Hey, where y'at!
I'm Chuck, native New Orleanian, former KCRW/KCSN DJ and current streaming radio DJ, and welcome to my personal web site, started in 1994 (old enough to be out on its own). This thing has gotten out way of hand over the years... it's been a huge, labyrinthine and delightfully overgrown compendium of knowledge about New Orleans and Louisiana cuisine and culture, and lots of other fun and fabulous stuff; dedicated to the enjoyment of great food, drink and music, and to spreading the joy of New Orleans culture. I've tried to slim it down a bit to make it less unwieldy, and I'm afraid I must warn you that not only is the site quite mobile-unfriendly, but I also don't really have the time to work on it and keep it updated anymore, therefore a lot of stuff is out of date (but not the recipes!).
Radio! Hey, I'm doing radio again! It's streaming internet radio this time, as of March 28, 2020. Please enjoy my program "Safe at Home" streaming live (when you get to hear me mess up!) on Saturdays at 1pm Pacific time. A slightly edited version (tighter, and in which you do not get to hear me mess up!) is then uploaded a bit later to Mixcloud for streaming on demand, at your leisure. All of my shows since 3.28.2020 are there.
Welcome Alta Journal readers! The fabulous author and journalist, Grammy Award-winner and Hugo Award finalist Lynell George, wrote a lovely article about me, my new streaming radio show, and my journey from "New Orleanian in Los Angeles" to "Angeleno from New Orleans," in the Spring 2021 edition of Alta Journal, a quarterly magazine focusing on culture, personalities, politics, lifestyle, and history of California and the West.
My old radio shows: "Down Home" (KCSN, 1998-2008) and "Gumbo" (KCRW, 1988-1998), ancient pages archived here. A little museum of my 20 years in L.A. public radio. Old playlists, etc.
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When you're visiting New Orleans and southern Louisiana, remember these things:
1. You don't need a full 8 hours of sleep a night -- there's too much fun to be had to waste it sleeping.
2. In Louisiana alcohol, butter, cream and big piles of fried seafood are still good for you.
You're probably mostly here for this:
The Creole & Cajun Recipe Page: Woild-famous! Fo' true!
Looka!: A weblog featuring musings on cocktails, food, music, New Orleans culture and much more. Kinda dead (or undead) these days; aren't "blogs" dead? (I'm old school and still say "weblog." I'm still not a fan of the word "blog," which was originally coined as a joke. Yes, you are correct, I am indeed a pain in the ass about that!)
Cocktails: An index of 350+ new, classic and original cocktails. There's much fine drinking to be done here.
I'm on Twitter, where I swear about politics too much (seriously cutting down on that, now that the Orange Shitgibbon is gone), Instagram, and older photos on Flickr but I don't really post there anymore.
"Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans": A 4-cd box set celebrating the joy and diversity of the New Orleans music scene. Produced, compiled and annotated by Chuck Taggart (hey, that's me!), with liner notes by Mary Herczog (former author of Frommer's New Orleans) and myself. Released by Shout! Factory. Sadly out of print now (although I was thrilled that it remained in print for a dozen years!), but worth having if you can find it. Ahem, if'n I do say so myself. There are usually some used copies on Amazon or eBay. Also, it seems as if you can listen to most of it on Spotify!
Bands: My old Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and Son Volt pages. (Also, don't miss Factory Belt, the world's most exhaustive Uncle Tupelo fan site.)
My antique radio collection. Modest, but cool.
Tip Jar! Everything you find on this site is free. Your tips help keep it all going and are greatly appreciated. I happily accept contributions via Paypal, or if you're feeling particularly generous, you can buy me something. Thanks!
About this site: Credits, dedication, origin, history, the early funny stuff, zzzzzz, etc.
About your proprietor (Who, me? What'd I do now?!)