March 2013
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes
The Alabama Shakes have made it. What is “it”, you ask? It’s three Grammy nominations for the not quite 4-year-old quartet’s…
Cover Story
- Cheeky Blakk: Queen Be Hustlin’
Any local may be surprised to learn that New Orleans is a more openly sexualized city than its continental counterparts. While…
Features
- NOLA Musicians Represent at SXSW
In its 27th year of cultural convergence, South by Southwest, arguably the country’s coolest sonic cotillion for musicians on the verge,… - Never Once Got Whupped: A Look into Lee Dorsey’s Boxing Career
When Irving Dorsey and his brothers were growing up, their dad, New Orleans soul-funk singer Lee Dorsey, filled the family garage… - Still To Be Continued: TBC Brass Band Talks Exile on Bourbon Street
It is Wednesday night at Celebration Hall on St. Bernard Avenue and there is way too much talent in the room.… - Eric Clapton: Under a Hoodoo Moon
Photojournalist Ronnie LeBoeuf remembers seeing Eric Clapton for the first time like it was yesterday: “He was coming out the Half… - Giving Bach: Albinas Prizgintas Marks 25th Year of Musical Ministry
Ironically, one of the things that make timeless musical institutions so easy to overlook is their consistency. If a New Orleans…
Fresh
- Maison Owners Purchase Hi-ho Lounge
The Hi-ho Lounge, one of the anchor clubs of the St. Claude Entertainment District, has been sold to the owners of… - Deadline Extended for Class Got Brass Competition
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation is raising the stakes this year in its second-annual Class Got Brass competition, offering$30,000… - BUKU Music Festival Part Deux
In the shadow of the Market Street Power Plant in Downtown New Orleans, the fledging BUKU Music + Arts Project prepares…
Letters
- March 2013 Letters to OffBeat
NOTHING LESS THAN WONDERFUL Aaron Neville—one of the majestic voices in American music and the whole world. Keith Richards, a true…
Mojo Mouth
- Big Events, Big Dollars
After a year of the city cracking down on bars and clubs that present music, it’s been awfully quiet lately. I…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: The Irish House (Restaurant Review)
Green beer and jello shots are as representative of Irish culture as a California roll symbolizes an authentic expression of Japanese… - Kristina Morales Hits the Spot at Maurepas Foods
What did you order? I ordered the grits and fried oysters. This is the first time I’ve tried the oysters—it’s a…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: The Irish House (Restaurant Review)
Green beer and jello shots are as representative of Irish culture as a California roll symbolizes an authentic expression of Japanese…
Photo Op
- Scott Saltzman Captures Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown in His Twilight
I have been creating imagery examining performance for over 30 years. One of my early mentors once explained to me that…
The Spot
- Kristina Morales Hits the Spot at Maurepas Foods
What did you order? I ordered the grits and fried oysters. This is the first time I’ve tried the oysters—it’s a…
Reviews
- Harry Connick Jr., Smokey Mary (Sony)
Harry Connick Jr.’s first stab at a funk album, 1993’s She, coincided with the launch of his Krewe of Orpheus that… - Anders Osborne, Three Free Amigos (Alligator Records)
Three Free Amigos is a beautiful place keeper in Anders Osborne’s career, a songwriter’s digest that follows two exhaustive, sprawling magnum… - The Mo’ Jelly Band, Homemade Jam (Independent)
Radiators fans will recognize one of the standouts on the Mo’ Jelly Band’s debut: “Out in the Woods” is an Ed… - To Be Continued Brass Band, To Be Continued Brass Band (Independent)
Here is a document of brass band music in 2013. With urgent second line momentum and 808-esque rim shots and cowbells,… - Ned Sublette, Kiss You Down South (PostMambo)
We are all the heroes of our own imaginations. Likewise we can be our own tragic victims. The nature of art… - Beth Patterson, Hippocampus (Threadhead Records)
On her first full-length studio affair since 2009’s On Better Paths, Patterson still finds ways to advance her craft. Perhaps the… - Jimbo Mathus & the Tri-State Coalition, White Buffalo (Fat Possum Records)
Growing up with Charlie Patton’s daughter Rosetta as a nanny gives Jimbo Mathus some seriously deep roots in the Mississippi blues.… - Smoking Time Jazz Club, Oh Sister Ain’t That Hot! (Independent)
There’s a certain DIY charm to the Smoking Time Jazz Club. This is a band that has earned its keep in… - The Blue Brass Project, The Same Pocket Vol. 3 (Lil King/Meantime Lounge Records)
Started in 2004, the BlueBrass Project puts players from the mountains of North Carolina together with New Orleans artists to find… - Professor Porkchop & the Dishes, U R My Everything (Independent)
Lots of people write about falling in love with New Orleans for clichéd reasons like second lines and gumbo. But when… - Coot, Coot (Independent)
J.J. Cale backed by Little Feat? It sounds like an odd combination—laid-back frontman meets swampy, eclectic backup group—but that’s exactly what… - Black Magnolia, Fields Are Burning (Independent)
Not all records have to be innovative or forward-thinking. Blues and jazz have worked in their unique ways for 100 years,… - Katie Euliss, 40 Watt Dreams (Squirrel Records)
Since Truckstop Honeymoon’s inception a decade ago, Katie Euliss has written some dandies that have won the admiration of her contemporaries.… - Ernest James Zydeco, 3 Steps from La La (Jam Rat Records)
If you only heard selected cuts from this disc, you’d never guess that Ernest James Zydeco comes from a land famous… - Banana Plant, Treasure Swamp: A Pop Opera (Independent)
The Banana Plant is the brainchild of Gwynn Torres and Sid Berger, musicians and producers of the Grammy-nominated album Gulf Alive,… - Sour Sedans, Taste It (Independent)
Listening to “Runaway,” the first track on this guitar-slinging Lafayette band’s debut, you might think that lead singer Ryan Cazares is… - Harn Solo, Journey to the Sky (Independent)
Hip-hop’s fascination with outer space has been well documented to the point where rapper aliens have become a worn-out trope. MCs… - Larry Ankrum, The Dream of the Ballerina (Independent)
It’s Larry Ankrum’s party and he’ll solo if he wants to. The Minneapolis-bred woodwinds player, who lived in New Orleans for… - Chapel Blues, Bed of Roses (Eltor Records)
Dutiful. Reasonable. Listenable. If it sounds like I’m having trouble coming up with superlatives to describe this record, well, you’re right.… - Barbara Carr, Keep the Fire Burning (Catfood Records)
It’s been almost 50 years since Barbara Carr signed with Chess Records and launched a recording career that has seen more… - Brooklyn Jazz Warriors, In Service of the King (Independent)
Oddly enough I was reading about Akhenaten, that revolutionary monotheist sun-worshipping Egyptian pharaoh, when lead singer Yisroel Arye Gootblatt came in… - Next Collective, Cover Art (Concord)
The idea for this album should prompt a few red flags: A bunch of young-gun jazzmen (and guest trumpeter Christian Scott)…
