October 2015
Cover Story
- Saints of Chiac: Sweet Crude’s communal experience is pure joy
Sweet Crude is about to play its first headlining show at Tipitina’s, and the members of the half–Louisiana French singing indie…
Letters
- October 2015 Letters to OffBeat Magazine
LENNY MCDANIEL I wanted to thank you [Joseph Irrera] for the kind and thoughtful obit you wrote on the passing of…
Mojo Mouth
- Same As It Ever Was
It was about this time of year back in 1989, when I got a call from a guy who said he…
Features
- Blues Bard of the Bywater: It’s nice to have Andy J. Forest around
Andy J. Forest enjoys his drive to work so much he wrote a song about it. “Bartender Friend,” the opening track… - Spreading Awareness: Tab Benoit’s Voice of the Wetlands re-educates while having fun.
It didn’t take a lot of people to turn Tab Benoit into an activist for wetlands preservation. In fact, it took… - Expanding Our View of the Blues
It seems that we may have gotten the blues all wrong. Instead of the taproot of American popular music, drawing on… - October Blues
I’m going down to Louisiana Baby behind the sun Well you know I just found out My trouble’s just begun I’m… - Sound and Vision: New Orleans Film Festival
Born to Be Blue leads music films at New Orleans Film Festival. Over the course of 26 years, the New Orleans…
Fresh
- Soundcheck: Five Questions with Ryan Ballard
Five Questions with Ryan Ballard, High Priest, Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus. Why does a psychedelic drunken Wookiee serve as the… - A Shocking Return: The House of Shock
No other American city immerses itself in the ancient Celtic ritual and spectacle of All Hallows’ Eve in the flamboyantly macabre… - Halloween Masquerade
As they prepare to put out their first full-length studio album, the tireless members of local indie pop group Sweet Crude—… - No Party Without Us: Big Chief Alfred Doucette Turns 75
Approaching 75 years old, the endlessly energetic Big Chief Alfred Doucette isn’t slowing down at all. For him, the party is… - My Music: Papa Mali
"Some of my best friends call me Papa Mali. It’s been my stage name for 30 something years, from back when… - The Earl Palmer Playlist
The father of all New Orleans rock ’n’ roll drummers—and maybe all rock drummers, period—Earl Palmer was born October 25, 1924… - Beneath The Waters: Anba Dlo 2015
In New Orleans, sometimes even a costume party shows up in costume. Take the annual Anba Dlo festival, which kicks off… - Soundcheck: Five Questions with pianist and composer David Torkanowsky
You seem to be enjoying yourself— Thursdays as leader at Tableau’s “Wine Down Jazz Up” and most Tuesdays at Snug Harbor… - Don't Be Afraid Of Culture
The arts express what we may not be able to communicate otherwise. They help us understand that one question may be…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Richard “Tricky Dick” Dixon
Dixon was a free- hearted person who would give you the shirt off his back,” recalled Walter “Wolfman” Washington about his… - Obituary: Phil Parnell
Pianist and songwriter Phil Parnell passed away September 2, 2015 after a battle with liver cancer. Phil began performing at an…
Dining Out
- Bourrée
Certain foods and drinks are simply meant to be together: effervescent champagne and salty caviar; sweet Sauternes and buttery rich foie…
OffBeat Eats
- Miss Claudia Hits the Spot
The Spot: Dat Dog 3336 Magazine St. (504) 324-2226 What did you order? The smoked bratwurst. I like this one…
In The Spirit
- Peter-John Hanne at Feelings Café
"I picked Nicky Da B for this drink. He passed a year ago, so his passing is fresh on my mind.…
BackTalk
- Swamp Dogg
"This is Swamp Dogg, your lover, your savior and your reason for living,” announces Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams Jr.’s answering machine.…
Reviews
- The Valentinos: Lookin’ For a Love - The Complete SAR Recordings (Ace)
The Valentinos began as the Womack Brothers, a popular Cleveland gospel group, but Sam Cooke took them to Hollywood and transformed… - DRKWAV, The Purge (Royal Potato Family)
DRKWAV is an appropriate name for this trio of Skerik (Illuminasti Trio/Dead Kenny G's, Garage A Trois) on saxophones, John Medeski… - Various Artists, Scratchin’: The Wild Jimmy Spruill Story (GVC Records)
Relatively obscure, yet no less prolific, Wild (and the emphasis here is on wild) Jimmy Spruill was one of the most… - Ratty Scurvics, Posterity Stares at Me/Deathchildren (Upper Ninth Records)
To put it in colloquial terms, Ratty Scurvics is Vince Vance's boy, though we won't dwell on his local lineage too… - American Jazz Quintet, Gulf Coast Jazz: Volume 1 (V.S.O.P.)
Although countless amazing recordings came out of Cosimo Matassa's J&M Recording Studio in the 1950s, very little of it was New… - Various Artists, Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' by the Bayou: Mad Dogs, Sweet Daddies & Pretty Babies (Ace)
The tenth installment of the By the Bayou series still contains a seemingly bottomless pool of great vintage South Louisiana/East Texas… - Jamie Lynn Vessels, Home (Independent)
Jamie Lynn is the latest in a long line of girls-with-guitars who picked up where Sheryl Crow left off, at least… - Various Artists, I Wanna Sing Right: Rediscovering Lomax in the Evangeline Country (Part Two: Love and Death) (Valcour Records)
Valcour Records’ second installment of the Rediscovering Lomax in the Evangeline Country series is a not-so-subtle reminder of just how incredibly… - REWIND: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys (Rounder)
Steve Riley hits REWIND on the Mamou Playboys’ eponymously titled debut album—now a quarter century old. “Well, we were a… - Mason Ruffner, Aerial (Maldoror Records)
In the mid-’80s, after Sea-Saint and before The Big Easy, transplanted Fort Worth native Mason Ruffner was a welcome national focal… - Little Richard, Directly from My Heart: The Best of the Specialty & Vee-Jay Years (Specialty)
Here’s a rather uneven three-disc compilation assembled from “the King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s” sizable catalog. Not to say… - Lefty Keith & the True Blues, Volume 2 (Independent)
Lefty may be a drummer, but he’s still a blues bandleader, one who’s set up a residency of sorts on Decatur… - Woody’s Rampage, Tip Jar (Sound of New Orleans Records)
Some of you more faithful OffBeat readers may remember the name of Woody’s Rampage and its star guitarist, Ryan Hall, from… - Amzie Adams, Hurricane Katrina (Independent)
Amzie Adams is most renowned as a visual artist, so it’s ironic that his homemade CD has such a slapdash graphic… - Ted Hefko and the Thousandaires, Distillations of the Blues (Independent)
The Wisconsin-bred Hefko, a graduate of the University of New Orleans’ Jazz Studies program, commands your attention with his latest album, Distillations… - Dan Rivers, I Can Still Hear the Music (Independent)
Dan Rivers is a good old-fashioned, unrepentant, unreconstructed hippie, a fact which might once again be culturally relevant in a Donald… - Robert Glasper, Covered (Blue Note)
Keyboardist and composer Robert Glasper first gained recognition as a hugely talented jazz artist with two Blue Note records under his… - John Ellis & Double-Wide, Charm (Parade Light)
John Ellis & Double-Wide play serious music that does not take itself too seriously. The band makes its way over uncommon… - Kevin Sekhani, Day Ain’t Done (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
With the demise of the Mercy Brothers, Kevin Sekhani is looking to get back out there on his own. Sekhani is… - Dr. John, The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 (Omnivore)
Among other things, this terrific set serves as a reminder of how open-minded the music business once was: Yes, there was… - Leroy Thomas, We Love You Leroy! (Maison de Soul)
In some ways, Leroy Thomas’s first CD in five years picks up where his Maison de Soul Records debut left off.… - Colin Lake, One Thing That’s For Sure (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
If John Mayer had any actual soul, he’d be the Seattle–bred, New Orleans–based Colin Lake. That may be an easy comparison,…
Plan A
- Drive-By Truckers
The impeccable quality of Drive-By Truckers' artistic arc now spans 20-plus years. Their blistering two-night Tipitina's stand the weekend of Katrina's…
