Blogs
Most of My Favorite Local Records of 2012
Reading the lists and catching some flak made me itch to put my own preferences down. What follows is necessarily incomplete because I can’t even pretend to listen to everything […]
Is It Already Too Late?
Hurricane Isaac was a massive, slow moving storm that did tremendous damage, destroyed entire towns and caused numerous fatalities. It was “only” a category 1 hurricane, yet it created a […]
The Radiators, The Last Watusi (Radz Records)
The Radiators emerged from underground status as one of the country’s best unsigned groups in 1978 and became a trademark of New Orleans rock. The band was a kind of […]
Various Artists, Best of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians (Mardi Gras Records)
Mardi Gras Records has put together some excellent compilations of New Orleans music. The company has great taste in the selection of material great taste in the selection of material, […]
The Allyn Robinson Project, Full Circle (Independent)
Wayne Cochrane and the C.C. Riders are a legendary soul band known for the near-hysterical performances of the white-pompadoured Cochrane, whose variations on black soul singers were arresting enough to […]
The Honeypots, Something Sweet (Threadhead)
This very enjoyable record is a collaboration among three talented local songwriters (Lynn Drury, Margie Perez and Monica McIntyre) and percussionist Paula August Jepson. The group has an engaging, easygoing […]
Pops’ Tops: The 10 Best Louis Armstrong Albums Since 1945
Satchmo at Symphony Hall (1947) The first live document of Armstrong’s return to the small group format after the big band era. The All Stars—Jack Teagarden on trombone, Barney […]
Louis Armstrong’s Musical Ideals
On June 29th, Trombone Shorty brought his band to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for an outdoor concert. The show sold out, but thousands of people kept streaming into the park as […]
End of an Era: Reflections on the Passing of Uncle Lionel
Now that Uncle Lionel is in the ground I feel like I can finally talk about an issue that disturbed me greatly during the roughly two weeks of celebrations, some […]
Uncle Lionel Batiste: February 1, 1931 – July 8, 2012
Of all the colorful char-actors who’ve populated the streets of New Orleans over the years, Uncle Lionel Batiste takes the cake. Uncle Lionel patrolled the banquette along lower Decatur and […]
