April 2011
BackTalk
- David Simon of HBO's Treme
The second floor of the bus and train station is doubling for City Hall offices today. Down a hallway crowded with…
Bookmark
- Michael Oliver-Goodwin, Heaven Before I Die (Black Shadow Press)
In the year 2011, there are still plenty of people around who saw James Booker and Professor Longhair perform on multiple…
Cover Story
- A Half-Fast Walk With Pete Fountain
Dawn arrived on Fat Tuesday 2011 with a gray, windy bluster and a forecast of heavy rain. But nature could not…
Features
- French Quarter Fest 2011: A-Z Guide
Louisiana music comes to the Vieux Carre during the French Quarter Fest, April 7-10, this year adding music on Thursday. With… - Storyville Stompers: French Quarter Fest Focus
One of the many things that gives New Orleans her flair is her people’s sense of tradition. The Storyville Stompers exemplifies… - Kourtney Heart: French Quarter Fest Focus
Six years before Kourtney Heart’s bouncy club jam “My Boy” caught the attention of radio stations and record executives, the pop-princess-in-waiting… - Chubby Carrier: French Quarter Fest Focus
A Grammy Award has unexpected perks. Just ask Chubby Carrier, winner of this year’s Grammy for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music… - Steve Pistorius: French Quarter Fest Focus
You won’t find pianist Steve Pistorius on any of the Bourbon Street stages at this year’s French Quarter Fest, and that… - New Orleans Nightcrawlers: French Quarter Fest Focus
The New Orleans Nightcrawlers brass band began innocently enough in 1994 as a writer’s workshop founded by pianist Tom McDermott, sousaphonist… - Pfister Sisters: French Quarter Fest Focus
Jazz harmonizers the Pfister Sisters have existed long enough to be considered a tradition, singing with everyone from the Neville Brothers… - Magnetic Ear: French Quarter Fest Focus
Over the years, brass-driven band the Magnetic Ear has marched so far from its point of origin that it’s a wonder… - Touched by Treme
“I now have all the Facebook friends I’ll ever need.” Tom McDermott appeared in episode three of the television show Treme,… - Flow Tribe: Funk in the Real World
Very few bands make their audiences work. However, at the Maple Leaf Bar on March 5, local funk/rock band Flow Tribe… - Aurora Nealand: A Good Ear for the Roses
The New Orleans Moonshiners, Meschiya Lake’s Little Big Horns, Panorama Jazz Band, Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?—just a… - Blister in Le Soleil: The Lost Bayou Ramblers and Gordon Gano
I still wasn’t convinced Gordon Gano, singer of my favorite band of my youth, Violent Femmes, was really going to play…
Fresh
- Del McCoury’s in the Hall
“I don’t think this has ever been done before, and I’m hoping people come to just find out what it is,”… - Jovany Barreto's Idol Experience
“To go from singing for a bunch of little girls in high school to singing in front of three of the… - Tony Green: What the Hell?
If you know Tony Green, you likely know him for his performances of gypsy jazz, or as the painter of the… - Liveset Goes Live
For 30 minutes on Friday afternoon, Ross Hinkle and Rachel Puckett patiently explained their business model. Liveset is a new, small…
Letters
- April 2011 Letters
SMOKE FREE Although I’m thrilled with the new movement in town to ban smoking at more clubs (“A Breath of Fresh…
Mojo Mouth
- Quarter Time
I have so enjoyed the weather lately, and the spring. In the past few weeks, we’ve celebrated Mardi Gras (can we…
Obituaries
- Obituary: John Berthelot (1942-2011)
John Berthelot, composer, arranger and founder of Great Southern Records passed away on Wednesday, February 23. Funeral services were private. Born… - Obituary: Herman Ernest (1951-2011)
[Updated] During the recording of Dr. John’s Tribal album, James Demaria videotaped Herman Ernest overdubbing rhythm tracks. “This is the… - Obituary: Sherman Washington (1925-2011)
For 70 years, Sherman Washington, Jr. led the Zion Harmonizers, helping bring gospel music out of the churches and into the…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Three Muses
It could be the start of a joke: “A jazz singer, bartender and a chef take over an abandoned building in… - Kristin Diable Hits the Spot at Green Goddess
Green Goddess 307 Exchange Pl. (504) 301-3347 How did you first hear about Green Goddess? I usually go to a restaurant… - Muriel's Restaurant: From Séance Lounge to Jazz Brunch
When Muriel’s opened in March 2001, the goal was to deliver the ultimate New Orleans experience, complete with a nightly soiree…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Three Muses
It could be the start of a joke: “A jazz singer, bartender and a chef take over an abandoned building in… - Muriel's Restaurant: From Séance Lounge to Jazz Brunch
When Muriel’s opened in March 2001, the goal was to deliver the ultimate New Orleans experience, complete with a nightly soiree…
Photo Op
- Rehearsal
Photographer: Ingrid Hertfelder I captured this image of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra together with the Boys Choir of…
The Spot
- Kristin Diable Hits the Spot at Green Goddess
Green Goddess 307 Exchange Pl. (504) 301-3347 How did you first hear about Green Goddess? I usually go to a restaurant…
Reviews
- Rebirth Brass Band, Rebirth of New Orleans (Basin Street Records)
We live in an era of great brass bands, a time when people argue over who’s the best and global brands… - Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCoury Band, American Legacies (McCoury Music)
The evolution of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band into a conveyer of hip is one of the musical successes of post-K… - Horace Trahan, Keep Walking (Independent)
If everyone were like Horace Trahan, there would be no mold to break. As a teenager, he was heralded as the… - Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, On the Street (Independent)
“The bank today turned down my loan / they say money’s too tight.” Now that’s a way to start an album… - Empress Hotel, Empress Hotel (Park the Van Records)
Indie-folkish rock band Silent Cinema broke up some time last year, and the resulting splinter bands are all more adventurous and… - Country Fried, Life Is Fine (Independent)
Country Fried falls somewhere between ’70s country rock and late ’50s folk, especially given the hearty vocals of Brian Ayres, Taylor… - The White Bitch, The White Bitch’s Brass Balls (Independent)
The White Bitch, the brainchild, alter-ego, and band of writer Michael Patrick Welch is one of the most bewildering and obscure… - Louisiana Red, Sweet Blood Call (Fat Possum Records)
I was fine with this until the sort-of title track—“Sweetblood Call,” two words, versus the album title above—and then I couldn’t… - Know One and DamNathan, Soundtrack: The Ballad of Know One & DamNathan (Media Darling Records)
Local progressive rapper Know One and producer DamNathan have shared a 10-year working relationship that helped beget the Media Darling Records… - Big Joe & the Dynaflows, You Can’t Keep a Big Man Down (Severn Records)
Big Joe is a rarity in the blues world. He’s a drummer who doubles as a vocalist. That’s about as rare… - Goldman & Guyland, Teaching the Young (Shrimpo Records)
The concept is novel: the seasoned journeyman teaching the budding, young apprentice. But when it comes to accordions, it’s hard to… - Various Artists, Louisiana Cajun & Creole Music: The Newport Field Recordings (Rounder Records)
The Newport Folk Foundation played a pivotal role in the resurgence of Cajun-Creole music when its future looked bleak. At the… - Various Artists, Treme: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season One (Geffen Records)
When we heard live music during the first season of HBO’s Treme, we heard the same thing the cast and crew… - Delfeayo Marsalis, Sweet Thunder (Troubadour Jass)
Duke Ellington composed music covering an extraordinary range of themes. His 12-song suite Such Sweet Thunder is not among his better-known… - Ben Kono, Crossings (19/8 Records)
Double reeds have the potential to sound terribly out of place on a jazz record (take Daniel Smith’s dubious Blue Bassoon… - Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages (Ace Records UK)
Lookie, lookie—this here’s a real cookie. While the early 1980s spawned such musical atrocities as Ratt, Milli Vanilli and Bananarama, it… - Koray Broussard & the Zydeco Unit, Trapped (MTE Records)
Just because you hail from healthy zydeco bloodlines doesn’t guarantee overnight success. Koray Broussard’s grandfather was the venerable Delton Broussard, honcho… - Green Demons, Outer Sex (Independent)
The Green Demons’ debut album, Outer Sex, introduces us to the dual guitar and vocals of Todd Voltz and Gwendolyn Knapp.…
