September 2015

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Cover Story

Art By Democracy: Galactic and Friends Introduce the Landing Festival
It’s just another week in the life of Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and bassist Rob Mercurio—working on three hours’ sleep because… – Brett Milano

Features

Reunited, and It Feels So Good: Continental Drifters
When word got around that the Continental Drifters were re-forming, the first question fans probably asked was: Which Continental Drifters? The… – Brett Milano
Baroque Baruch: The Franklin’s Chef Baruch Rabasa is doing Mexican brunch in the Marigny —with rich and ornate detail.
Last fall, Baruch Rabasa returned to his hometown of Mexico City to visit family. He’d recently given up his tenure as… – Jennifer Odell
Garden & Fun: New Orleans chefs look no further than your backyard for fresh ingredients
Sometimes the vacant lot next door, overgrown with weeds, turns into a beautiful garden. Not by itself, of course, but since… – Elsa Hahne
Nouvelle Créole: Chef Nina Compton is reintroducing the city’s culture to itself
In a city where the term “Creole food” has become about as murky as its signature dish—gumbo—and its bastions—such as Galatoire’s… – Elsa Hahne

Dining Out

Primitivo
Thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of the paleo diet, our Neanderthal ancestors are basking in the glow of pop cultural relevance… – Peter Thriffiley

OffBeat Eats

Jeff "PapaFrog" Klein Hits the Spot
What brings you here today? This is excellent food. The plates are big, the corn bread is amazing and one dish… – Elsa Hahne

Fresh

Soundcheck: Five Questions with Geraldine Wyckoff
Geraldine Wyckoff has been writing about music in New Orleans for 30 years. She was a music columnist for Gambit, her… – Frank Etheridge
Louisiana Muse
Musician and photographer Zack Smith, a recipient of a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community grant, used it to assemble… – Joseph Irrera
Hip Hip Hooray: HIP Fest 2015
New Orleans International Sound Exchange’s (N.O.I.S.E.) annual HIP Fest returns September 22 and 23 with shows at the Blue Nile and… – Laura DeFazio
So Decadent: Southern Decadence 2015
Southern Decadence has become a Labor Day weekend New Orleans tradition— so much so that VIP weekend passes sold out a… – Brittney Schering
Scales and Ales
Event director Sara Bradford talks about this year’s festivities. We’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and… – Brittney Schering
Soundcheck: Five Questions with Kristin Shannon, General Manager at the Orpheum Theater
Why did it take 10 years for the Orpheum to re-open? The current owners, Roland von Kurnatowski and Dr. Eric… – Frank Etheridge
Songs for the End of the Summer
For this end-of-summer playlist we depart from our usual format of using all Louisiana artists, for the simple reason that there… – Brett Milano
My Music: Russell Welch
I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, where my father was a musician and a lawyer. He was always playing banjo and… – Rory Callais

Obituaries

Obituary: Jillian Johnson
Out of the many mourners remembering Jillian Johnson, one put it best: everything she did was a love letter to Lafayette.… – Nick Pittman

Mojo Mouth

Tooting Our Horns
By the time this issue comes out, we will be right on top of the “Katrina Weekend” and probably hundreds of… – Jan Ramsey

Letters

September 2015 Letters to OffBeat Magazine
KATRINA The follow letters are in response to Jan Ramsey’s Blog post “Hurricane Katrina is Coming... Back” (August 6, 2015) wherein… – OffBeat Readers

In The Spirit

Christopher Brian / Meauxbar
"I was originally doing this with blue basil, but it went out of season. I really want to do farm-to-shaker cocktails,… – Elsa Hahne

BackTalk

Backtalk: Jon Batiste
The television sets of Jon Batiste’s family, fans and friends will undoubtedly be in sync at 10:30 pm (CT) on Tuesday,… – Geraldine Wyckoff

Reviews

David Lasocki, Steve Masakowski, Big Easy Innovator (Instant Harmony Music)
My first reaction upon completing this new book was, “Wow! What a masterful biography of a major jazz musician.” Okay, the… – Thomas Jacobsen
Tin Men, On the Shady Side (Independent)
For most of the 20th century New Orleans music spent its energy preserving and building on the spectacular advances it created… – John Swenson
Rewind: BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Gitane Cajun (Vanguard Records)
Michael Doucet hits REWIND to talk about one of his favorite records, 2004's Gitane Cajun, its three co-producers, Doucet, brother David… – Dan Willging
Nicholas Payton, Letters (Paytone Records)
Unless someone is extremely well-versed in Nicholas Payton’s style on keyboards, it would probably be difficult to identify him as the… – Geraldine Wyckoff
Sugarcane Collins, Goin’ Back to Clarksdale (Independent)
What do Australia, South Louisiana, and the Mississippi Delta have in common? If you said “sugarcane,” you’d be correct, which is… – Robert Fontenot
Lisa Trahan et l’Esprit Cadien, If Those Shoes Could Talk (Independent)
Though Lisa Trahan was practically incubated in Cajun music and a Magnolia Sister since 1996, only now does she step out… – Dan Willging
Leslie Blackshear Smith, How Love Works Part: 1 (636 Music)
Leslie Blackshear Smith is one of the most talented woman vocalists in a city full of them. You only have to… – John Swenson
Chris Mulé, Down to the Bottom (Independent)
Singer, songwriter, finger-picking and slide-shredding guitarist Chris Mulé puts a mighty fine foot forward on his debut solo album, Down to… – Frank Etheridge
New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Going! Going! Gone (Independent)
The New Orleans Jazz Vipers were at the vanguard of the Frenchmen-centric traditional jazz resurgence that took hold just after Katrina,… – Laura DeFazio
The New Orleans Upstarts, More Than a Handful (Independent)
The New Orleans Upstarts often describe themselves as being on the cusp of some new synthesis of Crescent City styles, but… – Robert Fontenot
The Deslondes, The Deslondes (New West Records)
Born and bred below sea level in the lower Ninth Ward (the band’s name is derived from a neighborhood street), the… – Frank Etheridge
Choupique, Pass a Good Time (Independent)
Some Cajun artists will stay true to a particular era while cutting a record—but not so with Choupique. The Baton Rouge… – Dan Willging
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, Under the Savage Sky (Bloodshot)
Barrence Whitfield has quite a few famous fans, among them Robert Plant and Los Lobos (not to mention OffBeat‘s John Swenson,… – Brett Milano
Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Calling Your Name (Sound of New Orleans)
Zydeco accordionist and vocalist Dwayne Dopsie is a dynamo whose energized stage charisma translates right onto his recordings. Dospie, the youngest… – Geraldine Wyckoff
Long Sidewalks, Staffa (Breakfast4Dinner Records)
Long Sidewalks continues the collaborations between trombonists Jeb Bishop (of Chicago and North Carolina) and Jeff Albert (New Orleans). After Katrina… – David Kunian
Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, Raw! (Independent)
Funny that Rosie Ledet’s 10th studio album would be titled Raw! when that’s been an apt description of her music all… – Dan Willging
Sarah Quintana, Miss River (Independent)
Sarah Quintana beckons like a siren throughout the tidal movement of this album, an alluvial swell of meditations on the Mississippi… – John Swenson
Jon Cleary, Go Go Juice (Thirty Tigers)
It may be a surprise to find an explicit Katrina song on Jon Cleary’s latest album, until you realize that his… – Brett Milano

Plan A

Plan A: Landing Festival
Praise hallelujah and join the jubilee when the Landing Festival takes flight along a rechristened South Shore Harbor, long languishing in… – Frank Etheridge