Author: Caroline Malouse

From the Editor: Home of the Hayride

Standing on the stage at Shreveport’s legendary Municipal Auditorium, Winston Hall, a musician and tour guide with a passion for the city’s music legacy, points to a spot on the floor, right up from in the center. The auditorium is…

From the Editor: Les Chansons du Carnaval

On Mardi Gras morning in those villages of the Cajun prairie that are blessed with a Carnival celebration, a pack of mounted revelers heads towards various homes. As they approach they sing a special song in Cajun French: Les Mardi…

The Christmas of Brenda Lee and the Tigers

Sixty years ago, Christmas season 1958, was an exciting time in Louisiana. Something no one expected happened. The LSU Tigers football team finished the season undefeated and ranked number one in the nation. Led by a speedster from Baton Rouge…

KING CAKE RISING

  There was a time that had I been asked to name Louisiana’s top indigenous baked confection I might have settled on pecan pie though without much conviction. The dish is more Southern than unique to this state. Beignets might…

EDWIN EDWARDS AT 90

Edwin Edwards likes to tell the story about after graduating from Law School at LSU he had to decide where to set up his practice. As a native of Avoyelles Parish, the town of  Marksville would have been a natural…

Baton Rouge at 200

After all the town went through in 2016 Baton Rouge deserves to relax, hold hands and party during 2017. Fortunately the city’s forefathers had the vision to seemingly perceive that back in 1817 when they signed an act of incorporation…

Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge we hear you. There is no happy conclusion to be drawn from the string of tragedies that originated in Baton Rouge this summer. The news reverberated throughout the nation. We can all hope for a better day, and…

When The Water Rises

Waterways define Louisiana. They set the state’s boundaries on three sides; they divide the state’s interior into political and social regions. They provide work, leisure, food and great vistas. Like many people throughout the world, we are folks that have…

A Bad Night On The Road

A specter in the night sky looked like something from an ancient picture of Michael the Archangel descending to earth while outlined by a glow. Hundreds of people driving along I-10 slightly east of Lafayette gawked at the sight. Instead…

Echos From Opelousas

Opelousas has given the world Paul Prudhomme and zydeco. Both are Cajun-influenced, with lots of spice. Prudhomme was clearly one of the past century’s most important chefs. When done right his Blackened Redfish was an exquisite dish – so much…

And Then Came Rita

Of the two monsters that slithered from the Gulf, through the swamps and into our lives during the summer of 2005, one was bigger, meaner, uglier and traveled farther than the other – but it was the other that the…

Technicolor Dreams

As the Louisiana Carnival’s biggest parade, which starts in New Orleans' Mid-City neighborhood and heads through the Central Business District toward the Superdome, the magic happens on the floats, in the streets and beyond.

Let's Make Carnival Parades Better

By now practically every Carnival organization in the state with enough gumption to stage a parade also has a website, even if it is put together by a neighbor’s 14-year-old. Looking at what is online I have concluded that there…

Save a Lost Classic

We have heard of hidden gold. Sometimes it is there all along, just no one has thought to look very hard. In this case the gold is a piece of music and in the right hands it could be a…