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Music
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Healingpowers
by Sarah Ravits
DELISEHAMPTONHAS HADMORE THANHER FAIR
SHARE of hardships, but she uses her music and art to help her heal from trauma and empower others to do the same.
On stage, Hampton performs as The High Heal Doula, focusing on themes of freedom from trauma and the sense of liberation that comes with self-love.
Her intention is to “bring people to a higher state of consciousness for themselves,” she says. “I primarily sing and rap about freedom and getting us to a place of self-discovery, where we are all walking in our power, walking in our strength.”
Hampton, who also plays drums and is learning piano, continues this mission off-stage as well. As a doula, school administrator, yoga teacher and mother, she says, “I want to give the tools to help uplift others.”
Hampton grew up in a musical family. She is the niece of local jazz artists Joseph Lastie and Herlin Riley, and she sang at church and started songwriting at an early age. Other influences include Lauryn Hill and Kanye West, along with New Orleans indie artists, like her friends Jaelox and Yamali San.
The 28-year-old New Orleans native was raised by a disabled single mother and is no stranger to overcoming adversity.
She was 11 years old when Hurricane Katrina hit, and the storm forced her to grow up “within a matter of minutes.” As water seeped into the family home, Hampton remembers a role reversal as she became a caregiver and frantically helped her mother rush to the attic to be rescued.
While temporarily living in Houston, she and her siblings dealt with post-traumatic stress in different ways. Some of her siblings resorted to violence. Hampton, though, turned inward and wrote prolifically. For a time, what she felt was unspeakable and could only be expressed through writing.
“I really sunk within myself,” she says. “I started writing, and I was silent for a long time.”
Hampton succeeded in school and became the first member of her family to attend college. While studying radio, TV and film at Howard University, Hampton says she started to “open back up” and became more confident in expressing herself through music, writing and poetry. After graduating, she returned to New Orleans, to share her newfound knowledge with her community.
Then, in early 2020, her twomonth old daughter Asahli Noelle died. Hampton again coped by turning inward and expressing her sorrow through writing. On what would have been the baby’s first birthday, she released an 11-track album called “State of the Creator,” which she says is “about the process of letting go, and grief, and letting your heart heal.” She also wrote and dedicated a book of poetry to her daughter.
Helping others through childbirth also has been a part of the healing process, Hampton says.
When she gave birth to her now 5-year-old son, she did so with the aid of a doula who stuck by her side during 25 hours of labor. She found the experience moving and she decided to become one herself and incorporate her music while doing so.
“I sing to my mothers,” she says. “One of the things I tell them is to choose a song they would like to play while the baby is coming out. Some of them choose my songs.”
Now, Hampton is working on a new body of work and focusing more on singing instead of rapping. The EP, called “Forgive,” is due out next summer.
Catch High Heal Doula at Soul Lit Sundays at St. Roch Market and on August 27 at The Half Shell on Bayou Road. For more information, follow @highhealdoula on Instagram.
PHOTO BY 504OTO / PROVIDED BY THE HIGH HEAL DOULA DeliseHampton aka The High Heal Doula
Audubon’s Shark Discovery provides interaction a nd education on vita l a nima ls in the ocean ecosystem
By Amanda McElfresh amcelfresh@theadvocate.com
This article is brought to you by Audubon Nature Institute
Even though the official shark week observations have come to an end, the Audubon Aquarium celebrates all year long by sharing with everyone the importance of shark conservation and the crucial roles sharks play in the ocean ecosystems.
“Sharks play a vital role in top-down maintenance of ocean ecosystems around the world,” said Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Audubon Aquarium of the Americas Rich Toth. “Globally, shark and ray species are threatened with extinction largely due to overfishing and other unsustainable human practices.”
Despite their importance to the ocean ecosystems, sharks today face many threats and populations are in trouble. It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed by fisheries every year. This includes sharks that are harvested only for their fins, but also are the product of by catch and accidentally getting caught in nets and long line fishing setups. Although you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be bitten by a shark, hunting and culling shark populations is practiced around the globe due to fear of these often-misunderstood animals.
As a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Audubon Aquarium has partnered with fellow member organizations to help the Shark and Ray SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program. AZA SAFE programs provide a new approach for collaborative conservation with a Conservation Action Plan that includes specific projects, goals, and actions to address the needs of each species, including sharks and rays. The overarching goal as stated from the SAFE shark and ray’s program “…is to enable evidence-based support for conservation action, engage action among key public and stakeholder groups, support science-based shark conservation communication, and create opportunities for partners to provide direct, impactful, and collaborative support for the conservation of this taxa.”
Last year, the Aquarium opened Shark Discovery, a 13,000-gallon shark and ray touch pool. The pool measures approximately 60-feet-long by 16-feet at its widest point--six times the size of the previous stingray touch pool at the Aquarium. A massive LED screen running the entire length of the pool features a variety of sharks, rays, and fish to highlight the diversity of the ocean. Guests who visit the aquarium can interact with different species of stingrays and small sharks at the immersive Shark Discovery touch pool including white spotted bamboo sharks, an epaulette shark, southern stingrays, coral cat sharks, bullnose rays, a blue-spotted stingray, and cownose stingrays. During these interactions, the Audubon Aquarium is able to share fun facts and conservation messages delivered directly by the aquarists and educators who care for the animals daily.
By fostering a connection to marine life through hands-on interaction with sharks, Audubon hopes to encourage an appreciation and a level of empathy for these often misunderstood, but essential, species. The goal of the newest experience is help guests realize that sharks have far more to fear from humans than humans do from them.
Shark and Ray Facts: • Sharks and rays are usually very wary of people and will swim away long before you see them. However, you should always be aware of your surroundings when you are in the ocean and never harass or approach a shark or stingray you may see. To prevent accidental stingray barb incidents, it is also recommended to practice the “stingray shuffle” when visiting the beach. Simply put this practice involves shuffling your feet as you wade through the water instead of taking normal steps. The shuffle alerts any rays hiding in the sand that you are near so they can swim off instead of being
accidentally stepped on. • Sharks and rays do not have any bones in their bodies, having a skeleton made up of cartilage instead. This cartilaginous skeleton is strong and durable yet has the advantage of being lighter and more flexible than bone. This not only helps the shark to stay afloat, but also reduces the amount of energy that sharks need to move around. • Sharks inhabit all the world’s oceans, and some can even be found in freshwater rivers and lakes. • Fossil evidence shows that sharks have been around for 450 million years. They have evolved into one of the top predators in the ocean. Despite this they still have one threat out there that is greater than anything, HUMANS. Over 30 percent of shark species and relatives that have been assessed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) are currently threatened with extinction.
Shark Discovery spans much of the Aquarium’s second floor and, at the time, was the largest project at the Aquarium since the 2014 opening of the Great Maya Reef. The gallery is located between the penguin and sea otter habitats, across from the seahorse gallery.
Toth added, “Our hope is that by reaching into the touch pool creates a connection, sparking action to protect marine life and the ocean.”
For more information, about the Aquarium’s Shark Discovery visit https://audubonnatureinstitute.org/explore-aquarium/ shark-discovery-touchpool.
lush vocals on soulful songs like “In Orbit.” She collaborated with Jack Dine for her March release “Marigold.” Gwen Bunn also performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, at House of Blues. Find tickets via houseofblues.com.
Peaches
CANADIAN ELECTROCLASHARTIST PEACHES’MUSIC ANDPERFOR-
MANCES were always a whirlwind of punk energy and art rock. Her sexual candor and love of taboo may have been the basis for her touring as the opening act for Marilyn Manson. She’s now celebrating the 20th anniversary of her landmark release “The Teaches of Peaches,” featuring “Fuck the Pain Away.” Quintron & Miss Pussycat open at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at House of Blues. Find tickets via houseofblues.com.
King Louie Bankston tribute
FORMERBANDMATES,FRIENDS
AND FANS WILL CELEBRATE the life of prolific musician King Louie Bankston with a tribute show at One Eyed Jacks. A Harahan native, Bankston started and was a part of a ton of projects, from garage rock and punk to his own idiosyncratic one-manband. He died in February at the age of 49. Presented by Creepy Fest, the tribute will feature The Royal Pendletons (co-founded by Bankston) with Quintron along with Guitar Lightning Lee & His Thunder Band, The Unnaturals, DJ Pasta and more. There also will be shirts for sale to help fund the production of three unreleased albums. The tribute starts at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. Tickets are $20 via oneeyedjacks.net.
THE PELOPONNESIANWAR LASTED
ALMOSTTHREE DECADES, which is a blink of the eye compared to the battle of the sexes. The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes conflated the two in “Lysistrata,” a comedy in which the women of several Greek city states attempt to end the Peloponnesian War by declining to have sex with their husbands or partners until peace is declared, and the namesake Lysistrata leads the women in a campaign against desperate men. The NOLA Project and What Now? Productions present a staged reading of a modern adaptation of the play by comedians Julia DeLois and E. Lynn. The event is a benefit for the New Orleans Abortion Fund. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the AllWays Lounge & Theatre. Tickets $12 on nolaproject.com.
Southern Decadence talk
EVENTSFOR THE50THANNUAL
SOUTHERNDECADENCE don’t get going until closer to Labor Day weekend, but the Historic New Orleans Collection hosts a panel discussion on the history of what grew into a week of parties drawing nationally from the LGBTQ community. Historian and LGBT+ Archives Project director Frank Perez moderates the discussion with event founders Maureen Block, Charlie Block, Bruce Harris, Preston Hemmings and Robert Laurent. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the Williams Research Center. A reception follows at Toulouse Theater. Admission is free, and the program also is available via a Zoom link on hnoc.org.
Rojo Perez
NEW YORK-BASED PUERTORICAN
COMEDIANROJOPEREZ released his debut album “Words” last year, and it refers to some of his latenight TV performances, such as an appearance on Conan. Perez is a guest performer at Comedy Gumbeaux at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at The Howlin’ Wolf. Tickets $15 via thehowlinwolf.com.
Goatwhore
NEW ORLEANSDEATH ANDTHRASH
METAL STALWART GOATWHORE is in the middle of its Vile Ascension tour, sharing the top of the bill with the death metal purveyors Incantation. Goatwhore recently previewed its fall release “Angels Hung From the Arches of Heaven” with the speedy and punishing single “Born of Satan’s Flesh.” Bewitcher also performs. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at One Eyed Jacks. Tickets $18 via oneeyedjacks.net.
THE COMPANY, AST. BERNARDCOM-
MUNITY THEATERGROUP, presents Stephen Sondheim’s “Company — The Musical,” in which a bachelor starts to reassess his life as his married friends throw him a 35th birthday party. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, though Saturday, Aug. 27, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28, at 2000 Paris Road in Chalmette. Tickets $10 via thecompanystb.com.
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