New Orleans

"The Last Madam," by Christine Wiltz. Faber & Faber. 244 pages. $20.It's a bad sign when, nearing the end of a biography, you read that the subject recorded her memoirs, and you find yourself saying wistfully, "Oh I wish could read them!" There's a definite sense throughout "The Last Madam" -- Christine Wiltz's airless biography of Norma Wallace, purportedly one of New Orleans' most colorful and famous brothel proprietresses --that the real party is happening elsewhere.But that sense of foreboding that one is in for a difficult time of it sets in fairly quickly in "The Last Madam."

Memphis (7-5) vs. Florida Atlantic (7-5) Site -- New Orleans Time, TV -- 8, ESPN2 Line -- Florida Atlantic by 2 1/2 Outlook -- Memphis has won five of its past six games. The Tigers have held only one opponent under 21 points this season. Florida Atlantic, coached by Howard Schnellenberger, upset Troy in its season finale to earn its first bowl appearance. The Bur rowing Owls' offense is hot, averag ing 36 points after midseason in 2007.

WASHINGTON - Even as the receding waters expose more bodies left behind by the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, there's talk about whether New Orleans can be rebuilt and how. I am wondering which New Orleans is to be rebuilt. Like other colorful cities, New Orleans is two cities. There's the lived-in theme park centered in the French Quarter with its terrific restaurants, dance halls, burlesque joints and cultural gumbo. And there's the other New Orleans, the one populated by most New Orleanians.

In a move that promises to fuel the current airfare competition at BWI, Southwest Airlines announced yesterday that it will begin offering nonstop service from Baltimore to Houston and New Orleans on April 5.The highest one-way fare from Baltimore to Houston will be $232. The highest one-way fare from Baltimore to New Orleans will be $206.Southwest currently is offering $99 one-way fares, based on round-trip travel, through Aug. 4. The nonrefundable tickets must be purchased by Feb. 24 and overnight stays are required.

"Laissez les bons temps rouler." For those unfamiliar with the Cajun spin on the French language, that translates as "Let the good times roll," and rolling good times is something New Orleans folk know inside and out.New Orleans, Louisiana, Cajun Country, home of the Mardi Gras, a celebration of food and music that everyone should experience at least once.Well, now's your chance, and one only has to travel as far as Columbia to encounter the abundance of this rich regional culture.When Festival New Orleans two-steps into Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday, music won't be the only thing in its party bag. In addition to standout Louisiana music groups -- such as the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys, and C. J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band -- famous New Orleans chefs will bring their unique specialties -- such as gator tails over rice, red beans, barbecued alligator and gumbo.

NEW ORLEANS - With a monster hurricane aimed straight at Louisiana's Gulf Coast and memories of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster seared into their minds, hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists began fleeing the New Orleans region yesterday, leaving a boarded-up and eerily empty city behind. Out in the Gulf of Mexico less than two days away was Hurricane Gustav, fluctuating between a major Category 4 and 5 storm even before it passed over the gulf's warm fueling waters. It continued its inexorable march toward a landfall predicted for tomorrow somewhere west of New Orleans, where Mayor Ray Nagin gave a mandatory evacuation order late yesterday.

My brother once conjectured, very ungraciously, that I wanted to be a restaurant reviewer so I could do my two favorite things -- eat and criticize. Ah, jealousy, thy name is baby brother. While this is certainly not the case, it is true that I have on occasion enjoyed giving unsolicited advice. And I have some for New Orleans Cafe.Before I start, I'd like to say that the cafe's food is decent. Paul Prudhomme isn't lying awake in the bayou trying to tease out the secret of New Orleans Cafe's crawfish etouffe, but most dishes here are tasty, filling and affordable.

NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina left this nonpareil city with conflicting challenges: Change almost everything - how you think, where you live and your faith in government - but cling to history and tradition like a lifeline. Long before the event known here as "the storm," New Orleans had all the problems of big cities. But the long-standing need to change was masked by such aspects of New Orleans life as good times in the French Quarter, Cajun food and the city's deep jazz and blues heritage.

New Orleans is known as much for its music as its food, so it makes perfect sense for Main Street Blues to capitalize on the marriage by featuring Big Easy fare, and live music six days a week.Owned by Dennis Martin and Patric Branham, this new Ellicott City eatery is a thin stretch of a restaurant, with tables hugging the teal sponge-painted walls all the way to the mural in the back depicting blues greats B. B. King and Muddy Waters. If your eyesight's not so good, you might think someone is frozen in a perpetual groove back there.

When I arrived in New Orleans, my assignment was to concentrate on the narrative. Most of the images we had seen until then had immediacy but lacked depth. My editor told me to dig deeper, and I wanted to provide a better understanding of the motives of the people I met. After riding through the city for a few days, it was apparent that large areas were uninhabitable, but many people had chosen to stay in their homes. Gregory Scott and his band of "Robin Hood Looters" (above) had already seen that there was little help coming from the government.