Louisiana Insider

Gordon “Nick” Mueller once had a conversation with Stephen Ambrose, a history professor colleague at the University of New Orleans. What Ambrose had to say would make history itself. He proposed a project to build a museum focused on the Normandy D-Day invasions. Taking advantage of the university’s lakefront location – which would be used to test the Higgins landing boats used in the invasion – plus Ambrose’s volumes of interviews on the war, the idea seemed like a natural. From that day, Mueller’s career took a new track toward his own landing as the founding President and CEO of what would eventually be called The National World War II Museum.

Now regarded as one of the nation’s best museums and ranking high in attendance, the museum project that Ambrose envisioned, like the Normandy invasion, was a success tough with a heavy drama an obstacles along the way.

Mueller joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about the war and the new book he co-authored, along with research historian Kali Matin Schick, entitled “Building the National WWII Museum.”

There are lots of stories in the interview including that of Ambrose’s reaction the first time he saw a personal screening of his book, “Saving Private Ryan” having been made into a movie.

Louisiana has a rich literary history. All authors conduct interviews as part of their craft, but only one wondered what it would be like to interview a vampire. As another Louisiana author, Kate Chopin, might have said about Anne Rice’s vampire book, it was an awakening.

Peggy Scott Laborde, a producer and documentary maker for public television station WYES tv in New Orleans joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about her latest documentary, “Literary New Orleans.” The program opens the book on some of the best works from the Louisiana literary scene. We will also hear about why Tennessee Williams changed the name of the play he was working on from “The Poker Night” to “Streetcar named Desire.”

When driving into Baton Rouge, one can be amazed by the object in the distance that looks like a rocket ship on a launch pad about to take off. The building, of course, is the state capitol, the tallest of all such buildings in the country and a monument to Huey Long, whose ambition always seemed to be reaching for the stars.

“A Tall Order: The Louisiana State Capitol,” a documentary produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, tells the story of the building’s history and architecture. Both are imposing. Dorothy Kendrick, the documentary’s producer, and Steve Losavio, an architect with the Louisiana Division of Administration, join Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde to tell stories about the building and the artistic genius behind it.

But there has been tragedy, too. The building’s first floor is the site where Long was assassinated. (There is a memorial park across the street.)

On a happier note, listen closely and you will also hear a tip on why all visitors should take a trip to the 27th floor.

Jessica Harris has twice won James Beard Foundation awards, including one for Lifetime achievement. Rather than just being in the kitchen, she has proved herself to be especially skilled at blending sentences and paragraphs and then seasoning the mix with a  generous heaping of knowledge to create fresh culinary history.

For one of her recent books, “High on the Hog” she went to Africa to discover some of the links between African cooking and classic American dishes. Her Netflix series based on the book was so successful that a second season has been produced. Harris, who lives in Brooklyn but also has a residence in New Orleans – itself a destination for Afro/Caribbean/European/Cajun fusion, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about the culinary discoveries that are part of cooking.

She also discusses the cross-cultural origins of savory words such as gumbo and jambalaya.

Suppose your job is to take care of a tiger – a real tiger with jaws and claws and that is physically fit. David G. Baker is a veterinarian who for several year had the responsibility of overseeing the most recent cats who have been the Louisiana State University mascot. This week, Baker joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to discuss his book "Mike: The Tigers of LSU." He talks not just about the life of a mascot, but also offers fascinating insights into the animals themselves, such as how they differ in lifestyles and psychology from other wild felines including lions and panthers. He also describes Mike’s luxurious habitat on the LSU campus and the inside story of what it takes to feed a tiger.

One of the great green spaces in America is New Orleans’ City Park. In 2005, the flood waters from Hurricane Karina turned it into a gray space that was muddied, overcome with fallen trees, deprived of joy and hope. Robert Becker, the park’s former CEO, faced the task of rebuilding the park with no funding and most of the park’s employees having to be released. He succeeded. Becker, author of the new book "New Orleans City Park: From Tragedy to Triumph," joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to talk about a great urban revival. We will also hear about historic disasters, in different centuries, that ultimately helped re-build the park.

Did you know? City Park is 50 percent larger than New York’s Central Park.

Who better to talk about the Day of the Dead celebration than a Vodou priestess? Also known as  Día de los Muertos, the celebration has different roots than Vodou, which worked its way through Haiti. It is also Hispanic in origin. Yet both have a mystique with rituals and traditions that commemorate life and death. Sallie Ann Glassman an ordained Vodou priestess whose duties include conducting the annual St. John’s Eve celebration on Bayou St. John and who operates the Island of Salvation Botanica.

From her store at the Healing Center in Bywater, Glassman joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to delves into the season’s mysteries. She will also explain if there is a spiritual connect between Día de los Muertos, Halloween and All Saints Day all of which are celebrated as the calendar gradually approaches the dark days of winter.

Barbara Sillery has her favorite haunts, not just to visit but to write about. She has written several books about hauntings including in Louisiana, Mississippi (as well as its Delta country), Cape Cod and Nantucket. Sillery joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, with stories to tell.

Sillery, a longtime resident of New Orleans, now lives on Cape Cod, where the ghosts might not have lived on plantation but sometimes as sea captains.

In 1873, though little known throughout the state, the Shreveport area suffered one of the greatest tragedies in Louisiana history. The region faced what is recorded as the third largest Yellow Fever epidemic in the nation’s history. In the course of three months there was an estimated 1,200 victims, approximately 1/4 of the city’s population.

Cheryl White, a history professor at LSU-Shreveport, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, in commemoration of the incident’s 150th anniversary. White tells about the mass grave, which contains the remains of approximately 800 victims, some never identified. There are many stories including the tragedy of five Louisiana-based priests who went to Shreveport to comfort the stricken and who became victims themselves. There is now an organized effort to have the Vatican canonize (declare to be saints) the priests.

It is a story that should have a center place in Louisiana history.

Jim Brown has had quite a career including terms as Louisiana’s Secretary of State; Insurance Commissioner and a state senator. He is also a publisher, a columnist and a font of knowledge about the state and its politics.

Brown joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about several topics including why college sports has, in fact, become professional; his thoughts on allowing TV coverage of trials; the state's insurance crisis, and what he hoped to discover during a recent trip to the holy land. It is conversation from an active mind at its best.