It's New Orleans: Happy Hour

If you're a woman, it's turning out to be a weird year. Suddenly we're all up in arms about whether or not the State is going to let you have an abortion. If you're a woman who would prefer to have the choice about whether or not to have an abortion, rather than leave that decision to a guy in Baton Rouge, Amy Irvin is your best friend. As the Executive Director of the New Orleans Abortion Fund, Amy is literally out there fighting for you. So, hey, cut her a bit of slack if she can't remember the phrase "pro choice" after a couple of cocktails. Theophile Bourgeois IV is a tattoo artist and the front man for New Orleans band Them Ol' Ghosts. Theophile, pronounced Thay-o-feel (it's very Cajun French) has graduated from tattooing drunk people from his old shop next to strip parlor, to working banker's hours from his shop on Oak Street, in Uptown New Orleans. TBIV has a disarmingly beautiful voice, even when singing the acerbic love song he wrote for his wife, "Bitch, I wrote this song for you" with tender loving

Ingrid Victoria is best known in the world of drag queens as the maker of extravagant eyelashes. If you've seen drag queens on TV or on stage and wondered where the heck you get eyelashes like that, now you too can get hooked up for just $25 (or $12.50 for one eyelash) at Chimera Lashes. But Ingrid doesn't stop at making eyelashes. She also crochets stuff. Like beards. If you're thinking a woman in a fake beard must look like a circus freak, head over to here and check out the photo of Ingrid in her beard. She's gorgeous. Talking of men dressed as women, Edward Simon might be studying for a Ph.D in psychology, and he night also be a photographer, but he's also an award winning actor who made a name for himself playing the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Oh, and he's also a recording artist with three records and was the lead singer in the Hollywood hair-band Knife Confession. Duz Mancini came to New Orleans from West Los Angeles and never went back. 10 years later, and after a stint as a song writer in Nas

Ray Lopez is a professional MMA fighter.  He has a gym in New Orleans, NOLA MMA,  where he teaches people to kill other people - only in self defense, not randomly - but the greatest thrill in his life comes from getting in a cage with another human and trying to kill him. Nothing in the world, he says, can make you feel more alive than having survived a fight. Ilona Obuchowski is super-competitive too. Ilona is the City Commissioner of fun for an organization called NOLA Fray. NOLA Fray organizes you and your friends or just you as a free agent in to leagues and teams to play games. Everything from softball to speed dating. No kidding. As the official city Fun Facilitator, Ilona might have the coolest job in New Orleans. Joshua Starkman, oddly enough, also refers to himself as a fun facilitator. You might have seen Josh on social media - he's the musician with the giant smile, the wacky songs, and the short video that always ends with the exhortation to "Have a great day" and "We love you." If you

Chris Lee is back! With a brand new record. Chris retired from music for a few years but missed the adulation, and also has a few things to get off his chest. The new songs are gathered under the album title, Protest Songs and Party Anthems and Chris plays one of each on this Happy Hour. After you hear the first song, the question you're going to have answer is this: should Chris technically get a visit from The Secret Service and get hauled off for questioning? He maintains that he is not actually advocating that we lynch the President, but that we hang him after a trial has found him guilty of treason. It's a fine line. Mary Devon Dupuy is uninviting you to her wedding. Mary Devon is a comedian but she's not kidding when she says you better not show up at her wedding, even though she somehow mistakenly has listed her wedding openly online complete with directions and an RSVP button. If you Google Mary Devon's name hopefully by now you won't find it. But you will find her doing comedy around New Orleans, reg

If there really is a God, why do 80% of the people in Indonesia, the 5th biggest country in the world, live without running water or basic human needs? Is this a theological question, or a political question? Today we're in a perfect spot to find out. Yanti Turang left her tiny Australian town called Kyneton to visit Indonesia, where her father came from, and was appalled at the sub-standard living conditions that saw members of her own family dying of preventable diseases. Yanti moved to New Orleans where she founded an organization to change all that, called Learn to Live. Learn to Live changes lives in Indonesia, South Africa, Laos, and Kenya. While Yanti was moving to New Orleans, Joanna Hale McGill's mother dragged her out of New Orleans to go live in Picayune, Mississippi, where she was subjected to blatant racism. Somehow, Joanna didn't get mad, she got God. Today Joanna Hale McGill is a rising star in the world of Gospel music - and when you hear her singing you'll know why. Joanna does her best to an

On this Happy Hour, veteran New Orleans music writer Alex Rawls notes there are three ways to not get paid in the music business: write about music, take photos of musicians, or actually play music. We have all the bases covered in this conversation. Alex could have added a 4th way: podcasting. He's recently launched a new podcast which might actually have a bit of traction. It's called The Twelve Songs of Christmas, which is a bit misleading because it's about more than just 12 songs, but it is a quirky and unique examination of Christmas music by Alex and the people who make the music. By the way, to add to the cruelty of the poverty of the music business, Alex also teaches aspiring music writers at Loyola University. When she's not kicking fans in the face or beating adoring women away from her with a stick, Mia Borders is fantasizing about men she runs into at Costco. She got a great song out of the latter experience, which she sings on this show, and has some great stories about the former. And Mia has a

If you're looking for a good place to steal hard to find, exotic plants, Ninth Ward Nursery is the place. Mark Sanders started Ninth Ward Nursery, as you might have guessed, in the 9th Ward, as a way to relive his glory days as a child, wandering through the backwoods of Huntsville, Alabama, waiting for the street lights to come on. Mark is also a travel writer and editor so there are plenty of hours when the one-man nursery business is unattended. On the advice of our lawyers, we recommend you buy plants the legit way in the hours that Mark is in attendance at the nursery. You'll recognize him, he's the guy with the yellow Google sunglasses. Havialh Malone is the 4th best looking woman in the universe. It's official. She was named Ms Louisiana Universe in 2018 and was 4th runner up in the national pageant. For most people that would be a crowning achievement. For Havilah it's basically a footnote. You're not even going to believe the list of accomplishments Havilah has racked up in her few short years since

It's hard to know which is Travis Laurendine's best story on this Happy Hour. Maybe it's getting punched out by then Saints coach Jim Haslett when Travis was wearing the Boudreaux the Nutria mascot at a Zephyrs baseball game. Or maybe it's meeting Dick Cheney when he (Travis, not Dick) was named the smartest person in Louisiana. Or is it the story about how Travis started and staged Boycott Bowl? Or, try this one, maybe it's the fact that he's a secret super big deal in the music industry and is configuring a whole new aspect of Universal Music's business. And there's more! Jenelle Slobof has some good stories of her own. Jenelle is a psychiatric social worker who specializes in working with super messed up people who are brought into an emergency room with mental problems. The only downside to that occupation - other than possibly getting beaten up or spat on, which is why people are restrained and have something called a spit-hood - is the fact that we don't have that exact occupation in Louisiana. Jenelle

Nick Pejic is a psychiatrist. Nick spends his days treating people with varying issues, including depression and addiction. By the end of the day he's ready to let loose. That's when he gets out the guitar and gets wailing like Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins. Billy is Nick's musical idol and he's met Billy three times. Each time was a little different, but each interaction was pretty successful and Billy seemed to like talking to Nick. That's not how it went down with Nick's other musical hero, Harry Connick Jr, when Nick ran into him in the Quarter. Today is the first time in her life that anybody called Jaime Glas a fashion designer. Despite the fact that Jaime is actually a fashion designer. She started out as an engineer on oil rigs but soon came to discover that the fire retardant clothing she was forced to wear was all designed for men. It didn't only look terrible, it was so baggy and badly cut for her body-shape that it was downright dangerous. And so Jaime's line of fire retardant clothing fo

Just when you think New Orleans couldn't surprise you any more, you meet Luke Hooper. Luke Hooper is the kind of character a Hollywood screenwriter would dream up. Tall and handsome. A semi-professional iron-man athlete who is also an award-winning inventor. He's invented a new version of delivering wireless power (yes, that's right, wireless power), creates futuristic games for children, designs creative solutions for giant companies like Nike, and has defended his patents in the Supreme Court of the US (yes, the Supreme Court) and won. He invented shoes that do themselves up, called Slaps. And he works out of an office downtown, next to the yoga studio he founded. Even the name "Luke Hooper" is from Central Casting superhero. There's nobody larger than life than Katrina Brees. Katrina is the founder of The Bearded Oysters Mardi Gras parade troupe, the Kolossos Bike Zoo, a do-it-yourself coffin business, and now she's sponsoring legislation that is making its way through the Louisiana legislature. Donna

There's a fine line between Jesus and The Man. Jesus wants you to do things His way and he holds out the specter of sending you to Hell forever if you don't comply. On the other hand, management and their proxies, consultants, have you buy in to a better way of life for everyone right now: tell us what you want and we'll tell it back to you, how we want. If you're following any of this, you could be a gospel singer, or a business consultant. Or an Israeli-born Wyoming bred, New Orleans-steeped architect. Or you could just listen to them and be entertained. Arrianne Keelen is a star gospel singer. But she's much more. If you are already familiar with Arianne's star career in gospel, get ready for her to break out beyond the confines of the church. If you don't already know Arrianne's music, welcome to A Star is Born (without the Hollywood spin). Arrianne sings an original song and a hymn on this Happy Hour, backed up by Reggie Nic. Lauren Siegel is a business consultant's business consultant. Engaging, charm

Here's everything you need to know about this week's Happy Hour: if you're disgruntled about the Rolling Stones playing Jazz Fest, there's a subversion plan afoot. Andrew Duhon comes up with this genius idea after ony one drink, and dubs it "Pontchatrain's 11," inspired by the Oceans 11 scam. The plan involves everyone sitting around the table at this Happy Hour to pull it off. The key player is Katherine Klimitas. Katherine is an artist, a jeweler, a graphic artist, and a lover of country music. She's also confined to a wheelchair and because of that she has become the go-to person for Jazz Fest for checking out that the festival is ADA compliant. So the plan is, on the day the Stones are playing, to use Katherine's vehicle as a Trojan Horse, to sneak in Andrew and Georgi Petrov. Georgi Petrov is one of the most impressive jazz guitar players you'll ever hear. He fronts his own quartet and plays with a bunch of other people, including the super-talented Meryl Zimmerman. If you're wondering where you'v

Happy Hour is billed as "Random conversation with folks who have nothing in common." Anything that s truly random will, sooner or later, appear to us not to be. Like flipping a coin and getting four "heads" in a row. Or inviting random people to sit around a table at a bar in New Orleans and discover they re all Cajun. Louis Michot is the fiddle player and lead singer in the Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers. You don t get much more Cajun than Louis and his tales of Petit Paris aka St Martinville , living in Broussard, Lafayette, and out in the woods of Arnaudville. Louis plays two songs on this Happy Hour, accompanied on one of them by fellow Cajun Andrew Duhon. Here in New Orleans we pronounce Andrew s name Doo Hon but if you go a few miles West just how many is open to debate it s pronounced Doo Yong. Until you get a few miles out of Lafayette, into Texas, where it reverts to doo hon, as evidenced by Louis dog whose name was Clint Duhon, pronounced the Port Arthur way cause that s where he came from. Lizzie G

Kimberly Kaye woke up at 3AM one morning and knew she was dying. She was right. Months later, after spending weeks in a hyperbaric chamber in New Orleans and months at the Cleveland Clinic, Kimberly finally found out she had something exotic called EDS, a rare, genetic, connective tissue disorder. Today Kimberly is kicking ass as an actress, writer, Assistant Editor of The Jiu Jitsu Times, Jiu Jitsu exponent, and singer in the band Loose Cattle. Legion Dubois is the Dr John of hip hop. He s a Creole rapper who buried the street fighting version of himself when he saw the error of his ways and was reborn as a spiritually motivated musician with a message of peace, love, and Voodoo. Legion sings two songs on this Happy Hour Friends on The Other Side, and Adrenaline Rush. Legion has a message and a perspective as unique as his name. If you want to hear where Hip Hop might be headed, you definitely want to check this out. Isaac MacDonald came to New Orleans for a job and stayed for the egg rolls and grilled chees

Lori Tipton is the most popular guest in Happy Hour history. Last time Lori was here she talked about her shallow vagina and how she had to become intimately familiar with its intricacies in pursuit of self administered insemination aka turkey baster . As impossible as it sounds, today Lori has an even more amazing story to tell. Today s story includes details of Lori s mother s escapades in strip clubs on Bourbon Street where she worked for many years as a house mother and professional pool player, and the day Lori went to visit her and found she had murdered two other women and killed herself. No matter how good you are at guessing where stories are going to go, you won t predict this one. Briefly, without spoiling anything, FDA administered Ecstasy MDMA has changed Lori s life and delivered her true happiness. Legendary New Orleans musician Billy Iuso has a dream that he s not far from realizing moving to Jamaica. He s got a house picked out and a plan to buy it. Next week he turns 50 and looking back he s

This is probably not quite how Kate Becker intended her serious practice of healing and self development through breath work to be interpreted, but did you know you can get high AF from breathing Breath work is cheaper than drugs and the effects of happiness linger on and reverberate through your life long after the high is gone. You might ask, "Why aren t we all doing it " Well, exactly Rene Coman, the super smart bass player from legendary NOLA band The Iguanas, has been fighting loneliness his whole life, practically from the moment he was born. Then, after years in the wilderness, hanging out with cigarette smoking 60 year olds, a successful music career, getting married and raising kids, Rene finally discovered a cure for loneliness podcasts Now he s the co host of his very own podcast, the highly entertaining, curmudgeonly Troubled Men Podcast. Owen Legendre is one of the funniest people in New Orleans. And on the internet in general, actually. He s half of the comedy duo, Bare Handed Bear Handlers yes,

Brentt Arcement grew up as a drummer in New Orleans and took his musical skills to Los Angeles where he carved out a career as an A list drummer, playing with Fiona Apple, Live, and many other big name artists. But the show stopping sentence in this conversation is when Brentt gets onto the subject of how he met, became friends with, and even lived with none other than Dennis Rodman. You ll be pleased to learn that Dennis is not just a regular guy. If you think Dennis Rodman has a unique life, wait till you hear about the people Katie Sikora hangs out with. Katie is one of the creators of an online undertaking called The Sexism Project. Katie, a photographer, photographs and interviews women in particular industries about their relationship to sexism. So far the project has examined the lives of women in the New Orleans music industry and the New Orleans sex industry. It s hard to put into words on a page, here, just how riveting these photographs and conversations are. Katie is one of these people who move t

Among a wide variety of other pursuits, Dr. MarkAlain Dery is an HIV doctor. Amid the staggeringly bad news about the rate of HIV infection in New Orleans second in the nation behind Miami is the good news that if you have to contract a serious illness say, diabetes, cancer, or HIV HIV is the one to pick. According to MarkAlain, you can get a simple and free HIV test called an "instie" and if you test positive for HIV your life expectancy is the same as a regular person who does not have HIV, if you regularly take one pill. And you re not going to infect anyone else, even your sex partners. Just for the record, MarkAlain also, runs a radio station called WHIV, plays bass in a number of bands, and hosts a podcast about social justice. John Paul Carmody and Jackson Purvis are two thirds of the New Orleans rock trio, South Jones. The third member of the band is any one of a number of rotating bass players. John Paul is from Omaha Nebraska and Jackson is from South Mississippi. They met via a Craig s List post an

If you're even the tiniest bit cynical about Christmas, you have got to hear Debbie Davis' impassioned explanation of why Christmas matters. We re so used to thinking we have to be be smart, ironic and funny in conversation that it's shocking to hear a completely unvarnished, sincere, heartfelt defense of simple niceness. And then the big question why can t we be like this all year The answer might lie in Debbie's annual ode to the holidays, Oh Crap It s Christmas. And check out what might be the greatest Christmas song of all time. Jep Epstein is famous for writing music you know and love without knowing Jep wrote it. Jep writes mostly commercial jingles, but lately he's been on a different track. He s started writing songs. Clever, funny, insightful songs, kind of in the mode of a hipped up 21st Century Randy Newman. Normally a piano player, Jep brings along his ukulele. Dana Reed has over 1,000 kids. She only gave birth to one of them, who, like Dana, "Came out of the womb dancing." The other kids hang out

Vince Ebeir s new band is called Spylights and their first record is named after Vince s gift he s an Empath. That means Vince feels your pain, but also your pleasure. So be careful what you get up to around him. Vince brings along his guitar player, Roman Duffar, and the guys play two songs off the upcoming Empath record. Also, if you re in a band and you need marketing or any other business help, Vince is giving advice for free through his non profit, Give It Hell Promotions. Alex Bowen is The Other Cajun Jew. A few weeks back on Happy Hour Alex Rosen, the marketing person at the all new Fillmore, told us that she knows one other Cajun Jew and his name also happens to be Alex and he also happens to work at Live Nation. Alex Bowen is that man. Alex Bowen is the guy at the all new Fillmore who books bands. If you ve ever wondered how bands get booked or how much they get paid, check out this conversation. You might also be interested to know something about Toto. No That wouldn t surprise Alex one bit. Laura