The New Orleans Saints have signed Head Coach Sean Payton to a five-year contract extension, the team announced today in a press release.
Payton, whose contract will reportedly pay him $8 million a season — making him the highest-paid coach in the league — has presided over the most successful run in the team’s history since being hired by the Saints in January of 2006.
An overview of Community Data Center report on adult literacy in the New Orleans metro region.
A new study shows New Orleans and surrounding parishes are suffering economically from a poorly trained adult work force. The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center is calling for an “all hands on deck” approach to turn those numbers around.
Southern Louisiana in the early 1960s was a hotbed of musical creativity among youngsters who'd been raised listening to French-language country music and Fats Domino. They combined those — and other — influences to make what's now called "swamp pop." Joe Barry was a pioneer in this area who should have been much bigger.
Any piano player worth his fingers in New Orleans has been influenced by Professor Longhair. C. R. Gruver was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and moved to the city six years ago. He now plays piano for a band called, The New Orleans Suspects.
At Gruver's house, above the antique upright piano, are portraits of the Professor and two of his most gifted disciples — James Booker and Mac Rebbenack, a.k.a. Dr. John. It's a modern-day triumvirate of piano talent. Here's a lesson Gruver gave reporter Gwen Thompkins on the related styles of the three players.
2013 Royal Court of the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc. From right to left: Gretchen Neuenhaus (Joan), Rene Bajeux (King Charles VII) and Betsie Gambel (Queen Yolande of Aragon).
The fifth annual Joan of Arc Parade walks through the French Quarter on Sunday, celebrating the 601st birthday of the unofficial patron saint of New Orleans. We go Inside the Arts for a sneak peek at this Medieval Krewe.
The pantheon of great New Orleans musicians is an extensive one, and there is no doubt that pianist Ellis Marsalis holds a richly deserved place in its upper echelons. His accomplishments as a musician and educator are of the highest order.
WWNO's Fred Kasten recently interviewed Marsalis for the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park's new "Talkin' Jazz" live interview series at the Old U.S. Mint, touching on topics such as his formative experiences growing up in New Orleans and the Jefferson Parish community of Shrewsbury.
Albinas Prizgintas discusses his musical influences and career.
The 2013 Big Easy classical arts awards will be handed out next week. A highlight of the event will be the Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to Albinas Prizgintas, musical director at Trinity Church. He’s renowned for his classic training at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. But he has a surprising range — and techniques.
Whether you’re stopping in at Promenade fabric store on St. Charles Avenue for five yards of Chanel or a spool of thread, Herbert Halpern welcomes you warmly. He looks a little like a fashionable Albert Einstein.
For 45 years, he has minded and cultivated the store his father, Max Halpern, started in the late 1930s, steering it through some choppy waters. If businesses are forged on deep friendships over time, then Herbert has certainly got the goods.
