[Updated] Wednesday, Chuck Brown, the godfather of go-go, passed away. Here’s an interview I conducted with him in 2009 in advance of his appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. We started by talking about his most recent album at the time, We’re About the Business. Why did you decide to record [...]
Tonight, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band headline Wednesday at the Square in Lafayette Square with the Breton Sound opening. The Dozen have a new album, Twenty Dozen, which includes “Dirty Old Man,” a song that has been a staple of the band’s live show for a few years now. Here they are performing the vehicle [...]
A last day of school vibe was in the air at the Louisiana Music Factory last Wednesday for the signing of the DVD set of Treme season two and the CD Treme, Season 2: Music From the HBO Original Series. The series wraps shooting for season three on April 17, and some of the actors [...]
In the Summer 1982, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds toured independent of each other for the first time in years. Rockpile had come apart following the release of 1980’s Seconds of Pleasure. The difference between their shows was instructive as Edmunds played as if he were the curator of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum, careful [...]
Theresa Andersson’s Street Parade is not Galactic’s Carnivale Electricos. The latter is a high-energy, hot-blooded celebration of Carnival while Street Parade’s mood is complicated. The title track/album opener gives listeners a reason to hear the album as melancholy when a mournful trombone glide just seconds into the song sets a blue tone, but the song [...]
The musical numbers are a divisive component of HBO’s Treme. On one hand, they’re essential. When a show’s about the centrality of culture in a community, you’ve got to see the culture in action. They’re what the show’s about, but television caters first to the ADD-afflicted among us, so we’re not used to shows pausing [...]
“I was supposed to move here.” Singer Dayna Kurtz first visited New Orleans 20 years ago, when she stayed in a Bed and Breakfast on Elysian Fields for a few days in the middle of a tour. “I didn’t know any better and spent all my time in the French Quarter,” she says. She was [...]
Listen to Alex Rawls’ accompanying Beach Boys Playlist on Spotify When the Beach Boys play Jazz Fest, it’s a safe bet that their set will rely heavily on the hits, most of which were recorded between 1961 (“Surfin’) and 1966 (Smile and “Good Vibrations”). They may reach forward to 1969 for “Do It Again,” 1976 [...]
In 1997, Master P released an outgoing message that you could record to your answering machine so he could tell people who called you to leave a message when P said “Ughhhhhhh.” Now Anselmo is getting in the game 2012 style. The voice of Down, Superjoint Ritual, Pantera and more can tell you and anyone [...]
“I believe this is a musical first,” Herbie Hancock declared from a stage in Congo Square. The jazz pianist was there to celebrate International Jazz Day—by itself a first—with a sunrise concert, but he was referring to his performance of “Watermelon Man,” accompanied in New Orleans by a band of music students including New Orleans’ [...]
