June 2013
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Todd Rundgren's Swampland Utopia
Musician and producer Todd Rundgren first took the world stage in the mid-60s, fronting his band the Nazz. This June, Rundgren…
Cover Story
- "Bad Beth" Patterson:
Folk and Rock, Devil and Angel
It’s the night before the opening of Jazz Fest, and the tourists are wandering into Beth Patterson’s set at Margaritaville. No…
Features
- Jazz Fest 2013 Highlights:
Living in a 3-D Museum
People kept asking me this year if Jazz Fest has out lived its usefulness to New Orleans culture. OffBeat is even getting… - Shannon McNally's
Bobby Charles Tribute Album
Sees Release
For years the Shannon McNally / Dr. John / Bobby Charles collaboration has been more a rumor than a record. Reports… - Untangling Al "Carnival Time" Johnson's Recording Career
Considering the length of Al Johnson’s stop-and-go music career—his first single was recorded during the Eisenhower administration—his obvious talent, and his… - Al "Carnival Time" Johnson
Finally Returns to the Studio
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? At 73, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson is a master of old… - Tommy Malone Puts It All Back Together
We’ll never know if the federal flood following Hurricane Katrina put a final nail in the subdudes’ coffin, but the band… - Andrews Family Trumpeter
Travis Hill Returns to the Stage
Travis Hill can really blow a horn and hit some remarkably high notes on his trumpet. On hearing Hill as a… - Cardinal Sons' Kinda Cool Folksiness
With any new band, there is an adjustment period. Musicians need time to learn each other’s quirks and reach a level…
Fresh
- Return of the Tin Men
No New Orleans band combines the city’s unique blend of musicianship, sense of humor and sheer eccentricity better than the Tin… - Better Than Ezra's Garden Grows in 5.1 Digital Surround
Better Than Ezra’s third album, How Does Your Garden Grow? arguably cost BTE their label and won them a career. Elektra… - Papa Grows Funk: Hanging Up Mr. Patterson's Hat
Papa Grows Funk the high-powered New Orleans funk band put together by keyboardist John Gros and guitarist June Yamagishi back at…
Letters
- June 2013 Letters to OffBeat
BASEMENT ZYDECO In Dan Willging’s Ernest James Zydeco review [March 2013], he says, “no sea level zydeco band would ever sing…
Mojo Mouth
- Bigger and Better
Last year just about this time—our longtime editor, Alex Rawls, walked into my office, handed me a resignation letter and walked…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Borgne (Restaurant Review)
The renovated Hyatt Regency Hotel on Loyola boasts a sleek design and high-tech features not often embraced by a city that… - Jasper Denhartigh and Clayton Hunt of Heat Dust Hit the Spot at the Milk Bar
What did you order today? CH: I got the Cattle Fodder. It looks like we’ve got cream cheese, roasted red pepper,…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Borgne (Restaurant Review)
The renovated Hyatt Regency Hotel on Loyola boasts a sleek design and high-tech features not often embraced by a city that…
Photo Op
- Photo Op: Eric Waters Snaps Squirk at the Second Line
I have documented New Orleans culture in all its forms for 35 years. Having been mentored by Marion Porter, the great…
The Spot
- Jasper Denhartigh and Clayton Hunt of Heat Dust Hit the Spot at the Milk Bar
What did you order today? CH: I got the Cattle Fodder. It looks like we’ve got cream cheese, roasted red pepper,…
Reviews
- Dumpstaphunk: Dirty Word (Louisiana Red Hot)
Dumpstaphunk has a few simple missions on its second full-length CD: To make a modern album steeped in the funk tradition;… - Flow Tribe: Painkiller (Independent)
This flashy sextet, committed as always to their un-ironic white boy rock-funk, sounds bigger than ever on their second EP, Painkiller,… - Shannon McNally: Small Town Talk, The Songs of Bobby Charles (Sacred Sumac Music)
An excellent confluence of factors make Shannon McNally’s new record of Bobby Charles tunes a record to which you can listen,… - Tom Leggett: Spinnin’ My Wheels (Independent)
Tom Leggett was part of the generation of transplanted musicians who created a new landscape in New Orleans during the latter… - Brass-A-Holics: I Am a Brass-A-Holic (Independent)
These days the brass bands fall into two basic yet malleable categories, the raw, street parade bands and the more polished… - Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes: 2000 Days (Full Frontal)
After nearly a decade on the jam-band circuit, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes are clearly swinging for the rafters on… - Fi-Yi-Yi and the Mandingo Warriors: Fi-Yi-Yi and the Mandingo Warriors (Independent)
Percussion rules, at least downtown, in this stripped-down, old-school offering from Fi -Yi-Yi and the Mandingo Warriors, here represented by the… - Tommy Malone: Natural Born Days (MC Records)
It’s a crime that Tommy Malone isn’t better known around the world. He is a triple threat—beautiful singer, fine songwriter, and… - Andrew Duhon: The Moorings (Independent)
“Some songs developed slowly, while others—like souvenirs—seem to have been picked up along the way.” Andrew Duhon explains in the liner… - Johnny Sansone: Once It Gets Started (ShortStack Records)
He has crept up on us slowly but surely, and now Johnny Sansone has become one of the best bluesmen/roots musicians… - Various Artists, Ashe Cultural Arts Center Presents: Healing Force (Independent)
What turned out to be a magical June night in 2012 brought together a diverse array of artists to perform at… - Dave Jordan: Bring Back Red Raspberry (Threadhead Records)
“Dave Jordan sings true songs about love, heartbreak, loneliness, shrimp, and pie.” So says his website, in the way only a… - Luther Kent: Luther (Independent)
Blues and soul man Luther Kent hasn’t made a CD in four years, the news on this one is that it… - Rich Collins: That Escalated Quickly (Independent)
Given his day job, it’s no wonder that multi-instrumentalist Rich Collins would make a catchy, modern-sounding rock record. Collins’ main line… - Paul “Lil Buck” Sinegal: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Independent)
These days the 71-year-old Lafayette bluesman is the guitar-scorching sideman for Buckwheat Zydeco and Corey “Lil Pop” Ledet. But from 1959… - Various Artists, Swamp People: No Guts, No Gator (Rounder)
This mes amies is a good example of what record corporations refer to as ‘working the catalog.’ Swamp People of course… - Mia Borders: Quarter Life Crisis (Hypersoul)
Mia Borders is full of attitude on her new disc, Quarter-Life Crisis, and it’s the kind of attitude that make for…
