You just gotta love it-less than a month until Jazz Fest and the city puts on one of the biggest free festivals in the country: the French Quarter Festival. Fourteen stages of music with all local bands (from trad jazz to Cajun/Zydecocome check out the OffBeat/Zatarains Stage at the Old Mint!), food from the citys coolest restaurants, crafts, tours, second lines, fireworks, a beautiful day in the Quarterwhat more could you ask for to experience the Crescent City? And its got free admission!
The French Quarter Festival is a best-kept secret many Louisiana festival lovers from outside the state still dont know about (sometimes us locals like it that way), even though this year is FQFs 19th anniversary. The Festival opens this year on Friday April 12th (and runs through April 14th). Check out OffBeats French Quarter Festival A to Z Guide beginning on page 98 of this issue, along with maps and grids of whos playing where. Organizers notesupport your French Quarter Festival: No coolers, no ice chests, no large containers (beverage sales keep the FQF alive and vital); keep your festival free. For more info on the Festival call (504) 522-5730 or visit www.frenchquarterfestivals.org.
WHAT DO THEY HAVE THAT WE DONT?
As I write this column, weve just returned from our annual trek to Austin, Texas for that city’s version of our Jazz Fest: South by Southwest (SXSW).
From a music-only event, SXSW has evolved into a multi-media festival including music, film and interactive topics. This event has literally put Austin on the international map as a music town.
The music at SXSW tends to be rock- oriented and attracts showcasing bands from literally around the world. Most of them hope that some A&R person (do those people still exist?) will catch their show and sign them to a label deal. SXSW also has a workshop/panel component, a trade show, and mentoring sessions, among other things.
Showcases are a big, big deal at SXSW; theyre the most successful part of the eventbut then if you have a Sixth Street (Mardi Gras without most of the all-night debauchery) and 50,000 University of Texas students wholl buy a wristband to get into the hundreds of shows that take place over a five-day period in the city, youd have the ingredients for a pretty successful live music event.
New Orleans and other cities have long envied SXSWs success and several groups have tried to create the same sort of industry buzz, most notably, LMNOP (Louisianas Music, New Orleans Pride) that lasted for some three years and finally gave up the ghost from lack of local government and financial support. IMHO, New Orleans will never be another Austin, nor should we try to be. The Jazz Fest is the time when most industry people and music lovers flock to town. LMNOP tried to take advantage of this, but that event became more of annoyance for local musicians and club operators than a benefit (showcasing new acts during Jazz Fest is no ones priority).
But what Austin has that we dont is a business community and a government that really seems to supportand respectlocal musicians and music businesses. We certainly dont have that attitude here.
Austins music community has a much greater cohesiveness than Ive ever seen in Louisiana. Why is that? Why are we so prone to infighting? Cant we get over the political divisiveness that shoots us in the foot? Why cant we all work together so that everyone winsnot just a few politically-connected few? This is the challenge for us a music community and for the government officials who have the money and ability to improve music. Were at a crossroads in the music industry where the old rules are being ripped apart and its pretty much a wide-open field.
OffBeat and Loyola will sponsor a Future of New Orleans Music symposium to be held at Loyola University on April 30 that will address the opportunities New Orleans has to take advantage of during the upheaval in the music industry, with speakers that will include some of the most innovative and cutting-edge thinkers in the music industry today. Admission is free and includes breakfast, lunch and a reception. Seating is limited, and reservations can be made at www.futureofneworleansmusic.com. Additional information can be obtained by calling (504) 864-7961. Interested parties should plan on attending for a more comprehensive view of the future of New Orleans music.
Id really be interested in hearing what you have to say about the difference between Austin and New Orleans/Louisiana, and how you think we can take advantage of the technology window of opportunityemail me at [email protected] to sound off.
Ill tell you one thing thoughwhile the Tex-Mex food in Austin beats anything around here, I’d put the Ugly Dogs barbecue up against Texas any old day!
MONSTER MUSIC NEWS
Basin Street Records has signed on to release Jon Cleary’s next (self-titled) CD in May. Jon will have it at his gigs in April and it will be available in New Orleans in mid April. Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen will be opening for Bonnie Raitt this spring, and Jon will also be performing in Bonnie’s band. Weve all heard the CD around the office and it is smoking!
Another talent deserving of a mention here is Leslie Smith, whose new CD should be out around Jazz Fest time. Leslie (daughter of photographer Michael P. Smith) has been a vocalist for a long time (she used to perform at Tylers on Magazine Street years ago). After a hiatus (and a couple of kids), Leslie has really joined the ranks of great singer-songwriters with her new effort, which has some of the citys greatest local musicians. Leslie plays keyboards and sings on the new CD, and her songwriting has knocked the socks off the OffBeat staff. Look for her new CD, Just A Girl, soon.
RESPECT THE SONGWRITERS!
Another great local songwriter (and Best Of The Beat winner for Best Song, a few years back) is Lenny McDaniel, who is starting a Songwriters Night at Martines in Metairie (2347 Metairie Road, 831-8637. Check out Lenny and bring your stuff to Martines on Wednesday night, April 3, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
OFFBEAT GETS VICARIOUS KUDOS (AS USUAL)
Where do Pulitzer Prize-winning authors get their material? Sometimes, the pages of OffBeat. For example, in early March, Rick Bragg (author of best-selling books All Over But The Shoutin and Avas Manboth of which I can highly recommend) got a piece published in the New York Times that was widely circulated around town. It was pretty similar to both Jeff Hannusch’s Louisiana Music Masters piece on Jessie Hill that OffBeat published in its February issue as well as the Guided Tour of The Final Resting Places of New Orleans Greatest Musicians published in OffBeats May 2001 issue. Geez, Rick, at least give credit where credit is due!
Bunny Matthews, cartoonist, writer, Associate Editor (and the Most OffBeat of Us All) was recently the cover boy on local alternative paper GambitWeeklys cover, in a story by ex-OffBeat staffer Scott Jordan, which reveals (most) of Bunnys little personality quirks. Congratulations Bunny for getting some of the recognition you deserve!
JAZZ FEST COMETH
Speculation abounds on whether the Jazz Fest attendance will top previous years. This apparently is an important issue for Festival Productions, whose primary goal, it seems, is to bring in more people to the Fest than it has the year before. With the traveling public staying home a bit more, it will be interesting to see if those numbers fall a bit (it may be about time!).
This years Jazz Fest lineup seems to contain a lot more local bands (great!), and there are a lot of late-night shows and off-club dates (check out offbeat.com for up-to-date club and show listingsthis issue also has club listings we had a press time for Jazz Fest). Lots of jam bands, so get used to it.
Theres a new event in town that sounds exciting as hell: the Mystic Knights of The Mau-MauPonderosa Stomp on April 30, May 1 and May 2 at The Fine Arts Theater, 1733 Constantinople Street, Uptown New Orleans. The lineup for this event is truly awesome: Hubert Sumlin, Earl Palmer, Henry Gray, Othar Turner, Scotty Moore, Dale Hawkins, Earl King, Eddie Bo, Lazy Lester, Dave Bartholomew, Barbara Lynn, Classie Ballou, Earl King, Gatemouth Brownthe list goes on and on. Tickets are $33 a night or $90 for a three-day pass. Buy tickets at ticketweb.com or check out www.knightsmaumau.com. You just gotta love it, baby!
