New Releases by Howard Jacobs

Laugh-out-loud Louisiana-flavored tales from the storytelling Southern chef! Known just as widely for his boisterous, quirky stories and comedy albums as for his popular Cajun cuisine and PBS cooking shows, Justin Wilson presents his second collection of tales in More Cajun Humor. Written in dialect, these tales revolve around the lives of quick-witted farmers, determined deer hunters, and diehard football fans—people who could be your neighbors and friends, especially if you live in Louisiana, and especially if you''re the exceptionally neighborly and friendly Justin Wilson—a man who never lets a good story go by. Have you heard the one about the high-jumping bear hunter? It''s a good one, I ga-ron-tee! Charming and down-to-earth, Wilson delighted audiences throughout the country for many decades, and this collection gives a delicious taste of his trademark humor. "I know of no one [else] who portrays the Louisiana Cajun as well, so skillfully and entertainingly." —Harnett T. Kane, author of Queen New Orleans

The world''s greatest spinner of Cajun tales and a leading authority on Cajun dialects combine their talents in this rollicking anthology of Cajun humor. For more than forty-five years the delight of audiences around the country, the exceptionally neighborly and friendly Justin Wilson is without peer in his mastery of the distinctive Cajun patois and the storied Cajun joie de vivre. Nattily decked out in string ties, flop-brimmed Panama hat, and flaming red suspenders, and punctuating his stories with a booming "I ga-ron-tee!" Wilson projects authentic Cajun Humor instantly recognized by anyone who has visited the Louisiana bayou country. Wilson, whose tales have been recorded on numerous bestselling albums, is also the author of More Cajun Humor, and Justin Wilson''s Cajun Fables, as well as many cookbooks, including The Justin Wilson Cookbook, The Justin Wilson Cookbook #2: Cookin'' Cajun, The Justin Wilson Gourmet and Gourmand Cookbook, Justin Wilson''s Outdoor Cooking with Inside Help, all published by Pelican. Howard Jacobs, a widely read columnist with The New Orleans Times-Picayune, is the coauthor of Justin Wilson''s Cajun Humor, and author of Cajun Laugh-in.

From wistful Charlie the Mole, a gnome-like vagabond who established a thriving hobo hotel beneath the criminal courts building, to hapless Enrique Alferez, whose attempts to induce a chimpanzee to commit suicide unexpectedly boomeranged, a bizarre cast of authentic New Orleans characters is presented in this fascinating collection of Runyonesque profiles. Their names are often as colorful as their antics: Broadway Jonny the Fox Cox, Lou the Pitch, Suicide Simon, Roger-the-Lodger, Leapin'' Lou Messina, the Chaplain of Bourbon Street, and a score of others, including a bevy of aptly named ecdysiasts who ply their trade in the establishments along unregenerate Bourbon Street. These denizens of the misty underworld embellish the charm that will always characterize romantic New Orleans.