. But it worked out, and we had no idea what it was gonna be. You know, it was AMC's first foray into, you know, uh, you know, episodic television, yeah. And of that quality, because you know, then their second was breaking bad, you know, and the rest is history. But it was we we thought no one was gonna see it. And if it was on any other network, it might have not had the life that it had because our numbers were not great. Yeah. But they believed in it, and it was the press. It was the press and the media that really made it a hit because they they basically everywhere you look, go watch this show.

SPEAKER_06 21:05

You know, I was working for an advertising agency at the time when it came out, and it was a must, must-see for, you know, particularly for people who work for agencies. So many people worked.

SPEAKER_08 21:14

Wow, is that how it was? Yeah, so many people told me that that is exactly how it was. Yeah. Which is kind of frightening. That's fantastic. It was the character was the reason why my my character was fired. Yeah, I so help me understand that. He he was the big they were Lucky Strike was the client. And I was directing the commercial and we're editing, and he came on to me. It was like until tried to have sex, you know, wanted to play around. And I was like, No, I'm married. But it was, you know. And he went to the top and said, You know, no, I don't want this guy on there. I don't want this guy. And they gave him up. They like they could turn the lights off here. You know, that's our biggest client. Yeah. So sorry. Sorry. Yeah. And it was a hard, it was a part. Thanks, writers. You know, and also, and they kept on telling me, like, you can come back. And then, you know, Matt Weiner later said, he goes, I wrote you off so well, I I couldn't figure out a good way to bring you back. Like, here. Um, it was it was heaven. It was such a great experience. And it was just he uh it was it was it was just the most wonderful thing. Because we had no idea. We had no idea what and that it was gonna be such a hit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:28

And then it's and it's still remembered. And your character, Brian, people still come up to me like, what happened to Zoom? One of the favorite characters of that series, even though it, you know, you know.

SPEAKER_08 22:37

Yeah, I only did the first three seasons. Yeah. But it was it was so much fun. I'll never forget walking in Audubon Park. And my friend, I was walking with Katie, and and her phone went off and she goes, We all are nominated for um the SAG Awards. I think it was Emmys or something. It's like, what? You know, like all these things, and then all all these you know there's some crazy stories like when they did a photo shoot for GQ, they flew us out, and and I just had some dental work done, and my tooth, my front tooth, it was it's a ball, it's a you know, laminate, popped off. And I'm like, we're shooting for GQ freaking magazine. And thank God I didn't have to smile because like that would have been interesting, yes. Yeah, it was it was interesting because my character was not supposed to be as it was just supposed to be a little supporting, and it was just supporting. I only had like one or two.

SPEAKER_06 23:32

But it your character had such grace and style.

SPEAKER_08 23:34

Well, he also had it a great storyline, you know, because he was, you know, so he was swimming with the sharks, you know, and he every and he could be found out at any moment, and he was discovering it at the same time. Which mirrored a lot of people in the world. It still happens. I call it Uptown Straight. Yeah. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_06 23:52

Well, terrific. You know, we like to do something on the show with our featured guest called the official New Orleans Questionnaire. Okay. Are you ready to go with it?

SPEAKER_08 24:00

I hope so.

SPEAKER_06 24:01

Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Bat. His first question. What is the best poor boy? Oh.

SPEAKER_08 24:13

Parkway. Parkway. I grew up, my father would go pick them up and uh Parkway hands down. We have friends that come in from London every time they come in. We'll they have to go to Parkway. We have to get fried pickles too. Now, when I went to Newman, we would run over to Domalisi's, which is good. Yeah. But um give us a lot of people. Surf and turf it. Okay. And the James Brown. But several years ago I was um a judge at the Pullboy Fest, and that was fun.

SPEAKER_06 24:39

Uh that's that's always a great fest. We're gonna cover that one too later this year. Um all right, here. You have an opportunity to see one New Orleans musical artist, dead or alive, in concert. Who would it be and where would it be?

SPEAKER_08 24:51

Okay, um I did. I've already done it. I was at Preservation Hall and uh with some friends from out of town because they wanted to go. And it's it's Preservation Hall is just it's magical. And they said, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest tonight. It was no no one they wouldn't bill it, nothing. Please welcome to the stage, Mr. John Batiste. And I tell I'm about to tear up. It was the most magical, spiritual. That man has just love coming, he just exudes warmth and beauty and kindness. And he had a singing, he's got the whole world in his hands. The only thing I'm created to is in the movie uh Rocket Man, when he played at the Troubadour, and everyone started levitating. Yes. That's that is the feeling. Great Ellen John movie. It was just I and I I don't think I could. Okay, you know, Louis Armstrong in my living room. What? No, but it was John Baptiste at preservation. Your favorite New Orleans smell. Okay. Uh the smell, I wasn't gonna go like a bar sludge, but no. Um the smells of spring, like right now, what we're getting, like the blooms of Lugustrum and Confederate jasmine and um you know, yeah, sweet olive. Makes you feel like it takes me right back till oh when I was a little kid. I just it did the olfactory really has a powerful effect on me.

SPEAKER_06 26:15

Let's go the other way. Okay. What's your least favorite smell?

unknown 26:17

Oh god.

SPEAKER_08 26:21

Old crawfish in the quarter. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 26:24

Wow. That that'll do it to you. All right, Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest?

SPEAKER_08 26:29

Okay, this is like kind of a Sophie's choice. Um, but I really am a Mardi Gras person. You're a Mardi Gras person. I like dressing up. Costumes are my thing, and it's, you know, costumes are not for sissies because we don't play around with costumes. There's something magical about Mardi Gras. You know, it it it it's you you have to give in to it because become someone that you've always wanted to become. Or yeah, anything. And also, it's so freeing. But we you know and we lived on the parade route for m for like seven years when we first got back here. We rented a carriage house, and you don't know how many friends you have until you are on the parade route.

SPEAKER_06 27:02

Well, because there's a bathroom.

SPEAKER_08 27:03

A bathroom, and good and Tom makes a killer gumdo, so it's like, watch out. All right. What is your Saints Mount Rushmore? Well, of course, Drew Brees. Yes. Uh Steve Gleason, um Archie Manning, of course. Um Alvin Cumra. Alvin Kamara? Come out. Okay. I never say his name right. I'm sorry. He accepts all these. And then I have an honorable mention, uh, Tom Dempsey, and of course, Gail Benson.

SPEAKER_06 27:30

Very good. All right. The Mountain Rushmore can be large. Right, we can add some faces. All right.

SPEAKER_08 27:35

Chicken or seafood gumbo. Oh, now you're giving me Sophie's choice. That's not fair. Both. Okay. Because Tom makes, I call it clean the kitchen gumbo. So it's it's it's chicken, sausage, seafood, soft shell crab, anything you can find goes in.

SPEAKER_06 27:51

What time are we uh dining today? So good.

SPEAKER_08 27:54

All right. And I but it has to be a darker roux. I don't like a light roux. And he starts it from scratch? Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:59

Okay. Again, what time are we eating? Um what is your favorite New Orleans movie or TV series?

unknown 28:05

Gosh.

SPEAKER_08 28:06

You know, I really like to watch, and I I don't want to be negative, but I love to watch and find like, you know, they do the typical, oh look, there's suddenly a Mardi Gras parade around the corner in the French Quarter today, or, you know, a jazz funeral just popped up. As a kid, I couldn't get enough of Live and Let Die because I was like, I was a Bond kid. I would play, we would play James Bond in our backyard. I love that. It was a great second line scene. Right? When the coffee drops out. Yes, yes. Right? I love that. Um I love making fun of the accents in the big easy. Oh. But I think really the one that really really nailed it is uh Tremay. Um a friend of mine, Paul Sanchez, a wonderful musician in town, adapted um Dan Baum's book, Nine Lives, and did a musical uh evening of all the songs. And now they're adapting it for television, which I really think it could be great. Well, it could be I mean, obviously it follows the Katrina. Well, it starts um from Hurricane Betsy and goes 10 years through the end, but but it's all different walks of life. It's it's um, you know, you've and then they're all real people. So it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_06 29:14

What is um your favorite? Neutral ground or sidewalk side? Sidewalk.

SPEAKER_08 29:19

Side what? It's for the tourists on the neutral ground. That's a you know, you're gonna get your tarp peeled up. It's for rat boys in their tents. It's not, you know.

SPEAKER_06 29:32

All right, I like that. You've got a definite sidewalk, all right. Sidewalk. Your earliest memory of visiting the French Quarter.

SPEAKER_08 29:39

Okay, we had these dear, dear family friends, Mid and V Vivian Lester, and they lived and they were the nurses at at um Baptist Hospital. In fact, they were like there when I was born. Amazing. You refer to it still as Baptist Hospital? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be Baptist until I die. Um But there were these wonderful ladies, and they lived in the skyscraper, you know, on the corner of Royal and St. Peter. They're on the second or third, second floor, and the balconies. They had two balconies, one on one on St.

SPEAKER_06 30:07

Peter and the Raptor. Clear, there are no skyscrapers in the French quarter. But that's what that's the building which we're fine.

SPEAKER_08 30:13

It's on the corner right there. Because it was tall. And we would go over there, they would babysit us, we would go, you know, we would also we've a lot of times we'd go see my father ride in Mardi Gar parades that would come down when they used to go to the quarter and when we were little, and just the the the sound of the the bands reverberating in those walls, and the light of the flambeau's and you know, coming around. It was just a magical memory.

SPEAKER_06 30:40

Really seared, seared in your mind. All right, here. Dead or alive, who is the one person you'd like to take to lunch and where would you take them?

SPEAKER_08 30:50

I'm gonna be a little sentimental. I would love to take my mom to Commanders. You know, I love any Brendan restaurant, it's great. Uh all right, so you're at Commander's, where would y'all sit? Well, she always wanted to sit in the garden room. But as she got all the legs weren't gonna go, so we did it we would sit downstairs. But you know, they've treated the they treat everyone so wonderfully. It's always a celebration there. But when mom would go in, it was kind of like Dolly Levi going to the homeowner. Oh, I bet. Like, hello Dolly. Exactly. Hello, Dolly. Hello, Gail. Welcome, Gail. Yeah. So it was, it's, you know, I we had so many great memories there because sometimes we would, you know, if Jay would be out of town with a sugar bowl with the kids or you know, something around Thanksgiving, we would have holidays there too. We would go sometime for Easter. We'd go for, you know. And what's so special is that there was always a family member walking the floor.

SPEAKER_06 31:39

Always. And and before it was making you feel and everyone gets greeted by either T or Lally or remember Miss Dottie walking and Miss L, of course, and Mr. Dick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's wonderful. All right. What is your favorite New Orleans song? Either a song by a New Orleans artist or a song about New Orleans.

SPEAKER_08 32:00

It's you know, it's do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I mean, I I liked it for so long, and then Katrina hit, and I think I sang it a thousand times since then. Sometimes I'd have a few drinks at a bar or at a restaurant and just stand up and sing it. Um it has such such resonance now, and it just it it there's the longing in there that makes me just it's almost like a prayer. It is a prayer, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:23

What is the one New Orleans food item you can't live without?

SPEAKER_08 32:27

King Kick from High Joe across the river. It's my favorite. All right. And they're the nicest people. The nicest people there.

SPEAKER_06 32:36

You've been out of town for a month. You fly back into our beautiful airport. I love our airport. Hop into an Uber, okay, decide to have a drink. Okay. Where are you gonna go? And what are you gonna have?

SPEAKER_08 32:47

I'm gonna go, this is another kind of sentimental thing, to a newer place right next to Gotros Avenue that my friend Bill Kearney opened up, and my friend Jay Adams, and they dedicated a drink to my brother, and it's the JB Fog Cutter, and it's they've recreated the Ballet High Fogg. The Ballet High Fog Cutter Glass, and it's served in the fog cutter glass. And it is the exact recipe. Wow. Because Jay had the recipes from from um that were and actually they were in my dad's handwriting.

SPEAKER_06 33:16

You know, I'd love to know if we could reincarnate Bally High somewhere.

SPEAKER_08 33:21

I mean, such great memories. It's a great memory. You know, it's that's the whole one thing about when you can try to recreate something. You can maybe start over, you know, try to do it at but you can never go back. Yeah. Time only goes forward. Just those feelings. Put up those feelings, but create the new, you know. But uh yeah, but it was such a I mean, can you imagine I had I had I I had egg rolls before I had a bottle. You know, it's like it's like that was my first solid food.

SPEAKER_06 33:47

I love it. In five words or less, why do you love New Orleans?

SPEAKER_08 33:51

Oh people, passion, resilience, music, life.

SPEAKER_06 34:05

Wonderful.

unknown 34:06

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_06 34:07

Um I'm gonna end this uh wonderful conversation by asking you what is the secret to 37 years of being together with one person?

SPEAKER_08 34:15

Okay, first of all, he's the funniest person. I mean, he has the most wonderful dry sense of humor. And he ties it's some of the things. So a good balance to you, right? Yes, exactly. And he's kind of grounded, and I'm like I'm I'm like ADD poster child, you know, Tom, like sometimes I'll be talking I'll start mid-sentence. I've already started it in my head, and I'll come out and say, you know, green for in. It's like, what are you talking about? He's like, give nouns and verbs, Brian. Nouns and verbs. Um, and we just laugh. And I think, you know, that because life can be hard and it can be, you know, difficult and long. But when when you have laughter with love, it's I think that's the most important thing. You know, it's and uh, you know, we really do care about each other. And I think um you know, someone said you wake up, you know, when you have a child or something, you know, you love that child no matter what. But when you're in a relationship, you wake up every morning and you decide to be in that relationship. You know, and I think you know, I I'm very lucky. I wake up happy. I wake up uh I'm I'm I'm a new soul, but I wake up happy.

SPEAKER_06 35:25

Well, we're a great role model for many people.

SPEAKER_08 35:28

I didn't intend to be. Well, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 35:33

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_08 35:33

But right back at you.

SPEAKER_06 35:34

Brian, this has been just a pleasure.

SPEAKER_08 35:37

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_06 35:38

Uh as you get through some more of these projects this summer, I'd love to have you back to talk about what you can and what you can hint at least. We'll give your mama my love. I will tell mom hello for you. She uh she is uh very special to her. Oh God, she's she's an amazing lady. Great. Well, thank you. Thank you. It's episode 14 of the Mark Roming Show, and we have got a big one for you today. The New Orleans Saints are making moves, and we're breaking down the draft with Sean Fazan of Fox Eight. Then, festival season is in full swing, and we've got Keith Sperra from Nola.com joining us to talk all things New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. And finally, we head to the French Quarter for a first look at Holy Water with restaurant tour Alex Pincus. Crew? What a week, what a weekend. We had Zurich Classic, we had the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and we had the Saints draft. Who went to take the first one?

SPEAKER_00 36:38

I'll go first. Okay, Cal. I was at Jazz Fest on Sunday. Which was it was an event. It was awesome. Um the main two acts I saw were Irma Thomas and uh the Isley Brothers. And they were great. They both had to sit down, which is their Irma Thomas is, I don't know, 80 something, and the last remaining Isley Brother is 84. So they were sitting down while they were singing, but they still brought the house down. That's crazy. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_06 37:09

Great crowds, too. Oh, yeah. I didn't even realize I saw an aerial view of the Stevie Nicks crowd on Saturday, and it looked like the entire fairgrounds was looking at Stevie Nicks' stage.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

I believe it rained during her set too. And then the rainbow came out. Yeah, it's all I saw that.

SPEAKER_06 37:23

Yeah. That was crazy. I was out at Zurich as well. We had a magnificent finish uh with uh the Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, the brothers winning. Um just an emotional victory at the end. And uh again, Zurich Classic, they know how to do it. The Four Kids Foundation does a great job out there, TPC of Louisiana. Uh what else?

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Uh I I went to uh Trembone Shorty's Tremate throwdown. Oh, yeah. Shorty turns 40, he had a little birthday party at uh the singer. Excellent. Yeah, yeah. A lot of his friends showed up. So many friends. I think he had 11 guests total. Uh not to mention like a whole extra horn band of something like an extra 12 people showed up for three or four songs, and it was crazy. Uh met Erman Thomas, she was a tr a delight. She was standing. She was standing, she was standing.

SPEAKER_06 38:13

She is still a con. Uh, you know, and also the Saints draft happened this weekend. We're gonna talk more about that um uh later. But um, I think the Saints uh did very well. There's a lot of buzz about uh uh the speed that came out of that draft, and so looking forward to the season. Excited. A lot going on, guys. A lot going on, lot going on coming up, too.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

That is coming up uh just want to mention that I've heard a little a little message from someone that uh Blue Bayou Border Park might be opening up in a couple weeks. So everyone should go get them. I can't wait. I that that's what's something about that's something in my childhood memory and in my kids' memories, and uh we can't wait for it to reopen and uh have some good time in a fun water park that's local.

SPEAKER_06 38:54

That's fantastic. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting out there myself. Beat that summer heat. Definitely. All right, coming up, Sean Fazan will talk Saints draft and what we can expect from the upcoming season next on the Mark Romic Show. As you know, the New Orleans Saints have wrapped up the draft, and now the real conversation is about to begin. Who stood out, what it means for the roster, what fans can be expecting heading into the season. Joining us now to break it all down is Sean Fazan from Fox 8. Sean, it's great to have you. Good to be here. Yes, sir. I know I just saw you uh this past weekend at the Zurich.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:35

It was great, um, great experience out there. Let's just touch on that for a few moments. What a great ending.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Well, look, obviously the Zurich is a unique stop on the tour. Um, and I think the players that are involved enjoy the camaraderie doing the duo thing, and then to have two brothers uh they were in the league, had some issues, but then rally back with an incredible chip there off the bunker there on 18 was just amazing. So um great theater, great way to finish it. It's it's such a cool event, and it's so unique to New Orleans. I I like that New Orleans has kind of carved out its own lane for the PGA tour, and I thought it was a great finish.

SPEAKER_06 40:10

Oh, the the team concept when it came to us several years back really has truly made a difference. And with that great sponsor that we have in Zurich, uh the fact that as you know, you've experienced the uh the atmosphere at the TPC of Louisiana uh is like no other.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

And you know, the the players really pick up on this unique sort of uh style and this unique city and the the the it's just it's very New Orleans. And and for the players that first time here, I think it kind of oh wow, this is something else. And then the the re repeat players, I think it's their stop every year. So it's it's really become a really great event.

SPEAKER_06 40:45

Well, Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, they're on to bigger and uh greater things, and he got his tour card and let's talk about the Saints draft this past weekend. Big weekend for the Saints. What's your biggest overall takeaway?

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Uh start your engines because this offense is gonna hit some speed. Um I look, they went in with the plan this offseason, obviously, even though they didn't necessarily say it out loud. They are building around the young quarterback, Tyler Shuck. Um they didn't just draft one wide receiver, they didn't just draft two, they drafted three, plus a pass catching tight end and an uh interior offensive lineman. I think they're telling us they wanted some enhanced improvement on that offensive side of the ball. And if they're not much improved next year, I think that's gonna be a major issue because they've invested a lot on that side of the ball. And draft weekend, that's my biggest takeaway, is the build around Tyler Shuck is very, very real. Yeah, you saw that. Um Yes, um a few. Um I would just say for me, the big one was they had a few opportunities to really target a cornerback DB secondary position of need. And I know they ended up getting one in the seventh round, and I know we all love the the Marcus Colston seventh round stories, but the truth of the matter is seventh round picks to have an instant impact. I think that would be asking a little much. And I thought there were multiple opportunities on day two and day three to perhaps uh get that DB that can be a little bit more of an instant contributor. And I think Mickey Loomis said as much after they had a plan going in to address the cornerback position, didn't necessarily work out that way. So that was probably my biggest surprise that they didn't address that position a little earlier.

SPEAKER_06 42:25

Yeah. The uh choice of Barry and Brown.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Love it. I love here's why. Um not just because that he went to LSU, even though that that's always helps. It always helps. Um and um, you know, Mickey even joked with us after I drafted an LSU player and I didn't trade up. No more questions, right? So um, but I love that his at the top of the page is kickoff return specialist and a kickoff returner that can really do dynamic things. Six career kickoff returns for touchdowns about his career, collegiate career. And with the way the new kickoff rule is set now, that matters. That that play has been revived in the NFL. So um to get someone that can specialize in that to help with field position, um, even expl create some explosive plays in the return game. I mean, when you're talking about the Saints, you're trying to get wins and losses, you're looking at every area to improve. I think being explosive across the board really helps in that regard. And look, a special teamer, I think, really helps too.

SPEAKER_06 43:22

Yeah, you you you touched on it, but if if you had to write the headline, did the Saints address their biggest needs?

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Um not everything. Um a lot of things. And they the entire offseason, they needed to get more explosive on offense, and they did that with the free agent editions and obviously the draft. But I I look at the secondary, I look at the defensive backfield, and I still think there's a question as to who's gonna play the inside, who's gonna play the slot corner, and how does that mix and match? Because dip based off different personnel groupings, you may have one guy based on other personnel groupings, you may have a different player. I think I think. I think they need to add to that room. Maybe this late wave free agency they can add another player there, but I think they're a little light. That's probably my biggest concern going forward.

SPEAKER_06 44:10

Yeah. So look at the list of um of draftees. Which rookie has the best shot to make the the impact right away?

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Oh, it it's gotta be round one. It's gotta be Jordan Tyson. Jordan I look, I will say this. I am very much in like with the pick. I'm not in love yet because of the injury issue, but if he is the most talented wide receiver in this class, that is without question. But that's what they said without question in the draft. And what he does from a skill set standpoint, he's explosive but explosive in a different way. What I love about him is when the ball is in his hands, the player's just getting started. After he makes the catch, he's gone. He's running after the catch. And I felt like if you really go back and watch the games last year, who they currently have, the skill set, I think that particular skill set is something that they were really lacking. I mean, a guy that can take a five-yard slant and make a 50-yard gain, I think is something that uh is truly an asset and something that they have. That's the speed you were talking about. He runs with a physicalness that reminds me a little bit of almost a little bit of Michael Thomas, to be honest with you. Um and I I think if he's healthy, you I I think he's going to be a a top-tier wide receiver. Now, hamstring issues for a receiver, knee issues for a receiver, that's that's a risk. There's no doubt about that. That is a risk. Um but clearly they felt like the reward, the potential reward was greater than taking that risk, and they they went ahead and rolled with it. So um I think Jordan Tyson is the one that has the biggest chance to make a biggest impact.

SPEAKER_06 45:42

I'm sure you're getting this question from a lot of people. What's a realistic expectation for the team this year going into the season?

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Well they went six and eleven um and they found a quarterback. Um, I know he's only got nine starts, but if you go back and really watch, and I'm in my rewatch phase right now of of last season, the way he elevated around him with far less talent, um, I think uh it's something that they saw, that we all saw. I think it's something unique and rare at that position. Um so you add those pieces around, it's really just a matter of can they come together quickly. So I guess that's along with the way we saying they were six and eleven last year. I think this is at least a nine-win ball club, uh, if not ten. Because you're playing in NFC South, which I think is a much is a very attainable division, I think you're gonna have a somewhat favorable schedule. It's not gonna be easy, but it's a somewhat favorable schedule. And I think you hope you just hope that rookie quarterback and Tyler Shuck can make that leap from year one to year two, and you invested a whole lot on that side of the ball. And I expect them not just win games but uh score a lot of points as well.

SPEAKER_06 46:47

Yeah. Uh but now the the draft is is done. Uh what what's the schedule now for the Saints going in with the the training? What happens next?

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Well, next is rookie minicamp. That'll be the first thing. All the draft picks, undrafted free agents. A couple of weeks. Yeah, normally it's some it's it's before OTA, so it's somewhere probably in the next week or so. Um then OTAs begin uh mid to late May, I believe, and that's when they do their three practices a week. We're able to go watch one of those practices every week. It's a usually a four, four-week stretch. Then they have mandatory mini camp in mid-June, and they take that five and a half, six-week break, report back late July for training camp, and that's when we all tell our wives, see y'all a little while, and uh football season's here.

SPEAKER_06 47:33

Travel begins. Um and I we're hearing that the uh schedule should come out mid-May uh for the season. So I know there are a lot of Saints fans excited about what's on the horizon, potential travel across the pond and some other exciting things like that.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

You got the Paris Franch trip. I got my mom calling me asking me uh when you think it's gonna be uh, you know. Uh they they normally plan out one. I think they're gonna do two this year because they're gonna do the Paris trip. So um it's always fun. That that that schedule day is interesting because it really sets the tone for the rest of the fall for a lot of people in this city. I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:06

The social calendar revolves around the Saints, which is how it should be, because when we all go to the Caesar Superdome, it's like we all going home anyway. Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

We're going home, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 48:17

Uh this is great insight from Sean. Thank you so very much. We always appreciate your perspective. Saints fans planning to watch as we head into the season. You can catch Sean on Fox 8 and the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. And as you know, we're going to be partners with you all on the network too. So we're looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 48:33

So thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. Yes, sir. This is great. We'll come back maybe uh as we as we get into the training season. Anytime. All right, buddy. All right. Thank you. All right, y'all. Week one of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is in the books, and there's no better voice to break it all down than someone who's been covering the New Orleans music scene for years with the Timespeak Eune and the Advocate. Sponsored by New Orleans and Company, joining us now on five minutes with to recap weekend one, look ahead to weekend two, and talk Fest after dark, Keith Sparrow. Good to see you. Likewise. It's like Christian Potico.

SPEAKER_10 49:16

We've been in this position position before, just opposite.

SPEAKER_06 49:20

It's great to have you.

SPEAKER_10 49:21

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_06 49:22

All right, you've been out there all weekend. Um what stood out to you most this past weekend?

SPEAKER_10 49:27

Two things. Uh the first was Ray on opening Thursday, British singer-songwriter. I'd never seen her before. She headlined the Gentili stage, totally blown away. She had a big band, seven horns, four strings. She's in a green evening gown. Um, but her personality was just so effervescent and so fun. She clearly was enjoying herself being, uh, loved being there, knew where she was, knew the history. Um, but the band was like pinpoint. They're all in tuxedos with white sneakers. So they look great. Uh all her techs were also dressed up as well. And so the whole presentation was great. Uh, a couple got engaged in the crowd during her show. She saw it, she almost started crying, and then she said, Okay, when we play Where is My Husband, we're gonna bring you guys up on stage. And she did. When she got to that later in the set, this couple came out of the audience, sat on the stage, she sang, Where is my husband to the newly engaged couple? That was great. And then uh it was John Batiste weekend. I mean, Thursday, he did an interview uh on the Allison Modern Music Heritage stage, which was very funny and charming, good fun. Friday, his big show at the festival stage, which was like the span of New Orleans music from hip-hop to Mardi Grandians to piano, all kinds of crazy stuff. But then Sunday night, he comes out in the blues tent on a set that has been, you know, stage that has been made to look like a swamp camp with like women stirring pots of food and uh, you know, cattails and ferns and uh Spanish moss and all this kind of stuff. He comes out costumed as an old man with a white beard, hair, hunched over, walking uh overalls, and plays this like really interesting and different kind of set.

SPEAKER_05 51:06

Yeah, and nobody recognized him initially.

SPEAKER_10 51:08

I think a lot of people were confused initially. It was like, who's the old guy? Where's John Batiste? Uh, but then it became apparent that this was him just in this character. Um, and then midway through he left, came back out with a pompadour, and did like a 50s rock and roll thing. So he was doing like Chuck Berry songs on the piano and Fats Domino songs on the piano. So it was clearly John like having fun and exercising another element of his career.

SPEAKER_06 51:30

Yeah, you captured it so well in your story in the Times Pickyune at Nola.com. Um, the essence of Jazz Fest really all coming together at that one point in that stage because it was a little bit of the richness that you see, the talent that you see, and you know, the you can't he captured the audience so well.

SPEAKER_10 51:47

Yeah, and he's you know, he's a homegrown guy. I mean, you know, product of St. Aug and NOCA. Um, so for a uh a local guy to be in that position to A, headline the big stage on a weekend and then B, come back and do this totally creative and unusual thing in the blues tent another night. I mean, it's uh it's really neat to see how his creativity is just expressing itself in all these ways. And you had Rod Stewart, um the whole Marsha Ball uh uh Oh my gosh, yeah. The Marsha Ball trip. Marsha Ball, uh, she has ALOS. Uh yeah, she's been playing at the festival for many, many years, playing in New Orleans forever. Um so she can no longer speak um and is retired from performing. So her band and a bunch of special guests, including John Cleary, uh, were gonna play her songs in the blues tent. She was there watching from the side of the stage, uh, and at one point surprised everyone by getting up and taking a seat at the keyboard and playing one of the songs. Um and you know, there were a lot of tears, I think, at that moment. Because you could see she was really, you know, working hard to do it. But she did it, and then uh her husband helped her stand up afterward, and she got her cane and she walked off the side of the stage. But it was heavy. It was an emotional moment.

SPEAKER_06 52:51

It was good. So, what are you um thinking about for this weekend? What's what are you excited about?

SPEAKER_10 52:56

You know, uh, Thursday is always a great day because you know, the crowds are light and uh and you you you don't have the kind of crush of people looking to see the big, big, big star. You know, so you've got uh widespread panic, the jam band out there, longest set of the entire festival, two and a half hours, which I think amounts to about three songs for those guys because they like to improvise a whole lot, you know. Um but yeah, but also They're loyal fans for that.

SPEAKER_06 53:20

They're gonna be a few. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 53:21

I mean, they've been at the festival 10 or 12 times at this point. So they're favorite, and they always play that uh second Thursday. You know, that's that's kind of their slot now. But also on Thursday, you've got uh Judith Owen, who I just love, you know. I mean, she does this kind of big band thing, but also a jazz thing. She just put out a record.

SPEAKER_06 53:36

She's got some humor in there as well.

SPEAKER_10 53:38

She has that Welsh wit, you know, where it's uh it can be very wicked, uh, but a lot of fun. So, yes, a lot of her personalities comes out on stage. John Papa Gro, uh, who I think is a very underrated New Orleans piano player, he's gonna be doing his show out there on Thursday as well. Um, and I think he's a lot of fun. And he's like the real New Orleans deal, you know, plays a lot of a lot of organ as well as piano. He's gonna be in the blues tent Thursday afternoon.

SPEAKER_06 54:01

Good. Friday, I hear Laney Wilson will be there.

SPEAKER_10 54:04

Laney Wilson, um, you know, from tiny, tiny, tiny town in Louisiana, and now is like, you know, one of the biggest stars in country music. I mean, you know you've arrived when you not only host, I think it was the Academy of Country Music Awards, but also win entertainer of the year at the same telecast. So you're like, congratulations, Laney Wilson. Thank you, Laney Wilson. You know, so uh so yeah, so she'll be out there, you know. Jazz Fest always has the one big country star, and this year, you know, just happens to be a homegrown television.

SPEAKER_06 54:30

I know a lot of people going out there Saturday for the Eagles.

SPEAKER_10 54:34

Little uh up-and-coming rock and roll band from California.

SPEAKER_06 54:36

Uh making it big. I heard they were big time in the sphere.

SPEAKER_10 54:40

Right, they just play the sphere. You know, Stevie Nix on set on this past Saturday had the biggest crowd of the festival by far uh so far. Eagles will probably be up there as well. Um, you know, Don Henley's the only original guy left, but Joe Walsh has been there a long time, Timothy B. Schmidt's been there a long time, Vince Gill is also there filling in for uh the late uh Glenn Ferry. So last couple times I've seen Eagles. Fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:03

So and traditionally, Sunday closes with some uh big names as well.

SPEAKER_10 55:08

You know, you got John uh uh uh Trumbo Shorty. Sorry, Shorty, yeah. Traditional slot closing Sunday, right before him, Teddy Swims, who, you know, in the grand scheme of things is a bigger star than Shorty nationally, but Justice likes to have the local act as the final act on that final Sunday. Um but also a couple small things on Sunday. The uh the rhythmporium, which is a little tent on the infield, they've got a show with three of the top country music songwriters, um, uh including Jim McCormick, who's from New Orleans originally, but a uh a guy named Craig Wiseman who ASCAP named the songwriter of the century a couple years ago. So it's a very kind of under-the-radar thing, but literally it's three of the guys from country in the country music world that have written some of the biggest hits that are out there playing together in the rhythmporium, which is the size of a living room. So really interesting opportunity to see those guys up close. So give us one name, one big name everyone should catch. The big names, I mean, well, obviously, you know, I I tell you what, I like Lake Street Dive a lot. They're gonna be on Thursday on the Gentili stage. A lot of harmonies. Um, you know, just an intra, a different take on a pop band. It's like an acoustic band, but their big thing is is acoustic harmonies. And look, a lot of people hate on the Eagles. Uh I I wrote an article, it'll be in a Friday paper where I express my love for the Eagles, and it's like, you know, there's a reason the Eagles Greatest Hits is one of the biggest selling albums of all time. It's because it's perfect. It's great, you know, and you've heard the songs a zillion times, but when you step back and really listen, like, oh yeah, these guys don't want to be a good one.

SPEAKER_06 56:33

One mic this week.

SPEAKER_10 56:34

I mean, you know, look, I don't know if there's one. I hate to pick one. I know it's like picking your favorite child. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a million uh, but you know, I'm curious to see Teddy Swims, what he does out there, and I'd love to see him sing a song with Trombone Shorty after his set. That'd be a lot of fun if that happens.

SPEAKER_06 56:48

So talk to us about after dark shows. What do you recommend? And how do how do you approach those?

SPEAKER_10 56:53

Personally, I approach them from home in my bedroom because after I go out all day at the festival and then finish writing the next day's column at 8:30. I want to go home and take a shower and go to the show.

SPEAKER_06 57:03

You wish them well, but I hope for the best.

SPEAKER_10 57:06

And I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_06 57:06

It's pretty exciting. I mean, the music doesn't stop.

SPEAKER_10 57:09

No, it's it's it's bananas. The first weekend I wrote a summation of you know the nighttime highlights. It was 2,000 words, which for us at the newspaper now that that constitutes a novel. Like we don't write articles. I could have written 3,000 words. There's so much music jammed in. I'll have the sequel to that in this Thursday's Langap section, so you can check it out, and that'll be you, you know use that as your guide. Because I mean, yeah, there's dozens and dozens of shows, some of them starting at 2 a.m., which is you know, yeah. Once upon a time, I would have gone to, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 57:42

To me, it's why New Orleans needs to be considered the live music capital of the world. I mean it doesn't stop.

SPEAKER_10 57:48

You're right. And and I think you can make that case any day of the year, but these two weeks during Jazz Fest, I mean there's no question. I mean, it's it's uh bananas how much music is going on.

SPEAKER_06 57:58

Yeah, I'd love to um have you back too when we uh do the Nola by Nola again. And and you've got so many other you know, music is so part of our festival scene now. Good food, good music, good festival.

SPEAKER_10 58:10

Yeah, and Jazz Fest, you know, is unlike any other major festival in the world in the in that 80 plus percent of the artists are indigenous to New Orleans or South Louisiana. No other major festival has that much quote unquote local talent on the bill. So that's what gives this festival its personality and makes it special.

SPEAKER_06 58:27

Well, you've been covering this for such a long time. Uh what do you think makes Jazz Festival so special as far as coverage uh and comparing it to other festivals?

SPEAKER_10 58:35

Yeah, I mean, this is my 30th year at the time, SPIN, um, and before that I covered it for five years at Offbeat. So I've covered, you know, 35 Jazz Fests at this point. Um and really the thing that I just said, I mean, it is so local at its core, you know. Every act on just about every stage up until like that final headlining slot, you know, is local. But not only that, you know, this festival has adapted over the years to the norms of what a contemporary music festival is. You know, it's added the VIP seating, it's added sponsorships, added, you know, video screens and all that. But at its core, it's still recognizable as the same festival it was 30 years ago. You know, the food booths are all in the same place, you know, the stages are basically in the same place. You can go out there. It's like going home almost. Yeah, 100%. It's that's exact exactly what it is. You can go there and and still it still feels like Jazz Fest, even though it has, like I said, you know, changed a little bit with the times. It's still Jazz Fest at its core, it's still New Orleans at its core. Quint Davis is a master at it. He, you know, yeah. I mean, it's great. I mean, everybody thinks he actually founded it, but I mean it was founded by George Wien, the same guy that started the uh Newport Jazz and Folk Festival. He brought uh Quent in when Quent was just a two-lane student looking for a purpose in life who loved a lot of music. And yeah, Quint's been the guy who's shaped that thing ever since.

SPEAKER_06 59:51

So tell us where we can find your coverage and check out your own podcast.

SPEAKER_10 59:55

You know, every day uh uh of the festival, I'll be writing on Nola.com. My wrap-up of every day is in the next day's Times Picky Yoon. And then yeah, I've you know interviewed a lot of the folks that are playing at the festival on my show on W-L-A-E, which airs on Thursdays and Sundays, and then it also airs on WWN Radio 89.9 on Monday uh at lunchtime and Tuesday night. So you have lots of musicians. We get to talk and spend 25 minutes telling stories.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:24

That's fantastic, and we we deeply appreciate the depth that you take us into all the time. It's always great catching up with you, Keith.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:31

Mark, always a pleasure, man.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:32

Be sure to follow his coverage and check out his podcast for everything happening in and around Jazz Fest. This week's On the Table is presented by Blue Runner Foods once again, and it brings us back home to a true full circle story from the French Quarter to New York and back again. Joining us is Alex Pincus, founder of Crew and the visionary behind the restaurant soon to open here, Holy Water. Alex, great to have you join us today.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:04

Good morning. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:06

Thank you. Uh listen, you know, this, like I said in the uh opening, it's a full circle moment. You I'm sure it feels like a full circle moment. You grew up in the French Quarter and now opening a restaurant just steps away from your childhood home. What does it mean to you to bring holy water back to where it all started?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:25

I could not be more excited about this project. To me, this feels like the culmination of all the work that I've done pretty much in my entire life. Um, you know, planned or unplanned, it all seems to be coming together around this really special spot that's effectively in the epicenter of everything meaningful that's ever happened to me.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:44

That's that's a wonderful uh way to kind of frame the passion I know that you bring into this project. You've said before that you can't replicate what's in the air in New Orleans. How did growing up here shape your approach to hospitality and the kind of experience that you're creating at Holy Water?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:01

You know, I didn't recognize it growing up because you know, you're just a kid and everything seems normal, but I was lucky enough to be raised around some of the most incredible hospitality professionals that I've ever witnessed in my entire life. From, you know, the uh Mr. Fisher, the Matre D at the Royal Orleans, to, you know, um watching behind the scenes at Arno's and Galatois and just growing up around these incredible restaurant families and in the heart of, you know, at a time when hospitality was really alive and well in New Orleans, and you know, one of the sort of great currencies of life, in a sense, the thing that keeps everything flowing. And, you know, just running around the back hallways of the Royal Orleans or the Monte Leone or, you know, sneaking into the bar as a kid, I learned a lot about how, you know, how things should be. I didn't know how to do them, but I really understood what it should feel like and how people should make you feel when things are, you know, it going right and or how to fix things when they're not going right. And so I just, you know, I was lucky enough to grow up with this great sort of core foundation about what it means to be in hospitality and what it means how to treat people and how to make people feel welcome and you know, create experiences that are transportive in a way.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:23

Um you mentioned some of the greats in hospitality. Just for a moment, I I I do want you to just briefly mention um your dad, Ron Pincus, who uh to me was the epitome of a hotel general manager.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:38

Truly was, and it's been interesting. I've I've had a lot of meetings in New Orleans recently with a wide range of people, including you, and everyone has said to me how impactful my dad was on their career and also just on their sense of how to comport themselves in the world. And I have to say, he really truly was a great example of a leader and a manager, and you know, also one best dressed man in New Orleans, 1985.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:04

And balanced by your your great mom and Pincus, who is uh a force of her own.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:10

You know, interestingly, they were both in food in the French Quarter for my whole life. You know, my mom ran uh New Orleans famous Parleen Company, and my dad ran the Monoleon and in the Ribroom, and you know, as such, had um the Ribroom and the carousel and all these sort of iconic places um to experience the French Quarter, you know, and it our new restaurant that we're building is effectively in the middle of those two locations, which to me means a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:37

You're housing Holy Water in a building that dates back to 1837, and as you mentioned, it is kind of in between the Montyon and the Royal Lean, so you know the neighborhood. But what drew you to that specific address, 622 Contai Street?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:52

Well, it's funny. So my older brother, Matt Pincus, uh, he was a police officer in New Orleans for many years, and he actually worked in the uh police station next door that's on the corner at Royal and Contai for easily 15 years. And I don't know, maybe a little over a year, year and a half ago, two years ago, maybe even, he started calling us, harassing us about this building that was for sale that we had to see. And you know, I was busy and I just kind of put it off and put it off and put it off, which probably worked out for the best.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:24

Were you thinking about coming back to New Orleans to do a restaurant?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:26

Are you just more than really thinking about it strongly? Because I felt really good about what we had done at Seaworthy. Um, but interestingly, when we opened Seaworthy, we had the originally had this concept to open Holywater, which is you know slightly different conceptually. And um, you know, we were working with Domain, which is a great group down in New Orleans. Right. And you know, through a lot of conversations and through understanding what you know what a hotel needs next to it, it didn't really feel like the right project at the time. So we opened up Seaworthy. Which I, you know, I was really proud of and I thought we did a great job on. And then in New York City during COVID, you know, everything that we had was closed. You know, we at that point we had probably five restaurants, and everything was closed. There was a big New York Times story about us, you know, huge front page story about us basically being SOL. You know, like and you know, my girlfriend at the time, she said, Well, you know, all press is good press. I was like, well, I don't know if this one's good because we're pretty much we're pretty much screwed. But um we during COVID, you know, other than um, you know, losing all my money, uh, we were having uh a very nice family time, but I was getting a little stir crazy, and my wife said, I think you need a project. And so I started rethinking about this holy water idea, and you know, suddenly a friend of mine called and said, I rented a space and it's got this incredible uh cellar that we don't know what to do with. And you know, I remember actually back at the rib room, um, they had this incredible wine cellar downstairs that always captivated me as a kid, and there's been something about like sneaking downstairs that's just been a part of my life. So we ended up finding this great bar in New York City, and I could have opened it the next day when we rented it, but instead we spent the whole year of COVID renovating this thing and making it kind of our our dream getaway that we're where we go in the winter because most of our bars that are and restaurants we have in New York are outdoors and on the water, so we didn't really have a hideaway to go, you know, be warm and cozy in the winter. So we built that, and I thought I had sort of like scratched the itch of whatever holy water was supposed to be. But you know, as you mentioned earlier, there truly is something in the air in New Orleans that can't be replicated, and there's a sensibility about you know how people engage with each other and in restaurants and in public spaces that just doesn't exist anywhere else. And I realized, you know, as fun as what I ever have at Holy Water in New York, and you know, people have a great time and it's been really successful, and the food is awesome and the vibes are great. There's just something that we don't have. And I had this inkling kind of like in Star Wars, where there's you know, they did the whole series, then they had a prequel where they went back and did the like the first movie that didn't even exist yet. And you know, as we were looking at this building, we discovered that it used to be a maritime chandlery, which is you know the place that sells wares to boats and sells supplies to boats. And that story was just too cool, you know. To me, to find something like that in the French Quarter, you know, right in the center of everything that I know from growing up, yeah, almost 190 years old.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:38

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:39

I mean, it's it's just was almost too good to be true. So, you know, the second I started paying attention to my brother, and we flew down, my brother and my younger brother and I flew down to look at it, and then I was blown away. You know, I couldn't believe that there was a building like this available and you know, with such incredible infrastructure and history. So, you know, then all of a sudden we we had this crazy need to make it happen. And that's what's you know, that's what's funny about what we do is we just get these obsessions and we just go with it.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:11

You've got this great concept. Uh some of us might remember this uh um building because we we went there in our formative years. It was it was called something else back then. But I remember it's really some long nights there. But it's three stories and and talk us through the concept of the restaurant. What will it what will people experience?

SPEAKER_07 1:09:33

So, you know, I've always enjoyed venues where you can go to them and not just be in a fixed spot and stay in one place and not engage with other people. I like when you can, you know, you have to wander or you get the inkling to wander and you can kind of move around and connect with other people and see what else is going on. And this building really plays to that very well. There's um, you know, three street side uh rooms effectively that are beautiful. And on the first floor, we're making a you know old school oyster bar, cocktail bar that you know really focused around that bar experience, you know, walk in and out, very casual. And then on the second level, there's this beautiful balcony that overlooks the courthouse and you know a proper dining room. And we're leaning into you know, we hired this incredible chef, you know, effectively my dream chef from New Orleans. So I really want to take advantage of the fact that we can produce incredible food and you know make this more of a proper dining room, but not you know, not a white tablecloth dining room, but something you know where you know the food is going to be great and where the atmosphere is lively and engaging. And then on the third floor, there's this beautiful room with all the walls crumbling like they've been haven't been touched in a couple hundred years. I want to keep it exactly like that, put a piano in and a bar and a little tiny cocktail bar, make that a lounge and event space where we can have private parties or you know, special occasions with live music. Um so I really want to activate as much of the building as we can, you know, especially on the street side, and just have it be this, you know, vibrant place that reminds me of the quarter when I was growing up.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:15

Very good. Well, speak speak to the chef as well and the menu. What what will people uh be able to be enjoying?

SPEAKER_07 1:11:22

Um, you know, part of what I really took away from New Orleans in my experience there is this really strong interaction between the high and low experiences. You know, you can be in Galatoise having this incredible meal, you know, mingling with you know interesting characters who are you know from all you know strata of society, and then all of a sudden you walk outside and you're in the middle of Bourbon Street and everything's madness, and then you're having a different kind of fun. And the juxtaposition of you know different types of people and different types of cuisines and different types of experiences that you get in New Orleans to me is much stronger and more dynamic than anywhere. And I really want to feel that in one place. Like I want to be able to get oysters with caviar on top, and I also want to be able to get you know uh a debris popoy. And sometimes those things go really great together, you know. Yeah, sometimes you want a really nice glass of wine, and sometimes you want a jello shot. And I, you know, I have been personally very comfortable in both of those worlds, and you know, that's the kind of New Orleans experience that I like to feel. So that's the kind of room I'm trying to make. You know, I want you to be able to go in there in a t-shirt and gym shorts and sit down at the bar and feel okay about yourself, and I want you to be able to go in there in a blazer for a work meeting or go on a date, or you know, maybe you go there and meet someone. Um all the sort of possibilities I want to be alive in there.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:49

Well, there's clearly an obsession with oysters as well. So and you're gonna have from Gulf to East and West Coast, you're even developing your own sailor baby oyster. What should guests be most excited to try? And does success look like what does success look like for you in year one?

SPEAKER_07 1:13:06

Well, it's interesting because I grew up, you know, even as a kid, I loved oysters in New Orleans, and I'd obviously only ever had a golf oyster in my whole life until I didn't even know there was different kinds of oysters until I moved to New York. And, you know, frankly, not even until I was in my you know 30s, mid-30s did I know that there's anything other than, you know, just oysters. And then, you know, as we got in, you know, I started to make some friends in the restaurant world and started going to, you know, like restaurants that were trying new things up here, and I discovered that there's you know this broad world of what's happening in oysters and different flavor profiles and types and species. And you know, I started to get pretty interested in it. And then all of a sudden, when we opened an oyster bar, you know, it's crash course, crash course in everything oysters. And we've been doing this now for 13 years, and I'm finally starting to feel like I somewhat know what we're talking about. And last year, we actually hired a guy who'd been working for us forever as our head shucker. We promoted him to be our director of oysters company-wide. And his job is to source oysters, train our teams on um, you know, being better shuckers and broad, more broad oyster knowledge. And he came to me with this idea that we should make our own oyster. And it was, I thought it was an incredible idea. I had no idea like why we had never thought of it, but it, you know, we were making our own whiskey with some friends of ours in Brooklyn. We had made our own beers, but we had never even thought to make our own oyster. So I have to give him you know credit for that brilliant idea. And we went to one of our partners that makes what we already thought was one of the best oysters out there, and asked if they would want to partner with us to make a you know curated oyster based on our specifications of how we wanted it to taste and the size and the flavor profile and how it chucks, and effectively everything that you can control in an oyster, and they were super excited about this. So we jumped into this project together. Um, and I named it after my youngest son, Sailor, who was conceived after an epic oyster uh tour of Maine. Um, they say about them oysters, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:15

But but what is it? Is it the salinity? How do you create your own oyster?

SPEAKER_07 1:15:20

So, you know, oysters, very much like most things, are a product of their you know, DNA that they have built in, and then how how and where they're raised, like what their environment is and how you treat them, what the conditions are. So if you raise, you know, if you take oyster A and oyster B, you know, they're twins effectively, and you raised one of them in Louisiana, and you know, the certain water conditions that we have, the temperatures, the wave action, the salinity of the water, all those things have an effect on the flavor profile and the shape of that oyster. So what we wanted to focus on was really balancing fattiness, sweetness, brine, and then also you can control the shape of the oyster based on the depths of water that you grow it in and how much wave action it gets. Like when an oyster tumbles, the shell of that oyster gets chipped on the edges and actually it pushes the oyster to grow a deeper belly so that it gets to be a you know a fatter, more robust oyster as opposed to like a wide, flat oyster. Like a lot of Louisiana oysters are wild, and so you'll get these big wide, flat, like almost the size of your hand oysters. But west coast oysters in particular, they're really tumbled quite a bit because of where they're grown, and they tend to be quite small but deep, and that has a real effect on the flavor.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:39

So the Sailor Baby oyster is going to be a West Coast oyster or east coast oyster?

SPEAKER_07 1:16:43

The Sailor Baby oyster is an East Coast oyster that we're that we grow in Long Island Sound, like near the Hamptons. Um, but what is so great about it is we shift its growing location throughout its life cycle, and as they start to get bigger, they actually get we put them in much bigger waves. So they're constantly getting tumbled, and you know, it forces them to be a particular size and uh you know fattiness that has just a really incredible balance when you take a bite of it.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:13

Absolutely incredible uh and a great lesson. Uh, thank you very much for that crash course, so to speak.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:20

I mean, I'm I'm learning tons as we go, you know. I'm at I'm the median level of oyster knowledge, and there's people that will blow your mind.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:26

All right, so tell us about the the opening. When can people expect and start making reservations?

SPEAKER_07 1:17:32

Uh, you know, based on today and the way that uh New Orleans uh government interacts with our permitting process, I'm thinking that we're looking around Gin for when we're gonna get the doors open. Okay. Um the space is looking great. Um, really excited about it. And we've been working with Chef Alex quite a bit on the menu, and it's all coming together on all sides, and just we need to get some VCC things signed off on so we can get the doors open.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:57

Yeah, well listen, I we're we're excited for this to uh to be a new gem in the French Quarter. Excited for you to come back home. I know you've got an operation happening up on the East Coast, but to have you back here is gonna be exciting once again and to have your family here.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:12

I'm excited too. It's almost to my detriment. Um spending you know all all my time and energy and thoughts on figuring out how to make this the best place that we can make it.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:20

As you know, New Orleans is always looking for an exciting moment and exciting time, and I think you're bringing it with holy water. So um I can't wait to be a part of it. Oh, yeah, it's gonna be a beautiful space. It's you got an incredible story, and we can't wait to experience it. Next, we have this week in New Orleans with April Dupree. Um, you know, this week we have the second weekend of Jazz Fest. There's lots to do, lots to eat, lots to see. What are we gonna look at, April?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:53

Thanks so much, Mark. Here's where to eat, drink, and play at Jazz Fest this week in New Orleans. Last week was for first timers, but this week we're talking about the OGs. Start with crawfish bread from Panorama Foods. Hot, cheesy, and packed with crawfish. Grab a cochon delay po' boy from Walker's Barbecue's Love at First Bite. It's piled high with slow-cooked pork, sauce, and sloth. Vokrasan sausage po boy brings the heat with classic Creole flavors rooted in New Orleans tradition. Can decide on one, then don't. Decide on three with patent seafood trio. It's served hot with fresh crawfish snacks, oyster patties, and shrimp beignets. For a savory take on the classic sweet treat, go for the crab meat stuffed beignets from Loretta's Authentic Problems. If you're in need of a reset, Miss Linda's Yakimain features a rich broth, noodles, and of course beef and egg. Finally, finish strong with the Pheasant, quail, and undewy gumbo from Prejan's. You can't go wrong with this dark room and smoky depth. Everybody knows you don't start inside the fest, you start outside the tracks. Set the tone early by grabbing a Bloody Mary at La Luza's by the track or hit Seahorse Saloon if you're coming in from Gentili. Once you're inside, you'll want to keep it cool. The WWOZ Mango Freeze is iconic for a reason. It's bright, refreshing, and pairs well with bubbles. You can always stay cool with AJ snowballs, CC's, or Plumtreet Snowballs because nothing hits like an icy treat under the hot Louisiana sun. Sip smart, find some shade, and keep it moving. Weekend two is stacked. On Thursday, catch widespread panic and lettuce for big jam energy. Friday brings Ziggy Marley, Lainey Wilson, and Amanda Shaw and the Q guys. Take it easy on Saturday with the Eagles, Big Frida, and T-Pink. Sunday closes strong with Earth, Wind and Fire, Trumbone Shorty, and Rebirth Brass Band. No better way to end the fest, in our opinion. While you're there, don't just stay chopped. Take some time to explore the crafts, villages, and marketplaces. This is where you'll find the local artists, culture bearers, and one-of-a-kind pieces you can't get anywhere else. And while you're at it, grab your bayou wear and this year's Jazz Fest poster streetcar ramble, statmo at 125. It's a beautiful tribute to Louis Armstrong and the musicians carrying his legacy forward from John Batiste to Trombone Shorty. For more information on where to eat, drink, and play this week at JazzFest, visit New Orleans.com. Back to you, Mark.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:20

Thank you, April. And now, positively New Orleans.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:30

When you think of New Orleans, you think of celebration. And nowhere is that more alive than in our incredible festivals and special events. From the vibrant energy of the just concluded French Quarter Festival to the world-renowned New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, now underway at the historic fairgrounds, these events are more than just gatherings. They are the heartbeat of our city. French Quarter Fest, arguably one of the largest free music festivals in the country, brought hundreds of thousands of citizens and visitors into our historic streets over four days, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact and showcasing the very best of our local musicians, chefs, and artisans. And then there's the Jazz Fest, an international icon of an event that draws visitors from around the globe, with an economic impact reaching as high as $500 million, and filling our hotels, restaurants, and music venues, and supporting thousands of jobs across our community. Headliners include the Eagles, Stevie Nicks, John Baptiste, Rod Stewart, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Irma Thomas, and so many other local artists and musicians who demonstrate why New Orleans is truly unique, unlike any other city, and also could be considered, this time of the year, the cultural center of the world. There. I said it. But what makes these festivals truly special isn't just the numbers, it's the people. It's the small business owner whose busiest days of the year come during festival season. I think of all the food vendors on display like Julie and Vance Vaucroissant, a family steeped in our creole delicacies. Since 1899, the Vaucroisson family has produced their sausage products in the seventh ward of New Orleans, and now share these delights with the world at Jazz Fest alongside so many others. And it's the hotel worker welcoming guests from around the world, and the local chef, the artist, the musician, the culture bearers, who take the center stage and share the soul of New Orleans with everyone who visits. It's those artisans showcasing handmade pottery, mixed media, and fine art photography, jewelry and leatherwork. It is the Louisiana marketplace, the Congo Square African marketplace, and the contemporary crafts. Festivals like the French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest, and the over 130 festivals and events annually around the region don't just drive our economy, they sustain our identity. They ensure that our traditions are not only preserved, but celebrated, shared, and passed on to the next generation. In New Orleans, festivals are not just events. They are who we are. Come visit and pass a good time with us. And that's Positively New Orleans. That's our show for this week. Thanks to our incredible guests and to all of you for watching and listening. And a special thanks to our sponsors, Blue Runner Foods, New Orleans and Company, our friends at Visit the North Shore, and their podcast, All the Waves. Go check it out. And don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification bell for all of our new videos. We'll see you next week.