OffBeat Magazine July 2019

ESSENCE FESTIVAL

Memories on the 25th AnniversARY

Relentless Dreamers

Plus

NEW ORLEANS MUSIC, FOOD, CULTURE—JULY 2019

Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 3.50

BACKTALK WITH SHEILA E. WHY NOLA MATTERS TO THE ROLLING STONES BERNARD FOWLER Remembering Dr. John, Spencer Bohren and Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal

CONTENTS TA B L E

p. 12

p. 20

6 Letters 7 Mojo Mouth 8 Fresh

p. 26

20 The Rolling Stones from the Inside Out

A conversation with Bernard Fowler.

Five Questions with Laiken Joy, Rick Olivier on Rick Olivier, Christian Serpas and Ghost Town celebrate 20 years, Professor Longhair’s band Mo’ Fess brings the magic back, Five Questions with Clint Maedgen.

12 Obituary: Malcolm John

Rebennack Jr. a.k.a. Dr. John

13 Waiting on Mac

An appreciation by John Swenson.

15 Obituary: Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal 16 Obituary: Spencer Bohren 18 A Second Chance Why New Orleans matters to the Stones.

23 The Royal Affair

Alan White of Yes has played drums with rock royalty.

24 Natural Appeal

Marc Morial remembers the birth of Essence Festival.

25 The Party With A Purpose

Local musicians talk about the 25th Anniversary Essence Festival.

26 Relentless Dreamers

Water Seed’s quest to excel.

30 OffBeat Eats 31 Restaurant Review

Michael Dominici reviews Deanie’s.

BLAST FROM THE PAST The Peculiar Reality of Dr. John

By Bunny Matthews

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O F

32 Reviews

Anders Osborne, The New Orleans Catahoulas, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Carlo Ditta, Tank and the Bangas, Mitch Woods, Seth Walker, Kid Eggplant and the Melatauns and more.

39 Listings 45 Backtalk with Sheila E. Online Exclusives

A Lasting Legacy

Scott Aiges and his wife Lisanne are leaving New Orleans for Denver.

By Sherri McConnell

A Gamble on New Orleans

The Rolling Stones American Tour in 1981 set a record that would stand for 33 years.

By Randy Savoie

“OffBeat’s good with that–it’s got a lot of information that you ain’t gonna get nowheres else. I’ve seen OffBeats in weird places. I found people with OffBeat magazines at the North Sea Jazz Festival in England. I’ve seen ’em in other states. I just see ’em here and there.”

(To read more this issue can be purchased at http://www.offbeat.com/shop/back-issues/2000/offbeat-magazine-february-2000/)

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letters “Thanks again for the “free” compact road map for the Fest, and as always, looking forward to next year and beginning it all at the Seahorse Saloon (Starting Gate)!”

—David Kanios, Palmetto Bay, Florida

Real Italian in NOLA The following is in response to Michael Dominici’s restaurant review of Domenica, June 2019.

I was happy to read OffBeat’s enthusiastic review of Domenica. It’s just about the only genuine Italian restaurant in New Orleans, whereas too many so-called Italian places serve a hybrid cuisine with some Italian elements. Too much cream, butter, remoulade, etc.—French touches that are not typical of actual (southern) Italian cooking. In New Orleans, Italian food is adapted more to French, Creole, and Cajun than vice-versa. As a Sicilian-American from New York who has been coming to New Orleans for decades, I’ve always been baffled by the lack of authentic Italian food in the city. (Yes, Brocato’s is fine but it’s a gelateria/pasticceria, not a restaurant.)

Perhaps it’s because the Italian-American community is an old one, older than New York’s or other cities’, and its food is frozen in time. The Italian food scene in New Orleans hasn’t been revitalized by successive waves of new immigrants. In New York, Sicilian, Sardinian, and Pugliese chefs and restaurateurs, and Neapolitan pizzaioli, are opening new places, many of which are as good as anything in Italy. When I’m in New Orleans, I always go to Domenica. I took a friend, a New Orleans native of Sicilian background, for dinner there and she loved it. “How did I not know of this place?” she said. I recommend that tourists— and locals—give the not-really-Italian places a rest and try Domenica.

—George DeStefano, New York, New York Appreciation I believe that that the December 2018 OffBeat issue is the best single issue of OffBeat that I have ever received—my goodness, an article on Fess and also one on Dave Bartholomew. Amazing that Dave’s testimony comes from an interview in 1988, never previously available to the public in its entirety. Being able to read Dave’s recollections from 31 years ago, knowing that he is

still alive at 100 and with even more accomplishments, was heart-warming.

In addition to the above two articles, I enjoyed the Five Questions interview with Evan Christopher, who is such an impressive musician, and the quite complete article on Jon Batiste, with whom I have been only casually familiar up to now. I also found Jan’s article “Hope for Support” [Mojo Mouth], to be clear, concise, and right on. What a wonderful culture New Orleans has, and is.

I see that the article about Dave Bartholomew was written by John Swenson.

I must comment on what a fine job John did while interviewing Ani DiFranco at the Allison Miner stage at Jazz Fest. So many interviewers insert themselves unnecessarily into the process, forgetting their role. John, in contrast, asked great questions, some quite thought-provoking, and then got out of the way. Whereas some interviewers seem to be talking to the audience instead of the performer, I experienced John just totally locked in with Ani. Accept my appreciation for helping to sustain the musical identity of New Orleans.

—Gordon R. Hodas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Compact Road Map I just wanted to send out a thank you to the OffBeat team for finally distributing a smaller version of the Jazz Fest Bible this year.

It was more convenient and compact to carry about throughout the Fest, and it appeared to have utilized less materials than my historical collection and helped create, from what I could see about the Fair Grounds on any given day, less trash. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember seeing any discarded Jazz Fest Bibles on the ground this time around.

Anyway, thanks again for the “free” compact road map for the Fest, and as always, looking forward to next year and beginning it all at the Seahorse Saloon (Starting Gate)!

—David Kanios, Palmetto Bay, Florida

Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

JULY 2019 Volume 32, Number 8 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor

Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor

John Swenson Layout and design

Eric Gernhauser Listings Editor

Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors

Stacey Leigh Bridewell, George De Stefano, Michael Dominici, Robert Fontenot, Bill Forman, Jeff Hannusch, Rafael Helfand, Jay Mazza, Amanda “Bonita” Mester, Brett Milano, John Swenson, Dan Willging, John Wirt, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover PHOTO

Gus Bennett Web Editor

Amanda “Bonita” Mester, amanda@offbeat.com Videographer/Web Specialist

Noé Cugny, noecugny@offbeat.com Copy Editor

Michael Patrick Welch, michael@offbeat.com Advertising Sales/ Promotion and Event coordinator

Camille A. Ramsey, camille@offbeat.com Advertising Design

PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Interns

Mia Fenice, Michael Frank, Gabriella Killett, Anna Marvuglio, Julia Powell Distribution

Patti Carrigan, Doug Jackson OffBeat (ISSN# 1090-0810) is published monthly in New Orleans by OffBeat, Inc., 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 944-4300 • fax (504) 944-4306 e-mail: offbeat@offbeat.com, web site: www.offbeat.com /offbeatmagazine

Copyright © 2019, OffBeat, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. OffBeat is a registered trademark of OffBeat, Inc. First class subscriptions to OffBeat in the U.S. are available for $65 per year ($70 Canada, $140 foreign airmail). Back issues are available for $10, except for the Jazz Fest Bible for $15 (for foreign delivery add $5) Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcomed, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

OffBeat welcomes letters from its readers—both comments and criticisms. To be considered for publication, all letters must be signed and contain the current address and phone number of the writer. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for length or content deemed objectionable to OffBeat readers. Please send letters to Editor, OffBeat Publications, 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116.

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O F F B E AT. C O M

mojomouth

A Note From Publisher J an Ramsey

I

It’s Not Over Yet. It Will Never Be Over.

t’s been a very rough month in the cultural community of New Orleans: writer Ronnie Virgets; restaurateur/activist Leah Chase; musicians Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack and Spencer Bohren; and artist Jamie Hayes have all passed on. Also, an old friend and colleague is leaving the New Orleans music scene for Colorado: Scott Aiges.

While we mourn the people who have left us, it’s just a symptom of change. All things must pass, and that’s true in New Orleans too.

While some of our musical heroes are passing on—Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Lil Buck Sinegal, Spencer Bohren, Eddie Bo, Harold Battiste, Jr., Wardell Quezergue, Ernie K-Doe, Snooks Eaglin, Charles Neville, and so many more over the years—this is life.

I’m kind of tired of hearing that all the “greats” are passing away.

Well, yes, they were great, but there are up-and-comers who are going to take their places. It’s like saying that when Mozart died, there’d never be any more great music. This is hogwash.

There are hundreds of younger performers and musicians who are writing great songs, who are virtuosos on their instruments, who are creating great music and great art and wonderful entertainment

OF F B E AT.C OM

that’s going to be appreciated in the future: Troy Andrews, Galactic, PJ Morton, Ivan Neville, Evan Christopher, Tuba Skinny, Big Freedia, Erica Falls, Ivan Neville, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (which keeps reinventing itself), James Singleton, John Gros, Cyril Neville, Davell Crawford, Kermit Ruffins, Jon Cleary, and so many more.

The New Orleans music scene will not die when we lose beloved artists. This city is such that it has inspired and created music and musicians and it will continue to do as long as the city exists, and probably when it becomes an island in the Gulf of Mexico (probably even more so, when that happens!)

I’m not at all afraid that the music of New Orleans will cease to continue. What I’m more concerned with is how we encourage and nurture young musicians; how do we make it easier for them to live here, be educated here, raise their kids here, and make a decent living playing music. Being an artist is never easy, especially in America.

You’d think it would be at the top of the list in economic development here, but it isn’t. It behooves everyone who loves this city to put music at the top of their list of what must be “saved” in New Orleans. Without music, what would life in New Orleans be? O

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fresh

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Soundcheck

Clint Maedgen is a saxophonist in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which signed with Seattle’s grunge-identified Sub Pop Records last year. He’s also a chameleonic singer-songwriter, a one-man band who plays museums and barbershops, and a photographer whose works are on display alongside those of Ansel Adams and William Eggleston at New Orleans’ A Gallery for Fine Photography.

So moving from Sony Legacy to Sub Pop Records, what’s that been like?

Well, for me, being on Sub Pop records is magnificent and surreal at the same time. Back in 1989, I rode uptown in the trunk of a friend’s car to Jimmy’s Music Club to see Mudhoney play. I got to see Mudhoney three times, I saw Soundgarden twice. That whole

musical movement changed my life.

How did your other bandmates respond? I’m trying to imagine Charlie Gabriel’s face when he first heard about it, but I can’t quite picture it.

You know, the thing about Charlie is, he is just so incredibly sophisticated and world-traveled and experienced that, with just about anything that we come up with, he’ll have some frame of reference for it. “Oh, yeah? We were doing that in the ’40s. That ain’t nothin’ new, boy. One-man show? I had to do that for a while in the early ’60s.” So, I think with us being on Sub Pop now, he’s just like, “Okay, that’s right on time, that’s what we should be doing.”

The label is about to reissue the last two Preservation Hall

albums [June 28].

What can we expect after that?

I think the next thing Sub Pop’s going to release will be all new stuff. It’s the accompanying soundtrack to a film we recently made called “A Tuba to Cuba.”

You recently posted a video on Facebook of the band playing with Dr. John at Bonnaroo [named after the Dr. John song “Desitively Bonnaroo”]. What’s your favorite memory of him?

My favorite moments would have to be offstage in a green room somewhere. It’s like, anytime the man opened his mouth, it was a magical moment. He could leave a room better than anybody I’ve ever encountered. He’d be like [imitates Mac’s bayou drawl], “Yeahhh, take care of yo fuckin’

ass.” It’s like, God, I loved him, man. I loved being around such an amazing legend.

And finally, as a photographer, when you look at New Orleans through the lens of a camera, what do you see?

I see one of the most vibrant places on earth. I’ve been here 30-plus years now, and still, when I’m walking through the French Quarter, I’ll see a building that I had never noticed before. It’s like some sort of ghost-ship reality where things are always shifting.

And when that fog rolls in off the river, just about anything can happen.

—Bill Foreman

Photo by HOWARD LAMBERT, TOP

5 Questions with Clint Maedgen

A Big Thank You

Christian Serpas and Ghost Town bucked the odds. The enduring Mandeville country-rock band, featuring three-fourths of its original membership, will celebrate its twentieth anniversary July 12 at the Rivershack in Jefferson. “Bands are such a fragile thing,” mused singer, guitarist and songwriter Serpas. “To get guys who can get along and have the same vision, it’s rare.”

During Ghost Town’s two decades, the band released eight albums of original songs and shared stages with Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Montgomery Gentry, Jason Aldean, and Zac Brown.

Ghost Town debuted on April 3,

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1999, at the Rockin’ Horse in Folsom, Louisiana. The set list featured the only songs the band knew at the time, eight originals and a rocking take on Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”

Driving home from the show, Serpas remembered, “I looked at my wife and said, ‘Now what do we do?’ I had no idea where to do an original band playing this material. But we just put one foot in front of the other and kept moving.”

Ghost Town

Through it all, Serpas and his bandmates—original members Jeff Oteri, drums, and George Neyrey, guitar, plus bassist Don Williams, a member since 2007— stayed true to themselves. “Our idea was to do original music in a country vein, but do it our way,” he said. “We came from rock backgrounds, but growing up I always enjoyed country music.

We wanted to be the country band that we wanted to see.

We’ve had many situations where booking agents would say, ‘Hey, if you learn these songs, I can get you in this place.’ We don’t do it. We play what we play.

That’s it.”

Serpas founded Ghost Town following his exploratory forays into Los Angeles and Nashville.

“I had been going back and forth to Nashville,” he said “I did the thing where you sit at a guy’s desk and he says, ‘Okay, play your hit for me.’ I didn’t like that. I liked being in a band. Eventually, I realized that’s how it would have to shake out.”

Serpas considered letting the band’s big anniversary pass unobserved. “I hesitated to make any notice of the 20 years,” he said.

“I didn’t want people to think that we were running out of gas or wrapping it up. We’re not. But the show is a thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us for 20 years—we’ve been lucky. It’s a free show. We want everybody to come on down and say hello. It’s gonna be rocking.”

Christian Serpas and Ghost Town celebrate 20 years at The Rivershack in Jefferson on July 12 at 9 p.m.

—John Wirt O F F B E AT. C O M

Photo courtesy of the artist

Christian Serpas and Ghost Town celebrate 20 years.

M o ’ F e ss

Photo courtesy of the artist, TOP

Professor Longhair’s band brings the magic back.

Mo’ Fess isn’t a Professor Longhair tribute band. It is Professor Longhair’s former band.

Four Mo’ Fess band members— drummer Earl Gordon, bassist Reggie Scanlan, saxophonist Tony DaGradi and conga player Alfred “Uganda” Roberts—performed with the ingeniously idiosyncratic pianist and vocalist. Singer-pianist Tom Worrell joins them in Mo’ Fess, filling Longhair’s spot with uncanny accuracy.

Mo’ Fess initially came together at the behest of musician and producer Carlo Ditta. In 2016, Ditta’s Orleans Records released Live in Chicago, a recording of Longhair’s 1976 show at the Chicago Folk Festival. A tape of the performance had been in the possession of guitarist Billy Gregory, one of Longhair’s 1970s-era band members, for 40 years.

To promote Live in Chicago’s

belated release, Ditta invited Longhair alumni, including Gregory, Gordon, and saxophonist Jerry Jumonville, to play an album release show at the Little Gem Saloon. Worrell joined them at the piano. Gordon, impressed with Worrell’s renditions of Longhair’s classics, suggested they keep the party going with Mo’ Fess.

“I’ve played with some great keyboardists who wanted to emulate Fess,” Gordon said. “They never could, but Tom, when you close your eyes, comes the closest to Fess.”

The 2019 edition of Mo’ Fess includes Gordon, Worrell, Scanlan, Dagradi, Roberts, guitarist June Yamagishi, saxophonist Lance Ellis, and Brazilian keyboardist Luciano Leães.

Gordon, a stem cell researcher in Calabasas, California, left Longhair’s band and New Orleans

Photo by Marcelle Olivier, BOTTOM

Rick Olivier on Rick Olivier Rick Olivier has created some of the most iconic photographs of legendary musicians such as Eddie Bo, Snooks Eaglin, Earl King, Boozoo Chavis, and George Porter Jr. As a musician, Rick is a founding member of The Creole String Beans and The Bush Hogs.

“Early ’80s Tipitina’s was still serving two dollar suppers. Alex [Chilton] mopped up after closing at Tupelo’s Tavern, where you heard everything from Johnny Copeland to Jonathan Richman, and you stood practically on stage with them. Jimmy’s [Club] booked The Blasters, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and every one-hit ’80s “new wave” act you could name. The Dirty Dozen at the Glass House, Earl King and the Rhapsodizers at Tip’s…

Scott Billington at Rounder hired me a bunch. All of the artists OF F B E AT.C OM

that Hammond and Nauman [Scott] recorded at Black Top Records were exceptional people.

Snooks [Eaglin] always seemed like he could be a member of my family, and he had some wild Chitlin’ Circuit stories. Earl [King] stood me up a couple of times for album cover shoots, but I knew the drill. He showed up eventually. I just had to be flexible.

I shot Solomon Rick Olivier Burke, Champion Jack Dupree. I had gumbo with Ms. Leona and Boozoo [Chavis] and again with D.L. Menard and his family. Shot Fats Domino playing with Doug Kershaw, and Dave Bartholomew hanging with Mac Rebennack at

in 1979. With his eyes on retirement from the medical field, he now hopes Mo’ Fess will perform more often.

The next Mo’ Fess show in New Orleans is July 20 at Tipitina’s. The band’s recent gigs have also included last year’s The Professor Longhair 100th Birthday Tribute at Tipitina’s.

Gordon performed with Longhair from late 1975 through late 1979. “Everybody loved playing with Fess,” he said. “It was magic. He was magic. We’re trying to bring the magic back with Mo’ Fess.”

“It’s a special gig,” Worrell said of Mo’ Fess. “When we played at Tipitina’s, the chemistry was definitely there. It would be nice to play more, but it has to be for special occasions. We can’t play casinos. Either we have to take it on tour and do it for people who

Ultrasonic.

Social media, cellphone photos?

Shoot ’em, hashtag ’em, if ya can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Shit ain’t goin’ away anytime soon. Music videos on the iPhone? Hell yeah.

I’m only five years late to Instagram.

Social media will probably break the world, but it’s a blast to get your conceptual/performative kicks out into the world.

Image making— not to sound pretentious, but I do work in various media, gig posters, etc.— is not a “passion” or a “calling” for me; it is who I am. In my dotage, I realize that all art activity is based in the human survival

Mo’ Fess

never got to hear Fess, or we do it for the people of New Orleans as a special kind of thing.”

Before Mo’ Fess, in the years before Hurricane Katrina, Worrell often performed with another of Longhair’s band members, the late Edwin “Sheeba” Kimbraugh.

“He was one of my best friends in my life,” Worrell said. “We played hundreds of gigs together, sometimes just me and him.

Having somebody translate the rhythm in real time, somebody who played with Fess, that was invaluable.”

Mo’ Fess at Tipitina’s on Saturday, July 20.

—John Wirt

imperative—like breeding. We want something to carry on after we depart. Does it matter if we succeed or fail? I don’t think so.

On the whole “digital versus film” question, hell, they’re just tools. But, I do find that black and white film is “photography” refined down to its essence, because shooting, processing, and printing become bound together in tangible materials you manipulate with your physical body directly, not virtually. Like dancing, it gets you out of your head and into your body. The darkroom is an actual laboratory for one’s practice. It’s okay to do work that is obscure or difficult, work that people “don’t get.” You might just be ahead of your time.

Or behind your time, also fine. It’s all Lascaux cave painting.”

—Michael Dominici

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Soundcheck

Laiken Joy is a photographer who grew up between Nashville, Tennessee and Lake Charles, Louisiana. She’s garnered attention as the photographer for Kelly Green, the official DJ for Curren$y’s Jet Life imprint.

Known for sharp portraits and lifestyle snapshots documenting everything from lowriders to locals and performers, Laiken hosts her New Orleans debut solo exhibition at Axiom Fine Art Gallery (4613 Freret St.) on Friday, July 19. Dubbed “Southern Hospitality,” it features the people and culture of her native region.

Why did you first pick up a camera?

As a child, one of my favorite things to do was go through boxes of photos. I wanted to know everything about those people and moments, whether I knew them or not. I was five when I got my first camera. From that point on I was cashing out my allowance on disposable cameras and film, until I got my first digital camera at 15. I felt like everything I saw was important, and I wanted people to see it from my perspective.

How would you describe your photography?

Raw and real. I shoot with my eyes; the camera is just a tool for me and I don’t manipulate the photos much after I shoot.

How did you team up with Jet Life?

When I first moved to New Orleans, I was part of a showcase at Republic. Kelly Green came up to my booth, impressed with my work. She was looking for a photographer, so I reached out and we’ve been shooting ever since. I do a lot of personal work for Curren$y and all of Jet Life Apparel. I have learned a lot about myself and my business from being around them.

How has living in New

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Orleans inspired you?

Living here has been a dream for me and my eye. I am constantly inspired by the people and the neighborhoods—I want to photograph it all, in as many ways as I can, to tell a bigger story, and show the world that the true beauty is within the everyday life of real people and places, not a big million dollar set.

Why is it important to you to showcase the South?

I grew up in the South and, while I have traveled the world, I’m always drawn back. It’s the blue skies, green fields, fried catfish, country accents, old Cadillacs, and most importantly, that southern hospitality. It’s a sense of neverending nostalgia for me, and truly a world of its own. We are not perfect down here and we have a lot of advancing to do when it comes to the way people think.

This new generation is trying to change the narrative without changing the foundation, and I want to be part of shaping this growth.

—Amanda “Bonita” Mester

Laiken Joy

O F F B E AT. C O M

Photo BY LanesLens

Five Questions with photographer Laiken Joy

inmemoriam

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. a.k.a. Dr. John His family released the following statement: “Towards the break of day on June 6, 2019, iconic music legend Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., professionally known as Dr. John, passed away of a heart attack. As a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, six-time Grammy winner, songwriter, composer, producer, and performer, he created a unique blend of music which carried his hometown, New Orleans, at its heart, as it was always in his heart...”

Mac Rebennack, our Dr. John, was revered by anyone who loved New Orleans music. It was not just because his music was fantastic; it was because he was a special person who epitomized the New Orleans music aesthetic.

He added his unique talent and interpretation to everything that he performed, arranged and composed—his performances, his look, were legendary and one-ofa-kind. So was his speech. And the icing on the cake was that he was a beloved “cah-rack-tah” who truly loved everything about New Orleans, her musicians, her music, her vibe, her community.

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This was truly his home, musically and spiritually.

Dr. John hailed from the Third Ward of New Orleans, where his six-decade career in music began. Along with Professor Longhair and James Booker, Dr. John is considered to be one of the city’s most influential piano players (and personalities).

In 1968, the album Gris-Gris launched his career after he worked for years as a session musician. In fact, he said he really never wanted to be a frontman; being a great sideman was his ambition. But when he ended up in Los Angeles and teamed up with composer, arranger, and producer Harold Battiste Jr., that ambition went by the wayside. He became a frontman by default—after the singer who the gig was offered to declined.

Thus were born the voodoo themes, costumes and theatrical touches that created the fullfledged persona and character of Dr. John, supposedly modeled after a legendary father of New Orleans Voudou.

In 1973, Dr. John scored a top ten hit with “Right Place, Wrong

Time.” Dr. John won his first Grammy in 1989, for “Makin’ Whoopee” with Rickie Lee Jones.

In 1989’s OffBeat, Mac said, “I love the music—that’s the one thing I always love. That’s my fix in life. That’s my one healing maneuver that always works… We’ve got seriously spiritual music coming out of New Orleans. That’s one of the things that I think most people do not get out of what we do here. Just even the syncopation of the funk shit that comes out of New Orleans—it ain’t the same as what they get elsewhere.

I mean, it connects but it ain’t the same, because we all feel stuff from second line. It makes a huge difference, and that one thing—people don’t get that.

They not only don’t get it—they don’t want to get it. It’s too subtle for them, first off. They’re used to everything being in their face. The kids choose the hip-hop thing because they’re programmed groups.”

Throughout his recording career, he applied his inspired touch to New Orleans classics

like “Big Chief,” “Iko Iko,” “Tipitina,” and even Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene.” He wrote not only for his own performance but for other musicians as well. And goodness knows he brought New Orleans music to more people of the world than almost anyone. (Did you know he wrote the Popeyes jingle?).

Back in 1992, OffBeat interviewed Rebennack who, at the time, was celebrating the release of Goin’ Back to New Orleans, an album that would eventually win the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. In 1999, Dr. John received OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement Award in Music and he graced the February 2000 cover of the magazine, as well as many other times throughout the life of the magazine. He was on OffBeat’s Jazz Fest Bible cover in both 2004 (reaching towards heaven to Fess, Booker, and Earl King) and in 2007. In 2011, Dr. John was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack was 77. He will always be missed. O O F F B E AT. C O M

Photo BY clayton call

(1941 –2019) Pianist, singer-songwriter and guitarist, Dr. John, has left us.

inmemoriam

W

hen I learned that Dr. John passed away, I went into a state of shock. Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack Jr. had been ill for some time and had stopped performing, but it was still hard to imagine a world without him. Mac was somehow a direct link to the essence of everything I love about New Orleans music, from Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, through Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, James Booker and Allen Toussaint, and I can’t wrap my head around the fact that he is gone.

Even before I ever set foot in New Orleans, Dr. John brought the spirit of New Orleans music into my heart. I had heard him on records before I knew who he was, but when I heard the Gris-Gris album, and then Babylon, Remedies, and The Sun, Moon & Herbs, I was a total fan. When I heard the Gumbo album, it was the first time I put together all the different strands of New Orleans music history that Mac walked us through, from Professor Longhair to Huey Piano Smith, James “Sugarboy”

by John Crawford, Earl King and more. It was through Mac’s music that I first discovered the Mardi Gras Indians. I was hooked.

I saw him play some astonishing shows around the New York metro area, starting in 1969 at the Atlantic City Pop Festival, where I was introduced to dimensions outside of the world previously known to my teenage reality. The impressions of that performance were more mythic than specific, but there were many other shows in those amazing days and years, when I would see him perform his ritual music at the Beacon Theater, or in a small New Jersey club called Mr. D’s, at the Schaefer Pavilion in Central Park, or at Ultrasonic Studios in Long Island. There were shows where Mac introduced me to a new world, a world I am still trying to understand, playing with a band that at times included Booker on organ, John Boudreaux on drums, Red Tyler on saxophone, Jessie Hill on vocals and percussion, vocalist Tami Lynn, Didymus on congas, and so many other classic New Orleans players.

After the success of In the Right Place, with its top 10 hit “Right Place, Wrong Time,” Crawdaddy! magazine assigned me to write a cover story on Mac, just as the Desitively Bonnaroo album was coming out.

I went up to the Gorham Hotel where he was staying, and Mac was lying in bed under the covers. It was a New York hotel but it felt like it was a secret grotto, dark, with incense and candles and strange

looking objects placed with great care around the room. I started asking him some questions on his background, and he went into a Homeric odyssey of stories about New Orleans during the 1950s and early ’60s, “when all the record companies from Atlantic to Pacific came to New Orleans looking for what we had.” He told me about recording his first album with studio time left over by Sonny and Cher.

Midway through the interview Mac, uh, “fell asleep” for ten minutes. I sat there by his bedside, transfixed by what I had just heard and almost afraid to move lest I break the spell. Then, just as suddenly as he had dropped off, he was awake again, picking up the sentence right where he had left off. I felt like I was in some kind of extra-terrestrial world, a time warp where it was Mac time, and I was just trying to hang on by my fingernails and dig what was going down.

I dropped all thoughts of interviewing him. I just wanted to learn whatever it was he was Swenson willing to share with me about this secret world of music that he decoded, layer by layer, to my astonished young mind. I got a first-hand introduction to some of the secrets of how New Orleans music got its foundations right then and there in the Gorham Hotel.

Over the years I kept running into Mac, marveling at his music and falling under the mystery of his words. It was only a matter of time before I finally made it to New Orleans in the mid-’80s, then found a home here in 1999 within walking distance of the OffBeat office on Frenchmen Street.

In New Orleans I discovered a whole new understanding of Mac’s greatness: countless nights at Tipitina’s, memorable shows at Jazz Fest, one spectacular Carnival night at Spanish Plaza when he wore an Indian headdress that must have been ten feet tall. Back when Voodoo Fest featured mostly New Orleans musicians Mac stood out there, playing one fiercely political show a couple of years after Katrina, based on songs from City That Care Forgot, then another show years later when he revisited his Night Tripper persona with a lot of songs from the first four albums. Those were the last times I saw him when he was hands down, chills-up-your-spine great.

A lot of people don’t know how deeply political Mac could get, but it was a measure of his moral strength. Babylon was social criticism as scathing as it could get back at the end of the 1960s. He was a founding member of Tab Benoit’s Voice of the Wetlands project and a

Photo BY clayton call

Waiting on Mac

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passionate critic of the devastation the oil industry brought to Louisiana’s wetlands. In my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Future of New Orleans, the chapter called City That Care Forgot includes some hot-blooded conversation with Mac about the political betrayal of New Orleans after Katrina that has never seen print anywhere else.

He went so far as to speak out against Jazz Fest sponsor Shell for its role in despoiling the wetlands. His management released a statement walking back that criticism, but Mac’s intention was clear, and it’s written in history with his angry, vituperative charges in City That Care Forgot that New Orleans was sold out by Big Oil and politicians.

I was not a particularly special friend of his. Mac offered his kindness to countless others. He was in his own way one of the greatest ambassadors for New Orleans music ever, taking it around the world and introducing it to countless other musicians like Doug Sahm, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Rickie Lee Jones. The British rockers Humble Pie did an over-the-top version of “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” that was a highlight of their live shows. Mac joined forces with Mike Bloomfield and John Hammond for the Triumvirate album.

He formed a band with the great jazz drummer Art Blakey called Bluesiana Triangle. He wrote songs with the incomparable Doc Pomus.

He produced and played on one of the most soulful albums Van Morrison ever recorded, A Period of Transition.

So Mac was a bridge from the inside of the secret world of New Orleans music, to the world at large. It was his special gift, something

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that just dropped off his fingertips, something to which he never gave a second thought.

I wish I could come up with the words to say how much he meant to me and to so many others. I feel that I am at a loss. All I can do is remember the last time I had a heartfelt exchange with him. I interviewed him again and spoke to him on occasion afterwards, but we bonded in a few minutes after Wardell Quezergue’s funeral outside the Corpus Christi church on St. Bernard Ave. Right after the ceremony, a second line formed and started Wardell’s last sendoff.

Mac stood wistfully on the curb and watched. Wardell was his main man, his favorite arranger and a close friend. I asked him if he was going to participate in the second line and go to the ceremony. He was bitterly unhappy. “I have to go back to Nashville to finish this botheration,” he said. He was talking about the sessions for Locked Down, the album that would give him his last Grammy. Missing his friend’s funeral was more important to him than making the album.

He was upset that so many of his running partners from the old days were passing, but this one cut the deepest. Now I understand a little better how he felt.

So here I am sitting by my radio, listening to WWOZ play a nonstop tribute to Mac, whose eyes are closed again and his spirit gone from what he called the “meat world.” Sitting here waiting quietly for him to finish the sentence, to bring me back into the alternate reality of Mac time. I can wait. O

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inmemoriam Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal

PHOTO BY Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee

(1944 - 2019) Dubbed “the gentle giant of guitar” by the esteemed producer Allen Toussaint, Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal died at his Lafayette home June 10, after a lengthy illness.

He was 75.

Well known as a versatile, hard-working guitarist whose career spanned six decades, Sinegal played with virtually every South Louisiana R&B, zydeco, blues and swamp pop artist. In the 1990s, he often played with over a half-dozen different groups during the Jazz Fest.

“When it comes to the blues, I have to get the guitar out of my face,” Sinegal told Herman Fuselier in OffBeat. “Because if I grab one, it’s gonna be all day and all night.”

Born January 14, 1944, Sinegal was largely self-taught on guitar. In the late 1950s, he began playing with a group called the Jive Five, which played on the South Louisiana R&B circuit. In 1962, Sinegal fronted his own 13-piece band dubbed Lil’ Buck and the Top Cats. Very popular around Lafayette, the group recorded a couple of great contemporary ’60s soul singles for Carl Rachou’s La Louisianne label, including “You’ve Got the Power,” and the cult classic “Monkey In a Sack.”

The Top Cats broke up around 1969 but, not long after, the adaptable guitarist joined Clifton Chenier’s popular group, the Red Hot Louisiana Band.

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The hardest working band in the land, Chenier’s group regularly played six-hour sets with the only break being a pause for a sip of Falstaff or to light up a Camel. Sinegal toured Europe and recorded several LPs and 45s with Chenier during the better part of a decade.

In the 1980s, Sinegal went to play with Rockin’ Dopsie’s Zydeco Twisters (Jr. and Sr.), and Stanley Dural, a.k.a. Buckwheat Zydeco. (Briefly Sinegal and Dural both were in Chenier’s group, in 1979.) In addition, Sinegal often was called upon for studio dates, even playing on Paul Simon’s acclaimed 1987 album Graceland.

In the early 1990s, Sinegal formed his own R&B band, the Cowboy Stew Blues Revue, which played every Monday night at Lafayette’s Swampwater Saloon. His gig there attracted several young up-and-coming musicians including C.C. Adcock and Steve Riley. In the late 1990s, Sinegal teamed up with Allen Toussaint, which produced The Buck Stops Here, an excellent CD for the short-lived NYNO label.

His most recent CD, Bad Situation, was also great. In later years, Sinegal often performed in New Orleans (with fellow guitarist Barbara Lynn) playing festivals, and was a regular attraction at the Ponderosa Stomp.

—Jeff Hannusch

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inmemoriam Spencer Bohren You had to be there. Spencer Bohren’s extensive catalog of recordings present him in all his strengths as a singer-songwriter, a guitarist who knew how to frame a song and make every note count, a great interpreter and, to a lesser extent, a storyteller. You really had to see him in person to get the storytelling part, because everything else was in service to it. Spencer’s gentle, assuring voice lulled you into the contours of his tales, but could turn on a dime and shock you with its moral sternness.

Few guitarists have accompanied their stories as deftly as this master. But there was something more at work. Like all the great singer-songwriters, he had an aura about him, an ability to project his vision into the far corners of a room or across the field on the Gentilly stage at Jazz Fest. He was beatific, a glow that radiated out from a smile that seemed to encompass his whole person and express itself to everyone in range.

In my years at OffBeat, one of the very best things that happened to me was getting to meet and become friends with Spencer and his family.

Visiting the house he and his wife Marilyn rebuilt after it was mostly destroyed in the 2005 flood, was like entering a museum of New Orleans resurrection. It was just down the block from Liuzza’s by the Track and was one of the secret delights of living in New Orleans—watching the black and gold butterflies dance around his garden, being treated to Marilyn’s cookies, and looking at Spencer’s treasures, his cherished guitars and the shoebox art works he

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kept displayed in a widowed cabinet. His big kitchen table was the site of many deep conversations, much merriment, some brilliant brainstorming sessions, and a lot of music. This is where one of the most ingenious collaborations in recent New Orleans music history took place, the four songwriters who joined forces in a quartet known as The Write Brothers.

The idea for the Write Brothers might have been inspired by Jim McCormick’s epiphany, or spurred by the open contours of the Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show, but Spencer was definitely the spirit of the Write Brothers, and that kitchen table was where he held court.

The quartet was completed by Alex McMurray. Alex and Spencer were involved in numerous other projects together as well.

They gathered around the kitchen table for a few days in 2014 and came up with ten pieces for their debut album, First Flight. Spencer said they needed one more, but they didn’t have time. Then they went into Piety Street Studios to cut the record with producer Mark Bingham,

a process that was proceeding swiftly.

I’ll let Paul Sanchez pick it up from there: “As Alex and Jim were working on a song in the studio I called Spencer into the kitchen and said ‘I may have a chorus for that one extra song you’ve been wanting.’

I played him a chorus: ‘Let’s lift our glasses /and drink to the sadness / and sing the familiar old songs with our friends /All too soon comes the end of the tune and who knows when we’ll be together again.’ He said, ‘I like it,’ a few minutes later he walked back into the kitchen with his guitar and sang this verse, ‘When we were kids /we’d cross the Mississippi /We’d take the ferry to old Algiers /me and my buddies we’d ride for hours /Go back and forth while the day disappeared.’

Alex and Jim came in, we finished the song over lunch and recorded it that very day.”

Of course Spencer was a lot more than the Write Brothers.

He traveled constantly, playing to appreciative audiences around the world, telling stories around campfires, but always coming back home to New Orleans.

Home, where he got to play

with his son Andre in various groups—the Chilluns, the Whippersnappers, Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers. These were his happiest times. He was diagnosed late last year with Stage Four prostate cancer, a rapacious disease, from which I also suffer. It takes you down, believe me. He had to cancel some gigs, but he made it out to play the Debbie Davis and Matt Perrine holiday special, Oh Crap, It’s Christmas! He was wonderful that night.

Things took a turn this year and the family announced that Spencer’s Jazz Fest gig would be his last for a while as he took time off to battle the illness. It turned out to be his last waltz.

He arrived at the Gentilly stage to play a magic gig with the Whippersnappers. He couldn’t walk without a cane or help from Andre, but once he got into position he played and sang at what sounded like peak strength.

The music can do that for you.

He looked out at the crowd and said “You are all so beautiful,” and it was so heartfelt. I think it just melted everyone there.

Next up was Paul and his Rolling Road Show, and Spencer stayed at Gentilly to take part in a reunion of the Write Brothers.

They all stood on stage, trading verses, and then sang the chorus one last time: “Who knows when we’ll be together again.” Hundreds of people in the audience sang along with them. Spontaneous tears of grieving joy flowed as they joined in on what somehow everyone understood intuitively was a final farewell. Thank you, Spencer, for all you gave us.

—John Swenson

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PHOTO Courtesy of the Bohren family

(1950 - 2019)

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Mercedes-Benz Superdome Sunday, July 14, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

ES STON

A Second Chance he year was 1979. The place was the Venue,

by John a well-appointed nightclub near London’s Victoria Station. The packed house cheered as the lanky figure of Charlie Watts stood up behind his drum kit. With a towel draped around his wet shoulders, he grinned “This is the best band I’ve ever played with” This wasn’t an unannounced club date by the Rolling Stones, but a gig put together by Stones founder and mastermind, pianist Ian Stewart.

Another member of the Stones, Mick Jagger, sat in the audience enjoying the show by what Stewart dubbed Rocket 88, with special guest Cousin Joe Pleasant from Wallace, Louisiana. The set covered a multiplicity of styles from traditional New Orleans jazz to swing and R&B and centered on piano players Stewart, Cousin Joe and Dick Green. The pianos were framed by a three piece horn section led by saxophonist Dick Morrisey, best known for his work with the Average White Band. The guitarist was British blues legend Alexis Korner.

After a couple of songs from Rocket 88 Cousin Joe sat at one of the pianos and took everything over, playing songs from his extensive catalog. The band hadn’t rehearsed; Joe just told them what key each song was. Joe wove stories around the songs about his life: “I’m Cousin Joe from New Orleans, been in all the New York bands.”

Joe was flying, the crowd was going crazy and the band wore big smiles as he crashed through “I’m Drinking:” “Whiskey makes you frisky,” he sang, “but this wine makes you lose your cotton picking mind.” Joe then took a solo piano turn and launched into his classic “Chicken a la King:” “Lord I ate so many hot dogs/ Couldn’t look a cold dog in the face/ I ate ’em with chili sauce/ and I ate ’em with tomato paste/ I went down to New Orleans/ to the place I was born/ Where I ate so many chickens/ They cacklng all in my bones/ Sunday I ate fried

chicken/ Monday chicken fricassee/ Tuesday chicken a la King/ Wednesday chicken giblets/ Thursday chicken stew/ Friday I had scrambled eggs and you know that’s chicken too.”

When he finished Joe said “Thank you music lovers. There’s a young man in the crowd and a fine blues singer too and I hope he makes enough to pay the rent ... Mick Jagger.”

Then Joe hit them with his haymaker, “Life’s a One Way Ticket.”

Framing his dramatic slow blues in a classic New Orleans piano accompaniment, he sang “Life is a one way ticket and there ain’t no second time around... When you got your money baby buy everything you should. When you six feet in the ground all the pounds in the world won’t do you no good.”

At his table, surrounded by men in dark glasses, Jagger laughed at the line as the crowd howled its approval.

“It’s a performance getting them all together,” said Stewart a couple of days later at the Stones’ Chelsea office. “The fact that Charlie Watts is a Rolling Stone is beside the point. He’s perfect for this music. This isn’t a fad. Great music like this will never go out of fashion. Almost every place we play is a sellout. This is the most powerful swinging music of all time.”

Despite the presence of two members of the band, the Venue was not packed with Rolling Stones fans. Jagger was able to sit calmly in the crowd even when a few shouts for him came up. “I don’t think we’ve got too many out and out Rolling Stones fans coming,” Stewart noted. “I don’t think people are coming expecting to see Mick Jagger. If anything we’ve got people coming who remember when it used to be Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated.”

I cite this anecdote to underscore how essential Louisiana’s music is

Swenson

Photo COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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Why New Orleans matters to the Stones.

to the Rolling Stones, and not just because they covered Irma Thomas’ recording of “Time Is On My Side” and the Allen Toussaint-penned hit “Fortune Teller” recorded by Benny Spellman. There’s been a lot of speculation as to why Quint Davis chose the Stones to headline the 50th anniversary of Jazz Fest, and I think it’s less about the festival needing the Rolling Stones than the Stones wanting to play this legendary festival. Now that it didn’t happen you might consider the lost opportunity is as meaningful to them as it is to their fans.

When Keith Richards and Mick Jagger met at the Dartford train station in the early 1960s it was a Chuck Berry record Keith was holding that attracted Mick’s attention. Mick had been writing to Chess records and getting catalog items shipped to him. Both young musicians devoured the music on the American blues, R&B and rock & roll records they could get their hands on. “With Mick and me at the beginning,” writes Keith in his autobiography, Life, “We’d get, say, a new Jimmy Reed record, and I’d learn the moves on guitar and he would learn the lyrics... And we had fun doing it.”

At that point they weren’t trying to be pop stars, or represent mods or rockers. They wanted to sound like Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Little Walter. Unlike many of his English blues guitar contemporaries, Richards was uninterested in reproducing flashy choruslong solos. He was listening more to Hubert Sumlin and Jimmy Rogers, practicing licks and grooves more than solos, and he looked at himself more as a rhythm than a lead guitarist.

The scene for hard core musicians looking to play this music was limited. Mick and Keith would go to hear Alexis Korner’s Blue Incorporated, with Ian Stewart and Charlie Watts, at the Ealing Jazz Club on Saturday nights. Both would sit in with the band on occasion, and this is where they met Brian Jones, who impressed them with his slide guitar playing. Ian Stewart and Jones were putting a band together in 1962 and Mick and Keith auditioned for it. Stewart apparently wanted to hire Mick, but Jagger insisted he and Richards were a team, a savvy call. They all knew they needed Charlie Watts on drums, but he was in demand and they had to establish themselves on the larger circuit in order to afford him.

They booked gigs all over London to accomplish that task, and when Bill Wyman joined on bass the lineup was set. The band started building up such a following that they attracted manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who signed them to Decca Records. At this point it was decided that Stewart shouldn’t be in the band he started. He still played with them on record and at some live shows, but “England’s newest hit-makers” became the five other guys in the band. Stewart apparently didn’t mind. He became the band’s driver and a kind of spiritual leader. One suspects that the world of pop stardom that the Stones were being groomed for was not to his taste.

“It was his vision,” Richards writes of Stewart, “and basically he picked who was going to be in it. Far more than anybody actually realizes, he was the spark and the energy of the organization that actually kept it together in its early days.”

The early Stones were still Stewart’s band, playing fierce versions of American blues and R&B. The Watts/Wyman rhythm section was a locomotive that gave the Stones a swinging velocity that was unique among their peers. The licks, rhythm patterns and riffs Richards and Jones studied meticulously became the architecture of the Stones sound. Solos barely existed. It was all about the terrific four bar phrase beaten into a trance pattern, two guitars playing counter rhythmic patterns against each other. Later, when Jagger and Richards started writing their own material, this approach became crucial to the band’s sound. The hits usually featured unusually memorable and melodic riffs. Jagger had an uncanny ability to hang a relaxed yet intense vocal on the top of all this, as rhythmically sophisticated as the exchanges between the others. It was a collective sound, not a soloist’s showcase, that really set it off.

The Rolling Stones never really lost touch with the blues and they never forgot where it came from. On their most recent album, Blue and Lonesome, they returned to the concept they started out with, playing covers of blues favorites.

There are three songs on the record by Marksville, Louisiana native Marion “Little Walter” Jacobs.

“Little Walter Jacobs was one of the best singers of the blues,” writes Richards. “His singing was overshadowed by the phenomenal harp, which was based on a lot of Louis Armstrong’s cornet licks. Our thing was playing Chicago blues; that was where we took everything that we knew, that was our kickoff point, Chicago. Look at that Mississippi River. Where does it come from? Where does it go? Follow that river all the way up and you’ll end up in Chicago. Also follow the way those artists were recorded. There were no rules. If you looked at the regular way of recording things, everything was recorded totally wrong. But what is wrong and what is right? What matters is what hits the ear. Chicago blues was so raw and raucous and energetic.

If you tried to record it clean, forget about it.

Nearly every Chicago blues record you hear is an enormous amount over the top, loading the sound on in layers of thickness. When you hear Little Walter’s records, he hits the first note on the harp and the band disappears until that note stops, because he’s overloading it.

When you’re making records, you’re looking to distort things, basically. ... What you’re looking for is where the sounds just melt into one another and you’ve got that beat behind it, and the rest of it just has to squirm and roll its way through. If you have it all separated, it’s insipid. What you’re looking for is power and force, without volume— an inner power—a way to bring together what everybody in that room is doing and make one sound. So it’s not two guitars, piano, bass and drums, it’s one thing, not five. You’re there to create one thing.”

Jazz Fest went on without the Rolling Stones, but the Stones made sure they didn’t miss a chance to reconnect with their roots by scheduling a New Orleans show on their No Filter tour. Time waits for no one, but the music moves on relentlessly. O The Rolling Stones performed at the Superdome in 1981. Go to OffBeat.com for Randy’s Savoie’s recollections.

The Rolling Stones never really lost touch with the blues and they never forgot where it came from. On their most recent album, Blue and Lonesome, they returned to the concept they started out with, playing covers of blues favorites.There are three songs on the record by Marksville, Louisiana native Marion “Little Walter” Jacobs.

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The Rolling Stones from the Inside Out hen the Rolling Stones come into town

by John for the group’s No Filter tour, fans will be cheering original members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts. There might even be some Ron Wood fans there.

But the Stones are a much deeper and more talented team than just that. Bassist Darryl Jones, keyboardist Chuck Leavell and others have a big influence on the band’s sound. But perhaps most importantly, vocalist and percussionist Bernard Fowler adds a crucial element.

Fowler has been arranging the backing vocals for the Stones and supporting Jagger vocally for 31 years now. Now he has taken his involvement with the Stones to another level, offering unique versions of Stones songs on his new album, Inside Out. “It all started during sound check on the Rolling Stones’ Zip Code

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tour in 2015,” writes Fowler in the liner notes. “I’d come on stage a little before soundcheck to practice my conga playing. Then the guys all turned up for soundcheck, and our musical director/keyboardist Chuck Leavell yells out the name of a song. Still at my congas, I started to play around and recite the lyrics in a poetry or Beatnik style to the song Chuck called out. And everyone seemed to get a kick outta that.

“For the next few days it became a thing. On maybe the third or fourth day, Mick walks over to me and says, ‘Bernard, I’ve heard Rolling Stones songs played in many different ways, but I’ve never heard it like this before.’ To which I replied, ‘When the tour is over, I’m gonna cut this.’ ” His reply, “You should.”

Swenson

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Photo COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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A conversation with Bernard Fowler.

So he did.

You’ve done a great service to these songs. Songs tell stories and the way you tell the stories on these songs brings different meaning to them than the way the Stones recorded them.

Yes, the way I do it, it brings new meaning to a song. People hear it, but they don’t really hear it, they don’t absorb the lyric content. This way it’s there, it’s straight on, it’s in your face, it’s big, and you can hear every single word.

Another thing that interests me in the context of the history of New Orleans music, Congo Square, the bamboula, your record brings these songs into focus with that history. Have you thought about that?

To tell you the truth I haven’t. This is the first time I heard that.

But I get it. It sounds like Uruguay, the Candombe players. The slaves there took the barrels that they shipped the whiskey in and built the Candombe drums from those barrels. That’s why Candombe are not shaped like conga. They’re shaped like whiskey barrels.

You play the congas.

Yeah, I play a little bit.

Who are your favorite players?

There are so many. Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan. I grew up listening to stuff like that. You know, growing up in the Queensbridge Projects in New York City, which was a predominantly Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood, the Blacks and the Puerto Rican brothers would be in the parks playing conga all day, from when we woke up to when we went to sleep at night.

Were you aware of the Rolling Stones back then?

Absolutely. The first record my dad ever gave me was a Rolling Stones record.

Which one?

I think it was 12 X 5. Right at the beginning. Why he bought that record, I have no idea. Because most of the records in my house were my parents’ record collection, there was old blues stuff, soul music, and gospel records. So for him to come home and give me that record, to this day I do not know why he did that.

Did you sing in church?

Nope. My mother did, my grandmother did, my aunties did, and I went to church every Sunday, especially during school vacations.

From when I was about four or five up until I was 16, every summer my mother sent me to my grandmother’s. My grandmother made sure we were in church every Sunday. Sometimes twice a day. I loved church growing up, and I think some of that has become part of me.

How did you get connected with the Stones?

Well, it’s kind of a long story, but a short version is I used to do a lot of work with Bill Laswell. I had a band called the New York Citi Peech Boys. I got a call from Bill Laswell asking me to sing on a Material project. We became friends and I’ve done a lot of projects with him. I was singing with Herbie Hancock, and during that tour Bill called me and asked me to come to England. I flew to England and I met Mick Jagger with Bill. I worked on Mick’s first solo record,

and then a few years later I got a call from Mick and he told me the Stones were getting ready to do a record. They hadn’t done any work in like eight or nine years. So he called me and asked me to come into the studio to work with him on this new Stones record. That’s when I met them all and that started.

What was that like compared to your other work as a backing vocalist or a chorus vocalist?

At the time, it was similar to what I had been doing. People would call me and ask me to come into the studio to do background vocals arrangements. A lot of times I would do the arrangement and sing all the parts. It wasn’t so different from any other session at the time, except that I remember when I was doing this first session with the Stones, Mick had me go in and do the background treatment and he said, “Let’s do it, let’s record it.” I had to stop the tape in the middle of doing it and say, “Mick I’m happy to do this, but if I do this it’s going to sound like me, so maybe you guys want to think about that.” ’Cause it’s the Rolling Stones. It didn’t make sense for me to sing all the background stuff on a Rolling Stones record without them. I always think about what’s best for the project,not what’s best for me. Maybe it would have been best for me if I did it all myself, but I didn’t think that was the right thing to do, so I asked them to come in and sing the parts with me. So I came into the room and I gave them the parts, and we sang them, and here I am.

You would actually deconstruct the songs and write background vocal parts to them. That’s interesting because I don’t think the Stones approached it that way before.

You’re right. I don’t think they had ever done that before then. And I don’t think they have since.

Well they have you there now.

Right.

My impression of the Stones is that it’s like a really good team, and to press that analogy, you have the core four, and then you have the other players who are really essential to the team’s performance. The people out in the audience maybe aren’t as aware of that, but without the rest of that team the band isn’t going to sound that good.

You’re probably right. There are pieces to that puzzle that needed to be added. Like Chuck Leavell and Darryl Jones, myself and Lisa Fischer when she was there.

Has it evolved while you’ve been in the band?

I would say yeah. It kind of goes back-and-forth. Sometimes the extra hands like myself and Darryl, sometimes we’re more involved than other times. It just depends on how they’re working and how they want to work. Maybe with Voodoo Lounge, I was there with Keith in the rehearsal studio when he was writing songs like “How Can I Stop?” The background parts on “How Can I Stop” I wrote while he was writing the song. I don’t think I’ve had that opportunity of being there like that since then.

“I had to stop the tape in the middle of doing it and say, “Mick I’m happy to do this, but if I do this it’s going to sound like me, so maybe you guys want to think about that.” ’Cause it’s the Rolling Stones. It didn’t make sense for me to sing all the background stuff on a Rolling Stones record without them. I always think about what’s best for the project,not what’s best for me. ”

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How did you select the songs that you used on this record?

I started with the most popular stuff, the stuff everybody knows, and none of it worked. So I had to go to the Rolling Stones songbook and read some of the lyrics. Lyrics would jump out to me and I’d recite them to myself, and that’s how I chose the songs. What stood out was the content, the content was strong, something I related to.

There seem to be two approaches, one where the vocals just have percussion backing, the other with band arrangements.

The original idea for the record was percussion. Just percussion and voice, that was the original idea. Then I started to hear other things, and I thought maybe people wouldn’t be ready for an all-percussion record, so I decided to use a rhythm section on some of the songs.

It gives a lot of contour to the record. The version of “Sister Morphine” has a kind of Curtis Mayfield-style hypnotic bass part. The trumpet on that is great too.

The trumpet on that is amazing. That’s Keyon Harrold, he played all the trumpet in the Don Cheadle Miles Davis movie. I was able to get him because Vince Wilburn who plays drums on that track was in the studio with me and I was talking to him about using some Miles Davis samples. He said, “You don’t have to do that! Keyon is in town, let me call him.” Keyon came to the studio the next morning, opened his case, took his horn out and just played it.

That blew me away. He didn’t warm up, he took the horn out, put the mouthpiece in, went up to the microphone and started blowing. He was right on it. That is one of my favorite tracks.

Doing a record like this when you don’t have a self-contained band, it’s hard because you don’t know who’s in town, if they’re busy or not, and I did not have a budget.

The layers of polyrhythms are just beautiful.

That’s Walfredo Reyes Jr. and Lenny Castro. I started with Walfredo.

We talked about rhythms from Africa and we talked about rhythms from South and Central America, and I made a point to tell him that I wanted each song to represent a different rhythm, from a different region of Africa and/or South America.

That’s very obvious when you listen closely to the record.

I really love the version of “Undercover” with that beautiful saxophone part in it. It’s one of Jagger’s most specific political songs, about Nicaragua, the Sandinistas and the contras.

“Undercover,” that might have been one of the first songs that I recorded. In the beginning of the song you hear a woman in distress in the jungle. She’s running through the jungle because she doesn’t want to be caught by the soldiers. Then you hear Carmine Rojas, the bass player, as the Nicaraguan soldier catching her, and she goes, “Oh, no, no no, no!” When I had the track pretty much done I wanted to have a bit of a story before the track started. I wrote out a script. We tried a few people and it didn’t work out, so I called Carmine Rojas, my Puerto Rican brother from New York City. I told him I needed a woman to read this part, but she has to be from Nicaragua. Every area in South and Central America, they speak a little different, so I wanted to stay true to the story. He brought Rachel Morales to the studio and it just so happened that she was brought up in Nicaragua during that time. Before I gave her the script to read she was hesitant

because she said, “My family was on this side,” and she didn’t want to say anything that she was uncomfortable with. She’d never been in a recording studio before. As she was reading the script I gave her, she started to cry. Every time I listen to it I get goose bumps. She lived through that turmoil.

I think maybe Mick was trying to say some things sometimes that might have gotten lost in the Stones mythology. He probably appreciates how much of the political aspects you bring out in your readings.

I think so too. Rolling Stones fans, when they hear it now, it will bring something else out. It will bring a different meaning to it.

Why did you decide to do two versions of “Dancing with Mr. D”?

I did two versions of it, the ryhthm section version and the percussion version. I didn’t want to make a choice between the two so I put them both on the record.

“Time Waits for No One.” I couldn’t help but think of the Chambers Brothers’ “Time” when I heard that.

Ha ha ha. I’ll tell you the truth, when I did it I didn’t think about that, but when somebody mentioned that to me I realized that’s absolutely right.

The arrangements are so subtle. It’s all built around the words. The music on this album is in support of the words all the way.

That was the focus. People need to hear these words. These lyrics are fucking deep.

When I told Mick I was going to be cutting this record he started to tell me a story about The Last Poets. He told me he saw The Last Poets in London at someone’s house. Mick is like a sponge. I don’t know if he knows it and I’m curious as to which songs were written around the time he saw them because some of those lyrics read like The Last Poets.

Is Gil Scott Heron also a touchstone for you?

Absolutely, Gil Scott Heron is another touchstone for me. Those were the two in my head. I worked on one of Gil Scott’s albums. I was listening to him the other day. He’s incredible.

Have you played in New Orleans with the Stones before?

Yes. How did that go?

It was great, but I’ll just give you a little story. What I remember about the last time we played New Orleans with the Stones: In Keith’s dressing room, every show, the caterers will make Keith a shepherd’s pie to go in his dressing room. We get to the Dome, we go to the dressing rooms and there’s a problem. Keith is not happy.

I walk in and I’m like, “What the fuck, what’s going on?” Keith is standing there looking at his shepherd’s pie and he’s like, “Who the fuck bust my crust?” You know the crust on the top is all nice and brown? Apparently somebody had been in that. We all knew who it was, it was one of the security guards, and Keith wanted to know who bust my fucking crust. Now there ain’t gonna be no show until the culprit comes forward. You have never seen 6’5” 300-pound men turn into little kids, and slowly come into the dressing room with their heads slightly down. “Sorry, Keith.” Nothing was gonna happen until somebody fessed up to bustin’ that crust. O

Mick is like a sponge. I don’t know if he knows it and I’m curious as to which songs were written around the time he saw them because some of those lyrics read like The Last Poets.

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The Royal Affair

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Alan White of Yes has played drums with rock royalty.

rchetypal prog-rock band Yes traversed North America last year on its fiftieth anniversary tour.Yes is bringing its time signature-shifting, riff-packed, melodic and majestic repertoire to American stages again this summer. Headlining The Royal Affair Tour’s collective of British all-stars, the current Yes lineup includes two classic Yes men, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White. Coming July 15 to the Saenger Theatre, The Royal Affair also features Asia; the Moody Blues’ John Lodge; Carl Palmer from Alan White, far left, and Yes Emerson, Lake & Palmer; and, the “God of Hellfire” himself, Arthur Brown, from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Yes will survey its own prog-rock landmarks, and play a White-led tribute to John Lennon. Before he joined Yes in 1972, Zappa music, which has a lot of time changes, too, so I was kind of White played drums for Lennon (Live Peace in Toronto, “Instant Karma,” prepared for Yes. and Imagine) and George Harrison (All Things Must Pass).

Before Yes, when you were in your early twenties, you In advance of The Royal Affair Tour, the amiable drummer spoke to performed and recorded with John Lennon and recorded with OffBeat from Seattle, Washington, his home for the past 30-plus years.

George Harrison. But at the time, working with Beatles didn’t Do you know all of the performers on The Royal Affair Tour? seem all that big a deal to you?

John Lodge from the Moody Blues, Carl Palmer from Emerson, I was pretty naïve. Only years later did I look back and think, Did I Like & Palmer, Asia, and Arthur Brown? do all that stuff?

I know them all. But one guy who I’ve haven’t seen for a long time is What were Lennon and Harrison like in the studio?

Carl Palmer. His first band was the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. And Wonderful. John was pretty set in his ideas, on what he wanted to Arthur Brown is going to sit in and do his song, “Fire,” and a couple of do. He occasionally asked everybody what they thought. Yoko was songs with Carl. Arthur is a pretty crazy guy. I didn’t know he’s still alive. with him the whole time. They used to consult each other on all kinds In 2017, Yes was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. of stuff. It was a good environment and Imagine is a special album. You What was that night like for you? can feel the vibe between everybody in the studio.

We all had a good time and we played really well. Steve Howe and How about the All Things Must Pass sessions with Harrison? myself have kept on playing in Yes, but it was great seeing the other George was a sweetheart. He really was a nice, loving, happy guy. guys: Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and, from the band in the ’80s, We had a big band that just turned up every day and we’d choose Trevor Horn. Chris Squire, of course, passed away in 2015. who was playing what. As it happened, I played on “My Sweet Lord,” You turned 70 on June 14. The drums are physically “Wah-Wah,” and the title track, too. demanding to begin with and, on top of that, the music of Yes In 1981, did Yes disband because you broke an ankle at a is technically demanding. roller disco? Really?

I feel pretty good for my age. I’m still playing in the band and that keeps I was really embarrassed at the time, but that’s not really the me in shape. For this tour, I’m doing quite a few numbers, but we do have reason we broke up, or not purely because of that. We were in the another drummer to take some of the brunt of the work [Jay Schellen]. middle of making an album that wasn’t very good. When I broke my Is it true that Chris Squire and Jon Anderson went to your ankle, everybody said, ‘Okay, let’s break up.’ And they all left. flat in London and demanded that you join Yes? In 1983, Yes enjoyed a huge comeback with the album, Yeah, that’s right. It was on the third of an office kind of building.

90125, and the number one song, “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”

Chris said, “You’re joining the band or we’ll throw you out the Like a chameleon, Yes kept changing its shape. That was a great window.” That kind of thing. So, I said, “Look. I’ll give you two months band in that time and we did great tunes. and see if I like it. And you give me two months, see if you like me.”

Are you looking forward to your return to New Orleans?

And here I am, 47 years later. Yeah, it must have worked.

New Orleans? Great, wonderful. I’ve been there many times. We But you actually didn’t know that much about Yes’ music always enjoy it. In fact, one time I stayed there for a few days. We did a when they drafted you to replace Bill Bruford? tour with Donovan and we finished in New Orleans. It was incredible. O Not to a great degree, but I knew of Yes and thought it was a really The Royal Affair Tour with Yes, Asia, John Lodge, Carl Palmer and Arthur great band. When I heard Yes for the first time, my ears Brown on July 15 at the Saenger Theatre.

by John Wirt perked up. And I’d been in a band that played Frank Go to OffBeat.com for a longer version of this interview.

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Natural Appeal he festival has exceeded my wildest by Geraldine Wyckoff Reliant Stadium, though naturally they just couldn’t imagination,” exclaims Marc Morial compare. of the 25th anniversary of the Essence Festival. Morial, In part, Morial credits the disappointing experience of Essence who is currently the President of the National Urban League, was the Fest in Houston for really nailing down New Orleans as its home. “In Mayor of New Orleans at the onset of the now wildly popular and the early days,[the organizers] had cities coming after them trying to economically prosperous event. take the festival,” Morial says, mentioning Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, “This is something that I’m quite proud of,” says Morial. He and Los Angeles. “New Orleans is absolutely the best in terms of its remembers how, in the fall of 1994, venue, its facilities, its authenticity of Essence magazine’s co-founders Edward culture and the authenticity of African Former New Orleans Lewis and Clarence Smith and George American culture. New Orleans has MayorMarc Morial Wein, the producer of the New natural appeal. It’s such a powerful Orleans and Newport Jazz festivals, combination.” came to his office to discuss an idea “As mayor at the time, one of the about presenting a large music festival things I was working to do was to to celebrate Essence magazine’s 25th establish the city as the premier destianniversary. nation for multicultural tourism. I was “They shared a vision to do it for a working to build a stronger embrace three-day period over the Fourth of July by the city government of the music weekend, and to do it at the Dome,” industry, and so we had the New Morial recalls. “It was going to be an Orleans Music Commission, which was African American focused festival. This brand new. The idea that we could birth was something totally different, and I another homegrown festival had appeal immediately embraced it and immedito me. Keep in mind, Jazz Fest was ately decided to [have the city] co-own 25 years old, and the French Quarter it, realizing that for it to be successful it Festival, which was started by my father needed a strong local partner. I created [Mayor Ernest “Dutch” Morial], was ten a whole committee staffed by Jackie years old.”

Harris and headed by my mother [Sybil Morial] to facilitate Essence’s Morial reminds us that the first year of Essence Festival in 1995, introduction and participation in New Orleans.” conceived as a one-time event, didn’t have corporate sponsors, and “You had one of the largest African American businesses in the all of the revenues were ticket-driven. Some leaders in the hospitality United States at the time that was headquartered in New York City, and tourism community, he says, were skeptical about the city hosting and it wanted to do an event in New Orleans,” Morial continues, with the festival. Worse yet, a few downtown and French Quarter business the awe of the proposal still resonating in his voice. were downright hostile and closed their doors rather than welcome For the most part, Morial chalks up Essence’s desire to hold its the primarily African American attendees. celebration in the Crescent City to the uniqueness of the Superdome “Their vision of an African American event was the Bayou Classic, a and its prime downtown location in walking distance to hotels, restau- football game that attracts mostly people from Louisiana. They didn’t rants, and the French Quarter. “It’s a multi-purpose facility, not simply understand the African American marketplace, and that here you had a football stadium,” he notes. “The Dome was built to accommodate a 25-year-old institution celebrating women.” conventions and concerts as well as football, basketball and baseball.”

Morial saw one of his roles as educating the skeptics and “defending A particularly singular element of the Dome that set the Essence the buying power of not only Black America, but defending the buying Festival apart from a simple concert-style event was the four power of Black American women—women from New York, Chicago, “Superlounges” that still allow for five musical performances to take Dallas.” place simultaneously, on the main stage and the four lounges. These Despite superstars like Aretha Franklin and Luther Vandross areas on an upper floor of the building were originally created as headlining the inaugural Essence Fest, the local media also lacked convention meeting rooms. enthusiasm and didn’t pay much attention to the event. “Because they “You could get lost in the Superlounges,” Morial enthusiastically didn’t understand it, they marginalized it,” Morial offers by way of suggests. explanation. “They just didn’t get it.”

When the Essence Festival was forced to relocate to Houston, Almost forgotten, though still relevant now, is that, according to Texas in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina, organizers tried their Morial, New Orleans almost lost Essence Festival as well as convenbest to recreate the Superlounges by using tents just outside the tions scheduled to be held in the city by the NAACP and the Urban

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Photo Courtesy of Marc Morial

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Marc Morial remembers the birth of Essence Festival.

League when, in 1996, newly elected Governor Mike Foster threatened affirmative action programs. Following a march on the governor’s mansion and a reminder that, “These things have consequences,” Governor Foster relented and modified his executive order to halt affirmative action sufficiently to satisfy Essence and the other organizations.

“I told the hospitality people, ‘You don’t want to lose this. You Dancing and selfies at the Essence Festival have to realize we’re dead on the Fourth of July weekend and everything that’s been tried before Essence came along has flopped. It all flopped, flop, flop, flop. It changes the arc of the summer Essence Festival every year since its inception, including the year it in New Orleans.’ After that, the ‘chieftains’ got it. They understood that was held in Houston.

Essence Festival is about green.”

“I love the culminating acts with Frankie Beverly—those were As mayor, Marc Morial was on a panel at the first Empowerment spiritual experiences,” he says, adding that maybe people don’t realize seminar that was then held during the daytime in the Dome. The that he is a “big time music person.” “Prince’s show at Essence Fest in events were so popular, with attendance exceeding expectations, that 2014 was one the best concerts I’ve ever been to, ever. they were moved to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where “Celebration is at the core of Essence Festival, with the crowd they continue to draw large crowds. being 75-percent women, dressed up nicely and having a good time “I went to the shows every night, and daytime events every day,” hanging with their girlfriends,” Morial declares. says Morial of the time when he was in office. He has attended the “It’s going to be beautiful. I’m hoping we’ll be celebrating the 50th.” O

Photo by RYAN HODGES-RiGSBEE

The Party With A Purpose Essence Fest holds many vivid and very individual memories for those who’ve attended the fest, as well as those who’ve performed. There was Aretha Franklin’s stunning appearance at the first event, with notables like Jesse Jackson sprinkled through the audience. A disguised Prince roller-skated on stage for a surprise cameo in 2004 before his set. Who can forget Stevie Wonder, Solomon Burke, Etta James, and our own Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews—the first New Orleans artist (with bows to DJ Soul Sister) to perform on the main stage.

We talked to a few local musicians to get their Essence thoughts: Irma Thomas, vocalist New Orleans Soul Queen, Irma Thomas was in the mix from Essence Festival’s start— attended the first press conference, did promos, and performed in a Superlounge.

“It drew a lot of people who normally wouldn’t go to a show of any kind, and when I say that, I mean people who were past 50. It drew a more mature crowd because Bobby “Blue” Bland was alive, B.B. King was alive. Frankie Beverly used to close it out, which everybody looked forward to every year.”

Thomas did appear on the main stage once when a trio of woman vocalists paid tribute to Patti LaBelle. “At the end of the performance, Patti called me ‘Carla

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Thomas’ in front of all those people and the audience went, ‘Whooo.’ ” Keith Frazier, bass drummer Rebirth Brass Band “People from Orlando or Arkansas, they didn’t know what a brass band was—didn’t know it from a hip-hop band,” Frazier remembers of the time Rebirth played its first Essence Festival. “When people trickled into the Superlounge, they had a whole new experience. I was surprised how long they stayed, but they seemed to be enjoying it, and we had a great time. The next year, there were more people, I guess by word of mouth, and the audience just keep growing.

“After we performed that first year, Chuck Brown came on and it was our first time seeing him live. He played for two hours straight and that was quite an experience for us.”

PJ Morton, keyboardist and vocalist This will mark Morton’s fourth Essence appearance, and to celebrate the occasion and the Fest’s 25th anniversary, organizers wanted him to do something special. He came up with the idea of recording and videoing his show, the results of which will be used for a future project. “I think we’re making history,” exclaims Morton of capturing his performance. He’ll be playing with his touring band, adding horns, and inviting special

guests including rapper Pell and vocalist Mia X. “It’s going to be a party,” promises Morton.

“It’s always been a full circle moment for me because I grew up going to the festival and was inspired by it as a young musician.

Seeing Mint Condition in the Superlounge when I think I was 14 or 15 years old, blew my mind.

Nigel Hall, keyboardist and composer Though five years ago Hall performed at Essence’s Family Day, this show will stand as his debut in the Dome.

He’ll lead a band with bassist Eric Vogel, guitarist Derwin “Big D” Perkins and drummer Charles Haynes. “There was a time when I didn’t think that my music was reaching Black people like I wanted it to,” Hall offers. “The fact that I was invited to come back to Essence Festival is a great honor to me. I’m glad somebody got the memo.”

Big Freedia, bounce artist “Essence is as important to me as Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras,” says Big Freedia, who has been attending the event “for as long as I can remember.”

“It’s about celebrating African-American culture, so the artists are all the acts I grew up with—Diana Ross, Missy Elliott, Charlie Wilson, Janet Jackson. The bounce queen’s favorite shows have included those by Elliott and Jackson—“Janet killed last year.”

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Essence Festival, July 5

Relentless series. Despite the show’s early 6 p.m. start time and the unconven—every Monday at 11:30 a.m. The strictly observed regimen is just one tional venue, a full house attended. Seats covered much of the floor example of the New Orleans funk-pop band’s quest to excel. in the museum’s 130-year-old, church-like Patrick F. Taylor Library, but Water Seed’s final rehearsal in the month of May happened on the many people preferred to stand up, dancing and grooving. The concert Memorial Day holiday, when many people were taking the day off. “Not included Water Seed’s original songs—a gumbo of R&B, pop, gospel, too many people gig at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, so it’s a great day,” band funk, jazz fusion, even prog-rock—as well as reinventions of “Thank You leader and drummer Hill said that afternoon as he sat in his living room for Being a Friend” (more Golden Girls theme than the Andrew Gold with Water Seed singers Berkley the Artist and Shaleyah (who also original) and Radiohead’s “Creep.” plays percussion), and singer-flutist Following the Ogden Museum Cinese Love. Many people, Berkley performance, the band launched a nine said, “aren’t awake at 11:30 a.m. on date tour of the West Coast. On July Monday. We are.”

5, the group will perform at the 25th Wide awake. Eyes on the prize. anniversary Essence Festival. A veteran Working while others are sleeping. of major New Orleans festivals, Water Striving to make their dreams come Seed is delighted about its return to true. “Our rehearsals are focused Essence, its third appearance at the and demanding,” the upbeat Hill said. event. “We’re playing Friday,” Berkley “They’re different from rehearsals said, “when a lot of big New Orleans

by John Wirt I’ve done with other bands. We may artists are performing: Ledisi, PJ Morton, PHOTOGRAPHS BY GUS BENNETT come to rehearsal and work on Luke James. I’m so happy to be in the an intro for 30 minutes. And then Superdome with people who are from we’ll run dance moves for an hour. this ground who have made it. That’s Then we’ll talk about an arrangement and what worked and what what’s up. We’re getting super tight and ready for this big moment.” didn’t work on stage. And if you come into our rehearsal and haven’t “Like Rocky training for the big fight,” Shaleyah agreed. practiced the music in advance, or you don’t know the tunes, you won’t “We’ll pull out all the stops,” Hill added, “Go crazy and just have a last long. I think of it this way: If you have intense rehearsals, you can great time.” In 2013, Essence was the first major gig Water Seed played have more fun on stage.” after New Orleans native Hill’s return to the city, following years of A few days after Water Seed’s Memorial Day shedding, the band post-Hurricane Katrina exile in Atlanta. Hill founded Water Seed at performed at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Ogden After Hours Xavier University in the early 2000s. It evolved from a songwriting Monday is Water Seed rehearsal day at Lou Hill’s house

Water Seed’s quest to excel.

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Dreamers project to a national touring act that’s sent two albums into the Billboard charts. Tours have taken Water Seed to the Apollo Theater and The Bitter End in New York City, The Mint in Los Angeles, and Martyr’s in Chicago. The group also played a three-month residency in the Russian resort city of Khabarovsk. “They love American culture,” Hill said of the Russians. “Michael Jackson passed away while we were there and, everywhere we went, for two months, people were blasting ‘Beat It.’ ” Meet Water Seed On stage, Berkley, Shaleyah, and Love form Water Seed’s theatrical front line. Dressed to impress, they sing, dance and strike dramatic poses. Priority though the music is, the band also features the old-school showmanship of Morris Day, James Brown and Prince in its party mix. “We pay attention to every detail,” Hill said. “I remember watching documentaries about Motown greats and James Brown. They left nothing untouched.You weren’t getting on Michael Jackson’s stage unless you were looking good. And you had to move right and sound amazing. They laid out the blueprint for how it should be done. We’re just following it to the best of our ability as indie artists. When we get some real money, we will bring in the elephants, tight ropes, and pyro. I can’t wait.”

Like Hill, Berkley is a New Orleans native. The band’s newest member, he returned to the city to stay in May following several years in Los Angeles. “Water Seed sucked me into the Water Seed universe,” Berkley said. “And I feel good about being in this band. I work with the most relentless dreamers. We have fought every arrow and bullet that came against us. I’m part of a team with three partners who I can go to war with, and we’re going to all come back with all of our limbs.”

Hill first saw Berkley perform more than a decade ago at The OF F B E AT.C OM

Chocolate Bar on South Broad Avenue. “He put on this crazy show,” Hill recalled. “This dude flying across the stage, doing all kind of stuff. He was not like any other person I’d seen performing in New Orleans. His performance was operatic, a full presentation, not just standing in one spot—very exciting.”

In 2009, shortly after Water Seed’s three-month engagement in eastern Russia, Hill contacted Berkley about joining the band, but the singer was committed to another project at the time. In 2013, Hill reached out to him again after Water Seed’s move from Atlanta to New Orleans. After some negotiation about how they’d work together, Berkley and Hill began co-writing. “Unlike a lot of musicians,” Hill said, “especially here at home in New Orleans, we didn’t play on a stage together at first. We began recording first, just to see if it would work.

We focused on one tune and went back and forth. There was push and pull and a lot of compromise—but we still got an end result that both of us loved.”

“There are times,” Berkley said, “when you have to put your ego and pride on the side.You even have to put your idea aside, because that may not be the idea that gets us moving forward. We constantly submit ourselves, in humility, to one another, in order to reach our goal.”

Hill and Berkley’s first writing collaboration became the elegantly funky “Open Sesame.” Featured on Water Seed’s studio album, We Are Stars, as well as the band’s in-concert release, Say Yeah!! Live at The Blue Nile, it’s among the band’s most successful songs to date. “From there,” Berkley said, “it’s just been figuring out how to make it all work, no matter what.”

Love and Shaleyah joined Water Seed during Hill’s post-Katrina era in Atlanta. Love, a native of Pasadena, California, moved to Georgia’s capital city in the wake of being downsized from a corporate job in J U LY 2 0 1 9

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Washington, D.C. “I just decided to pack my stuff up and go to Atlanta,” she said. “I dreamed about getting back into music. I wanted to play flute again. I put an ad on Craigslist and Lou hit me up.”

At the time, Hill was living in Atlanta’s Fourth Ward. “I was broke after Katrina, and the outside of my house looked like an abandoned building,” he said. “But inside was nice.”

“I went to Lou’s house to audition,” Love recalled. “This was before the Fourth Ward became gentrified. I was by myself and the area was real suspect.” Approaching Hill’s red front door, Love said, “I had a knife in my purse. But Lou opened the door, and I walked in and auditioned.

I’ve been in the band ever since.”

Musical Journeys Hill moved to Atlanta in 2005, displaced like thousands of other New Orleanians by the flood that followed Katrina. He’d returned to his hometown the previous year following two-and-a-half years in Washington, D.C. In August 2005, as Katrina approached, the drummer and songwriter initially had no intention of leaving town. “But a friend of mine made me go with him to Atlanta,” he said. “I’m thankful he did. I grabbed all the stuff that I was working on, grabbed my instruments and got in the car. I have the same story everybody has.You think you’ll be gone two weeks, but it turned into several years.”

Making lemonade from Katrina’s lemons in Atlanta, Hill expanded upon the music business knowledge he’d gained in D.C. Unlike New Orleans, he said, “The record labels and booking companies are right there in Atlanta—not 1,500 miles away. If you were on your game and you sent the proper email or you met the right person, it was great. I made a lot of connections that, still to this day, sustain our business.”

Hill’s residence in Atlanta led to the addition of longtime Water Seed members Love, who joined in 2007, and Shaleyah, a member since 2009. When Hill told his bandmates he wanted to come home to New Orleans, they agreed to make the move, too. “I just said, ‘Whoever’s game, come with me,’ ” Hill recalled. “And everybody said ‘okay.’ And I’ll always come home. This is New Orleans. It gets in you.”

Love was quickly down with the idea of moving with Water Seed to New Orleans. “For a few years, we were coming here to play once a month,” she said. “And I had never been to New Orleans prior to Katrina. So, I was, like ‘What is this place? Oh, my gosh.’ I fell in love with the culture. And I felt like I’d stayed in Atlanta too long. I was ready to go. When Lou brought it to the band, I was like, ‘My bags are ready.’ ” The move wasn’t so easy for Shaleyah. Originally from Houston, she’d moved to Atlanta to attend college and be a singer-songwriter. “I hadn’t foreseen myself moving here,” Shaleyah said. “But Lou thought it was best for the band, and it was in conjunction with a major opportunity we had with Essence Festival. I didn’t have any family here in New Orleans, but I took the leap. Water Seed, that is my family. We’re down for each other.”

Hill had made his first move away from New Orleans immediately after his college graduation. Berkley had left town to attend college in Minnesota. They both wanted to expand their horizons. “I packed a Honda Accord,” Hill recalled, “with everything I had, and moved to D.C., without a job. New Orleans taught me a lot, but when you’re comfortable in the womb of New Orleans, you don’t grow.”

“Very much like Lou,” Berkley said, “I needed to leave and become a bit more sophisticated and be able to compete.”

Hill’s D.C. experiences were eye-opening. “D.C. was the first place I moved to where it didn’t matter if you could play or not,” he said. “No one really cared. And the people around me who were breaking into the industry, they weren’t necessarily talented. It was about who they knew, their brand, the image, the look. They were okay singers, but in New Orleans, the average people get wiped out because people here

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are amazing. But in D.C., an average guy who can barely sing in key was on the radio. That was culture shock. I’d been taught all my life to not even knock on the door until you reach a level of mastery. But in D.C., people not only knocked doors down, they built houses off of not even level-one mastery. So, I had to put two and two together. ‘Okay, I’m missing something.’ And it was the business part of it.”

A few years later in Atlanta, Hill continued cultivating his music business knowledge. “I always describe it like this,” he explained. “D.C. was high school music business school for me. Atlanta was college-level.

And music is a hard-ass business.You need thick skin.You’re going to get knocked down, but you’ve got to get up and get up stronger.”

Besides strength and perseverance, the commitment to growth that’s expressed by the band’s name, Water Seed, is key to the mission. Hill’s passion for the music of Earth, Wind & Fire inspired his band’s moniker.

“In college, I loved the fact that the words ‘earth, wind and fire’ had no musical meaning before the band Earth, Wind & Fire. “I wanted to create something we could build the sound for. It came to me in dream.

Water, seed. Water represents knowledge. Seed represents growth.

We’re always striving to grow, refine ourselves as people, musicians and as a band.”

“Living up to the name,” Shaleyah agreed.

Billboard chart showings for Water Seed’s two latest albums show the band’s progress on a national scale. The group’s 2018 album, Say Yeah!! Live at The Blue Nile, debuted on four Billboard charts, including a Top 20 spot in R&B albums. The Billboard chart entry for We Are Stars, made the year before, surprised Water Seed. “Somebody called,” Hill remembered. “They’re like, ‘I think you guys are in the charts.’ I checked the charts and, bam, it was there. And then our live album put us on tour again, sending us around the country.”

Future Funk Water Seed, Hill said, “is a funk-pop thing. That’s a category that I guess we’re coining. If you want to call it R&B, that’s cool, but it has different edges on it. It’s everything about being New Orleans, about being Black, about everything we are and our journey. It’s danceable music, but it’s also heartfelt music that tells a story. And it’s about the human experience. The culture that we’ve created is the future funk stars. It’s a society of people who belong. They’re like us, a little different but proud of whom they are. They unapologetically represent everything that’s true to them. That’s our tribe, those are our people. If you’re talking about the sound, it is funk-pop, but ultimately it’s a movement.”

“The music represents all of our influences,” Love said. “People refer to it as a gumbo. It’s a multilayered sound and very inclusive. We’re the bridge.”

Beyond the band’s far-reaching artistic and professional ambitions, Berkley notes that Water Seed is, all the while, on a mission to deliver a good time. “It’s fun, sexy music,” he said. “It’s what your mama wanna hear and what her daughter wanna dance to. It’s just boom-boom. At a Bruno Mars concert, you have 13-year-olds and their grandmothers at the same show, because it’s just good music. That’s what we do. We give people a show for their ears. Make you wanna dance, make you wanna fall in love, make you wanna go fight for what you want. All of us are strong people, but we’re tender people at the same time.”

New music from Water Seed will sprout soon. The band’s collective songwriting has been flowing enough to yield material for two new albums. That means a return to the charts may be in the band’s future.

“It’s gonna be so good,” Berkley said of Water Seed’s forthcoming recordings.

“But we’re perfectionists,” Hill added. “We’re refining the songs. We’ll sneak one or two of them on stage and perform them and be like, ‘How did the crowd respond?’ Stay tuned.” O OF F B E AT.C OM

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offeats AMERICAN Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill:1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120

MUSIC ON THE MENU Banks Street Bar & Grill: 4401 Banks St., 486-0258 Buffa’s: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Chickie Wah Wah: 2828 Canal St., 304-4714 BARBECUE Gattuso’s: 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232 368-1114 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068 COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., Dr., 300-1157 895-8117 CREOLE/CAJUN Little Gem Saloon: 445 S. Rampart St., Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 267-4863 Cornet: 700 Bourbon St., 523-1485 Maison: 508 Frenchmen St., 289-5648 Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021 Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486 Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 New Orleans Creole Cookery: 508 NOLA Cantina: 437 Esplanade Ave., Toulouse St., 524-9632 266-2848 Palm Court: 1204 Decatur St., 525-0200 FINE DINING Rivershack Tavern: 3449 River Rd., 834-4938 Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Siberia Lounge: 2227 St. Claude Ave., Ave., 899-8221 265-8865 Josephine Estelle: Ace Hotel, 600 Southport Hall: 200 Monticello Ave., Carondelet St., 930-3070 835-2903 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078 Snug Harbor: 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 FRENCH Three Muses: 536 Frenchmen St., 298-8746 Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899Cake Café: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010 2670 Dat Dog: 601 Frenchmen St., 309-3362; GERMAN 5030 Freret St., 899-6883; 3336 Bratz Y’all: 617-B Piety St., 301-3222 Magazine St., 324-2226 Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant: GROCERY STORES 701 Tchoupitoulas St., 523-8995 Breaux Mart: 3233 Magazine St., 262-6017; Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 2904 Severn Ave. Metarie, 885-5565; 482-3047 9647 Jefferson Hwy. River Ridge, 737Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields 8146; 315 E Judge Perez, Chalmette, Ave., 948-7361 262-0750; 605 Lapalco Blvd., Gretna, Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413 433-0333 Mardi Gras Zone: 2706 Royal St., 947-8787 Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683 INDIAN PIZZA Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797 Midway Pizza: 4725 Freret St., 322-2815 JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/ Pizza Delicious: 617 Piety St., 676-8482 THAI Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525Sukho Thai: 4519 Magazine St., 373-6471; 7437 2200 Royal St., 948-9309 Theo’s Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554; Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433 4024 Canal St., 302-1133; 1212 S Clearview, 733-3803 LOUISIANA / SOUTHERN Mondo: 900 Harrison Ave., 224-2633 SEAFOOD Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 943-3934 569-3380

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MEDITERRANEAN Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115

Deanie’s Seafood: 841 Iberville St., 5811316; 1713 Lake Ave. Metairie, 834-1225

MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/ SPANISH Barú Bistro & Tapas: 3700 Magazine St., 895-2225 El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846; 300 Harrison Ave., 488-0107; 800 S Peters St., 309-8804 Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000

SOUL Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934 VIETNAMESE Namese: 4077 Tulane Ave., 483-8899 WEE HOURS Buffa’s Restaurant & Lounge: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038

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Deanie’s

Review by Michael Dominici

Photo Courtesy of Deanie’s

T

he roots of Deanie’s Seafood go back to 1961, when John and Alma “Deanie” Livacari opened the first seafood market in Bucktown, located where the 17th Street Canal today intersects New Orleans and Metairie by Lake Pontchartrain.

Most locals of this rustic fishing village can recall the picturesque image of the docked fishing boats that lined the canal. The area was known for a string of seafood restaurants ranging from quaint shacks like Sid-Mar’s in Bucktown perched over the lake, to the iconic fish houses Bruning’s and Fitzgerald’s, both across the 17th Canal in West End, New Orleans. The Livicaris sold their business to a team of investors led by Frank and Barbara A. Chifici, who expanded Deanie’s Seafood Market and opened Deanie’s Seafood Restaurant in 1982. (Barbara bought out the remaining investors after Frank passed away in 1985, and continues to run the operation with her children today.)

Already famous for their fresh, local oysters and boiled crabs, shrimp, and crawfish, Deanie’s Seafood Restaurant entered the fray with a litany of classics ranging from fried seafood platters and po-boys, to BBQ

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shrimp, étouffée, stuffed crabs, seafood gumbo, stuffed artichokes, chargrilled oysters, and seasonal specialties such as seafood-stuffed mirliton. From its inception, the restaurant was a big hit with locals and visitors alike including legendary guests such as the late Mac Rebennack, who made a point of dining there during his postKatrina tour of the city on the CBS’ “Sunday Morning” show in 2006.

The dining area at the flagship restaurant in Bucktown remains much how it looked when it first opened, with vintage black and white photographs of Bucktown and “fish art” festooned throughout the room. The newer locations in the French Quarter and in the Garden District are both much larger enterprises, as well as far brighter, more modern, and sleek.

Although the menus vary slightly, they all contain Deanie’s signature dishes.

Appetizers include a stack of buttermilk-battered fried onion rings, breaded artichoke hearts served with marinara, and crabmeat stuffed mushrooms with beurre blanc. The crabmeat au gratin is made with an outstanding velvety cream sauce. Fried crab claws, crabmeat or crawfish balls are also offered. Deanie’s BBQ shrimp is also one of the best versions in town, rendered with spiced compound butter. If you

diningout want to go to crazy town there are crab or crawfish nachos every bit as decadent and delicious as they sound.

However, it’s difficult to pass up the restaurant’s freshlyshucked oysters served raw on the half-shell, or charbroiled with either BBQ butter or Pecorino garlic butter. I kicked up ours with the additional crabmeat and crawfish toppings. In lieu of bread, Deanie’s serves boiled red potatoes, but garlic bread is also available.

Deanie’s also offers classics such as seafood gumbo, chicken and andouille gumbo, crawfish étouffée, and crawfish bisque served with stuffed crawfish heads.

These roux-based delights have that rich, medium thickness, and a savory richness that is perfect.

Salad options range from Caesar to shrimp remoulade; the Uptown location serves its remoulade on top of a wedge salad. The Italian salad is served with marinated artichoke hearts, Provolone cheese, Genoa salami, and olive salad. The Bayou Seafood Salad is served with lump crabmeat, boiled shrimp, artichokes, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, and red onions, with a creamy Parmesan dressing. Our favorite was the baby spinach salad topped with crispy fried oysters, and draped with honey mustard dressing.

The entree selections were daunting. There were so many tempting offerings that you’re going to wish you’d brought a lot of friends. First off, the daily fish selections are offered pretty much any way you like: fried, sautéed, grilled, broiled or blackened, with toppings ranging from fried oysters, to crabmeat, crawfish, or étouffée. Then, there’s the crabmeat-stuffed flounder—a true Bucktown classic. Of course, boiled seafood is featured,

depending on what’s in season; shrimp are available year round, with crawfish and crabs featured seasonally.

Deanie’s is also well known for seafood platters loaded with fried shrimp, catfish, oysters, crawfish balls, and topped with a soft shell crab over a stack of French fries—which, mercifully, is also available as a half-order! Those items can also be served in individual or combo platters. Other classics here include the stuffed crab or the crabmeat-stuffed shrimp.

We also loved the quartet presentations: the crawfish options include bisque, étouffée, crawfish balls, and fried crawfish. The crabmeat quartet included a fried soft shell crab, crab balls, fried crab claws, and crabmeat au gratin.

Po-boys are also available with fried shrimp, oysters, catfish, and even fried crawfish, which are so good! Deanie’s also offers a “seafood boil” white pizza, BBQ shrimp pasta, and an eight-ounce filet mignon, or a 12-ounce ribeye (depending on the location).

Deanie’s is old-school in the best way, proudly showcasing the bounty of our regional seafood offerings in all the ways Bucktown became famous for. Deanie’s did it first, and still does it best. O Deanie’s, 1713 Lake Ave., Metairie, Louisiana 70005, (504) 834-1225; 2200 Magazine St., New Orleans, Louisiana 70130, (504) 962-7760; 841 Iberville St., New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, (504) 581-1316. Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. at Iberville St. Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. until 11 p.m. at Iberville St. To read the complete review of Deanie’s go to Offbeat.com

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reviews CDs reviewed are available now at Louisiana Music Factory 421 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny 504-586-1094 or LouisianaMusicFactory.com

A friend you can travel with about the reassurance that such travels can provide for other parts of your life.

The songs don’t avoid darker topics, from substance abuse to Donald Trump, though the musical context is often more reassuring (and Trump deservedly gets the one angry outburst on the album, “Smoke & Mirrors”).

“Escape” is as frank as any of Osborne’s substance-related Anders Osborne songs, but its chorus, an exuberant Buddha and the Blues “Yeah!” is framed by a Harrison(Back on Dumaine) esque slide guitar—the song is Anders Osborne couldn’t ultimately about the triumph of have released this album at a getting free. The title track, which luckier time: Just as the hit movie offers the two directions one’s “Echo in the Canyon” is creating outlook can take, has another new interest in the fabled Laurel touch of George Harrison in its Canyon singer-songwriter scene, lyric (“Life flows in any which way Osborne has made homage to we choose”), but the graceful that very sound—complete with melody is Osborne’s own. a studio full of familiar session Comparisons to Neil Young, guys backing him up. It amounts Joe Walsh and Tom Petty are to a reminder that classic-model inevitable, since the studio crew singer-songwriter albums are still (drummer/producer Chad being made.

Cromwell, bassist Bob Glaub, One disclaimer though: If guitarist Waddy Wachtel and you’re looking for the kind of keyboardist Benmont Tench) intense confessions and shredding has played with all three—and guitar solos that you heard on I’d add another album Wachtel American Patchwork and its follow was involved with, the Church’s ups, this probably won’t be your Starfish (whose floating psych kind of Anders album. He is, sound is echoed here in “Aching for the most part, in an upbeat For Your Love”). But Osborne’s frame of mind here, the guitars always had a strong lyrical side, are built more on textural layers going back at least to the 2007 than firebrand solos, and the first album Coming Down. And what words he speaks on the album— we’ve got here is still an Osborne “intimate and warm”—clue you album—just a more immediate one that reveals more depth over in on what he’s after. Indeed, the time. It’s a friend that you can advance single “Traveling With Friends” is one of the few flat-out travel with.

—Brett Milano joyful songs in his catalogue; it’s

The New Orleans Catahoulas Homegrown (Independent) Homegrown, The New Orleans Catahoulas’ debut album, is as much the band’s mission statement as it is a collection of expertly executed tunes. The group’s mission is to bring New Orleans R&B back to its classic 1950s and ’60s roots.

Bandleader/bass player Joshua Gouzy has put together an all-star lineup with legendary drummer Gerald French from The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, trumpet player Kevin Louis from Preservation Hall and The Palm Court Jazz Cafe, Earl and Oliver Bonie from The Jazz Vipers on tenor and baritone sax, Steve DeTroy from Walter “Wolfman” Washington’s Roadmasters playing piano, and Bert Cotton from Bonerama and Funk Monkey on guitar. You simply can’t lose with personnel like that.

“High Heel Sneakers,” “Let the Good Times Roll,” “Down Home Girl,” “My Babe,” and “Walking to New Orleans,” are solid, almost legally required choices to introduce the band as a classic

New Orleans R&B outfit. Their version of “Shrimp and Gumbo” is as legit New Orleans as it gets, so is their parade-ready version of “Tootie Ma.” “Bourbon Street Parade” gets a Booker-esque treatment, and Albert “Papa” French’s “Bald Headed Beulah” keeps things all in the French family.

Recorded live at The New Orleans Mint, it’s an infectiously energetic, groovin’ album from a band that is sure to become a fixture in this town.

—Stacey Leigh Bridewell

Mitch Woods A Tip of the Hat to Fats (The Orchard / Blind Pig) This may be the first Fats Domino tribute album to have no original Domino songs on it.

Only three of the tracks here are Fats-associated, and those are all songs he covered (Bobby Charles’ “Walking to New Orleans,” Dave Bartholomew’s “Blue Monday,” and Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya”).

What we’ve really got here is a bunch of first-class players, including a couple Domino band veterans, working out on

When submitting CDs for consideration, please send two copies to OffBeat Reviews, 421 Frenchmen Street, Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116

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cornerstone R&B material, plus a couple of leader Mitch Woods’ originals (one of which is a Professor Longhair tribute that rolls many of his trademark licks into one tune). It’s a straight-up recording of their set at the Jazz Fest last year, including a bunch of stage patter (indexed on separate tracks) that you won’t need to hear more than once.

But there’s a celebratory Jazz Fest ambiance that feeds into the band’s performances—it was opening day at the blues tent and

it feels that way. The sax section (with the Dirty Dozen’s Roger Lewis and a pair of Toussaint mainstays, Amadee Castenell and Breeze Cayolle) gets to trade off some tasty solos on “Blue Monday” and guitarist John Fohl makes the most of the two quick solos he gets, particularly one on “Crawfishin’” that evokes and expands on the original Clarence Garlow record. The rhythm section of Cornell Williams (Jon Cleary) and Terence Higgins (Dirty Dozen, etc.), though

30 year aniversary Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys 30 Years Live!

(Valcour Records) The Rolling Stones band is famous for its freakish longevity, but groups like Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys playing an indigenous, cultural music (read: Cajun) for half that time is still a mind-blowing accomplishment.

Instead of releasing a commemorative CD of previously released material as so many do, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys staged a few 30th anniversary concerts, with its Vermilionville performance netting this clear-as-a-bell live CD. Throughout these 15 tracks, subthemes surface, the first and foremost being cultural identity. On “Allons au Bal de Balfa,” an original paying homage to the influential Balfa Brothers, Riley explains, “Dewey [Balfa] always told me that music is freedom.

Express yourself as you feel /Let people know about who you are /Tell them about the Cajun people, about where we come from / We come from one of the richest cultures in the world.”

Within a few listens, it’s apparent how Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys has evolved its signature sound, which is so unlike most overly-recycled Cajun fare. “La Toussaint,” “Dominos,” and “Eyeball at the Bottom of the Well” have endured the test of time and still sound vibrantly fresh.

But this album is just as much about the present as it is the past.

More than half of it is new recordings of songs, with five originals making their debut. Riley tackles a chapter of Lafayette civic history with the rocky “Freetown,” a song about the downtown neighborhood that once was a plantation but became a community of newly freed slaves and original people of color circa the Civil War. But be forewarned, once the infectious “Tante Lily” gets in your head, it’ll be impossible to forget. After 30 years, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys isn’t about to rest on its laurels. As Riley is prone to say, “Why stop now?”

—Dan Willging

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usually known for funkier stuff, plugs seamlessly into Woods’ vintage groove. Woods’ authoritative playing keeps it all running smoothly, and even he avoids soloing at length until the finale, “House of Blue Lights,” where he takes off as the audience’s handclaps drive him along. No great surprises here—if the songs aren’t familiar, the grooves will be—but you don’t often hear them from a band this good.

—Brett Milano

Tiffany Pollack & Eric Johanson Blues in My Blood (Nola Blue Records) Tiffany Pollack and Eric Johanson are literally long lost cousins who connected later in life. Since both already had their mainstay gigs--Johanson entrenched in blues, and Pollack a jazz singer--they managed to do only two acoustic gigs publicly before embarking on this recording with producer Jack Miele. Instead of replicating their acoustic duo baseline, Miele surrounded them with a full studio band (including keyboardist John Gros) for a bigger, rockier sound. Johanson’s certainly a contributing factor to the attack, with his frequent blazing guitar playing. When he’s not on the electric, he often plays a resonator steel-bodied slide guitar for a mystical delta flavor.

As delightful and non-indulgent Johanson’s playing is, it’s really

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Pollock who’s the heart and soul of these proceedings. She’s an often-stunning vocalist, loaded with uncanny raw power and chilling vibrato, as evidenced by the haunting “Michael,” that’s told from a mortician’s perspective.

Though “Blues in My Blood” has the ambience of a midnight bayou séance, it’s unabashedly autobiographical in nature.

Johanson turns in commendable vocal performances as well, like “Slave of Tomorrow” and the slow-cooking “Memories to Forget” that’s spiced with Johnny Sansone’s burning harmonica solo. “Get Lost With Me” feels like a classic, bluesy standard, with some of Johanson’s most inspired guitar playing. Yet, the album’s biggest surprise is none of the above but the rendition of folk icon Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” that slinks to its own jazzy groove. But enjoy this while you can. Who knows if there will ever be an encore for such a one-off affair?

—Dan Willging

AF THE NAYSAYER PARTS, Act I (Sinking City Records) Amahl Abdul-Khaliq (AF THE NAYSAYER) is like water. His sound is slippery and, like the abstruse function that inspired the first part of his moniker, hard to pin down. It’s also necessary.

The California-born producer first brought his music to Louisiana’s baron electronic landscape during his time at McNeese University

in Lake Charles, when he started making beats on FL Studio. Soon, he was playing live shows and helping to germinate the seeds of an intelligent dance music scene in southwestern Louisiana.

In the early 2010s, he created the Dolo Jazz Suite, a collective of like-minded producers across the state, breathing new life into

a scene dominated by dubstep.

He moved to New Orleans permanently in 2014. He lives a simple, plant-based lifestyle here, producing, bike racing, and teaching the next generation of beatsmiths at the Upbeat Academy.

AF released his debut LP, Armed Wing Battle Unit, in 2016. It’s a

Working her muse Tank and the Bangas Green Balloon (Verve Forecast) We’re used to hearing detailed discussions of cheddar from hip-hop groups—making money, keeping money, spending money—but Tank and the Bangas take it to a whole new level on their sophomore effort. At first the Bangas go through the spectrum and watch every color inevitably turn to green, but before that sinks in, there comes a whole chorus of children (or what sounds like one) happily chanting about getting rich. The last time avarice sounded this wholesome was way back when Kanye’s Graduation trilogy was a thing. But while Yeezy went on about dropping out of the system entirely, T&TB approach their love of money by way of the great American work ethic, a monument to the hustle, side and otherwise. The Bangas have always been good at injecting jazz into contemporary R&B; here, that mix of reflectiveness and street cred works on more than one level. It’s a treatise on not just how to make money, but why.

Bear in mind, it’s a personal journey, as you might expect from a group that’s been walking the fine line between slam poetry and rap flow since their debut. Recorded at ten different studios with five different producers, this could have been a real mess, but it’s not, thanks both to Tarriona “Tank” Ball’s sense of identity and the group’s well-established formula: Fender Rhodes, slap bass, and a jazz shuffle recalibrated just enough to reclaim the street. There’s a lot of navel-gazing going on, as Tank frets constantly over the balance between enjoying life and working her muse, which may be why her whole definition of “green” pivots twice—first in the middle of the album, when she wonders if all those stoned insights are worth the inevitable inertia, and then near the end when things turn personal. She calms the male ego on “Mr. Lion,” seduces with “Smoke, Netflix, Chill,” and she confronts an ex on the gorgeous closing track, a metaphor for winter turning to spring: “You say my leaves ain’t green enough / You say you can’t take that I’ve changed /Weren’t you supposed to do the same?” she purrs. Like any period of growth, learning to survive on your own apparently changes you before you realize it.

Or at least your color.

—Robert Fontenot

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concept album, the soundtrack to a fictional shoot-’em-up arcade game, like the ones he grew up playing. His new EP, the first in a three-act series titled PARTS, takes a different approach. Though still influenced by 8-bit and other video game sounds, PARTS, Act I also incorporates more traditional hip-hop elements, as well as abstract electronic influences such as contemporary minimalist composer Jan Jelinek.

Of the EP’s four tracks, three feature rapped vocals. The opener, “Honey Vinegar,” explodes into a fiery verse from Baton Rouge’s Darby Capital after a minute-long instrumental build-up. The second and fourth tracks, “Whirlpool” and “I Don’t Feel Bad,” feature blistering bars from Taiwanese rappers ILL MO and Formo Sir, respectively. The third track, “Don’t Forget My Energy,” the only song on the project without vocals, is a slick, highly danceable jam that’s comfy for living room listening, and rhythmically engaging enough for club play. Overall, PARTS, Act I is a promising taste of things to come from a veteran rainmaker in Louisiana’s electronic desert.

—Rafael Helfand

Various Artists Funky Funky New Orleans, Volume 6 (Tuff City) When Tuff City began releasing these Funky Funky New Orleans compilations in the late ’90s, every track was a revelation. Any funk enthusiasts who only knew the Meters and Eddie Bo could learn there was a whole lot more where that came from, each track grittier and more whacked-out than the last one. By the time the label got to Volume 5, it was using acetates credited to “Unknown Artist,” and even those tracks were killer.

After a twelve-year break, the series is back—sort of. Volume 6 is a vinyl-only release, clocking in at a scant half-hour, and instead OF F B E AT.C OM

of newly unearthed tracks, we get mostly songs that have been compiled before. There’s one real find, though: “(What’s His Name) Black Samson” is the theme song from a little-known 1974 Blaxploitation movie, which was scored

by Allen Toussaint and featured the Meters throughout, with future short-time Meters member Willie West singing the theme.

It makes you wish for a reissue of the complete soundtrack (if you’re really curious, the whole movie’s on YouTube). Elsewhere there’s more Meters history with George Porter Jr’s late ’70s band Joy Ride—which veers into more expansive P-Funk territory—and the equally short-lived Sam & the Soul Machine, with Zigaboo Modeliste on drums. Eddie Bo’s “Stink Bomb” comes from the ’80s, when he was trying his luck with relatively straight-ahead jazz funk. My favorite track here is probably the least rare one: Robert Parker’s “The Hiccup” was a later and far quirkier attempt to come up with a dance-craze song in the “Barefootin’” vein.

It’s mostly first-class stuff, but aside from the Willie West track, confirmed funkateers will already own most of it. After all these years, there are only so many fresh muthas left in the motherlode.

—Brett Milano

Seth Walker Are you Open?

(Royal Potato Family) Seth Walker’s music, although simple on the outside, can’t really J U LY 2 0 1 9

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be broken down into individual genres easily. It’s more about what style of music allows him to get close and intimate in the moment. He usually settles on some mixture of soul and folk (and, on occasion, reggae) but he seems to be choosing his influences chiefly by the amount of warmth they produce. He’s practically an ASMR trigger all by himself, yet he never seems to be seducing you, just inviting you in.

The title of his new album is itself a reference to the heart (and not, say, GameStop).

Greg’s unshakeable optimism, strangely, often gets him classified as a blues artist—and songs like the funky “Inside” or the wistful closer “Magnolia,” bear this out. Yet it’s precisely the doors closing in his face that give him the blues cred, even as he remains committed to opening them for fake friends (“Inside”), faithless lovers (“No Bird”), fate (“Underdog”), strangers (“Hard Road”), or the cruelty of the entire world (“No More Will I”).

Whichever genre he’s currently dabbling in here, the overarching theme is persistence in the face of all evidence. Or as he puts it on “Inside”: “I can’t turn this thing around.”

—Robert Fontenot

Kid Eggplant and the Melatauns Big Trouble in Little Chalmette (Independent) Musicians in New Orleans wear many hats. Bassist Robert

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Snow makes his bread playing an upright in trad jazz bands, and has fun playing electric bass with King James and the Special Men. Snow also comes from a musical family.

His father, Sidney, who appears on the album, is a well-regarded veteran guitarist around town.

Snow’s songwriting alter ego, Kid Eggplant, has released a selfproduced album showcasing some inventive songs that feature many of the musicians who make up the tight knit Frenchmen Street scene.

However, there are also a couple of tunes on Big Trouble in Little Chalmette that may leave people scratching their heads.

The album kicks off with a bang

with “Caught You Slipping In.” The tune is an instant classic that will have people bopping along from the first notes of Snow’s bass. The theme is universal, a lover who tries to sneak back home without getting caught, but the chord changes and lyrical rhymes make the cut a modern R&B gem.

“Jelly Donut” takes the listener back to the girl group era, complete with supple backing vocals and a stellar guitar solo from Sidney Snow. Robert Snow and Linnzi Zaorski trade lead vocal lines in the style of Shirley and Lee and they both do a wonderful job bringing the listener into a world where love is compared to a variety of pastries, including in this gem of a couplet, “When I first saw you, I had to stop and stare, you reminded me so much of a chocolate éclair.”

The musicianship on the

album is strong across the board with great vocal work from Marla Dixon and sax work from Dominque Grillo, Ted Hefko and Bruce Brackman. But credit has to go to Snow for the songs, which make the record one worth hearing.

—Jay Mazza

Geovane Santos Jobim (Independent) It only makes sense that the city’s best Brazilian jazz guitarist, Spotted Cat mainstay Geovane Santos, would want to do an

album of Antonio Carlos Jobim standards, the ones that introduced bossa-nova to North America in an earlier, hipper time.

And overall, Geovane and his quartet do a solid job at tackling the work of the master: Santos makes his own case with an impressive solo in the middle of “So Danco Samba,” while bassist Nick Benoit duets with him on a funky, twisted “O Morro.”

However, the same can’t be said for Geovane’s voice, which feels too deep, too colorless for the breezy but elegant source material; it almost seems to weigh

Love and Loss Carlo Ditta Hungry for Love (Orleans Records) Carlo Ditta has been a producer for more than 30 years; his company, Orleans Records, specializes in blues, R&B, jazz, soul, and funk by “overlooked or under-recorded artists whose works are now recognized as important, and colorful strains of the rich musical fabric of New Orleans,” according to John Sinclair, the insurgent poet and frequent Ditta collaborator. But Ditta, also a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, didn’t make his debut as a solo artist until 2014, with What I’m Talkin’ About. His new album, Hungry for Love, explores the varieties and vagaries of love romantic, erotic, parental, and spiritual. “We’re all hungry for love, we’re all lonely inside,” Ditta says. “All the songs have something to do with love and loss. It’s an album of longing to understand love.”

Like its predecessor, Hungry for Love is a self-produced mix of Ditta originals—the steamy title track and four others—and covers both familiar (Earl Stanley’s “A Gypsy Woman Told Me,” and the 1965 proto-funk classic “Pass the Hatchet”) and obscure (John Fred and His Playboy Band’s “Agnes English”), and one traditional number, “The House of the Rising Sun,” a staple of Ditta’s live performances.

The album is steeped in the R&B and funk of the records that came out of Cosimo Matassa’s studios in the ’50s and ’60s, but it sounds fresh, contemporary, and utterly personal. Ditta’s sidemen include veterans he’s worked with for years, in the studio and on stage—Earl Stanley on bass; saxophonists Andrew Bernard, Jerry Jumonville, and Johnny Pennino; Rick Stelma on keyboards; and, on drums, Anthony Donado and Freddy Staehle. Backed by these ace players, Ditta delivers personality-plus vocals that vividly express the songs’ varied moods: horny, yearning, amused, and anguished. A late bloomer as a recording artist, Carlo Ditta has more than made up for lost time.

—George de Stefano

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too complicated for that beat.

If you’re just thirsty for new versions of “Agua de Beber” and “Wave,” on the other hand, this will tide you over.

in 2018, it includes stellar performances, bringing the listener right in front of this incredible band.

Led by guitarist Alvin Lee with his brothers Keith and —Robert Fontenot Derrick on lead vocals, the band includes pedal steel guitarist Chris The Lee Boys Johnson, and Lee nephews Alvin Live on the East Coast “Little Al” Cordy Jr. on six-string (M.C. Records) bass and Earl “Big Easy” Walker When sacred steel music first on drums. Together, the Lee Boys appeared on the secular circuit, it and took over the jam band positively rip. these standards down, an obsertook many listeners by surprise.

The album features mostly community. Seeing and hearing vation borne out by the presence How was it possible so many gospel standards, all arranged by this music live is the only way of singer Gio Blackman on four people had never heard the the brothers in their inimitable to appreciate the deep connectracks, including “Once I Loved,” amazing guitar players who make style, along with a few originals. tions between spirituality and and an excellent “How Insenup the tight-knit community of There are a few spoken word sitive.” (Evan Oberla’s trombone musicians coming out of the small music that are the hallmark of the asides, my favorite being when also feels a little tentative.)

House of God religious denomi- sacred tradition. one of the brothers introduces That’s why this latest addition Sometimes the new ideas work, nation? We don’t have enough the standard, “Don’t Let the Devil to the catalog of the Lee Boys, like hearing “Triste” transformed space to get into that.

Ride,” by saying, “We gonna give the group’s first release since into an intriguing bop shuffle, But once the musicians, led y’all a little bit of the blues.” This is Testify in 2012, is so important but the closing reggae version of by the Lee Boys and Robert blues from another mother, and “Girl from Ipanema” is a serious Randolph, began playing nightfor understanding the genre. deserves to be played loudly. misstep: the changes are just clubs and festivals, they invaded —Jay Mazza Recorded live at three concerts

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Harold Steinitz and Dave Thomas Wheels Up! (Independent) The title and cover of this duo’s latest album suggests some ethereal experience—but maybe a boat would work better than a plane, since most of these tunes would make great yacht rock: mellow, soulful, satisfying, and deceptively simple on the surface.

Break this baker’s dozen of tunes down though, and there’s a jukebox full of musical styles coexisting here, deftly wrapped around each other like pigs in a blanket.

It’s a little stupefying to plot just how openly and brazenly they tie their influences together.

The title track alone sounds like prime Todd Rundgren with Santana solos and Chicago’s horn section. “Invisible” is “Walk, Don’t Run” filtered through “Driver’s Seat.” “Days to Remember” has the feel of John Lennon taking on “Homeward Bound.” “End of the Rope” comes off like Alice Cooper (the band) covering “Harlem Nocturne.” And it just goes on like that. In fact, if you factor the lyrics into the oldies mixtape, you get Dad-rock: lectures, tributes to rock and roll, complaining about aging, the whole thing. (There’s even a risqué Dad joke in there, which I am not at liberty to discuss here.)

—Robert Fontenot

Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters Aye Cher Catin (Fruge Records) Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters’ Aye Cher Catin is the group’s third official offering on the Michiganbased Fruge Records that is coincidentally helmed by Cane Cutters’ guitarist Mark Palms. But unlike Hall’s previous releases on Fruge Records, this one benefitted by being recorded at Palms’ Michigan studio, alleviating the need to lug recording equipment to South Louisiana

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as in the past. Given the luxury of added, unhurried time, these eight tracks could be the finest yet recorded by the husky-voiced Creole powerhouse accordionist, who plays with incredible ornamentation.

The proceedings practically explode out of the chute with “Un Jour Avnir Tu Vas Souffert,” and Hall’s own road cruiser concoction “Between Eunice & Mamou.” Interestingly, the latter features a couple of breakdowns where the rhythm section drops out, leaving Hall and fiddler Marshall Baker to play the intricate melody in unison.

Eventually, Palms joins in with his nimble finger picking, floating across the strings like a ballerina.

Forest Huval also plays twin fiddles with Baker.

Propelled by Paul Lavan’s whipping snare and Carol Palms’ unifying acoustic bass plucking, Hall salutes his heroes on several tracks. “Creole Medley” strings together “Soileau Two-Step,” “Zydeco Gris Gris,” and “Shoe Fly” into a tip of the hat to Carlton Frank, “Bois Sec” Ardoin, and Freeman Fontenot, respectively. The melodic “Un Jour Avnir Tu Vas Souffert” comes from the recently departed Nolton Semien, while the title track was a tune of grandfather Clement “King” Ned, who was recorded by the Library of Congress. Hall maybe taking throwback Creole music to new heights, but only with the realization he’s part of a proud, rich tradition.

—Dan Willging

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express These listings are abbreviated. For complete daily listings, go to offbeat.com.

These listings were verified at the time of publication, but are of course subject to change. To get your event listed, go to offbeat.com/add-newlistings or send an email to listings@offbeat.com.

AF African AM Americana BL Blues BU Bluegrass BO Bounce BB Brass Band BQ Burlesque KJ Cajun CL Classical CR Classic Rock CO Comedy CW Country CB Cover Band DN Dance DX Dixieland DB Dubstep EL Electro FO Folk

FK Funk GS Gospel GY Gypsy HH Hip-Hop HS House IN Indian Classical ID Indie Rock IL Industrial IR Irish JB Jam Band MJ Jazz Contemporary TJ Jazz Traditional JV Jazz Variety KR Karaoke KZ Klezmer LT Latin MG Mardi Gras Indian ME Metal

FRIDAY JUNE 28 Buffa’s: Gordon Towell (VR) 6p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole (KJ) 10p Dmac’s: Hyperphlyy (CW) 9p Fillmore: Steel Panther (RK) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (FO) 7p Jazz Playhouse: Chucky C and Clearly Blue (JV) 7:30p,Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye (BQ) 11p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub:Tim Robertson (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p New Orleans Creole Cookery: the RikTones (JV) 6p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Royal Frenchmen Hotel: Monty Banks (JV) 6p, Amanda Ducorbier (JV) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Bad Penny Pleasuremakers (PI) 5p, Ingrid Lucia Trio (JV) 8p, Andre Lovett and Medicine Man (RB) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Brass and Beats: Kings of Brass with DJ Raj Smoove (BB) 9:30p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Free Friday Concert Series feat.

Khris Royal and Dark Matter, Gravy (VR) 10p SATURDAY JUNE 29 Buffa’s: Jerry Jumonville and the Jump City Jammers (JV) 6p, Marc Stone (BL) 9p OF F B E AT.C OM

RB Modern R&B PO Pop PK Punk RE Reggae RC Rockabilly RK Rock RR Roots Rock SS Singer/Songwriter SK Ska PI Solo Piano SO Soul SW Spoken Word SP Swamp Pop SI Swing VR Variety ZY Zydeco

d.b.a.: Steve DeTroy and the Swing Revue (JV) 4:30p, Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Dmac’s: Bob Worth and the Annunciators (BL) 9p Dos Jefes: Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots (ZY) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Mighty Brothers (ID) 7p, Matt Scott (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf:Taylor Williamson (CO) 7p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Dave Hickey (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Brass with Mark Braud (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Louisiana Spice (VR) 9:30p Royal Frenchmen Hotel: Monty Banks (JV) 6p, Hyperphlyy (VR) 9p Saenger Theatre: Rob Thomas (RK) 7p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, the Catahoulas (JV) 10p Starlight: Heidijo (RB) 5p, Anais St. John (JV) 8p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ RQ Away presents Happy Feelins with Tonya-Boyd Cannon (SO) 9:30p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p

SUNDAY JUNE 30 AllWays Lounge:Tom Saunders and the Hot Cats (TJ) 9p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (SI) 7p, Carlo

Find complete listings at offbeat.com—when you’re out, use offbeat.com/mobile for full listings on any cell phone.

Ditta Band feat. Freddie Stahle CD-release show (VR) 10p Fillmore: Drag Diva Brunch (VR) 10:30a Gasa Gasa: OK Mayday (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge:TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Royal Frenchmen Hotel: Jamie Lynn Vessels (RK) 8p Snug Harbor: Jonathan Freilich Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Giselle Anguizola and the Swinging Gypsies (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight:Tango hosted by Valerie Hart (LT) 7p, Gabrielle Cavassa Band (JV) 8p, Gabrielle Cavassa’s Jazz Jam (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p

MONDAY JULY 1 Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay and Charlie Wooton (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (VR) 8p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (VR) 7p Dmac’s: Danny Alexander’s Blues Jam (BL) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Hugh Morrison (FO) 8p Live Oak Café:Valerie Sassyfras’ Birthday Bash (VR) 10:30a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p One Eyed Jacks: Blind Texas Marlin (VR) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nola Swing Dance Connection with DJ Twggs (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: St. Louis Slim (JV) 5p, Leo Forde (JV) 7p TUESDAY JULY 2 Buffa’s:Tacos,Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p d.b.a.:Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Deutsches Haus: Kulturabend feat.

Catherine Anderson and Kyle Anderson (VR) 7p Dmac’s: Ryan Scott Long and friends (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 9p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement

(JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Maison: Sidewalk Swing, Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 4p Snug Harbor: Kyle Roussel Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight:Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Goodnight Starlight with Asher Danziger (FO) 9p, Mandi Strachata (RK) 10p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (FO) 5p, Arsene DeLay (SO) 7p

WEDNESDAY JULY 3 Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Bullet’s:Treme Brass Band (BB) 7p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p d.b.a.:Tin Men (RR) 7p,Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Michael Liuzza (JV) 6p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub:Will Dickerson (FO) 8p Maison: Frenchmen Street Jazz Collective, Jazz Vipers, DJ Stormy’s Essence of AlgiersEssence Fest Kick-off, Jason Neville and the Funky Soul Band (VR) 4p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas (ZY) 8p Saenger Theatre: French Quarter Comedy Show feat. DeRay Davis, Michael Blackson, DC Young Fly (CO) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Superknown: A Tribute to Soundgarden, Skin and Bones: A Foo Fighters Experience (RK) 8p; Deck Room: Mrz Crowley (VR) 7:30p Starlight: Davis Rogan (PI) 5p, Nanci Zhang (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Jam (JV) 11p THURSDAY JULY 4 Buffa’s: Dianimal and the Wild Children (JV) 5p,Tom McDermott and Meryl Zimmerman (JV) 8p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (FK) 7p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dmac’s: Jam Night with the Brothers Keegan (RK) 8p House of Blues: the Welcome Affair (RB) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Brass-A-Holics (BB) 8:30p J U LY 2 0 1 9

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express Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Republic: Essence Festival After Dark: Women in Hip Hop feat.Yo-Yo, Rapsody, Trina, Mumu Fresh, DJ Rock, DJ Jermaine (HH) 10p Saenger Theatre: Kevin Gates (HH) 10:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Peter Nu (JV) 6p, Old Riley’s Juke Joint feat.Will Gantrim Band (BL) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Essentials for Essence Fest (VR) 7p

FRIDAY JULY 5 Buffa’s: Davis Rogan (VR) 6p, Krewe Collective (JV) 9p d.b.a.: Swinging Gypsies (JV) 6p, Happy Talk Band, Meschiya Lake (RK) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Kaylin Gabrielle (SS) 7p House of Blues:Trap Karaoke (VR) 8p, D’usse Palooza (VR) 11:59p Howlin’ Wolf: Essence After Dark Presents the Come Up feat. Danileigh, Nicole Bus, Angelica Vila and Bri Steves (HH) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell Jazz Quartet (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Hugh Morrison (FO) 4p Le Bon Temps Roule:Tom McDermott (PI) 7p Orpheum Theater: the Read (VR) 6p, Herlarious presented by Kym Whitely (CO) 11p Republic: Essence Festival After Dark: Reggae X feat. AfrobeatSpice, Rotini, Machel Montano, Kranium, Nick and Navi, Rafiya, Wale, Shacia Marley, Max Glazer (RE) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (SI) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Quiana Lynell (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Essentials for Essence Fest (VR) 7p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Brian Coogan Trio (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Free Friday Concert Series feat.

Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters, Marc Stone Band (BL) 10p SATURDAY JULY 6 Buffa’s:Tchoupsley (VR) 6p, Jamie Bernstein’s Yakameiniacs feat. Dave Easley and Adrian Eggleston (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Fillmore:Trap Bingo Does the Fest: the Brunch Edition (VR) 11a, Colors presents

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R&B Only with Dauche and Jabari (RB) 8p

One Eyed Jacks: Marina Orchestra (VR) 9p

House of Blues (Foundation Room): Brandon Republic: Essence Festival After Dark: Tarell (SO) 8p, Felice Gee (AF) 11p Beats and Bounce feat. Big Freedia, Soul House of Blues (the Parish): Slim Thug (HH) Rebels, Mannie Fresh, DJ Niena Drake (HH) 10p 8p Snug Harbor: Betty Shirley and Will House of Blues: Damn That DJ Made My Day Party By Mannie Fresh (RB) 2p, Grits & Thompson Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Biscuits: A Dirty South Set (VR) 9p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Essentials for Essence Fest (VR) 7p Howlin’ Wolf: Essence After Dark Presents Femme Fatales feat. Dreezy,Young M.A. and Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the DJ Niena Drake (HH) 10p Clementines (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p

MONDAY JULY 8 Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay and Charlie Wooton (VR) 5p, Dayna Kurtz (VR) 8p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (VR) 7p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Old Point Bar: Dana Abbott (RK) 9:30p Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Uhh Yeah Dude Podcast Joy Theater: Reel Big Fish, the Aquabats, Dog (VR) 8:30p Party (VR) 8p Orpheum Theater: Dead Ass with K and D Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p (VR) 6:30p, Mike Epps and friends (VR) 11p Republic: Essence Festival After Dark:Teddy’s Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p JamGuy, Blackstreet, DJ M.O.S. (HH) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Top Cats (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Donald Harrison Quintet (JV) Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p 8 & 10p One Eyed Jacks: Blind Texas Marlin (VR) Starlight: Heidijo (RB) 5p, Bobbi Rae (RB) 8p, 10p Nondi and Mykia Jovan (SO) 10p, Kathryn Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nola Swing Dance Rose Wood (SS) 11p Connection with DJ Twggs (SI) 7p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Essentials for Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) Essence Fest (VR) 7p 8 & 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Meschiya Starlight:Wrong House (PI) 6p, Greg Hill Lake (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p (RC) 9p Tipitina’s: Rakim, Soul Rebels, Alfred Banks Three Keys (Ace Hotel):Too Trill Trivia with (FK) 10p Eric and Terri (VR) 6p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p, Washboard Rodeo (JV) 7p SUNDAY JULY 7 Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 11a, Pfister Sisters (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet TUESDAY JULY 9 (JV) 7p Buffa’s:Talking to New Orleans with Arsene d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Jason DeLay (VR) 7p Neville Funky Soul Band CD-release show d.b.a.:Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p (FK) 10p Dmac’s:Walter “Wolfman” Washington (BL) Dmac’s: Black Suit Brigade (RK) 8p Ellis Marsalis Center For Music: Andrew 9p Baham Community Concert (JV) 6p Fillmore: Drag Diva Brunch (VR) 10:30a House of Blues: Backyard Band: Bringing DC Gasa Gasa: A Place Beyond Giants (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast Go-Go to NOLA (VR) 10p (CO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band Howlin’ Wolf (the Porch): Devin the Dude (BB) 10p (HH) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Essence After Dark presents Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement the Lituation feat. Christian Combs, August (JV) 8p Alsina, Oswin Benjamin, Shawn Smith (HH) 10p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge:TBC Brass Snug Harbor: David Torkanowsky Trio (JV) Band (BB) 6p 8 & 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Starlight: Kaycie Sutherfield and Sarah Old Point Bar: Gregg Martinez (RK) 3:30p, Jordan (FO) 9p, Goodnight Starlight with Sunday Night Jazz Jam (JV) 7p Asher Danziger and Ajai (FO) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 4p

Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillainaires, Eight Dice Cloth, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 4p, Big Easy Brawlers, Next Level, Girls Trip Weekend with DJ Mannie Fresh (VR) 10p

WEDNESDAY JULY 10 Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Bullet’s:Treme Brass Band (BB) 7p d.b.a.:Tin Men (RK) 7p,Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Gasa Gasa: Andrew Duhon, Julie Odell, Travers Geoffray (SS) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Dylan LeBlanc, Erin Rae, Kristin Diable (VR) 8p,Vixens and Vinyl (VR) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Terrance “Hollywood” Taplin (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Pierce Penniless (VR) 7:30p Starlight: Glenn Hartman (PI) 5p, Sweet Magnolia Jazz Band (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Jam (JV) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel):Think Less, Hear More (VR) 8p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p THURSDAY JULY 11 Buffa’s: Carmela Rappazzo (JV) 5p, Connections with Darcy Malone and guests (VR) 8p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (FK) 7p d.b.a.: Funk Monkey (FK) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Shawan Rice (SO) 6p House of Blues (the Parish):The Steel Woods (RK) 7p House of Blues: New Found Glory (PK) 6:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub:Will Dickerson (FO) 8p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Horace Trahan and Ossun Express (ZY) 8p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Nahum Zdybel Trio (JV) 5p, Ingrid Lucia (JV) 8p, Old Riley’s Juke Joint feat.

Scott Craver and Doc Lovett (BL) 10p, Buddy Conway Band (BL) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Harlequeen presents Honor Thy Mother (VR) 9p Three Muses: Brian Coogan (JV) 5p, Miss Sophie Lee Band (JV) 8p Vaughan’s Lounge: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p O F F B E AT. C O M

FRIDAY JULY 12 Bacchanal:Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p,Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Meryl Zimmerman (JV) 6p, Greg Schatz (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, 101 Runners (MG) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (FO) 7p House of Blues (the Parish): Divas Welcome Party (RB) 10p House of Blues: Long Beach Dub Allstars, the Aggrolities, Mike Pinto (PK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Boogie For Your Right: An Event Supporting the Right To Choose feat.

DJ Soul Sister, Miss Mojo,Valerie Sassyfras and others (VR) 8p Jazz Playhouse: Chucky C and Clearly Blue (JV) 7:30p,Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye (BQ) 11p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Van Hudson and Paul Ferguson (FO) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Melt House Productions presents A Tribute to Roky Erickson (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Contraflow (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): 1Social and Red Clay Soul present the Living Room Experience (JV) 9p Three Muses: Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Free Friday Concert Series feat.

John “Papa” Gros, Space and Harmony (VR) 10p SATURDAY JULY 13 Buffa’s: Freddie Blue’s Birthday Benefit Bash for NOLA Grannies Respond (VR) 6p, Larry Scala Trio with Steve DeTroy and Josh Gouzy (JV) 9p d.b.a.: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Dmac’s: Johnny No (BL) 9p Dos Jefes: Ashley Beach and the Odd Ditties (BL) 10p Fillmore: Kirk Franklin (VR) 7p Gasa Gasa: Party Nails, Rodes Rollins, Baby Bats, Doctors (ID) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Gabrielle Cavassa Quartet (JV) 7p Howlin’ Wolf: My Best Friend: the Game Show (CO) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Phish Livestream (VR) 7p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub:Vali Talbot (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Snug Harbor: Dr. Michael White and Liberty OF F B E AT.C OM

Jazz Band (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Heidijo (RB) 5p, Cecile Savage (JV) 8p, St. Roch Syncopators (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): NOJO 7 (JV) 9:30p, DJ Chris Stylez (VR) 11:59p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p

SUNDAY JULY 14 AllWays Lounge: Sabertooth Swing (TJ) 9p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, John Zarsky and the Tradstars (JV) 4:30p, Noah Young (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 11a, Al Farrell (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p,Tree Adams and the Nola Dag Squad (VR) 10p Fillmore: Drag Diva Brunch (VR) 10:30a, Prettymuch (PO) 6p Gasa Gasa: Drugdealer, Silver Synthetic (ID) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge:TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p Snug Harbor: Mike Jenner’s Tribute to Eric Traub (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Steve DeTroy Trio (JV) 5p, Gabrielle Cavassa Band (JV) 8p, Gabrielle Cavassa’s Jazz Jam (JV) 10p Superdome: the Rolling Stones (CR) 7:30p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p MONDAY JULY 15 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Georgi Petrov (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay and Charlie Wooton (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (VR) 8p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 10p Gasa Gasa: Rarity,West Means Home, Hey Thanks (RK) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub:Will Dickerson (FO) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nola Swing Dance Connection with DJ Twggs (SI) 7p Saenger Theatre:Yes (CR) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight:Will Feinberg (JV) 5p, Music Trivia (VR) 8p Three Keys (Ace Hotel):Too Trill Trivia with Eric and Terri (VR) 6p Three Muses: St. Louis Slim (JV) 5p, Leo Forde (JV) 7p TUESDAY JULY 16 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Nutria J U LY 2 0 1 9

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express (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s:Treme Tuesdays with Paul Sanchez (VR) 7p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p,Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Dmac’s: Kennedy Kuntz and Matt Schultz (SO) 8p Dos Jefes: Mark Coleman Trio (JV) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Maison: Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 6:30p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: James McClaskey and his Rhythm Band (JV) 6p, Goodnight Starlight with Asher Danziger (FO) 9p, Morgan Orion (RK) 10p

WEDNESDAY JULY 17 d.b.a.:Tin Men (RK) 7p,Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dmac’s: Ace Carlson (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Ever More Nest, James Rose’s Single-release show (FO) 8p Joy Theater: Built to Spill, Orua,Wetface (RK) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p Maison: Jazz Vipers, Jason Neville and the Funky Soul Band (VR) 6:30p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (SI) 8p Smoothie King Center: Michael Buble (SS) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Terrance “Hollywood” Taplin (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: the Fabulous Von Zippers (VR) 8p Starlight: Elephant’s Gerald (JV) 5p, Nanci Zhang (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Jam (JV) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): SONO presents the Shape of Jazz to Come (JV) 9p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Schatzy (VR) 7p Tipitina’s: Black Joe Lewis,Walker Lukens (VR) 9p THURSDAY JULY 18 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Charlie and the Calypsonians (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s:Tiffany Pollack and John Fohl (VR) 5p, Connections with Darcy Malone and guests (VR) 8p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (FK) 7p

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House of Blues: Howard Jones, Men Without Hats, All Hail the Silence (RK) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Brass-A-Holics (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub:Vincent Marini (FO) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie (ZY) 8p Snug Harbor: Ed Petersen and the Test (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Orphaned in Storyville (JV) 5p, Kyle Cripps (RB) 8p, Old Riley’s Juke Joint, 19th Street Red (BL) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): the Parlour with Mykia Jovan (SO) 8p Three Muses: Brian Coogan (JV) 5p, Arsene DeLay (JV) 7p Vaughan’s Lounge: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY JULY 19 Bacchanal:Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p,Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Calvin Johnson and Native Son (JV) 6p, Charlie Wooton (VR) 9p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p d.b.a.: Cha Wa (MG) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Lulu and the Broadsides (SO) 8p, Funky Sole NOLA (FK) 11p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (FO) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Black Laurel (RK) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell (JV) 7:30p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye (BQ) 11p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p,Will Dickerson (FO) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: 84:Tribute to Van Halen (RK) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Green Jello, Misled, the Angry 88, DeadCentered (VR) 8p; Deck Room: Throwing Silk (VR) 9p Starlight: Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 8p, Sweet Magnolia Jazz Band (JV) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Late Night Snacks with DJ G-Cue (VR) 11p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Free Friday Concert Series feat.

Honey Island Swamp Band, the New Orleans Johnnys (VR) 10p SATURDAY JULY 20 Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Red

Organ Trio (JV) 4p, Steve Lands (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: the Royal Rounders (VR) 6p, Mike Doussan (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Big Sam’s Funky Nation (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): Smithmas in July with the Gentlemen Commoners (VR) 8p House of Blues: Bustout Burlesque (BQ) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Porch): Quarx, Ice Station Zebra (RK) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 6p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p New Orleans Creole Cookery: Ed Barrett Trio (JV) 6p Snug Harbor:Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Clementine Quintet (JV) 5p, Gal Holiday (CW) 8p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): La Noche Caliente with Muevelo and Mambo Orleans (LT) 9p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Meschiya Lake (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Mo’ Fess Band feat. Earl Gordon, Keith Stone,Tom Worrell,Tony Dagradi, Lance Ellis, Reggie Scanlan and Alfred Roberts (FK) 9p

SUNDAY JULY 21 AllWays Lounge: Secondhand Street Band (TJ) 9p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, John Zarsky and the Tradstars (JV) 4:30p, Noah Young (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (JV) 11a, Molly Reeves and Nahum Zdybel (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p,Tree Adams and the Nola Dag Squad (VR) 10p Fillmore: Drag Diva Brunch (VR) 10:30a Gasa Gasa: the Royal Hounds, Noah Adams (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge:TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub:Will Dickerson (FO) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Remembering Woodstock: the Glory Rhodes (CR) 2p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Orphaned in Storyville (JV) 5p, Gabrielle Cavassa Band (JV) 8p, Gabrielle Cavassa’s Jazz Jam (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p

MONDAY JULY 22 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Georgi Petrov (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay and Charlie Wooton (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (VR) 8p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Man Man, Rebecca Black (RK) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Part Time, Gary Wilson (VR) 8p, Blind Texas Marlin (VR) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nola Swing Dance Connection with DJ Twggs (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Andre Bohren (PI) 5p, Music Trivia (VR) 8p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Simple Play Networking Happy Hour (VR) 5p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 7p TUESDAY JULY 23 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Nutria (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Piano Players Rarely Play together feat. Josh Paxton and Tom Worrell (VR) 7p d.b.a.:Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Gasa Gasa: Bonehart Flannigan, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Little Death (FO) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: CommonTone Music Series feat. Steve Walch and the Sonic Frontier (MJ) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Eyes Set to Kill (ME) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 9p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Maison: Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 6:30p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Joey Van Leeuwen (JV) 6p, Nick Crook and Morgan Orion (RK) 9p, Goodnight Starlight with Asher Danziger (FO) 10p WEDNESDAY JULY 24 d.b.a.:Tin Men (RK) 7p,Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p O F F B E AT. C O M

House of Blues (Foundation Room): Michael Liuzza (JV) 6p

Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p

Creole feat. Louis Michot (KJ) 10p

Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (FK) 8:30p

Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p

Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Road Runners (ZY) 8p

Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Van Hudson (FO) 9p

Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Dr. Rock (VR) 8p Starlight: Glenn Hartman (PI) 5p, Sweet Magnolia Jazz Band (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Jam (JV) 11p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p

THURSDAY JULY 25 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow Trio (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Berthena (JV) 5p, Connections with Darcy Malone and guests (VR) 8p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (FK) 7p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p

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Snug Harbor: Denise Mangiardi and Michael Pellera Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Peter Nu (KV) 5p, Rathbone (PI) 8p, Old Riley’s Juke Joint feat. Johnny Mastro and Smokehouse Brown (BL) 10p

Dmac’s: Hyperphlyy (CW) 9p

One Eyed Jacks: DJ Soul Sister presents Soulful Takeover (FK) 10p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall:Wonderwall: A Tribute to Oasis (VR) 8p

Three Keys (Ace Hotel): AfroXotica with Andrea Peoples (VR) 9:30p

Spotted Cat:Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6:30p

Three Muses: Brian Coogan (JV) 5p, Miss Sophie Lee Band (VR) 8p

Starlight: Bad Penny Pleasuremakers (FO) 5p, Ingrid Lucia (JV) 8p, Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (BL) 11p

Vaughan’s Lounge: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY JULY 26 Bacchanal:Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p,Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Michael Pellera (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: HG Breland (VR) 5p, Margie Perez (SO) 9p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p d.b.a.: Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 6p, Soul

Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Brass and Beats: Kings of Brass with DJ Raj Smoove (BB) 8:30p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Free Friday Concert Series feat.

New Orleans Suspects, the Crooked Vines (VR) 10p

SATURDAY JULY 27 d.b.a.: Sweet Crude (ID) 11p Fillmore: Chelsea Handler (CO) 6p

Gasa Gasa: Mangata, the Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors,Vetus Morbus (RK) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Brigette Bruno (JV) 6p House of Blues: New Orleans Beatles Festival (CR) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Flesh Parade, the Void, Pussyrot, Southern Brutality (ME) 8p Joy Theater: Rufus Du Sol,Willaris K. (VR) 9p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub:Will Dickerson (FO) 5p, Lynn Drury (FO) 9p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ RQ Away presents Happy Feelins (VR) 9:30p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p

SUNDAY JULY 28 AllWays Lounge: New Orleans Swing Consensus (TJ) 9p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, John Zarsky and the Tradstars (JV) 4:30p, Noah Young (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 11a, Jeanne-

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express Marie Harris (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Tree Adams and the Nola Dag Squad (VR) 10p

Samurai (ID) 10p

Buffa’s: Loose Cattle (VR) 7p

Retirement Party, the Obsessives (RK) 9p

Dmac’s: Danny Alexander’s Blues Jam (BL) 8p

Champions Square: Bush, Live, Our Lady Peace (RK) 7p

House of Blues (Foundation Room): Michael Liuzza (JV) 6p Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (FK) 8:30p

Dos Jefes: John Fohl (BL) 9p

d.b.a.:Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p

Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p

Gasa Gasa: Brianna Musco, Kuwaisiana, the Bummers (ID) 9p

Dmac’s: Ryan Scott Long and friends (RK) 8p

Fillmore: Drag Diva Brunch (VR) 10:30a

Hi-Ho Lounge: No Frets feat. Amine Boucetta (VR) 6p, Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Americana Music Series (FO) 10p

Dos Jefes: Mark Coleman Trio (JV) 9p

Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p

Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p

Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge:TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p

Fillmore: Carly Rae Jepsen (PO) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 9p

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p

Kerry Irish Pub: Hugh Morrison (FO) 8p

Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p

Snug Harbor: James Singleton Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p

Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nola Swing Dance Connection with DJ Twggs (SI) 7p

Starlight: Peter Nu (JV) 6p, Morgan Orion and special guests (RK) 9p

Starlight: Susanne Ortner and Michael Ward Bergeman (JV) 5p, Tango with Valorie Hart (LT) 7p, Gabrielle Cavassa Band (JV) 8p, Gabrielle Cavassa’s Jazz Jam (JV) 10p

Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p

One Eyed Jacks: Delta Revelry, Roadside Glorious,Them ol’ Ghosts (VR) 9p

Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p

MONDAY JULY 29 d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Alexis and the

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Starlight: Greg Schatz (VR) 5p, Music Trivia (VR) 8p Three Muses: Keith Burnstein (JV) 5p, Joe Cabral (VR) 7p

TUESDAY JULY 30 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Nutria (JV) 7:30p

WEDNESDAY JULY 31 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow Trio (JV) 7:30p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Gasa Gasa: Prince Daddy and the Hyena,

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Terrance “Hollywood” Taplin (JV) 8 & 10p Starlight: Elephant’s Gerald (PI) 5p, Nanci Zhang (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Jam (JV) 11p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (JV) 5p, Matt Bell and Joy Patterson (JV) 7p

FESTIVALS July 4 The 4th Fest in Crescent Park includes live music, food and drinks and a view of the dueling-barge fireworks. FrenchMarket.org July 5-7 The annual Essence Festival features live music performances, keynote speakers, expos and a conference. Essence.com/ Festival

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backtalk

heila E. was just five years old when she took to the stage for the first time to accompany her father, the famed Latin percussionist Pete Escovedo and his band at a ballroom gig in New York City.

“The cymbals vibrated through my body and the timbales shook my bones,” she writes in her 2014 memoir The Beat of My Own Drum, which chronicles the darkest and brightest moments of her life. “Like my father, I didn’t read music. I just played by the instinct deep in my gut. I played from my heart.”

Given her talent and lineage, it was all but inevitable that the future star would carry on in the family tradition. Her two brothers, Juan and Peter Michael Escovedo, also got their start playing in their father’s band. Her uncle Coke Escovedo, also a percussionist, performed with artists like Cal Tjader, Malo, and Santana.

Another of her uncles, Alejandro Escovedo, went off in an entirely different direction, playing in punk bands like The Nuns and The Zeros, then moving on to alt-country terrain with his old band the True Believers, and solo works like The Crossing, a 2018 concept album that documents the immigrant experience.

Yet, of all the Escovedo clan, it was Sheila E. who would go on to become a household name. After honing her jazz chops with George Duke, with whom she played for the better part of a decade, she hooked up with Prince at the height of his ’80s chart success. She joined his band just in time to be featured on 1984’s Purple Rain, not only as percussionist, but also as the featured vocalist singing lines like “We can funk until the dawn” on “Erotic City.”

(Actually, while Sheila E. Has always insisted the four-letter word was, in fact, “funk,” some FCC-fearing radio programming directors heard it differFamily Stone’s “Everyday People,” and The Pointer Sisters’ “Yes We ently, resulting in the subsequent release of an edited version.)

Can, Can.” That same year, Warner Bros released Sheila E.’s solo OffBeat recently caught up with Sheila E. to talk about her album The Glamorous Life. Its title track, which was written upcoming appearance at the Essence Festival, her unique and co-produced by Prince, reached the Top 10, earned two musical trajectory, and her personal experience with conquering Grammy nominations, and established her as a bandleader in her childhood demons. own right.

You’ve got a lot of musical history to draw upon when In the years since, Sheila E. has continued to release singles it comes to putting together a set. What can we expect to and albums on her own, while working as a percussionist with hear during your Essence Festival performance? an impressive list of artists that includes the pop star Beyonce, There’ll be old songs and new songs. I have a couple of and soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer. Her last album, 2017’s singles that are coming out as well, so we’ll be playing those.

Iconic Message 4 America, found the artist singing about today’s And, of course, songs that Prince and I have written together sociopolitical conditions on original tracks like or performed, which is always a part of what I do,

by Bill Forman because we worked together our entire lives. So, “National Anthem,” as well as covers of Sly & The

Shiela E. talks back

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backtalk yeah, it’s a lot of up energy, a lot of fun. We bring people from the audience onstage. It’s gonna be exciting.

Tell me about the new songs.

One of the singles is called “Bailar,” which is the dance song that we bring everyone up on. And then the other is “No Line,” which also features Snoop [Dogg]. That’ll be the single that comes out first.

In your autobiography, you talk about getting onstage with your father as a little kid, and realizing that all you really had to do was let them start playing, find a gap, and join in. In the years since, have you ever found yourself in situations where you’ve fallen back on that same strategy?

My whole life. [Laughs] I still play like that, pretty much. You’ve gotta find your place.

About a month ago, I was in the studio with Hans Zimmer—I do a lot of his movies—and this time there were, I think, seven of us playing, all drummers. And they know that I don’t read.

Hans doesn’t read music, either. We’d always play by ear and make it up as we go. But this time, they had charts for all the parts. So it’s an interesting place to be, you know, when you’ve got all these A-list drummers, and you’re one of the ones who doesn’t read. But by the second time through, I had it down, just by listening and trying to fit in. You know, I don’t like being put in that position, but you rise to the occasion, and everything worked fine.

I’ve read that you had to fight for “The Glamorous Life” to be your album’s first single. Why was that?

Yeah, it’s pretty interesting. “Glamorous Life” was the last song to get put on the album, and Prince and I definitely thought it should be the single. But Warner Bros. kept saying, “No, we gotta do ‘Belle of St Mark’ because it’s really pop.” So we had to get them to understand that “The Glamorous Life” was really pop, too, but it also had a lot more percussion. And there had never been a female timbale player or drummer who fronted her own band, and that was something that needed to be shown to the world, that I’m not going to just be a singer and dancer. So we did a little showcase at Warners, and they agreed. They got the picture.

Have you stayed in touch with any of the Minneapolis musicians you worked with in your Prince days? I see that Morris Day & The Time are also on the Essence Festival bill.

Yeah, Morris and I have been playing a lot of shows on the same bill this year and last year.

Were you on any of The Time’s albums?

Yeah, we were all together early on, back in the early ’80s. We were all writing for each other. I would write for one of Prince’s acts, and then Morris would write for someone else. And we were also in the studio all the time, so we were constantly playing on each other’s songs. A lot of times, in those days, we didn’t always

get credit for us being on the record. It wasn’t as important as being the songwriter.

When you look back on your most recent album Iconic, does it seem strange to you that you’re writing about some of the same issues that Woody Guthrie wrote about in songs like “Deportee” nearly 60 years ago?

Yes. I would not have thought that we’d find ourselves going backwards, but I feel that’s what we’re doing. You’ve got all this police brutality, with African-American men especially, and all this hatred that’s been released in this world like I’ve never seen in my lifetime—and the things that have been said about Hispanic people. My grandfather was born in Mexico, but he came across here and worked hard, and raised a family. And, you know, he was an amazing man. He wasn’t a drug dealer. He wasn’t a rapist. He’s not a murderer. And now we have this guy that says these awful things about people that he doesn’t even know.

We’ve also got this law now that Alabama has passed about a woman’s right to be able to have an abortion or not. It’s insane. Whether I’m pro-choice or not, my body doesn’t belong to a white man sitting across a table. And to think about these kids who have lost their families coming here, some of whom have died in our hands. Every time we hear another story like these, it’s almost becoming the norm.

Everyone is in attack mode. So, you know, thank God for the people that are trying to change things. And also, thank God for music that brings people together.

When fans come up and talk to you about your book, what do they say to you?

I think the biggest thing that they talk about is when I was raped at five years old. Because there are so many others who have been through similar situations, and have never told anyone, and not moved on in their lives. And my sharing this with hundreds of thousands of people has given them hope to want to change their life—and to tell someone—so that they can actually live the life that they’re supposed to be living without guilt and shame, and to know that it wasn’t their fault, and that they can get through this.

One more question: Your maternal grandparents were both Louisiana Creoles. Do you feel a connection to the music of that heritage, and do you ever get a chance to play it?

Absolutely. I throw it into my show every chance that I get. And I still have a lot of family in New Orleans. And yeah, being Creole, I’m proud of it. I love my heritage. And the music. And, especially, the food. O Sheila E. And her band will be playing the 25th Anniversary Essence Festival, which runs from July 5-7 with a lineup that includes Missy Elliott, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Pharrell, H.E.R., Mary J. Blige, Big Freedia, Water Seed, Jermaine Dupri, MC Lyte, and many more.

My grandfather was born in Mexico, but he came across here and worked hard, and raised a family. And, you know, he was an amazing man. He wasn’t a drug dealer.

He wasn’t a rapist.

He’s not a murderer.

And now we have this guy that says these awful things about people that he doesn’t even know.

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O F F B E AT. C O M

S u c h a l i fe.

M a c, w e l ove y a .

1941- 2019