Happy Birthday, Jon Batiste!

Pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and television personality Jonathan Michael Batiste was born on November 11, 1986, in Metairie, Louisiana, into a legendary musical family that included Lionel Batiste and Harold Battiste. He started playing percussion and drums at the age of 8 in his family’s Batiste Brothers Band, and by 11 he switched to piano at his mother's suggestion. Jon developed his piano skills by taking classical music lessons and transcribing songs from video games. At 17, Batiste released Times in New Orleans. He attended St. Augustine High School and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Trombone Shorty, and went on to receive a bachelor's and master's degree from the Julliard School. While at Juilliard, he released his second album, Live in New York: At the Rubin Museum of Art. By the end of 2006, Batiste had been a featured performer in the U.S. and internationally. He has recorded and performed with accomplished artists in various genres of music, released his own recordings, and performed in over 40 countries. Batiste regularly tours with his band Stay Human, and appears with them every night as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Batiste also serves as the Music Director of The Atlantic and the Creative Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He has been awarded the American Jazz Museum Lifetime Achievement Award, the Harry Chapin ASCAP Humanitarian Award and the Moved Future Legend Award. In 2020, Batiste co-composed the score for the Pixar animated film Soul with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, for which they received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award and a BAFTA Film Award. In 2022, he was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, winning five, including an Album of the Year win for his album We Are. So much has been achieved by this incredible artist, and we cannot wait for what is yet to come! Happy Birthday, Jon!

Veterans Day

Honoring All Who Served - Thank You!

Celebrating the Birthday of Al Hirt!

Trumpeter and bandleader Alois Maxwell “Al” Hirt, nicknamed "Jumbo" and "The Round Mound of Sound", was born in New Orleans on November 7, 1922. A Police Officer’s son, he played in the Junior Police Band with a trumpet purchased for him from a pawn shop when he was 6 years old. By the age of 16, he was playing professionally with his friend, jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain. In the 1940s he performed with the preeminent swing bands of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. In the 1950s he returned to New Orleans, working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Hirt's virtuosic playing attracted the attention of RCA Victor, and he posted twenty-two albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s and 1960s. He had two Top 10 best selling albums in 1964, and scored a hit single with his cover of New Orleans legend Allen Touissaint’s “Java”, later winning a Grammy for the same recording.

In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which he ran until 1983. He also became a minority owner in the NFL expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. In 1965, he hosted a television variety series, and he starred along with a marching band at the first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967. Hirt was famously injured while riding on a Mardi Gras float in 1970; it is believed he was struck in the mouth by a piece of concrete brick. Fortunately, he underwent surgery, and later returned to the club scene. And, in 1987, Hirt played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans. Hirt died on April 27, 1999, of liver failure at the age of 76. in 2009, Hirt was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Today we celebrate the birthday of this New Orleans legend!

Photo by: Ron Kroon / Anefo

Oak Street Po-Boy Festival - 11/6/2022

The 14th Annual Oak Street Po-Boy Fest will return to Oak Street on November 6th, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This year’s festival will host more than 40 food and beverage vendors, four stages of music, an Arts Market and Kids Zone. The 2022 festival will once again highlight the history of the Po-Boy with special programming and events. Returning after a tow-year absence, the goal of this year’s festival is to maintain its status as one of the most unique and exciting events of the year. Each fall since 2007, New Orleanians have set aside a day to honor the humble and historic Po-Boy sandwich. Upwards of 50,000 strong come to eat, drink, dance and shop the historic and vibrant Oak Street.

Bayou Bacchanal - 11/5/2022

The Bayou Bacchanal presented by Friends of Culture provides a cultural link between the Greater New Orleans area and the island nations of the Caribbean. Through this link, Friends of Culture shares the rich and festive traditions of the Caribbean with the general public through its hosting of Bayou Bacchanal: The Original Caribbean Festival of New Orleans, highlighting Soca music and dances of the region.

New Orleans Film Festival - 11/2 - 12/2023

The 34th annual, Oscar-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival returns November 2-7, 2023 in venues across the city with in-person events, parties, panels, filmmaker pitches, and much more!

The majority of the lineup will also be accessible via the NOFF Virtual Cinema globally between November 2-12, 2023. Geo-restrictions may apply and some films will not screen in the Virtual Cinema at the request of the filmmaker.

NOFF annually brings together 150+ films and hosts 100+ filmmakers in New Orleans to celebrate works of emerging and established filmmakers from New Orleans, Louisiana, the South, and beyond. Audiences get a chance to meet filmmakers in person at talkback sessions after screenings while filmmakers get to network with each other and industry professionals flying in from Los Angeles and New York to discover emerging talent. It’s the best time of the year for film lovers who like to discover the works of storytellers first hand, meet fellow film buffs mingling at festival venues and parties to talk film all festival long.