When you think of Valentine’s Day, what comes to mind? Champagne, hearts, possibly some chocolates and strawberries. Well Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and while some love it and some loathe it, its always a good excuse to get out and celebrate!

This year, Whiskey Blue has done the planning for you and will be offering two glasses of champagne and something sweet for $25. Doors open at 5 pm and close at 2 am, so grab your someone special or your single ladies and toast the night with the ones you love. While you are here, shake things up a bit and try one of our signature Valentine’s Day cocktails like the Candy Heart.

Candy Heart
In a Shaker Glass Add:
1 ½ oz. Godiva Chocolate Liqueur or Baileys
1 ½ oz. Crème De Cacao
½ oz. Vodka
½ oz. Half and Half
Add ice shake well and strain in to a martini glass
Part 2
In a shaker glass Add:
1 ½ oz. Strawberry Puree
¾ oz. Fresh Sweet n Sour
¼ oz. Simple Syrup
2 ½ oz. Whip Cream
Add ice Shake VERY well and slowly strain layer on top of the martini glass filled with the chocolate martini drink.
Garnish with a Strawberry half

If it’s love you’re looking for, than look no further than one of NOLA’s Party Girl favorites called LOVE Potion #9 over at Whiskey Blue located in the W Hotel. The vibe is very chic and relaxing, perfect to mingle with other professionals, friends, and perhaps enjoy a few magical encounters.

LOVE Potion #9
In a Shaker Glass Add:
1 oz. Stoli Vanilla
½ oz. Watermelon Pucker
1 oz. Cranberry Juice
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
Add ice shake well and strain in to a Champagne flute about ¾ to the top. Top with Champagne. Garnish with a Strawberry Half.

By Sheri Bleuler McKee~NOLA’s Party Girl

The Blue Man Group posed the question of “What is Art?” to New Orleanians’, and answered by performing some of their most provocative skits full of energy and life at Mahalia Jackson Theater. Their performance art is innovative and provokes audience member to rethink their way of communication in everyday situations through the art of body language.

Music, light, video, and brilliant innovation brings the Blue Man Group alive within their creative interpretation of the Blue Man life. With audience interaction and participation each performance is unique and mind-blowing. A favorite for the audience was a parody of a date along with the awkward body language that humans use to communicate their feelings and emotions. The other of course was when they rolled out huge balls and decided to throw a dance party!

The Blue Man Group is still forward thinking with their style and charisma in the art world as they were when they started. They’ve adjusted to the times and pushed the video technology to a new level, but overall these guys have a slam-dunk when it comes to experiencing the world around you as a form of art.

Special Parade Packages Available February 10 through 20 at St. Charles Location

From February 10 through 20, Zea Rotisserie & Grill is offering special parade packages at the restaurant’s St. Charles location that include an all-you-can-eat buffet, free parking, access to bathroom facilities and much more. Parade packages start at $41.99 for adults and $21.00 for children 12 and under. Tax and gratuity are included.

“We’re inviting parade attendees to enjoy the Mardi Gras festivities in the comfort of our home this carnival season,” said Nancy Jeansonne, director of marketing for Zea Rotisserie & Grill.

Zea Rotisserie & Grill’s all-you-can-eat buffet will feature some of the restaurant’s most popular menu items, including Rotisserie Chicken, a seasoned, roasted half chicken with several glaze options; Shrimp Breaux Bridge Pasta sautéed in garlic and herbs and tossed in spicy cream sauce; Zea’s signature Thai Style Ribs; Sweet Potato Bread Pudding, a delectable dessert with a Southern twist; Roasted Corn Grits; Red Beans and Rice, a creamy New Orleans classic; and Zeasar Salad.

Each patron over 21 years of age will also receive one complimentary drink ticket good for any mixed drink on the restaurant’s vast cocktail menu, a souvenir cup and a set of Zea-customized Mardi Gras Beads to take home. The Mardi Gras parade package would not be complete without access to FREE parking and bathroom facilities.

For a complete schedule of available dates and Mardi Gras parade package pricing, please visit www.zearestaurants.com. To reserve your half-day or full-day parade package, call Mina Morales at 504.274.1336 or email zeastcharles@tastebudsmgmt.com.

Zea Rotisserie & Grill maintains the same goal of providing outstanding food served in a comfortable atmosphere at a good value and great price. For more information about Zea Rotisserie & Grill and to view the complete menu, visit www.zearestaurants.com. Follow the restaurant on Twitter @zea_restaurants or become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ZeaRestaurants.

Zea Rotisserie & Grill is the brainchild of Hans Limburg, Gary Darling, and Greg Reggio who together form the innovative culinary and restaurant development company Taste Buds. The first location of Zea Rotisserie & Grill opened in Harahan, LA in June 1997 and now has grown to six locations in the Greater New Orleans Area and beyond including Lafayette, LA; Baton Rouge, LA; Mobile, AL; Birmingham, AL and coming soon in Slidell, LA. Zea Rotisserie & Grill features inspired American food abundant with succulent roasted meats and selections from a wood-burning grill. Zea Rotisserie & Grill has won many awards for its signature menu items, such as the Spinach Salad with Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette and Thai Ribs. For more information about Zea Rotisserie & Grill locations and menu, visit www.zearestaurants.com.

What: Sacred Music Festival featuring music & dance performances, Vodou ceremony, invocations and prayers, art exhibit, prayer processions through the St. Roch neighborhood and an interactive altar project.

When: Evenings of Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25.

Where: New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Avenue

Melodic, inspirational and uplifting, serious and profoundly personal, sacred music carries similar themes of hope, no matter what language is spoken. This is the message of the first New Orleans Sacred Music Festival to be presented on the evenings of Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25. Single ticket price is $15 for one evening and $25 for both evenings.

The festival, hosted by the New Orleans Healing Center and La Source Ancienne Ounfro, will take place at the New Orleans Healing Center, located at the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch Avenues, in the heart of the city’s downtown. Historically, this area is known as the birthplace of much of the City’s unique and diverse culture. Among the event’s partners are two well-known New Orleans institutions, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival.

“For faith leaders and spiritual communities, and the greater community, the festival is an opportunity to promote understanding and awareness, and pay homage to the city’s traditions in a respectful, sacred and healing environment,” said Sallie Ann Glassman, New Orleans Healing Center Co-Chair. ”It will explore the roots of sacred music and art and how they arise out of human suffering and create healing. Music, the universal language of the Divine, has a profound effect on our consciousness. It has the power to heal and connect us with each other, and the spirit which guides us all. Music and art transcend our differences and can result in a deeper connection to one another. ”

Leaders of various faiths will deliver invocations and prayers. Also, there will be a Vodou ceremony, art exhibit, dance and music performances, prayer processions through the St. Roch neighborhood and an interactive altar project. The weekend will close with an open drum circle.

Fatoush, the Mediterranean restaurant located at the New Orleans Healing Center, will make organic refreshments available for purchase.
“To help, to heal, to empower, and to celebrate New Orleans”

The New Orleans Healing Center is unique among community centers, in that it was specially created to help, heal, and empower surrounding neighborhoods on a civic, social, economic, environmental, intellectual, and spiritual level.

At its core, it consists of a cooperative grocery, street university, yoga studio, green business incubator, healing arts collective, performance theater, interfaith center, and organic food restaurant. But more importantly, these and other carefully selected

community-focused programs, services, and activities are designed to help revitalize and restore neighborhoods and bring them together.

Much more than just a physical building, the New Orleans Healing Center is a pioneering concept that provides both the framework and guidance for individuals and communities to help each other and themselves.

For more information about the Sacred Music Festival, call Barbara Kreisler at (571) 436-9035. For more information about the New Orleans Healing Center, contact Mark Huber at (504) 940-1130 or visit www.neworleanshealingcenter.org.

Just ahead of the Mardi Gras celebration, Centers for Spiritual Living and its spiritual centers and members will take over downtown New Orleans for its annual convention, which will include presentations, business meetings and a keynote presentation by one of the “100 Most Influential African Americans,” Rev. Dr. Iyanla Vanzant.

Featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show™, and named as one of the most influential black spiritual leaders by Beliefnet, Vanzant is a nationally known best-selling author and noted inspirational speaker. Her lectures continue to wow audiences with her life’s story-through which she has uncovered her life’s purpose, discovered the power that lies within and recovered her spiritual self. Vanzant, who has been a columnist for Science of Mind® magazine, the monthly publication from the Centers for Spiritual Living, will speak on a message that embraces all major religions, philosophies and cultures, and will follow her lecture with a book signing.

Presented by the Science of Mind® Library & Archives, the week-long conference will also offer programming for those looking to grow in spiritual leadership, both personally, and within their communities. In addition, the annual business meeting will serve to vote in several new members to the organization’s leadership.

Centers for Spiritual Living (CSL) is based on the principles of the Science of Mind® – a New Thought philosophy that incorporates spiritual tools of affirmative prayer, healing and creative visualization to transform personal lives and make the world more peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous. CSL is a leader in the spiritual living movement, which is rapidly identifying with a growing population that identifies with being spiritual rather than religious.

The Spiritual Living Convention kicks off with a Mardi-Gras themed reception on Sunday evening, February 12. The keynote address by Iyanla Vanzant will begin at 7:30pm on Wednesday, February 15th in the 5th Floor Ballroom at the Sheraton New Orleans.Tickets for Vanzant’s talk for are available for $75 per person, and can be purchased in advance at http://spiritualconvention.csl.org. Week-long and day only registrations are also available.

Hillary Swank and Mariska Hargity to join the Krewe of Orpheus in 2012

New Orleans’ favorite son, Harry Connick, Jr. will be returning to participate in the parade he co-founded in 1993 with Captain Sonny Borey bringing with him two of his very special leading ladies to ride as celebrity guests.

Two-time Academy-Award winner for her roles in Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, Hillary Swank, will be joining her P.S. I Love You, co-star along with Harry’s new Law & Order: Special Victims Unit love interest, Mariska Hargitay.

The three will be joining previously announced Celebrity Monarchs, rocker Bret Michaels, pop diva Cyndi Lauper, Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland with boyfriend Matt Prokop of High School Musical 3, radio personalities Walton & Johnson and 2011 returning monarchs, Jonathan Silverman and Jennifer Finnigan

Along with the parade, which rolls on the eve of Mardi Gras, February 20, 2012, the Celebrity Monarchs will toast the King of Bacchus, Will Ferrell, from the balcony of the Astor Crown Plaza at the Orpheus Captain’s Party on Sunday, February 19th.

The Krewe of Orpheus, founded in 1993 by Captain Sonny Borey and Harry Connick, Jr., derives its name from the mortal Orpheus, son of the god Apollo and the muse Calliope. One of the city’s “super krewes”, Orpheus is consciously nonexclusive and New Orleans most diverse krewe boasting 1,200 members from all walks of life. The parade rolls on Lundi Gras and culminates with the Orpheuscapade, a black-tie party that draws thousands of revelers to welcome the floats through the convention center as they are entertained by world-renowned musicians.

Feb. 4, 2012 A Visual Arts Event, A Fundraiser, A Party!
Join us at Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s Redd Linen Night, a visual arts show and fundraiser, honoring the memory of the Center’s co-founder and extraordinary visual artist DOUGLAS REDD (1947-2007).

Redd Linen Night will feature Redd’s work and that of VISUAL ARTISTS Ron Bechet, Marcus Brown, Rukiya Brown, Jeffrey Cook, Dollie Eaglin-Monroe, Damion Hunter, Louise Mouton-Johnson, Michelle Lavigne, Danielle Miles, Peter Nakhid, Martin Payton, MaPó Kinnord-Payton, Jamar Pierre, Ivan B. Watkins; students from Audubon School and the Kuumba Institute, and others.

This visual arts event has a neat twist. PERFORMING ARTISTS will complement featured art work with movement, spoken word, song, and theatrical renditions.

Select pieces will be for sale at the event.

And don’t forget about the PARTY. That’s right. We’ll party until 10:00 p.m. with music that’s sure to get your feet, and other body parts, moving.

ABOUT ASHÉ CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
An initiative of Efforts of Grace, Inc., Ashé uses art and culture to support community development. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that creates and supports programs, activities, and creative works emphasizing the contributions of people of African descent.

Your support of this fundraiser will help Ashé continue to grow and serve the community a good helping of art and culture. Your donation is tax deductible.

TICKET PRICES: Advance tickets are only $20. Students 12 and under pay $10. The cost of the ticket can be applied to an Ashé Cultural Arts Center membership, which starts at $25. If you have any questions, please call Tammy Terrell, John Grimsley or Karel Sloane-Boekbinder at (504) 569-9070.

Where:
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle-Haley Blvd.
New Orleans, LA 70113

This Friday, February 3rd, NOMA will be partnering with the organization, Artfully Aware. AFA is an international, non-profit group that connects communities, collaborates with local partners and generates positive change in people’s lives through advocacy events and innovative community development projects. AFA has developed relationships with the World Affairs Council, the United Nations (UN4U program), New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council, NO/AIDS Task Force, and the World Trade Center.

This Friday the Museum will extend its closing until 10p. Below is a list of the schedule of events. Attached is a more detailed description of AFA and the event. This event will bring international visitors as well as visitors from around the country.

GREAT HALL
5:00 – Michael Watson’s Quartet (jazz band / 1 hour + 40 minutes)
6:40 – Guardians of the Flame (Mardi Gras Indians performance / 20 minutes)
7:00 – Speeches (Museum Director, Artfully AWARE, NOCDC, WACNO, YLC, WTC / 30 minutes)
7:30 – Michael Watson’s Quartet (jazz band / 2 hours) *

AUDITORIUM
5:00 – FosterBear Films (film screening / 30 minutes)
5:30 – NOCCA (creative writing students reading poetry and prose / 45 minutes)
6:15 – FosterBear Films (film screening / 30 minutes)
Break
7:30 – New Orleans Dance Company (dance / 10 minutes)
7:40 – Faulkner Society (professional literary artists giving readings / 1 hour + 30 minutes)
9:10 – FosterBear Films (film screening / 30 minutes) *

*Start wrapping up the evening by 9:30pm

Mystery Street Records and Threadhead Records are proud to present “Nine Lives – A Musical Story of New Orleans (The Complete Set)” by Paul Sanchez and Colman deKay, a two CD collection of 39 original songs. This musical adaptation is based on the book “Nine Lives” by Dan Baum.

Over 130 musicians (mostly from New Orleans) perform on the album, including Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, John Boutte, Lillian Boutte, Bryan Batt, Wendell Pierce (from HBO’s Treme), Broadway star and Tony Award winning actor/singer Michael Cerveris, Kevin Griffin, Michelle Shocked, Harry Shearer, Shamarr Allen, The Dixie Cups and Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

The Nine Lives album is a musical adaptation of the New York Times bestselling book “Nine Lives” by Dan Baum (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2009). The non-fiction book is a remarkable oral history of New Orleans in the forty years (1965-2005) between the twin catastrophes known as Betsy and Katrina as seen through the eyes of nine of its citizens. The album includes the 39 songs imagined for a theatrical production and is anticipated to become a Broadway musical.

To purchase the CD:

From Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lives-Musical-Orleans-Complete/dp/B0073S9DDM/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328018217&sr=1-2

From iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/nine-lives-a-musical-story/id498754719

From the Mystery Street Records website: http://mysterystreetrecords.com/the-nine-lives-page/

For song credits, lyrics and the list of the 132 musicians that participated in this project, see: http://mysterystreetrecords.com/the-nine-lives-page

Become part of Nine Lives!!! To help spread the word on this project, please email chris@threadheadrecords.com
This project has been created with the “village” of the Threadheads…..we need the village to help sell CD’s!