We’re (All Day Buffet & Crush+Lovely) coming down to New Orleans next week for all the October awesomeness including Voodoo Music Festival, Halloween, and Tribecon!

Tribecon is an interactive conference held in conjunction with Voodoo from October 29-30, featuring award-winning speakers with a passion for building online communities to inspire powerful offline movements.  They already have amazing speakers lined up including Tara Hunt who is the author of The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, Sloane Berrent who is a cause-based marketing consultant, and Brian Oberkirch.

If that’s not enough to twist your arm, all attendees will spend Wednesday, October 28th volunteering throughout New Orleans.  What other better way to spend your time!

We’re also throwing a contest for one free ticket to Tribecon via Twitter!   Give us your favorite example(s) of powerful movements.  Include “@alldaybuffet & #tribecon” in your tweets and we’ll select one lucky person by Tuesday, October 13th, 5 PM EST.

To stay up to date with tribecon, follow them on Twitter or visit their website.  Don’t forget to register today and enter the promo code “FEASTONGOOD” for an additional 25% off regular ticket prices.

Behance Magazine has a great interview with Brian Bordainick of 9th Ward Field of Dreams.  Brian was a speaker at The Feast Conference in New Orleans and will also be speaking at the conference in NYC.  Here are some great snippets from the interview:

Why does Bordainick want to build this track and field? “We want to show the city of New Orleans that coming together as one is possible, “ he says. Of course this unity is achieved in the act of collaborative fund raising and planning, but Bordainick is also banking that it will come about thanks to the football games and track meets themselves. He has said, “People might ask why are we building a football field before we even have a school building. I just know that sports can help build a school’s identity and bring a community together.” His drive also comes from helping students specifically. “Most importantly,” he says, “the children are beginning to buy into the fact that tomorrow is going to be a better day than today, and no matter what happens, that is something you could never put a price tag on.”

Finally, Bordainick and his team may not have found their field so close to opening day without a little defiance. He says, “You should not let history tell you what you can and cannot do; rather, let your imagination and passion tell you what you believe is possible, and then work your ass off to get to that point. When a pipe dream gets mixed with relentless passion, it’s a dangerous combination.

Read the rest of the article by visiting Behance Magazine.

New Orleans-based shirt company – Dirty Coast – gets featured in recent New York Article that highlights Magazine Street.  One of our favorite streets in the entire USofA.

Among them is Dirty Coast, a T-shirt company that was started by a graphic designer, Blake Haney, and an entrepreneur, Patrick Brower, shortly after the storm. Their design statement — T-shirts screen-printed with clever and occasionally provocative jokes like “New Orleans: So far behind, we’re ahead” and “It’s not beautiful being easy” — became a local sensation.

Check out the full article by visiting nytimes.com

Tamara Giltsoff (Feast NOLA Speaker) wrote a great PSFK article recapping her experience in New Orleans.

What marked their event on Friday, February 6th as special is a combination of things, which may in some ways all add up to a loose definition of the term “Social Innovation”. Never before have I been to a conference where the ‘place’ was equally relevant and rich as the ‘content’ of the day.

Social innovators come together to drive forward prosperity, collaboratively. This was apparent from day one of Feast gathering. Never have I felt so immediately connected to the culture of a city in such a short time. The event kicked-off on Thursday evening with Robbie Vitrano, the founder of Trumpet, hosting an impromptu speaker dinner at his large studio in the 9th Ward area (an area significantly affected by Katrina).

Read the rest of the article on PSFK.

I spent Sunday afternoon hanging out on other side of New Orleans.  Had brunch in the Bywater.  Stopped by the KK projects in St Roch and checked out the art.  Amazing.  Thought about buying a house in one of the wards too.  I’m still thinking about it.

We hit crazy traffic near the Lower 9th Ward and saw tons of people lined up on the streets.  Pulled over and asked what was going on, “Second line coming through ‘brah’.  None of that Uptown bullshit.”  Got out the car.  Me and Mark were like two pieces of salt (and yellow pepper) in a pepper shaker.  We heard Young Jeezy’s “My President is Black” about a dozen times, which shows that there is a new sense of hope and change in the air.  Experienced my first parade in that neck out the woods.  Took a picture.

When I came back to NYC, I watched the Lil Wayne performance on the Grammys.  He dedicated the entire song to New Orleans, and brought out the Dirty Dozen Brass Brand with some high steppers.  It was a great way to end a weekend.  The march back from death.

And this is why I love New Orleans.  I can never explain it to people.  There’s the people, culture, food, music, and laid-back attitude.  Couple that with the rebirth of a city.  Where else can you spend an entire day at a conference around social innovation?  Have dinner with 50 people in the middle of a recovering neighborhood at Trumpet.  Run around the city in costumes for Mardi Gras parades. And spend an entire afternoon in the wards?

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

The super creative dudes behind Deltree launched Fifty People One Question not too long ago.  The concept is quite simple.  They go to a city.  Ask fifty random people the same question.  Film their responses and convert into a short film.  The first one was filmed in New Orleans on Magazine Street.  Ahhhh, I miss that street…

When we set out to film, it was another New Orleans day. Once you get past the inevitable grime and heat, you feel a certain energy or “atmosphere”. Like a kid throwing himself into a mud fight.

It’s a simple question. And the answers can lead us anywhere.

They’ve done the video in New Orleans, New York, London, and Mexico City.  Check out the videos by visiting http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/.  Beautifully done!

Looking for things to do in New Orleans during the weekend of The Feast?  Here’s our top picks:

Krewe de Vieux

“The Krewe du Vieux parade is simultaneously the most individualistic and the most traditional of all New Orleans parading Krewes. It starts in the Marigny and winds its way to the French Quarter.”

Jacques-Imo’s Cafe

“Not your typical New Orleans restaurant—Jacques-Imo’s Cafe has become one of the hottest food tickets in town, known for its eclectic mix of Creole and Cajun specialties, at reasonable prices—its irrepressible owner/chef, Jacques Leonardi, who holds court each night dressed in a white chef’s jacket, shorts and Birkenstock clogs.”

International House Hotel

Everyone attending The Feast can utilize a hotel discount with International House located on 221 Camp Street.  All attendees will receive room rates at $159.  Please use the code “The Feast” when calling 504.553.9550

The Feast Conference

Last call for tickets!  All Day Buffet will be coming down to New Orleans on February 6th.

“The Tulane Business Plan Competition is a $40,000 live-presentation competition held annually on Tulane’s uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event, which is in its 9th year, is OPEN TO ALL students, both undergraduate and graduate, currently enrolled at an accredited university or college.

Participants must choose to submit their plans to either the “Traditional Business Entrepreneurship Track” or the “Social Entrepreneurship Track.” After three rounds of competition, one winner from each track will receive a cash prize of $20,000 to use towards their business initiative. The competition provides all participants with an excellent opportunity to reveal their innovations to accomplished venture capitalists.”

If you’re looking to enter the Tulane Business Plan Competition, stop by the Startup School to brushen up on your pitches, executive summaries and investor presentations.  The first session will be held on Thursday, January 29th at Tulane which will cover the basics of writing a business plan.  All Day Buffet (that’s us!) will be giving away 4 complimentary tickets to The Feast Conference on Friday, February 6th.

Show up.  Make your ideas happen.  And leave with the golden ticket.  Word.

Our friends over at Cool Hunting just put together an amazing short video on Prospect.1, which is New Orleans’ first biennial and the largest-ever international contemporary art show in the United States.  Like CH says, “As the front page of the event’s website proclaims, it’s designed to bring media attention and tourist dollars to New Orleans, so book your tickets now to get down there before it closes 18 January 2009.”

If this tickles your fancy, check out our other initiatives for the Big Easy:  The New Orleans 100 and The Feast: Social Innovation Conference (which will be in New Orleans on February 6, 2009 so buy your tickets today!)

More than three years after the failure of the levees, New Orleans has emerged as a haven for young leaders dedicated to rebuilding an American city that was 80% damaged. Young people from all over the world have arrived to work with local New Orleans residents to think about how to solve old problems ( lack of adequate, affordable health care, a crumbling public school system, defunct city government, blighted neighborhoods, etc) in new, innovative ways.

Join us for a talk on how the most pressing issues facing New Orleans residents, how Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Nathan Rothstein are addressing some of these problems, and how students can get involved, and also find intern/job opportunities in the city.

RSVP here

The New New Orleans

Monday, December 8, 2008

7 – 9 PM

NYU Hillel, First Floor

7 East 10th Street, NY 10003 (Google Maps)