When New Orleans Saints fallen warrior Ricky Williams chills in his Kenner crib, the chilling is elevated by the hip-hop murals adorning the walls, as created by Miami artist David LeBatard, a.k.a. LEBO. And when driving past the Mother-In-Law Lounge, you will notice that it, too, is freshly adorned by the fresh art of young LEBO–larger-than-life portraits of proprietors Ernie and Antoinette K-Doe on one side and Quintron and Miss Pussycat on the other.

LEBO landed the Williams commission through his sportswriter brother, who is one of Ricky’s best friends. Ricky dug the paintings in the LeBatard brothers’ Florida pad and brought LEBO to Louisiana to give a similar treatment to his residence.

"I was able to stay there for free and Ricky gave me a car to use," LEBO explains. "It was one of those jobs God just drops in your lap. I really fell in love with New Orleans–there was always something interesting going on."

LEBO also does live performances utilizing overhead projectors, animation and underground musicians. Through this scene, the artist was acquainted with Quintron and Miss Pussycat, who introduced him to Mr. and Mrs. K-Doe. It is, as Walt Disney pointed out, a very small world.

"I’ve found that these things guide themselves," LEBO contemplates. "As long as you’re putting it out there, it falls into the right hands."

Now that’s he completed the Williams home and the K-Doe’s lounge, LEBO is open to suggestions–perhaps adorning the pillars beneath New Orleans’ expressways or the roof of the Louisiana Superdome.

The Emperor of the Universe, Ernest the First, is pleased with his likeness: "It’s the first time I’ve been drawn in that manner–I’m very proud of it."

LEBO’s advice for young artists: "Work every day–even if it’s for an hour a day–and save everything you do. It’s conversational–if you do art every day, it becomes like a second language. The cool thing about art is that it’s a universal language. People from Japan can look at your work and understand it and get something out of it. It transcends regional languages.

"Cartooning is so universal and it goes so far back in history. It was around before people could speak. Even with computers today, it’s still the most accessible means of delivering an idea to a large group of people. If you do art every day, it becomes a religion."

Battle of the Bands

Judge not, it says somewhere in the Bible but not being positive that that mandate included judging a cigarette company-sponsored band contest at House of Blues, we agreed to be one of three judges. Hey–the drinks were free!

Likewise for the admission and since the audience’s vote counted more than the three judges’ balloting, the place was filled with fans, friends and family of the three bands in question, none of which we’d heard before: the Oswalds, King Konga and Tom’s House. We were impressed with all three bands but King Konga, hailing from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, got the votes of the audience and the judges.

King Konga’s three core members–vocalist/guitarist Dan Hannon, bassist Steve Cook and Tony Lymon, who plays about a million percussion instruments–met as students at the University of Southern Mississippi. Drummer Skeeto was recruited from Detroit, after "700 phone calls brought them together."

We have heard a lot of drum solos during our glorious musical past. Few of them would equal the joint percussive display put on by Lymon and Skeeta at House of Blues. It was transcendental.

Augmenting Tom’s House were trombonist Mark Mullins and trumpeter Eric Lucero. Lead singer Billy Gaudin, as befits a budding rock star, was delightfully cocky and reminded us of a younger version of Alex Chilton. Not once, but twice did he dedicate songs to "Auburn sluts."

Capitol Improvement

We received an engraved invitation to a banquet thrown by Capitol Records at the Fairmont and since the largesse of record companies ain’t as large as it used to be, we were intrigued and, despite the hurricane blowing outside, we arrived precisely at "8 sharp," as the invitation commanded. The occasion was the convention of the National Black Programmers Coalition and a roast of Memphis deejay Bobby O’Jay and record magnate Antonio "L.A." Reid.

Never have so many leather ensembles–pants, suits, dresses, skirts–adorned the venerable Fairmont. In the Men’s Room, we encountered an a cappella quartet rehearsing the "Black National Anthem." On the dais sat Mayor Marc Morial. At the tables surrounding us were sexy singer Methrone (wearing tan leather), the five sisters and cousins who comprise Sunday (Tawanda, Notasha, Tiffany, Shakira and Stacey, all clad in black leather), singer/songwriter Pru (in a leather patchwork number) and the two fellows known as OutKast (Big Boi and Dre, "the player and the poet"), who were wearing baggy clothes and no leather.

Mayor Morial pledged $1,000 to the NBPC’s scholarship fund and said he’d toss in another grand if ten people stood up and each pledged $1,000. Immediately, he got his ten philanthropists plus. OutKast donated $3,000. It was a great performance, even outshining the fantastic singing of the aforementioned Methrone, Sunday and Pru, who banged a long-stemmed rose to death while she sang her "Prophecy of A Flower." Everybody got a bag of free t-shirts and tiramisu for dessert. Could life possibly be sweeter?

Galaxy 500

Galactic, New Orleans’ funkiest functioning band, will record a live album at Tipitina’s Uptown on December 1 and 2. At the same joint on Halloween, Galactic saxophonist Ben Ellman arrived disguised as–ugh!–Kenny G. Fortunately, he didn’t bump into the ghost of Louis Armstrong.

Christmas Complexity

Just in time for Christmas arrives PJ Harvey’s latest, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. We think she’s God, especially when she sings, "I can’t believe life’s so complex when I just wanna sit here and watch you undress!"