GayMardiGras.com SouthernDecadence.com March 28-April 10, 2017 Facebook.com/AmbushMag The Official Mag. : AmbushMag.com 11

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1 GayMardiGras.com SouthernDecadence.com March 28-April 10, 2017 Facebook.com/AmbushMag The Official Mag : AmbushMag.com 11

2 12 The Official Mag : AmbushMag.com March ch 28-April 10, 2017 Official ficial Gay Easter Parade Guide GayEasterParade.com

3 the "official" dish...from 13 Neville, and Pan-American Life Insurance Group is underwriting all Latin and world music for a second year. Making a debut is Aloft New Orleans Downtown sponsoring Sweet Crude and Alexis and the Samurai. Thursday April 6, the French Quarter Festival Opening Night Gala will return to Antoine s Restaurant. Established in 1840 Antoine s is the country s oldest family-run restaurant. During the Gala, guests will enjoy the original Main Dining Room, the Mardi Gras-themed Rex, Proteus, and 12th Night Revelers rooms, the Mystery Room, 1840 Room, the Tabasco Room, and the Wine Cellar, which holds approximately 25,000 bottles when fully stocked. French Quarter Festival is the only time of the year when Antoine s allows a non-profit community organization to take over celebrating the opening of French Quarter Festival at this grand Gala event. Gala guests will enjoy music by Players Ella and Louis Tribute Band, tastings by Antoine s and other festival favorites, an open bar courtesy of Abita Brewing Company and Republic Beverages, and mingling with the Merry Antoinettes. Tony Green and Gypsy Jazz will perform at the Patron Party, which takes place from 7-8pm, immediately before the Gala which takes place from 8-10:30pm. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at or by calling Patron tickets are $250 and Gala tickets are $155 ($175 beginning April 1). In addition to single tickets, a limited number of VIP packages are available; packages include private gala seating with dedicated waiter and wristbands for front-of-stage access at festival. In a city famous for its wealth of delicious and unique traditional food, French Quarter Festival gives attendees a taste of the best of the best at the The World s Largest Jazz Brunch. More than 60 vendors feature classic New Orleans dishes as well as cuisine from the finest restaurants in the region. A number of restaurants have been with the festival since its beginning in 1984, and have been great partners for 30 years: Antoine s, Pat O Brien s, Trey Yuen, Tujague s, Vaucresson Sausage, Desire Oyster Bar, and Court of Two Sisters. Other festival favorites returning for 2017 include Galatoire s, Muriel s, Praline Connection, Dickie Brennan s Steakhouse, Restaurant R evolution, Broussard s, Love at First Bite, Royal House, GW Fins, House of Blues, Jacques-Imo s, K-Paul s, Mrs. Wheat s, Lasyone s Meat Pies, Ruth s Chris Steak House, Three Muses, and more. For more info, visit Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival April 7-8 Producers Vatican Lokey* and Edward R. Cox* are thrilled to announce The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival, April 7th and 8th at the new Gretna Cultural Center for the Arts in Old Gretna, LA. The Festival, a project that the Messrs. Lokey and Cox have been working on for over six years, presents two brand new musicals over two nights in staged concert readings: "Move It, And It s Yours!" by Bill Weeden, David Finkle, and Sally Fay, April 7th at 7:30pm; and "Gumbo" by Brett Macias and New Orleans writer Christina Quintana, April 8th at 8pm. The two shows are winners of the Mainstreet Musicals annual competition. Established in 1984 by Broadway veteran Timothy Jerome, Mainstreet Musicals takes dozens of applications each year for all-new music theatre scripts and puts them through a rigorous adjudication process with some of Broadway s biggest names, selecting three shows to be sent out across the United States and Canada to be performed in staged readings: minimal sets and costumes, a single piano, and the audience. The actors perform the show with their scripts and scores in hand, bringing the essence of these winning productions to audiences and theatrical producers that otherwise would never have the opportunity to enjoy. Currently, The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival is the latest entry onto the Mainstreet Musicals festival circuit of 20 American and Canadian cities. For their first year, the GMNMTF will enjoy some of the brightest professional and community talents in the city. Film and television star Lance Nichols* heads the Festival casts alongside AEA actors Idella Johnson*, Ronald Flagge*, Wendy Miklovic*, Soline McLain*, and Donald Lewis*, as well as Big Easy Award winner Michael Sullivan, current Big Easy Award nominee Preston Meche II, and New Orleans stage and music stars Givonna Joseph^ and Aria Mason^ (of OperaCrèole,) Eric Shoeless Pollard, Nori Pritchard, Greg Nacozy, Annette Foulkes, Keith Beverly, Nathaniel Jackson, Kebron Woodfin, Evan Autin, and Marigold Pascual. The production manager for the Festival is Stacey Morigeau. (* denotes members of Actors Equity Association, the professional actors union.) ( ^ denotes members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the professional opera union.) Move It, And It s Yours! and Gumbo are presented under the auspices of Actors Equity Association s Members Project Code. The Festival is made possible through the generosity of The Post Backstage, NOLA Voice Theatre, and The City of Gretna. Tickets for The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival are $15 each, with all proceeds benefitting the new Gretna Cultural Center for the Arts, 740 4th St., corner of Huey P. Long Avenue in Old Gretna. For tickets, go to GayMardiGras.com SouthernDecadence.com March 28-April 10, 2017 Facebook.com/AmbushMag The Official Mag : AmbushMag.com 13

4 14 The Official Mag : AmbushMag.com March ch 28-April 10, 2017 Official ficial Gay Easter Parade Guide GayEasterParade.com

5 celebrazzi 7th Gay Easter Parade Sponsorship Party raises Food For Friends Kitchen ~ Photos by Darwin Reed Noel Twilbeck with Easter Grand Marshals XVIII Glen Kahrman & Bootsie DeVille in the kitchen... Silver Sponsors Rodney Thoulion & RJ Buras, Platinum Sponsor Noel Twilbeck Silver Sponsors Rachel Bufkin & Sharon Barreca Bronze Sponsors Justin Moffatt & EGM XIV Starr Daniels Platinum Sponsor Alva John Groth II & Bronze Sponsor Jimmy deblanc Gold Sponsors Lisa & Joann Guidos/Kajun's Pub Sponsors - Gold: Bootsie DeVille, Platinum: Glen Kahrman, & Gold: Tim Irving & Jeff Bater GEP Board & EGM IV Electra City & Gold Sponsor EGM XV Todd Blauvelt GEP Boards & Bronze Sponsors EGM X Tony Leggio & EGM XVII Opal Masters Sponsors - Bronze: Robert Cook, Silver: Rhonda Roget & Dwain Hertz, Gold: EGM XVII Ken GrandPre Bronze Sponsors Jim Hochadel & Gerard Scavo Bronze Sponsor Natasha Sinclair & Gold Sponsor Jeff Bater Silver Sponsors Dwain Hertz, EGM IX Safonda Peters & EGM XV Stuart Nettles Presenting Sponsors Ambush Magazines's Rip Naquin & Marsha Delain, EGMs I Easter Grand Marshals XVIII Bootsie DeVille and Glen Kahrman in the kitchen at Food For Friends welcoming guests to the 7th Sponsorship Party raising $11,950 for Gay Easter Parade benefiting Food For Friends. This year the party was hosted and catered by the Food For Friends Kitchen at the corner of Jefferson and Claiborne. It gave sponsors an inside view of what Food For Friends accomplishes because the parade in the largest single donor for Food For Friends. (Photo by Darwin Reed) ( Gay Easter Parade Boards Tittie Toulouse and Electra City join Easter Grand Marshal XVIII Bootsie DeVille, EGM XVII Monica Synclaire-Kennedy, and EGM XVIII Glen Kahrman at the 15th Spring Fever Extravaganza. Here Monica presented the new grand marshals with their "official" gm pins. Hosted at Four Seasons Patio & Stage Bar in Metairie, Louisiana, the event raised $2,707 for the 18th Gay Easter Parade benefiting Food For Friends. (Photo by Rip Naquin) ( President Cary Oswald, Function Lt. Jeremy Weinberg, Treasurer Ron Issler, Vice President Pete Netuail, and Ball Lt. John East welcomed the largest class of new members at the Krewe of Amon-Ra Rush Party hosted in The Balcony Cafe Lafitte in Exile in New Orleans. The krewe's 53rd consecutive Mardi Gras Ball is set for Jan. 20, Not pictured is Captain Errol Rizzutto. (Photo by Darwin Reed) ( The staff at Cafe Lafitte in Exile personally made Mardi Gras wreaths early in Carnival Season, hosting a silent auction raising $2,115 for Belle Reve in New Orleans. (Photo by Jimmy Armstrong: Wood Enterprises' Chris Ward, Belle Reve's Vicki Weeks, Jason Griffin, JuMichael Grow, Lafitte's Manager Foster Fox, Southern Decadence Grand Marshal XLII Jeff Palmquist) ( GayMardiGras.com SouthernDecadence.com March 28-April 10, 2017 Facebook.com/AmbushMag The Official Mag : AmbushMag.com 15