"Were you anti-laser or pro-laser?" Jason Portera asks me over a cocktail in the non-revolving bar high atop the Landmark Hotel in Metairie. Suddenly, the shimmering skyline in the distance appears lacking, or at least lacking a big green laser originating atop Harrah's casino. "We were totally pro-laser."

"See if it was still there," adds a mildly disappointed Brent Cambre, "we could have been sitting here watching it.

"I've been trying to find an old laser," continues Cambre, bass pla...