Wikipedia is the best

I started out reading an article about how Chavez isn't going to sell any oil to Exxon because he (Venezuela) owes them (Exxon) $12bil. Anyways, it appears that the Chalmette refinery is exempt from this embargo because it is co-owned by Exxon and, that's right, the Venezuelan national oil company (PDVSA.) Anyway in the process of (more like after giving up on) trying to find out what percentage Exxon and PDVSA owned, I started reading Wikipedia's offerings regarding our fair city, and that is why I give you:

Notable New Orleanians (myself excluded, and in no particular order, natch):
A. Baldwin Wood - Tulane Engineering grad., invented the pumps that keep our bowl dry from filling.
William Seeman - sailboats something something seamen joke
Emille Lamm - May have invented the "grille"
Andrew Higgins - Invented D-Day beach boat. Ingenious because if someone's shooting at you when the door drops, you HAVE to get out of the boat.
Josef Lascaux - Invented Cotton Candy
James Longstreet - Robert E. Lee's "Go-to" general, told Lee at Gettysburg that Pickett's charge would be unsuccessful, seeking a pardon after the war, Prez. Jackson replied: "There are three persons of the South who can never receive amnesty: Mr. Davis, General Lee, and yourself."
P.G.T. Beauregard - Robert E. Lee's #4-5 General, defeated Union at 1st Battle of Bull Run, got ass handed to him by W.T. Sherman, invented the cable powered part of our streetcar. Memorialized on a horse in Beauregard circle, where Esplanade hits City Park.
Carl Weathers - St. Augs grad, Apollo Creed, also Chubbs in Happy Gilmore
Reese Witherspoon - Sings better the Joaquin
Richard Simmons- "Entertainer" (I refuse to click on his link)
Cheryl Holdridge - Original Mouseketeer
Ellen Degeneres - Born in Metairie, brother is in Cowboy Mouth, has a hotter girlfriend than most guys
John Goodman - Was slated to play Ignatius J. Riley in a scrapped feature film.
Patricia Clarkson - If you havn't heard of Ashecliffe yet, don't worry, you will.
Lee Harvey Oswald - According to a 2003 survey, 7% of Americans polled thought LHO had 0% to do with the assassination of JFK.
Carlos Marcell0 - Sicilian, "Godfather of New Orleans," likely the one who set up LHO and had JFK offed after RFK had had him deported to Guatemala, his fake place of birth, known associate of Jack Ruby
Jules Alciatore - Chef of Antoine's, invented oysters Rockefeller (aka my hero)
Owen Brennan - Founder of Bacchus
Al Copeland - Founder of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits
Emeril Legasse - Born in Fall River Mass.
John Besh - Born in Meridian Miss.
Paul Prudhomme - Born in Opelousas LA.
Truman Capote- wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's, in Neil Simon's Murder by Death (which is a must see) his character had ten fingers but no pinkies
Elmore Leonard - Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Big Bounce, 3:10 to Yuma
Anne Rice - has also published adult-oriented fiction under the pen name Anne Rampling, and has written explicit sado-masochistic erotica as A.N. Roquelaure
John Kennedy Toole - Tulane grad., killed himself in 1969, received Pulitzer in 1981, posthumously
Tennessee Williams - Born: Thomas Lanier Williams III in Columbus Miss.
Louis Armstrong - Satchmo, pretty much invented Jazz as we know it
Phil Anselmo - Pantera frontman
Sidney Bechet - first saxophonist to improvise, apparently beat Armstrong to the studio by several months, so I guess he invented Jazz as we know it
Birdman AKA Baby- fly in any weather
Terence Blanchard - Jazz Messenger
James Booker - Recorded with/for Fats Domino, B.B. King, Little Richard, Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Garcia, John Mayall, taught Harry Connick Jr.
Harry Connick Jr - Narrated 2000's My Dog Skip, did that commercial where he drops off the crawfish, Did the entire double platinum soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally
Fats Domino - Cosistent chart topper from 1955-1963 when the british invasion invaded, 25th on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest list, after someone spray painted RIP Fats You Will Be Missed on his house in the Katrina aftermath, he and his family stayed in Baton Rouge with future #1 overall draft pick and Fats's granddaughter's boyfriend JaMarcus Russel
Lee Dorsey - as in everything I do is funky like____, recorded with Allain Tousaint
Dr. John - Jesuit alum, recorded with the Rolling Stones, Carly Simon, James Taylor, and Van Morrison, sings the Popeye's jingle and the theme songs fot the TV shows Blossom and K-Ville.
Master P, Juvenille, B.G. - There's like fifty more
Lil' Wayne - swagger right, check. Game tight. And you gon' R E S P E C T me.
Professor Longhair - widely acknowledged as having invented funk
The Marsalis Family - It says Branford was born in Breaux Bridge but the rest say NOLA. I remember watching some movie with Wynton in elementary school.
Irvin Mayfield - Los Hombres Calientes
The Meters - Art, Aaron, and Cyril Neville, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, were Allain Toussaint's house band, opened for the Rolling Stones for their 1975 tour of America, last played with all original members at Voodoo fest in 2006, after which Aaron, Leo, and Porter joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their stage for an encore that can only be described as EPIC!
Wardell Quezergue - pronounced quezergue, wrote Mr. Big Stuff and Groove Me
Jelly Roll Morton - first jazz composer
The Neville Brothers - mysteriously appeared right when the Meters broke up
Earl Palmer - Fats Domino's drummer, pioneered modern rock drumming
Louis Prima - Just a Gigilo
Allain Toussaint - Producer and songwriter has worked with or written songs performed by: Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, Lee Dorsey, Otis Redding,The Who,Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, The Meters, Dr John, Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians, Robert Palmer, Mylon LeFevre, The Band, Boz Scaggs, Patti Labelle (wrote Lady Marmalade), Elvis Costello
Better Than Ezra - it's been good, writing for you uh-huh
Zebra - Who's behind the door = awesome
Clyde Austin "The Glide" Drexler - 1/3 of Phi Slamma Jamma at U. of Houston, 10 time all star
Marshall Faulk - Only NFL-er with 100+ rushing TD's and 30+ recieving (a club that won't take LT too much longer to join) 1994 Off. Rookie of the Year
Michael "Beer Man" Lewis - Set NFL record for total return yards in a season, shook my hand at the Arena Bowl last summer, has huge watch
Archie Manning - Born in Drew Miss. career passer rating 67.1, 125/175 TD/INT
Elisha Manning - #1 Overall draft pick, after huge upset victory in superbowl XLII was quoted as saying "golly, I need a juice box" and "now Nintendo season starts," all jokes aside: "Eli's hobbies include antiquing in the off-season with his mother and fiancée." reference: NYTimes
Peyton Manning - (This is the only time I'm using a reference other than wikipedia for this post, but this is from ESPN's TMQ) After four seasons, Eli Manning is 36-28 as a starter and has a Super Bowl ring; after four seasons, Peyton Manning was 32-32 as a starter and lacked a playoff victory.
Tory James - Had eight picks for the Bengals in 2004, the only year in recent memory that the Bengals even played defense
Kordell Stewart - Born in Marrero, inspiriation for my theory regarding the statistically higher coincidence of homosexuality on the west bank.
Reggie Wayne - Ehret alum (ibid)
Aeneas Williams - was accepted to Dartmouth, instead went to SUNO, didn't play Football until his senior year, tied I-AA record for interceptions, had two picks in Arizona Cardinals only playoff win ever, delivered hit that ended Steve Young's career


all facts are either jokes or are paraphrased/copied outright from the annals of the venerable all knowing Wikipedia