The LMNOP Music Conference, which will be held April 27-29, 1998 (between Jazz Festival weekends), is now offering early registration discounts. Sign up before the end of January and you’ll receive 50% off the walk-up price of $100 ($50 for non-resident and $40 for Louisiana residents).
LMNOP founder Louis Jay Meyers is also serving on the board of advisors for the Emerging Artists and Talent in Music (EAT’M) 1988 Music Conference and Festival which will be held in Las Vegas, May 14-18, 1998.
New Orleans’ cowpunk pioneers Dash Rip Rock raided the airwaves last year with a spoof of the Danny and the Juniors hit, “At the Hop.” Now, Universal Pictures has included the song in their upcoming movie, Half Baked. The film, which is set for theatrical release on January 16, is an irreverent comedy about the desperate measures that a group of friends take to try and get their buddy out of jail. It stars Saturday Night Live’s Jim Breuer, Rachel True, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Guillermo Diaz and the master of deadpan himself, Steven Wright. Meanwhile, Dash has just come out of the Boiler Room Studios where they recorded their new 14-song CD (12 Dash originals) which will be released in the Spring of this year. The record is being produced by original Dash Rip Rock drummer and current Cowboy Mouth frontman, Fred LeBlanc, and was engineered by Mark Bingham.
Tone-Cool Records announced the signing of Terrance Simien last month. Simien has earned international acclaim with his electrifying live shows. He will head into the studio this month to record a new CD which is scheduled for release in May to coincide with Simien’s annual appearance at the Jazz Fest.
Steve Apple and Joe Perez (aka Big Chief Pony Dancer) host the Crescent City Music Show, a program devoted to Louisiana music and culture, on Saturday nights at 11 p.m. on WAXY 790 AM in Miami, FL. The duo plays everything from the ReBirth Brass Band and the Neville Brothers to Bo Dollis and Beau Jocque. Get this: The hosts maintain a 24-hour hotline where you can call and ask any Louisiana-related question. Call them at 305-227-FUNK or visit their Web site at www.gate.net/sapple/top.htm.
Five New Orleans neighborhood groups are leading a challenge to close GQ/21 (formerly Club Rumors) on St. Claude Avenue. The coalition cites the disturbing history of danger and law violations at the club which began operations nearly a decade ago as Club Discovery. The Crescent City Peace Alliance took up the challenge earlier this year after a fight at the nightclub resulted in a murder just a short distance away at Franklin Avenue. If you have an interest in this issue, call the Alliance at (504) 943-7233.
The Out-of-Towners: Check out 24-year old Brad McCool and the Big City Blues Band at Vic’s Kangaroo Cafe on Jan. 10. The young blues player from Texas has a classic blues sound with a touch of jump and swing. Gran Torino, a rock-n-soul group from Knoxville will visit Tipitina’s on Jan. 4. Grammy Award-winning blues singer KoKo Taylor will perform at the House of Blues on Jan. 2.
The Up-and-Comers: Check out dead pan, New Orleans’ newest modern rock band, at Jimmy’s (Jan.15) and Tipitina’s (Jan. 29). How about jazz? The Bennie D. Band plays a “No-Jive” Jazz Jam every Tuesday night this month at the Funky Butt Jazz Club starting at 10 p.m. You can also check out 5 O’Clock Charlie at the Funky Butt every Monday during January (the club also serves free red beans and rice on Monday nights) beginning at 10 p.m.
Culled from the archives of Cox Communications, performance footage of some of Louisiana’s best-loved musicians will soon be appearing on New Orleans After Midnight, the local video show currently airing on WDSU-Channel 6 and hosted by the Louisiana Music Commission’s executive director Bernie Cyrus. Part of the largest collection of Louisiana music on video, the footage will include many one-of-a-kind performances by such Louisiana greats as Johnny Adams, Aaron Neville, Brian Stoltz, Astral Project, Ernie Vincent, Brint Anderson, Lennie McDaniel, Tony Green and many more. All of the performances were originally cablecast on Cox Communications’ LTV, the second of three local music shows produced by Cox since 1983. Cyrus hosted LTV until the show went off the air in June, 1996.
The musical spirit of New Orleans is coming to public television’s Austin City Limits on Saturday, Feb. 14, 1998, with a one-of-a-kind performance by three women who call the city their musical and spiritual home: boogie-woogie pianist Marcia Ball, esteemed blues singer Tracy Nelson and soul legend Irma Thomas. Performing songs from their newly released album Sing It! on Rounder Recrods, Ball, Nelson and Thomas use the stage to show audiences what their unique collaboration is all about.
Gina Forsyth’s “Everywhere I Am” is just one of the finalists in the Louisiana Songwriters Association’s Hot Sounds Contest. Forsythe, along with nine other ten finalists in the competition, will perform their material live at the Howlin’ Wolf on January 12. There will be free door prizes, raffles of at least one guitar and an open mic jam after the award ceremony. Best of all, there’s no cover and everyone is invited.
At Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar, the Webster Davis Quartet plays bebop jazz on Thursdays beginning at 9 p.m., and there’s no cover charge.
Gov. M.J. “Mike” Foster appointed new members to the Louisiana Music Commission last month. New members of the board include: Jane Ball of Ruston; Ernest “Tabby” Thomas of Baton Rouge; Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural and Xiao-Lu Li of Lafayette; and William Rucker, Lawrence Sieberth, Jay Weigel and Roxy Wright of New Orleans. Ellis L. Marsalis, of New Orelans, was retained as Chairman as were William C. “Chuck” Credo III of Metairie; Jean Knight of New Orleans; Leroy Martin of Galliano; Wayne Sensat of Lake Charles; and Margaret Lewis Warwick of Shreveport. Departing members of the commission are: Joan Rhodes Brown, Steve Gernhauser, Hon. Alan J. Green, Art Neville, Irma Thomas and David Torkanowsky of New Orleans; Ken Shepherd of Shreveport; and Wayne Toups of Lake Charles. The appointments also fill the vacancy caused by the untimely death of Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Comeaux, who was killed in November.
The Ganden Jangtse Monks will perform a special concert at the Trinity Episcopal Church on January 30, 1998 beginning at 8 p.m. Admission is $12 and will benefit the Louisiana-Himalaya Society as well as Trinity. The monks are from the Head Monastery (which was totally destroyed by the Chinese) of the Dalai Lama’s sect of Buddhism (Geluk). For more information on the performance, call (504) 528-9374.
Henry Butler and Tom McDermott will perform at the 92nd Street V Concert Series in New York City on Jan. 24 as part of an evening of New Orleans composers. Rounding out the program are organizer/pianist Dick Hyman and classical pianist Ruth Laredo.
Jamie Masefield brings his Jazz Mandolin Project back to New Orleans for a stop on their “Tour de Flux.” Back by a new rhythm section that features veteran NYC bassist Chris Dahlgren and Phish drummer, Jon Fishman, Masefield’s new musical direction should provide a fascinating night of jazz for all who can squeeze into the Contemporary Arts Center for this very special, one-time-only tour on Saturday, Jan. 31.
