There are some people who claim to do Voodoo but are just doing it for fun. Then, there are others who are the real thing. Sallie Ann Glassman is a Voodoo priestess; ordained in the Haitian ritual. Glassman, who operates Island of Salvation Botanica, stages ceremonies on Voodoo spiritual days such as St. John’s Eve. She joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to talk about Day of the Dead rituals.

Oh yes, she will also answer the question do real Voodoo practitioners stick pins in dolls.

Just watching a brown pelican in action reveals how fascinating they are as they hover over a water body and then suddenly take a crash dive, to surface with fish in their bills. It is one of nature’s more dramatic acts.

Author Rien Fertel joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to tell tales from his new book, “Brown Pelican” (LSU Press). We know it as the state bird but brown pelicans are also an ancient species with a rich influence of early legends and as a common religious symbol. This is an extraordinary interview about an incredible bird.

Oh yes, we will also hear how the brown pelican is different from its white counterpart including size, mating and fishing techniques.

While filming a documentary about ghosts in an old plantation home producer Barbara Sillery once noticed a woman standing outside a window looking in. Later when the camera operator and the sound technician were asked about the woman they responded, “what woman?” Sillery joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to tell stories from her books and public TV documentaries which includes "The Haunting of Louisiana," "The Haunting of Mississippi" and "The Haunting of Cape Cod and the Islands."

Oh yes, we will also hear Sillery’s picks of Louisiana’s most allegedly haunted places.

You’ve heard the expression “love that chicken!” Well, you might like this colorful  interview as well. Al Copeland Jr , the CEO and chairman of the Copeland foundation, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde and podcast producer Kelly Massicot to tell stories from the new book, “Secrets of A Tastemaker: Al Copeland. The Cookbook. Recipes and Spicy Delicious Memories." His late dad founded the business best known as Popeyes, which is being honored this year on its 50th anniversary.

Oh yes, we will also hear about Copeland’s famous standoff with vampire author Anne Rice.

Allison Plyer is an expert on numbers – not the boring kind that we may have experienced in school, but the fascinating statistics that reveal information about our lives and futures, as well as trends in the state. Plyer, the chief demographer for The Data Center,  joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot for riveting revelations about people and places.

Oh yes, we will also hear about the chief causes of stress among Louisianians. One of them may surprise you.

Follow Plyer on Twitter @allisonplyer

Shrimp may be the most versatile of all seafoods. We crave the jumbo shrimp but small shrimp has a use in gumbo. We eat the crustacean fried, boiled, grilled or topped with a remoulade sauce. It is also an industry with its own unique issues and culture. Emma Lirette, author of the new book “Last Stand of the Louisiana Shrimpers,” joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to discuss what ties shrimpers to their boats and nets.

Oh yes, we will also hear about the next generation of workers and will they stay on the bayou.

What’s new in Louisiana? That's a question that Louisiana Life magazine asks in every issue but especially its annual cover story entitled "La Nouvelle Louisiane." The magazine’s editorial staff probes the state to discover what’s new in many topics including architecture, visitor attractions, outdoor spaces, hotels bars, musicians and restaurants. Melanie Warner Spencer, the managing editor of Louisiana Life, joins the magazine's Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to discuss great discoveries across the state.

Oh yes, we will also hear what a Lake Charles casino and a New Orleans basilica have in common.

In 2005, during the days of confusion after Hurricane Katrina broke New Orleans’s levees, the military needed someone to take charge. That happened once Russel Honoré, a Louisiana-born General with lots of swagger, stepped off the helicopter. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin would describe him as "that John Wayne type character." Honoré would be called again to defend a different city in 2021, after the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the general to conduct a security analysis. Honoré joins Errol Laborde, executive editor of Louisiana Life, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot to discuss his battlefield career and his latest battle for equitable energy policies.

Oh yes, we will also talk about his Green Army and how to go to battle.

Angela Gregory was one of Louisiana’s greatest artists and among the least known. She is distinguished for having chiseled a reputation in a field long dominated by men – sculpturing. From the streets of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, where she grew up, to the Parisian studio where she honed her craft, Angela Gregory’s story is that of a woman before her time. Beginning with her interest in art at an early age, a film produced for Louisiana Publish Broadcasting explores Gregory’s studies at Newcomb College in New Orleans and at the studio of Auguste Rodin’s chief sculptor Antoine Bourdelle in Paris.

“At a time when women struggled to be taken seriously, Gregory married her mathematics skills with her love for art and architecture to create beauty in what she called ‘the ultimate lasting pieces of art," said Dorothy Kendrick, the film’s producer and writer, .

Kendrick, along with art historians Susan Hymel and Elizabeth Weinstein, join Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde and podcast producer Kelly Massicot to talk about Gregory’s career.

Oh yes, we will also hear about an exhibit and a documentary created to tell more of her story.

What exactly is the purpose of roux in a gumbo or stew? And how about those prepared roux mixes? Louisiana Life’s longtime food columnist and genius in the kitchen as well Stanley Dry ponders these question and others with Errol Laborde, Executive Editor of Louisiana Life, along with podcast producer Kelly Massicot. They also talk top Louisiana seafood and meats.

Oh yes, we will also hear Dry reveal his favorite Louisiana-linked desserts.