looka, <lʊ´-kə> dialect, v.
1. The imperative form of the verb “look,” in the spoken vernacular of New Orleans. It is usually employed when the speaker wishes to call one’s attention to something, or to what one is about to say.

2. –n. Chuck Taggart’s weblog¹, with contributions by Wesly Moore, updated (almost) daily (except when it’s not), focusing on cocktails and spirits, food and other drink, music, New Orleans and Louisiana culture … and occasionally movies, books, sf, public radio, media and culture, travel, Macs, humor and amusements, reviews, news of the reality-based community, complaints, the author’s life and opinions, witty and/or smart-arsed comments and whatever else tickles the authors’ fancy.

Please feel free to contribute a link if you think I’ll find it interesting.   If you don’t want to read my opinions, feel free to go elsewhere.

If you like, you are welcome to send e-mail to the author(s) (if it’s for Wes, I’ll forward it to him). Your comments on each post are also welcome and encouraged; however, play nice. Think if yourself as a guest in someone’s home, and he’s serving you drinks (although virtual ones, in this case). Trolls are wished into the cornfield.

This weblog was founded in July of 1999, is still going strong after 10 years and is a part of my larger website The Gumbo Pages, which was founded in 1994 … making me a very, very old man indeed.

Here are your authors, trying not to look too goofy. (Himself is on the right.)

Chuck

Wes

Oh, about that squiggly bit in the page header, underneath the “LOOKA!” logo? What’s that all about?

Looka! used to get a new title bar tag line every month, and I tried to make them witty, clever and/or culturally relevant. For March of 2004, since it was right after I returned from my first trip to Ireland since 1992, I chose a tagline line in Irish: “Bia agus deoch, ceol agus craic.” This, of course, prompted a near-immediate phone call from my friend Mary, demanding “Okay, what’s that gibberish at the top of my free content?”

I explained to her that it was a saying in the Irish language I’d seen outside many traditional pubs, informing those who might wish to come inside that “food and drink, music and convivial good times” are to be had within. “Gee,” said Mary, “that sounds just like what your site’s all about.” She was right, of course … hey, that’s not a bad idea … and as of March 1, 2004, we’ve got a new, permanent tag line. (I’m still figuring out all this WordPressy stuff, and at the moment I’m unsure if I’ll be able to change the ones in the title bar every month, though.)

The Looka! WordPress theme was designed by Marleigh Riggins Miller, based upon a free WordPress template called Vesper by Derek Herman of Valen Designs LLC. Preliminary work on the Looka! redesign was graciously done by Jay Hepburn.

Standard disclaimer!: I occasionally write reviews of spirits on this weblog. Even more occasionally, I get complimentary samples of spirits sent to me by liquor companies. You may assume that any spirits review I write was sourced from a provided sample, although usually I’ll make a mention in the body of the review somewhere. There is absolutely no quid pro quo; I receive nothing from the spirits company other than a review sample, and they are by no means guaranteed a good review just because they sent me some booze. I evaluate each product to the best of my ability and only write about my honest reactions.

¹ – or, “blog,” if you must. Gawd, I still don’t like that word.