Book your calendars now! April 23-May 2, 1999 and April 28-May 7, 2000 have been set for the next two years as the dates for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The 1998 festival shattered all previous attendance records with 487,000 patrons breaking the 1996 mark of 471,500. For the latest in Jazz Fest updates, check out their web site at www.nojazzfest.com. And, although the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has had a web site for years, the Foundation that runs the Fest didn’t. But they do now. You can contact the Foundation at www.nojhf.org. The Foundation also announced that August 23 will be the date for the free Carrollton Street Festival (corner of Carrollton and Claiborne). Hours of the festival will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
When the Selmer Company of Elkhart, Indiana donated a top-of-the-line gold clarinet at the Holiday Inn Downtown Superdome jazz murals dedication in May, 1996, it was in the hopes that a dedicated student would use the valuable instrument to continue the tradition of New Orleans jazz. At the dedication, the clarinet was give to the St. Mark’s Community Center to be awarded to a deserving student musician in their jazz program. Last month, St. Mark’s bestowed the clarinet to Jules Maurice Batiste, the 17-year old grandson of the great jazz musician Alvin Batiste. Batiste came to the attention of the teachers at St. Mark’s during his participation in the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp. This past June, Batiste was a special guest of the 1988 Southern University Jazz Ensemble at the University of Paris and performed in the Calvacade of the World Cup. Congratulations Jules!
Musician Ted Graham and artist Perry Morgan have combined their talents to create Gris Gris Guitars & Instruments, a company that makes one-of-a-kind guitars decorated with voodoo-style designs. While the company is still in its infancy, rocker Anders Osborne played a Gris Gris Guitar on the Polaroid Stage at this year’s Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Mark Mullins (of the band Mulebone) has been putting together a few nights of entertainment at Tipitina’s. Mullins has got the Adams/Griffith Project slated for Aug. 19. Of the opportunity, Mullins says, “It’s so flattering that Tip’s wanted me to have a showcase night at their new French Quarter club. It’s a great chance to work with some of the finest musicians in New Orleans.”
The seventh annual Celtic Nations Heritage Festival of Louisiana will be held Oct. 24-25 at Marconi Meadow, City Park in New Orleans. For the first time, the festival will host the North/South Highland Games Challenge Cup. Champion athletes will vie for the coveted #1 National Amateur Ranking, the Olympics of the Celtic Sporting World. The festival is also adding a Saturday evening “Ceili,” which is essentially an evening of Celtic dance. Music will provided by Archie Fisher, The Hennessys, Iona, The Celtic Folk, The Poor Clares, Jim Flanagan, Jerry Ford, Jim Wearne, Smithfield Fair and Legacy. For festival updates, call (504) 529-1391 or visit their web site at www.CelticNationsWorld.com/festival.htm.
Midnight Sun Records presents Frank LaRosa’s In the Spotlight, a weekly talent competition at Salvatore Ristorante in Metairie. Contestant registration begins at 8 p.m. and is limited to 12 contestants weekly. Contestants must provide their own back-up music. There will be three weekly finalists as well as a quarterly finalist. For more info on this competition, call LaRosa at 560-7843.
joe’s production & grille, inc. presents the best of the unsigned indies on joe’s Blue Plate Special (BPS), the only nationwide radio show featuring today’s freshest independent acts. joe’s is now accepting submissions from independent bands and artists on CD format to be reviewed for inclusion on this show. joe’s distributes the show to over 500 college radio stations. All music on joe’s BPS must be available through www.joesgrille.com, an on-line CD store featuring music from independent labels, artists and bands. Bands also have free use of joe’s toll free number (1-888-joe’sgrille) and mail order catalogue. The charge for a year of service is $250. Submission for review costs nothing, but to actually be played the band must be listed on joesgrille.com. For more information, contact Nicelle or Dave at 303-442-1770.
Playwright Magus Magnus’ latest work, Francesca and Paolo in Hell, will debut at Zeitgeist Alternative Arts Center on August 28-29 at 7:30 p.m. both evenings. After several months of touring the production at diverse venues throughout the Gulf South, director Jacob Gaffney’s theatrical troupe — Theater of the Extreme — will return to New Orleans for a run at the Contemporary Arts Center, March 22-29, 1999. Francesca and Paolo in Hell is a one-act play depicting Dante’s characters — Francesca da Raimini and Paolo Malatesta — on a ledge in hell. The adulterous couple, murdered by Paolo’s brother and Francesca’s husband, have been blown about their windy hell for 700 years, and have much to discuss; the play is their conversation.
Brian Graber, a former “Runnin’ Pardner” (of George Porter Jr. fame), has replaced Erik Jekabson in the New World Funk Ensemble. “When I heard the band one night at Snug Harbor,” Graber recalls, “I heard eastern-influenced funk like I had never heard before. Not only did they have that ‘eastern’ concept down but they also had a ‘Tower of Power’ sound mixed with a bit of home-grown Meters stylings. Needless to say, I’m very excited about being a member of this group.” The band’s debut CD is on Turnipseed Records.
St. Paul Lutheran Church & School (2624 Burgundy) will present a gala 25th Anniversary show of Capricious Productions called Silver Linings. It is a fund-raiser to help pay for “The Battle of the Termites” that have stormed the building. The shows will be held Aug. 29-30 with the doors open at 6 p.m. and showtime at 7 p.m. Suggested ticket donations are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Refreshments will also be on sale. Call 945-3741 for more info.
The 10th Annual International Piano Competition & Keyboard Festival will be held in New Orleans Aug. 1-9. Competitors from around the world will descend on New Orleans to compete for more than $17,000 in prize money and performance fees. Additionally, acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Biegel will be performing recently-discovered piano music of George Gershwin in a recital. Tickets can be purchased by calling (504) 895-0700.
Carla DeCorte of C&G Music Partners and her European business partner, Gerard Kerkvliet, booked Coolbone Brass Band, Eddie Bo and “Red” Morgan, and pianist Ronnie Kole at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival held in France August 7-17. The festival is held every year in an ancient olive garden in the city of Beaulieu Sur Mer located midway between Nice and Monte Carlo. C&G is also bringing along chef Brian Northrop of Chez B’s Bistro in Mandeville. Northrop will cook and serve several Louisiana specialties on the festival site.
Marking the beginning of their 50th year, the Dukes of Dixieland are touring the northeastern portion of the U.S. on the Legends of New Orleans tour. The tour, which is being produced by Marty Klein Enterprises, also includes such New Orleans’ legends as Pete Fountain and the Preservation Jazz Hall Band.
Considered one of the early pioneers in electro and industrial music, Front 242 first emerged with a series of singles in 1981. Over eighteen years later, the band comes to Baton Rouge’s The Varsity on Sat., Aug. 1, in support of their latest CD, ReBoot 1998.
The UniverSoul Circus, the foremost African-American-owned circus in the U.S., is coming to New Orleans Aug. 7-16. The circus features a variety of historic acts including Monique, the world’s first black woman big cat trainer, and Danise Payne, who was both Ringling Bros.’ first black female clown and the first female clown to perform in a British circus.
The Neville Brothers recorded their latest release (their debut with Columbia/Sony) at American Sector Recording Studio (ASRS) during June and returned in July to finish mixing it. Grammy-winning David Leonard is the engineer on the album with ASRS’s own Erik Flettrich as second engineer. Flettrich has worked with such artists as Gin Blossoms, Collective Soul and Jimmie Vaughan.
