Issue Articles
Dining Out: Audubon Clubhouse
Nestled beneath the majestic oaks of Audubon Park, you’ll find Audubon Clubhouse by Dickie Brennan & Co., 6975 Magazine Street. This charming restaurant invites you to experience a unique dining setting that’s open for brunch, lunch, and dinner.
Joe Hall (1971-2024)
Old-time Creole music lost one of its finest torchbearers with the unexpected passing of accordionist and vocalist Joe Hall on Thursday, November 21, 2024, due to congestive heart failure. Hall, 52, is survived by his wife Linda and son Justin.
Sweden’s Jonas Bernholm Publishes His Soul Odyssey: U.S. 1968
In his native Sweden, Jonas Bernholm is known as Mr. R&B. A music researcher, writer and record label owner, Bernholm became enraptured with American rhythm-and-blues and rock and roll music in the late 1950s. He began writing about music in the late 1960s, publishing much of his work in the Swedish blues magazine Jefferson. In 1976, he launched the first of his many reissue record labels.
Vintage vinyl treasures (Episode 45)
It is now time to move forward to 1970 from a vintage vinyl collection place in time. Like the year before, covered in earlier installments, there were some great releases this year from some of our favorite artists of the day. Here are five gems, still well worth a listen during these crazy days of an “old world,” listed in chronological order by date of release.
Christmas Without Tears: A conversation with Harry Shearer and Judith Owen
Welsh multi-potentialite and quadruple-threat performer Judith Owen sits next to her husband, Harry Shearer, as she brings up the concept of hiraeth—a Welsh term that defies direct translation into English. Hiraeth evokes a profound mix of homesickness, longing, and a deep sadness for what has been lost. When Owen moved to Southern California, she certainly felt a pining for her “melancholy” home across the Atlantic.
Kelly Love Jones: Alchemist of People
Kelly Love Jones seems to be everywhere. Between releasing her album Surrender and popping up all over town with various high-profile appearances, she does it all with a genuine organic spirit of grace and connection. She’s been building, and it’s long overdue to go deeper with her story.
How Women Made Music: An interview with Alison Fensterstock
New Orleans writer and WWOZ radio host Alison Fensterstock is the editor of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music. Inspired by National Public Radio’s Turning the Tables series, How Women Made Music contains a lively bounty of engaging essays and interviews, many of them culled from NPR’s 50 years of music coverage.
Donna’s Bar and Grill: Donna Poniatowski Sims’ new book is a labor of love
The history of New Orleans music is overflowing with venues where the musicians of the city have piled their trade and developed the myriad of styles the city has been known for since its earliest days. From the Funky Butt and the Iroquois Theater on North Rampart Street where Buddy Bolden and a young Louis Armstrong wowed early 20th century crowds to the famed Dew Drop Inn on Lasalle Street in Central City, which was an epicenter on both the national “chitlin’ circuit” and home to local R&B legends like Earl King and Guitar Slim.
Herb Alpert Talks Back
Trumpet star Herb Alpert and his wife, singer Lani Hall, are returning to New Orleans for a December 14 performance at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie. The couple’s A Christmas Wish tour features Alpert’s many hits with The Tijuana Brass and solo hits.
What’s Up Boss? Kermit Ruffins: A Jolly Birthday
New Orleans, like most of the rest of the country, enjoys Santa Claus as a favorite icon of the Christmas season. However, the Crescent City, being its usual quirky self, also favors its own Yuletide personalities, the snowman-like Mr. Bingle and, yes, trumpeter, singer and the always jolly Kermit Ruffins. When the holiday draws near, Ruffins is quick to don a Santa hat and as soon as early November he’s been known to fill his club, Kermit’s Treme Mother-In-Law Lounge, with his favorite Christmas tunes much to the amusement of those coming through the door.
