“Since everyone’s understanding of ‘Louisiana music’ is different, we’ve left nothing to chance,” says R. Reese Fuller who, along with his brother, Shamus, operates louisianaradio.com.
“We’ve developed a format that showcases all of the musical styles born and raised here in Louisiana. Within any hour of the day, you can hear Cajun, New Orleans’ R&B, Creole, swamp pop, blues, jazz, brass bands, zydeco and more.”
louisianaradio.com made its debut in late September and is now broadcasting Louisiana music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Listeners can access the webcast by using RealNetworks’ RealAudio audio streaming technology. The URL is <http://www.louisianaradio.com>.
“Our intentions are not only to entertain our listeners, Fuller says, “but to educate them if necessary about Louisiana’s deep music waters. And the only real way to do that is to let the music speak for itself.”
Representatives of the Musicians’ Assistance Program (MAP), a national, non-profit organization that provides free treatment to musicians struggling with drug and alcohol problems, were in New Orleans last month. MAP—which was founded in 1992 by Buddy Arnold, a professional jazz musician and recovering addict—has helped hundreds of musicians recover from addiction. For a consultation, call (888) MAP-MAP1 or visit their web site at www.musap.org.
New Orleans Drumming, a three-tape box set priced at $49.95, is now available through DCI Music Video/Warner Bros. Publications, Inc. The tapes, which were filmed in New Orleans in 1992, include: From R&B to Funk by Earl Palmer and Herman Ernest; Street Beats: Modern Applications by Johnny Vidacovich; and Ragtime and Beyond by Herman Riley. These drummers represent some of the most creative players in the history of New Orleans, a city known for its extraordinary drummers. Each tape features extensive musical performances by the aforementioned drummers as well as musicians such as Allen Toussaint, the late Red Tyler, Nicholas Payton, David Torkanowsky, Chris Severin and Larry Seiberth. For more information on the box set, call (305) 620-1500.
The 16th Annual Act I New Orleans Black Theater Festival comes to the Contemporary Arts Center for two weekends, Nov. 5-8/12-15. This year’s festival serves two purposes: First, it celebrates the memory of artist Tom Dent, and it kicks off the Blackside Productions project, “I’ll Make Me a World.” The latter is a celebration of the contributions of 20th Century African-American artists. For more information or tickets, call (504) 595-8459.
The 13th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival has been scheduled for March 24-28, 1999. Call (504) 581-1144 for more information.
In March, we told you about the 1998 USA Songwriting Competition. Well, the results are in and Steffani Bennett, a singer/songwriter from New York City, won the overall grand prize with her song “I Got A Feeling.” Other winners include Saimone Vuatalevu (say that twice after a Pimm’s cup, or even once for that matter) from the Fiji Islands who placed second with his song, “Tucake Mai;” and Clifton Byrd from Washington, D.C., who came in third with his song, “What’s Going On.” For more details of the 1999 competition, e-mail [email protected], call the 24-hour contest line at (617) 576-9732 or contact USA Songwriting Competition, Dept. AW 98, Box 15711, Boston, MA 02215.
Move over Jazz Fest, the Audubon Zoo set a new attendance record this year for their annual Swamp Festival celebration. Attendance during the second weekend of this year’s festival came in at 29,800 people. The previous record was just over 23,000 attendees. (Next thing you know, zoo officials will be contemplating which animals to move out to make room for more humans.) Congratulations to the Zoo for fourteen years of success with the Swamp Fest.
Worth Mentioning: Maria Muldaur plays Tipitina’s in the French Quarter on Nov. 8. Muldaur just recently released her new album Southland of the Heart. Merl Saunders will perform an 18+ show at Tipitina’s on Nov. 7 in support of his new CD, Merl Saunders with his Funky Friends. The new CD features performances with John Popper (Blues Traveler), Trey Anastasio (Phish), the late Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) and New Orleans’ own Dr. John. The Wild Magnolias will open the show. Tickets are $10.
Legendary surf guitarist Dick Dale will bring his amazing show to the Howlin’ Wolf on Nov. 14, while the String Cheese Incident (whose style some have been called “Telluride Bluegrass”) will appear a few blocks away at the House of Blues on the same night. Semi-regulars to the city, Medeski, Martin & Wood, will give another show on Dec. 1 at Tipitina’s Uptown on Dec. 1, along with DJ Logic and the North Mississippi Allstars.
New Orleans guitar collective, Twangorama, crawls out of the mire of “everybody has some other gig” to play a show at Carrollton Station on Nov. 23. It’s been a busy summer for the band which played at the Cancun Jazz Festival and at the Primer Festival de Jazz in Guatemala City, Guatemala. In addition, Cranston Clements toured with Maria Mulduar; Jimmy Robinson toured New England with Mulebone; Phil DeGruy played and recorded in New York City; Drummer Mark Whitaker toured with Andi Hoffman & B-Goes; while bassist Paul Clements crewed in a sailboat race. Look for a lot more Clements Brothers and Woodenhead gigs during the month as well.
The one-hour documentary, The History of Southern Gospel Music, will air on WLAE (Channel 32) on Nov. 22 and Dec. 6 (at 7 p.m., both times). It’s an hour of musical history and storytelling from the artists that have made their mark in Southern Gospel music.
The Endfest concert, originally scheduled for the weekend Hurricane Georges almost came to town, will go off on Oct. 31 at Marconia Meadows in City Park. Gates open at 9:30 a.m. and the music starts at 11 a.m. The revamped line-up now includes: The Flys, Better Than Ezra, Cowboy Mouth, Local H, Third Eye Blind and Everlast.
Look for a dance hall explosion at Cafe Brasil on Nov. 6 beginning at 9 p.m. A $7 cover charge ($5 with student ID) gets you in to see M&M, Lady Minto & the Island Girls, Bad Boys from the West Bank and more.
