A.D. character Dr. Brobson Lutz, former director of the New Orleans Health Department, talks about myths that often blow into public consciousness along with a hurricane.
“[Katrina] stigmatized New Orleans as some kind of infectious disease-ridden sector of our country,” Dr. Lutz says. “Our mosquitoes might have a little West Nile in them … but we don’t have malaria in New Orleans.” Click play below for more diagnosis from the doctor.

Jackets are preferred (but not required) as you watch A.D.’s Dr. Brobson Lutz offer a few delicious words on New Orleans’ most famous cajun Creole eaterie, the always storied Galatoire’s.

When Josh and I went to New Orleans this past January to meet all the A.D. “characters” in person, few days were as moving or intense as the one we spent with Denise. In this podcast, recorded in the home she shares with her mother (and sometimes her niece and niece’s daughter), Denise speaks with intensity, emotion, and raw honesty about her experiences in the city she’s lived her entire life. Click the play button below and listen.

With Jazzfest just weeks away, we hear from Leo, one of the stars of A.D. and publisher of the local music zine Antigravity. Here he riffs about how the music scene has changed since Katrina. Fewer big name acts come to town, he explains, though the song remains largely the same in the underground rock scene—”it’s still a core group of people going out to shows.”

Here the Doctor recalls his first days in the Big Easy at the ripe old age of 18. “When I first came to New Orleans everything was new and exotic to me,” says the Doctor, who we meet here. “It was almost like going to France; you had to learn a new vocabulary. The language…completely different. Charming. Fascinating. Addictive.”