Musicians are gathering in New Orleans this week for what is fast becoming an annual tribute to a queen. Leigh “Little Queenie” Harris, of Lil Queenie and the Percolators, lost her battle with cancer in 2019, and for three of the past four years, her birthday, July 27, has been honored with a tribute concert. 

Alex MacDonald, Little Queenie’s son, joins us for more on his mother’s legacy and the upcoming concert on what has now been officially declared ‘Little Queenie Day.’

Tulane’s Summer Lyric Theatre is wrapping up its season with a production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! The musical is based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and stars rising 7th grader Liam Askew in the lead role. He joins us, along with director Sean Patterson, for more. 

But first, Next Generation Radio is a five-day multimedia project highlighting the experiences of people in the Gulf States. The project was produced in May 2023 in partnership with the Gulf States Newsroom, where young reporters explored the question: What does it mean to be home?

Today we hear from Lora Ann Chaisson, the Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation in southeast Louisiana. Residing in Pointe-aux-Chênes, the Indigenous tribe of nearly 19,000 embodies her feelings of home – which is defined by family, food and the bayou. This story was produced by Owen Racer, a freelance journalist in New Orleans. 

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our digital editor is Katelyn Umholtz. Our engineers are Garrett Pittman and Aubry Procell.

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