July 2007
BackTalk
- Mitch Landrieu
Cheerleader has to be a politician’s toughest role, and when you’re boosting local music, that means second-lining in a suit, often…
Cover Story
- Preservation, Inc.
A film starts with a hipster walking into Preservation Hall. He wears horned-rim glasses, thin hair on top and has a…
Features
- Will Royalties Kill the Radio Stars?
- The Wild Life
- Marc Broussard: Oh My Soul
In 2005, Marc Broussard was fed up with the music industry and already sick of the idea that the apotheosis of… - Classic Songs of Louisiana: "Paper in My Shoe"
Fresh
- The Party with a Purpose Returns
The 2007 Essence Music Festival returns to its home in the Louisiana Superdome July 5-7 after a year-long exile in Houston.… - Taste of the Nation
The national anti-hunger group Share Our Strength, or S.O.S., has been busy in New Orleans. It has given grants to local… - OffBeat Nominated for Five Press Club Awards
OffBeat received five nominations for awards in three categories for the 49th annual Press Club of New Orleans Journalism Awards. Photographer… - Magic Cats and Happy Trees
Miss Pussycat is sharing her puppet show magic with the world, courtesy of the Internet. One-time New Orleans resident Gabe Soria… - Betting on a Benefit Album
It’s lunchtime on a Wednesday and banjo player Don Vappie is running through an arrangement of “Look at Me,” a song… - The Houseman's Truth
“Where do I start?” laughs Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet ruefully over the phone from Chicago, “I lost everything I had accumulated in… - All Hail the Emperor
Ernie K-Doe was the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Universe,” and in the minds of many, he was the emperor of New… - Home Sweet Home
While lively crowds tend to be the rule at Tipitina’s, the one that gathered on May 27 was significant. A benefit… - Closer to Home
Putumayo World Music CEO and founder Dan Storper married a New Orleans native in 2002 and has called the city home… - The Grammys Add Cajun/Zydeco Category
No one has to ask fiddler David Greely twice if he’s excited about the new Grammy category for zydeco and Cajun…
Letters
- July 2007 Letters
HURRAH FOR JAZZ FEST I would imagine that the powers that be must be quite pleased with the Fest this year.…
Live Wire
- Rob Wagner, Hamid Drake and Nobu Ozaki with Kidd Jordan, the Dragon's Den, June 4, 2007
The trio of saxophonist Wagner, bassist Ozaki, and world-renowned drummer Hamid Drake had played the previous night at the Blue Nile… - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Republic, June 13, 2007
When Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released its self-titled debut album seven years ago, only “Whatever Happened to My Rock ’n’ Roll”… - Manu Chao, Tipitina's, June 13, 2007
Unity has always been sought, but rarely achieved, between peoples of the world, which is why the Manu Chao concert was…
Mojo Mouth
- Word to the Wise
When I was a little girl, my daddy used to give me and my siblings advice on what to do. To…
Obituaries
OffBeat Eats
- The King of Tiki (Online Exclusive)
Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, probably the world’s leading expert on tiki drinks, first encountered tropical cocktails when he was 10 years old.… - The Sweet Science
I know people who don't like desserts. I know them, but I'm not sure I trust them. From my perspective, refusing… - Dining Out: St. James Cheese Company
Sandwiches are the second-class citizens of the food world. They’re what you toss in a brown bag when you can’t eat…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: St. James Cheese Company
Sandwiches are the second-class citizens of the food world. They’re what you toss in a brown bag when you can’t eat…
Reviews
- Rebirth Brass Band, Never a Dull Moment: 20 Years of the Rebirth Brass Band (DVD) (Mojo Tooth)
Never a Dull Moment is a documentary on the Rebirth Brass Band, but it’s little more than that. It tells… - Matthew Stearns, Daydream Nation (Continuum Books); Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation (Geffen/Universal)
In Daydream Nation, Matthew Stearns’ contribution to Continuum Books’ 33 1/3 series of books about classic albums, he describes Sonic… - Elizabeth Cook, Balls (31 Tigers)
Balls has received a lot of well-deserved critical love. Elizabeth Cook sounds like a classic country singer rather than a… - Mary Weiss, Dangerous Game (Norton)
Mary Weiss was the lead singer of the Shangri-Las, and pairing her with garage rock classicist Greg Cartwright and the… - Candi Staton, His Hands (Astralwerks)
After Rick Rubin’s American Recordings with Johnny Cash and Jack White’s production of Loretta Lynn on Van Leer Rose, it’s… - Mavis Staples, We'll Never Turn Back (Anti-)
In recent years, Mavis Staples has found a way to be a mature artist in the sunset of a career… - The Greyboy Allstars, What Happened to Television? (Sci Fidelity)
The Greyboy Allstars are the perfect name for a bunch of white kids eternally in love with black music, even if,… - C-Murder, Death Around the Corner (Vibe Street Lit)
Gangsta rap has always had a fundamental issue; namely, boasting about doing a lot of illegal stuff. For an audience… - Billy Bang Quintet featuring Frank Lowe, Above & Beyond: An Evening in Grand Rapids (Justin Time)
How did jazz come to rely almost exclusively on a half-dozen instruments: bass, drums, sax, piano, trumpet and guitar? Billy Bang’s… - Various Artists, Blue-Eyed Garage: Sixties Rock 'n' Soul Rarities (Green Iguana)
This one should certainly appeal to the Ponderosa Stomp set as most listeners would be hard pressed to identify even one… - Quintron, Jamskate (Rhinestone)
Jamskating is a cool new variation on roller skating that brings elements of breakdancing to the classic skating bounce. Considering… - Bayou Boy, The Bidden War Mixtape (Independent)
The intro of rapper Bayou Boy’s The Bidden War, plays out as a group of people looking for their favorite radio… - Know One, Know One's Home (Media Darling)
It’s almost de rigeur for post-Katrina local artists to talk about What Happened—to them, to their people, and to the city… - I Tell You What, What Would You Do (Attention Spaniel Records)
Often, what translates well at a live show fails to do so on a record. The new album by New Orleans… - Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior (Shout! Factory)
Thompson has a distinctive musical voice, and the album is a solid addition to his impressive body of work on… - Judith Owen, Happy This Way (Courgette)
Judith Owen treats songs as art, making beautiful piano-based songs that draw on jazz, pop, folk and R&B traditions, effectively… - The Nels Cline Singers, Draw Breath (Cryptogramophone)
Nels Cline is an unlikely rock star. Sure, the 51-year-old guitarist has played with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Mike… - Ron Carter, Dear Miles (Blue Note)
Dear Miles exhibits all of the artistry and polish one would expect from jazz icon Ron Carter, yet it remains a… - Various Artists, Songs form the Basement, Vol. 5 (WTUL)
There have been few if any benefits for New Orleans underground bands since Katrina, and there hasn’t been any outcry,… - Blair, Pluto (Independent)
Somewhere between Conor Oberst’s scratchy narratives and Cat Power’s soulful grace, you’ll find New Orleans’ Blair. It’s no wonder that she… - The Bongoloids, The Anaesthetic Revelation of Ray Bong (Independent)
The Bongoloids aren’t your average stoner rock band. They create a unique twist on the genre by adding psychedelic jazz, electronica,… - The bALLY who?, Keep on Dawn (Yea Sayers)
Yet another alternative requiem for the post-Katrina Yatlantis? Certainly it seems like that’s what these locals have in mind; they follow… - Tab Benoit with Louisiana's LeRoux, Power of the Ponchartrain (Telarc)
How eerie is it that I would be listening to a CD entitled Power of the Ponchartain for the first time… - Chappy, Shallow Seas (Attention Spaniel)
Adjusting to a new roster is hard for any band, and Shallow Seas certainly has its growing pains. When Chappy’s line-up… - Gov't Majik, The Dirty South Afro-Beat Arkestra (ShineNOLA)
“The Dirty South Afro-Beat Arkestra,” is a fitting name for Gov’t Majik’s debut album. Gov’t Majik dedicates the album to the… - Rick Trolsen, Sunrise on Bourbon Street (Lort)
Roughly a century after its inception, traditional New Orleans jazz is many things to different people, ranging from a Parnassus of… - Marc Broussard, S.O.S.: Save Our Soul (Vanguard)
At first glance, an album of soul covers such as “Respect Yourself,” “Love and Happiness” and “Inner City Blues” seems… - Leroy Jones, Soft Shoe (Independent)
Combine a traditional New Orleans jazz repertoire with an aesthetic a la Art Blakey and you get Soft Shoe, Leroy Jones’… - Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Made in New Orleans: The Hurricane Sessions (Preservation Hall)
When the Kinks recorded “Complicated Life” in 1971, would anyone have believed the Preservation Hall Jazz Band would be doing their…
