COLD CUT BREES
When Drew Brees appeared on Jay Leno's "9 at 9" segment last year, the talk show host asked the Saints all-pro quarterback one of life's all-important questions: You have $10 to go eat lunch; where do you go? Brees didn't hesitate. If I want a sandwich, he said, I'm going to Jimmy John's and getting the #9 Italian sub. 
COLD CUT BREES
When Drew Brees appeared on Jay Leno's "9 at 9" segment last year, the talk show host asked the Saints all-pro quarterback one of life's all-important questions: You have $10 to go eat lunch; where do you go? Brees didn't hesitate. If I want a sandwich, he said, I'm going to Jimmy John's and getting the #9 Italian sub. Lafayette may not have a Jimmy John's franchise, but we do have a Joey's. For the past two years the Bertrand Drive deli has been serving up its own recreation of the "Brees Special," a cold cut sub with Italian capicola, genoa salami, ham, provolone cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, purple onion, mayo and Italian vinaigrette, for $7.98. As an added homage to Saints coach Sean Payton, Joey's recently began serving the sandwich with a stick of Juicy Fruit gum. Joey's is open for lunch Monday - Friday from 10:30 - 2 and 10:30 - 2:30 on Saturday. Call 237-3661 for more information. - Nathan Stubbs
WHITE OUT
Bands come and go. Most last one to three years. Some make it to five. Some bands muster the intestinal fortitude to tour, release more than one record, and weather the ups and downs and arbitrary quirks of the music scene, and somehow miraculously manage to not get jaded. They are the true souls. Brass Bed is one of those bands accomplishing just that. No longer just a wispy band of young up and comers with a pronounced Wilco fixation, Brass Bed are now a Man-Band, babywith seasoned chops, road miles on them, and a creatively spirited, collective mojo that at times is fearless and ballsy and luminous in its marked tendency to avoid anything youthfully aggro or predictably dumb. On their new CD Melt White (Park the Van records), the band displays its eccentric melodicism, schizoid ambience, the muscular chops, the first-class songwriting. Their man-tooth erudition and near scholarly habit of absorbing music made 10 to 20 years before they were born is one of the things that makes Brass Bed unique. From surf soul to Twickenham twang to banjo bang-bang to the alt-indie-post-rock catalogue of the past 20 years, Brass Bed has absorbed it all - actively - and forged it into their own quirky, experimental pop brand tunes. You can buy a copy of Melt White on iTunes or Amazon.com. - Dege Legg
IT AIN'T ME, BOB
Dylan LeBlanc's voice has the world-weary rasp of a man three times his age, someone who's seen trouble all his days. It's an extraordinary gift for a 20-year-old singer to possess. Add that to a poet's lyrical verse and easy, floaty melodies, and you have a fully formed singer songwriter newly fledged from the north country (that being Shreveport). The chops come naturally: Leblanc's dad was one of the session players at Alabama's historic Muscle Shoals studio. "I grew up around a lot of the session playerswhen I was 11 or 12, I would watch and ask a lot of questions," says Leblanc, who just finished a stint playing Louisiana Crossroads, so if the music sounds familiar, you probably heard it on KRVS, nonstop, all last week. The record, that's right, it's vinyl, or a CD version of his debut album, Pauper's Field, can be ordered directly from his label, Rough Trade, or purchased from iTunes. If you go retro, the record jacket includes a free download coupon. Check out more about LeBlanc on his website, dylanleblanc.com. - Mary Tutwiler