May 2018
BackTalk
- Tony Hall talks back
Bassist, guitarist, drummer, singer and songwriter Tony Hall’s myriad accomplishments include co-founding Dumpstaphunk. The deep-grooving funk-jazz-soul quintet came together in 2003…
Cover Story
- We’re Comin’ for Ya!: Cha Wa creates a mashup of Mardi Gras Indian chants and brassy horn
When a Mardi Gras Indian striding down a New Orleans street yells, “Cha wa!” he’s warning nearby Mardi Gras Indian gangs,…
Features
- Sharp Dressed Man ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on taming that beast
Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, collectively known as ZZ Top, probably are the only intact major rock band from… - Chief of Chiefs: Robert Nathaniel Lee and the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans (Book Review)
Robert Nathaniel Lee, renowned as Big Chief Robbe, tells of his lifelong journey in the Mardi Gras Indian tradition as carefully… - 300 Songs for 300 Years: Keyboardists
The piano is an enduring constant in New Orleans music, and this month’s installation of classic songs features four of the… - Traversing the Map: Corey “Passport P” Peyton raps with global ambition
“I’m looking at life through a wider frame,” Corey “Passport P” Peyton says in the intro track of his new solo…
Fresh
- Five Questions with Meschiya Lake on her move to Cork, Ireland
Chanteuse Meschiya Lake-Härm is bidding a fond farewell to New Orleans after 18 years. She was the figurehead, the homing beacon… - Five Questions with Nathan Williams of Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas
Now in their thirty-third year, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas are a topflight zydeco band with a signature style that’s… - Five Questions with MidCitizen Entertainment Co-founder Reid Martin
Simple Play Presents’ artist-management team of Reid Martin, Tavia Osbey and Max Bonanno has announced the launch of a new firm,… - Celebrating 30 Years: “I Love Alex McMurray, Everybody’s Favorite Songwriter —Back from Tokyo”
OffBeat Magazine is celebrating 30 years and reached that milestone with our November 2017 issue. To mark the anniversary, over the… - Five Questions with Danny Clinch, Music Photographer and Documentary Filmmaker
What is your connection to New Orleans music? Several years before Katrina, my wife and I were invited down to Jazz…
In The Spirit
- Margot Denman at N7
“I made a cocktail for Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington because when I first moved to New Orleans I got a job at…
Letters
- Letters to the Editor
Dancing Man 504 Your response [Letters to the Editor, April 2018] ignores an important but seemingly obvious distinction between Mardi Gras…
Mojo Mouth
- We Need More
As I work and write this, I’m listening to Bonerama pump out an in-store at the Louisiana Music Factory downstairs. How…
Obituaries
- In Memoriam: Charles Neville (1938-2018)
Saxophonist Charles Neville — forever known to fans as “Charlie, the horn man”—was the secret ingredient in the Neville Brothers’ mix,…
OffBeat Eats
- DTB
Over the past decade, the Oak Street corridor has evolved into one of the city’s most vibrant food and beverage scenes.… - Chef Nina Compton on Compère Lapin’s Curried Goat
Which of the dishes on your menu says the most about you? The curried goat really encompasses me as a chef.…
Dining Out
- DTB
Over the past decade, the Oak Street corridor has evolved into one of the city’s most vibrant food and beverage scenes.…
The Dish
- Chef Nina Compton on Compère Lapin’s Curried Goat
Which of the dishes on your menu says the most about you? The curried goat really encompasses me as a chef.…
Reviews
- Chas Justus & the Jury, Chas Justus & the Jury (Black Pot Records)
In the Spirit of Bob Wills When the reign of the western swing-centric Red Stick Ramblers ended and the next-gen… - Billy Iuso & the Restless Natives, Home by the Sea (Independent)
Of the seemingly infinite list of local talents somehow excluded from Jazz Fest’s regular roster of Louisiana musicians invited to play… - Brittany Purdy, Welcome to Sazaraz (Independent)
Welcome to Sazaraz, the debut EP from Brittany Purdy, has a lot to say, especially considering its short run time. A… - Horace Trahan, Until the End (Independent)
Until the End marks the final chapter of Horace Trahan’s conceptual trilogy that began with 2010’s Keep Walking and continued with… - Tephra Sound, Horizon (Independent)
Last March, cellist Helen Gillet convened some of the most talented voices in creative music working in and around New Orleans… - Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band, Return of the King (Soulwood Records)
After two consecutive live albums, Keith Frank delivers his first studio release in six years, a dense 20-track, 76-minute affair that’s… - The Junior League, Eventually Is Now (Independent)
Recording as the Junior League, Eventually Is Now is the latest release from Joe Adragna. Eventually Is Now is sometimes lush… - Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Songs in the Key of Funk, Volume 1 (Album Review)
The heavyweight champion of rocking, brassy NOLA funk, “Big” Sam Williams years ago shed the type of pounds that inspired his…
