Louisiana Insider

There was a time and region where a homerun might have been exclaimed as being a coup de circuit! The added excitement that the ball may have landed in a field such as near the southwest Louisiana towns of Rayne or Crowley (whose teams were the Rice Birds and the Millers) added to the local color. Those were the days of the Evangeline League, a minor but colorful baseball group that played ball mostly west of the Atchafalaya between 1934 and 1957. Historian Brian Altobello joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde along with Producer Kelly Massicot to talk about the league including its stars and its controversies; such as gambling questions and racial issues. Altobello, whose book “Whiskey, Women, and War: How the Great War Shaped Jim Crow New Orleans,” provides great insights into the city’s postwar period also talks about that rugged time. As in baseball, a constant goal was to be safe at home.

Randy Fertel knows how to serve with a sizzle, including on steaks or in life. Fertel, the son of Ruth’s Chris's Steakhouse founder Ruth Fertel (known for her butter-topped sizzling steaks), is an author who is fascinated with ideas.  He joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde along with Producer Kelly Massicot to talk about his latest book, "WINGING IT: Improv's Power and Peril in the Age of Trump," which takes a philosophical but fascinating dive into the topic of improvisation as a tool of innovation. Examples abound including the musical "Hamilton" performed in hip-hop. Or his father who once ran for Mayor of New Orleans on the promise of bringing a gorilla to the zoo. (He lost, but delivered anyway.) Also, here’s a chance to learn the truth about just how the steak got its sizzle.

Liz Williams dishes out information about food in several different servings. She is the founder of New Orleans’ Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFab). She has written books about food,  the latest being “So Fab Cookbook: Recipes from the Modern South,” and she writes a column about food for Louisiana Life magazine. She also has a podcast called “Tip of the Tongue," and she’s a magician in the kitchen. Williams joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with Producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about Southern food and what that term means today and answers questions such as: for gumbo –file or okra? What’s the difference Creole vs. Cajun? 

She also reveals what her menu would be if pressed to prepare the ultimate Louisiana meal and what is her favorite comfort food dish. Hint: It’s served with rice.

Few people understand Louisiana, especially its politics, history and issues, better than Robert Mann. He is an author of several books about Louisiana politics, none so close to the topic as his most recent publication, "Kingfish U," a rollicking history of Huey Long and his championing of LSU. Mann has been an insider working for prominent elected officials including Russell Long, John Breaux and Kathleen Blanco, and he has had bylines in newspapers for covering the political beat. Mann joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with Producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about the condition of the state in the Jeff Landry era. It is a compelling discussion, especially when he analyzes the most serious issue facing the state. He also pronounces his pick of the worst governor ever. And it wasn’t that long ago.

We know, sometimes back pains can be a real pain in the neck, or something like that. Between our extremities and our shoulders muscles get tight, tensions increase. Beth Winkler is a physical therapist who worked at a hospital where she specialized in outpatient care and developed her own ideas about how to make therapy more compassionate. She now operates her own business, Magnolia Physical Therapy, and has stories to tell. Winkler joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about the healing power of the mind and techniques such as visualization. She knows the issues from first experience. She even learned to cure herself from a concussion. Therapy, of course, frequently involves using your head, even for a neck ache.

This week, producer Kelly Massicot is taking on the role as host to talk to New Orleans culinary icon Poppy Tooker about a special cocktail that got its start in the Crescent City.

Thanks to her obsession with the Apple TV+ show "Palm Royale," where The Grasshopper acts as one of the stars, Massicot enlists Tooker to share her knowledge into the history of both one of the city's oldest restaurants and a cocktail that has been a crowd pleaser since 1918.

What other drink was Tooker surprised to find the recipe for hidden in the back of a picture frame? Listen to find out!

Insurance is supposed to provide security; in Louisiana it has become a crisis. We hear stories of homeowners being challenged to pay house notes because of the growing costs of home insurance. Automobile rates have increased, too, and what about health costs? Jim Brown who served as a Louisiana state senator, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner (1991- 2000) joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about a volatile industry. He also explains why rates tend to be less in neighboring Mississippi and offers his suggestion of an important change for the Insurance Commissioner’s office. Rate payers should be aware.

Imagine Louisiana without French. Even if you don’t hear it often, you know that it is there and part of the state’s history, culture and even its music and food. Well, it could have happened. In 1925 a state law was passed which, in effect, forbade the teaching of the French language in Louisiana. Perhaps the language was seen as being a stigma, but the law was certainly a mistake. In the years to follow, an effort was started to rescind the law and, to the contrary, embrace the language with its variations including Cajun and Creole. Mavis Arnaud Fruge, who is credited with starting the state’s French revival movement, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to tell her story. Joining her are filmmakers Bill Rodman and Flo Rodman whose documentary about the revival, “Mavis: One Simple Sentence,” has recently been released by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With efforts such as CODIFIL and French immersion schooling the drive to save the language has gotten stronger. Why is French Important? The producers and Fruge make their case. To that we say, ”Merci.”

Here is a dash of chicory for your daily podcast listening. The Louisiana-based Community Coffee company is now in its 105th year. Headquartered in Baton Rouge with facilities in New Orleans, Community is the largest family-owned and operated retail coffee brand in the country and a top selling brand not only in Louisiana but throughout the South.

Matt Saurage, the fourth generation owner and Chairman of Community, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to tell the story of the company’s 1919 origin in founder Cap Saurage’s Baton Rouge grocery store. Cap was so fascinated with mixing coffee blends he decided to enter the business, which now imports beans from Central America and Africa. Matt also talks about the company’s signature dark roast brand and he offers a defense for chicory, which is more than an extender but offers its own flavors and which he always drinks straight up.

In addition to coffee roasting, Community lives up to its name by having a history of making community contributions.

It is a conversation that is full bodied and never decaffeinated.

Louisiana was the location for the very first Tarzan movie, back in 1917 when actor Elmo Lincoln swung from the trees near Morgan City where the Atchafalaya Swamp played the role of Africa. Louisiana has produced many more settings including for the early burlesque comedians Abbott and Costello whose rocket flight to mars misfired and they landed in New Orleans where the day happened to be Mardi Gras and they mistook the street maskers for martians.

Alfred Richard, a film critic whose gigs include a weekly appearance of WWL TV’s morning news and frequent appearance on WYES TV’s “Steppin' Out” joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to talk about the local movie scene. We will also hear the podcast staff’s comments on "Barbie" and, as a bonus, Richard’s experience in the role of “Chocolate Thunder” as one of the longtime member of the 610 Stompers. It is fun conversation worthy of a movie.