We’ve got your weekend: Wine, cheese, and holiday prep

Over 100 cheeses will be available at the fete de fromage. (Photo: Wiki Commons)

Thursday, November 15/JW Marriott (614 Canal Street): Sometimes we like to get fancy. We are talking about a Beaujolais party. The French American Chamber of Commerce-Gulf Coast will host its annual fundraiser, the 2018 Beaujolais Nouveau Celebration, with French wine tasting running from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM. To make the night even fancier, the New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell, is expected to give a brief presentation on how trade and investment in the wine business has an impact on our city. Drinking and education? That’s our kind of style. The public is invited to enjoy this FACC-GC event celebrating the much-anticipated harvest of the Beaujolais Nouveau, a fruity red wine from the Beaujolais region of France, in addition to various French wines. Tickets range between $75-$500 (we told you it was fancy), and you can register here.

Thursday, November 15/Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette French Quarter Area Hotel (817 Common Street): There is nothing like some intellectual stimulation on a hopefully less-cold Thursday. The panel “Over the Airwaves: Intersecting Audio, Storytelling, and the Creative Arts in New Orleans” will be taking place and being moderated by one of NolaVie’s favorites — Mr. David Benedetto. The panelists are equally impressive with Susan Larson, Hal Clark, Camille Roane, Laine Kaplan-Levenson all gathering together to discuss what it means to work in audio and the arts in today’s New Orleans. It all begins at 8:30 AM, and you can find out about tickets and details here.

Friday, November 16/Poor Boys Bar (1328 St. Bernard Avenue): They say we have a festival for everything. Well, we know have a Fuck No Fest, which will be putting on the “Stand Up, Strip Down” show on Friday. You can join funny ladies Tekesha Fairley, Denise Moore, Lindsay Debaser Dennis, Torona Michele Poole, Camille Roane, and host JJ Brontè as they make you laugh, then make you hot with comedic monologues followed by saucy burlesque routines! Tickets are $5 at the door, but bring tips for the ladies and donations for STAR, as they’re producing under the umbrella of N.O.: Laughing Matters! For full details, you can check out the event page here.

Friday, November 16/Kirschman Artspace at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (2800 Chartres Street): St Veronica’s Photography and Wisznia|Architecture + Development are hosting an exhibition of featured works from the upcoming Stephens Garage Collection in Kirschman Artspace the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). The Exhibition will run from November 8, 2018 – December 18, 2018. In other words, it’s already started and will only be up for a few more weeks. This exhibit will includes nine artists exploring and paying homage to the automobile and the American automobile culture through visual arts. Stephens Garage, aka The Garage, is a residential/commercial development located in the Central Business District slated to open in the Summer of 2019. Built in 1951, the building formerly stood as a Buick dealership which is the catalyst for the collection’s theme. Named after the patron saint of photography, St Veronica’s Photography (SVP) is a custom art consulting firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. SVP works with clients to illustrate narratives and ideas through lens-based art works. History is just amazing, isn’t it? You can go make some history with this exhibit, which is open from 12:00 PM until 7:00 PM.

Saturday, November 17/New Orleans Jazz Museum (400 Esplanade Avenue): Remember when we said we have a festival for everything? Well, the French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Gulf Coast region is presenting a celebration of more than 100 artisan cheeses from all over the world. Oh, yes. All the cheese. You can stroll the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the U.S. Mint while listening to great music, sampling cheeses, tasting specialty foods and sipping on wine, cider and beer. New Orleans is beyond a dream, and there’s also an educational element. You can watch a cheese wheel cracking competition, learn about the history of cheese with Chef Alex Miles, or VIPs can catch a seminar with world-renowned cheese experts Liz Thorpe or Michele Buster. The cheese frenzy all begins at 11:00 AM and goes until 5:00 PM. Tickets range from $30 (general admission) to around $125 (VIP), and you can find tickets and full details, here.

Saturday, November 17/Central City BBQ (1201 S. Rampart): Wing Wars is here! That’s right; we know you have been waiting for it. If you haven’t, we have. The first annual festival dedicated exclusively to everyone’s favorite appetizer (you know, wings) takes flight this Saturday at Central City BBQ. Twenty restaurants will smoke, baste, sauce and fry over 40,000 chicken wings. The inaugural-ticketed event expects to draw around 3,000 people to the Smoke Yard at Central City BBQ and includes performances by Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Water Seed, Sexual Thunder! and The Marc Stone Band. There are $10 early bird tickets available for a limited time at www.nolawingwars.com. It all starts at 3:00 PM and goes until 10:00 PM.

Tuesday, November 20/Glitter Box N.O. (1109 Royal Street): Do you feel like getting a little crafty before lounging around for Thanksgiving? Well, you can get your craft in full force at Glitter Box for their “Stitch and Bitch: Glorious Garlands.” They’ll be making pompoms and collageing them along a banner with fake flowers, letters, fabric shapes, fringe, glitter, and beyond! There is a $15-$20 suggested donation, which includes all materials and guidance . Everyone will take home a 5 food strand of garland, which are great for mobile celebration decor, birthdays, dinners, slumber parties, self care spa nights, creating a physical space of calm and self love, anything that requires a little funky fun. A garland for all seasons ya’ll. The “Stitch and Bitch” begins at 6:00 PM, and you can find out full details here.