The disco era of the Seventies is characterized by a danceable "four-on-the-floor" beat, lush orchestration, synthesizers, and glamorous fashion, ultimately exploding into mainstream pop culture with hits, iconic clubs like Studio 54, and films like Saturday Night Fever, before fading by 1980.

Filmed in 1977, Saturday Night Fever was a critical and commercial success, helping to popularize disco around the world. The soundtrack, featuring songs from the Bee Gees, has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums and the second-biggest-selling soundtrack of all time.

I don’t know about you but I still like dancing to Stayin’ Alive, Jive Talkin, and More than a Woman. By all accounts, so does my lunch guest Alyssa Lundy, Founder & CEO of 5 to 9 Dance Club, a sober, early-evening dance club for women only.

Turning coffee shops into Miami-themed dance floors, 5 to 9 Dance Club transforms each venue into a full, nightclub experience with lighting, screens, DJ production, and beach décor. Every event also includes access to mental health professionals, business resources, and women-focused non-profits, as well as a welcome committee to ensure no one feels excluded.

The most famous dinosaur, Barney, an anthropomorphic purple Tyrannosaurus rex, didn’t come onto the scene until 1992 but was as ubiquitous on television and in toy stores for three decades as the disco ball was on dance floors in the Seventies and Eighties. Beloved by school children, Barney, of Barney & Friends, conveyed educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic attitude.

Dinosaurs dominated Earth for over 165 million years, and still dominate the imagination of scientists and children alike today. Martin Wilmott, owner of The Dinosaur Experience, has seen for himself both the wonder and delight children have for dinosaurs.

A Londoner, Martin first came to Louisiana in 2009 for a Saints game. In 2013, he moved to Baton Rouge after marrying his wife, a Louisiana native.

Martin began noticing children’s love for dinosaur themes while hosting water-slide and bounce house parties. Armed with his first dinosaur costume purchased from a specialty store in England, Martin began performing. The business exploded during COVID when he and his wife created a drive-around dinosaur show to cheer up children, growing his Facebook page from 400 followers to 10,000 in one month.

Today, Martin is one of only a handful of dinosaur entertainers in the U.S., and the only one in Louisiana. He performs at birthday parties, school events, corporate events, and museums. He’s especially popular at libraries across multiple states.

What’s striking about both of Alyssa and Martin is neither of them set out to “disrupt an industry.” They weren’t trying to invent trends. They were trying to solve human problems—loneliness, disconnection, stress, isolation—with experiences that feel safe, playful, and immersive.

Alyssa has built a space where women don’t have to be impressive—they just have to show up. Martin has built a world where adults remember what it feels like to be amazed. And what I think they both remind us is that joy isn’t decorative. It’s functional. It heals. It rebuilds. It gives people permission to breathe.

So whether it’s through dancing or dinosaurs, what Martin and Alyssa are really offering is the same thing: a moment where people feel seen, lighter, and less alone. And in today’s world, that’s not entertainment—that’s infrastructure.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Louisiana cuisine is famous for its bold, flavorful dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish étouffée. Stemming from rich French, Spanish, African, and Native American influences, our world famous fare is illuminated primarily through Cajun and Creole traditions, using local seafood, smoked meats, rice, and spices for iconic meals.

Take my favorite Louisiana dish, gumbo, for instance. There are certain ingredients, flavors, and texture to be expected in every delicious spoonful of gumbo. Yet, everyone’s idea of a perfect gumbo is different, depending often on family recipes and traditions for making gumbo. Here, at the award-winning Mansurs on the Boulevard, gumbo is made with chicken, duck, and andouille sausage, making for a rich and flavorful stew.

Arguably, it's both the ingredients and care that go into making gumbo that makes it special. Most Louisianans would argue that making gumbo is an art.

Much like a chef making gumbo, my lunch guests, Veni Harlan and Madeline Johnson, are creative entrepreneurs combining and utilizing multiple disciplines to build thriving businesses in the Baton Rouge community.

A multidisciplinary creative, Veni Harlan of Veni Harlan Creative, has enjoyed a varied career as a graphic designer, photographer, art director, and writer. As a communications specialist, Veni uses these creative disciplines to solve communication problems for clients—everything from bank reports and toys to packaging, billboards, food shoots and location work.

Veni’s work often intersects with Louisiana culture and environment, for instance when she helped brand the Louisiana Shrimp Coalition, rebranded the Louisiana Black Bear Coalition, or co-founded Marsh Dog, a nutria-based dog treat company, as a way to address coastal erosion and combat invasive nutria, while building a business.

Madeline Johnson, owner of Miss Madeline’s, holds two licenses that rarely go together: speech-language pathologist and licensed barber. Like a contestant on the reality shows Cooked or Guy’s Grocery Games, Madeline has taken two seemingly unrelated professions to start a business that provides an essential but overlooked service for people with special needs.

During and after the pandemic, Madeline began a barber apprenticeship while working in speech therapy at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital. She passed the barber board just weeks after finishing her master’s degree.

In January 2025, Madeline decided to combine her two fields and launched Miss Madeline’s, an atypical hair salon that looks and feels more like a therapy room. Unlike other salons, Miss Madeline’s offers minimal decor in neutral tones and sensory tools like Pop-Its, a weighted lion, and textured toys. The hour-long hair appointments take into consideration the full sensory system — visual, auditory, tactile, smell and movement — because a typical salon experience can be overstimulating for Madeline’s roster of 150 clients, all of whom are kids or adults with sensory differences.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants hundreds of thousands of patents to people who embody what we sometimes refer to as “American ingenuity”. These are folks who are creative problem-solvers, capable of out-of-the box thinking that leads to innovation.

From Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs, American ingenuity has resulted in a host of innovations and inventions that most of us now take for granted. I’m thinking of course of modern electricity and personal computers but also smartphones and, let’s face it, Artificial Intelligence.

Our healthcare system has benefitted from American ingenuity too. In the last 50 years, medical advances in diagnostics and imaging, and biotechnology and genetics, have revolutionized healthcare, leading to improved treatments, enhanced patient experience, better public health, and greater efficiency and cost savings.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of American ingenuity in healthcare is that Americans — and people living around the globe — are just living longer, healthier lives.

Amy's lunch guests, Dr. Blake Williamson and Dr. Lawrence Salone, are both contributing to this universal progress with their individual insight and innovation.

Dr. Blake Williamson is the President and Managing Partner of Williamson Eye Center, a vertically integrated ophthalmology practice, combining optometry and ophthalmology to provide comprehensive eye care—from pediatrics to retirement age.

Founded more than 80 years ago by Blake’s grandfather, Williamson Eye Center has grown significantly over the past decade, operating one of the highest-volume eye surgery centers in Louisiana. The center is often among the first practices in the world to access new eye-care technologies. For instance, Dr. Williamson was the first surgeon in the world to implant the Odyssey lens, a breakthrough cataract implant.

After serving in the military, including a deployment in Iraq, Dr. Lawrence Salone returned to Baton Rouge where he became acutely aware of the lack of accessible mental health services and the high rates of suicide among service members.

In 2012, Dr. Salone launched Post Trauma Institute, a Louisiana-based mental health organization offering integrated psychiatric services under one umbrella, including medication management, psychological testing, therapy, and substance abuse treatment.

An early adopter of virtual mental health care, PTI has been offering telehealth services since 2014, well before telehealth became mainstream.

Today, PTI employs five prescribers and seven therapists, offering services to veterans, National Guard members, and reservists, as well as a growing roster of employers concerned about absenteeism, burnout, and productivity.

the U.S. healthcare system is rapidly changing, driven by escalating costs, technological integration, and evolving policies affecting insurance. Despite these challenges, your approach to innovation will ensure your respective practices continue to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to our Baton Rouge community.

For a mid size city in the south, the presence of PTI and the Williamson Eye Center are two of the reasons we're punching way above our weight in healthcare here in Baton Rouge.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.