Music on my mind

Trombone Shorty wins big at Best of the Beat

2012-01-30T14:51:00.001-08:00

Offbeat Magazine's annual "Best of the Beat" Awards honored Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with six top awards: Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for 'For True,' Best R&B/Funk Artist and Album, Best Trombonist for Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, and Best Music Video for For True single "Do To Me." This is Trombone Shorty's first win for Best Music Video, but the second year in a row winning in each of the other categories, and he's now won Artist of the Year and Best R&B/Funk Artist 4 times each.

Andrews will continue to relentlessly tour in 2012 with his new album For True (Verve Forecast) having just tallied an 11th week atop Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart. This past weekend Andrews left for two shows in Japan, which will be immediately followed by his debut in Ecuador, and later in February, his first shows in Moscow along with additional tour dates in France, the U.K. and Spain. Andrews recently added upcoming U.S. tour dates with Lenny Kravitz in Minneapolis on Feb. 7 as well as shows with the Zac Brown Band March 10, 11 and 23.

Andrews appeared with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu this past Friday to donate specially designed Trombone Shorty trumpets and trombones to students at Andrews' alma mater, New Orleans' Warren Easton High School, as part of Andrews' ongoing "Horns for Schools" project. Andrews performed for the students, joined by the Mayor on trumpet.

Full Jazz Fest 2012 lineup announced

2012-01-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Here's the day-to-day lineup for Jazz Fest. Watch the Texas Tornados steal the opening day show.

FRIDAY, APRIL 27

The Beach Boys reunion feat. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks, Bon Iver, Steel Pulse, Buckwheat Zydeco, Givers, Zebra, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Gomez, The Texas Tornados feat. Flaco Jimenez, Augie Myers, and Shawn Sahm, The Dixie Cups, Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Band feat. Terence Blanchard, Chuck Leavell & Friends with special guest Bonnie Bramblett, Irma Thomas' Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, Eric Lindell, New Orleans Classic R&B Revue feat. Frankie Ford, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Robert "Barefootin" Parker, and Blue Eyed Soul, James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Butch Thompson, Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Leyla McCalla, Sasha Masakowski, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Slavic Soul Party!, Jamil Sharif, Stephanie Jordan Big Band, Leah Chase, The Revivalists, Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, Shades of Praise: New Orleans Interracial Gospel Choir, Tim Laughlin, Dukes of Dixieland, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, Young Pinstripe Brass Band, Dee-1, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Kim Carson & the Enablers, Sammy Rimington International Band, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, Guitar Lightnin' Lee & the Thunder Band, Ivoire Spectacle feat. Seguenon Kone, Wimberly Family Gospel Singers, Henry Gray & the Cats, Real Untouchables Brass Band, James Rivers Movement, Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys, Louis Ford & His Dixie Flairs, Comanche Hunters and Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians, Cindy Scott, Golden Voices Community Choir, Zulu and Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Traditional Dance by Asociacion de Peruanos en Louisana, Northwestern University Jazz Ensemble, Black Foot Hunters and Black Mohawk Mardi Gras Indians, Beth Patterson & Potent Bathers, Miss Claudia & her Biergartners, Alana Villavaso, Reverend Jermaine Landrum & the Abundant Praise Revival Choir, Brass Band Throwdown with Martin Behrman, W.J. Fischer, and Kate Middleton Elementary Schools, The Bester Singers, Dynamic Smooth Family Gospel Singers, GrayHawk presents Native American Lore and Tales, New Orleans School of Circus Arts & I.S.L., Geronimo Hunters and Creole Osceolas Mardi Gras Indians, Keep N It Real and We Are One Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs...

SATURDAY, APRIL 28

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jill Scott, Feist, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Bobby Rush, Dave Koz, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Soul Rebels, Israel Houghton and New Breed, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, Cheikh Lô of Senegal, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars feat. Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidocovich, Waylon Thibodeaux, and Johnny Sansone, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Tribute to Wardell Quezergue feat. Jean Knight, The Dixie Cups, Robert "Barefootin" Parker, and Tony Owens, Pine Leaf Boys, Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns, Khris Royal & Dark Matter, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band feat. Thais Clark, Luther Kent, Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars, Evan Christopher, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Midnite Disturbers, Savoy Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Heritage Hall Jazz Band feat. Jewel Brown, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries, The Gospel According to Jazz feat. BJ Crosby, Judy Davis, Danon Smith, and Yolanda Windsay, Jeremy Lyons with members of Morphine, Peter Martin, Empress Hotel, Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, Kristin Diable & the City, D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces, The Courtyard Kings, Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, City of Love Music & Worship Arts, Brother Tyrone & the Mindbenders, High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band, Tom McDermott, Kevin Bryan, DJ Soul Sister, Bamboula 2000, Pastor Jai Reed, Marc Stone, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Tonia Powell & the Left Field Band, SUBR Jazzy Jags, Cameron Dupuy & the Cajun Troubadours, 101 Runners, Tonia Scott & the Anointed Voices, Loyola University Jazz Band, Javier Tobar & Elegant Gypsy, The Jones Sisters, Young Band Nation Blues Project, RRAAMS Drum and Dance, Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir, Josh Kagler & Harmonistic Praise Crusade, New Wave Brass Band, Nine Times Men, Single Ladies, and Single Men Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Ashe Cultural Arts Center Kuumba Institute, Delgado Community College Jazz Band, The Heavenly Melodies Gospel Singers, Wild Mohicans and Red, White & Blue Mardi Gras Indians, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Muggivan School of Irish Dance, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, Family Ties, and Men of Class Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Puppet Arts Theater...

SUNDAY, APRIL 29

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Al Green, John Mayer, Dr. John & the Lower 911, Janelle Monae, Pete Fountain, Yolanda Adams, Iron & Wine, Cowboy Mouth, Dianne Reeves, Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Gary Clark, Jr., Papa Grows Funk, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Nicholas Payton SeXXXtet, Ellis Marsalis, Lindigo of Reunion Island feat. Fixi of France, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Ironin' Board Sam, Evelyn Turrentine Agee, Debo Band: Ethiopian Groove Collective, Corey Harris & Phil Wiggins, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots' International Accordian Summit, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Treme Brass Band, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Tribute to Alex Chilton feat. Dave Pirner, Alex McMurray, Susan Cowsill, and Rene Coman, Los Po-Boy-Citos, Batiste Brothers, Victor Goines, Washboard Rodeo, Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds, Bill Summers & Jazalsa, Brice Miller & Mahogany Brass Band, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes, Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band, Kirk Joseph's Tuba Tuba, Gospel Soul Children, Panorama Jazz Band, Hadley J. Castille Family & the Sharecroppers Family Band, Pat Casey & the New Sound, Erika Flowers, Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders with guest Butch Thompson, Morning Star Baptist Church Mass Choir, Spencer Bohren, Chris Clifton, Gospel Diva Lois Dejean, Carrollton Hunters, Big Chief Goodman & the Flaming Arrows, and Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Johnette Downing, Tornado Brass Band, Big Steppers, Untouchables, and Furious Five Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, E'Dana & Company, N'Fungola Sibo West African Dance Company, Ayla Miller Band, Adella Adella the Storyteller, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Mass Choir, Heritage School of Music Band, Kai Knight's Silhouette Dance Ensemble, Olympia Aid, New Look, First Division, and Secondline Jammers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, Sunpie Barnes presents Louisiana Creole Music, Ninth Ward Navajo, Black Eagles and Shawee Mardi Gras Indians, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Bishop Sean Elder & the Mount Hermon Baptist Church Mass Choir...

THURSDAY, MAY 3

Eddie Vedder, Florence + the Machine, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Ani DiFranco, Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, James Cotton "Superharp" Band, Regina Carter's "Reverse Thread", George Porter, Jr. & Runnin' Pardners, Henry Butler, Honey Island Swamp Band, Glen Hansard, Little Freddie King, Astral Project, Mia Borders, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Banu Gibson, Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, Chico Trujillo of Chile, Bill Miller, Marlon Jordan Quartet, Iguanas, Free Agents Brass Band, Cheick Hamala Diabate of Mali, Raymond A. Myles Singers 30th Anniversary Reunion, Joint's Jumpin', Alto Saxophone Woodshed feat. Aaron Fletcher, Kid Chocolate, The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, Native Nations Intertribal, Yvette Landry, Palmetto Bug Stompers, Magnolia Jazz Band of Norway feat. Topsy Chapman, The Stooges Brass Band, Silky Sol, Michael Ward, Flow Tribe, Otra, J. Monque'D Blues Band, Kipori "Baby Wolf" Woods, Amina Figarova, Hot Club of New Orleans, Dayna Kurtz, Kristi Guillory & the Midtown Project, Robert Jardell & Pure Cajun, Original Pinettes Brass Band, Forever Jones, Lyle Henderson & Emanu-El, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, Black Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Kourtney Heart, The Mighty Supremes, Seva Venet & the Storyville String Band, Kelcy Mae, Julio y Cesar, Culu Children's Traditional African Dance Company & Stilt Walkers, Judy Stock, Young Fellaz Brass Band, VIP Ladies, Revolution, and Ladies of Unity Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, 7th Ward Creole Hunters and Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indians, McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir, Gospel Inspirations of Boutte, Eleanor McMain Singing Mustangs, O. Perry Walker Charter High School Gospel Choir, Tulane University Jazz Ensemble, Jazztories Puppets, Opera a la Carte, Recovery School District Talented in Theater Performers, Young Audiences Performing Arts Showcase feat Ballet, Tap and West African Dance...

FRIDAY, MAY 4

Zac Brown Band, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A., Bunny Wailer, Mystikal, Mavis Staples, Marcia Ball, Bonerama, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Bruce Hornsby, Donald Harrison, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Theresa Andersson, Sarah Jarosz, Deacon John, Terri Lyne Carrington's Mosaic, Wayne Toups & ZyDeCajun, Wycliffe Gordon Quintet: Hello Pops Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Germaine Bazzle, Wanda Rouzan, Delfeayo Marsalis' Uptown Orchestra, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Lil' Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Mark Braud's New Orleans Jazz Giants, Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, Hot 8 Brass Band, Ingrid Lucia, Jim McCormick Band, The Revealers, Yvette Landry Band, Baritone Bliss, The Bucktown Allstars, Phillip Manuel, Reggie Hall & the Twilighters feat. Lady Bee, Vivaz!, Nayo Jones, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters, Courtney Bryan, Feufollet, Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters, Doreen Ketchen's Jazz New Orleans, Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band, Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band, Kumbuka African Dance & Drum Collective, Ted Winn, St. Joseph the Worker Choir, Forgotten Souls, Brass Bed, Zazou City, Kid Simmons' Local International Allstars, Smitty Dee's Brass Band, John Lawrence & Ven Pa' Ca Flamenco Dancers, Lesa Cormier & the Sundown Playboys, Zulu Male Ensemble, Connie & Dwight with the St. Raymond / St. Leo the Great Gospel Choir, Erica Falls, Gal Holiday presented by Young Audiences, Native Nations Intertribal, Young Magnolias, Golden Sioux and Young Cherokee Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Hispano America Dance Group, Kenneth Terry Brass Band, Scene Boosters and Old N Nu Fellaz Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Red Hawk and Golden Blade Mardi Gras Indians, Pastor Tyrone Jefferson, Donnie Bolden & the Spirit of Elijah, Original Big Seven and Original Four Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Lake Forest Charter Jazz Ensemble, New Orleans Indian Rhythm Section, Eulenspiegel Puppets, Pastor Terry Gullage & the Greater Mount Calvary Voices of Redemption Choir, Fannie C. Williams Charter Choir, KIDsmART Showcase feat. Arise Academy, Martin Behrman Charter School, Langston Hughes Academy, and McDonogh City Park Academy...

SATURDAY, MAY 5

Eagles, My Morning Jacket, Ne-Yo, Irma Thomas, Herbie Hancock, Paulina Rubio, Allen Toussaint, The Levon Helm Band with special guest Mavis Staples, Better Than Ezra, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Steve Earle and the Dukes (and Duchesses), Aaron Neville's Gospel Experience, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Jon Cleary, Bombino of Niger, Anders Osborne, John Boutté, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Jeremy Davenport, John Mooney & Bluesiana, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Malone Brothers, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, New Birth Brass Band, Mariachi Jalisco, Leroy Jones & New Orleans' Finest, Red Stick Ramblers, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Mac Arnold & Plate Full o' Blues, Young Tuxedo Jazz Band, The Johnson Extension, Guitar Masters feat. Jimmy Robinson, John Rankin, Phil DeGruy, and Cranston Clements, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Rumba Buena, Mas Mamones, Roland Guerin, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Pinstripe Brass Band, Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians, Sam Doores & the Tumbleweeds, Patrice Fisher & Arpa & the Garifuna Connection, Jeffery Broussard & Creole Cowboys, Guitar Slim, Jr., Cha Wa, Tarriona "Tank" Ball & the BlackStar Bangas, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Belton Richard & the Musical Aces, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Tommy Sancton's New Orleans Legacy Band, Stephen Foster's Foster Family Program, Big Chief Trouble & Trouble Nation and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Grupo Sensacion, Baby Boyz Brass Band, Riccardo Crespo & Sol Brasil, Kora Konnection feat. Morikeba Kouyate of Senegal & Thierno Dioubate of Guinea, Westbank Steppers, Valley of Silent Men, and Pigeon Town Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Curtis Pierre with Samba Kids, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Voices of Peter Claver, Cynthia Girtley, Wild Red Flame and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Native Nations Intertribal, Matthew Davidson Band, Versailles Lion Dance Team, Kinfolk Brass Band, Young Guardians of the Flame, Double Dutch Jumpers, New Generation, Undefeated Divas, and Lady Jetsetters Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, First Emanuel Baptist Church Mass Choir...

SUNDAY, MAY 6

Foo Fighters, The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, Galactic, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Preservation Hall 50th Anniversary Jam, David Sanborn and Joey DeFrancesco, funky Meters, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Asleep at the Wheel, Rebirth Brass Band, The Bounce Shake Down feat. Big Freedia, Katey Red, Keedy Black, and DJ Poppa, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, Los Hombres Calientes feat. Bill Summers and Irvin Mayfield, Charmaine Neville Band, Glen David Andrews, Supagroup, Boutté Family Sunday Praise feat. John, Lillian, Tricia, Lorna, Tanya, and Arséne, Ruby Wilson's Tribute to Bessie Smith & Ma Rainey, DJ Captain Charles, The Joe Krown Trio with Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., Zion Harmonizers, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Creole String Beans, Bobby Lounge, Living Tribute to Harold Batiste feat. Jesse McBride, Ellis Marsalis, and Germaine Bazzle, ELS, TBC Brass Band, Higher Heights, Rocks of Harmony, Jo "Cool" Davis with special guest Sugarboy Crawford, George French & the New Orleans Storyville Jazz Band, Blodie's Jazz Jam, Gregg Stafford's Jazz Hounds, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Rotary Downs, Jambalaya Cajun Band, The Stars of Heaven, Andrew Duhon, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Wendell Brunious & the Music Masters, Pfister Sisters, Lynn Drury, Tanya & Dorise, AsheSon, Kim Che'ré, Caesar Elloie, Brother Dege, Gregory Agid, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Orange Kellin & the New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra, Jockimo's Groove feat. War Chief Juan, Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, High Steppers Brass Band, Lady Rollers, Original C.T.C. Steppers, and Nine Times Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Native Nations Intertribal, David & Roselyn, UNO Jazz Allstars, N'Kafu Traditional African Dance Company, New Orleans Young Traditional Brass Band with the Heel to Toe Steppers, Wild Tchoupitoulas and Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians, Ninevah Baptist Church Mass Choir, 14 and Under Cajun Band, NORD/Crescent City Lights Youth Theater, Buffalo Hunters and Apache Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Hobgoblin Hill Puppets, Original Prince of Wales and Original Lady Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs...

Six Degrees of Coco Robicheaux

2012-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the text of my story about Coco Robicheaux in the current OffBeat

Check out Andy J. Forest's video of the song he wrote for Kenny Holladay and Coco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12yRweV6Ko

Debbie Davis stood just inside the doorway of Three Muses, singing “When I’m 64.” It was Friday night on Frenchmen Street, the day after Thanksgiving, and she held the festive crowd’s attention. “I saw the ambulance go by but I didn’t think anything of it,” she says. “Someone came into the club and told me Coco Robicheaux had just been taken in an ambulance from the Apple Barrel. His heart had stopped, and they couldn’t revive him.”

Davis told her audience what had happened. A pall came over the room, a sense of sudden, irreversible loss that overwhelmed the normally carefree Frenchmen Street revelers.

Davis said she was surprised at how much the news upset her. “I wasn’t really close, but I got to know him after the flood,” she says. “Those of us who got back first got the gigs, and he was there right away.”

The final chapter in the legend of Coco Robicheaux is the impact his loss has had on the closely-knit downtown community. His garrulous spirit led him to converse with anyone he came into contact with. As a result he leaves a much deeper mark on New Orleans than the music he left behind might suggest.

“He was a social conduit,” says Davis. “Everyone you met knew Coco as well so you always had a starting point for a conversation. He was the Kevin Bacon of Frenchmen Street—Six Degrees of Coco Robicheaux.”

It seemed like almost every time I walked down Frenchmen Street, I saw Coco Robicheaux. He liked to sit on the bench in front of the Apple Barrel, smoking a cigar and talking to passersby, or inside the bar drinking tequila. He would converse with great detail on any subject that might come up, or start in on one of his own shaggy-dog-story life experiences. He presided over a number of eccentric and unique marriage ceremonies, and even performed some hands-on faith healing exercises that his patients swore by.

Photo by Do Verdier.
I guess I must have seen him play at 15 different bars around the Marigny-Bywater area. Like so many New Orleans musicians of legend, he spent a lot more of his creative energy on live performance than studio work. He wanted to see the looks on the faces of the audiences. The last time I spoke to him at length, he talked about how much he enjoyed playing for prison inmates and how he wrote a song called “Sittin’ On Death Row”. Though he worked the clubs, he was the apotheosis of the New Orleans street musician—a man with a guitar and a tale to tell. Like all good storytellers, he was not afraid of adding embellishments, exaggerations or alternative interpretations of the events he described, a habit that led some to question his veracity. But even those who were skeptical of Coco’s rambles through history liked him. His friendliness and loving, giving spirit was irresistible.

Such skepticism has led some to question details of his biography, but like any American legend, the spirit he leaves behind is more important than the details. American legends are frontier characters, explorers on an uncertain journey of discovery, and Coco had that restless mystery about him.

Born Curtis Arceneaux into a Cajun/Choctaw Indian family, he gave out a number of different accounts of his biography over the years, introducing a lot of different elements without truly contradicting himself. He moved around so much, in fact, he might well have been excused for offering some confusing scenarios. Though his family was from Ascension Parish, he says he was born outside of Merced, California while his parents were vacationing. He told of a childhood working in the cane fields with migrant workers from Haiti who taught him to make reed flutes. He spent time in France traveling with his father, who was in the Air Force. He assisted his great grandmother, a hoodoo woman, in her ceremonies, an influence that runs through his music. Cousins Van and Grace Broussard were in the music business, and Curtis followed suit, playing trombone and singing in soul bands. He was playing guitar on Bourbon Street in the early ‘60s and tells of recording an album’s worth of material at Cosimo Matassa’s studio that mysteriously disappeared. After wandering out west as a migrant worker, he landed in San Francisco in time for the Summer of Love, but by ’69 he left the West Coast under something of a cloud, claiming someone had committed “terrible crimes” using his name.

From that point on he identified himself as Coco Robicheaux, a childhood nickname taken from a Louisiana folk tale about naughty children. If you did something bad, a kid’s parents likened you to the wicked Coco Robicheaux, who fell victim to the wolf monster Loup Garou. His name is a legend of its own, then, the identity of everybody’s bad self. It’s unlikely that Dr. John was referencing Curtis Arceneaux when he called out “Coco Robicheaux” during “Walk On Gilded Splinters”, but it’s possible they could have crossed paths before Mac went into involuntary exile from New Orleans himself in the mid-1960s. Calling yourself “Coco Robicheaux” is hoisting a heavy load of karmic baggage any way you look at it, but by the time he returned to New Orleans once and for all in 1992 after another legendary stay in Key West, Coco had completed his transformation into a hoodoo spiritualist. The 1994 classic Spiritland featured dense swamp rundowns like the title track, “Walking With the Spirit” and “St. John’s Eve,” which incorporated field recordings from Do Verdier Bogue Falaye. Frenchmen Street denizens populated the album credits, which included Irene Sage, Lenny McDaniel, Allison Miner, Nancy Buchan, Smokey Greenwell, Hart McNee, Kenny Holladay, Tommy Malone, Sonny Schneidau and Coco’s perennial sidekick Michael Sklar.

A follow-up album, Louisiana Medicine Man, plowed much of the same musical turf with some of the same musicians. The title track got considerable airplay and appeared on the benefit album for the Musicians Clinic, Get You A Healin’. Louisiana Medicine Man got the award for Best Blues Album at the 1998 Best of the Beat Awards. Hoodoo Party (2002) further codified Coco’s swamp mystic identity with tracks such as “Burn My Bones,” “Li’l Black Hen,” “Thrift Store Suit” and the title track. In the last few years, Coco put out several albums with overlapping material. Yeah, U Rite! attempts to expand his style, most successfully with the witty “Ten Commandments of the Blues.” For some reason he decided to remix most of the tracks for another version of the same record, Like I Said, Yeah, U Rite, which dropped a couple of tracks and included what would become the title tune of his final album, the covers-heavy Revelator.

For those who didn’t know him, Coco will probably be best remembered for sacrificing a chicken while on air at WWOZ on the HBO series Treme, and for his astonishingly well-attended second line on December 12. What began as a small crowd assembled in front of the Apple Barrel swelled to a throng of thousands parading down Royal Street through the French Quarter, following a brass band led by James Andrews and Uncle Lionel Batiste. The crowd sang and chanted as they marched, shouting, “Coco. Coco. Coco.”

If you didn’t know Robicheaux, well, there’s no amount of storytelling that can make up the difference. Like New Orleans itself, if you haven’t been there, you’ll never really know what people are talking about.

Coco’s second line was sandwiched in between two musical tributes to Frenchmen Street heroes which featured many of the same musicians. On Sunday night there was a benefit for Kenny Holladay’s family at Check Point Charlie. Monday after the second line revelers gathered at House of Blues for a free concert. Before he played, John Mooney said, “He got both feet in Spiritland now!” Lynn Drury went to the House of Blues just to be there, “out of love for him,” she says. “He was beautiful. He touched a lot of people. When I was coming up he was always a fixture, hanging out in the street, talking in front of the Apple Barrel. He connected everybody. He had time for everybody. I wasn’t invited to play, but when I showed up backstage, they said ‘You’re on next!’ It was a beautiful surprise. I hope we don’t have to wait until someone else dies to feel that spirit again. I learned something from that. I’m going to try to live up to that from now on. I felt I was in touch with something bigger than all of us.”

Anders Osborne was at both tributes, playing with Billy Iuso and with Andy J. Forest, who’d written a new song for Kenny Holladay and Coco:

Sometimes I imagine them both walking down the street
Nowhere left to go, no one left to meet
Blues in other rooms filter down from other dreams
Their spirits are on every corner down here in New Orleans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12yRweV6Ko

New Atlantis Recommended by NPR

2011-12-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Staff Picks: The Best Music Books Of 2011
by NPR Staff

Best Music Of 2011
December 28, 2011
How does the saying go? "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Overquoted, tossed off and attributed to the likes of Elvis Costello, Steve Martin and Frank Zappa, there might be some truth to those damning words, whose author remains unknown. After all, what makes music so powerful? It's the music, of course, not necessarily words about it.

But sometimes dancing about architecture is the best way to make sense of something that doesn't inherently make sense. Words can provide context and illuminate the unknown, and in 2011, our favorite books about music were mostly revealing biographies and wide-spanning analyses. Chosen by the NPR Music staff (and one of NPR's music librarians), these books are interpretations of a rich history written by the people who made the music and those who it affected.

Honorable Mentions:

New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans by John Swenson
Keystone Korner: Portrait of Jazz Club by Kathy Sloane
Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz For Justice by Tad Hershorn
I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs 1880-1955 by Steve Roden

Glen David Andrews drops a dime on crime

2011-12-22T06:16:00.001-08:00

This extraordinary story is not an exaggeration. New Orleans criminals routinely assassinate witnesses to crimes. The city's musicians have corageously stood up to these criminals and spoken out repeatedly against them. I wrote about this in my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. Glen David Andrews is one of the central characters in the book. Here's the story from today's New Orleans Times-Picayune:

New Orleans musician saved from robbers by barking dog
Published: Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 9:31 PM
By Naomi Martin The Times-Picayune

Had it not been for the presence of his cousin's pit bull, local musician Glen David Andrews would have been one of the victims robbed at gunpoint outside a Capital One, one of three such armed robberies Monday morning, outside banks in Mid-City, Broadmoor and Gentilly.

View full sizeTimes-Picayune archiveLocal musician Glen David Andrews called 911 when he realized a robbery was in progress. 'I saw them rob hard-working people of everything but they won't get away with this...STAND UP PEOPLE,' he wrote later on his Facebook page.
It was 8:45 a.m. Monday when Andrews, his cousin and Blue, a large and rambunctious pit bull, piled into an SUV to go to the Capital One at Canal Street and South Carrollton Avenue.

Andrews, a trombone player, said he was planning to deposit $3,500 from the weekend's work to divide among his six band members.

Around 8:50 a.m., they pulled up to the bank's entrance on the corner where about six people, some with deposit slips in their hands, were waiting for the bank to open. Andrews said two people in the group were young men -- maybe 20 or 21 -- wearing black hooded sweatshirts, standing apart from each other.

As Andrews got out of the passenger side to join the group, Blue began to bark, loudly and incessantly.

A man, walking up to join the bank customers, joked to Andrews: "Hey man, you can't shut your dog up?"

Suddenly, one of the hooded men turned over his shoulder, looked Andrews in the eye and nodded toward the SUV.

The man's voice was calm: "You better leave right now with that dog. We 'bout to rob the bank."

Andrews turned immediately and got back in the SUV's passenger seat, telling his cousin, whose name is also Glen Andrews and is a musician as well, what he just heard. His cousin drove away, calmly.

"Man, I've lived in the hood all my life. When he told me that, I looked at his outfit and I look at the other guy's outfit, I looked at his gestures and by the grace of God I was able to internalize all that in a second to get out of there," Andrews said Wednesday.

While driving away from the bank, Andrews and his cousin saw the hooded men pull bandanas over their faces and force the crowd into a huddle to rob them at gunpoint. It took only seconds. Andrews dialed 911 from his cell phone.

View full sizeNew Orleans Police DepartmentA sketch of a suspect wanted by New Orleans police for armed robbery in connection with an incident outside the Capital One branch at 4141 Canal St. on Monday.
A detective later told Andrews that one of the robbery victims was an Iraqi war veteran. Andrews' anger boiled as he recalled recent acts of violence in the city including the killing of a toddler in the B.W. Cooper housing complex. First a 2-year-old girl shot to death, then this? he said.

The bank robberies on Monday occurred in the span of about an hour. New Orleans police believe all three incidents are related, said 3rd District Commander Henry Dean, whose territory includes Mid-City and Gentilly. On Wednesday police released a composite sketch of one of the suspects.

Tuesday night, Andrews vented his frustrations on his Facebook page.

"I saw them rob hard-working people of everything but they won't get away with this...STAND UP PEOPLE," he wrote.

As a well-known musician, Andrews wanted to reach a broad audience with his message that speaking up about crime can help authorities quell it.

But, he acknowledged, he now fears being targeted in retaliation for speaking up about what happened.

"There's a good chance I might get killed now walking down the street," Andrews said. Many of his family members warned him against speaking publicly about the incident.

"The right thing to do,'' he said, "might cost me my life."

Nicholas Peyton on the death of Jazz

2011-12-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

This isn't the first time anyone has ever come up with this idea but Peyton does a good job of expressing it. I would take one issue with his many premises, however. Louis Armstrong did not bow and scrape so Miles Davis could turn his back. That's buying into the very mythology Peyton is attacking. Louis Armstrong created American popular music as we know it in all its aspects. If he loved his audience that was show biz just as much as what Lady Gaga does today. Armstrong was in fact a powerful force in the Civil Rights movement who used that power brilliantly and judiciously. Davis, by comparison, sold out, not that I think anything less of him because the music speaks for itself and he was truly great in his own right. I say BY COMPARISON. Armstrong did far more for African Americans than Miles Davis did, not that it's a contest or anything, it just pisses me off to see Armstrong still used as a straw man to illustrate how cool Miles was. You didn't hear that shit from Miles, although he did say a bunch of things to confound people who thought they knew who he was. By the end of his life, when he finally started explaining himself, Miles claimed he wasn't turning his back on his audience anyway. He said he was facing his band members. I will proudly continue to listen to Armstrong, Miles Davis and Nicholas Peyton and I don't care what they call it, it's all cool to me.

On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore . . . .
Posted on November 27, 2011 by Nicholas Peyton

Jazz died in 1959.

There maybe cool individuals who say they play Jazz, but ain’t shit cool about Jazz as a whole.

Jazz died when cool stopped being hip.

Jazz was a limited idea to begin with.

Jazz is a label that was forced upon the musicians.

The musicians should’ve never accepted that idea.

Jazz ain’t shit.

Jazz is incestuous.

Jazz separated itself from American popular music.

Big mistake.

The music never recovered.

Ornette tried to save Jazz from itself by taking the music back to its New Orleanian roots, but his efforts were too esoteric.

Jazz died in 1959, that’s why Ornette tried to “Free Jazz” in 1960.

Jazz is only cool if you don’t actually play it for a living.

Jazz musicians have accepted the idea that it’s OK to be poor.

John Coltrane is a bad cat, but Jazz stopped being cool in 1959.

The very fact that so many people are holding on to this idea of what Jazz is supposed to be is exactly what makes it not cool.

People are holding on to an idea that died long ago.

Jazz, like the Buddha, is dead.

Let it go, people, let it go.

Paul Whiteman was the King of Jazz and someday all kings must fall.

Jazz ain’t cool, it’s cold, like necrophilia.

Stop fucking the dead and embrace the living.

Jazz worries way too much about itself for it to be cool.

Jazz died in 1959.

The number one Jazz record is Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue.

Dave Brubeck’s Time Out was released in 1959.

1959 was the coolest year in Jazz.

Jazz is haunted by its own hungry ghosts.

Let it die.

You can be martyrs for an idea that died over a half a century if y’all want.

Jazz has proven itself to be limited, and therefore, not cool.

Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt from looking back.

Jazz is dead.

Miles ahead.

Some may say that I’m no longer the same dude who recorded the album with Doc Cheatham.

Correct: I’m not the same dude I was 14 years ago.

Isn’t that the point?

Our whole purpose on this planet is to evolve.

The Golden Age of Jazz is gone.

Let it go.

Too many necrophiliacs in Jazz.

You’re making my case for me.

Some people may say we are defined by our limitations.

I don’t believe in limitations, but yes, if you believe you are limited that will define you.

Definitions are retrospective.

And if you find yourself getting mad, it’s probably because you know Jazz is dead.

Why get upset if what I’m saying doesn’t ring true?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t play Jazz.

I play Postmodern New Orleans music.

Louis Armstrong and Danny Barker play Traditional New Orleans Music.

Ellis Marsalis and James Black play Modern New Orleans music.

Kidd Jordan and Clyde Kerr play Avant-garde New Orleans music.

Donald Harrison plays Neoclassical New Orleans music.

I play Postmodern New Orleans music.

I am a part of a lineage.

I am a part of a blood line.

My ancestors didn’t play Jazz, they played Traditional, Modern and Avant-garde New Orleans Music.

I don’t play Jazz.

I don’t let others define who I am.

I am a Postmodern New Orleans musician.

I create music for the heart and the head, for the beauty and the booty.

The man who lets others define him is a dead man.

With all due respect to the masters, they were victims of a colonialist mentality.

Blacks have been conditioned for centuries to be grateful for whatever crumbs thrown to them.

As a postmodern musician, it’s my duty to do better than my predecessors.

To question, reexamine and redefine what it is that we do.

They accepted it because they had to.

Because my ancestors opened the door for me, I don’t have to accept it.

Louis bowed and scraped so Miles could turn his back.

It’s called evolution.

It’s the colonialist mentality that glorifies being treated like a slave.

There is nothing romantic about poor, scuffling Jazz musicians.

Fuck that idea.

It’s not cool.

Jazz is a lie.

America is a lie.

Playing Jazz is like running on a treadmill: you may break a sweat, but ultimately you ain’t going nowhere.

Some people may say we are limited.

I say, we are as limited as we think.

I am not limited.

Jazz is a marketing ploy that serves an elite few.

The elite make all the money while they tell the true artists it’s cool to be broke.

Occupy Jazz!

I am not speaking of so-called Jazz’s improvisational aspects.

Improvisation by its very nature can never be passé, but mindsets are invariably deadly.

Not knowing is the most you can ever know.

It’s only when you don’t know that “everything” is possible.

Jazz has nothing to do with music or being cool.

It’s a marketing idea.

A glaring example of what’s wrong with Jazz is how people fight over it.

People are too afraid to let go of a name that is killing the spirit of the music.

Life is bigger than music, unless you love and/or play Jazz.

The art, or lack thereof, is just a reflection.

Miles Davis personified cool and he hated Jazz.

What is Jazz anyway?

Life isn’t linear, it’s concentric.

When you’re truly creating you don’t have time to think about what to call it.

Who thinks of what they’ll name the baby while they’re fucking?

Playing Jazz is like using the rear-view mirror to drive your car on the freeway.

If you think Jazz is a style of music, you’ll never begin to understand.

It’s ultimately on the musicians.

People are fickle and follow the pack.

Not enough artists willing to soldier for their shit.

People follow trends and brands.

So do musicians, sadly.

Jazz is a brand.

Jazz ain’t music, it’s marketing, and bad marketing at that.

It has never been, nor will it ever be, music.

Here lies Jazz (1916 – 1959).

Too many musicians and not enough artists.

I believe music to be more of a medium than a brand.

Silence is music, too.

You can’t practice art.

In order for it to be true, one must live it.

Existence is not contingent upon thought.

It’s where you choose to put silence that makes sound music.

Sound and silence equals music.

Sometimes when I’m soloing, I don’t play shit.

I just move blocks of silence around.

The notes are an afterthought.

Silence is what makes music sexy.

Silence is cool.

- Nicholas Payton

Coco Robicheaux passes away

2011-11-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Coco Robicheaux the "mayor of Frenchmen Street" died Friday night after suffering a heart attack at the Apple Barrel bar. He epitomized the spirit of Frenchmen Street.

Here's Keith Spera's report in the Times-Picayune:

Hoodoo bluesman Coco Robicheaux apparently suffered a medical emergency while at the Apple Barrel bar on Frenchmen Street early Friday evening. He was taken away by ambulance.

Robicheaux was not performing at the time; he frequents the Apple Barrel on his off-nights.

Known for an especially gravelly voice, a swamp-blues guitar style and a fascination with subjects of a spiritual and/or mystical nature, the 64-year-old Robicheaux, an Ascension Parish native, has released several albums over the past two decades. He is a mainstay of the Frenchmen Street entertainment district, a familiar figure both on- and off-stage. He is also a regular on the schedule of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Robicheaux made a memorable appearance during the opening scene of the second episode of the first-season of the HBO series “Treme.” In a fictionalized incident, he sacrifices a rooster in the studio of community radio station WWOZ-FM.

He is also a visual artist, sculptor and painter. He created the bronze bust of Professor Longhair that stands near the entrance of Tipitina's.

According to a bartender at the Apple Barrel, Robicheaux was rushed to Tulane Medical Center after collapsing Friday evening. His condition is unknown.

New Atlantis reviewed in Jazz Times

2011-11-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

The outstanding jazz writer Bill Milkowski wrote a wonderful review of my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans and Keith Spera's book in the new Jazz Times. Just for the record, though much of the book is based on material originally researched for OffBeat pieces it is a complete rewrite of that information with a lot of new material.

Here's a link, followed by the text of the review.

http://jazztimes.com/articles/28987-groove-interrupted-loss-renewal-and-the-music-of-new-orleans-keith-spera

11/23/11
Keith Spera
Groove Interrupted: Loss, Renewal And The Music Of New Orleans
John Swenson
New Atlantis: Musicians Battle For The Survival Of New Orleans
Bill Milkowski reviews two new books about music in post-Katrina New Orleans
By Bill Milkowski

Those who have spent any significant amount of time in New Orleans can attest to the fact that the real musical treasures are found off the beaten path. Keith Spera and John Swenson are both savvy writers who have infiltrated the inner circle of the Crescent City’s musical culture. Each has assembled a collection of intriguing essays that reveal secrets that exist well beyond Bourbon Street.

New Orleans native Spera, a longstanding music writer for The Times-Picayune who was also part of the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina coverage team, focuses on tales of musicians confronting the challenges of trying to continue to make music in a post-Katrina environment. He covers those displaced New Orleanians forced to seek refuge in Houston, Austin, Nashville and other points around the country in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (known around New Orleans as “the Federal flood”). His profile of the cantankerous, Slidell-based blues guitarist-singer-fiddler Gatemouth Brown, who succumbed to lung cancer shortly after Katrina hit, is particularly moving, as is his eloquent recounting of Aaron Neville’s escape from his beloved hometown in the face of Katrina, his subsequent mourning over the loss of his wife to lung cancer in 2006 and triumphant return to New Orleans in 2008.

A hilarious chapter titled “Fats Domino’s Excellent Adventure” reveals the eccentricities of a bona fide hometown hero on his first trip to New York in decades to perform at a post-Katrina benefit concert. A chapter on trumpeter Terence Blanchard recounts the realization of his magnum opus, A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Other post-Katrina profiles on two New Orleans legends (clarinetist Pete Fountain and legendary songwriter-pianist Allen Toussaint), New Orleans Jazz & Heritage producer/director Quint Davis and the reclusive former Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton (who rode out Katrina in his Treme home) are all rendered with uncanny empathy and an eye for N’awlins detail that only a local could summon up.

While Swenson is a native New Yorker, he has for the past 20 years split his time between residences in Brooklyn and the Bywater. A former editor at Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy and currently a contributing editor to New Orleans’ Offbeat magazine, he has chronicled the lives and music of Crescent City legends as well as up-and-coming young talents. New Atlantis compiles some of his best post-Katrina essays that appeared in Offbeat.

Like Spera, he has a deep reverence for the New Orleans music tradition as well as an insider’s understanding of the local music scene. His pieces cover an astonishingly eclectic range, from insightful treatises on the brass band tradition, the legacy of Louis Armstrong and the mysterious culture of the Mardi Gras Indians to illuminating profiles on Voice of the Wetlands activist and blues guitarist Tab Benoit, New Orleans legend Mac (Dr. John) Rebennack, 400-pound bluesman Big Al Carson (a mainstay at the Funky Pirate on Bourbon Street), trad jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White, ragtime piano specialist and James Booker interpreter Tom McDermott, and renegade-genius record producer Mark Bingham.

Swenson also writes with passion and clarity about the passing of legendary guitarist Snooks Eaglin, about his own return to the Crescent City after evacuating prior to Katrina, and about the return of the spirit of laissez le bon ton roulet with the first post-Katrina Mardi Gras in 2006. He ends the collection with a thoughtful piece that neatly segues from how the Saints’ Super Bowl victory in 2010 uplifted New Orleanians to how the enormity of the BP oil spill in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy just six weeks later provided yet another challenge to the long-suffering but resilient residents of that troubled metropolis. He gives the final word on this troubling matter to his New Orleans mentor, Dr. John: “This is my home. This is my roots. This is sacred land, and when y’all start playing around with some sacred land, somethin’ bad gonna happen.”

Notes from New Atlantis Book tour 2011

2011-11-20T10:45:00.000-08:00

The 2011 book tour in support of New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans, is over for now. Something may come up over the next month but the major events wrapped up with our participation in the National Press Club's Book Fair in Washington D.C. last week. It was a really good way to finish up because the Book Fair really offers hope to those of us us who are still interested in communicating via real paragraphs made up of real sentences containing real words that strive to actually tell a story rather than provide simple social imperatives or instant narcissistic gratification. Of course Twitter, Facebook and Text world (TFT) are incredibly powerful political tools in the right hands, but they can be just as powerful in the wrong hands, especially if content is reduced to simple dog-like commands. I don't wish for their demise, just for a balancing of technological advance with content, and the concentration necessary to keep a reader's attention in place long enough to follow a narrative.

It was great to see some 90 authors signing books for hundreds of readers at the Book Fair. Even better was the chance to interact personally with so many of those readers and potential readers, telling them the story of all the heroic musicians from New Orleans who returned to their stricken city and, against all odds, not only restored their culture but helped with the rebuilding process and created a viable economic engine to drive the city's recovery. It's an ongoing story which I hope to be able to continue to tell. Strangely, some of the biggest resistance I've met along the way is from the editorial hierarchy in New Orleans itself, which seems to be less interested in drawing attention to the small victories of local musicians than basking in the star power of visiting celebrity dignitaries.

I learned a lot in the course of promoting the book. Though it came out in June, we had pre-release copies available at Jazz Fest and the response from that audience was almost astonishing. The New Orleans story resonates profoundly outside of the city. The kind of identification fans of this music have with the hardy souls who continue to play it taps an emotional well that is almost nonexistent elsewhere in millennial America. I was more than a little surprised when people bought the book the first weekend then returned to the signing during the second weekend with tears in their eyes.

The actual release was less stirring but Jesse Paige at the Blue Nile was extremely generous in allowing us to use the upstairs room for our release party and we had a terrific time. Wings from McHardy's, red beans from Captain Sal's and 100 pounds of crawfish prepared by chef Eddie with the assistance of Mr. Massachusetts Mac and Mr. Bronx Brendan provided ample eats for our own party and for a weekend of musicians and staff at the BN. I chose the weekend of the final Radiators shows for the event which was probably a miscalculation because of the disconnect between Frenchmen Street and Uptown. Rads fans, it turned out, had their own crawfish boil, although a few of them did show up at both events (many thanks). The New York book release party was more successful. Many, many friends and colleagues showed up for a Brooklyn barbecue that preceded a terrific free performance from Dr. John at Prospect Park. The great Ned Sublette was on hand to help us celebrate.

Even better was the help we got in Brooklyn from Gerry and Joanna from the Observatory at Proteus Gowanus. They allowed me to present a series of readings/lectures/performances showcasing themes from the book and featuring a great night with Blake Leyh, musical supervisor for the HBO series Treme. This program, New Atlantis 2020, allowed us to highlight some of the most important messages contained in the book and project the narrative forward. As I say this is an ongoing story and we will revive the New Atlantis 2020 series in our 2012 campaign.

By far the most gratifying episodes of the book tour were our collaborations with the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars. Tab Benoit, Rueben Williams and Cyril Neville in particular really come through in the book with an important message about how the ongoing eco-catastophe occuring along the Gulf Coast is threatening not just southern Louisiana and New Orleans but the whole country. Readings before VOW performances in Fairfield, Connecticut and New York City provided a great platform for the book's message. But the greatest moments were at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival in Houma. You don't have to look far from the site of the festival to see the Gulf waters encroaching on the land. This kind of disaster politicizes everyone involved and it was incredibly heartening to see people of all political affiliations, and the many families at the festival all uniting against the despoilers who would ruin their homes for short term profit.

Against the backdrop of Occupy Wall Street and the growing paradigm shift away from blaming American workers for the country's economic problems and focusing attention on the wealth disparity between the greedy profiteers who would sacrifice Houma, New Orleans and whatever else stands in their way and the 99 per cent it feels like New Atlantis is part of a broad movement to take America back from the oligarchs. We plan to continue to focus on these ideas in 2012.

New Atlantis signing Tuesday at National Press Club Book Fair

2011-11-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

I will be wrapping up my 2011 book tour in support of New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans this Tuesday with an appearance at the National Press Club Book Fair & Authors’ Night in Washington D.C. This time promoting the book has been one of the most gratifying episodes in my career. I will post my impressions of the experience later this week and offer a preview of what's in store for 2012.

Lauded as a philanthropic event, the Book Fair is a fundraiser for the National Press Club’s Journalism Institute, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to providing research and training to journalists in a rapidly changing industry, and scholarships to minority journalism students.

On the literary front, the Book Fair is a unique forum for authors to gain national exposure and personal contact with book buyers, fans, pundits, and journalists. One of the capital’s premier literary events, the annual fair draws more than 90 of the nation’s top authors to the historic Press Club, and attracts substantial media coverage. Authors who have participated in the past include: Rep. Barbara Lee, Eugene Robinson, Annie Proulx, Justice Antonin Scalia, Larry King, Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill, David Pogue, Richard Wolffe, Kinky Friedman, Pamela Newkirk, C. David Heymann, Jeff Sharlet, Tom Ridge, Leslie Sanchez, James Reston, Jr., and Deborah Tannen.

We are excited to announce that our Book Fair committee will be working once again with The SEED Foundation, which helps prepare underserved students for college success at high-performing public boarding schools in the District and Maryland. The Book Fair is helping to develop the school library at the Foundation’s new Maryland Campus.

The event is scheduled to begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and will end at 8:30 p.m. There will be a private reception for National Press Club board members and authors and their guests from 4:15 - 5:15 p.m.

Kidd Jordan and Hamid Drake to record at Piety Street

2011-10-18T18:43:00.001-07:00

Terrific news about two of our greatest improvisors, drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist Kidd Jordan, as they plan to record at Piety Street in New Orleans. Drake is also in town to perform Nov. 19 at the art installation at 1027 Piety Street, "The Music Box," put together by local artists under the auspices of New Orleans Airlift. Here's a release about the recording I received from a great supporter of improvisors and innovators in the music world, Benjamin Lyons:

NEW ORLEANS, LA (October 18, 2011) – Valid Records announces today it will record an historic duet concert by saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan and drummer Hamid Drake at Piety Street Recording Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 8 pm. Jordan, one of the least recorded jazz musicians of his global stature, has not made a studio recording in New Orleans since the mid 1980’s. This recording will reunite him with his frequent collaborator Hamid Drake for their first recording since 2005’s award-winning trio recording PALM OF SOUL (Aum Fidelity.)

Edward “Kidd” Jordan's multi-faceted legacy is among of the most influential and enduring in the history of improvised music. An integral part of the seminal musical tapestry of New Orleans, he is the patriarch of one of the city's most respected musical families and his parallel careers as a performer and educator span the past six decades. Now 76, he has worked most of his life outside the mainstream spotlight, tirelessly sustaining the jazz continuum through both his teaching and his cutting edge performances all around the globe with like-minded improvisers.
Hamid Drake is widely regarded as the leading drummer in improvised music. His musical education began in Chicago under the tutelage of saxophonist Fred Anderson and extended well beyond the world of jazz through associations with the Mandingo Griot Society, Alan Rudolph, Don Cherry, and many of the major figures in reggae. Drake brings North and West African, Caribbean, and funk impulses to the creation of freely improvised music with a wide range of world jazz figures such as David Murray, Peter Brötzmann, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, William Parker, and Ken Vandermark. He has been recorded on close to 200 cds and is in constant worldwide demand as a concert performer.

New Orleans-Havana connection rekindled

2011-10-13T08:36:00.001-07:00

A potentially vibrant new economic opportunity for New Orleans and the U.S. surfaced today with news that ravel restrictions between New Orleans and Havana have been cleared by the Cuban government. New Orleans and Havana have a long tradition of interaction that has had a profound impact on American culture. Reviving that link could be the beginning of a new era for the Gulf-Caribbean connection. Here is the story from today's New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Cuba clears New Orleans airport for takeoffs
Published: Thursday, October 13, 2011, 10:00 AM
By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

The Cuban government has agreed to receive direct flights from New Orleans for the first time in more than 50 years, opening the door for travel companies from anywhere in the country to apply for permits to make flight plans originating from New Orleans.

In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection approved an application from Louis Armstrong International Airport and seven other air fields to serve as a gateway to Cuba.

But after the door was opened on the U.S. side, efforts to gain permission from the Cuban side for flights seemed to be moving slowly. In August, two officials from the airport and two from Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration -- Aimee Quirk, adviser to the mayor for economic development, and Richard Cortizas, then executive counsel to the mayor, now acting city attorney -- traveled to Cuba to make the case for why the Caribbean island nation should receive flights from New Orleans.

Airport officials just received a letter from Cuban officials approving New Orleans as one of a handful of U.S. cities able to offer flights.

"The administration and airport management worked hard on creating an opportunity for private sector (companies) to provide flights from Armstrong International Airport to Cuba, " Armstrong Airport's director of aviation, Iftikhar Ahmad, said in a news release. "We hope that private sector will benefit from this opportunity."

Quirk said the delegation emphasized during the one-day trip the Cuban population in New Orleans, the cultural ties between New Orleans and Cuba, and academic ties through the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University. They also promoted the idea that New Orleans, as a leisure travel destination, has lower airfares than other business-oriented airports vying for certification.

Quirk said the approval for flights not only creates the opportunity for New Orleanians to travel to Cuba, but also for people elsewhere in the country to fly to Cuba through New Orleans. Armstrong International could increase its passenger counts because of the certification for a limited number of U.S. airports, and local tourism companies could make a pitch for travelers to spend a few days enjoying music in New Orleans before departing for Havana. Tour companies from elsewhere in the country could also build itineraries through New Orleans.

"That's one of the allures here, " she said.

The city administration has targeted efforts to rebuild international air service from New Orleans.

Before the Cuban Revolution, New Orleans was Cuba's largest trading partner in the United States. It has long been believed that if the Cuba were to open to U.S. tourism, Louisiana would stand to benefit because cruise companies would likely plan itineraries from New Orleans to Havana and local companies would find new export markets in Cuba.

In January, the Obama administration relaxed restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba, but it left the long-standing embargo in place. The new rules allow travel for cultural, academic or religious purposes; allow Americans to send money to ordinary citizens in Cuba; and allow for charter flights from more American cities.

In the past, only Los Angeles, Miami and New York were allowed to offer flights to Cuba. But in March, the Obama administration said New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico, could also offer flights, bringing the total to 11 cities from which flights to Cuba could depart.

Airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said airport and city officials made the application to try to open doors for local companies. Any U.S. company seeking to operate flights now must obtain permission from the Department of Permits and Flight Planning Institute Civil Aeronautics of Cuba.

It's just a matter of "a service provider stepping forward and providing that service, whether it's a charter or tour operator or airline, " Wilcut said. Major airlines frequently have charter operations on the side.

At least two local companies could be poised to jump in.

The Metairie company Super Saver Travel Agency Inc., which does business as Cuba Travel-USA, is already on the U.S. government's list of approved Cuba service providers, and it requested that the airport pursue certification for flights. Super Saver could not be reached for comment.

The New Orleans tour company Destination Management Inc. is also approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury as Cuba service provider.

"It's a new and emerging market, " Wilcut said.

Osborne, Denson get Sticky Fingers

2011-09-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

Anders Osborne, named the best guitarist in New Orleans by Offbeat magazine, will team up with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe to perform The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album in its entirety on tour this fall. The New Orleans-based Osborne, whose Alligator debut CD American Patchwork has been hailed as the best of his career, will play guitar and share the Sticky Fingers vocals. Denson is a genre-bending saxophone player and singer who first came t o prominence playing in Lenny Kravitz's band. The performances on this tour -- a song by song interpretation of the classic Stones album -- promise to be a tour-de-force of masterful musicianship and mind-blowing showmanship.

The tour will begin in Los Angeles on October 13 and stretch through the beginning of November. In addition to playing with Denson's Tiny Universe, Osborne and his band will open many of the dates on the tour, performing songs from American Patchwork. The album, released in 2010, was celebrated by fans and critics alike. Paste said the CD was "mind-bogglingly great." Offbeat called it, "The living definition of great art."

Live, Osborne is a force to behold. His wildly energetic, physical live performances find him ripping notes out of his guitar, forcing out riveting steel-on-steel slide solos, pouring his entire soul into his vocals. His ability to ignite an audience is legendary. Past gigs include repeated appearances at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, stops at Bonnaroo, The High Sierra Festival, The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, The Hollowbaloo Music & Arts Festival in Honolulu, and even an appearance at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He has toured North America and Europe extensively, and has performed with moe., Galactic, The Meters, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and Little Feat, among many others.

Osborne is revered for his jaw-dropping guitar playing. His piercing slide-work and fluid finger picking (oftentimes happening simultaneously) are simply unmatched. His use of Open D tuning (a rare choice for a guitar virtuoso) gives his fretwork a signature sound and feel. His influences range from Ry Cooder and Robert Johnson to the great horn players like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Always an in-demand guitarist, Osborne has appeared on a host of recordings by Keb Mo, Tab Benoit, Mike Zito and others. Recently, Anders lent his guitar talents to Dark Water, Galactic's first single from their new Ya-Ka-May CD.

Since his recording debut in 1989, he has written virtually all of his own material and contributed memorable songs to a wide variety of artists. Two tunes co-written by Osborne appear on blues great Keb Mo's Grammy-winning 1999 release Slow Down. Country superstar Tim McGraw scored a #1 hit with Anders' song Watch The Wind Blow By. Osborne's compositions have been covered by artists as diverse as Brad Paisley, Tab Benoit, Edwin McCain, Jonny Lang and Kim Carnes. His song What's Going On Here appeared in the 1996 feature film Fled, and Osborne, along with Ivan Neville, wrote and recorded the title track for the Kate Hudson film Earthbound.

Leading the Tiny Universe, Denson brings new sounds and styles to everything he touches. NPR Music called him, "a drop-dead talent who can howl with the best jazzbos and even groove with the jam-band crowd. There's a spiritual center to it all that finds some surprising links to Bob Marley." While developing a following overseas, Denson joined Fred Wesley's band, touring and recording with him on multiple releases. This led to five straight-ahead jazz albums by Denson on Minor Music. In 1993, Denson joined DJ Greyboy in creating Greyboy Records and released the legendary acid jazz staple Freestylin'. Out of that collaboration, Denson formed The Greyboy Allstars. Denson next put more emphasis on vocals and added some funk, R&B and hip hop elements. It turned out to be a winning combination, which set his new group Karl Denson's Tiny Univers e on their current path.

TOUR DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

10/13 - House Of Blues - Los Angeles, CA

10/14 - Belly Up - Solana Beach, CA

10/19 - Humboldt Brews - Arcata, CA (Anders opening)

10/20 - Moe's Alley - Santa Cruz, CA (Anders opening)

10/21-22 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA (Anders opening)

10/23 - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA (Anders opening)

10/28 - Boulder Theater - Boulder, CO (Anders opening)

10/29 - Town Park - Telluride, CO (Anders opening)

10/31 - Fillmore Auditorium - Denver, CO (Anders opening)

11/02 - Emerson Theatre - Bozeman, MT (Anders opening)

11/03 - Wilma Theatre - Missoula, MT (Anders opening)

11/04 - Neumos - Seattle, WA (Anders opening)

11/05 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR (Anders opening)

11/09 - The Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA (Anders opening)

11/12 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC (Anders opening)

Beatles wouldn't play for Tea Party supporters

2011-09-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

1965 Contract Disclosed That Beatles Refused to Play in Front of Segregated Audience
September 15, 2011 – LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A historic 1965 Beatles contract divulged that the Beatles were staunch civil rights supporters. The Beatles requested in the contract that they would not perform in front of a segregated audience at the Cow Theater in Daly City, California. The signed contract by Beatles manager Brian Epstein will be auctioned at Nate D. Sanders’ Tuesday September 20, 2011 auction.

In 1964, the Beatles made headlines when they initially refused to perform at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida because the concert was slated to be segregated. The Beatles performed only after city officials allowed the stadium to be integrated.

The contract between the Beatles management company Nems Enterprises, Inc. and legendary Bay Area concert promoter Paul Catalana was signed on March 24, 1965. It called for at least 150 uniformed police officers for protection and for “$40,000 guaranteed against 65% of the gross box office receipts over $77,000.” The August 31, 1965 concert at the Cow Theater was part of the Beatles’ third major United States tour.

Thank you, Wardell

2011-09-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

When people ask me when I became interested in the music of New Orleans I always go back to my teenage years in Brooklyn when I listened to AM radio and bought the 45rpm singles that appealed to me the most as cutouts at a three for a dollar store on 42nd street in Times Square. The litany is familiar -- the Dixie Cups, Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner; an irrisistible single called "Barefootin" by Robert Parker. I had no idea and didn't find out until years later that what all my favorite records had in common is that they were recorded in New Orleans. Oddly, it was only after I had written several articles about New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue that I realized all the songs that grabbed my teenage attention so forcefully were arranged by him. Sadly I never got a chance to thank Wardell for that influence on my life. But it's a big part of the reason I was at Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic church in New Orleans last Monday for Wardell's funeral mass and second line. The crowd outside the church was not especially large but it was made up almost completely of prominent figures in the New Orleans music industry -- musicians, writers, promoters, all people who marveled at Wardell's singular genius. The gathering was somber but joyous, a collection of people whose faith in each other was something like a family. I talked with some of the people there over the past week and wrote a story about the day which will appear in the next issue of OffBeat. There's no way I can fully express what it means to share such an experience. I only know I am profoundly grateful to all the people who were there for sharing the moment togther and making me feel included in it. Wardell's greatness was occluded during his life but hopefully will be accorded its rightful place in history.

Ogden reading with Helen Gillet

2011-09-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Last night's reading from New Atlantis accompanied by one of the book's stars, Helen Gillet, was a truly magic evening. Helen played music from her new recording, Running With the Bells, accompanied by saxophonist/flautist Tim Green and drummer Doug Garrison. The music was by turns earthy, ethereal, spiritually sustaining, challenging and peaceful. The audience at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art listened carefully, then remained silent in rapt attention as I read passages from the book about Helen while she sat next to me, commenting occasionally on the text. We finished with a quote about how her experiences working with the Silence Is Violence community group helped her as an improvisor, and I used that as a jumping off point to begin the interview portion of the program with her. After we completed the interview Helen's band returned for another set and I signed books and talked with some of the wonderful people in attendance at the event. Just another example of the grace we all experience in this glorious city of New Orleans as it rebuilds itself in an image not born of greedy developers and political chiselers but of artists and artisans, people who find meaning in their work and are always looking to help each other reach a better place. Helen and I will join up again September 19th at the Observatory at Proteus Gowanus in Brooklyn, New York, where she will perform, I'll read and talk with her and then I'll DJ a New Orleans dance party.

New Atlantis on SIRIUS Radio 10 AM Sunday

2011-09-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

The program scheduled for last Sunday on Dave Marsh's SIRIUS radio show was cancelled due to hurricane Irene and moved to Sunday, September 4 at 10 AM. I'll be Dave's guest as we play music related to New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans and Dave and I talk about the city's aesthetic revival. That's on SIRIUS Channel 30, "The Loft" station; Dave's show is called "Kick Out the Jams with Dave Marsh."

SIRIUS Radio show postponed due to Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry to say I will not be on Dave Marsh's SIRIUS radio show tomorrow at 10 am due to the approaching hurricane.
I will be at Bluestockings Cafe (172 Allen St.) Monday night at 7pm for the first extended reading from New Atlantis: Musicians Batle for the Survival of New Orleans.
Thanks to the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars for letting me introduce them with short readings from the book last Wednesday in Fairfield, Connecticut and Thursday in Manhattan. I met a lot of nice people who wanted signed copies of the book or just to chat and I hope those who received cards from me stay in touch. And what a band! All leaders of their own groups, these gentlemen play together as a unit with grace and purpose. A true All-Star aggregation indeed.

Philadelphia Folk Fest exceeds expectations

2011-08-24T11:36:00.001-07:00

If someone had told me that all three days at the Philadelphia Folk Festival would feature violent, tornadic thunderstorms and incessant downpours I may well have given it a pass. But the 50th anniversary of this event was an extraordinary weekend of music and fellowship. After attending hundreds of outdoor festivals over the last 40 something years I had forgotten what it felt like to among such a large group of people who'd gathered not for hedonistic purposes but in hope for and service of a better world. The music was inspirational and democratic. Although I heard many demonstrations of instrumental excellence from the likes of Jorma Kaukonen, the Campbell Brothers, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, David Bromberg, the Battlefield Band and Levon Helm's group, I was just as pleased to hear the amateur musicians who brought goodwill and a healthy attitude to the music they played. Most of all I heard the work of some of America's greatest songwriters played with real purpose. One of the most emotional moments in the festival for me came when a crowd sitting in a driving rainstorm sat under their umbrellas and sang along to the only real National Anthem this country ever deserved, Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," performed by a group of children whose parents were longtime festival goers. The moment repeated a theme that ran through the entire weekend. I kept seeing families who'd come to share this music together -- young people with their toddlers bouncing along beside them; older folks with their teenage kids, who usually were carrying some sort of acoustic instrument; and in a couple of instances three generations of family members who'd come together for the party. This was a case of people who'd been coming to this festival, some for many, many years, bringing their children and grandchildren along to carry on the tradition.
Trombone Shorty once again demonstrated his extraordinary ability to read a crowd and instictively understand what it wanted. The Folk Festers danced to Shorty's funk and applauded his and his band's instrumental prowess but their greatest response was to strong melody and excellent songwriting. For the first time in all the Trombone Shorty shows I've seen the showstopper here was "Show Me Something Beautiful." The crowd loved the song and stood on its collective feet to let Shorty know it. Then when the band kicked into the big finale, "Saints" was not the table setter but the main course. The chorus of voices from the audience singing along to the famous refrain gave me goosebumps. I know some people might regard this cynically, with the jaundiced eye of those who've dealt with too many Bourbon Street tourists looking for cliches, but this crowd response was a pure and heartfelt reaction to a song whose words had real meaning to them.
The festival also managed to shine a spotlight on what is a very strong local folk music scene in Pennsylvania. I was particularly impressed with two local groups, the Celtic-influenced quartet RUNA, which kicked off a spectacular Sunday afternoon set at the Camp Stage during one of the festival's few dry moments; and The Angel Band, which features the wonderful vocalist Alison Paige, who has a side band called AlyCat. Paige sounded like Tracy Nelson belting out a soulful blues during a jam sessions with David Bromberg backing her up. Bromberg, who accomplished the nearly impossible feat of following Trombone Shorty with his big band, was in classic form playing material from his great new album "Use Me" (see my review of this record in Stereophile magazine).
Tom Paxton held the crowd in the palm of his hand as he sang the best song about 9/11 I've heard from anyone and a song about the old days in Greenwich Village at the legendary Sheridan Square watering hole The Lion's Head. I always wanted to have one of my book covers framed on the wall of that venerable pub, where I drank with friends like Morthland, Tosches, Altman and Lester. New Atlantis would have been an appropriate candidate but sadly the Lion's Head is no more. I will, however, console myself with Paxton's observation about nostlagia: "It's OK to look back as long as you don't stare."
The star of the festival from my perspective was 80-year-old David Amram, who participated in a tribute to Phil Ochs, held a spellbinding workshop recalling his days playing with Jack Kerouac, led a lengthy World Music jam, performed his own jazz set which made me realize he influenced Mose Allison rather than the other way around, and finished off the festival by sitting with Levon Helm's outstanding band, which included Larry Campbell on guitar, Steve Bernstein on trumpet and Howard Johnson on tuba. Amram's double pennywhistle solo on "The Weight" at the close of the night was the perfect grace note for the festival.
Amram's best quote: "When they're telling you that the policemen and the firemen are the enemies, going after the Archie Bunkers, you know they've overplayed their hand."

Dave Malone of the Radiators back in action

2011-08-18T06:16:00.001-07:00

I spoke to Dave Malone of the Radiators last month and he told me he had been able to put down his guitar for a couple of weeks for the first time in decades. But after freshening his batteries following the grueling six months of final Radiators shows Malone said he would reveal his plans to get back on the road some time in August. True to his word, Malone's fall schedule came out on the HeatGen list yesterday. As promised, it includes duo gigs with his brother Tommy, in a full band called the Malone Sharks, a couple of gigs with Bonerama and several other configurations.
> 1) Sept 16 San Fran area.... The Malone Brothers (Dave and Tommy)
> acoustic duo house gig...info from Jon Hart (Tommys' Birthday)
> 2) Sept 17 San Francisco...The Boom Boom Room...The
> MaloneSharks..Dave and Tommy,Mitch Stein and a bass player and drummer
> 3) Sept 28 NOLA Harvest the Music Lafayette Park Bonerama w/
> special guest Dave Malone
> 4) Oct 5 NYC The Canal Room Benefit for New Orleans
> Musicians Clinic with Dave Malone,Camile Baudoin, Ivan Neville,
> Tony Hall, Adam Deitch
> 5) Oct 7 Houma,La Voice of the Wetlands Festival Tab
> Benoit and Anders Osborne w/special guest Dave Malone
> 6) Oct 8 Gretna.La Gretna Fest Tommy Malone and the
> Mystik Drone (Johnny Ray Allen, Carlo Nuccio, David Torkanowski) w/
> special guest Dave Malone
> 7) weekend of Oct 28,29,30 NOLA Voodoo Fest Bonerama w/
> special guest Dave Malone

New Atlantis on WWNO tonight!

2011-08-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

Tune in to WWNO at 6:30 Central time tonight to hear my interview with host Susan Larson regarding New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. The interview is part of Larson's show "The Reading Life." To listen online:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wwno/guide.guidemain

The Real Davis article

2011-08-12T12:59:00.001-07:00

My profile on Davis Rogan in the current issue of OffBeat magazine left out a lot of detail that I think is essential to the piece. Fortunately a longer version ran on the magazine's website, www.offbeat.com. This is the more complete version:

Déjà Davis Rogan
01 August 2011 — by John Swenson

Davis Rogan. Photo by Aubrey Edwards.
It’s a Tuesday night at the Hi Ho Lounge and Alison Fensterstock sits at the bar waiting for contestants to solve her latest series of music trivia challenges. Her husband, DJ Lefty Parker, is behind the bar announcing the questions and serving drinks. Things are moving along smoothly until the middle of the second round, when Davis Rogan bursts through the door, arms flailing and head turning vigorously as he surveys the scene before he hurls himself into the middle of the activity. At a beefy, long limbed 6’4,” Davis shakes things up when he enters a room. “What have I missed?” he asks as he slides up to the bar, picks up an answer sheet and waves it ceremoniously, simultaneously ordering a tumbler of Maker’s Mark and a Miller High Life.

The category is “Jacksons.” Lefty reads the question: “Who is the weirdest living member of the Jackson family?” Davis shouts out delightedly, “La Toya!”

The groans and muttering from contestants fill the air; after all, a $20 bar tab is at stake. Others quietly write down the answer. Having made what can only be described on his own terms as an entirely successful entrance, Davis is immensely pleased with himself.

Fensterstock just smiles.

“It’s interesting to watch Davis versus trivia,” she later notes. “It adds to the fun.”

Adding to the fun is a life’s mission for Rogan, even if his definition of amusement doesn’t always find a willing audience. But the Hi Ho is home turf for Davis these days. The club is where the Brassy Knoll, one of the featured bands in the HBO series Treme, plays its gigs. Davis is the keyboardist in the band, which is fashioned after his notorious 1990s aggregation All That. And another Davis is also the leader of the band in the person of Steve Zahn, the actor who plays Davis in the series.

Let me explain.

There are in fact two guys named Davis—Davis Rogan, or as he now calls himself “The Real Davis,” and Davis McAlary, the Treme character based on Rogan. That Davis is so well played by Steve Zahn that a number of New Orleanians who will never be Davis Rogan fans prefer the fictionalized TV version of Davis, a man whose unpredictable behavior is nevertheless always subject to potential revision and improvement.

This is the strange case of a man who lives his life in the penumbra of another man who is creating an alternative version of his life on television. Both men are walking through these lives in the same city a mere five years apart, often interacting with some of the same people. When it’s the actual person living his life under the camera’s scrutiny, this is popularly called “Reality TV.” When there’s a second version of the man living a fictional recreation of that life, complications of many forms ensue. Indeed, the question “What is reality?” becomes central to the identity of Davis. Perhaps we can call this “Déjà vu TV.”

The trivia episode is a characteristic Davis anecdote. All over New Orleans, people have encountered the Davis genius for disrupting events of any kind. Some find his social high wire act deeply unsettling. Others think it’s funny in a Three Stooges-at-the-black-tie-dinner kind of way. He’s seen his reputation enjoy a dramatic turn for the better since Treme’s first season began in April 2010. The show’s musical supervisor Blake Leyh agreed to produce an album for him and the result, The Real Davis, is the best thing Rogan has ever recorded, a game-changing moment in his career that presents him in his best light as a songwriter and surrounds him with top local musicians. The Real Davis is a terrific springboard for live performances, and Rogan is suddenly more in demand to play local gigs than he’s ever been.

When the trivia contest was over, Davis and I left the Hi Ho and climbed into his 1995 Toyota Camry station wagon, a virtual duplicate of the 1989 Toyota station wagon memorialized in the 2005 album The Once and Future DJ. As we careen across St. Claude Avenue heading towards his Treme home, Davis flips on music. It’s opera and he’s got it cranked to the max.

“Recitar!” the singer intones. “Vestila giubba.” Davis is listening to the apotheosis of bad clown stories, Pagliacci. “Listen to those bitches sing” he yells. Davis pulls his car to a dead stop in the middle of the intersection of Gov. Nichols and North Robertson, grooving to the music. Several of his neighbors get out of their car to check out what Davis is up to now, laughing and shaking their heads as they greet him.

Davis lives on the second floor of a dilapidated house in Treme. The Rebirth Brass Band used to use the ground floor as a rehearsal space. After climbing up a long, vertiginous stairway you find that Davis lives in a man cave of almost unimaginable disarray. You get the sense from these rooms that Davis cares nothing about any of his possessions, which are thrown haphazardly all over the place, except his musical instruments and playback equipment, which are all meticulously maintained and readily accessible. While eating a plate of crawfish etouffee with his fingers because there are no utensils anywhere in sight, Davis suddenly turns morose.

“Can you fathom the depths of my inanity?” he asks.

I took an instant liking to Davis the first time I heard All That back in the 1990s. He was funny and smart and had the creative musical vision that the past was also part of the future. All That collected some of the city’s best players under one umbrella, a cornucopia that encompassed both Kirk Joseph and Matt Perrine on sousaphones. Of course the band was doomed but at least Davis got as far as scoring a contract with Rounder records and actually documenting this moment in history. Then I got to know him and liked him even better because I like iconoclasts, satirists, cynics and clowns, especially when they’re loyal drinking buddies. When Davis calls, you know you’re in for it: “I’ve got ten pounds of boiled shrimp and a case of Tecate and I’ll be at your house in 15 minutes.” At moments like that a simple “no” doesn’t work. Davis arrives and your kitchen table becomes a freak symposium. Shit will be shot, music will be played and the afternoon will slowly descend into evening. And as the evening progresses, sometimes things can go wrong. Davis has been known to act out and has been tossed from more than a few drinking establishments in the city for transgressions ranging from dropping trou to mouthing off a bit too vociferously. But it’s some kind of measure of his genius that in a city notorious for bad behavior, he manages to stand out.

One doesn’t get to be the kind of larger than life figure Davis has become overnight. The traits that lead to such notoriety usually display themselves at an early age. Born in 1967, Davis soon learned that having a good sense of humor could be very useful. At the integrated public school he attended, McDonogh 15, he discovered that making his classmates laugh was an effective deterrent to getting beaten up by them. He played trombone in the school band under the direction of the legendary Walter Payton. The band actually performed at Jazz Fest, but Davis recalls that his parents didn’t encourage him to be a musician. Rogan’s father, a mechanical engineer, worked for the offshore drilling industry. “His job included supervision of what would now be called the blowout preventer,” Davis notes. “I’m sure the Deepwater Horizon disaster wouldn’t have occurred if he’d been working on that one.” Rogan’s mother Ama was a homemaker, a professional puppeteer and an aspiring writer.

Photo by Aubrey Edwards.
Davis was the second oldest of four children, two girls and two boys. “I always wanted to be a guitar player,” Davis says, “but my parents thought it was tacky. Same with the saxophone. We didn’t have a piano, but I walked to the church and practiced on the piano there two times a day. I was brought up on Joyce and Hemingway. I think they wanted me to be a writer. It was such a dreadful disappointment to them that I didn’t become a novelist.”

Davis speaks in awestruck tones of his mother, who died when he was a teenager. One of his defining musical memories is inextricably tied up with his memory of her.

“In 1978 when I was old enough to cross Broadway, they had a sale at Mushroom Records that if you brought in three records, they would give you one. I brought one of my mom’s Stan Getz records, one of her Gerry Mulligan records and one of my mom’s Chet Baker records, and I traded them in for a copy of Sticky Fingers. When my mom found out, she gave me a spanking. So my memory of mid-‘70s Rolling Stones was of a zaftig brunette beating the piss out of me.”

Davis credits his mother’s influence for his habit of telling people things they don’t want to hear, a discipline he has mastered skillfully.

“Maybe when I was young and I said to someone something like, ‘Good Lord, you’re fat,’ or, ‘Hey, you’re old.’ Maybe my mom taught me never to lose that.”

Ama Rogan died suddenly in 1984 after suffering a brain aneurism. The event changed his life and may well have left him with a huge emotional chip on his shoulder.

“It’s a little rough for me to celebrate Father’s Day,” Rogan admits, “because my mother died on Father’s Day, which is a unique way to eliminate both Hallmark holidays. I’ve carried that for a while. Maybe that’s why I was such a dick.”

Davis dealt with his loss by getting as far away from home as he could, enrolling at Reed College in Oregon, where he supported himself selling pot to his fellow students. He ostensibly majored in literary criticism, but his real education took place on the college radio station KRRC, where he honed skills he’d nurtured throughout his teenage years. He listened to WWOZ and WTUL and imagined his own voice coming over the airwaves. By his senior year of high school, he had become a DJ on WTUL.

Upon his return to New Orleans, Davis struck up a friendship with members of the Rebirth Brass Band. He became tight with Kermit Ruffins, playing piano in his band and performing with him in what sounds from Rogan’s description like a comedy team, which makes sense if you consider that performance for Davis back then was as much about comedy as it was music. He took himself most seriously as a DJ, and became notorious on ‘OZ for playing New Orleans bounce at a time when it was essentially banned from the station’s playlist. When Bunny Matthews profiled Davis for an OffBeat cover in 2002 Rogan still openly disparaged his talents as a vocalist and musician at the expense of his prowess as a radio personality.

Such self-effacement obscured the fact that Rogan had done great work with All That, starting with 1997’s Eponymous Debut and continuing through the Rounder Records release Whop Bam Boom and the band’s final recording, a live album recorded at the Mermaid Lounge in 2001. Davis was eventually fired from All That in what he describes as a coup instituted by drummer Derrick Freeman. He still holds a grudge against Freeman, a fact which became a minor plot point in season two of Treme. But Davis also recognized that he was falling apart himself at the time. “All That went though several lineups, and at the end the newest members conspired to kick me out of the band,” Rogan recalls. “But I was sad and I couldn’t really play. My insouciance was mysteriously misplaced.”

All the while, Rogan was also teaching music at the kindergarten and grade school level. Watching him lead groups of young kids at events like French Quarter Fest offered an important insight to Rogan’s personality. Instead of teaching the kids songs from the rote curriculum, Davis brought his own songbook of New Orleans folk songs, Coasters material and Fats Domino classics. He taught these little kids about their musical legacy as New Orleanians, and they responded to Rogan fanatically, year after year. When he finally quit his teaching job to work full time on Treme, his students delivered a petition bearing 50 hand-scrawled signatures begging Davis not to leave them.

“His work with the kids really tells you something about Davis,” says Rogan’s bassist, Dr. Jimbo Walsh. “He’s genuine with the children, and they really respond to that. It’s a wonderful thing to see in action. He is a kid himself—that’s part of it—but he’s a teacher. He’s professional about it, he’s in charge, but he listens to them and takes them seriously. One time we were at the Jazz Festival playing at the Kids’ Tent, and the group was little kids from the inner city. At one point, this little 6-year-old kid gets the idea that we’re losing the crowd and he goes up to Davis, pulls on his shirt and says, ‘Mr. Rogan, we got play ‘Charlie Brown’ right now!’”

Davis met Walsh at a low point in his life. “All That went south and I was a densely problematic singer/songwriter who Jimbo agreed to play bass for and drive me around because I was incapacitated,” Rogan recalls. “He started working with me in the dark hours. I had lost my girl friend and All That’s record deal.”

Walsh had been working in trumpeter Michael Ray’s band before joining forces with Davis; he remembers liking Rogan the first time he met him.

“I was sitting at a café uptown and he came walking in,” says Walsh. “I was sitting with some jazz musicians and he said, ‘I play funk because you can get more girls that way.’ I thought he was funny. I love jazz, but I’m not precious about it. I had been with Michael Ray for a long time, and he had just moved back to Philadelphia. All That was in a state of collapse and we started hanging out. We came to the conclusion that I was the only musician in New Orleans who hadn’t played with All That.

“I thought he was a very good songwriter, a real classic American songwriter in the Lieber-Stoller way of working with traditional forms but doing things to make each song unique. And in terms of lyric writing, he has an incredible way of turning a phrase. I also thought he was a pretty good piano player in the New Orleans tradition, so I joined his band.”

With Jimbo’s help, Davis put together a strong album’s worth of songs that became The Once and Future DJ, an album that was almost lost in the federal flood of ‘05 before a safety copy was discovered, allowing it to become one of the first post-Katrina New Orleans recordings. The songs were filled with funny stories and journalistic detail cataloging Rogan’s experiences living in Treme, dealing with girlfriends and interacting with his students. Davis matched his carefree, mocking spirit as a songwriter with the ingrained understanding of the foundations of New Orleans music that is the birthright of a fifth-generation Crescent City resident. Two songs in particular stood out—“Hurricane,” an almost miraculously prescient account of a local who refused to leave the city during a hurricane; and “I Quit,” a riotous string of invective hurled at WWOZ, mightily enabled by a deeply excoriating rap from Cheeky Blakk.

I wrote about The Once and Future DJ in the first issue of OffBeat released after the flood. David Simon, who was still working on The Wire at the time, read the review and recognized Davis as the perfect character to build his developing idea about a New Orleans series around. Rogan was in France taking advantage of an artist’s exchange program offered by the French government after Katrina when Simon tracked him down.

“I was in the Loire Valley and I get this email saying, ‘I work for David Simon and he wants to talk to you about this upcoming HBO show he’s going to do.’ I thought he was going to ask me something about some musician, but he called me and said, ‘I read this article and I have an idea for the main character of my next HBO series and it’s you. I want to meet you and talk with you about this.’

“So I came back to New Orleans and I made him take me to Bayona and drink $300 bottles of wine.”

Over the course of many meetings, Simon collected Rogan’s story and filed away the details for future use. Davis himself had no idea where this was all leading, but the process itself excited him.

“David Simon was like, ‘You’re Davis. I want to base a character on you. I need your input to get New Orleans. I’m trying to research. Can you make a leap of faith and share your knowledge with me? We’re going to try to build a relationship.’ The part about Kermit not knowing who Elvis Costello was came from Kermit not knowing who the Rolling Stones were. Basically, I gave him my stories and started sharing my stories and background. It was a little bit painful because obviously New Orleanians as musicians have a long history of getting screwed, so I had to put that aside and work with this guy and hope that in the end he would choose to do the right thing. Which, in the end, he did.

“Me and Kermit and Donald Harrison, we all got placed in season five of The Wire,” says Davis. “In Episode One of Season Five of The Wire, these journalists are gathered in a bar talking about work and my song is playing on the jukebox. My song on a jukebox in Baltimore. That is what we call fiction.”

Davis also considered his frequent meetings with Simon a kind of payment for services rendered.

“We would go to dinner at Clancy’s or Bayona or Herbsaint and have the $300 wine, so in that sense I wasn’t giving a donation. From the ‘This is pie in the sky and I’m buying you lunch,’ to ‘This is going to happen and I’ve got something for you,’ there was definitely some rough ground about what my deal was going to be. Around Christmas 2008, I was wondering if I needed to hire a lawyer. There was a definite period where it was in the works, but it might not happen. I was getting these calls: ‘My name is so and so and I’m an actor in New York. I’ve read the script, and can you give me some pointers?’ Another guy texted me: ‘I’ve been waiting all my life to play you, man.’ I emailed him back and said, ‘I’m currently under the delusion that I’m a contender for the role, so any advice I would give you would be wrong’.”

In the end, Rogan did read for the part of Davis, but he understands what a coup it was to cast Steve Zahn in the role.

“He’s a great actor,” says Rogan. “In terms of capturing my verbosity and the manic energy, that speaks volumes to the capacity of the writing team and the casting. But Steve Zahn ain’t no musician. He’s so fucking white. In one scene, he’s about to do a version of ‘Sex Machine’ and he turns to Kirk Joseph and says, ‘Bring your bot-sy to this one.’ I had to explain to Steve Zahn who Bootsy Collins was. There’s an arc starting with me explaining to Kermit who the Rolling Stones are and ending with me explaining to Steve Zahn who Bootsy Collins is.”

When the scene Rogan refers to appears in the final episode, Zahn’s Davis is clearly enacting the lame white guy he feels he’s perceived to be. Mispronouncing Bootsy’s name would be in character, but since this is an ironic comment on a character that is already an ironic comment on a real person, it’s easy to see how this might blow Davis Rogan’s mind.

“We have to specify,” notes Blake Leyh. “Are we talking about Steve Zahn, Davis McAlary, Davis Rogan the actor, or Davis Rogan the guy? The character is self satirizing. For me to try to deconstruct the levels beyond that—that’s the fun of watching that stuff. When you and I try to discuss this, we literally get lost in a sort of hall of mirrors. It’s hard for Davis to navigate through that hall of mirrors himself sometimes.”

After viewing the final episode, Davis adjusted his opinion.

“Watching Steve perform ‘Liza Jane’ and ‘Sex Machine,’—I mean watching on the TV not doing the scenes with him—I see from the camera’s view what a hilarious character actor he is,” says Rogan. “In a way, it’s a brilliant move on the part of the producers having McAlary be a so-so performer which makes me, not much of an actor, look irritated at him on screen. I also realize that Zahn the actor excels in realms where I am an absolute novice. There’s no way I could do those splits!”

Part of David Simon’s genius is his ability to work effectively with a personality as strong-willed as Rogan. Simon did it by being a genuine friend, hanging out with him but making no promises, and finding creative ways to incorporate him into the production. In Season One of Treme, Davis was a script consultant, piano teacher and part-time scriptwriter, co-writing Episode Eight with David Mills.

“I bitched and moaned and kicked at the fucking door,” he admits, “until I became a writer.”

It didn’t take long for Davis to make a crucial contribution in the writer’s room.

“I was a junior cub understudy writer,” says Rogan. “I was half an hour late to the meeting. I was terrified, clueless and hung over, which was probably good because it got me to shut the fuck up. What they were thinking about was that Creighton would commit suicide and how to account for all these straws that pushed him to it. He’s an English teacher and they’re saying, ‘What book is he teaching? Is there something by Lafcadio Hearn? We need a book.’ Suddenly the cartoon light bulb went on over my head. I had Alex McMurray’s freshman lit copy of The Awakening [which ends with Edna committing suicide by walking into the Gulf of Mexico] with his notes in the margins. I blurted out, ‘Holy shit, you guys gotta use Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.’ I forwarded the final four chapters to the principal guys.”

In the weeks before the first season of Treme aired, Davis Rogan was caught in a maelstrom of gossip related to his role in the show. Friends found it hard to believe his claims about how much of it was based on him. Detractors traded horror stories about his behavior on the set. Everybody claimed to have inside information about what was going on: Davis had been thrown off the set and banned from the show; Davis was contractually required to stay at least 200 feet away from Steve Zahn.

I ran into Davis one day at Johnny White’s and told him the alarming rumors. Davis laughed it off, saying, “Watch the show and see if I was banned.” Today he can look back with satisfaction and say, “The people who were saying that stuff were people who had drunk the Hater-ade. Obviously because I had been banned from this or that event or fired from this or that place, they had to extrapolate that. Small-minded people have a right to be small-minded, bless their little hearts.”

The proof, of course, was right there on your TV set. Episode One began with Davis running out of his house to join a second line and went on to include so many references to his real life it began to seem like some kind of personal revenge fantasy that he’d scripted himself. Zahn played Davis as a Shakespearian fool whose antic disposition provided much needed comic relief to a relentlessly tragic story.

Treme did more for the musicians’ community in New Orleans than any single event in recent memory, and arguably no musician benefited more than Davis Rogan. Though a few people might have still harbored grudges from past offenses, Davis was able to rehabilitate his reputation as a live performer, finance and record a representative solo album, and quit his teaching job to become a full time musician once again. Blake Leyh agreed to produce The Real Davis as soon as Rogan brought it up.

“It just made sense,” says Leyh. “I could see right away that Davis benefits from an outsider’s perspective. I think I understand quite well his work and what he’s doing, and I have a great respect and appreciation for it. But I’m also not like a fan, so I’m not going to ever shy away from telling him what I really think. I also think I might have a better sense of what someone outside of New Orleans will think of the work and add that perspective to it.”

Leyh sent Davis 30 songs to listen to and asked him to consider doing cover versions.

“’Just listen to them with an open mind,’ I told him. ‘Think what it would mean if you covered this song. It will allow you to view your own work in a more critical perspective and think about what is it that makes Davis’ work Davis’ work. Also it’s a signifier for people outside of the immediate circle that you do know about other things in the world.’ So we end up with ‘Rivers of Babylon’ and Alex Chilton’s ’13.’

“One thing that I encouraged Davis to do more of is face fear. Not all the time, but take five minutes and ask yourself if the sarcasm and the monolithic cynicism about the universe, part of that might be the result of covering something up. What if you were to tip your hand a little bit? Show a little more of a side of you that I know exists when you’re not thumbing your nose at the world. What would that look like if Davis did that? I was interested to know. It’s one thing when you’re 25 to have a punk attitude, a sarcastic attitude, but as you get older that can wear kind of thin. I would encourage him in the future to think about that too. I think he’s a brilliant guy who has a lot of really good ideas, and I think it would be interesting for him to perform a work at some point that would be more sincere. So I think his cover of the Alex Chilton song is that. When you hear that you think it is kind of interesting to hear that side of Davis.

“I would also push him. That was the flip side. Although I was encouraging him to show a more vulnerable side, I was also encouraging him to go for it. People don’t think of Davis sitting down and saying, ‘Should I really say this?’ But there were moments and I said, ‘Yes. Don’t even bother to go and check with people to see if they’re going to be offended, just say it.’ Someone does need to be saying these things. Someone does need to be the trickster. New Orleans is such a small town and everyone knows everyone. As much as it has a reputation of everyone partying and being crazy, I also see how cautious everyone is. It’s nice to see someone not being too cautious. Davis’ work is not cautious in that way.”

Davis took on a more mature glow in the aftermath of Season One. Though his satiric instincts remained solid, he seemed to appreciate the fact that not all institutions existed simply to be made fun of.

“In the past, I might have been introduced to celebrities and just blown them off,” he says. “But when I met Anthony Bourdain and said, ‘I’m Davis Rogan and I write songs for the show,’ he knew who I was and we actually had something real to talk about. I realized for the first time in my life that I was a member of a team.”

By the time Season Two began production, Rogan was no longer part of the writing staff. Simon hired him specifically to write songs for the Brassy Knoll, and Rogan put together an album’s worth of material for the season.

“This season, David said, ‘You’re going to write songs.’ He tells me what he wants and I write it for him. David basically moved me from one shop to another, and now I’m master of my realm.”

Simon would tell Davis he wanted a song about a specific subject, or perhaps ask for a set of topical lyrics to an existent song. He’d already done this in Season One, asking Davis to fashion new lyrics to Smiley Lewis’ “Shame Shame Shame” criticizing George W. Bush.

When asked about that process, Davis insists that it was Simon who wrote the new lyrics to “Shame Shame Shame.”

“I sent him a set of lyrics,” Davis explained, “and they were inadequate and he rewrote it. But I set the spike for him.”

For Season Two, Simon asked Rogan to write a song about The Road Home Program.

“He said, ‘The Road Home was a disappointing for a lot of people’,” Davis recalls. “’I want you to create a song for DJ Davis and the Brassy Knoll with that title. Davis is trying to recreate All That. It’s a mix of funk and brass and jazz plus it’s going to have a bounce flavor’.”

So Rogan sat down, wrote the song and sent it to Leyh, who told him it needed a hook. Davis took the tune to Don B., Dave Bartholomew’s son, for re-grooving. Davis actually met Don B. through Simon.

“I got a call from David Simon during the Saints playoff run’ 05,” says Rogan. “He calls and says, ‘Meet me at the Roosevelt.’ We’re at the Blue Room and Allen Toussaint is doing this tribute to Dave Bartholomew. There I met Dave Bartholomew’s son, who said, ‘Man, put me on the show.’ So that’s Don B. Don B is one of first bounce guys. Dave Bartholomew, the songs he wrote broke the color barrier, moved it from race music and R&B into pop music. It turns out that Don B, who is his youngest son, is my age. Don B did all the stuff with Cash Money before they got signed. The Bartholomews, they’re just genetically inclined to make hit records.”

I went with Davis to Don B’s studio, where Davis figured “The Road Home” would be fashioned with a hook. The studio was a small room in the back of an empty house outfitted with a computer and a keyboard. Don B’s son was there, along with rapper Altonio Jackson, who Don B had suggested for the part of Lil Calliope in the Brassy Knoll. Jackson sat quietly on the floor studying the script while Davis began to party. He’d brought a six-pack, a bottle of Jameson’s and some killer weed, which he offered around. Davis played the track and said that Blake wanted it punched up and given a hook. He showed Jackson the lyrics to the song.

“I’ll write something based on this,” Jackson said, then sat down and began composing on a yellow pad. The room began to fill with people, blunts were rolled and smoke hung thickly in the air. Don B sat at the keyboard with his earphones on, silently pounding away as he sculpted new parts for “The Road Home.” Davis bantered, drank and smoked, explaining his ideas for the song and generally carrying on.

He kept reciting the chorus:

“Funny how you’re calling it the road home

You left my people in the street now they’re all alone

You wrap them up in red tape and fuck with their head

You might as well use duct tape and shoot ‘em dead”

Jackson showed me the pad he’d been writing on. “You want to see what I came up with?”

Just like that, he’d fashioned a lengthy narrative about his life that seems to have nothing to do with what Davis has written. Meanwhile, Davis explained that Don B and Jackson were doing more than he needed. “It’s just a demo,” he said. “We just need to punch it up.”

Don B said, “We want it to be so good that they’ll have no choice but to use this version.”

After considerable jousting back and forth, Davis came to a compromise. “Okay, do whatever you want to it, but you have to keep this part in.” He ripped the chorus from his note pad and handed it to Jackson.

After another half hour of work on a very good track that was moving further and further from what Davis brought in, Jackson did his rap and then said, “I understand everything about it except this part,” holding up the piece of paper with the words to Rogan’s chorus on it.

The whole scene appeared chaotic, but Davis was unflappable in this midst of it all. I later realize that this whole episode anticipates what actually will occur in the show because in addition to the developing versions of “The Road Home,” we see in Season Two that the new material Jackson is writing will be the basis of “The True,” Lil Calliope’s joint that eclipses Davis McAlary’s songs for the Brassy Knoll.

Later, when I told Davis I thought Don B and Jackson were trying to write their own song, Davis explained what happened.

“The misunderstanding we had was about what you submit to the producers,” says Davis. “There are times when you want to give the producers a rough sketch, a frame they can hang their trimmings on. Other times you’re taking a song to a completed recording because it’s going to be placed in the background somewhere. In the third case, you’re making a demo which the producers give you notes on, then you modify the tune based on what they want, then you make a final demo, write out lyric sheets and chord charts and horn lines which you distribute to the musicians and the actors. Don B’s a rap producer. He doesn’t think in terms of demo; he thinks of final, finished, Bangin’ product [the name of his company is Bang-N-Records]. In the end, I took Don’s ProTools files over to Jimbo’s home studio where we put in a guitar hook, but I sure as hell used Don’s beats.”

Rogan’s ability to function amid the seeming chaos of this studio scene is part of the reason why he’s so valuable to the series in this context as a songwriter.

“I think there’s a path that the songwriter has to take,” he says. “The path of the scriptwriter from determination to realization is a well-defined path, but the path of a songwriter in this context is territory that is currently being charted as it happens. So there’s steps and missteps to it which are all part of that process.”

Blake Leyh reflected on the difficulty of separating the songwriting process itself from the actual narrative of the show.

“In the middle of all of it, it’s difficult to break out the significance,” he says. “You’re telling a story about the difficulty of writing a song and in order to tell that story, you have to write a song. So the process you go through of writing the song informs the storytelling and vice versa. It’s all one big bundle. When you have all of these personalities involved, like Davis and Altonio and me and David Simon and Don B and Steve Earle and Wendell, it does turn into this rolling carnival of insanity. It’s hard for me to be analytical about it. The conflict you see on the screen is the exact same conflict we had in trying to do that stuff. It’s even more so with the Soul Apostles. All those arguments about ‘Are we talking about horn pitch or concert pitch?’ ‘Do we have the right charts, motherfucker?’”

Rogan was presented with some unusual challenges in coming up with material for the Brassy Knoll, including being asked to write material that was deliberately lame.

“At one point I was told to write something so painfully white and so overintellectualized that it became obvious that the black guy should be put in the band,” he explains.

But Rogan admits he had difficulty writing down to Davis McAlary’s character.

“I bring what I bring,” he concluded, “and Steve Zahn’s interpretation of the script will deliver that. One time we were making a demo and I was saying, ‘I was trying to not get it right.’ Jimbo said, ‘Why don’t you do the best that you can and Steve’s going to hear that and he’s going to deliver the terrified Caucasian incompetence.”

It’s clear that The Real Davis is unhappy with the fact that Davis McAlary is such a poor musician. As much as he can separate himself from the caricature Zahn is playing, Rogan still seems to feel that he is diminished by Zahn’s portrayal of him.

“Davis can’t sing, Davis can’t play and Davis is not a convincing front man,” Rogan explains. “This smarts on two levels, because A: when I started out with Kermit at Little People’s Place in 1991, those criticisms were probably true. But B, it’s also a bit of a drag because if I’m portrayed as a sucky performer, then how can I get people in a room to show them that I’m not? David Simon warned me when I insisted that the character’s name remain Davis that they might have the guy crawling through sewers fucking alligators. What I was not prepared for was having Davis portrayed as an unconvincing front man.”

Zahn has been careful to keep his distance from Davis. The 200 feet rule is ridiculous because Rogan is a member of McAlary’s band, but Zahn has never discussed how to play the part with Rogan. Rogan sometimes seems amused with McAlary, who he refers to as “Mini-Me,” but when the Brassy Knoll is rehearsing and McAlary ruins the groove with a distorted guitar solo, it’s Rogan who jumps up from the piano, waving his hand for McAlary to stop playing. And at the Hi Ho when Lil Calliope ignores McAlary’s instructions and starts into ”The True,” Zahn stands shocked in the middle of the stage while The Real Davis gleefully joins the chorus.

As Season Two ends, Rogan finds himself exacting a unique kind of scripted revenge on his alter ego. Davis McAlary’s fate with the Brassy Knoll echoes Davis Rogan’s ouster from All That when he is essentially forced out of the group. This time though, The Real Davis is still in the band.

.

NOLA Half Notes

2011-08-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Satchmo 4-ever
Much fun at Satchmo Summerfest. The addition of tents to shield listeners from intense sun and thunderstorms was a great move. The tents were large enough to accomodate the crowds. Nice to see tourists from all over the world come to salute the American legend Louis Armstrong in the city of his birth. His music is as vibrant today as it was more than 80 years ago when he started recording; it still resonates in the city's young musicians today.

Play That Fast Thing One More Time
$1000 Car played an impromptu early evening gig at the Kingpin Saturday. People stopped in for a drink on their way to White Linen Night and were surpised by such rocking gems as "Security Guard" and the Nick Lowe-esque "From the Eyes Up," a classic from the great songwriter Jake Flack. D.C. Harbold brought a hellacious "Little Sister" to the mix, reminding us that Clockwork Elvis brings a scheduled gig to the Pin later this month. Will pizza be delivered?

Sixteenth notes: Davis Rogan reminds European tourists at the Spotted Cat that coins are no longer considered money "Back in the USA" (bar gold)... Bizarre and beautiful moment of Satchmofest: the Armstrong set played on calliope by the mad genius of the Natchez steamboat... very cool to sign books alongside Michael Patrick Welch in the doorway of 600 Frenchmen on Friday night. spooky resonance of last season's Treme, huh? No cabbages, though... everybody's favorite spot during Satchmofest was Snug Harbor. Great music, but that AC was quite a treat.

OffBeat's Press Club Awards

2011-07-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

From publisher Jan Ramsey:

Congratulations to our staff for its fine performance at this year's Press Club Awards! We took top honors in three categories this year, and I'm very proud!.

OffBeat Consulting Editor John Swenson won a Press Club Award for "Best Critical Review" of Anders' Osborne's CD American Patchwork (Judges said: "The essence of the subject is captured in this review. An engaging story beautifully written.")

OffBeat won-for the third straight year-"Best Email Update" for the Weekly Beat. (Judges' comments: "Nicely done, lots of information. Easy to navigate. Important way to engage readers and broaden audience. Well executed.")

Elsa Hahne, our Art Director/Photographer/Writer and general great person won "Best Portrait Photography" for our September cover of Susan Spicer, kickin' up her heels. (JUDGE'S COMMENT: Clever use of photoshopped art with Susan Spicer and the wire whip--very creative concept." Hey judgie, that wasn't photoshopped!!)

Review of New Atlantis in Financial Times

2011-07-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2011 FT

July 23, 2011 1:01 am
The New Atlantis
Review by Mike Hobart
John Swenson places musicians at the heart of the reconstruction
of New Orleans
When Hurricane Katrina swept away New Orleans’ levees in 2005, it left behind a
wasteland of wrecked lives and sodden properties. The rebuilding was left to
ravaged communities facing gangland violence and official apathy.
Beyond the tourist traps, entire communities coalesced around music, from marching
bands to the clandestine Mardis Gras Indians, and Swenson’s graphic account places
musicians at the heart of the city’s reconstruction. The musicians drifted back, rebuilt
their homes and began performing, remaking the city’s musical scene.
The eloquent central narrative beautifully evokes New Orleans, alongside interviews
with those who, like the Neville Brothers and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, lived through
the deluge, scraped out the sludge and faced down the National Guard. The book ends
with the New Orleans Saints winning 2010’s Superbowl, the prestigious Jazz Fest in full
swing – and the city’s future still in the balance.
The New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans, by John
Swenson, OUP, RRP £17.99, 304 pages

New Atlantis on The Nation's summer reading list

2011-07-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Nation Readers' Summer Books List | The Nation

The Nation Readers' Summer Books List
The Nation
July 15, 2011

Thanks to the almost 1,000 Nation readers who took the time to send us their summer reading choices. We're reading each submission carefully and getting great tips in the process. This is our first Nation Reader's Summer Reading List. Watch this space for future editions coming soon.

Kathleen Rippey, Willits, CA
New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans by John Swenson
An excellent and well-written book about how the musicians and culture of the area continue to struggle to survive the effects of the Federal flood of 2005, the BP oil spill of 2010 and the ongoing corruption and apathy in the "City that care forgot." A great companion read if you're a fan of the HBO series, Treme.

The Nation
July 15, 2011

Frank Foster passes

2011-07-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Sad to hear of the passing of the great tenor saxophonist Frank Foster. He was one of my favorite players, especially in the "two Franks" Basie band with Frank Wess and the wonderful working collaboration with Elvin Jones.

Review of New Atlantis in Times Picayune

2011-07-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2011/07/the_new_atlantis_chronicles_no.html

'The New Atlantis' chronicles N.O. musicians' struggle to keep culture afloat after Katrina
Published: Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 10:35 AM Updated: Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 10:39 AM
By Alison Fensterstock, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com
Offbeat magazine contributing editor John Swenson’s new book deals with our musical world that was in danger of being lost to floodwaters. Released at Jazz Fest 2011, “The New Atlantis: Musicians Battle For The Survival of New Orleans” focuses on the five years between Hurricane Katrina and the BP Gulf oil spill.

'The New Atlantis' opens with the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars' pre-Katrina recording session -- ominous in retrospect -- and ends with the same musicians whipsawed and shaken by the oil spill.
Those events, along with the Saints’ Super Bowl win, create a ready-made narrative arc, framing the action in a story that is deep rather than broad in focus and intensely urgent.

Consistent characters emerge, paralleling selections from long Offbeat pieces Swenson wrote during the time the book covers. Troy Andrews comes of age as a formidable musical force. Glen David Andrews moves from triumph to setback to redemption, struggling with personal demons as well as his ravaged city, and Dr. John looms over it all, a code-talking, newly politicized lightning rod.

They struggle in the uncertain post-storm economy to re-establish their homes and livelihoods, to rebuild the cultural climate that nurtured their growth as performers, and in some cases, to get the attention of political powers-that-be. Swenson’s recountings are intimate, intelligent and passionate, and most importantly, come from deep in the heart of the battle the title announces.

Swenson, who since 1967 has been an editor at Rolling Stone, Creem and Crawdaddy, as well as reporting on music for Reuters and UPI, is New Orleans’ elder statesman of music journalism. When he moved to New Orleans (he splits his time now between Brooklyn and Bywater) in the early ‘80s, he shifted the focus of his writing toward Louisiana sounds, he said, because they simply were more interesting and vital than anything on the mainstream charts.

He also is immersed in the scene — he’s out in the clubs and hanging around in studios. The musicians are subjects, but they’re also his friends, neighbors, drinking buddies and dinner guests.

In “New Atlantis,” his allegiance to the music — and to New Orleans itself — resonates with vividly descriptive language that gives readers the sense that they’re right alongside Swenson, a cold bottle of High Life sweating in their hands, trumpet ringing in the air and sweet olive scenting the humid Bywater breeze.

Swenson’s concern for the future of the music culture is as personal as it is journalistic – probably more so – and reading him, you can’t help but care, too.

The book opens with the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars’ pre-Katrina recording session — ominous in retrospect — and ends with the same musicians whipsawed and shaken by the oil spill.

Swenson closees the book with a quotation from Dr. John, encouraged by President Obama’s election but guarded from years of disappointment at the government’s treatment of the Gulf Coast: “Either something’s gonna happen, or it ain’t. If it don’t happen, the future is weak. If something happens, it could be wonderful, a renaissance of spirituality this planet has always needed. I don’t have no expectation. I have only belief in what is a possibility.”

It would be hard, after reading Swenson’s chronicles, not to share that belief.

New Atlantis 2020 tonight at Observatory

2011-07-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Inaugural Event of the New Atlantis 2020 Series with Special Musical Guest Andy J. Forest
A Lecture, Performance, and Party hosted by John Swenson, author of New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans
Date: Saturday, July 23rd
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Night One of the New Atlantis 2020 Series
•• Books will be available for sale and signing

“In New Orleans, it was the culture of the city—its musicians, its second-liners and Mardi Gras Indians, its chefs and trumpeters and sissy bounce rappers—who asserted for the future more than any political leadership or economic imperative. It was the refusal of the artists to let go of the idea of New Orleans that saved the city. NEW ATLANTIS tells this remarkable story and does so clearly, with considerable detail and affection.”
—David Simon, Producer of HBO’s Treme

New Orleans is under siege from a lethal combination of natural and man-made disasters. The effects of the flood following hurricane Katrina in 2005 are still being felt throughout New Orleans, while the rapid destruction of the south Louisiana wetlands that protect the city from hurricane surges brings the threat of future inundations.

Musicians have been in the forefront of efforts to educate the public about how to combat this threat even before Katrina; they have also led the economic recovery of New Orleans after the flood by returning quickly to restore the city’s cultural identity. Award winning author John Swenson’s book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans (Oxford University Press) details the struggle musicians have undertaken to rebuild New Orleans and speak out for its future.

Tonight, join us for the inaugural event of the new Observatory series New Atlantis 2020; this series, curated and moderated by John Swenson, will feature live performances, readings and discussions that will explore the relationship between the musicians of New Orleans and the rebuilding of the city after Katrina. Tonight’s event will will begin with a lavishly illustrated introductory lecture by Swenson, introducing us to the key themes and characters of the book. Next, award-winning New Orleans based musician and songwriter Andy J. Forest–who figures prominently in the book–will perform live at Observatory on guitar and harmonica. Following this performance, Swenson will moderate a Q and A with the musician, after which he will DJ a rich variety of New Orleans music while we enjoy some beer and wine.

John Swenson has been writing about popular music since 1967. He edited the award-winning website jazze.com for Knit Media and has worked as an editor at Crawdaddy, Rolling Stone, Circus, Rock World, OffBeat magazine and been published in virtually every popular music magazine of note over that time. He was a syndicated music columnist for more than 20 years at United Press International and Reuters. Swenson has written 14 published books including biographies of Bill Haley, the Who, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles and co-edited the original Rolling Stone Record Guide with Dave Marsh. He is also the editor of The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide. In another role Swenson is a veteran sports writer who covered the New York Rangers for 30 years, writing pieces for outlets from Rolling Stone to the Associated Press. Swenson is also a veteran horseracing columnist and handicapper who covered the New York racing scene as a columnist for the New York Post and the New Orleans Fair Grounds meet for The Daily Racing Form. His profile on jockey Steve Cauthen, “Rise To Stardom, Fall From Grace” in Spur magazine was nominated for an Eclipse Award.

Swenson’s account of musicians returning to New Orleans after Katrina, The Bands Played On, appeared in Da Capo’s Best Music Writing 2007. His Every Accordionist a King won the 2008 Best Entertainment Feature award from the Press Club of New Orleans. Swenson’s latest book, New Atlantis chronicles how musicians battled to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Joe Lee Wilson passes

2011-07-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Saddened to hear about the passing of the great singer Joe Lee Wilson, one of the mainstays of the New York loft jazz scene of the 1970s. His album Living High Off Nickels and Dimes is a classic.

Today we just received the news that our dear friend, fellow musician & dearly beloved brother just made the transition. (Sun Rise: December 22,1935- Sunset: July 17, 2011)
After battling with debilitating health issues Joe Lee Wilson passed away in Brighton, England around 2:30pm (euro time) / 8:30am (est-usa). Joe Lee leaves his wife Jill & daughter Naima & many family members & friends. We in the Spirit of Life Ensemble are honored to have worked with this truly gifted & remarkable human being and musician. "Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul" . We appreciate his friendship, musical knowledge and all the beautiful memories.We will deeply miss him as with all that knew and loved him. We offer our heartfelt condolence to the family.
This concert is a celebration of life!!!
On Friday July 22, 2011(7pm to 11pm) we SoLE pay tribute to Joe Lee Wilson @ the Priory Jazz Club - 223 West Market Street- Newark, N.J 07103

Swenson wins 2011 Press Club award

2011-07-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

This year’s Excellence in Journalism Awards banquet presented by the Press Club of New Orleans took place Saturday, July 16 at the Harrah’s Casino Theater. New Atlantis author John Swenson won the award for Best Critical Review for his review of Anders Osborne’s American Patchwork in OffBeat magazine.

I'm always surprised and humbled when I am honored with an award such as this. One never thinks in these terms in the middle of writing about a work that offers so much inspiration. It is a marvel to inhabit the same world as a genius like Anders.

Here's the text of the review:

Anders Osborne
American Patchwork
(Alligator)
01 May 2010 — by John Swenson
The rock era is pushing 60 and anyone who’s been listening carefully will have to admit that enthusiasm for contemporary releases can never include any believable claims of originality. That’s okay because much of the best rock is artful theft anyway. There remains plenty of room for personal expression, however, and there’s always a place for great songwriting.

Which brings us to Anders Osborne. His gifts as a guitar player are significant, and if one is led to make comparisons to Duane Allman, that’s hardly a negative. There are only so many notes that can be phrased so many different ways. But the human voice is something else; no two are the same. When that unique voice is used in service of personal expression so emotionally intense it feels like an explosion, you’ve really got something special.

American Patchwork is the album Osborne fans have been waiting for since Ash Wednesday Blues. The record is a triumph in several ways— as a coherent musical statement, as an account of one man’s struggle to transcend his own existential problems, as a tale of New Orleans loss and recovery, as a rumination on the entropic inevitability of death and a possible redemption by love. The back story is that it’s an album about recovery from substance abuse, but to leave it at that is like saying John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was an album about primal therapy.

Osborne contrasts electric and acoustic modes artfully to express the roller coaster of emotions he takes us through on American Patchwork. The record begins with the ominous buzzing of multi-layered guitars that lead us “On the Road to Charlie Parker,” a hair-raising metaphor for genius cut down at the knees by heroin. Osborne keeps it terse and focused, adding to the drama by not overplaying it. He steps aside on track two to comment almost dispassionately on his condition as he sings the tuneful chorus of “Echoes of My Sins,” a song delivered here as a crunching electric shuffle but which sounds as if it could easily be sung as a straight pop melody.

Osborne contrasts his horror with the first of the redemptive tracks on the album, the simple reggae love song “Got Your Heart.” But Osborne is always an emotional recidivist, and we’re immediately plunged into the nightmare of “Killing Each Other.” The bad vibes continue as Osborne contemplates a desultory escape on “Acapulco,” a song about Mexico that Kenny Chesney will never record, then he offers a heartbroken tribute to a fallen friend on the remarkable hymn “Standing With Angels.” The line “You’re done raging against the light” sums up the condition Osborne is writing about with remarkable eloquence. In this chapter of Osborne’s life, there is a decidedly happy ending, expressed in the simple love songs that end the album, “Meet Me in New Mexico” and “Call On Me.”

Can one man’s search for salvation discover a redemptive path for a ruined city, an imperiled country, a world perpetually on the brink of disaster? Anders Osborne is not posing that question, but after living with American Patchwork for weeks now I can’t stop asking it myself. The album describes a process—the writer of these songs is balancing the baggage of what can’t be changed against the possibilities that lie ahead, all by wrestling with his emotions in the here and now. His personal experiences become universal observations in these songs, and the listener, by living vicariously through them, can confront his own demons. That’s not an original process, but it’s the living definition of great art.

New Atlantis on The Mic tomorrow

2011-07-16T10:12:00.001-07:00

Stu Levitan's interview with me about New Atlantis will air tomorrow of Madison, Wisconsin's The Mic:
http://www.themic921.com/pages/stulevitan.html

7/17/11

10am

Musically, culturally and socially, New Orleans is one of the great cities of the world. Katrina and the federal flood that followed left it battered, but not beaten. An extended conversation with award-winning music journalist John Swenson, about his entertaining and important new book, New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. [Oxford Univ. Press] {Music from Nine Lives: A Musical Adaptation, by Colman DeKay and Paul Sanchez, based on the book by Dan Baum}

Murdoch as Moloch

2011-07-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

See what happens when scandal baron Rupert Murdoch's last name is substituted for Moloch in Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/murdoch-allen-ginsbergs-moloch-mash-21

Shorty vs. Prince in Montreal

2011-07-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the text of my recent piece on OffBeat's website on New Orleans artists at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. For a more complete presentation check out
www.offbeat.com

Shorty vs. Prince in Montreal
01 July 2011 — by John Swenson The Montreal International Jazz Festival offers a broad palette of styles covering disparate jazz formats, and, like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and most other “jazz” festivals in North America, adds a significant dose of popular music acts to boost attendance.

Last year, the festival staged a mock Mardi Gras parade that ran for a mile in the center of town. The event looked more like something you’d see in Disneyland than on St. Charles Avenue until the float bearing the Soul Rebels cruised down St. Catherine Street. The Rebels’ spontaneity and second line insouciance pumped a rippling surge of electricity through the procession, and when the Rebels’ float reached the Place Des-Artes, the band hit the main stage to jump start Trombone Shorty’s set with a wild jam session.

This year Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue and the Soul Rebels were back at the Montreal Jazz Fest along with Galactic. The Soul Rebels headlined the same stage where they supported Shorty last year and showed themselves up to the task. The band faced a formidable challenge from Prince, who stole all the headlines the days before with two astonishing four-hour shows at the Metropolis Theater. Using a larger-than-life format with multiple encores based on the classic funk marathons invented by James Brown and perfected by Parliament/Funkadelic, Prince and his outstanding band played much of his most familiar work, plying his trademark brand of high-stepping Minneapolis funk along with feedback-dripping rock guitar pyrotechnics, fusion jazz, the sexiest version of “The Look of Love” ever conceived, and a paint-peeling performance from saxophonist Maceo Parker that served notice to all those grieving fans of the late-lamented Clarence Clemons that the Big Man wasn’t the only saxophonist on planet Earth.

When Prince decides to leave his mark, you know it. During “Controversy” he had the crowd chanting, “Montreal… Montreal.” During an extended vamp, he hijacked a sea of winking cell phones for his own purposes: “Call somebody! Call somebody right now! Call your boss. Tell him you ain’t comin’ into work until Tuesday because this party’s going ‘til then.”

The Soul Rebels don’t have a front man with the charisma of Prince, but they brought the funk with every bit as much heat, and when it comes to employing extended vamps and song themes linking fiery solos and breakdowns, even Prince’s tightly-rehearsed outfit has to take notice. The bands on the big outdoor stage get a pair of hour-long sets. In their first, the Rebels came out, played a fanfare, kicked into Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” and kept going, pausing only three times during their relentless performance.

The following night Galactic charted a less expansive course, playing tightly focused sets that minimized jamming in favor of deep, disciplined grooves and terse songs. Corey Henry, a consistent presence in the band’s live shows for over a year, was featured on trombone and rapped a bit behind Living Colour singer Corey Glover, who fronted the band with authority. Glover’s version of “Heart of Steel” matched the definitive performance Irma Thomas gave to this great song on Ya-Ma-May.

The Soul Rebels and Galactic rely on their ensemble strengths rather than any one featured member, but Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue can match Prince on both counts—a band whose strength and coherence is second to none, and a front man who appears destined for singular greatness. Prince partied for hours, but in his set at the Metropolitan Shorty delivered every bit as much passion in a little over an hour, a short set because he was on a bill with Bootsy Collins.

Over the course of the past year, Shorty has worked more and more of the material from Backatown into the act. Now the record, which was great on its own terms, sounds like a terrific blueprint for a knock ‘em dead live act. With each show, Shorty seems to grow in stature and poise, and the band moves with him; Pete Murano’s guitar playing is a crucial feature of the show. Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” was a revelation for Shorty’s smooth, sexy vocal and Murano’s gorgeously framed guitar solo.

Then came the moment of truth: “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” One of Louis Armstrong’s most famous vehicles, this is a song that every New Orleans trumpeter has to come face-to-face with, and few can do much to keep from being occluded by Armstrong’s massive shadow. Shorty has turned this into his personal vehicle with a version that plays to every one of his and his band’s strengths, from the cleverly turned arrangement with its inventively phrased instrumental introduction, to Shorty’s confident, easy swaying vocal. It’s right there when Shorty combines old and new, bringing a smile of recognition to the old schoolers and a hip nod of the head from the millennials, who were blown away when Shorty followed with his 20-chorus-long held note solo. Shorty could probably do this circular breathing exercise all night, but he styles like he’s gasping for breath on the last turn, then falls to the stage on his back to wild applause before getting back up and going right into the last verse.

The set closed with a killer rendition of “Show Me Something Beautiful” with a sly nod in the coda to Chicago’s barnburner “25 or 6 to 4″ and Murano’s brilliant Terry Kath-via-Jimi Hendrix guitar solo.

Shorty began his encore with a version of “Saints” that sounded like a jump blues tune with a second line beat, but he shifted into “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” which grabbed the crowd by its collective throat. By the time they hit the chorus, everyone in the place was screaming “You! You! You!” and I was wondering what version they were hooking this to. Solomon Burke? Unlikely. The Stones? Definitely not. The Grateful Dead? Maybe at another venue. The Blues Brothers? Of course. They’ve all see the movie. Then, just as suddenly, everybody shifted instruments, members of Bootsy’s band were on stage and Shorty was playing drums to “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker.”

On the same stage where Prince had thrown the gauntlet two nights before, Trombone Shorty accepted the challenge and prevailed. The screams of delight after all this was over eclipsed even the reception for Prince.

New Trombone Shorty album due out

2011-07-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews follows his Grammy nominated Backatown CD with For True, to be released Sept 13 on Verve Forecast. For True features Andrews' band, Orleans Avenue, as well as a string of legendary performers with whom he recently shared the stage, including Jeff Beck, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Ledisi, Warren Haynes, Ivan and Cyril Neville, The Rebirth Brass Band and more. Troy wrote or co-wrote all 14 tracks on the new album including co-writes with Ledisi, Kid Rock, the legendary Lamont Dozier and more. The CD was produced and engineered by Ben Ellman (except The Craziest Thing produced by George Drakoulias).

The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has earned unanimous raves on 5 continents in the past year alone with his patented high energy SUPAFUNKROCK sound. He was praised in the media from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly to NPR and the New York Times following the 2010 release of 'Backatown', which spent 10 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Chart and still reigns in the top 10 over a year after its release. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have been everywhere since, performing on The Late Show With David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Austin City Limits and more. Troy has made additional appearances on Good Morning America, Tavis Smiley, NFL Kickoff (joining Dave Matthews Band), ESPN and a recurring role on the hit HBO series Tremé, on which he played himself.

In December 2010 Andrews brought an all-star lineup from NOLA to New York as musical director for the landmark 'Red Hot + New Orleans' concert event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Broad based respect for Andrews' virtuosity and versatility is exemplified by a list of performances at events as varied as Bonnaroo, and Jam Cruise to Japan's Fuji Rock Fest, Australia's Byron Bay Blues Festival, the prestigious Montreux, Newport, and Playboy (at Hollywood Bowl) Jazz Festivals, Philadelphia Folk Festival, San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and a Reggae Festival in Germany in addition to festivals as far flung as Brazil and Singapore plus tour dates with Jeff Beck and Dave Matthews Band.

Andrews has built his reputation on "blistering, bold, exuberant and cutting edge" (USA Today) live performances and is currently on tour with Orleans Avenue. Full tour schedule here: http://www.tromboneshorty.com/tour

Full track listing for FOR TRUE -

1. Buckjump (Feat. Rebirth Brass Band - Horns; 5th Ward Weebie - Vocals; Ben
Ellman & Charlie Smith - Percussion)
2. Encore (Feat. Warren Haynes - Guitar; co-write w/Lamont Dozier)
3. For True
4. Do to Me (Feat. Jeff Beck - Guitar)
5. Lagniappe Part 1 (Feat. Stanton Moore - Drums)
6. The Craziest Thing
7. Dumaine St.
8. Mrs. Orleans (Feat. Kid Rock - Vocals; Robert Mercurio - Bass)
9. Nervis (Feat. Ivan Neville - Vocals and Clavinet; Cyril Neville - Vocals)
10. Roses (Feat. Lenny Kravitz - Bass)
11. Big 12 (Feat. Ben Ellman - Harmonica)
12. Unc
13. Then There Was You (Feat. Ledisi - Vocals)
14. Lagniappe Part 2 (Feat. Stanton Moore - Drums)

New Atlantis on WBGO last night

2011-07-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the Josh Jackson interview from last night. It tells the New Atlantis story extremely well:

http://www.wbgo.org/thecheckout/john-swenson-new-atlantis/

New Atlantis on WBGO this evening

2011-07-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

WBGO radio host Josh Jackson and I will be talking about New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans tonight during his show, "The Checkout," from 6:30 -7:30 eastern time. That's WBGO, Jazz '88, 88.3 FM Newark. Listen online at:

http://www.wbgo.org

New Atlantis on WRSU tonight

2011-06-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

I will be the guest on Richard Skelly's "Low Budget Blues Show" tonight June 30 on Rutgers University Radio talking about my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Future of New Orleans and playing related music. Listen online from 8-10 pm EST at:

nj.com/wrsu

Call me Bilbo

2011-06-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

It was apparent from the moment the Radiators announced their retirement last November that this band meant a lot more to New Orleans music history than just about all the official chroniclers of same ever allowed. Perhaps that fact alone pushed many of its fans deeper into the cult worship of what has clearly taken on spiritual implications in the wake of the band's existence. The fervor fans brought to the final run of shows -- San Francisco, Florida, Minnesota, the northeast and the Last Watusi at Tipitina's -- was unlike anything I've seen in more than 40 years of covering popular music. Of course these things are beyond any real human measure because they're literally supernatural, but the fact is that now that the Radiators have gone the fans have picked up the torch and created a nascent religious movement. From an almost frenzied speculation about what the last words (last song) would be the fans turned to consideration of the second coming. A mythology is brewing merrily only a week later as the apostles Camile Baudoin and Reggie Scanlan each held successful communion with thirsty Fishheads on New Orleans stages. Radiators fans became rapturous storytellers, poets and philosophers, sharing lengthy anecdotes about personal problems the band helped them to overcome and using quotes from Plato and Schopenhauer to illustrate points. One fan even suggested that the survivng fans were a Fellowship of the Fish, which I guess would make Ed Volker Gandalf the Grey, Tolkein's wizard who sacrificed himself for the survival of the rest. In which case the Fellowship awaits the return from the spirit world of Gandalf the White to rescue them at some undetermined future moment of peril. All of this goes to prove that there's no limit to the power of human imagination, especially when it's animated by the spirit force of music. It's a secret that every New Orleans musician seems to know instinctively. I count myself very lucky to share in that.

Zeke Speaks about Treme

2011-06-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the interview sections I've withheld to avoid giving away information about the Radiators performing on Treme until the show aired.

Zeke actually wrote the song as he sings it... "I dreamed I saw Professor Longhair way up in the clouds..."

Zeke:
"I had the experience at the Jazz Fest the year after Fess passed away. I was pretty high and it was the middle of the day and I thought I saw Fess's face form in a cloud, you know, like the way people say they see the Virgin Mary in apparitions. I saw Fess in the clouds. Despite all the artificial substances I've taken over the years I've had very few visions. It was a very weird thing. I carried that image for years years and there's a book called Long Hard Journey Home. And while I was reading the book I thought of that image of Fess. I went from there and I started writing down the words. It was like he was urging the people who were still alive to keep on playing. He made the journey... and he was telling us it's a long hard joourney and the one thing that can really brighten the firmament is if people keep playing and singing it."

On to Watusi Rapture (after Trocadero)

2011-06-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

I do have a lot more interview material but the overall impression one will get from it is how much this band of brothers cares for each other after decades of stress-filled coexistence. The magic of the music they conjure and the communion with the fans has given each member of the Radiators a life's reward that is beyond any known measure of computation. They are all aware of it and they all treasure it. We as listeners are also participants in the magic. The final New York shows took place on some supernatural parnassus of joy. I've never heard the Rads sound better than they did Friday night in their New York finale, when they lived up to the marquee billing and even played "On Broadway" after a magnificent "River Run." The way the crowd reacted to "Number Two Pencil" you might have though Pink Floyd had reformed to play Dark Side of the Moon. Like all the greatest New Orleans music, the show moved to some kind of secret, timeless rhythm that boiled up out of the interaction of these five conjurers and the crowd danced in unison -- old folks on crutches, canes waving in the air, danced with bouncing circles of squealing young women. The spirit of joy that suffused the crowd all night long was an emotion rarely, rarely seen from the usually tough and cynical New York audiences. There was a moment -- was it during "Suck the Head?" -- when Camile played one of those solos from a different dimension. The two guitar interchange between Dave and Camile remains an uncanny aspect of this band's brilliance and somehow seems more solid now than ever. This is one aspect of what we've come to know from the Radiators that is flourishing right now and certainly doesn't look like it's going to disappear anytime soon. Now it's back home to the burning crescent for a final weekend of Watusi Rapture. But somehow I know even if it's the end of the Last Watusi, the end of what these musicians have in store for us is not in sight.

Frank speaks

2011-06-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the last installment of the Radiators transcripts I have from recent interviews with the band. There are more to come. The Rads are going out on a very high note and I think we are going to hear a lot more music from all of them even if it's not as the same entity.

John Swenson: Will you spend more time at your restaurant, Mande's, after the band stops playing?
Frank Bua: Probably. I'm there a lot anyway. I built the place myself. I cut the trees down from the woods, debarked them by hand, got 'em treated. I have 40 trees in the place. I've got 35 foot cielings, Spanish mahogany countertops, oak flooring. You gotta come if you like food. Mondays and Tuesdays are traditionally the best times to catch me when I'm off the road wth the Rads. My wife works there. When we opened up my partner asked me if I could give his wife a job and she turned out to be a Radiators fan who I'd known for years. so she and my wife are the managers.

J.S.: What went through your mind when Ed told you he had to stop?
F.B.: I thought he was kidding... for me it's like when you're younger and you think things never change and you're parents never die. It's like that. In my mind it was never gonna die. I thought about it but I never could really wrap my mind around it. So I thought he was kidding. We had the meeting in Chicago and I walked in, I was the last one in as usual. I looked at everybody and I looked at him and I said 'you're kiddin, right?' I thought he was joking. But I know him and when I looked at his face I knew he'd made that decision. I've seen that look once before when we were in the Rhapsodizers. It was me and Camile, Becky Kury and clark Vreeland. Ed wrote all the songs. Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic records had seen us at Jazz Fest and wanted to sign us to a recording contract. I think this was '76. They brought Ed and Becky up to New York and it looked like everything was set to roll from there. In New York Becky became the focal point and it upset the chemistry of the whole thing. Atlantic decided to throw Becky into the studio with a studio band. Ed asked Becky what she was gonna do and she said 'I'm gonna take the best offer.' Ed quit right on the spot. I was there. I saw that look on his face and it was the same finale. Something had come to an end. I knew he was serious then.

(Note... I'm fast forwarding the interview now) F.B: ... over 4600 gigs with the same five guys... uh, I dunno... don't know where I was going with that.
J.S.: what I asked was as the gigs went on has it felt different?
F.B.: Musically it's felt great. But as far as our feelings on the stage... it's great, y'now? There's four of us, Camile and Ed and I -- I mean Camile and Dave and I and Reggie, you know... didn't plan on this happening, didn't want it to happen and apparently don't want it to happen. But it is happening. To me it's been like the band is playing good together and the vibe on the stage has been terrific... people are lovin it we're lovin it. I really couldn't ask for a better closing to these 33 years, well Ed and I have been together 41 years. Ed, Camile and I have been together 41 years. In my heart I really don't think this is over. I think that's kind of a thing that I'm holding on to... not that we'll ever get back to doin what we did, but ... I'm ready to play. Right now, tomorrow, whenever, it's just a matter of if this band ever wants to play again...

J.S.:I know you've rehearsed with another keyboardist.
F.B: We've talked about it. It's just a big change for all of us. We've all been dedicated to this. I'm still dedicated to it. I'd like to go on and do some music... it's been hard. It's been fun but it's been hard. Anything we do, some gigs without without Ed, we've got a lot of people around the country, in Minnesota, the MOM's people, the Monkeys down in Fort Lauderdale, all of those groups of people will come back out and want us to come to them if we reform without Ed. I know that. They know that. They're asking us already: 'Can we get you guys to come back?' I don't know... I don't think... there's too many people out there that love what we're doing and like to dance and like to get outside of themselves and take a break from life. And that's kind of what we do. We help them take a break from reality. At the same time we take our break from reality, we need that as well.

J.S.: You're doing the Monkey Ball this weekend, right?
F.B.: (Brightens) Yeah Yeah. That's a bunch of Monkeys down there let me tell you.

J.S.: As you're doing these last shows, the last time you play Lafayette Square...
F.B.: I'm sad every time. It's like, not just saying goodbye to people that you love but you're saying goodbye to cities. Minny, wherever, we'll never be there again. We'll never be there again as... we are. After all this is over I may never see all my great friends in Minnesota again. Or San Francisco. San Francisco is like our second home. When I think about that it gets real sad. And I ... I realized it at the time. I said to myself 'Well, this is the last... that's it.' Chicago was like crazy. I walked out... I'd seen people crying in the audience but when I walked out, I was on the second train as they call it (the band is ferried back to the hotel in two car trips) and there were still people standing outside crying waiting to say goodbye. ... it's... I gotta tell you... it didn't sit right, y'know?

J.S.: Has it surprised you, this outpouring of emotion from the fans?
F.B.: Yeah. Even in Houston. I have nothing against Houston but I didn't realize we were that popular in Houston. At the House of Blues gig, the last time we played there, people were crying, people just grabbing you and hugging you.

J.S.: Wow
F.B.: It's sad

J.S.: why do you think they love the band so much?
F.B.: Umm, well, a lot of people grew up with us. It's not like they just started listening to us last year. The people in Minnesota, the Krewe of DAD's, they celebrated their 25th anniversary having us there.

The untold Bill Haley story

2011-05-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

In 1982 W.H. Allen published my biography of the first rock & roll star, Bill Haley. The one crucial interview I could not get for the book was with his third wife, Martha. Michael Hall has broken through this barrier and put together a compelling piece about Haley's last years in the current Texas Monthly. Well worth a read:

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-06-01/feature3.php

Camile Speaks

2011-05-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Radiators final series of shows, The Last Watusi, I've been posting recent transcripts with members of the band. Coming up this week are three final shows in New York -- Wednesday and Thursday at Brooklyn Bowl and Friday at the Best Buy theater. The final three shows -- June 9-11 -- will take place at Tipitina's in New Orleans. Here's Camile's interview conducted last month for the piece in the Jazz Fest issue of OffBeat. I will post a transcript with drummer Frank Bua later this week.

John Swenson: This has to have been an extremely emotional time for you.
Camile Baudoin: As we go on the emotions get more and more intense, we're feeling the death and rebirth at the same time. You see people being sad about the end but feeling really great about the years. It's been a run... the last couple of nights I've run into half a dozen Tulane people at gigs, from when we used to play the Quad. So many of our friends are family and close friends. That's what makes it really, really hard. It's not as nonchalant as other bands might have it. If you get too popular you can't really have that close fit of knowing that many people. It's really been incredible. Sometimes you almost laugh because these big burly guys are just sobbing. It's been a hoot. The band's really feeling good.

J.S.: What is it about this bond between the band and its fans? It's completely unique.
C.B.: It's sincere and real. That's the first thing that comes to mind, would these people be my friends if it weren't for the band? Obviously I probably wouldn't have met them otherwise, but aside from that I'd be surprised if 85-90 per cent of the friends that I've made on the road wouldn't be friends anyway if I'd met them through other circumstances.

J.S.: Is this something to do with New Orleans magic or is it something bigger?
C.B.: (laughing) There's nothng bigger than New Orleans. The circle of friends is amazing. The band has brought together groups of people all across the United States. People are saying: 'What are we gonna do now? We don't know how to keep in touch without you all.' Well, you'll learn. People come up and say thank you all the time. I say thank you to you to because it takes all of us to make this special. Those people are special. I can't tell you exactly what it is but I can say it's gotta be real, it's gotta be true, it's gotta be genuine. Because it wouldn't be this real if it wasn't.

J.S.: It must be difficult ending your playing relationship with Ed after all these years.
C.B.: Ed is a dear friend and the person I've known longest on this earth. We went to kindergarten together. I've known the man over 55 years.

J.S.: Does that make it easier or harder that you know him that long?
C.B.: Yes (bursts into laughter).
We may play together again in some other configuration. I think like Ed, when we're through everybody wants to take a little breath and just kind of ponder everything. We've been nonstop for 33 1/3 years. We've been on longplay for a long time. We've been together so long everything around us has changed. When we started out you used to wear a suit to go on an airline. Now you've got to take all your clothes off to get through the goddam gate. The road wears. People age differently. I know Ed loves music. And he's a poet. I think he hit a physical and a mental wall. You can't make your body do something that it just can't do anymore. And it could get worse as well...

J.S: What's next for you aside from the solo album you're working on?
C.B.: I've always dabbled with side things like playing with the Mardi Gras Indians. If somebody calls me and I can do it that's great. Right now I'm just taking my time. I'm doing a CD from my early days it's either gonna be called Old Bayou Blues or Living Room Music. It's about my parend, my godfather, who taught me guitar when I was growing up... just going back to my roots. I figure it's a good place to start. Like the band I'm very eclectic, playing with the Radiators you can't help but be because you've got to go everywhere musically. It's just two guitars and a violin. I'm singing some simple country and western songs, I'm playing with David Doucet from Beasoliel and Harry Hardin the violin player with Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes. It started out as a recording in a club and it's turned into a studio project. It's taken a little longer... it feels good.

J.S.: There's talk of another version of the band emerging from all of this.
C.B.: I don't know where things are gonna go, but what I'd like to see happen is the four of us doing something with somebody else and developing a little thing, mostly Radiators songs and that kind of music, and just play a little bit, just to have something going on. We've been doing it for so long. But at the same time to allow everybody to do other projects that they want to do on the side. That would be perfect.

J.S.: There is the sense that you'd like to move forward and do something else.
C.B.: We'd have to shave something off that name. I'd feel a little uncomfortable calling it exactly that. We'll figure something out. I hope so and I think so as much as... I'm scared to death in some ways but at the same time I'm getting so much positive feedback from people. Look, doors close and doors open, it's really true. It's a turning point. This will definitely make me more creative, keep my spirit and energy going, after doing kind of the same thing for 33 years it will be good to just change it up a little bit.

J.S.: Do you have any personal goals?
C.B.: Somebody just asked me that and the first thing that came to mind is maybe I'll have a little bit of time to practice.

J.S.: How about unrealized ambitions?
C.B.: Just putting together some CDs, going through the different musical stages of my life. The next CD might be about some '60s music. All kinds of things are going through my head. We used to be Earl King's backup band. I thought about doing a record called Songs in the Key of Earl.

J.S.: You also played with Zigaboo Modeliste. You knew each other in high school, right?
C.B.: We go back a bit. We used to hear each other all the time but we never played together. A couple of years back we got a chance to do some gigs at Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras that were just a hoot. It's all serendipity. I dropped my car off at a place under the bridge to get a brake job, under the Crescent City Connection, and I know of a little breakfast place about three blocks from there. I guess it was about three months ago. I'm sitting there eating breakfast and in walks Ziggy and his wife Kathy and there they were at 7:30 in the morning at this litte breakfast place completely out of the way and there we were. I was just like really shattered at that point, burned out and wondering what was going to happen, and it was nice to be able to talk to an old friend like that. Zig went through a similar thing with the Meters. What a kind pair of ears and what a kind man...

J.S.: Have you gotten offers from other bands?
C.B.: I've had some offers and maybe if it was something I really wanted to do I'd do it but it would be kind of hard to jump onto something like that knowing that 4/5ths of the people I've enjoyed playing with for so long were waiting for me to play with them. That would be a true dilemma.

Dave Speaks

2011-05-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a transcript of an interview with Dave Malone conducted last year shortly after the Radiators announced that the band would close up shop.

John Swenson: I had the interesting assignment to go on the road with The Band in 1976 and write about their last tour. They were on the road honoring their commitments but

there was friction. Robbie Robertson seperated himself from the rest of the group but the others weren't ready to stop. This strikes me to some extent as a similar situation.

Dave Malone: I guess it should be made clear that the band did not decide to stop. A key and most people would argue the key guy decided that not only could he not take the

road anymore and believe me I totally get that because the road always wins and eventually ... we all have a hard time recovering. I'm 58 and I'm the youngest guy in the band.

In theory we could have kept playing around local stuff or hand picked gigs but he wants to just quit completely. He not only wrote most of the songs, he sings more of them

than I do and plays all the keyboards, he's also made every set list that we've played, of course we generally ignore them but they are guidelines. When somebody that

important decides he doesn't want to do it anymore, what can you say?

J.S.: Can you imagine continuing?

D.M.: Yeah I can imagine it. It remains to be seen. It means trying out another keyboard player and it would have to be someone who can sing but sure it could conceivably

happen. It's way too soon for me to say one way or the other about that but the question was 'Is it conceivable' and yes it is conceivable, of course.

J.S.: You're playing out your commitments.

D.M. Ed had agreed to play through Jazz Fest and after a day of sorting through the email I called him up and reminded him that there were other gigs we had booked beyond that

that he wasn't necessarily aware of because I handle that stuff along with Josh our road manager. When he found that out he agreed to go to the last booked gig. Then he called

me back an hour later and said I think the last gig the Radiators play should be at home. I had been thinking the same thing. So Tips would be great, hopefully we could have

farewell shows at Tips on the second weekend of June next year. That's what's going on.

J.S.: What's been the reaction?

D.M.: Disbelief and... sadness, I guess you'd say. Pretty much sad people. People have been calling me up, people I don't talk too that often, crying. It's awesome to hear

that this music means so much to so many people but it's kind of heartbreaking to hear.

J.S.: How does this feel to you personally?

D.M.: I don't know actually. Im sure when it gets closer to the end date I'm gonna be way more emotional than I am now and I am emotional now already. It's the end of

something that's been more than half of my life. Even thinking about him not being there is like having to think about your parents not being around. This steadfast thing

thats been in your life for this long a time to be suddenly gone is gonna be very weird.

J.S.: Do you think of your identity as a musician as Dave Malone of the Radiators or do you think of yourself in a larger context?

D.M.: I've done side projects that felt really good but for the most part yeah because I've been playing with this group of guys for so long, more than any other thing, you

start to question whether it will work in some other setting. I don't have arrogance and ego to think anything other than that. Luckily I've been doing outside projects

enought to indicate to me that there's more to me than being Dave the Radiator.

J.S.: But you will continue to play.

D.M.: How can you not play? That's what we do. I'm a guy who plays music with a guitar. What would I do? My youngest daughter wrote me out a possible future career list.

Number one was cowboy. Number two was bodybuilder and number three was a wood carver. No, I think of myself as Dave the guitar play singer guy. Hopefully I'll do some stuff

with my brother Tommy, hopefully I'll do some stuff with my daughter, my son, with some of the other musicians I love playing with. I don't know that yet. I'm still trying to

digest that the Rads aren't gonna be in my life anymore as such anyway.

J.S.: Fortunately there's still seventh months.

D.M.: Yeah you might think I have all this time to make a decision but I have all this time to be sad too. Thank god it didn't happen like it could have happened. We tempted

fate, we tempted death for a lot of years and at least we're not breaking up because a band member died. I'd be a blubbering mass of jelly if that happened.

J.S.: Maybe there's something to be said for stopping while you're still at a peak, like the baseball player who retires after a great season.

D.M.: That's easier said than done. It's one thing if your monetary rewards made retirment not an issue but we have to earn a living of some sort. It's a dilemma someone whose

in the world of being an artist, but you also have to pay the electric bill.

J.S.: People I'm talking to are looking at this as the end of an era.

D.M.: People calling me up and saying this stuff to me, it's just tearing my heart out. But I'm proud also at the same time. I'm having my heart yanked out because there are

so many people across the country whose whole friend base and love life, families even, are based on being around the Radiators. They're calling and saying they can't imagine

their lives without us, weve played their weddings, people have built social communities out of connections to the band, which is really incredible. I'm honored to have such a

big part in making their lives what they consider to be good, it's really touching.

J.S.: It's also the end of an era in that the radiators are the one rock band left in New Orleans with a direct tie to Professor Longhair and Earl King.

D.M.: We played with both of those gentlemen and they were super influential on our musical environment, but we also have ties to all of New Orleans rock and roll, we do

versions of some pretty obscure New Orleans songs. Lots of people don't even know that they're not our songs. We were lucky to grow up in an age when we could hear Ernie K-Doe

and Benny Stillman and Earl King and the Hawkettes on the radio and we were thinking everybody in the country was hearing this stuff because at the same time we were also

hearing what were national hits. We found out later that wasn't true. There are some bands coming up that are connecting themselves to some old brass bands way of playing,

even reinventing the songs. There needs to be another wave of kids appreciating the golden age of New Orleans rock and roll, all the Cosimo recordings and all that stuff.

There probably will be but we are the only band I know of that plays those songs regularly and understands how important that was in our musical formation.

J.S.: And you play those songs in the same context as songs by the Beatles and the Stones and the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers and all the blues and country stuff.

D.M.: We have that eclectic taste because back then the radio had free reign to play whatever the disc jockey wanted to play. You could hear Hank Williams Sr. and Otis Redding

and (laughs) Gary Puckett and the Union Gap back to back. We have all these diverse musical influences that were all brought to the table when we created our own songs as

well. I dont think we have a polka. We have to work on that.

J.S.: How thick is your schedule?

D. M. This just happened. I have to figure out how many gigs the guys want to play.

J.S.: Are you gonna do a Last Waltz type event?

D.M.: That's the idea. We've been talking about doing another studio album. The Last Waltz was not only about the band but also about all the people who had anything to do

with them. Some of the feedback has been that people just want to see the rads. We'll have to make a judgement call on that I think.

J.S.: The Last Waltz was clearly not just the end of The Band but a capsulization of a whole era of music. Maybe this being the end of a different era maybe that's the feeling we take away.

D.M.: I'm getting weepy just talking about it. I want it to be joyful, honest and honorable.

Jazz Fest reviews

2011-05-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Big Chiefs on the Battlefront
Forty two years ago Monk Boudreaux and Bo Dollis joined forces to lead a Mardi Gras Indian parade to Congo Square as the first official act of the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival. It was an extremely important symbolic act that opened up the secret society of the Black Indian gangs to the general public in non-ritual time. At roughly
the same time the two began to mix Mardi Gras Indian music with New Orleans R&B, an incredible important development in New Orleans music. At this year's Jazz Fest Boudreaux
and Dollis were still at it and Mardi Gras Indians were a huge part of the festival's identity at the Heritage stage and elsewhere. Boudreaux, who's become an iconic figure
through his presence in Treme, has never enjoyed a higher profile. He brought the house down as part of the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars at the Acura Stage and had two
hellacious sets at the Heritage stage, one with the 101 Runners and another leading his own band. During the 101 Runners show and wizened old black man moved down to the front of the stage and started beating on a portable tom tom drum in time with the band. Several percussionist on stage smiled approval as the guy hit all the right accents during "Sew Sew Sew." This was about as perfect an expression of how New Orleans music moves seamlessly from the streets to the stage as I've ever witnessed.
I interviewed Bo Dollis two years ago and he was extremely frail, but at Jazz Fest he was miraculously restored to his rightful spot in front of the Wild Magnolias. With his son Bo Dollis Jr. providing appropriate support Bo Sr. seemed transported by the music, urging the crowd to sing along as he balanced on his cane or sat as he sang, decked out in a brilliant white suit instead of feathers and beads. Dollis was in powerful voice and was able to sing numerous verses as the crowd, aware that they were witnessing a miracle, urged him on with the fervent devotion of a religious gathering.

Long on Shorty
Trombone Shorty apparently doesn't sleep during Jazz Fest. He was all over town, day and night, playing until dawn at Tipitina's and then hitting the Fair Grounds for an
onslaught that included guest shots with people as disparate as Fifth Ward Weebie, Kid Rock and Jimmy Buffet. His own set was a dazzling example of how jazz can still be
cutting edge contemporary popular music. The young audience watching him at the Gentilly stage was mesmerized by his beautiful rendition of "On the Sunny Side of the Street,"
a song that would have driven the same audience to the exits if delivered in the cornball version too many veterans give it. Shorty made a very good song his own in the
context of a set that sizzled with a hard rock edge but traveled on funk rhythmic patterns and featured great trombone and trumpet playing from New Orleans' most galvanic
soloist. I saw two young men right after the show playing air trombone instead of air guitar as they moved excitedly toward their next destination. I was disappointed to see a
national writer try to describe how good Shorty was by comparing him to Kermit Ruffins. Shorty doesn't need Kermit as a foil to demonstrate his brilliance. It just doesn't sit
right with me that Kermit has to be dissed in order to talk about how good Shorty is. The perception problem is caused by too small a sample. It's a mistake to judge New
Orleans music by what happens at Jazz Fest alone. Kermit's decision to stay local isn't just good for his own lifestyle; it benefits everyone who calls New Orleans home.

Rads on a roll
The comment I kept hearing after the Radiators played their final Jazz Fest show was "That didn't sound like a band that is breaking up." Indeed it didn't, and the fact is the
band isn't breaking up; Ed Volker is leaving. I find it hard to believe that some version of this group will not continue on and I submit that the question of who will replace
them in the Jazz Fest lineup can be easily answered: pay them Bon Jovi money to reunite for a special series of performances at Jazz Fest every year. The band's run during
this year's fest was uncanny. Those who judged them merely on the two hours at the Fest with a host of special guests were unaware of the context of this music. Over seven
shows there were only a couple of repeat performances including the incendiary readymade "The Twitch," a guaranteed quantum jumper that goosed every set it
appeared in. My personal highlight reel of this run would have to include "Creeping Vine," "Hold Back the Flood," "Let the Red Wine Flow" and an astonishing great "Total
Evaporation" with Mark Mullins at The Temple; "Can't Take It with You When You Go" at Le Petite Theater; "Nail Your Heart To Mine," "Smoking Hole" and "Suck the Head" at House
of Blues; "Confidential," "Law of the Fish," "Circus Life" and "The Wrong Road" from the Dream Palace Revisited; "Screwloose," "Fuck 'Em if They Can't Take A Joke", "Lost What
(They) Had" and "River Run" from Snafu; and finally at Jazz Fest with "Never Let Your Fire Go Out" (with Michael Doucet on violin), "Waiting for the Rain" (with Warren Haynes
on guitar) and "Wild and Free." The whole run ended with Dave Malone channeling Chris Kenner on a careening version of "I Like It Like That" backed by a host of friends. When
a band plays a series of shows in one city that is as varied as the Radiators performances were during Jazz Fest the thoroughgoing critic has a genuine obligation to consider
the run as a whole because just about everyone else plays the same show night after night. Judging the Radiators by about a seventh part of a sequence of music that really has
to be heard in its entirety to be fully appreciated is like reviewing Wagner's Ring Cycle on the basis of the performance of "Ride of the Valkyries." Maybe that's why the fans
who took the time to listen are the only ones who ever really understood this very important piece of New Orleans music history.

Reggie Speaks

2011-05-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

Here's a transcript of an interview I did with Reggie Scanlan of the Radiators, parts of which were used in the OffBeat cover story from Jazz Fest 2011:

Reggie Scanlan: I'm excited about doing something new and focussing on what I look at as another chapter in my life. The Radiators have had their time and it's probably better to close it down now with a little bit of style than to just kind of fall apart.

John Swenson: Do you see any difference in the shows since the announcement?

R.S.: I have to say that I think the band is playing at more of the level that it was at 15 years ago. We only have so many gigs left to go so it's almost like an unspoken thing that every gig has to count. Everybody is playing up to the mark and I can feel some people in the band getting a little more sentimental I guess. When you've got guys backstage crying and saying that this is worse than when they got divorced, I kind of go "Whoa, it's just a band," y'know?

J.S.: But obviously it's not just a band.

R.S.: When that started happening it dawned on me that the real thing the band achieved was not that it played great music and Ed wrote a lot of great songs, that's OK. A lot of bands do that. But the one thing about us that I think is our crowning achievement is that we were the catalyst for the formation of an amazing community of people that kind of formed in our wake. It's a real community. People talk to each other across the country, they travel to meet each other, they met their wives at a Radiators gig. We've become part of the tapestry of a lot of people's lives. I think that's really what we did. We proved that music really does bring people together.

J.S.: How did that happen?

R.S.: It wasn't a conscious effort on our part, I can tell you that. We had no idea what we were doing. Our fans have a different feel about them than other band's fan bases. These other bands have great fans -- Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Allman Brothers, they all have great fan bases. But ours seems to have taken on a different kind of a feel than all of those people. I'm not sure why that is. It might have been that we never got so big that we had 100 million fans. We got just big enough that we had a group of fans that could all stay in touch with each other if they wanted to. They all knoow each other when they go to shows. They all know their names, they recognize each other. It's a mystery to me why that group of fans fell into that particular mindset. It just happened on its own and in any other petri dish so to speak it never would have happened. It's a fluke almost.

J.S.: Are we talking about the nature of what it is to be in New Orleans?

R.S.: No because this is something that happened across the country. We're all out of New Orleans and obviously that's something that appeals to people on a deeper level. Maybe New Orleans music is what it took to get people to come together like that. Now that we're talking about it, I'm not even sure I wanna know.

J.S.: Alot of people would say it had something to do with the fact that you played with all these generations of Tulane students who moved to different places but stayed fans in those new places.

R.S.: That's really how we started to get gigs on the east coast back in the old days. Also people would come in and ask if they could tape shows. We said 'sure, if you want to go to the trouble to tape the show you can have it.' We didn't realize that the tape traders were sending these things back up to the east coast. When we went up there to play people already knew who we were. It was an amazing grass roots advertising system. But also, people following the Heat Gen which is the Radiators list serve, people were talking about what part we had played in their lives and you start seeing that we were really the soundtrack for a pretty good chuck of most of these people's lives. Whatever else was going on in their life, this was the constant. So I think that's one of the things that people kind of latched on to. And also Ed seems to write the kind of songs that make people believe that a particular song speaks to them at a certain point of their life when they need it. Something's going on in their life and they hear that song and think that's really what I'm about right now. I think all of that has a lot to do with it.

J.S.: What will these fans do now?

R.S.: I would imagine this is gonna be the same scenario on a smaller scale as what happened when Jerry Garcia died. There will be a number of fans that are not gonna wanna see anything that any of us do or any revised version of the Radaitors because they're Radiators fans and that's it. But that will be a small percentage. I think most of them will be interested in seeing what we do post-Radiators and hopefully it will touch them in some similar ways and be something thet're willing to support to some degree. There are people in the band who want to keep it going with a new keyboard player but honestly and realistically I can't see that happening. You can't do a big farewell tour and then jump up and say here's the band again. You're screwing your fans if you do that. You'd make them feel like they'd been conned.

J.S.: It wouldnt be the same band.

R.S.: It is in the sense that you have a different element in there but in a broad sense the Radiators is whatever we say it is. If we got a new keyboard player it would have a different... You want somebody who's gonna bring something to the party, adding to it because everybody plays different and I wouldn't want anybody in there who was trying to sound like Ed Volker. Half the fun of bringing somebody new into the band is they've got a different way of doing things.

New Atlantis on the tube

2011-05-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the NY1 report on New Atlantis and interview with John Swenson

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/139941/ny1-online--author-john-swenson-discusses-how-musicians-helped-new-orleans-after-katrina

Washboard Chaz; New Atlantis in OffBeat

2011-05-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

The June issue of OffBeat just came online. My cover story on Washboard Chaz is in there as well as an excerpt from my book New Atlantis. You can see both pieces as well as Alex Rawls' interview with mayor Mitch Landrieu and a wrap up of this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at:

www.offbeat.com

Porter, Batiste, Stoltz legal benefit

2011-05-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Whatever the legal merits of the case against the New Orleans musicians George Porter Jr., Russell Batiste and Brian Stoltz may be, the result should not bankrupt such important resources. A very important benefit to raise legal funds to enable the trio to defend itself takes place May 27 at the Howling Wolf. Legal battles pitting managers and record labels against New Orleans musicians always seem to end up with the lawyers getting far too much of the money. Anyone with a beef and the money to back it up can file a lawsuit; the lawyers win either way. But defending yourself from unjust accusations is always punitively expensive, so the musicians lose either way. Here's a link to Keith Spera's explanation of the story:

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2011/05/benefit_to_help_defray_legal_e.html

Zeke Speaks

2011-05-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a transcript of an interview I did with Ed Volker of the Radiators shortly after he announced he was leaving the band last year:

ED VOLKER: My story is that after 9/11 the road started squeezing tighter and tighter. There was the enhanced security, and our fortunes started waning a little bit so we weren't playing multiple nights when we traveled, so there was a lot more roadwork which meant a lot more riding from town to town. After Katrina the finances started getting even tighter. Over the last few years I've been more and more compressed and I'm just exhausted from the squeezebox of the road. I'm looking forward to a quieter, less stressful life.

John Swenson: So you've been wrestling with this decision for a while.

E.V.: Yeah. It started about five years ago, slightly before Katrina. The band has made difficult economic decisions in order to keep on rolling. Compared to other friends I know we've done remarkably well. But the price you have to pay for that is you make less money and you work harder. The road doesn't soften up and meanwhile I'm certainly getting older and I'm not snapping back like I used to. I've been debating it seriously for about two years. It just got to feeling like it's time.

J.S.: Was there a straw that broke the camel's back?

E.V.: Not really. Nothing dramatic. Just going through the same changes we all must go through. Watching your pennies and living on deadlines and gotta get to the airport... just... the road, y'know? More than anything else. I love the guys and I love our music. It wasnt an emotional thing of 'I cant work with this guy anymore' or 'You're playing the song wrong,' nothing to do with any of that stuff. I thought this was the most caring and fair way to make my departure, to give a lot of lead time so if the rest of the guys want to continue on with the Radiators in some fashion or another it's with my blessing. Whatever anybody does it gives us all some lead time to decide waht the next step would be.

I've gone through variations of three large feelings. One is relief to finally get away from it all. Another is complete heartbreak because a large portion of my life has been dedicated to the Radiators and the music. And the other thing is I'm scared. I don't know what the future's gonna bring. I've had a posse to work with for the last 33 years. Actually far before that I ran with the Rhapsodizers and before that it was the Dogs. I've been running with possees since I was 15. This is a major life change.

J.S.: Have you thought about what you'll do?

E.V.: I have all these little interests. I have a great affinity for being out of the public view, working underground, the true underground, the artist's cave. I've been doing a lot of archiving of my old songs. I have various interests, books that I study. I'm not making any plans at all. I'm thinking of taking six to 12 months of not being in the public eye at all, doing any performances whatsoever.

J.S.: So you wouldn't mind if the Radiators continued on without you.

E.V.: Not at all. It all remains to be seen.

J.S.: Are you thinking along the lines of doing a Last Waltz type event?

E.V.: There have been some discussions. There was an idea of doing a studio album. It seems more fitting that maybe we do three nights in a row at Tip's for our swan song and make that the project. We could call it some kind of variation of Work Done On Premises because our first recording, barring the single at Luigi's 'Suck the Heads,' our first complete work was the LP Work Done on Premises recorded in the spring of 1980.

It all remains to be seen. Man proposes, god disposes. This all presupposes that all of us are healthy enough to make it to Tipitinas in June of 2011. We'll see. We don't know what's going to happen.

J.S.: It strikes me that this is the end of an era of New Orleans music. Not everybody would agree with me when I say that the Radiators were the carriers of a particular type of New Orleans culture but to me that seems very clear that the end of the Radiators would mean the end of a specific type of New Orleans rock culture.

E. V.: We embodied the idea of the eclecticism that defined 60s bands like Little Feat and the Dead, and the early Stones, but we did it in our uniquely New Orleans fashion. There was nobody quite like us in the way we mixed things up. We seemed to have our fingers in lots of pies. In that way we were unique. While we were a part of New Orleans music we were something apart from it as well. We didn't have a set approach or style. We had Dave's country rock thing, then riffing on the Meters with 'Suck the Head' then a Merle Haggard song, a Blind Willie Johnson song. We covered a lot of different song spaces.

J.S.: You are also a direct link to an era of New Orleans music that no longer exists because you actually played with Professor Longhair and Earl King.

E.V: That's so much a part of us that I take it for granted.

J.S.: The new wave of very interesting eclectic New Orleans rock bands doesn't have that connection. That's been cut. You guys are the last link to that. These new rock bands could just as eaily come from San Francisco or Portland, Oregon or Minneapolis or Brooklyn New York. In fact, some of them do come from other places.

J.S.: Looking back, does anything stand out?

E.V.: It's a kaleidoscopic merry go round or rather roller coaster I should say.

J.S.: You have a close relationship with the MOM's ball dating back to the Rhapsodizers.

E.V.: Before that. The first MOMs ball there was live music Camile and I were in the band. It was a band called Sweet Magnolia. As long as there's been live music at the MOMs ball -- the first year there wasn't -- I've been in the band.

J.S.: What is the band's legacy?

E.V.: That's a tree that has lots of branches. What will it be remembered for? Part of it is the eclecticism of the music, part of it is the good heartedness of the shows and part of it is an extension of that in that our fans became communities onto themselves, kind of floating communities. About eight or ten years ago when a lot of people had more disposable income I guess people would fly around to catch us in various places around the country. There was a lot of community spirit there, sort of like the fans created their own Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs wherever they went.

J.S.: The connections between those people don't necessarily end even if the band isn't there to conduct the service. What kind of feedback have you been getting?

E.V.: They're kind of in a state of shock. I don't really do a lot of social networking. My idea of social networking is Terranova's and walking on the bayou and hanging out with friends on my porch. I don't really go on line to see what people are saying.

J.S.: Will Jolly House continue?

E.V.: Jolly House is a nice little thing. We played last night at Chickie Wah Wahs. I don't know what Reggie's going to do and Joe's still with the Iguanas. I want to get away from ambition, the way the Radiators lifestyle for me was a driven-ness. I'm not going to translate that headline deadline reality to any other entity. I like playing with Jolly House but I have no plans or ambitions except to do the occasional gig.

J.S.: You must be happy about what you achieved.

E.V.: Oh yeah, I got to live my dream. When I was a kid, first starting to get turned on to music when I was 10 years old, when I first started to write songs I would design my own LP covers and write the whole back cover and list all the songs. So back when I was 10 years old I was dreaming of having this reality and I got to do it.

Rev. Frank Zappa on the deficit

2011-05-22T07:30:00.001-07:00

The great moral philosopher Frank Zappa had the perfect solution to the deficit crisis back in the 1980s when he ran for president. In light of the terrific advice we're getting from religious zealots these days it's worth revisiting his bold economic plan:

"Tax the churches. Tax the businesses owned by the churches!"

That's our sermon for today. Thank you.

Rapture this, suckers

2011-05-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Spent the day of rapture drinking beer and eating sausages at a local bar. Old fart face still around on the day after, and he has all that money people gave him to console himself with. Doesn't this guy owe everyone on earth $1.99 or something for wasting our time with his phony science fiction drivel? The Bible is a cool book about human life but people should stop using it as an excuse to tell other people how much better than them they are. Jesus is not coming to turn all dead "believers" (I believe they are actually dead, y'know?) into Norman Rockwell zombies, and unfortunately he's not coming to whisk away all the living ones either. I'd gladly take my chances with "The Rapture" if only to get rid of all these gun toting, rich people worshiping, bedroom window peeking, abortion doctor killing right wing hypocrites who call themselves Christians. Christ did not keep company with jerks like that when he actually was around to pick his friends.

Jazz Fest thoughts

2011-05-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with the release of New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Future of New Orleans, so I haven't posted lately. I did write some pieces about what happened in late April and early May in New Orleans for OffBeat's upcoming June issue, including a lengthy report on Chaz Fest. Overall the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Presented by New Orleans Musicians was an obvious success due in no small part to spectacular weather, perhaps the best ever. I have to say I felt cheated by the presence of the likes of Kid Rock and Bon Jovi not so much because they watered down the music, which of course they did. There was plenty of great music to go around at Jazz Fest, though. The problem from where I stand is that the celebrity quasi-musicians at Jazz Fest distracted too many journalists from writing about the local music at this festival, which was shockingly dismissed or simply glossed over in many national magazine reports on the fest. I won't single anyone out but a casual glance will reveal who was more interested in the opportunity to weigh in on Entertainment Tonight regulars than to report on the magnificent music that is only available in New Orleans. National readers heard about who they already know and could easily see in their own town on the rest of the national tour that Jazz Fest was only a stop on. They did not read about Irma Thomas' heartrending recollection of her recently-deceased mother during her Mahalia Jackson tribute. The historic final Jazz Fest performance of the Radiators was sniffed at. You won't read anything about the joyous reunion of the Bluerunners at the Fais Do Do stage. Dr. John's stirring performances with Dave Bartholomew playing trumpet on "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" and Mac himself on guitar paying tribute to Earl King with "Let the Good Times Roll" went unremarked. Once again the eloquent warnings of the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars fell on deaf ears, which is one reason why Tab Benoit's speech urging listeners to bypass the media in dealing with this problem had such resonance. Anders Osborne's best big stage rock performance of the festival was an afterthought in most reporters' notebooks. I'm sorry I didn't do a more aggressive job of finding a way to report on this singular -- and very imperiled -- event myself. I'll add some posts on my personal highlights in the next few days.

Radiators get lifetime achievement award

2011-04-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

It was an auspicious night at the Gambit Awards for the Radiators, who were the big winners at the show. In addition to receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award, the band won the award for Best Rock Band. Thanks for the feedback on my cover story on the Radiators in the current issue of OffBeat. Congrats to all those who fought so hard to make it the cover story.

You can read the story at www.offbeat.com

I have a book on New Orleans music coming out, New Atlantis, Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. that has a lot of Radiators content. Here's a link to the publisher's blog.

http://blog.oup.com

Edna Gunderson wrote a lengthy piece on the recovery of New Orleans music in today's USA Today. The story includes some of my observations on the city's music.

French Quarter Fest in full swing

2011-04-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

Happy French Quarter Fest!
To read my cover story in OffBeat about Pete Fountain, who will play at French Quarter Fest, go to:

www.offbeat.com

To hear live broadcasts from French Quarter Fest, go to:

www.wwoz.org

Here's the scheduled lineup of performances (subject to change). Make sure you check out Aurora Nealand today.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8
2:15 - 3:00 p.m. - New Orleans Moon Shiners
3:15 - 4:15 p.m. - Aurora Nealand & the Royal Roses
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. - Coot
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Some Like It Hot

SATURDAY, APRIL 9
2:15 - 3:45 p.m. - A Celebration of Modern Jazz Masters Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste and James Black with performances by Victor Atkins, Ed Peterson and Steve Masakowski
4:00 - 5:15 p.m. - Iris May Tango

SUNDAY, APRIL 10
12:15 - 1:15 p.m - Tornado Brass Band featuring Darryl Adams
1:30 - 2:30 p.m - New Bumpers Revival Band
2:45 - 4:00 p.m - Mas Mamones
4:15 - 5:45 p.m - Kora Konnection

More on SXSW, including Mojo Nixon

2011-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Another couple of attempts to crack through the downtown circles of hell convinced me it was in my best interest to retreat to South Austin for the rest of the event. The decision was immediately rewarded on Friday with a succession of great shows up and down South Congress. The parties stretched up and down the avenue -- the Continental Club, the backyards at the San Jose Hotel, Guerros, and the Triumph among other places. Highlights included eating crawfish at the back of the Continental before hearing a great set from Susan Cowsill's band followed by an even greater set from my pick hit of this year's fest, the Hobart Brothers. This is a band consisting of Cowsill, Jon Dee Graham and Freedy Johnston. They sound like they've been playing together forever, and they rocked really hard. Johnston and Cowsill are great ensemble singers, and Graham is a one-of-a-kind frontman. The three of them worked magic together with Cowsill in particular shining through. Her remarkable voice can be one of the great female instruments in rock history when she's in the right setting, and she was supremely confident in this context. Cowsill is something of a late bloomer but continues to bring her flamethrowing talent up to another level. This is a perfect vehicle for her. South Congress rocked nonstop that day. While the Hobarts were finishing up at the Continental the North Mississippi All Stars were smoking across the street at San Jose and the Waco Brothers were rocking the back alley at Yard Dog. The greatest moment was yet to come however,
when the Alejandro Escovedo Orchetra played to an absolutely jam packed audience at San Jose.
Saturday brought Mojo Nixon day to the Continental Club, a riotous frenzy beginning with the Allen Oldies Band and featuring great sets from Sarah Petite, the Stone River Boys and Jon Dee Graham before the ridiculous finale of Mojo-Oke, in which Mojo brought up members of the audience to try their hand at some of his more infamous compositions. The concept was fraught with peril, but turned into a wild romp with some truly impressive performances that proved Mojo Is Everyboby, Mojo Is Everywhere!

French Quarter Fest should be great

2011-04-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

The French Quarter Festival has really come into its own this year, adding a fourth day on Thursday and featuring many of the city's best musicians in a wide array of styles. What began as a modest celebration of the city's traditional jazz played literally on the streets of the French Quarter has now became a massive showcase of local talent on 17 stages in the Quarter and along the bans of the Mississippi. The organizers' claim that French Quarter Fest has become bigger than Jazz Fest is open to some degree of scrutiny -- it's impossible to accurately count the number of people who actually attend because it's a free festival and people come and go as they please so there's got to be a lot of multi-counting or as they say at the racetrack "spinners" -- people who pass through the venue's entrances multiple times in a day. But whether or not French Quarter Fest is bigger than Jazz Fest or Mardi Gras is an argument best left to the Donald Trumps of the world. The important thing is that Bon Jovi will be nowhere near it. This is the only festival even remotely as big that features nothing but Local talent (the few ringers have local ties to account for their presence but none of them are in featured spots). Once again the great Lillian Boutte will open the proceedings on Thursday afternoon with a set that will hopefully include an appearance by John Boutte and other members of that superb musical family.

Rocky and Billy at SXSW

2011-04-02T08:58:00.001-07:00

Billy Gibbons climbs into the John Lennon "Imagine" bus behind the stage at Threadgill's. The bus is totally tricked out with cameras and wall-sized video feedback screens. It travels around the country teaching kids to play Beatles songs and has been volunteered as Billy's backstage area for his jam session with Roky Erickson at the end of Roky's annual "Ice Cream Social" benefit. Billy gets a little tour of the facilities from the onboard techs, hefts his guitar and heads out into the parking lot to walk the 100 yards to the backstage entrance. His trip quickly becomes a gauntlet of fans. "Billybillybillybilly pleezpleez," a guy runs up to him wants him to sign a poster, another guy wants him to sign the inside of his belt. Billy pulls out a pen, signs, and keeps walking. "Guy kept my pen," he says as the guy yells "Billllleeeee! Keep Rawkin' forever!" Billy turns his head with a wink and says "Now that's a fan." Inside it's mayhem. Roky is grinning sheepishly. He told his manager after Billy played with him two years ago: "I liked that red haired guy." Billy straps it on and they launch into "I Walked With a Zombie." The crowd is singing the chorus. Billy sings the chorus too. They roll into "Two Headed Dog" and Billy plays a totally weird solo part. The crowd is going mad. Two kids with false Z Z Top beards cheer from the side of the stage. It's time for the encore and they launch into "You're Gonna Miss Me." It's all over in a flash and Billy hops into a van, raving about Roky. Back when Roky's band and Billy's Moving Sidewalks were the apogee of Texas psychedelia Billy credits Roky with a blinding piece of inspiration. "I was trying to put together a horn band," says Billy, "then I saw
Roky and I realized, this is how I want to do it!"

SXSW 25: The old school strikes back

2011-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

One great thing about SXSW is that the conversation will take place even if it's not pleasant. Jim Caligiuri took it right to the Millenials with his controversial panel "I’m Not Old, Your Music Does Suck." The title is catchy but not an equation; even if J.C. and a lot of us along with him are old it doesn't mean that today's music doesn't suck. Of course that accusation is as subjective as the term used to define quality: "suck" is about as relative a qualifier as they come, and well enough if you consider that it was brought into the language by Bevis and Butthead to judge the aesthetic merit of MTV rock videos. Whateve stance you take on Caligiuri's panel, the premise is powerful -- the old school isn't going down without a fight. No less than that Irish bareknuckle champion himself Bob Geldof added his own proof to the premise with an artful Marc Anthony eulogy on American rock as his keynote speech. Geldof came not to bury the music but to praise it -- up until the punk era (N.B.: MTV was the beginning of the end in this reading of history). Geldof's point was forcefully brought home. American rock was a beacon for freedom around the world, he argued, a liberating force. It was a very effective political weapon that certainly helped bring about the end of the Vietnam War. Geldof implicitly chided contemporary songwriters for their self-involvement and detachment from an establishment that is bent on keeping them quiet, co-opting them at every turn. And I have to agree with him. Corporate greed and the political hegemony of the super rich is crushing the life out of America. If young people don't stand up to that hegemony they are doomed. It's their lives on the line, and very much their battle. If they allow the Republicans to get away with the argument that the threat to America's future comes from schoolteachers and union members rather than international bankers and the super rich they will suffer the consequences with a lifetime of true poverty. Maybe they won't even be able to afford that hot new video game one day. Geldof was even more strident in his press conference after his keynote speech, placing the blame squarely on the back of the bankers, but noting that the artists have to draw attention to these issues or surrender their legitimacy.

Glen David Andrews at Sullivan Hall

2011-04-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Glen David Andrews abolutely torched the audience at Sullivan Hall in New York Tuesday night. The performance was more of a revival meeting than a concert, and by the time it was over GDA had a personal relationship with everyone who'd walked in the door. It was a dramatically different show from his regular Monday night gigs at d.b.a. in New Orleans. At Sullivan Hall GDA performed with his three-piece rhythm section (piano, bass and drums) and made up the front line himself, singing, playing trombone, whistling, leading a second line etc. He opened and closed with the John Boutte's "Treme" theme. After a lengthy introduction he played "Autumn Leaves," walked off the stage and improvised a gospel vocal solo as he walked through the audience, gesturing with his trombone (most of his vocals were off the microphone). He ended up in front of the stage, softly whistling the melody. The audience, which had been jumping and screaming moments before, fell into a dead silence, hanging onto his every move. He went into his Armstrong vocal flourish, finishing by singing "My name is Glen David Andrews and I plan to have a good time tonight." A version of "Feel Like Funkin' It Up" became a sing-along, with GDA urging the crowd on: "Sing it for Trombone Shorty!" "Sing it for John Boutte!" From that moment on the show was an extended series of encores as he took the crowd through "Saints," formed another second line, gave his goodbyes but always switching up. At one point he stood in front of the bar and the crowd pressed around him as he sang a softer chorus of "Saints." With Jamal Watson framing his vocals on drums GDA organized the show like a hip-hop concert, frenetically shifting to the next thing and prompting the audience to respond. At the end he delivered an advertisement for his Jazz Fest appearances. New Orleans couldn't get a better promotion for the fest.

SXSW 25: Thorazine in my Tecate

2011-04-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

A short walk around he trade show offered full confirmation of my thoughts about how dramatically SXSW had changed over its 25 years. What started out as a kind of national community gathering of alternative weekly newspapers and independent music labels had transformed into a slick corporate trade show. I made many new friends in the first few years here at the trade show, either locals offering their warm version of Texas hospitality or people who had traveled great distances at their own expense to share ideas and meet like minded peers. This year the music content of the trade show was almost nonexistent. The showroom floor was dominated by interactive companies fronted by fast talking pitchmen. I passed more than one setup fronted by multiple hucksters delivering word-for-word sales pitches to anyone passing by. The evaporation of the music and alternative press aspects of the trade show is the most telling way SXSW has changed. The event hs morphed along with American entertainment. Although there's lots of music on hand, music is now a throwaway commodity. The presence of more bands than ever actually underscores how less important the music has become. It's now essentially wallpaper, lifestyle enhancement that underscores the real value of millennial life in America -- the cult of celebrity and fashion. The trade show, which used to go on for three days, was scaled back to two this year to accomodate a fashion trade show. It's not surprising to hear that the interactive part of SXSW now draws more registrants than the music festival. Millennials expect music to be a free commodity -- it's the hardware and killer aps that they're willing to pay for, and the nature of celebrity is not measured by signing a record contract but by being bought out by Google. The interative geeks are on the make for corporate copulation in ways the music delegates never dreamed of. One of these smooth talkers actually argued that spending your life playing video games can help save the world. I'll skip the dubious specifics of his argument, which was delivered with the zeal of a Glen Beck fan. Hard not to see the dollar signs lurking behind such proseletizing. It's a different world.
One aspect of the conference that remains as good or better than ever is the panel program. Right at the beginning there was a thoughtful and revealing panel about the late Capt. Beefheart, moderated by his old friend John Morthland with particularly inciteful commentary from guitarist Gary Lucas, his musical director in later years. After I left the panel I crossed the street to Brush Square Park where the Canadian government was providing free barbecue while a series of undistinguished rock bands played in the background to a large and disinterested audience. Thank you, Canada! There I met a number of friends, including Holger Peterson of Stony Plains records. He gave me a terrific new record by Rory Block, the woman guitarist who has done a series of fascinating tributes to country blues masters. Her Robert Johnson and Son House tributes were both excellent, and this time around Shake 'Em On Down does similar justice to Mississippi Fred McDowell. Block is a skilled instrumentalist, but many guitarists have mastered the old bluesmen. What makes her tributes so riveting is that these songs, always heard from the male perspective, take on additional nuance when a woman sings them. "Mississippi Man," "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl," "Worried Mind" and "Woke Up This Morning" are especially effective in this context.
While enjoying the kindness of Canadians I ran into one of my favorite Austinites, Jim Yanaway. I first met Jim in the early days when he gave me cassette tapes of some of the best music I heard back then, released on his own Amazing Records label. Yes, it was all that many formats ago. Early SXSW goody bags were stuffed with cassette tapes. Jim always has a hot tip or two about who to check out in town (he introduced me to the great Black Joe Louis and the Honeybears a couple of years back), and this year he pointed me to a private party, "two blocks past the Convention Center on Red River. You can't miss it, they'll be a band on the front porch."
After another depressing pass through the trade show I made my way down Red River and passed a parking lot that had been coverted into what looked like a giant kid's playpark. It was an installation from Hewlett Packard for SXSW registrants, a circle of trailers promoting interactive gear on a bed of synthetic grass with tables and beanbag chairs, a DJ/pitchman and free beer and soda. I sat down at a table to read my Austin Chronicle and drink a free Tecate. The young people around me were networking furiously while the DJ massaged them with inoffensive, mildly undulating background music guaranteed not to upset the conversation. He made one mistake when he played a Lil Wayne track, which crackled with such actual feeling I thought he might clear the garden. Mostly we got the dubious pleasures of a mashup that made "Smells Like Team Spirit" sound like a shampoo commercial and ventured into such dangerous territory as Wilson Picket singing "Sugar Sugar." I think somebody slipped thorazine into my beer when I went to take a piss.
Safe to say I got out of there alive and proceeded a mere block down the road when the sound of a real party with live music offered its smiling invitation. People were sitting on folding chairs or standing up and tapping their feet to the music of the Nortons, a popular local band that has no ambitions beyond playing the Saxon Pub once in a while. The band was indeed playing on the front porch. There was the great bassist Speedy Sparks, who'd played with just about every important band in Austin history, grinning and pushing the music along with long, vibrant lines that made the music breath. There was a keg of beer and barbecued ribs. The great Lissa Hattersley, vocalist along with her brother Cleve and his wife Mary in the legendary Texas band Greezy Wheels, was on hand. Lissa got up and sang an impossibly wonderful version of "Be My Baby" while the beer poured sweet from the tap and the sun went down. I felt like crying tears of joy. No amount of disappointment at what SXSW had become could overcome the sense of wonder that this simple, beautiful scene infused in me. People stopped in the street to listen. Speedy, who played with Roky Erickson, sang one of Roky's best songs, "Starry Eyes." No corporate tie-in, no badge required. Just a two minute walk away from the maelstrom. This moment is what SXSW has always meant to me.

Post-relevance at SXSW 25

2011-03-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

So I realized on that sunny afternoon in Austin that as SXSW turned 25 the changes I had feared and dreaded in previous years had already taken place and I no longer had
anything to fret about. Last year's existential soul searching brought on by the fact that none of the young people I met knew anything about Alex Chilton was now irrelevant.

Chilton's sad passing just before he was to recapture his international mojo at last year's SXSW was a metaphor for the passing of the entire music industry. I am no longer irrelevant, along with all the trappings of my era. I am now post-relevant. Even if I were to wholeheartedly embrace the new culture of SXSW that the style-hive denizens of a newly branded 6th Street represent I would still be post-relevant, which is much better than being irrelevant, believe me. So I was more free at SXSW than I had been since its earliest days, when it was my hive and we all made honey while the sun shined hard. Cut free from the necessity of contemporary social networking and going to parties where my best hope might be to hold forth as a curiosity, I was able to simply enjoy my explorations of SXSW.

Though few SXSW experiences can be repeated, I have become a creature of
habit at the festival, touching certain places I can count on to sustain me. My first official stop after bag pickup is always the BMI "Howdy Texas" party at Stubbs, where I have seen great musicians year after year. This year was no different. Openers the Fabulous Ginn Sisters lived up to their name -- good songs, excellent vocals, one of them played flute, adding an exotic touch to the Texas mix. The finale was a rough and tumble set of real western music from Mr. Dale Watson. I always enjoy his deep tenor and the dance music twang of his band, and if hipster locals like to dismiss him as "Mini-Merle" well that's actually a compliment if you ask me. The guy's a good songwriter and that's something about Austin that even the Bush kingdom was not able to eradicate. Being post-relevant also allows you to feel really uncomfortable about the Big Brother politics lurking over everything here. You don't ever have to go to the Fader Fort and you never have to explain why. Even better you don't have to write about it.

Next stop: Michael Hall’s annual Swollen Circus show at a new venue, ND at 501 Studios. The Hole in the Wall was always a great place for this event, but the larger space suited it well and allowed it to overlap with SXSW Film. The show began with a documentary film, “Drive Somewhere,” about the Florida band the Vulgar Boatmen. People sat in straightbacked chairs watching the film while some of the musicians on screen were loading in their quipment for the show to follow. It was surreal to watch a giant image of Walter Salas-Humara on screen while standing next to him and having people shush you for talking. No one was asking for quiet later that night when Salas-Humara and the Silos took the stage to showcase material from a new album, Florizona, that includes such outstanding songs as "On Your Way Home" and the show-stopping "Teenage Prayer." Members of the Silos also backed Syd Straw for a great set in which Straw performed a dramatic, heart-wrenching love song to her dog. Hall's band The Savage Trip was also a delight, and I was very impressed with a great group from Brooklyn, The Madison Square Gardeners (don't judge them by the name). The Mastersons were also fun. Only drag on the night were the Chapin Sisters, who would have been better off on American Idol.

SXSW 25

2011-03-25T11:39:00.001-07:00

Had to wait a few days before posting about SXSW just because I didn't want to be part of the social networking tsunami responding to it. Have to say it's amazing considering Twitter just debuted there three years ago. When I arrived in Austin on the 15th I caught a heady feeling among the attendees that really gave me a sense of deja vu. The energy and excitement of discovery among the young people who'd come for the event was palpable, and it reminded me of the way I felt the first few years of the festival, which I've been coming to since the beginning. SXSW was always about discovery and about forming a community among like minded people who would never meet each other under any other circumstances. The first few years offered a dramatic contrast to the main music business conference, the New Music Seminar in New York. Back then the corporate giants of the entertainment industry ruled popular music and the indie bands and alternative weekly magazines that powered SXSW created a true alternative reality. The early years were revelatory to me. I was a music columnist for the wire service UPI and SXSW introduced me to a whole array of Texas rock & roll that I wasn't aware of, great bands like the Wild Seeds and the True Believers, really interesting stuff like the Killer Bees and Ponty Bone and the amazing Carolyn Wonderland. Over the years I have never lost that sense of discovery at SXSW. Every year something hits me from out of the blue. I'm going to post a series of observations about the 25th annual SXSW over the next week or so.

Jazz Fest announces lineup

2011-01-20T07:29:00.001-08:00

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival announced its 2011 lineup Thursday, bringing back controversial rockers Bon Jovi, whose fans heckled local legend Dr. John the last time the New Jersey rockers played Jazz Fest. Hopefully the programmers won't schedule Dr. John before Bon Jovi this time around.

Other acts booked for the festival, whose historic mission is to showcase the rich musical tradition of Louisiana, include such national touring headliners as Arcade Fire, Jimmy Buffett, Sonny Rollins, Kid Rock, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Robert Plant, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Willie Nelson, The Strokes, Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend and The Roots, Wyclef Jean, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Arlo Guthrie, Gregg Allman, The Decemberists, Bobby Blue Bland, Keb' Mo', Ahmad Jamal, Lucinda Williams, Ron Carter and Maceo Parker.

This year's festival will once again take place over two consecutive weekends, April 29 - May 1 and May 5 - 8. With twelve stages of virtually every style of roots music, Jazz Fest presents one of the entertainment world’s most diverse music lineups, including its unparalleled showcase of Louisiana’s unique culture. Hundreds of thousands of fans annually flock to the seven-day event that has been called America’s best festival.

Featured Louisiana artists include Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Mystikal, Pete Fountain, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Better Than Ezra, Rebirth Brass Band, Galactic, Tab Benoit, The Radiators, Cowboy Mouth, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Marcia Ball, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ellis Marsalis, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Sonny Landreth, Henry Butler, Papa Grows Funk, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, John Boutté, Terence Blanchard, Amanda Shaw, The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Jon Cleary, Partners N Crime with 5th Ward Weebie, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste, Glen David Andrews, Anders Osborne, Buckwheat Zydeco, George Porter, Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Big Freedia & Sissy Nobby, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Zachary Richard, Warren Storm - Willie Tee & Cypress, Honey Island Swamp Band, Bonerama, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Nicholas Payton, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Jeremy Davenport, Deacon John, Donald Harrison, Astral Project, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Banu Gibson, Shamarr Allen, Pine Leaf Boys, Mia Borders, Hot 8, Mahogany, New Birth & Pinstripe Brass Bands, Roots of Music Marching Crusaders Band and The Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians.

Quint Davis, producer/director of Jazz Fest said, “The 2011 Jazz Fest lineup will deliver an unprecedented balance of the traditional and the contemporary, in all of the many music categories the Festival presents: from Bon Jovi, Sonny Rollins and Arcade Fire to Jimmy Buffett, Kid Rock, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson to Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Strokes and Robert Plant and on and on, along with the unending list of New Orleans super talents. This lineup reminds us that the artists we grew up with are now the icons of today, and that today’s new heroes are tomorrow’s heritage. We’re honored to be able to once again celebrate the soul of America as only New Orleans and the Jazz Fest can.”

Randy Phillips, president & CEO, AEG Live, which co-produces the Festival said, "Once again, Quint Davis and the Jazz Fest Team have been able to amass one of the largest and deepest musical lineups of any festival in the world today. AEG Live is proud to play a major role in the production of this beloved event."

The 2011 Festival will also host the largest celebration of Haitian culture in the U.S. since the devastating earthquake one year ago. New Orleans and Haiti have shared a deep cultural connection for over three hundred years and many of the local traditions and customs owe their roots to this complex Caribbean country. The Jazz Fest is proud and honored to host the icons of Haitian music and culture including Wyclef Jean, Tabou Combo, RAM, Boukman Eksperyans, Emeline Michel, Djakout #1, DJA-Rara and Ti-Coca & Wanga Négès. The many cultural connections will be illustrated throughout all aspects of this year’s Festival. Some highlights include traditional Vodou drumming performances, folk crafts demonstrations led by visiting master artisans and rara band DJA-Rara parading throughout the Fair Grounds. With the support of the Green Family Foundation, the program will also include a series of scholar-led panel discussions entitled Haiti & New Orleans: Cultural Crossroads as well as a listening station featuring excerpts from the Grammy nominated recordings of Dr. Alan Lomax made in Haiti for the Library of Congress in 1936-1937.

The Jazz Festival offers three VIP packages: the Big Chief VIP Experience ticket package provides special viewing access at most of the Festival’s stages; the Grand Marshal VIP Pass allows for up-close access at the three major stages; and the Krewe of Jazz Fest VIP Pass entitles patrons to special covered seating at the Acura Stage audience area only. The Festival offers a layaway arrangement for any of the VIP packages. For information on layaway visit www.nojazzfest.com.

Tickets for the Festival, which takes place at the Fair Grounds Race Course, went on sale Thursday. A limited number of discount ticket packages including tickets to each day of a particular weekend of the Festival will be offered. Ticket packages purchased for all three days of the first weekend (April 29, 30 & May 1) will be $120 ($40 per day), while second weekend packages purchased for all four festival days (May 5, 6, 7, & 8) will be $160 ($40 per day). (Tickets included in each package are day-specific.) Advance single day Jazz Fest tickets are $45; the gate price is $6. Children’s tickets (ages 2 - 10) are still only $5 and are available at the gate only. Single day tickets to Jazz Fest are on sale by specific weekend, with each ticket valid for a single day’s attendance.

Tickets are available at www.nojazzfest.com and www.ticketmaster.com, at all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling (800) 745-3000. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Jazz Fest ticket office located at the New Orleans Arena Box Office. All Jazz Fest tickets are subject to additional service fees and handling charges.

A listing of hotels offering special Jazz Fest rates is posted at www.nojazzfest.com, where patrons can effortlessly reserve their hotel rooms for the event. Festivalgoers can peruse room availability and book their accommodations early taking advantage of some of the best prices offered at participating hotels.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Foundation uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest for year-round activities in the areas of education, economic development and cultural events. Education programs include the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music and the Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series. Economic Development initiatives include the Community Partnership Grants, the Raisin’ the Roof housing program, the Sync Up conference and the Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange web site. Cultural events include the Jazz Journey concert series and free community festivals: the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival, the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival. The Foundation also owns radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM, the Jazz & Heritage Archive, the Jazz & Heritage Gallery and the Jazz & Heritage Center. The Jazz & Heritage Gala raises funds for Foundation programming with a black-tie event to start the Jazz Fest season on Thursday, April 28 at the Hilton Riverside Hotel. For more information, please call the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation at (504) 558-6100 or visit www.jazzandheritage.org.

Zenyatta horse of the year

2011-01-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

Zenyatta, one of the greatest racehorses of all time, has finally been acknowledged for something she did on the racetrack by the National Turf Writers, which voted her Horse of the Year. She was wrongfully denied this honor last year in favor of the overhyped filly Rachel Alexandra, who was skillfully kept from a head to head meeting with Zenyatta, a meeting which would have certainly shattered Rachel's celebrity. The anti-Zenyatta sentiment in last year's voting reflected a longstanding hostility between the East Coast and West Coast horseracing establishment. The outcry was so fierce it undoubtedly shamed some of theose voters into doing the right thing this time around.

Happy birthday!

2011-01-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

I've taken some time off from posting but am pleased to return to action in time to celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Dr. King was truly one of the greatest Americans. His message of hope for a more enlightened future and love and respect for all humankind inspired a generation. The passionate logic of his arguments is sorely missed in today's world, where even political leaders as brilliant as Barack Obama find it difficult to deliver a message with the apparent effortlessness Dr. King brought to his teachings. We are left with a world in which bigots and apologists for the super rich dominate our political discourse by owning the mass media. Anyone who dares oppose them is labeled a communist or "liberal." But in a country where Richard Nixon's policies would now have him branded as a liberal it's pretty obvious that there's no left wing political establishment remaining. Dr. King, like the Kennedys and so many others, was eliminated by the "second amendment remedies" that are now apparently beyond reproach. Let's hope that Dr. King's vision will resurface in these difficult times, no matter whose cross hairs are targeting those who follow in his footsteps. His courage was an American value that will never die while his words remain an inspiration for all of us to dream of a better future.

Rads call it quits

2010-11-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

Radiators fans are reeling from the announcement that the legendary New Orleans rock band will call it quits after a series of special hometown shows next June. It certainly is a sad moment for the hard core community of fans who've followed this group over the last 33 years. All is not lost, however. While the band cannot be replaced, and its passing certainly marks the end of an era, it may be possible for most of them to continue in a revamped lineup. One can easily imagine Tommy Malone, younger brother of Radiators frontman Dave Malone, joining the existing lineup minus Ed Volker. Though Tommy is not the prolific songwriter Volker is he's a talented writer, vocalist and guitarist, and he fits naturally with Dave and the others. Whether or not they call it the Radiators or the Headless Fish or something else it will still be good. As for Mr. Volker his extraordinary musical talents will merely be redirected, not lost entirely. He has his side project Jolly House to perform his songs and could also do solo gigs or sit in with other groups. Ed has expressed his desire to stop touring, so it's even conceivable that he might join his former bandmates at select New Orleans performances somewhere down the road. At any rate, the real surprise is not that the Rads are ending but that they managed to stay as fresh and engaging over such a long run.
Meanwhile the band will be playing shows all over the country for the next seven months. This is your last chance to hear what for my money is one of the greatest American rock bands in history. Once upon a time I fretted over the fact that so many tastemakers turned their noses up at a band that certainly hasn't tried to win any fashion awards. Well, those clueless jerks are the real losers. They missed out on one of the great moments in American culture and it truly is their loss.

Walter Payton Jr. tribute

2010-11-05T10:09:00.001-07:00

The great New Orleans bassist Walter Payton Jr. passed away last week and was given an unintentional tribute last night on the David Letterman show. When Letterman announced that one of the rescued Peruvian miners would be a guest on the show Will Lee began playing the distinctive solo bass line that begins the Lee Dorsey hit "Working In a Coal Mine." That bass line was played on the record by Payton. Nobody mentioned the connection but the music was all you needed to tell the story. Nice to hear Walter's music surviving him on national television.

Betting Opportunity of the Year Retires

2010-09-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

I heard from my Fair Grounds handicapping friend Col. Stingo, who claims to be related to the legendary 20th century horseracing tout of the same name. "Sad to see Rachel Alexander finally put out to pasture," the Col. noted. "Betting against her was one of the great opportunities of the 2010 horseracing year. It's really a shame when sucker bait of such fine quality goes to the sidelines."
That's OK Col. You can still bet against those grass Beyer numbers with both fists!

Go see The Big Uneasy!

2010-09-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Harry Shearer's highly acclaimed The Big Uneasy is doing an Oscar Qualifying run this week in Los Angeles and New York City from September 24 - 30.

TELL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN THOSE CITIES!

In Los Angeles, the documentary will show at Laemmle's Sunset 5 theater.

In New York City, the documentary will show at the IFC Center.

The 90-minute movie is about the Drowning of metro New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers' role in it, and how something like this could happen again.

FORWARD THIS NOTE TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN NYC AND LOS ANGELES!

The more people who watch The Big Uneasy, the better. The documentary is chock full of data and information about the metro New Orleans Flood.

OK Goes to the dogs

2010-09-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

OK Go has a really good new video: http://www.youtube.com/okgo

Apparently 4 lbs of dog treats were used per day in the making of this video.

OK Go has joined with The ASPCA to donate money to a special OK Go fund: "The Rural Rescue Dog Fund." Here's the link: http://www.okgo.net/dogs/

Music Rising sponsors New Orleans music history program at Tulane

2010-09-18T10:40:00.001-07:00

New Orleans, Louisiana (September 17, 2010) - Music Rising, an award winning initiative co-founded in 2005 by U2’s the Edge, legendary producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz announced a $1 million program in partnership with Tulane University to develop a college curriculum that will provide a permanent, comprehensive and definitive study of the musical heritage of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. The Music Rising program is administered by the Gibson Foundation.

Music Rising has worked closely with Nick Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American studies and creator of Tulane’s public radio program American Routes in creating the connection with Tulane. The curriculum for the program on music and culture of the Gulf Coast will be implemented at Tulane and available to other universities through web and print materials. In addition to drawing from field, studio and live interviews, programs and performances of the American Routes Collection, the curriculum will draw upon the resources of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz as well as the Maxwell Music Library, the Louisiana Collection, the Southern Institute and the New Orleans Gulf South Center, all housed at Tulane.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the unique musical heritage that is New Orleans,” said U2’s the Edge. “So much has come from that part of America. From the birth of jazz, the roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll and R&B, to the traditional celebrations in the streets, New Orleans has provided all of us with great musical traditions. This new curriculum, which I am personally very proud of, will help preserve this history and educate for many years to come.”

"Our goal has always been to preserve the musical culture of New Orleans and the Central Gulf. We started by replacing instruments that were lost in the hurricanes of 2005," said Bob Ezrin. "And now we are thrilled to be working with the wonderful folks at Tulane University to develop a course of study that will allow people from the region and all over the world to study and understand that culture and the music that creates it.”

The Music Rising curriculum at Tulane will preserve the great musical heritage of the Gulf Coast region and eventually be adapted to educational levels ranging from elementary through high school. Preserving the music of the region has always been the driving force behind the many initiatives Music Rising has supported since its inception in 2005 after the devastating hurricanes of Katrina and Rita. It is critical to the organization that the various styles of music which have borrowed from earlier traditions be understood and taught to future generations. New Orleans has been the birthplace of jazz, blues, Dixieland and even funk, all of which make the region arguably one of the most important spawning grounds for global musical culture. Building the Music Rising curriculum will also serve as a catalyst to develop a comprehensive system of archives that will preserve a vast amount of Gulf Coast based cultural history.

"Tulane University is the perfect partner for this venture. From their Music and Humanities departments which are world renowned to Nick Spitzer's American Routes and the amazing archives that they have built over the decades,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. "Now, all of these departments and disciplines will be engaged in a historical collaboration in creating this amazing course of study. We are very proud that Gibson Foundation could play such an integral role.”

Tulane Provost Michael Bernstein foresees that new public service opportunities for Tulane students could arise from the Music Rising curriculum. Tulane requires that all undergraduate students complete a specified number of service-learning hours, which are connected to their coursework.

“This is the kind of collaboration that lies at the heart of the service-learning commitment at Tulane – an enduring promise to our city, our state, and our region that the talents and imagination of our very best artists, scholars, and students will serve the interests and needs of the community,” Bernstein said. “Tulane is profoundly grateful to Bob Ezrin, Music Rising and the Gibson Foundation for their exceedingly generous support of a significant endeavor on behalf of the arts and culture of the Gulf Coast region.”

Through the project Music Rising hopes to create a new generation of students, scholars, musicians and community members who can perform, document, produce, preserve and advocate for the music and cultures of the Gulf Coast and create an opportunity to generate awareness of the significant importance of the musical heritage and traditions that originated from this region of the United States.

About Music Rising:
Music Rising, a campaign launched in 2005 to replace musical instruments lost or destroyed by hurricanes in the Gulf Region was co-founded by U2’s the Edge, producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar CEO and Chairman Henry Juszkiewicz. The campaign has since aided over 2,700 musicians and over 50,000 students and choir members in its initial three phases. In its fourth phase Music Rising plans on preserving the rich musical heritage of the Gulf Coast with a dedicated academic program which will be announced late 2010. Partners of Music Rising represent one of the most diverse partnerships in the entertainment industry and include MusiCares, Guitar Center Music Foundation, Musician’s Friend, Julien’s Auctions, Live Nation, Kennedy/Marshall,Ticketmaster, Hard Rock International, VH-1 Networks, MTV Networks, Real Networks, ABC News Now, The NFL, Rolling Stone Magazine, Mr. Holland’s Opus, ACT and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Music Rising is the recipient of the prestigious 2005 Halo Award for Cause Marketing, 2006 Billboard Humanitarian Award, the 2008 PRISM Award and has been recognized around the world by various media organizations. Music Rising has launched Music Rising Nashville to aid the musicians who lost instruments in the May 2010 floods. Music Rising is administered by the Gibson Foundation.

About Gibson Foundation: Founded in 2002, the Gibson Foundation is committed to making the world a better place for children by creating, developing and supporting programs and other non-profit organizations in their efforts to advance education, music and the arts, the environment and health & welfare causes. For more information or to donate to the Gibson Foundation and support many of its causes go to www.gibsonfoundation.org.

About Tulane University: Founded in 1834, Tulane is one of the most highly regarded and selective independent research universities in the United States. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, it is part of a select group of 63 universities with pre-eminent programs of graduate and professional education and scholarly research. Tulane’s schools and colleges offer undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees in liberal arts, science and engineering, architecture, business, law, social work, medicine and public health and tropical medicine. For more information on Tulane go to http://tulane.edu

Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival

2010-09-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite New Orleans festivals, the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, has announced a tentative lineup for the 2010 event, which is scheduled for Oct 16–17 at Lafayette Square Park.

This free festival, presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, features two stages of music, a crafts fair and the best barbecue in the South.

Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010:
Taj Mahal
Otis Taylor with Don Vappie
Corey Harris
The Stanton Moore Band with Anders Osborne
Henry Gray
Luther Kent & Trick Bag
Carol Fran
Honey Island Swamp Band

Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010:
Ruthie Foster
Jon Cleary
Shannon McNally & Hot Sauce
The Joe Krown Trio featuring Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russel Batiste
Mem Shannon

No music left on North Rampart Street

2010-08-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Got the following email last weekend:

Hi everyone,
Just a note to let you know that Charlie and I have decided to close Donna's
permanently. We have had a good run on Rampart St but it is time to move on. We
will never forget all the good times and the people who passed through our doors
to listen to the best musicians in New Orleans and to eat Charlie's good food.

Charlie is doing great. He is busy writing a cook book and re-inventing himself
as an author! :) I, of course, am still "Miss Dr. P" to my science students and
I enjoy every minute of it.

Please feel free to contact us via this email address. I will most certainly
keep the website active for a while until we know that our customers "across the
pond" and elsewhere in the world know that Charlie will not be "holding court"
any longer in Donna's kitchen! :)

Respectfully,
Donna and Charlie
Donna's Bar & Grill ...where great food and live music come together under one
roof! Live Local Music & Dinner~ Thursday,Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights
800 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, LA 70116 504-596-6914
www.donnasbarandgrill.com

Donna's closing finishes off what was once a great music scene on North Rampart Street. It was the first place I saw a waist-high Trombone Shorty, and the first place where I tasted Abita Purple Haze, which I had a brief, intense addiction to. I remember a moving night when Bob French brought up a young lady to sing. She was in the National Guard and was shipping out the next day for a tour in Iraq. There were several great nights listening to Tom McDermott etc. etc. Now Donna's has gone the way of the Funky Butt, where our house god Samantha came from as a palm-sized kitten in 1999. Got to write about the Funky Butt again in the recent cover story on Anders Osborne for OffBeat because his fruitful partnership with Monk Boudreaux began there. The city planners have been trying to drive music off of North Rampart for years. Now they've succeeded. They're not happy, though. Now they're going after live music in the streets too. They won't be satisfied until the only music left in New Orleans is at tourist festivals, convention parties and Bourbon Street. Except not on Bourbon Street itself. I call them the Blues Meanies. Stop asking for our votes if you're going to steal our music!

Herman Leonard passes

2010-08-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the Times-Picayune piece:

Herman Leonard, photographer of jazz greats, dies
Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 10:27 AM
Dennis Persica, The Times-Picayune

Herman Leonard, a photographer who created some of the most famous images of
Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and other jazz greats, died
Friday at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Mr. Leonard, 87, lived in
New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina struck and destroyed much of his
collection.

Mr. Leonard was best known for his smoky, backlit portraits of jazz artists
in New York, Paris and London, many of which graced the covers of numerous
jazz albums. He was born and raised in Allentown, Pa. When he was 9, he
became enthralled with photography when he saw an image being developed in
his brother's darkroom.

He attended Ohio University in Athens, which offered a degree in
photography. He left college to serve with the Army from 1943 to 1945,
serving with the 13th Mountain Medical Battalion as an anesthetist. He
returned to college after the war and graduated in 1947.

Mr. Leonard apprenticed under the master portrait photographer, Yousuf
Karsh. After a year, Karsh encouraged Leonard to break out on his own.

In 1948, he moved to New York and became involved with the jazz scene there,
making agreements with club owners to photograph rehearsals in exchange for
photographs for their marquees. Mr. Leonard said his aim was "to create a
visual diary of what I heard, to make people see the way the music sounded."

Quincy Jones, the musician and composer, once said that Mr. Leonard's images
"are documents of historic significance, cataloguing the development of one
of the greatest art forms in American history..."

"When people think of Jazz, their mental picture is likely one of Herman's."

Subjects of Mr. Leonard's photographs include Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett,
Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.

In 1980, Mr. Leonard moved to the island of Ibiza, where he remained until
1987. In 1985 he released his first book, "The Eye of Jazz." In 1988, the
first exhibition of Leonard's jazz photographs was held in London. His first
U.S. show premiered the next year.

Mr. Leonard moved to New Orleans in 1992, immersing himself in the city's
jazz scene. He released his second book, "Jazz Memories," in 1995.

Mr. Leonard's home and studio were damaged in Hurricane Katrina and his
archive of over 8,000 prints were lost in the flood. Fortunately, his
negatives had been housed at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and escaped
damage.

Mr. Leonard moved to Los Angeles and rebuilt his life and business there.

© 2010 NOLA.com. All rights reserved.

A Night of Treme

2010-08-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

“A Night of Treme” to Benefit Make It Right Foundation

August 13, 2010, New Orleans – HBO, Geffen Records, House of Blues and Make It Right are excited to announce “A Night of Treme,” a benefit show featuring the artists and music from the highly-acclaimed HBO series Treme. House of Blues in New Orleans will host the concert on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Saturday, August 28 at 8:00pm.

Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, August 13. All of the proceeds from the ticket sales go to benefit Make It Right’s work rebuilding safe, sustainable and affordable homes for working families in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. In addition to the general admission ticket, guests can purchase a VIP ticket, which includes admission to the show and the after-party at House of Blues’ restaurant and Voodoo Garden. The after-party will include food, open-bar and special appearances by beloved New Orleans’ artists and luminaries.

"Make It Right has had a singular impact on addressing the housing needs of New Orleans after Katrina, particularly in the 9th Ward. The cast and crew of Treme are proud to be doing whatever we can to assist in those efforts," states Treme creator and executive producer David Simon.

“A Night of Treme” will feature a range of musicians identified with New Orleans’ music tradition. These include John Boutte whose “Treme Song” is the series’ theme as well as Lloyd Price, Kermit Ruffins, Coco Robicheaux, Paul Sanchez, Doreen Ketchens, James Andrews, Jon Cleary, Irma Thomas, Rebirth Brass Band, Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians as well as some special guests. A number of these artists have appeared in the HBO Series Treme and will be heard on the Treme Soundtrack album coming from Geffen Records this fall. Also releasing are exclusive musical video performances from various artists in the HBO series.

“House of Blues is proud to support Make It Right in their effort to rebuild homes in the Lower 9th Ward and all the musicians and artists who have made Treme the success that it is,” said Sonny Schneidau of House of Blues in New Orleans.

Zappa festival set for September 19

2010-07-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

PLANS UNDERWAY FOR ZAPPA DEDICATION AND TRIBUTE CONCERT

SEPTEMBER EVENTS TO INCLUDE FREE OUTDOOR FESTIVAL

BALTIMORE - Since last month's confirmation of the September 19th date for
Baltimore City's dedication of a bust of Frank Zappa, community support has been
growing for a concert and festival in tribute to the legendary musician,
composer and social icon, whose birthplace is Baltimore. The bust, donated by a
Lithuanian fan club, will be placed at the Enoch Pratt Free Library Southeastern
Anchor Branch in Highlandtown, and plans now include an outdoor concert
featuring Zappa Plays Zappa (fronted by Frank's son Dweezil), and various events
at the library and nearby Patterson Theatre in support of the dedication
ceremony.

The date itself is especially significant as September 19th is the anniversary
of Zappa's 1985 testimony on Capitol Hill in favor of free expression by
Recording Artists at the Senate hearing instigated by certain congressional
wives (members of the PMRC) concerning record labeling. Frank Zappa's widow
Gail commented on the remarkable coincidence, stating, "Frank's legacy rests in
his uncompromising defense of the First Amendment and his uncompromising pursuit
of excellence clearly demonstrated in the standards he set in all areas of Music
and the arts and sciences associated with it. He was self-taught and
self-realized. It is hard to imagine how that is possible except for the 4
cornerstones he had going for him: a talent for music, a hard-core curiosity, a
keen sense of humor and access to a library. He was a cheap date for History."

The broader scope of events, being developed by Clearpath Entertainment in
collaboration with the Zappa family, the Southeastern Community Development
Corporation, Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Creative Alliance, are intended
to help anchor the new Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District and plans
now include a library exhibit, symposiums, and after party in addition to the
dedication and concert. Sean Brescia of Clearpath stated, "Baltimore has a rich
entertainment heritage dating back to its iconic theatres and jazz ballrooms,
and opportunities like this are a chance to re-capture that spirit. We wanted
to build an event that was a truly fitting tribute to the Zappa legacy, but also
something that can grow into a signature cornerstone event for the Highlandtown
Arts and Entertainment District, and Gail [Zappa] has shared that vision from
the beginning." In the interest of what the events could mean for the
community, Brescia reached out to a broad group of community organizations to
help plan and raise support for the events.

Echoing that sentiment of community interests, Chris Ryer of the Southeast
Community Development Corporation added, "The bust coming to Highlandtown and
these events are high-profile, flagship opportunities to position the
Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District as major reasons for visitors to
come to Southeast while they're in Baltimore. We're excited to work with
Clearpath and the Zappas to leverage this year's events as a catalyst for great
things to come."

Remarking on the concert lineup, Clearpath's David Christensen said, "Frank
Zappa's musical genius and influence is undeniable and it has always been a must
for us that Dweezil headline this show in the ultimate tribute to his father.
This is going to be Zappa Plays Zappa, next to Zappa's statue, on Zappa's
street, on Zappa's day; it couldn't be more fitting."

Philip Walker: Feb. 11th 1937 - July 22 2010

2010-07-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

Singer/guitarist Phillip Walker, 73, died this morning at 4:30 AM of heart failure. Walker played guitar on the Specialty and Chess recordings of Clifton Chenier. He moved from Louisiana to California in 1959. Walker's first album, Bottom Of The Top, was released in 1973 on the Playboy Record Label. He also made recordings on Galaxy, Vault, Joliet, HighTone, JSP, Black Top, Rounder, Alligator, P-Vine, MC, and most recently on Delta Groove. Phillip was a noted sideman who contributed to albums by Lonesome Sundown, Eddie Taylor, Percy Mayfield, and Johnny Shines.

Threadheads for Gulf Aid

2010-07-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

Check out this Gulf Aid song by an All-Star cast of New Orleans musicians including Paul Sanchez, John Boutte and Craig Klein:

http://threadheadrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nobody-knows-nothin-proceeds-benefit-gulfaid-orgNobody Knows Nothin' (Proceeds Benefit GulfAid.org), by Threadhead Records

threadheadrecords.bandcamp.com

1. Nobody Knows Nothin' Released 08 July 2010.

Village Voice hates on Trombone Shorty

2010-07-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

Very strange review of Trombone Shorty's Backatown in the current Village Voice. Tom Hull does back of the envelope reviews of 40-some releases in an installation of the "Jazz Consumer Guide," an idea of pretty useless merit to begin with. Naturally some flip put-downs need to be included for "balance." Out of all the releases out there Hull chooses Backatown for his "duds" section. Hull is creating a straw man to knock down because whatever you might want to call what Shorty is playing on this record, "jazz" is not the first description that comes to mind. Backatown is a an album of short songs played by what is essentially a funk rock band without significant solo passages. It's no more of a jazz album than recent releases by Galactic or Juvenile, two albums that are pretty similar in feel. Shorty is an outstanding soloist but you won't hear that on Backatown because that's not what the album is about. Hull's view is that it's a "New Orleans horn line" (what????) "tricked up with synth beats" (all the drum tracks are live in the studio, no samples or 'synth beats') "bogged down with guest vocals" (Shorty has many strengths but singing is down the list so the addition of Lenny Kravitz and Marc Broussard is hardly a distraction) "and a stab at grunge" (it's a jazz review, so the writer can be forgiven for such a complete misrepresentation of Pete Murano's guitar playing, which will never be confused with Kurt Cobain's). Just another example of the implosion of credibility the Voice's music coverage has suffered in recent years. The days when Robert Christgau and Gary Giddins made the Voice a must read music publication are as dead as the oysters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reprieve for Mother-In-Law lounge

2010-06-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Betty Fox, daughter of the late Antoinette K-Doe and current proprietor of Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law lounge, has changed her mind about closing the legendary club. Last week Fox announced she would be closing the club, but has apparently changed her mind. She plans to hold a fundraiser on July 4 with BBQ chicken, red beans & rice and live music by Guitar Lightnin' Lee. Obviously Fox has had a difficult time keeping the club going and it's future certainly depends on how effectively the community unites behind it. Unfortunately well-intentioned businesses like this that hang by a thread, constantly avoiding bankruptcy, usually end up going out of business permanently. Let's all hope this doesn't happen to Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law lounge. Tonight (June 30) at 10 p.m. CST to Fox will be a guest on WWOZ during a K-Doe tribute hosted by A.J. Rodrigue.

Times Picayune backs big oil again

2010-06-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

It really looks like the New Orleans Times Picayune editors are in bed with an oil industry that has destroyed Louisiana's fishing industry and severely damaged its tourism industry. Today's editorial supporting federal judge Martin Feldman's ruling against the six month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf is nothing but oil industry propaganda. Unless the industry immediately enacts strict and effective safety standards it should not be allowed to continue business as usual. Paying damages after the disaster occurs will not cut it. Strict oversight is imperative, but if the industry continues to deliberately ignore safety measures in standard operating procedure it should be shut down for the public good until it comes to its senses. Complaining that it costs jobs is a spurious argument. Arguing that jobs justify the continued use of unsafe practices is more than just a false premise. The oil industry has given no indication that it even recognizes the problem. Deepwater Horizon was not an accident. It was a predictable result. The irresponsible parties must be held accountable until they agree to revise their operating standards, and offer a plan to do so. They must not be allowed to pursue their criminal activities until then. Defending the oil industry under the pemise that it provides jobs is like saying that drug kingpins should be allowed to operate their present day version of Murder Inc. because they provide jobs. Murder is murder. The Times Picayune's disgraceful position is directly tied to the advertising money from the oil industry.

Here's the editorial:

In blocking President Barack Obama's broad moratorium on deepwater drilling, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman cut straight to the heart of the administration's flawed reasoning.

The blanket moratorium, the judge wrote, "seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.''

"The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster,'' the ruling stated. "What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened...into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm.''

That is the assumption behind the six-month moratorium ordered by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It was challenged in court by three companies that provide support services to offshore drilling.

In Judge Feldman's eyes, the federal government hasn't justified what he called a "punitive'' moratorium. Instead, he said, the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the administration "acted arbitrarily and capriciously.''

That's critical. While the judge notes case law that says the court can't substitute its judgment for that of an agency like the Interior Department, the agency must articulate a "rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.'' That hasn't happened. In fact, Judge Feldman points out that the Interior Department report made no effort to explicitly justify the six-month moratorium and doesn't discuss the irreparable harm that would warrant a suspension of operations.

The court "is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium.''

The judge criticized the report for stating that its recommendations had been peer-reviewed by seven National Academy of Engineering experts. The judge pointed out that five of those experts and three of the other experts who were consulted say that they do not agree with the blanket moratorium, a fact that was first reported in The Times-Picayune.

Judge Feldman also recognizes something that the Obama administration hasn't seemed to grasp: how vital this industry is to our region's economy. The judge called it "quite simply elemental to the Gulf communities.''

"The effect on employment, jobs, loss of domestic energy supplies caused by the moratorium as the plaintiffs (and other suppliers, and the rigs themselves) lose business, and the movement of the rigs to other sites around the world will clearly ripple throughout the economy in this region,'' the judge wrote.

Judge Feldman's ruling validates what Louisianians have been arguing for weeks: that the administration's broad drilling ban isn't justified and stands to cause even greater economic harm to this state than the devastating oil spill itself.

The preliminary injunction doesn't erase the likelihood that oil rigs will pick up and move to other countries. Companies are unlikely to gamble that the plaintiffs will prevail. The Obama administration was quick to say that it will appeal the ruling. Considering the grave economic consequences posed by the moratorium, the appeal should be handled as expeditiously as possible.

The administration's determination to fight the preliminary injunction is disappointing. Judge Feldman's ruling offered an opportunity for the White House to reconsider its action and take a more targeted approach to ensuring safety on deepwater rigs. Instead officials are digging in their heels, and while they might ultimately lose this legal battle, thousands of Louisianians could still be left without jobs.

Mother-In-Law lounge to close

2010-06-21T06:11:00.001-07:00

Betty Fox, the daughter of Antoinette K-Doe, announced on her Facebook page that she is closing down Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge for good. The colorful bar at 1500 N. Claiborne in Treme has been difficult for Fox to maintain since Antoinette died on Mardi Gras Day, 2009. Fox was hospitalized March 1 after a car crashed into the bar, damaging the front door and leaving her "physically and emotionally tired of doing this. I'm grieving, too. I'm losing weight. I've been living upstairs with no plumbing, or electricity, and mold in the room for a year and a half."

"I know a lot of people might not understand," she said. "But my mother and K-Doe been gone, and each one of us has our own memory of them. This is just a building."

Fox plans to hold the last in a series of garage sales of K-Doe and Antoinette memorabilia as well as some of the bar's fixtures on July 10. Though she is behind in the rent and the building has suffered structural and mold damage, Fox holds out hope that the Mother-In-Law could be turned into a museum, an eventuality that seems unlikely without a serious financial intervention.

Times Picayune: Drill Baby, Drill

2010-06-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

The dreadful conundrum facing Louisiana's oil-drenched future is reflected in the following Manuel Torres editorial in The Times-Picayune. Big Oil's economic impact on the state gives it carte blanche to run roughshod over all opposition. If drilling cannot be done safely, the writer implies, it needs to be done anyway because jobs are involved. But what about all the livelihoods, and the way of life, being destroyed by this industry, which will ony exist at the most for a few decades more in the most optimistic of assessments?

Here's the column:

Louisianians understand that deepwater drilling is central to our economy; we know that the jobs provided by this industry go far beyond those on the rigs themselves -- more than twice as many people in oil-related jobs earn their livings on tugboats and supply boats and in shipyards, helipads, catering kitchens and other places on shore.

It doesn't take an economist to see what shutting down the rigs for half a year will do to all those jobs and the people who hold them.

But President Barack Obama doesn't seem to get it. His administration fails to grasp how Louisiana's economy works or what the six-month halt to exploratory drilling that the White House has ordered will do to people who earn their living from this critical activity. Either that, or his administration is determined to disregard the economic annihilation that its shutdown will cause.

The announcement this week of a $100 million compensation fund for rig workers affected by the moratorium is striking proof of this administration's myopia. In all, 18,000 to 24,000 jobs related to the 30 shuttered rigs across the Gulf are in jeopardy from the drilling moratorium. But this fund, which BP agreed to provide, targets only 6,000 to 8,000 Gulf Coast residents who work on the rigs themselves. Those workers make an average of $2,400 a week, counting benefits, which means the fund could dry up in as little as six weeks, with months left before the moratorium ends.

According to the LSU Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana residents account for 3,339 of rig workers who are likely to lose their jobs, but another 7,656 Louisianians who work in jobs related to drilling also face likely layoffs. That's 10,955 people who stand to lose their source of income, joining the fishers, shrimpers, oyster harvesters, charter boat operators, seafood processors, restaurateurs and many others whose livelihoods have already succumbed to the oil spill.

The Obama administration succeeded in persuading BP to set up a $20 billion compensation fund for economic losses caused by this unprecedented disaster, and that's a crucial step toward ensuring our recovery from this environmental nightmare. But it remains unclear whether workers left in the lurch by the moratorium will be able to get help from this fund.

Nor will the damage end when the moratorium is over. The harsh reality is that many deepwater rigs are likely to abandon the Gulf of Mexico for places like Brazil and western Africa. After spending millions to move a rig, it's unlikely that a company will rush back to the Gulf. That leaves support workers with little prospect of getting their jobs back. Over half of rig workers could keep their jobs if they are willing to endure greater separations of time and distance from their families. But the rest won't be given that choice.

President Obama said that he stressed the plight of Gulf Coast families in a private conversation with BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.

"A lot of these folks don't have a cushion,'' the president said he told the chairman. "They were coming off Rita and Katrina, coming off the worst economy that this country has seen since the Great Depression, and this season was going to be the season where they were going to be bouncing back.''

Understanding the human face of those affected by the oil spill is vital, and President Obama was right to make that point in his meeting with BP officials. But Louisiana and other Gulf Coast residents whose jobs are now imperiled by their own government's action deserve no less from the president. They, too, lived through the storms of 2005. They, too, have struggled through a tough economy. Moreover, workers in jobs that support drilling make less money than those who work on the rigs. Now they face the prospect of joblessness, and so far, all that most of them can count on when the pink slips arrive is an unemployment check from the state.

President Obama has not heeded the voices urging him to reconsider the scope of the moratorium. Those include engineering and oil industry experts consulted by the administration, who are calling the broad moratorium a mistake that could cause more harm to the economy than the spill itself. They had endorsed different steps such as a moratorium on new drilling permits. They suggested a briefer halt at existing rigs, so that safety tests could be conducted.

That's still a viable strategy. A more nuanced approach would be far wiser and more compassionate than the punishing shutdown that the White House has ordered.

President Obama also needs to show that he's willing to learn about Louisiana's economic underpinnings. He missed an opportunity when he failed to appoint someone with that kind of knowledge to the commission that is investigating the BP spill.

Louisianians also need clarity on whether the $20 billion compensation fund will encompass losses caused by the moratorium. The White House has said that it expects BP to pay all claims for lost wages related to the moratorium.

At the very least, Gulf Coast oil industry workers who are worried about how they will pay their bills without jobs should have the assurance that their losses will be treated no differently than those of their neighbors.

La.'s oil addiction leads to call for gov't takeover

2010-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

The following is an article by Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop. Perhaps the most unsettling thing about the story is that it is not written by a right wing pundit paid off by corporate cynics but a thoughtful liberal voice. The bottom line of this debate is a contradiction that lies at the center of Louisiana culture. The state's economy is inextricably bound up with the oil industry. Even as the disaster that has destroyed the state's fishing industry continues unabated, very few people in the state are willing to contemplate a future without Big Oil calling the shots. It's an addiction that leads directly to the alarming conclusion this columnist makes.

Here's the column:

A modest proposal: The federal government should take over Louisiana. Might as well, at this point.

"We will do whatever is necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy," President Obama said this week from the Oval Office.

Louisiana has had more than its share of tragedies in recent years, and some, such as Hurricane Katrina, could be deemed acts of nature. But whatever the cause, every calamity that befalls Louisiana is made worse by its corrupt civic culture. A protectorate could provide the structure of governance its people need.

It's hardly news that Louisiana's political class is not all it could be. But there comes a time when the U.S. taxpayer can no longer write blank checks to cover its dysfunction.

Louisiana should be a rich state. It has the climate, location, waterfront and all-around beauty that any director of economic development would die for. But Louisiana doesn't seem able to move beyond its dependence on oil.

Texas did it. Today, it is a major force in high-tech research, medical services, trade and manufacturing. Even its energy business is modernized. The West Texas plains are home to an enormous wind-power corridor, as entrepreneurs seek clever ways to make natural gas and wind work together. Thus, the Texas economy is one-sixth as sensitive to changes in the oil price as it was 30 years ago.

But in Louisiana, it's oil all the time. Mix a wealthy extractive industry with easily corrupted politicians, and you have makings for a Third World economy. (New Orleans has been called the best-run city in the Caribbean.)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal appears fairly competent and smart. But look at the self-contradicting ideology he's tangled in.

A year ago, Jindal provided the Republican response to Obama's fiscal stimulus plan. "Democratic leaders in Washington," he said, "they place their hope in the federal government." (Never mind that as a congressman, Jindal ranked 14th in requests for federal pork.)

Jindal wants more than 100 miles of sand berms to supposedly protect his coastline. But the sand piles probably won't work and could actually make matters worse, according to The Wall Street Journal. Most of the oil would hit shore, anyway. The dredging could cause more erosion and kill fish by changing the water's salt content.

Though probably ineffective, the project is big and expensive. Jindal, meanwhile, is asking Obama to end the moratorium on the kind of new deep-water drilling that caused all this pain.

Much of southern Louisiana is under sea level and periodically floods. No sane person would build in these low-lying areas were it not for the federal taxpayer, who subsidizes flood coverage where private insurers would never tread.

The Mississippi Delta wetlands used to provide a buffer against storms. They've been largely destroyed by river-moving projects, levees and canals cut by oil companies.

Five years ago, U.S. taxpayers were asked to restore the Delta at an estimated cost of $15 billion. A lot of money, yes, but the region is a national treasure representing 40 percent of the coastal wetlands in the contiguous United States.

As the proposal progressed, Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, worked at gutting a law that empowered the Army Corps of Engineers to protect wetlands in navigable waters. It seems some timber companies wanted to make a fast buck cutting down cypress trees and turning them into ... garden mulch!

Louisiana need not remain a permanent ward of the federal government. As in the case of General Motors, Washington could help change management, then set Louisiana free to run its own affairs. But something must be done.

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com

Vanishing oysters

2010-06-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Adolfo's, the great restaurant upstairs from the Apple Barrel on Frenchmen Street, is serving its last oysters. When the current supply is gone they're off the menu. Just one more reminder of the way the George W. Bush administration ruined life in Louisiana in exchange for windfall oil profits. Those who are blaming Obama are either disingenuous or just plain stupid. Bush VP Dick Cheney allowed BP and the rest of the oil cartel to write the rules on oversight of their reckless practices. That means you too, Dutch East Ind... I mean Shell Oil. Thanks for sponsoring Jazz Fest, but why don't you just jump in the river while you're at it.

Gulf Aid Art at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

2010-06-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

GULF AID ART: ARTISTS IN ACTION, A Fundraising Exhibition of Louisiana Artists Responding to the Gulf Oil Spill.
June 17-19, 2010 at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery is proud to announce GULF AID ART: ARTISTS IN ACTION, A Fundraising Exhibition of Louisiana Artists Responding to the Gulf Oil Spill.

The benefit exhibition will take place from June 17-19th at the gallery located in the New Orleans Arts District. The exhibition will feature new works by over 25 well-known Louisiana artists reacting to the greatest environmental disaster in US history. Gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara and artist Dan Tague, both arts activists , conceived of the exhibition as a way for the visual arts community of New Orleans to respond to the disaster.

The exhibition will open on Thursday June 17th at 11am, with an artist reception from 6-9pm that night and will run for through Saturday June 19th at 5pm and continue online throughout the summer.

As this crisis has unfolded, citizens across the state have felt helpless in being able to respond the disaster.

What action can I take?
What can I do?
What is happening?
What is our future?
How can we help our fellow Louisianans who are being directly affected right now?

Inspired by actions taken by the musical community in organizing the recent Gulf Aid concert that featured musicians like Lenny Kravitz and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, visual artists are banding together to offer their creative talents in response to this disaster.

"Musicians have done their part and now visual artists are going to do their part as well to respond to this terrible disaster. We all are terrified, upset, anxious and damn mad about what has transpired and we have to use our creativity to speak up, comment, criticize and make our voices heard. We are all in this together and artists must take action!" - Jonathan Ferrara

Both Tague and Ferrara have a history of responding to disasters via artistic endeavors. In 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, Ferrara created New Orleans Artists In Exile, a travelling exhibition of artists affected by the hurricane. In 2006-7, Ferrara was instrumental in distributing over $40,000 in direct grants to artists in need recovering from Katrina. And in 2010, artist Dan Tague created a limited edition print (100), United For Haiti, which sold out in a week and immediately raised over $7500 for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Those funds were donated to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

For GULF AID ART, each artist was challenged to create a new print edition with the only criteria that they respond / react to the current crisis affecting their home, health, happiness and economic futures. Each artist has created a limited edition print of 10 that will be sold both in the gallery during the limited run exhibition and online via the gallery's website. In an effort to make the work accessible to the general public and raise as much money as possible, the prices of the works will range between $100 and $500 with the potential to raise $80,000.

For this fundraiser, Ferrara will take down his current exhibition and install the 25+ works in the galley for a three-day fundraising exhibition. A to Z Framing of New Orleans, who is generously donating the framing, will frame the works in the exhibition.

In addition to the works in the gallery , British photojournalist Charlie Varley will exhibit a slide show of his photographs taken since the April 20th explosion documenting the spill and its aftermath. Varley's photos are regularly published around the world in Time magazine, Newsweek, The Times, The Wall Street Journal among others.

The exhibition will open on Thursday June 17th at 11am, with an artist reception from 6-9pm that night and it will run for through Saturday June 19th at 5pm. Louisiana's own Abita Beer is also a sponsor of the event.

***************************************************************
100% of the proceeds will be donated to Gulf Aid. Gulf Aid is a 501(c3) nonprofit corporation established in response to the biggest oil spill in US history just 50 miles off of the Louisiana Coast.

The mission of the Gulf Relief Foundation is to provide relief to the fishing community of the Gulf Coast and their families, and to address the long-term challenge of restoring and protecting America's coastal wetlands.

The fund will ensure all proceeds are distributed to organizations focused on supporting wetlands/coastal environmental issues & the well being of fishermen, and the regional seafood industry.
***************************************************************

Exhibition Sponsors

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (special thanks to Gallery Director Jessica Inman)
A to Z Framing of New Orleans
Abita Beer
Express Signs

SEVERAL OF THE ARTISTS IN THIS EXHIBITION ARE IN NUMEROUS MUSEUM AND PROMINENT COLLECTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

The featured artists for GULF AID ART are:

Christopher Saucedo, Professor of Sculpture, University of New Orleans
Dan Rule, Professor of Imaging, University of New Orleans, represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Krista Jurisich, Art Teacher represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Dan Tague, Prospect.2 Biennial Artist represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Skylar Fein, Prospect.1 Biennial Artist represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Brian Guidry, Artist and Curator of Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, LA
Robert Tannen, Prospect.2 Biennial Artist, and Founder of New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center
Sandy Chism, Professor of Painting, Tulane University, represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Teresa Cole, Professor of Art, Tulane University, represented by Gallery Bienvenu,
Sally Heller, artist represented by Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans
Ron Bechet, Professor of Art, Xavier University
Tina Girouard, Prospect.2 Biennial artist and Internationally known interdisciplinary artist since the 1970s, known for her art and activism in Haiti since 1980s.
David Bradshaw, artist, activist and collaborator with William S. Burroughs and Robert Rauschenberg
British Photojournalist Charlie Varley represented by news photo agency SIPA Press in New York and Paris and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans.
Douglas Bourgeois represented by Arthur Roger Gallery
Dawn Dedeaux, Prospect.2 Biennial artist represented by Arthur Roger Gallery
Kyle Bravo, printmaker and founder of The Front artist cooperative in St Claude Arts District, represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Jennifer Odem, art faculty, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA)represented by 511 Gallery in NY
David Sullivan
Rajko Radovanovic
Photographer Bob Compton
Daphne Loney
Cynthia Scott
Brian Borrello
Stephen Collier, one of the founders of Good Children Gallery
Michael Greathouse, Kelman Visser Gallery, Brussels
and
Matt Vis and Tony Campbell (Generic Art Solutions), Good Children Gallery

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery is a collective environment of creative visions. A commercial gallery with a public conscience. Artist, activist, and entrepreneur Jonathan Ferrara opened the gallery in 1998 to give artists a greater voice. Since its inception, the gallery has focused on cutting edge works by local, national and international artists with a sense of purpose, mission, and message.

For more information about Gulf Aid, the charity, please visit www.gulfaid.org.

100 years of Howlin' Wolf

2010-06-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

"Always stop at the top"
-- Howlin' Wolf's advice to Eric Clapton on how to play the blues.

100 years ago today Chester Arthur Burnett aka Howlin' Wolf was born. Right now I'm listening to J. Monque D DJ a tribute to the Wolf on WWOZ. I've also been working on an article about the Black Keys for Relix magazine. It's really difficult to describe Patrick Carney's drum sound but when I heard "Moanin' at Midnight" again it clicked. It's the same kind of attack. It's blues, and it's old school, but it's not retro. That's because it's in the moment, just as these Howlin' Wolf tracks sound contemporary. Check that, they sound eternal, outside of time, in a continuum of their own design. I'm realizing that's the only kind of music I really care about. "I'm Ready."

Nice piece by Jeff Johnson on Wolf in the Chicago Sun Times:

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/2352114,howlin-wolf-blues-fest-060610.article

BY JEFF JOHNSON Staff Reporter
He looked like a member of the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome, sang in a voice so gritty it could cut diamonds and worked Chicago’s blues stages with the passion of a man grappling for possession of his soul.

Yes, the man born Chester Arthur Burnett — after our 21st president — 100 years ago this Thursday outside West Point, Miss., and known to the world as Howlin’ Wolf left an impression bigger than his size 16 extra-wides. Friends, family and his musicians still speak of his dominating physical presence, but ask the about the Wolf and they’ll first mention his complex personality, his street smarts and his dedication to his craft.

This week, when the 27th annual Chicago Blues Festival takes over Grant Park for three days starting Friday, the Wolf will be ubiquitous. And that’s likely the way he would have wanted it.

“I remember my mom [Lillie] telling me, ‘There aren’t a lot of things he needed or wanted, but one thing he asked: ‘Don’t forget me,’” his daughter Bettye Kelly recalled during a recent “Speaking of the Blues” program at the Harold Washington Library Center devoted to the 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who died in 1976.

Or, as his longtime guitarist Jody Williams puts it, “The Wolf deserves to be remembered.”

* * *

Howlin’ Wolf’s story is the Chicago blues in microcosm, the ultimate triumph of the African-American dirt farmer transplanted to the postwar industrial North. Wolf wasn’t among the early wave of bluesmen to join the Great Migration. As a teenager, he learned the blues at the feet of the great Delta blues guitarist Charley Patton, and built a recording and performing career while DJ’ing at KWEM-AM in West Memphis, Ark.

Sun Records founder Sam Phillips couldn’t believe what he heard when Wolf cut several sides at his studio in Memphis, Tenn., for the Bihari brothers’ Modern label and Chicago’s Chess Records. “I can say to this day there is nobody I loved recording more,” Phillips told Wolf’s biographers James Segrest and Mark Hoffman, who penned Moanin’ at Midnight in 2004. This from the man who recorded Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and a host of other greats.

By September 1951, both Modern and Chess thought they had “exclusive” deals with the Wolf, and Leonard and Phil Chess eventually prevailed. Wolf was off to Chicago.

“I’m the only one who drove out of the South like a gentleman,” Wolf later told Chicago music producer and blues historian Dick Shurman.

And that scene in 2008’s highly fanciful Chess biopic “Cadillac Records” where Wolf pulls up to the offices in an old pickup truck? That was probably a two-tone DeSoto, his daughters say. Still, the movie presented Wolf in a favorable light when it came to seeing through the plantation mentality he walked away from down South. Instead of taking Chess’ flashy Cadillacs in payment for royalties, Wolf insisted on keeping correct books.

“That’s how they did business with the artists, but my dad did not play that,” daughter Barbra Marks explained. “Our dad was depicted very well,” including a scene when he peeled bills from his bankroll to pay for harmonica superstar Little Walter Jacobs’ burial.

Williams took exception to Wolf’s portrayal as “a thug” in the movie. But another guitarist, Hubert Sumlin, who probably had the most longevity of any member of Wolf’s bands, said his boss was not above ruling by intimidation when the situation warranted. Wolf’s ballyhooed feud with fellow Chicago blues great Muddy Waters, which started from the time Wolf began taking club dates from the more established Waters, came to a head when Wolf fired Sumlin onstage and Waters quickly hired him. “The Wolf scared me so bad over this,” Sumlin recalled in a phone interview from his home in northern New Jersey.

Returning from a monthlong tour with Waters’ band, Sumlin hit Chicago feeling tired, sick and alienated by Muddy’s comparatively lax rules. “I called Wolf from a pay phone in front of the 708 Club. Muddy was with me, and he was drunk, man. Wolf came on in the door, pointed his finger at Muddy and told him , ‘Hey, man, I come to get my son.’ Muddy started to cry [out of fear he’d angered Wolf]. To tell you the truth, that made me feel a little important [having the blues giants fighting over him]. I learned a lot when I was with those guys.”

Sumlin admits the firing was warranted because he was “running over” the vocals with his heavy guitar picking.

“He said, ‘Don’t come back till you start using your fingers cause you’re a finger man, anyway.’ It didn’t take me long to learn. It made me a better player and a better musician. I had my tone, my sound, everything I needed.”

Now Sumlin regularly lands on lists of the greatest rock guitarists ever, and Eric Clapton cites him as one of his biggest influences. He owes it mostly to Wolf, he says.

* * *

Wolf left a great legend and an even greater musical legacy. Using his own band members and the finest Chess session men, he cranked out signature tunes such as “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Evil,” “I Ain’t Superstitious,” “Killing Floor” and “Goin’ Down Slow.” Never a prolific songwriter, Wolf recorded many songs by blues poet laureate Willie Dixon, a Chess writer-arranger-producer who joined in on upright bass.

And while Muddy was top dog when Wolf arrived in Chicago, Wolf had the advantage of living in the South more recently. Thus when his devoted fans arrived in droves to Chicago, many feeling homesick, they showed up at clubs such as Silvio’s, the Zanzibar and the 708 Club to hear Wolf sing and play the sounds they knew best. He turned other blues fans into Wolf fanatics with his smoking-hot band and an animated stage presence that was said to have inspired James Brown and Little Richard.

In explaining his appeal, non-related namesake Peter Wolf, former J. Geils Band frontman, explained, “He was unique. He had a deep emotional impact, his style was totally recognizable as his own and he seemed to have a direct link to Charley Patton. I just found him to be like a great expressionist painter — unique and encompassing an amazing style. His performances were always unpredictable because he was always unpredictable. He got lost in the music and he always had a showmanship aspect to him, whereas Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker didn’t, although all three had a great intensity when they sang.”

Peter Wolf and Howlin’ Wolf, who both were singers, harmonica players and DJs, found themselves in Harvard Square after a late night, and when the Bostonian opted for an early breakfast, his Chicago visitor delayed them when he became engaged in an intense discussion with a group of Harvard students.

Shurman, too, found Wolf to have an uncanny native intelligence, given his lack of formal education. He arrived in Chicago barely able to read and write, and with some help from wife Lillie, he was eventually able to do the payroll for his band, deducting taxes and even offering health insurance.

“I always said Wolf had quite a bit of street smarts, but I didn’t look at him like I did B.B. King,” said Shurman, who theorizes that given the opportunity, King would have made a great U.S. representative to the United Nations.

Shurman gives the Wolf his due, citing his childhood of extreme poverty, when he was banished from his mother’s home, brought up by an abusive uncle who beat him with a strap and a possible nervous breakdown and electroshock therapy in the military. Shurman poses this interesting hypothetical: If you could do away with the spirit-crushing poverty of the period, knowing that you’d lose the great music produced as a result of these social ills, would you do it?

“From a humanitarian standpoint, you’d have to,” I replied.

“Yes, but as a music lover, think of what you’d be losing.”

Fortunately, we agreed, it’s not a choice we’re forced to make.

LOS LOBOS CANCEL IN PROTEST

2010-06-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

LOS LOBOS CANCEL ARIZONA PERFORMANCE
Grammy Award winning roots-rock band Los Lobos has decided to cancel their scheduled performance at The Talking Stick Resort on June 10th, 2010. The band has made this decision based on the current call to boycott Arizona in response to SB 1070.

Through their management, Los Lobos issued the following statement: “We support the boycott of Arizona. The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, Casino Arizona, Talking Stick Resort and our fans, but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do.”

The members of Los Lobos are Steve Berlin, David Hidalgo, Conrad Lozano, Cesar Rosas and Louie Perez.

www.loslobos.org

A modest proposal

2010-05-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Lies, lies, lies. According to a report on MSNBC Sunday, BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward disputed claims by scientists that large undersea plumes have been set adrift by the Gulf oil spill and said the cleanup fight has narrowed to surface slicks rolling into Louisiana's coastal marshes.

During a tour of a company staging area for cleanup workers, Hayward said BP's sampling showed "no evidence" that oil was suspended in large masses beneath the surface. He didn't elaborate on how the testing was done.

"The oil is on the surface," Hayward said. "Oil has a specific gravity that's about half that of water. It wants to get to the surface because of the difference in specific gravity."

Scientists from several universities have reported plumes of what appears to be oil suspended in clouds stretching for miles and reaching hundreds of feet beneath the Gulf's surface.

Those findings — from the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Southern Mississippi University and other institutions — were based on initial observations of water samples taken in the Gulf over the last several weeks. They continue to be analyzed.

One researcher said Sunday that their findings are bolstered by the fact that scientists from different institutions have come to similar conclusions after doing separate testing.

"There's been enough evidence from enough different sources," said Marine scientist James Cowan of Louisiana State University, who reported finding a plume last week of oil about 50 miles from the spill site that reached to depths of at least 400 feet.

Hayward is the same guy that made such outrageous claims as "Nobody wants this spill to be contained more than I do"; "I want my life back"; and my personal favorite "Why did this happen to me?"

Well, the oil rig workers who died in the explosion created by Hayward's shoddy practices want their lives back too. The thousands of fishermen and their families whose lives are now ruined by Hayward's folly want their lives back too. Countless, dolphins, turtles, redfish pelicans, migratory birds and other creatures would ask for their lives back if they could.

When a serial killer murders dozens of people does he ask "Why did this happen to me?" When a drug gang murders rivals in cold blood on the streets of New Orleans do we hear the gang members say "I want my life back?" Society is supposed to have a way of dealing with those who kill fellow citizens. Those who kill for profit are held in particular contempt. Hayward should be arrested and tried for crimes against humanity. Dick Cheney, whose secret meetings with oil executives in the first year of the most recent Bush administration established the energy policy that has led us to ruin, should be arrested and tried for treason. If the CEOs were held accountable the same way serious killers and gang leaders are we'd see a lot less of the irresponsible corporate behavior we have to deal with now.

There has also been a lot of talk about what Obama should and shouldn't have done since the spill. There's not much the government could have done to stop the spill once it happened. Where Obama went wrong, and he went very, very wrong, was when he gave a green light to deepwater drilling three weeks before the spill happened, claiming that the technology was so advanced that spills did not occur. He had a year in office to clean up the mess Cheney singlehandedly created. Not only didn't he do anything about the lack of oversight of drilling methods, he encouraged the insane rhetoric of "drill, baby, drill." This is what he really should be apologizing for. If stricter regulations had been in place demanding the fail safe mechanisms that other countries require of deepwater drillers the Deepwater Horizon disaster would never have happened.

Murder In the Gulf

2010-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Time for action! Join the protest at 1 pm, Sunday May 30, by Jackson Square. BP's greed & negligence murdered eleven human beings-- real working people, with real families, spouses and children -- and now BP is destroying the entire Gulf Coast while the Federal Government does nothing.

BP is killing us all, killing our wildlife, our oysters and fish, our birds, and our way of life.

Even if the capping procedure works the damage has already been done. The oil discharge is worse than the Exxon Valdez. This is more like Chernobyl in the Gulf. This is destroying the Gulf of Mexico for generations.

On the Beach

2010-05-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Officials have done nothing to save the disappearing wetlands of Louisiana and Mississippi. Big oil, which has run the country at least as far back as the Reagan administration, has pushed back fiercely against any attempt to educate the public about this growing disaster. Oil greed is the real underlying reason for the New Depression as well. The only reason we wasted the countless billions to oust Saddam Hussein in Iraq was to further our geopolitical interests in the oil business. Oil makes us dependent on dictators and religious zealots in the middle east and enriches them, giving them the resources to fund terrorists who have attacked our country repeatedly.
The Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars has done a great job of trying to bring attention to this giant threat to our future. Cyril Neville has been forthright in speaking truth to power on this and many other issues, yet his messageis repeatedly derided or occluded. Dr. John has been blunt in his condemnations of the evil corporations behind this mess. One of them, Shell, funds the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, blood money that's supposed to get them off the hook for helping to destroy all of South Louisiana in the present and New Orleans in the near future. When Dr. John assailed Shell last year and admonished them to do something about the situation he was inundated with Shell-sponsored pushback and ultimately forced to make a public apology for his remarks in the Times Picayune.
Shell was a major part of the oil cartel that bought off congress in order to gut federal oversight of the offshore drilling industry. They bought relaxed standards that allowed deepwater drilling without safeguards that would have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster from unleasing a volcano of oil into the gulf.
Now it's too late. The worst has happened. Oil is inexorably fouling all of the South Louisiana coastline and is infiltrating the delta. It will take a generation to wash it away, unless the land simply disappears in the meantime. The entire fishing industry of Louisiana has been taken out by the oil industry, just like that. Corporate war. The national Republican politicians keep saying things like "accidents will happen" and clinging to the nursery school logic of "Drill, baby drill." Too bad, says Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin and BP officials. Even the Obama administration was ready to allow more offshore drilling before all this happened. We've been repeatedly lied to about the amount of oil being released into the Gulf, where it's going and what it's long range effects will be. But now it's on the beach. The lies won't work anymore. Nevertheless the damage has been done. I think it's interesting that the Republican governor of Louisiana now says that if another country came and took this land from us we'd go to war. We've already lost the war, Bobby, to the very people who financed your campaign. So shut up or switch parties and do something about it.
Today's Washington Post has an article that spells out just how bad things are.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37299417/ns/us_news-washington_post//

Jazz Fest 2010 final thoughts

2010-05-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

There was a triumphant air to the 41st renewal of the New Orleans
Jazz and Heritage Festival as it began. The afterglow of the Saints winning the
Super Bowl and the decisive endorsement the city gave new mayor
Mitch Landrieu with his landslide victory has given many New
Orleanians the sense that the trials of Katrina's aftermath were
over and a new era of hope and optimism was at hand. The spectacular
success of the French Quarter Festival augured a potentially
record-breaking Jazz Fest. Flights into New Orleans were overbooked;
hotel rooms were impossible to come by.

Joey Ramone birthday bash May 19

2010-05-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

The annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash is scheduled for May 19 at Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza. Hank III, Morningwood, Sick F*cks, The Independnts, Spanking Charlene and Heap are on the bill.

Mickey Leigh, organizer of the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash and brother of the late Joey Ramone, has announced an after party to immediately follow this year’s Bash.

Held to commemorate Ramone’s birthday every year since his passing in 2001 after a seven-year battle with Lymphoma, the Bash has become a highly anticipated event, bringing together some of music’s hottest acts to perform for a one night only celebration.

Ramone had a history of encouraging up-and-coming bands in New York’s downtown music scene by showcasing them at his special “Joey Ramone Presents…” events. Since Ramone’s passing, his brother and their mother Charlotte Lesher carried on the tradition “by featuring bands that make great music and getting together some of Joey’s friends to celebrate him on what would otherwise be a sad, somber day,” Leigh explained.

This is the first year for the after party, which is being organized by NYC based fashion coordinator Erin O’Brien and will be held at The Belmont Lounge, 117 East 15th Street between Park Avenue & Irving Plaza, from 10PM – 4AM. There is no cover charge and no tickets being sold so everyone is invited – providing they can show ID that they are over 21 years of age. Performing tributes to Ramones songs “their way” will be Killcode (myspace.com/killcode), Panzie (myspace.com/panzerocknroll), Patti Rothberg (myspace.com/pattirothbergmusic) and Karen Curious (www.myspace.com/karencurious). DJ Oki will be spinning punk music all night long. Additional surprise guests are anticipated.

Among the items included in the silent auction are a Cyndi Lauper signed Barbie Doll; New York Dolls book and poster signed by photographer Bob Gruen; signed Rock Junket book and 2 tickets for the rock and roll walking tour; Michael H Rock Punk Coutoure Handmade Jeans (3 pair); Billy The Artist signed painting; signed Blank Generation DVD donated by filmmaker Amos Poe; “I Love Dick” t-shirt and book signed by The Dictators’ Dick Manitoba; and gift certificates from Houndstooth Pub ($50), Stitch Bar ($50), CBGB’s, St. Marks Bookstore, and Trash & Vaudeville. Additional items are expected from the B52s and Dropkick Murphys. Net proceeds from the auction go to benefit Lymphoma research.

Aretha cancels Jazz Fest show

2010-04-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

Aretha Franklin pulled out of her scheduled performance Friday at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Earth Wind and Fire will replace her on the bill. Highlight for me is the Mardi Gras Indian Orchetsra making its first Jazz Fest appearance.
Thursday's festival was a beautiful kickoff for the second weekend. The weather was absolutely spectacular and the 101 Runners brought down the spirits. Great band, with a new album just out featuring an incendiary performance on lead guitar from June Yamagishi.
Amanda Shaw continues to grow and sounded great on the Gentilly stage, especially with Trombone Shorty backing her up. Please, Amanda, keep doing what you do and stop with the covers of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." It's frustrating to see someone as talented as yourself making like a Bourbon Street cover band. Of course if you stuck around to see Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint close out the day with versions of "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad," "The Race Is On" and -- of all things -- "Happy" you might well ask why I'm picking on you. And you'd have a point.
Bad idea of the day: Steve Martin. The comedian/amateur banjo picker played a desultory set enlivened only by the shtick of "King Tut." Spend some more time at the Fais Do Do stage, Steve, before you come back and try that again.
It's been so hot at the Blue Nile they should have fire trucks outside at all times. Tuesday night Dr. John was messing -- the place finally cleared at 7am -- Wednesday was the "Radiators Reincarnation," a recapitulation of wild days at the Dream Palace, which the Blue Nile was once called. Thursday night local band Doctor Gonzeaux played a terrific warmup set for an off the scale night of Trombone Shorty, who is all over town during Fest as usual.

Josh Charles channels Booker

2010-04-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing raves about Josh Charles from New Orleans musicians. I've seen him a couple of times with his band and thought he was very talented but didn't get the full picture. Last night he played two solo piano sets at Checkpoint Charlie and I finally got it. Got why Cyril Neville compares him to James Booker. Got why Dr. John took a personal interest in tutoring him. Got why James Andrews chose him to be in his Crescent City All-Stars band at Jazz Fest, which was one of the high points of the first weekend. At Checkpoint, Charles played Allen Toussaint's "Life," a terrific vehicle for Booker. Charles seemed to channel the Bayou Maharaja under the full Taurus moon, his fingers dancing across the keyboards, producing clusters of sound with an otherwordly cadence. The normally boistrous Checkpoint crowd, which swelled to capacity as he played with all the shutters opened to Esplanade Avenue, hung on every note and showered him with applause at the end. People were throwing twenty dollar bills into the tip bucket.
It was the first solo piano gig Charles has ever played in New Orleans.
It won't be the last.

Fest season rolls on

2010-04-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Just walked out of Louisiana Music Factory where Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue played a spectacular showcase of material from the new album Backatown. "Something Beautiful," which Lenny Kravitz guests on, was a high point. The crowd already knows the shout-outs for "Hurricane Warning." Allen Toussaint's "On the Way Down" fits well with this material. And the title track really smokes. It's amazing how tight and professional Orleans Avenue is. Musicians know what to do in New Orleans, but the lo fi logistics of the small, informal stage at the Music Factory make for easygoing performances. But Shorty's band was letter perfect, the sound balance was extraordinary, and everything went like clockwork.
Monk Boudreaux Jolly House and Cyril Neville are still on tap.

Weather throws another curve at Jazz Fest

2010-04-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Jazz Fest fans unfamiliar with the unpredictability of south Louisiana weather got a real shock the last couple of days when the forecast was bass ackwards. Friday was supposed to be OK; Saturday promised tornados. The prognosis was so dire that a number of local bands were told their Saturday shows would be canceled. As it turned out it rained for most of the Fest Friday but the weather turned beautiful on Saturday. The tornados were as bad as predicted but the system missed New Orleans.
The radar screens are clean heading into Sunday, which promises to be a banner finale to the first weekend. Marc Stone, whose just-released album Trickeration and Rascality is well worth a listen, opens up the Acura Stage. Acura has a powerhouse lineup Sunday continuing with a doubleheader from Tab Benoit, first with Louisiana LeRoux then with Voice of the Wetlands. The Levon Helm Band follows with what will undoubtedly be a superb moment leading up to headliners the Allman Brothers.
Congo Square also boasts a killer lineup with Donald Harrison followed by King Sunny Ade, Juan Luis Guerra y 440 and Anita Baker. At the Blues Tent James Andrews and the Crescent All Stars will be followed by the Radiators playing a special set of pre war blues songs. Elsewhere, Theresa Andersson, Marcia Ball and Susan Cowsill all perform on different stages, the Blind Boys of Alabama are at the Gospel Tent and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux leads the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians to the Jazz and Heritage Stage. There are a number of other great sets scheduled but you can't be everywhere at once.

Rain or rain at Jazz Fest

2010-04-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Jazz Fest has always brought a temporary influx of people to New Orleans from around the world, a pilgrimage that roughly doubles the city in size for the 11 days of the festival. Even if it's just for this small window of time, these people have adopted the city and consider it home. It's interesting to listen to the conversations, like the couple from Toronto I heard comparing notes with vistors from Colorado about dozens of local restaurants. They definitely knew what they were talking about. Now that Treme is showing how the magician does all his tricks everyone will be an expert on New Orleans. That can only help the city in the long run, and if you're a local and don't like the influx of tourists, you can sit home and listen to the festival on the radio, which is pretty cool, too.

Day One was a wonderful waterlogged world, although I can imagine some folks being a little upset that their ticket turned out to be for a water park more than a music festival. That's why they call it rain or shine.