THE THREE P’S

It’s been four years now since I moved here, and my recent attendance at the [OffBeat Best of the Beat] awards presentation made me realize that some thank-you’s are probably overdue. Without the support of your publication it would have been very difficult to set up shop here so successfully and to share the satisfaction of so many of my clients (the Nevilles, Jon Cleary, the Continental Drifters, Rockin’ Jake and in absentia, the great Beau Jocque) who walked onstage to accept their prizes from you and your readers. Receiving both public and private thanks from those artists makes this sometimes gamey promotion role one worth playing.

Further appreciation is due the magazine for its awards to and editorial support of those private entrepreneurs who, after the artists themselves, are, as a group, the most important factor in the commercial vitality and international appeal of Louisiana music. Though commissions and conferences have their place, they are too often rendered ineffectual by the stultifying miasma of Louisiana politics. It is rather friends and acquaintances like winners Suzette Becker, Ruben Williams, John Blancher, Rick Harman, and Jerry Brock, along with employees of larger companies like Sonny Schneidau and Keith Spera who are the key players in the continuing ascendancy of what I called in an interview in this publication a few years ago one of America’s greatest cultural assets.

Thanks again for the print, the pride-and the party.

-Jack Hopke, HOPCOM

ORGANIC GENIUS

I would like to congratulate Bunny Matthews on his excellent interview with Dr. John. Full of flava! Deft shading/highlighting on his part. The man’s personality and particular genius jumps off the page and right into my cup of coffee. Thanks for delivering one of my idols in such an organic manner.

-Rich Look, New Orleans, LA

ACE UP HIS SLEEVE

The recent death of Mr. Johnny Vincent (Imbragulio), founder of Ace Records and producer of “Sea Cruise,” has brought several things to mind.

Mr. Johnny gave me a shot way back in 1958 when he produced my first record, “Cheatin’ Woman,” on Ace Records and recorded here in New Orleans at Cosimo Matassa’s Studio. This was a regional hit and opened up many doors for me as an entertainer.

The follow up record, “Sea Cruise,” changed my life, and I am forever grateful for the opportunities afforded me throughout my career, due to my successes at Ace Records.

Johnny Vincent recorded so many New Orleans-based artists and also gave them a shot. Besides myself, Ace Records had a formidable roster of artists: Jimmy Clanton, Huey “Piano” Smith & The Clowns, Bobby Marchan, Earl King, Geri Hall, Joe Tex and Mac Rebennack a.k.a. Dr. John, producing and writing talents, among many, many others.

While some of us may have had better advice business-wise than others, some of us took the good advice, but we were all given some great opportunities.

Producers and record company executives have often gotten a bad rap, but they are put in an enviable position as “recording” artists. What followed after that was up to the individual and how we chose to handle our new found luck.

Johnny Vincent, along with Cosimo Matassa, Dave Bartholomew, Lew Chudd, Art Rupe, Joe Caronna, Joe Ruffino and others dealt the cards and it was up to us as to how we played the hand.

Johnny Vincent and Joe Caronna dealt me a good hand and I feel I played it well. Later on Dave Bartholomew put the icing on my cake when he took me to Imperial records. I have made some possible mistakes, but I have no major regrets. Ooh-Wee, Baby… Best regards.

-Frankie Ford

DEY DO KNO

We at Avatar would like to thank you all at OffBeat Magazine for the wonderful review Anthony Daniels did on our artist Blaxuede’s debut album Dey Don’t Kno. It’s always hard breaking a new artist but the support from the people in his hometown of New Orleans means a great deal. Thank you once again.

-Lynnette Jenkins, General Manager, Avatar, Los Angeles, C

ROCKET SCIENCE

I don’t know how seriously you take the survey you’re doing at “offbeat.com” but just in case you care, I thought I’d let you know. I know of one person who is making a concerted, and so far largely successful, campaign to stuff the ballot boxes for the Delta Rockets. He’s asking people in chat rooms to go to the site and vote for the Delta Rockets even though they’ve never heard the band’s music (or their competitors), aren’t from Louisiana or even remotely familiar with its music scene, and have no opinion or motive other than to “help out a friend.”

When he asked me to do so, I told him I would not do it, and tried to explain why. I insisted that doing so totally invalidates and makes meaningless the survey, and the fact that it’s “only a magazine music survey, not the end of the world” doesn’t change that. I didn’t get through to him, and since he’s continued the effort and people continue to do it, I thought you should know. I can’t guess if he has a relationship with the band or just is a fan; I don’t know him that well.

-Frank J. Perricone, via email

Welcome to the Brave New World of Web Sites, where, to say the least, outlaw behavior prevails.-Ed.

UNDERCOVER

A few quick points: 1) Controversy between OffBeat and the official Jazz Fest program. Ha! I laughed at that, as the Jazz Fest program describes only Jazz Fest shows, while OffBeat is much more thorough, covering the club scene as well as the Fest. 2) Hopefully that damn noise ordinance didn’t pass. What makes New Orleans a hotbed for live music is that one can see three or four bands in one night. If bars close at 2 a.m., New Orleans becomes just another city with a great music scene, rather than the epicenter of live music, especially during Jazz Fest. Seeing music all night long for two weeks straight is what makes the journey, time and $ worthwhile. 3) There should be more joint covers as the above mentioned bar hopping can cost $400-$600 just in covers over two weeks. I would love just to pay a flat fee that included all admissions and transportation between clubs. Just ideas.

-Jim Martino, c/o Bo Knows Jazz, Inc., Seattle, WA

BONDING

Dear Dan Willging:

I sometimes think I know you. I seem to be in the same places as you to read the things that you write, to see the same bands that you do, etc. And to top it off, I cannot believe how much we agree on the music. I have gotten many tips from you over the past few years, and they all were good. I bought Les Haricots Sont Pas Sales as soon as I read your review in OffBeat. Again, we have the same taste. I already own the other two. Thanks for all your information. It is nice to know that some people actually listen to and appreciate the music. If I just knew how to get it played on the radio… it would become the rage and the musicians could make some money.

-Jack Bond, via email

DANIELLE DEVOTEE

Danielle Bias:

I play with the Cajun band called T-Mamou, my name is Al Berard. I play the fiddle in the band. I wanted to drop you a note to thank you for the review of our CD that you did in OffBeat’s February issue. From your writing I can tell that you took the time to listen to the whole CD-thanks!

Most people review material and don’t even listen to the whole project, but skim from song to song, like Nashville A&R people do. At least I know you listened with a open mind and heart.

I have had a band called The Basin Brothers for over 15 years, and have toured and toured and toured, spreading the Cajun news around the globe. We (T-Mamou) are a band not looking for fame and fortune (but it would be nice). We just want to do our part in preserving our heritage and have a little fun doing it.

But since our guitar player (friend) Tommy Comeaux was killed in a bicycle accident, we (The Basin Brothers) decided to put the band to sleep, with due respect to Tommy. T-Mamou is one of the results of Tommy’s death. We (T-Mamou), as a band, strive to pay homage to the old masters of Cajun music as well as bring new spirit to the material that we choose to record and write. Our next effort is we are hoping to dig up old songs of the early 1900s and record them with the spirit of 2000. We are in the process of finding those old songs to bring to the listening public. We won’t climb atop a building shouting out these songs, but rather let fine people like you who have ears and heart listen to our recordings. Again thank you for listening and for the finest review we’ve received on our new efforts. Much peace to you, all the best to you.

-Al Berard, via email

SURPRISE PACKAGE

What a wonderful surprise to get my Mardi Gras issue in the mail yesterday (Lundi Gras!) and to find not only the OffBeat but a FREE ep by Galactic!!!! You are definitely the best of all when it comes to covering music et al. and then to go and include free music?!?!? The best keeps getting better. Thanx and happy Mardi Gras from N.C.

p.s. My subscription will never run out-see you at Y2KJF!!!

-Dean R. Styles, Winston-Salem, NC

Thank you for the high praise. OffBeat subscribers, in the past year alone, have received a Tab Benoit CD, a Galactic CD, OffBeat’s annual “Festival” CD and if you subscribed at the right time, up to three additional bonus CDs. Sometimes we feel like Santa Claus!-Ed.

ALCOHOLIC BABE RUTH

I’ve been reading some of the reviews you post and I would like to know if you could fix it so there’s a rebuttal available. I find that some of these people are so far off base, a 60 year-old alcoholic Babe Ruth would be able to tag them out on his worst day! Who are these people? What credentials do you require to allow them to vent their spleens on your site? It would serve the cause of fairness to allow opposing viewpoints to be as prominently displayed as are these half-assed “reviews.” In lieu of an equal forum at least you could make e-mail addresses available so that one could take up an issue with the author. A reply at your earliest convenience would be eminently appreciated.

-Dr. C.J. Coltz, via email

There has always been a forum for rebuttal in OffBeat-the section devoted to “Letters.”

In the near future, OffBeat readers will be able to voice their opinions by writing their own reviews posted on OffBeat’s web site.-Ed

I LIKE IKE

I was happy to see Alex Rawls, who is a good writer and a serious aficionado of rock music, review Ike Turner’s autobiography, but I think he really blew an opportunity to open a window on one of the most important figures of R&B and hippie rock. The culprit seems to be some kind of political correctness virus absolutely alien to all R&B traditions.

Ike is “undervalued”? Yeah, you could call it that. He’s one of the last of the real blues guitar players, he was also a holy fuck of a piano player, bandleader, writer/arranger, showman, and about anything else you can do in rhythm ‘n’ blues. Little Richard is absolutely correct in dissing Tina Turner’s marshmallow-ization at the hands of modern pop producers. Tina Turner has not made a decent record in 25 years, and that is giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Ike told her what to and how to do it, what got her the star status that she has rarely lived up to. Yeah, the Ike & Tina Turner review burned the Stones’ butt in ’69, and that is exactly why Keith ain’t calling Ike back, because Ike could still do it today. He proved it at the House of Blues here a few years ago, showing that he is as good a guitar player as it gets, easily the equal of, say, Albert or B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Gatemouth, or Robert Lockwood, not to mention any white boy from Texas. “But he beat up on Tina Turner,” he did for sure and he will always have that count against him, but there is so much more to him than that he went nuts on dope, and although he is re-habbed and maybe not as forthcoming as he could be, neither has Tina been totally honest about her role in their conflicts, and hasn’t she had more publicity than Ike ever will to get her side out?

No one gets down on Tina for acting like she’s self-made and being notoriously deficient in giving Ike proper creative credit, but Ike gets ragged for trying to assert his side of the story. How many other figures of R&B were wild, violent, and crazy, but now idolized? Would y’all like Charlie Patton or Blind Lemon Jefferson living next door, or would you rather have them on reverential ice? This is the fate awaiting Ike: when he croaks, everybody is going to rediscover “Rocket 88”, the Cobra sides he made with the Kings of Rhythm, the burning I&T sides he made for the Sue studios, and compared to those works of art, “Private Dancer,” “What’s Love” and all of Tina’s pop pabulum are going to look like so much television-pureed tofu.

You don’t expect there to be much musical awareness with all the retro revision reverb gone haywire. Even with the musical detective pieces you get through outlets like OffBeat and ‘OZ, the incredible stories of R&B are being suppressed and trampled down through virtual traditions. Even though it doesn’t smooch the booty of political correctness and hip orthodoxy, Ike Turner’s book, Takin’ Back My Name, The Confessions of Ike Turner, co-written by Nigel Cawthorne, does contain a lot of invaluable recollections from a musical visionary-yeah, that’s right, visionary-who came out of the same traditions as the Wolf or Sonny Boy, spent his time in Chicago, helped launch soul music, and gave a lot of rock ‘n’ pop audiences their first good up-close at where their rock and roll came from.

As such, it’s worth more than a casual look. And yeah, it just might help a lot of people realize that Tina’s tricks ain’t quite what they appeared to be and that Ike was the real genius of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Giving Ike the chance to tell his story is no more unfair than letting Geronimo pose for photographs.

-Richard D. Williamson, New Orleans, LA