Issue Articles — Features
Fest Focus: Lagniappe Brass Band
Saturday, April 11, Brass Band Stage, 4p People in New Orleans love to dance,” says Lagniappe Brass Band drummer Joshua “Jams” Marotta. “They don’t discriminate on how you make them […]
Fest Focus: The Dog Hill Stompers
Friday, April 10, Chevron Stage, 2p Fourteen years after his Earthly departure, the legacy of Boozoo Chavis lives on in the zydeco kingdom. Practically every zydeco band has at least […]
The Sweetness of Alexandra Scott
It would be perfectly fine with Alexandra Scott if she never experiences another year like the one that preceded her last album, I Love You So Much Always—a year that […]
Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill is Back on Track
Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill, 29, performed at his first French Quarter Fest as a member of the Trombone Shorty Brass Band when the trumpeter was just eight years old. “I’ll […]
John Rankin’s Journey
“I have three jobs,” John Rankin says with a smile as he sits in his home off Bayou St. John surrounded by guitars and sheet music. “Teaching private lessons, teaching […]
The NOLA Jitterbugs Share the History of Dance
Nothing defines the joie-de-vivre of New Orleans so much as traditional jazz music, and nothing gives life to jazz like swing dancing. For the first time in French Quarter Fest […]
Mardi Gras Indians Gather on St. Joseph’s Day
As improbable as it might seem, the most significant date for the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians apart from Carnival is March 19, St. Joseph’s Day. Come sundown on the […]
Student Poet Daisha Calliet Takes on Ferguson
Daisha Calliet, at age 15, has a vision far beyond her years. Calliet’s artwork illustrated this at the community-centered celebration of street art’s transformative energy, Exhibit BE, which held its […]
Ken Burns Brings Jazz Documentary to New Orleans
It’s been 14 years since Ken Burns’ controversial documentary Jazz aired on PBS, introducing a general audience to the history of swing music and positioning Louis Armstrong and his peers […]
Russian-Mafia Band Debauche Masters “Debaucheology”
At least one thing is certain with local Russian-mafia band Debauche: the members do not phone it in. Onstage at the release show for their new album, Songs from Underground, […]
