THREE REGIONS, NOT RELIGIONS
I want to point out ba mien means three regions, not three religions as printed in your September 2014 issue (“The Big Vietnam-Easy”). The three regions are North, Central and South, as you have it. The two prominent religions of Vietnam are Catholicism and Buddhism. I am Vietnamese, so these little errors make huge differences to me especially in print.
—Barbara Weaver, New Orleans, Louisiana
NO TWANG
Last year, I submitted a CD for review [Ben Bell and the Stardust Boys’ The Matador]. The review was published in your August 2013 issue. Robert Fontenot was the author. He really panned us and was rather incorrect and even close-minded in his approach, ignoring the strengths of the album.
He says I’ve done time in bars in Alabama and Austin. Never spent time in Alabama. Despite Fontenot’s claim, there is absolutely no Tejano or Western Swing on the album. He credits “Heartaches by the Number” to Ernest Tubb, which is not the definitive rendition. (Someone more in the know would say Guy Mitchell or Ray Price.) He says I lack twang. I intentionally and artistically do not twang, partially in response to contemporary country, and also because I style myself a crooner. It is an original, artistic, even postmodern, approach that Fontenot completely failed to notice.
He references Johnny Cash’s back-up band (the Tennessee Two) as if it were a bad thing. Sorry I’m not contemporary alt-country.
There are many here in Baton Rouge and other places that rather enjoy our vintage-yet-original style and CD. I thought OffBeat Magazine would appreciate a fresh take on an old genre.
—Ben Bell, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Most of what you mention are matters of opinion, but there is one factual error. I have no idea why I had Alabama down there along with Austin. I apologize for that.
As for the music, I’ll stand by my statement that there are Western Swing and Tejano influences coursing through the rhythms of some of these songs. Chalk that up to personal taste; we both know those genres intersect with classic country and rockabilly and honky-tonk in several places.
Guy Mitchell and Ray Price had the biggest hits with “Heartaches by the Number,” for sure, but that doesn’t make them definitive, only popular. Invoking Ernest’s version was done for legitimacy’s sake; to me, it has more credibility than the other two. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with sounding like Johnny Cash’s Sun sides, but I was specifically using that classic sound to make the point that your band’s own sound was still in transition. And if you prefer to style your vocals as a postmodern croon, that’s fine, but it doesn’t detract from my main point, which is that those vocals (and lyrics) aren’t strong enough yet.
—Robert Fontenot
HURRICANE SONGS
I just read, with the greatest dismay, Brett Milano’s “Hurricane Hit Parade” in the September 2014 OffBeat issue.
Mr. Milano inexplicably leaves out two of the greatest hurricane-themed songs ever written: “Feels like Rain” by John Hiatt and the appropriately named “Hurricane” by Levon Helm. Either of these songs would be an apt replacement for “Louisiana 1927.” While the Randy Newman song is unparalleled in conveying the pathos, despair and powerlessness of the poor in the face of nature, the song has nothing to do with the ravages of a hurricane, but the great flood of 1927, which occurred in April several months ahead of hurricane season. Otherwise, a great list!
—Mike Paduano, Toms River, New Jersey
CORRECTION
I bow down and deeply apologize for citing that Idris Muhammad was the drummer on the Hawkettes’ “Mardi Gras Mambo.” As pointed out by Deacon John and confirmed by Art Neville, the lead singer on the 45rpm, John Boudreaux was behind the drums. Muhammad, then known as Leo Morris, performed with the Hawketts later in the band’s history.
—Geraldine Wyckoff
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