Regular readers of local entertainment publications and OffBeat’s Dis ‘n’ Dat column may notice something amiss. Namely, that as of last month I did not work here and, perhaps more importantly, I am not Bunny Matthews.
There is no cause for alarm! The powers that be have seen fit to make me Associate Editor of this fine publication, which as of right now entails writing this column and handling tasks deemed too trivial for our recently promoted Senior Editor, the aforementioned Bunny Matthews. Not to worry: Bunny’s eloquent reviews, features, as well as Vic and Nat’ly—not to mention his demented editorial stamp—can still be found all over this and every issue of OffBeat.
On a personal note (and please excuse the glut of self reference), I am honored to be given this opportunity. In the pantheon of regional music magazines operating on the international stage, OffBeat is the real deal. The quality and expertise exhibited by their (our) crack team of writers and editors is unmatched, and I look forward to a fruitful future here.
Ladies and gentlemen, with a heavy hand and a pathological sense of self importance, I bring you Dis ‘n’ Dat:
ROCK OUT WITH YOUR…
Halloween typically means one of two things for New Orleans revelers—a chance to troll up and down Frenchmen Street for a chance to gawk at crowds of costumed drunks or the Voodoo Music Experience. With the later occurring two weeks earlier this time out (and exhaustively covered by Bunny), many will be looking for a more fulfilling pursuit—musically speaking—than parading back and forth between a quarter mile stretch of asphalt, fun though it may be.
“New Orleans does Halloween like it does most things: excessively,” explains Michael Bateman, who, along with Chris Martel and a host of other conspirators masquerading under the banner City Hustler Entertainment, is organizing Halloween weekend’s The Rockening—a two day festival featuring local and national rock ‘n’ roll. “Call it adult-sized children living it up.”
The idea for the two day festival was born after Bateman and Martel returned from Horizontal Action magazine’s annual Chicago “Blackout” festival last may.
“After a whole crew of us got back, we thought it’d be a good idea to have a sister event here in New Orleans. The Rockening was the silliest name we could think of. With Chad Booth (of Mangina, Scrip+s, Kajun SS), Kelly Keller (of the Circle Bar), and Keith Herrera and Rio Hackford (of One Eyed Jack’s)on board (among other helping hands), we’ve been able to pull things off. It was just a matter of timing and much needed help, ” says Bateman.
Bateman, who in the past has regularly booked shows at the Circle Bar and the much eulogized Matador and runs the curiously named watchmeeatahotdog.com website, booked all the bands playing this year.
“The specific musical focus is, I suppose, bands that are vaguely garage rock—more in spirit than anything else. Call it punk rock,” continues Bateman. “These bands are ones we feel people ought to be paying attention to if they care for this sort of stuff.”
Among the acts performing at the festival are local garage/punk favorites the Detonations, Die Rötzz, the Scrip+s and Kajun SS. On the national scene, The Rockening boasts the reinvented ’60s garage mayhem of Atlanta’s Black Lips, the low-brow punk rock of Seattle Washington’s the Spits and the slightly higher-brow post-punk stylings of Miss Alex White. Particularly apropos—it being Halloween and all—is that Boston’s the Upper Crust and San Francisco’s Knights of the New Crusade have been booked for Friday, the 29th, and Saturday, the 30th, respectively. Knights of the New Crusade play thrashy, evangelical garage punk (with song titles like “Whore of Babylon,” “E is for Evil,” which is about ecstasy, and “My Way is the Highway”) in cardboard knight outfits straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail—more than likely a tongue in cheek gimmick, judging from crusadenow.com, but who knows? The Upper Crust, on the other hand, rock in the 18th-century French nobleman sense of the word—AC/DC by way of Marie Antoinette (who incidentallytook her journey to the scaffold on October 16)—with album titles such as Let Them Eat Rock, The Decline and Fall of the Upper Crust and Entitled. A lineup that absurd is bound to result in some kind of mayhem, but to what end?
“The Rockening will be a yearly thing that’ll hopefully get bigger and better,” says Bateman. “It is a showcase for like-minded underground bands and fans passionate about rock ‘n’ roll music that care more about fun than fashion. Most of the bands and promoters etc are, to some degree, friendly with one another and looking to party together more than once a year.”
Outsiders can also join the party October 29 and 30 at One Eyed Jack’s and October 31 at the Circle Bar. Tickets for each night are $10 or $16 for both nights. There are a limited number of $20 golden tickets available, which are also good for admission to the Friday night Circle Bar after party with the recently re-reunited Royal Pendletons.
HALLOWEEN, REDUX
Of course, the Rockening isn’t the only thing happening of interest in and around the Halloween Weekend. On Wednesday, October 27, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists bring their mod-revivalist/punk stylings (in the vein of Alex Chilton and Billy Bragg) to TwiRoPa. Shoe gazers can catch the melancholy indie pop of Death Cab for Cutie at the Howlin’ Wolf on Thursday, October 28. Apolkalyspse Now’s(who regularly performs at the Mermaid Flea Market on Sundays) name is too genius to not plug and will be performing at art gallery/performance space/bar The Big Top on October 29. The annual Turducken Masked Ball, wherein local bands impersonate their kitschy and not so kitschy favorites, at the Mermaid Lounge is also that night. Saturday, October 30th finds Eddie Bo playing his weekly gig at Check Your Bucket, former OffBeat cover Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews at the Funky Butt, current cover Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes at the Howlin’ Wolf for the M.O.M.’s Ball, round two of the Masked Ball, venerable Crescent City glam rockers Zebra (if you can believe it) at Rock ‘n’ Bowl and Papa Grows Funk and ReBirth at Tipitina’s aptly named Helloween. If you can still function for work the next day, assuming you’re gainfully employed, you still have time to troll up and down Frenchmen Street for Halloween parties at d.b.a. and the Blue Nile or to catch the Southern Jezebels at One Eyed Jack’s or Johnny Sketch (yet again) at Lounge Lizards.
PLEADING
I desperately want to write about your bands and events, but I need to know about them. Email me at [email protected] with your press releases by the 15th of the month for consideration.
