TORKANOWSKY RULES!
Finally, an article about one of my favorite musicians anywhere, David Torkanowsky. For more than 20 years, I’ve enjoyed his work and attitude immensely. From playing with Zachary Richard (he had a bra on his head from a particularly appreciative music-lover that night), to Frankie Ford and Leigh Harris, to Boney James (hey, I guess everyone needs to put food on the table), to Astral Project (one of the best bands in the entire world), the guy has never ceased to amaze me with his versatility and leadership ability. No matter who he’s playing with, I always notice that all the other players’ eyes end up watching him for what’s next. My first ten years at Jazz Fest, my entire planning consisted of finding out who Torkanowsky was playing with, and then checking that out; knowing that anything and everything he was involved with would be worth listening to. His CD, Steppin’ Out, has never sat on my shelf for very long. It truly has stood the test of time.

Just a couple of requests. It’d be great if you could print his 95 release discography, as I’ve been hunting for that for years. And finally, if Johnny Vidacovich ever writes those two volumes about life with Torkanowsky, let me know when they hit the bookstores—I’m all over that.—Rick Bortz, Fraser, CO

Although David Torkanowsky admits that he can’t remember every disc he’s ever played on, your comments brightened his otherwise dismal day (David’s cat had just fallen into the sewer when we contacted him) and he asked that you correspond with him via email: [email protected]. —Ed.

UPLIFTING
The photograph of New Orleans musicians was much appreciated and uplifting to those of us who find the music an important motivation for keeping on. Perhaps you could reproduce it and sell it, and part of the money could be used to help relief efforts in New York City.—Betty Carol Sellen, New York, NY

RISE AND FALL
I read your [Joseph Irrera] article entitled “Why We Love New Orleans… Lark Marie Fall: Courthouse Mezzo.” Your article is beautiful and I, too, have been blessed by the melodious tunes of Ms. Lark M. Fall.—Honorable Sharon K. Hunter, Criminal District Court, New Orleans, LA

BLUES STANDARDS
In Mr. Robert Fontenot’s “Bluesworthy” column (September issue) entitled “Capital Blues,” he describes Tab Benoit as Baton Rouge’s “breakout star.” While Mr. Benoit is, no doubt, a fine guitarist and singer, he is not the breakout star of Baton Rouge by any means. He lives in Houma, not Baton Rouge, and I am sure if Raful Neal, Tabby Thomas, Henry Gray, Larry Garner, Kenny Neal, etc. all had mothers and fathers who bought them their own private Learjet, fancy new tour bus, their own record label and paid Willie Nelson to play with them, they would be stars, too! It is mileage and dues paid that make a blues artist—not mommy and daddy’s money!

Furthermore, by blues standards, Mr. Benoit is still “wet behind the ears.” He simply has not been out here long enough to be considered “a star” and by no means “a blues legend.” And there are several blues guitarists still living in Baton Rouge—namely, James Johnson, Rudy Richard, Li’l Ray Neal, Kenny Neal, Kenny Acosta, Troy Turner, etc.—any of whom could “burn his ass up” in two or three seconds. If Tab Benoit was a big fat guy and no teenage girls were screaming after him, I wonder if you would still refer to this “rich young upstart” as a “breakout star.” And again, he is from Houma, not Baton Rouge.—J. Monque’D, New Orleans, LA

Although he resides in Houma, Tab Benoit was born in Baton Rouge on November 17, 1967. Benoit began his professional career performing at Tabby’s (Thomas) Blues Box in Baton Rouge, earning $13 a night. Calling Benoit a Baton Rouge blues musician is analogous to calling Anders Osborne a New Orleans blues musician, despite his Swedish birth. Benoit is a pilot and was once a flight instructor at New Orleans Lakefront Airport. As for mileage, he usually puts over 100,000 miles per year on his bus, which is not a Learjet. Concerning contemporary teenage girls, we’re sorry to disappoint you but they don’t get excited about any blues artists—fat or skinny. –Ed.

NEW ORLEANS TIME?
In your September Mojo Mouth column, you railed about the lack of hype New Orleans got compared to Nashville and Austin, and then asked a series of questions. Among your questions, you asked why New Orleans people didn’t have a clue about brass bands and their influence, about the history of the city’s rhythm and blues and its influence on rock, and about some other things.

Being trained as a lawyer, I’ll address some of these issues with my own questions.

Why do so many New Orleans clubs that feature local talent start so late? Who does this benefit? Aren’t the main purposes of these clubs and the performers who play at them to get as many people there as possible? Doesn’t more people at these clubs translate into more revenue for the performers and club owners? Don’t more people hearing the music mean more CD sales? Doesn’t everyone know that most of these “clueless” people have to work? And doesn’t this mean getting up rather early to get to work? How about the tourists? How many, after being at conventions all day or touring around the city (a tiring activity), are willing to go to a club where the music starts at around 11 p.m. or much later? That is, more than once, after they discover that the time printed in the Living section of the Times-Picayune doesn’t mean much? And, again, the most important question everyone should ask is this: Exactly who benefits, and how, by shows starting so late? And when you answer this question, then ask how many of these people would lose these benefits if the music started earlier?

These questions and this issue are not a New Orleans problem, alone, obviously. However, you should note that some local clubs do make it a point to start most of their shows as advertised, and earlier, and they don’t seem to be suffering. House of Blues and Rock ‘n’ Bowl come to mind. Sure it wouldn’t be all that easy to change some longtime habits, but it can be done.

Then in your November issue, Alex Rawls writes about “New Orleans time” and the “city’s habitual lateness” at rock ‘n’ roll gigs. His slant is that there comes a time when these habits become “counterproductive” and lose their “ . . . quaint, anti-capitalist charm.” No fooling. I especially agree with his assessment that “there is an untapped audience that would venture out . . . “ if the headliners didn’t come on so late. Finally, he writes: “The handful of people who tough it out, stay out late or go to dives frequently see cool shows and feel groovier than everybody else, but is that what clubs and promoters want?” Amen, Alex.—R. Dusk Lipton, Washington, D.C.

I totally agree with you Dusk, on the “New Orleans time” thing. It’s frustrating for people who live in the “outside world” to navigate it. That’s one of the reasons it’s hard to do business in New Orleans. We set our own crazy standards and then get all uppity when everyone else has a hard time complying. How about you readers? How many of you want earlier shows? Please email your response to [email protected]. And please tell us your AGE.—Ed.

SLIPPERY
Hopefully I’m on time this time to renew my subscription (it slipped my mind). Instead of one extra month I would like to ask you to send me the October 2001 issue, so I will not miss the Lee Dorsey Louisiana Master article. (I wouldn’t mind the 2001 CD either!). Sadly I will not be able to visit the 2002 Jazz Fest, unless I win the state lottery before May. Anyway keep on the good work and I’ll have to do with the monthly OffBeat, CDs and the occasional concert of a Louisiana artist, like Dr. John yesterday in the Concertgebouw—Excellent! P.S. Will there be a CD or DVD of the Meters reunion concerts? Do you know?—Jules Lekanne Deprez, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

We can grant at least one of your wishes—the October 2001 issue is on its way. As for the Meters reunion CD/DVD, there’s probably a better change you’ll win the state lottery.—Ed.

BURNED-OUT
The R.L. Burnside performance at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland was one of the finest blues shows that this blues fanatic can recall since John Lee Hooker and his Coast To Coast Blues Band in 1971. After the show I ran into Cedric Burnside at a local club and over a couple games of pool Cedric told me that the show had been recorded. It is with great anticipation that I await the Burnside On Burnside CD. Blagg’s review was dead center.—David L. DenHartigh, Salem, OR

FATS DOMINO BIOGRAPHY?
I remember reading about a year ago that Rick Coleman was working on a Fats Domino biography Blue Monday. Do you know if he has completed it yet, and if so is it available for purchase. I have searched book stores locally and on the Internet with no luck.—Ron Davis, Denver CO

As far as we know, Coleman’s long-awaited biography has yet to be published.—Ed.

WEIRD AND CRAZY
I just read your review, published in the October 23 issue, of my book Portraits from Memory: New Orleans in the Sixties. Thank you for publishing it. At first I found it rather puzzling since your reviewer focuses on one aspect of our actions—what he refers to as our “stand against artificial cooling.” Leaving aside the fact that the reviewer was wrong—we did not as he says “move to the mountains of West Virginia shortly after” our “stand” but rather three years later—why I wondered focus on this. Then it dawned on me that the purpose is to show how weird we were—myself and Robert Head, the vendors of the papers classified as “young hippies” by your reviewer, the ones who burned down the ROTC building and the religious group, the Maitreyans. The reviewer’s attitude is one I have seen before in writing about the ’60s—we were all weird and crazy, ran around in strange clothes, and took SO many drugs. The reviewer does not bother to mention that we (the movement in the ’60s) were right about every major issue—civil rights, Vietnam, feminism, air and water pollution, and nuclear power.—Darlene Fife, Lewisburg, WV

MISSING OFFBEAT
I’m a regular OffBeat subscriber and reader since my first Jazz Fest in New Orleans in 1996. OffBeat magazine came in time all the years but now I’m still waiting for the October issue. So, since OffBeat magazine is my one and only and best connection to NOLA between Jazz Fest and my only source for New Orleans and Louisiana music information, please try to send me the October issue. Maybe together with the November issue.

Thank you very much!—Peter Habicht, Herborn, Germany

SOLID GOLD
For a while, I could find tour info for Li’l Band O’ Gold on the Ritmo Artists site. For some reason, I can no longer get that. Did Ritmo drop them? If so, does LBOG have their own web site that lists tour dates? Your response is appreciated.—Merrilee DeWitt, via email

WEDDING BELLS
I hope you remember my proposal in the Jazz Fest OffBeat edition. Well, proposals usually lead to weddings. Ours was October 20th. You folks were a big part of it. Thanks again for everything. I thought you’d appreciate a photo.—Doug and Natalie Panero, White Plains, NY

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND NEW ORLEANS
Jan Ramsey wrote about “Making the Biz Better” (September 2001 issue), and on November 13, WWL, New Orleans’s CBS affiliate, asked: “Why do hundreds of musicians have to leave New Orleans to make it in the music industry?”

I’ve kept silent about this since moving to New Orleans from New York in August of 1999. I’m a published novelist, playwright, lyricist, librettist, songwriter, symphony and opera composer, and chose to live in the Big Easy to confront this city’s myth of being the nation’s most inspirational place on the American map of music. Before moving here, I had ideas about what this city could and should offer new composers and lyricists. Was I discouraged about the inspiration New Orleans offers music people? No. Was I discouraged about the state of this city’s music industry? Totally.

Jan stated in September that she is “tired of hearing New Orleans compared negatively with Nashville and Austin.” I applaud her sincerity. Nevertheless, comparison with major loci of the American music industry is exactly what must occur now. Take ASCAP, for example, which has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Chicago, and even Atlanta. That Atlanta should rate an ASCAP office, above and beyond New Orleans, is almost unbelievable, but Atlanta does merit one. Why doesn’t New Orleans?

Please allow me to speak about New York for a moment. New York is America’s greatest music-industry city, because of the following dozen production dynamos functioning non-stop year-round: talent agencies; entertainment lawyers; record companies; music-video production; television production; film scoring and filmmaking; influential radio stations; Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway; the classical music world based at Lincoln Center; great conservatories, such as Juilliard, Manning, and the Manhattan School of Music; a vibrant club scene; and thousands of freelance producers.

All 12 dynamos don’t exist here in New Orleans. However, more talent agencies, more entertainment lawyers, more record companies, more music-video production, more television production, more film scoring and filmmaking, more influential radio stations, the building of a truly internationally reputed performing arts center, and the establishment of a world-class conservatory certainly could and should be promulgated here. Otherwise, small is the hope that this city ever can rival the principal metropolises of music in America.

New Orleans does have music producers, you say. Indeed, it has a handful. It does not have enough. This city’s poor, you say. Bullshit. This city lavishes millions annually on Mardi Gras parades, floats, costumes, and balls—all for a single day’s “roll” down St. Charles Avenue. Mind you—I love Mardi Gras and its impact upon the city’s financial health—but mid-winter marching-band ecstasy does not a music industry make.

Neither does building a museum or a Grammy Hall of Fame. Fox 8 News reported on November 17, 2001 that Baton Rouge has passed a $70 million bond issue for said Hall to rise near the New Orleans Hilton, and that’s a great thing for this city. But—it’s not a thousand showcases we need—it’s not a mecca for tourists to gawk at displays we need—it’s more producers we need—spenders and investors ready and willing to see sense in banking on living talent currently creating new music and lyrics. Spending money makes money: That’s what New Orleans fails to see! Not enough has been spent here—to make a music industry happen!

Producers are the dynamos of the music industry, but composers are its spark, and lyricists its electricity. New music, to evolve, is a mute, without composers and lyricists. New Orleans has always had, and still has, good and great composers and lyricists, but the majority have always had to market their creativity elsewhere. Why? Because not enough producers exist here for creators of new music to remain here. Sadly, New Orleans still flourishes not for innovators of new music but for interpreters, that is, for musicians and singers, hence the serious and continual blood-letting of creative talent of composers and lyricists from this place, which undermines the city’s economy and diminishes its myth.—Lawrence David Moon, New Orleans, LA