December 2014
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Hunter Hayes
Hunter Hayes never stops moving, but he’s always in the driver seat. The 23 year old multi-instrumentalist can barely contain the…
Cover Story
- James Singleton Finds Beauty in Complexity
Sporting twin ponytail poufs atop her head, her 6-year-old brow creased with determination, Ruby Singleton lays out the details of a…
Features
- All I Want for Christmas
OffBeat approached a variety of local musicians and asked them: If you had to choose just one album—by any artist of any… - The New Orleans Nightingales are a Group of Bad-Ass Women
It sounds like a setup for a parlor game: If you could get 19 of the best female voices in New… - Norbert Slama Romances the World
It's rather an understatement when Norbert Slama says, “I’m moving all the time—I have to move all the time.” As revealed… - Galactic Reinvents Itself
It's shakeup time again for Galactic, who’ve already been through a few handfuls of changes in the past decade. Their New…
Fresh
- Basquiat and the Bayou
In the midst of Prospect.3, the abundant maze of galleries and installations scattered throughout the city until mid-January, the Ogden Museum… - LUNA Fête Displays Eye-Catching Science
The focus of LUNA Fête will be a twice-nightly show projected onto Gallier Hall at 7 and 7:30 p.m., with each… - Oh Crap, It's Christmas!
Debbie Davis is making up for lost time with her third album, Oh Crap, It’s Christmas, and a live performance December… - 10 New Orleans Christmas Classics
These 10 New Orleans Christmas Classics will be the highlight of any holiday party: Frankie Ford, “The 12 Drinks of Christmas” So… - Soundcheck: Five Questions with Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra
Your single “Must Be Christmas” with the Band of Merrymakers debuted on November 17. How did that project come about? This… - A Crescent City Christmas
This year marks the 30th anniversary of “Christmas New Orleans Style,” the month-long holiday celebration put on by French Quarter Festivals,… - My Music: Lance Ellis
I played alto saxophone first. I was in the third grade, and my mother brought the saxophone home. My twin brother…
In The Spirit
- In the Spirit: Christopher Starnes of Marigny Brasserie
I have a drink that I created that became Debbie Davis’ favorite drink, which then turned her onto gin, while she…
Letters
- December 2014 Letters to OffBeat Magazine
WEEKEND MUSICIAN I am what you call an OffBeat part-time weekend musician. With my percussion cowbell and CD player I love…
Mojo Mouth
- Mojo Mouth: Living in the "It" City
Since this column is written a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, and a month pre-Christmas, my “holiday season” mindset gets me…
Obituaries
- Obituary: David Redfern
David Redfern, one of the most influential and revered music photographers of his generation, died in October at age 78, three…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out at Bellegarde Bakery
Graison Gill is a shining beacon of hope in a food world becoming increasingly obsessed with gluten free and paleo diets.…
Dining Out
- Dining Out at Bellegarde Bakery
Graison Gill is a shining beacon of hope in a food world becoming increasingly obsessed with gluten free and paleo diets.…
The Spot
- Josh Cohen of Morning 40 Federation Hits the Spot
Why Bao & Noodle? Because it's new. The first time I came I had the shrimp with the flat, square noodles,…
Reviews
- Debbie Davis & Matt Perrine, Oh Crap, It’s Christmas (Independent)
The title may lead you to expect an album full of anti-Christmas sentiments, but don’t be fooled: Davis and Perrine’s Christmas… - Nicholas Payton, Numbers (Paytone Records)
Nicholas Payton can be, or perhaps more accurately enjoys being, unpredictable. He moves to the beat of his own inner drummer. Considering… - New Orleans Suspects, Ouroboros (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
When you get right down to it, most bands formed in the Crescent City are gonna be supergroups. The city’s just… - The Parishoners, Between Piety and Desire (Threadhead Records)
The debut recording from the Parishoners is good, basic rock ‘n’ roll with touches of other genres that the band uses… - Ed Volker, Waiting for the Abyssianian (Independent)
Abyssianian as in the abyss, the cryptic goal of life. So inevitable it gets two songs in the set written in 2011,… - Debauche, Songs from Underground (Independent )
Generally, bands either thrive in the studio or on the stage. While a band can be very good in both arenas, it… - Kristi Guillory & Anya Burgess, Kristi Guillory & Anya Burgess (Valcour Records)
It’s been quite a run lately for Kristi Guillory and Anya Burgess. In the spring, their band Bonsoir, Catin released its… - Davis, Ex Machina (Independent)
What do you do after they base a TV series on your album, then enable your next album to be an… - Various Artists, Best of Street: New Orleans Volume 1 (Independent)
Look out—here come the vagabonds. The City that Care Forgot has seen a steady post-K influx of wandering minstrels sneaking across… - Tank & the Bangas, Think Tank (Independent)
Tank and the Bangas are one of those groups that do a number of things well and a couple of things… - Flow Tribe, Alligator White (Independent)
Flow Tribe just keep on refining their horny bro-funk with each new release, but this latest EP reveals that their blue-eyed… - Smoky Greenwell, Smoky Greenwell’s New Orleans Blues Jam (Greenwell Records)
That lucky Smoky Greenwell. The dude works across the street from his French Quarter residence and hosts a popular Monday night… - Carlo Ditta, What I’m Talkin’ About (Orleans Records)
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of Carlo Ditta in keeping the best of the New Orleans music scene alive the… - Sonia Tetlow, A Place for Everyone (Independent)
This is Sonia Tetlow’s third album in just under two years, including one with the acoustic group Roxie Watson last spring.… - Big Pearl & the Fugitives of Funk, Live on Frenchmen Street (Independent)
Lani Ramos comes by her “Big Pearl” moniker honestly, having kicked off her local stage career with a perfect recreation of… - Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band, Unity (Wild Lotus Productions)
It’d be easy to dismiss Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band as music solely for the yoga world. Though it’s… - Derrick Freeman, DWB (Independent)
For his third studio effort as a solo artist, Derrick Freeman serves as ringmaster to a masterful, manic musical circus, rich… - Shotgun Jazz Band, Yearning (Independent)
Gutsy, gritty and grabbing is the way I would describe the Shotgun Jazz Band, and it is precisely the way I’d… - Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse Band, A New Orleans Creole Christmas (Basin Street Records)
Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield’s and his bandmembers’ musicianship and their expressive interpretation of familiar holiday classics set A New Orleans Christmas apart… - Dr. Drew, Dat Gumbo (Independent)
Dr. Drew (Boatner) is 43. Although given the copyright on what appears to be his debut, he was 39 when he… - Earth, Wind & Fire, Holiday (CBS)
Earth, Wind & Fire’s brand of funk was always mixed romance with spirituality, so a Christmas album from the band would… - Louisiana Swamp Donky, Redneck Revival (Independent)
If there was any remaining doubt left over from their name or debut album title, let’s put all the rumors to… - Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, The 21st Century Trad Band (Basin Street Records)
Alternately elegant, quirky, political and swinging, Jason Marsalis’ third studio outing with his vibes quartet serves as a sequel to the… - Delfeayo Marsalis, The Last Southern Gentlemen (Troubadour Jass Records)
In his thought-provoking liner notes for The Last Southern Gentlemen, Delfeayo Marsalis quotes trumpeter King Oliver’s renowned drummer Baby Dodds saying,… - Branford Marsalis, In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral (Marsalis Music)
Branford Marsalis begins his solo performance at San Francisco’s historic Grace Cathedral paying homage to master soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy on… - Valerie Sassyfras, Girls Night Out! Live at Gasa Gasa (Independent)
The beginning of this live disc is attention-grabbing, to say the least: Backed by a low-budget drum machine, the singer promises… - Various Artists, Je M’Endors (Louisiana Folk Roots)
As much as Cajun music has historically been associated with the concept of fais do-do, there haven’t been many recordings with…
