A Beautiful Thursday with an Elephant Birthday Party, Concerts in the Park and the "O", Plus Music 'Round Town!

What a beautiful Thursday!

It's an Elephant Birthday Party at the Audubon Zoo!  Panya, the senior member of the beloved pair of female Asian elephants at the Audubon Zoo, celebrates her 50th birthday on today at 2 p.m. Zoo staffers will present Panya with a cake, gifts and a giant birthday card signed by guests. Everyone is invited to observe the "party'' celebrating this milestone birthday from the Asian Domain boardwalk.

Panya, who weighs in at 9,500 pounds, will be joined by her longtime sidekick, 7,500-pound Jean, who is a spry 41. The two pachyderms have been star attractions at Audubon Zoo for 30-plus years. Jean came to Audubon Zoo in 1978 and Panya arrived in 1980.  The special birthday "party'' will be held in the temporary elephant exhibit across from the white tiger enclosure.

Music!

It's a beautiful night to hang out at City Park and enjoy  Pianist Lars Edegran, leader of the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, as he teams up with world renowned clarinetist Tom Sancton for a fun evening of toe tapping New Orleans Jazz at the Thursdays at Twilight Garden Concert Series!  The gates open up at 5:00 pm and the performance starts at 6:00 pm in the City Park Botanical Garden Pavilion of the Two Sisters...There is an admission charge, but hey, it's helping the Park out...$10 for adults and $3 for children.

Need a little art, culture and music? You gotta go to the concert at the Ogden Southern Museum of Art (925 Camp St.) - better known as Ogden after Hours. Tonight the Ogden has the Gerald French Trio.  Gerald started playing drums at the age of 5. He is the son of George French and nephew of Bob French, the Frenches being part of the pantheon of illustrious New Orleans musical families. He has traveled and performed with hundreds of musicians, treating listeners all around the world to the many different genres of music he has mastered. And remember if you're a member of the Ogden you always get in free!

Some More Thursday Night Music

Come on over to Freret Street to Gasa Gasa (4920 Freret) for an evening of lovely music from The Honeypots! Don't miss the trio of Margie Perez, Monica McIntyre and Lynn Drury at 8:00 pm!

And head on over to Frenchmen and the Spotted Cat Music Club (623 Frenchmen) cause they have a triple header with Sarah McCoy's Oopsie Daisies at 4:00 pm, Miss Sophie Lee at 6:00 and stay on and party with Smokin' Time Jazz Club at 10:00 PM!!

There's more fun on Frenchmen over at d.b.a. (618 Frenchmen) with piano man Jon Cleary at 7:00 pm with no cover!!  And stay on for more music with Kristin Diable and The City ($5 cover) at 10:00 pm - you don't want to miss it!!

For more fun stuff to do and more music...check out the WWOZ Livewire - http://www.wwoz.org/new-orleans-community/music-calendar!


www.gratisnola.com