OffBeat Magazine March 2016 by OffBeat Magazine

LOUISIANA MUSIC, FOOD & CULTURE MARCH 2016

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MYSTIKAL GIVERS DASH RIP ROCK JONATHON "BOOGIE" LONG ANGELA HEWITT REGINA CARTER

Also in this issue...

inside:

SPRING FESTIVAL GUIDE!

Pheeling Based Earphunk is growing and evolving. So is their following.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

SPRING FESTIVAL GUIDE PAGE 29

"Sketched Out! Au Naturel: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes"

Page 34

LETTERS

MOJO MOUTH

FRESH

Five Questions with Doris Bastiansen, owner of Kerry Irish Pub; My Music with DJ Soul Sister; Wednesday at the Square; The Spring Sex Playlist; National Children’s Book Awards to Trombone Shorty, the book; Jimmy Robinson’s Bruskers in New Orleans and more.

PHOTO OP

Jonathon “Boogie” Long at the T-Bois Blues Festival.

MODERN AND NEW

Mystikal’s fresh chapter at Buku.

Angela Hewitt finds what the composer has left us.

OFFBEAT EATS

22 24

James Singleton is In the Spot at Solo Espresso and Peter Thriffiley reviews Seither’s Seafood.

REVIEWS

Nolatet, Christian Winther, Tonya Boyd-Cannon, Sweet Jones, Chris Ardoin & Nustep Zydeko, Michael Torregano Jr., Junko Beat, Julian Primeaux, Mid-City Aces and more.

REWIND

Givers: Straight from the heart.

FEEL RIGHT

LOOKING IN THE SCORE

Meriam Benezra (of Avenue Pub) and Ashley Danella (of Coquette) mix up the Black Liberace for James Booker at Avenue Pub.

Dash Rip Rock’s Bill Davis talks about South By Southwest.

KEEPING THE BLUES LEGACY GOING

A photo recap of the party.

IN THE SPIRIT

Caitlyn Ridenour documents Heatwave, your friendly neighborhood dance party.

BUZZ BAND

BEST OF THE BEAT

Brett Milano rewinds Dash Rip Rock’s Boiled Alive! with Bill Davis.

LISTINGS

BACKTALK

Regina Carter

By Brenda Lee Kozuch, October 2004 Similar to our cover feature on Earphunk, Andre Bohren talks about working with friends in a band: “We’ll suggest things rather than tell. We just hang out.” To read more, this issue can be purchased at www.offbeat.com/ shop/2004/offbeatmagazine-october-2004/. MARC H 2016

Letters BUSINESS AWARDS I attended the OffBeat Business Awards last night at the Orpheum Theater. Thank you for putting on such a great event that recognizes such valuable people and companies that contribute so much to our New Orleans musical heritage. The overall theme I came away with was: It is important for all of us to continue to spread our New Orleans musical gift to the next generation that will carry the torch… a torch that burns bright by the efforts of Germaine Bazzle, Roland and Mary Von Kurnatowski, Catherine Lasperches, and the Radiators! I am here to say the next generation is poised and ready to make you and all of the wonderful people there last night very proud! Darcy Malone and the Tangle (Dave Malone’s daughter) will be releasing a full-length record at the end of March to a nationwide audience. —Billy Schell, New Orleans, Louisiana

BEST YEAR I’m the lead singer for Bag of Donuts. I just wanted to drop a line and tell everyone at OffBeat thank you for nominating us once again in the “Best Cover Band” category. We have been nominated 9 times over the years and have won it 4 times. We value your magazine as the heart and soul of the music scene in Louisiana but especially New Orleans. To receive yet another nod for our work is very much appreciated. We are embarking on our 28th year as a working band and just had our most successful year to date with over 120 shows in 2015. We return to French Quarter Fest this year for our 6th consecutive year and are extremely proud of our continued affiliation with your wonderful magazine. Thank you again for the nomination this year. —Bobby Hoerner, New Orleans, Louisiana

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS The replacement use of the space vacated by the confederate monuments really needs to be a bold statement because the contexts are so very prominent. I think one idea to consider would be to retain the pedestals and replace the

“Whilst one could never mistake Bowie for a right winger, he was clearly fascinated by the whole Nazi thing in historical terms when he was young…”—John Pownall, Bridport, Dorset, England

statues with much larger works. Large (equal in size to the Lee pedestal) towering holograms (the newest technology is truly mind-blowing) of the greatest composers and players from our city. A short list would include Gottschalk, Morton, Armstrong, Bechet, Earl King, Toussaint, James Black, Ellis, Masakowski, etc. The goal would be visual art at a high level, works that would be a world-class visual art attraction. Surely the technology exists for alternating 3-D images of the people who have taken aspects of our culture around the world and through time. Perhaps there could be a competition. A truly grand statement worthy of our town’s substantial contribution to world culture could point minds toward unity and higher purposes. —James Singleton, New Orleans, Louisiana

BOWIE Wow, this is fascinating stuff. It speaks of a very different time. The past is indeed a foreign country. That reference to Hitler is troubling, isn’t it? Whilst one could never mistake Bowie for a right winger, he was clearly fascinated by the whole Nazi thing in historical terms when he was young, and what we perhaps misread as a momentary aberration in 1976 was of a piece with his early Nietzschean interests (and of course the Crowley references on Hunky Dory). It also recalls a time, pre-Internet, predigitalization, when real people could say pretty much what they wanted. If you wanted to read an interview, you read it, if you didn’t, you didn’t. And of course back then there was very little interest from the establishment media in figures like Bowie. This was a genuine counter-culture which had veered away from the mainstream more and more after Sergeant Pepper. I love the line “in England, we take our time about that and philosophize… we’re lethargic, we don’t produce any action. We just talk a lot.” I fear that is an England of long ago. The eighties destroyed it. This is by far the most interesting interview I have read in the revivals of all the material in the last few weeks. Thank you for sharing it. —John Pownall, Bridport, Dorset, England

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.

MARCH 2016

Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

March 2016 Volume 29, Number 3 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors Sam D’Arcangelo, Laura DeFazio, Frank Etheridge, Alison Fensterstock, Robert Fontenot, Elsa Hahne, Jeff Hannusch, David Kunian, Tom McDermott, Brett Milano, Jennifer Odell, Nick Pittman, Caitlyn Ridenour, Peter Thriffiley, Kim Welsh, Dan Willging, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Elsa Hahne Art Director/Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Web Editor Sam D'Arcangelo, sam@offbeat.com Videographer/Web Specialist Noé Cugny, noecugny@offbeat.com Copy Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, theo@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Camille Ramsey, camille@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Loren Cecil, Laura Kokernot, Jacqueline Kulla, Phil Rached, Clare Welsh 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 facebook.com/offbeatmagazine twitter.com/offbeatmagazine Copyright © 2016, 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 $45 per year ($52 Canada, $105 foreign airmail). Back issues are available for $10, except for the May issue for $16 (for foreign delivery add $6, except for the May issue add $4). Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcomed, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

LETTERS

OULABOULA BAZLEY I met Qulaboula Bazley in early fall of 2015 at a Maple Street laundromat in New Orleans. While our clothes rinsed we sat outside in the sun and chatted. Dapper in a blazer, accessorized with cap and sunglasses, Oulaboula’s tapering fingers punctuated the sentences as he narrated his musical life. Educating me with a list of jazz companions, his raised eyebrows exclaimed at my ignorance. “You don’t know him either!? Google it—you’ll see. Google me—you’ll see. It’s the truth!” Having returned from cooler Canada’s summer music festivals, he was full of energy. He commented that he was on the list for one of the better assistedliving places here in New Orleans. “You know someone has to ‘leave’ before you move up the list. I’m in the top twenty now!” After folding his clothes into a small brown satchel, Oulaboula stopped by my dryer to bid goodbye. Removing his shades, he pointed to me. “Now wait a minute… oh, yea… The stars in the skies can’t compete with your eyes.” Without a doubt it was not the first time he had uttered this line. But indeed it was the first time I had received such sweet words from such a memorable gentleman. —Karen Eberle, New Orleans, Louisiana

HOUSE OF DANCE & FEATHERS Thanks for the story of Ronald Lewis and his House of Dance & Feathers. I only wish you had waited a bit to add that volunteers from Common Ground Relief in the Lower Ninth Ward just built an annex to the museum. I spent two weeks in January in my adopted city, my 13th trip working with Common Ground since the storms and levee failures creating more room for Ronald’s artifacts. The www.OFFBEAT.com

rebuilt space from 2006 is bursting and Ronald is still collecting; the annex was the answer. Volunteers from the University of Maryland and Engineers Without Borders at University of Florida helped with construction. Thom Pepper, director of Common Ground, raised funds for materials. The smile on Ronald’s face for the crew every morning, the fried chicken lunches he bought for us and the sight of visitors from New Orleans and all over the world arriving to see his collection and learn from him were more than enough reward for the work we did. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ronald several times at this museum, and also at the 2009 launch party for Dan Baum’s book Nine Lives in which Ronald figures prominently. It was a privilege for me to work on this project for the House of Dance & Feathers and the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward and all of New Orleans. Thanks to OffBeat for including this amazing man in your coverage. If any readers haven’t been to this museum, go! —Phil Woodbury, Somerville, Massachusetts

COVER FACE Thank you for Panorama’s wonderful month of fame! I had a lot of really great feedback from just about everybody I interacted with during the month of December. The best was on Saturday night, day after Christmas. I’m trying to pull out of my parking spot on Chartres Street after our set at the Spotted Cat. A lady looks up from the passenger seat of the car that’s blocking me in and she makes a big “O” with her mouth, points at me and holds up the OffBeat, bouncing up and down. So, I did the cover face and we both laughed before they pulled away. —Ben Schenck, New Orleans, Louisiana MARC H 2016

MOJO MOUTH

Dumb, and Why Not?

ustin has South by Southwest, which has grown to ginormous proportions. It used to be a small music business gathering with showcases; it now comprises film, interactive and music. Of course, music is interactive now too, pretty much. The last SXSW (or in the hipster Austin lingo “South by”) I attended, I thought it had gotten way, way out of control. All the better for the music, film and interactive industry in Austin. SX has done nothing less than put Austin on the map for these businesses, permanently and in a big, big way. New Orleans attempted something similar with “LMNOP” in the late 1990s, but because it

MARCH 2016

By Jan Ramsey

was scheduled between the two weekends of Jazz Fest, and because the promoter used Austin as a model and didn’t consider that we already had hundreds of thousands of people coming to NOLA during that period of time, it didn’t work. (Mainly because in Austin, the bands were paid nothing or a pittance to play, in hopes of being seen by some A&R guy who would sign them to his label; during Jazz Fest, if bands don’t make good money gigging, they can’t survive the summer.) No matter. New Orleans has enough of a cachet, and up until quite recently, lucrative tax credit incentives for the film, gaming and interactive industries, that it got a big boost from the film industry. I am wondering what will happen to

that industry now that the Louisiana legislature has reportedly pulled the plug on the tax credit programs; it could leave us and a lot of the locals who’ve become used to making money in film and television in the lurch. Stupid legislature. Speaking of dumb: Anyone who has an inkling of what’s going on in Louisiana politics is aware that we are in dire straits vis a vis our budget shortfall. Medical services and education—two things that are essential to our remaining competitive and responsible to our citizenry—have been cut to the bone as a result of our former governor’s lust for office and pandering to Republican “ideals.” Let’s face it: Most politicians are pretty gutless and don’t want to rock any serious boats so that they

can keep their positions. Thus, no one in particular has come to the conclusion or stepped up to posit legalizing marijuana in Louisiana (before all the rest of the states in the union go that route). No one will come out to say that going the way of Washington and Colorado in legalizing recreational marijuana would solve our fiduciary woes, plug holes in our budget (too reliant on oil prices), beef up our educational facilities, reinvigorate medical services, reduce crime and lessen the impact on the criminal justice system. I realize that OffBeat’s stance on this is preaching to the choir, but if you have your wits about you, get in touch with your state representatives. And get them to do something courageous for a change. O

www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

OffBeat.com

Five Questions with Doris Bastiansen, Owner of Kerry Irish Pub

SWEET TWEETS

re you a New Orleans native and do you have any Irish blood in you? I am a New Orleans native and have lived in New Orleans all my life except for a brief stint in Houston. We are Irish on my mother’s side. My great-great-grandmother came over on what was known as the coffin ships— because as a result of the famine [1845-49], they came over in weakened conditions. She actually died on the voyage over. Her daughter met her future husband on the ship. So she got off without a mother but landed with a husband. On the surface, it would appear to be a marriage of convenience. But my grandmother always said they were the happiest couple you ever met. They had 10 children. Couldn’t afford much but they had a used piano and a house where everyone met on Sunday to dance and sing. What makes a good Irish whiskey and what makes it so popular? I’ve had a lot of Irishmen come here and say they could tell what religion someone is and where they’re from in Ireland based on what whiskey they drink. Catholics drink Jameson while some Protestants will only drink Bushmills. In the States, you don’t find that. Myself, I like Redbreast. I only drink it straight with maybe a drop of water. I love the flavor—no aftertaste, very smooth. What do you think sustains the popularity of traditional Irish music? If you look at the history of music in America—because there was such a huge Irish immigration, especially in Appalachia—you see such a strong connection between country music and bluegrass to Irish music. When you go to Ireland, in the pubs you hear a lot of American country music from America. They love our country music and we’ve adopted traditional Irish music. What are some of your favorite musical memories at the Kerry? The other day, Lynn Drury said to me, ‘Doris, can you believe I’ve been playing here for 17 years?’ We have a lot of people like that, such as Kim Carson. A very fond memory for me is watching some of these musicians play faithfully here for many years and how they’ve grown musically at the Kerry. Just the music that comes out of them—I think that’s pretty amazing. What’s the scene like here on St. Patrick’s Day? Because we’re in the Quarter, we have a great mix of locals and tourists—and tourists not just from inside the United States. Luckily, the Downtown Irish Club parade passes by here. We have Irish music all day and the parade at the end of the evening is the climax. The music makes it really feel like St. Patrick’s Day. As well as all the great Guinness. You won’t find green beer at the Kerry but you will find a great pint of Guinness. —Frank Etheridge

MARCH 2016

@Jamison_Ross Congratulations to @jonclearymusic on his Grammy Win!!!! YES!!! Congrats man!!!! @AlisonF_NOLA (Alison Fensterstock) @siberiaNOLA: a punk club that smells like garlic and dill. @JonBatiste “You’re never too important to be nice to people.” @T_Blanchard (Terence Blanchard) Earth Wind & Fire added to the soundtrack of my life, plus the album covers were amazing. RIP & Thank U Maurice White! @Meschiya (Meschiya Lake) A pint of the black medicine before rehearsal. First gig in Ireland! @ItsMystikal Can I just keep it up, decorate it for Valentines, Easter, etc? No. OK, l’ll take the MF down.

www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: kim welsh

Courir de Mardi Gras

SOUNDCHECK

FRESH

MY MUSIC Photo: bonny macdonald

DJ Soul Sister

“K

rewe of King James is what makes Mardi Gras for me these days. When I was little, it was about parades and catching stuff. In college and little bit older, it was about following Indians. Now I’m kind of mellowing out. Parading and homework don’t go hand in hand. I’m in the Master of Arts program in the Music School at Tulane studying Musicology. As part of the program, the emphasis is on New Orleans music but we have to study a wide variety of things. Last semester I had history of U.S. music. And when they say history, they mean HISTORY—dealing with stuff in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, starting from when the protestant Puritans came over and all the way up to today. I’m doing this so I can have a greater vocabulary on my particular interest, which is African-American popular music post-1950s. Especially the ’70s and ’80s which tends to be ignored, unless it’s hiphop. You don’t find much scholarship on funk. There’s some on disco and there are now two books out on Go-go. My studies are already making me play better—I’m learning so much about theory and other new things that I’m hearing things differently. But I’m not really doing it to help myself; I’m doing it to further educate where I see a gap. I want to learn so I can teach like others have taught me before. I’ve played Buku twice before but this year will be a first for me because I’m on an actual stage. I was on the VIP boat both times before—small, but lots of fun. First time I played, I remember walking around thinking, ‘I am the oldest person here.’ And it was a little bit of a culture shock. I found it to be very well run. And people enjoying themselves. I don’t know how many of these young people have heard of me, but they will be surprised and excited by it. Without the stuff I play, the music heard on the other stages wouldn’t be happening. I like to channel it and present where it comes from. I love electronic music and it’s not too much of a stretch from what I’m playing. But they might be freaked out when they see real records. I’ll never switch from records. It’s not about being a vinyl snob. I like the art of mixing. It’s an adventure—like a roller coaster. It’s a thrill and I love it. [Weekly Saturday night show] Hustle celebrates its twelfth anniversary this year. Honestly, it’s the exact same party it’s always been. A lot of people thought it started at Mimi’s but it actually started down in the Bywater at Leo’s Bar and Grill, which is now closed. I promoted it as a party because I just wanted to throw a party with music and good, positive energy.” —Frank Etheridge www.OFFBEAT.com

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FRESH

THE SPRING SEX PLAYLIST

Prioritizing the Arts

Photo: zack smith

WEDNESDAY AT THE SQUARE

Flow Tribe

ow that everyone has had a chance to take a post–Mardi Gras breath, it’s time to get out and enjoy Wednesday at the Square again. Like Jazz in the Park and Wednesdays on the Point, this Lafayette Square–based concert series provides the public with free music on a weekly basis and in an outdoor setting. Founded in 1999, Wednesday at the Square has become a springtime tradition that attracts 6,000 attendees each week. It’s currently produced by the Young Leadership Council (YLC), an organization that develops and supports a wide range of community service initiatives and municipal improvement projects. The twelve-week series will run from March 2 to May 18, with music starting up at 5 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m. The Square’s convenient location in the CBD gives the folks getting off work in the area a muchneeded chance to kick back and enjoy the afternoon alongside the families and music lovers that flock from all over town. “Wednesday at the Square is like playing a little mini Jazz Fest,” said Sam Price of Honey Island Swamp Band (returning favorites who are slated to perform on April 20 this year.) “They got all the festival requirements out there… booze, food, art, and booze. But you look out in the crowd and it’s all familiar faces—like playing at a block party for all your friends. We love it!” Concertgoers will find a wide variety of artisan booths with local handicrafts, photography, metalwork, paintings, jewelry and more. Food, booze and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase around the Square. No outside refreshments are permitted, as proceeds benefit the YLC and help them keep the event free of charge. Wednesday at the Square fosters the city’s spirit of communal celebration and upholds its important-but-oft-threatened tradition of prioritizing the arts and making them accessible to everyone. With twelve shows to choose from, there are plenty of opportunities to swing by! 2016 Schedule: March 2: Royal Teeth, Naughty Professor; March 9: Tab Benoit, N’awlins Johnnys; March 16: Bonerama, Bucktown All-Stars; March 23: Anders Osborne, Colin Lake; March 30: Cyril Neville’s Royal Southern Brotherhood, Pat Casey & The New Sound (featuring Robin Barnes and Khris Royal); April 6: Amanda Shaw, The Vettes; April 13: Flow Tribe, The Breton Sound; April 20: Honey Island Swamp Band, Alexis and the Samurai; April 27: Kermit Ruffins, Trumpet Mafia; May 4: The Soul Rebels, Tank and the Bangas; May 11: Marcia Ball, Mia Borders; May 18: t.b.a. Rain dates are scheduled for May 25 and June 1. —Laura DeFazio

MARCH 2016

pring is here, and a young man’s or woman’s thoughts naturally turn to… well, sex. With that in mind, we present a playlist of ten new and old New Orleans classics about doing the wild thing—five for the boys and five for the girls, of course. Boozoo Chavis: “Deacon Jones”: Clearly in a class by itself is Boozoo’s X-rated tale of a guy with some truly impressive sexual abilities—and since this is a family zine, we’ll leave it at that. (He did cut a clean version, which was nowhere near as much fun). Blue Lu Barker: “Don’t You Feel My Leg”: Those 1940s sirens definitely knew how to live. There’s nothing suggestive about this blues classic: The sentiments are right there upfront, with Barker playfully holding off a suitor who wants to buy her rye, feel her thigh and “go up high.” Covered many times over the years, most famously by Maria Muldaur. Allen Toussaint: “Computer Lady”: Always one to spot a trend, Toussaint wrote the first—and probably only—great New Orleans R&B song about cybersex. The interesting thing about “Computer Lady” is that it’s not played for laughs: The singer’s infatuated with a gal who “drives him crazy with her megabytes” and still has to wonder if she’s a gal at all. Beth Patterson: “Summer of 69”: The eclectic songwriter revived the tradition of X-rated, under-the-counter records with her Bad Beth & Beyond album, which ranges from sexy to just plain filthy. This is one of the latter, giving a Bryan Adams hit exactly what it deserves. Earl King: “Seduction”: King wrote this raunchy blues in the latter part of his career, cutting it with his ace band including George Porter Jr. He said at the time that it was a feminist song of sorts, giving the female the power to seduce. On the other hand, it includes lines like “Someone said you’re a nympho—I don’t care, I’m ready to go.” If anyone’s brave enough to try that pickup line, please let us know if it works. Dayna Kurtz: “Don’t Fuck Around With Love”: Singer-songwriter Kurtz gets points for daring to cover this song at all—originally by late’50s doo-wop group the Blenders, it’s been an underground classic for decades. But while the Blenders’ version was a goof, hers is more of a sultry torch song. She takes the sentiments at face value instead of getting tripped up by the naughty word. The Radiators: “Gummin’ Your Nub”: This is one of those neverrecorded songs that the Rads save for special occasions (like their closing night at Tipitina’s last January). It’s got a funky groove and only one and a half lines of lyric—“Gummin’ your nub, gummin’ your nub, teeth gone, teeth gone.” But that tells you everything about sex past a certain age that you’ll ever want to know (yet). Sweet Emma Barrett: “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jellyroll”: The beloved Preservation Hall singer/pianist minced no words with this signature tune, which stated that she ain’t giving anything to anyone who doesn’t deserve it. “Your jellyroll might be fine, but it ain’t half as good as mine”—has any modern lyricist ever topped that? Sexual Thunder!: “Cheek Sweat”: With tongue quite literally in cheek, New Orleans’ retro-disco band pays homage to the era when all sorts of occurrences— and all sorts of people—would go down on the dancefloor. Rosie Ledet: “You Can Eat My Poussiere”: Rosie’s always been as fast with a double entendre as she is with an accordion. In this raunchy gem, she settles the score with an unfaithful partner by making him eat sawdust. Or something else...—Brett Milano www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

TROMBONE SHORTY FOUNDATION

Art as Life

“I

don’t have the numbers in from when the awards were announced a month ago,” says Bill Taylor, executive director of the Trombone Shorty Foundation, “but it’s big time.” Discussing the impact of two prestigious national children’s books awards for Trombone Shorty, which he co-wrote, Taylor continues: “It’s now on back order for at least 10,000 [copies]. These awards have the potential to keep this book in print forever and in every library in the United States.” Published in April 2015 by esteemed art book publisher Abrams to help Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews trace his tale from Tremé prodigy to global phenom, the book, geared for third to pre-school reading levels, took home the 2016 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Illustrator Award and the Caldecott Honor. Illustrator Bryan Collier, who lives with his family in upstate New York, beautifully incorporated watercolor, pen-and-ink, collage and mixed-media collage into the hardcover book’s 40 pages. Collier is the illustrator of more than 25 books and recipient of numerous other honors, which also include the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award. “We’re really fortunate he signed on,” Taylor says of Collier, a recommendation of publisher Abrams. Taylor connected with the New York City–based firm through music photographer Danny Clinch, who recently had his lush retrospective Still Moving published by Abrams. Clinch and Taylor collaborated on the 2007 album Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard), a fundraiser for the successful initiative by the Tipitina’s Foundation, then led by Taylor, to restore Domino’s Katrinaravaged home on Caffin Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward. With a portion of book proceeds benefitting the Trombone Shorty Foundation, established in partnership with Tulane University to “preserve and perpetuate the unique musical culture of New Orleans,” Taylor explains the book resulted from a conversation he had with Andrews several years ago about the five-year strategic plan for his foundation. “Troy wanted to develop programming aligned with this own personal journey,” Taylor says. “We started with identifying these moments, going back to four years old, that were influential in his development. From all these anecdotal moments you find the bigger story. It’s the story of the power of music, the power of hard work, and what’s possible if you follow your dreams.” —Frank Etheridge www.OFFBEAT.com

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FRESH

BRUSKERS

Bruskers, Who?

Jimmy Robinson

ate last summer, ace guitarist Jimmy Robinson played a memorable gig at an olive garden—not the chain restaurant, but an actual olive garden in Franciacorta, Italy. He was in town to play an acoustic guitar festival, and while there he was knocked out by an Italian guitar duo, Eugenio Polacchini and Matteo Minozzi, who perform as the Bruskers Duo. This month he brings them to town for their New Orleans debut, and he’ll join them on three consecutive nights at three different venues. “They’re really virtuoso players, both in their mid-thirties. They play classical guitars but their approach is a lot jazzier—great technique, a lot of humor. They do a lot more of the standards than I do, wildly different interpretations of jazz and classical pieces.” Among the tunes in their repertoire are Ellington’s “Caravan,” Brubeck’s “Take Five” and even Sting’s “Fragile,” all reimagined as guitar duets. The shows are at Snug Harbor on March 8 (an early show with no cover), Music At The Mint on March 9, and Chickie Wah Wah on March 10. They’ll include a solo set by Robinson and one by the Bruskers, then a trio finale. Robinson has written a new piece for the occasion—“it has the really clever title ‘New Guitar Trio’ until I can come up with a real one”—and plans to do more shows abroad with them this year. This isn’t the first cultural exchange Robinson’s been behind: In the past he’s brought international songwriters to town (Brick de Bois from Antwerp and Lily Kiara from Amsterdam), and last month he hosted Austrian promoter Paul Zauner. “He was there with a film crew who were filming musicians. I brought them to see Helen Gillet, John Rankin and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, and their minds were indeed blown.” Robinson, who released an acoustic solo album and a live Woodenhead album last year, has a few more projects up his sleeve. He’ll play Jazz Fest this year with John Rankin and Cranston Clements as the Guitar Masters; their set will include their own version of the new trio piece. Meanwhile his prog/fusion band Woodenhead have begun a larger-scale collaboration with singer and cellist Helen Gillet, who was one of the guests at last year’s 40th anniversary shows. They’ve worked out a set with arrangements of her songs and theirs, and fans can get the first taste at Chickie Wah Wah on March 4. —Brett Milano

MARCH 2016

www.OFFBEAT.com

TRUST FALL One of the reasons people seek out Heatwave is DJ Ann's continuous promotion of an harrassment-free dance floor, which makes it possible for everyone to worry less about how they're being perceived and instead, let go. Above, two dancers show off their moves at Sidney's Saloon, which is one of two locations in town that regulary hosts Heatwave, the other one being bar Twelve Mile Limit in MidCity.

Left: DJ Ann poses for a quick picture while spinning vinyl at Twelve Mile Limit. Below: A dancer strikes a pose at Sidney's Saloon. Right: Ladies take over the dance floor at Twelve Mile Limit.

Like No One Is Touching Join the harrassment-free neighborhood dance party. By Caitlyn Ridenour (text and photo)

eatwave is a bi-weekly all-vinyl dance party started by local DJ, author and dancer Ann Glaviano. DJ Ann spins music from 1957-1974 with genres ranging from Motown and soul, to R&B and garage rock. Homesick while attending graduate school in Columbus, Ohio, Ann started Heatwave in September of 2011. She then brought her highenergy dance party back to her hometown of New Orleans in the summer of 2013. What sets Heatwave apart from other dance parties throughout the city is that Ann actively advocates for a safe dancing space and even displays posters that encourage dancers to report any type of sexual harassment to either herself or a bartender. You can check out Heatwave every second Saturday of the month at Twelve Mile Limit, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and every fourth Saturday of the month at Sidney's Saloon, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

www.OFFBEAT.com

Above: Beer in hand, a man dances on a hot night at Twelve Mile Limit. Below: A regular bar patron gets down at Bar Redux.

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SXSW

Buzz Band

s everyone who’s followed the Austin, Texas industry festival can attest, South by Southwest has changed a lot over the years. But some of its attractions remain in place: the beer, the BBQ, the Texas sunshine… and Dash Rip Rock, who played the very first SXSW and has returned nearly every year since (leader Bill Davis admits they’ve skipped just a couple). This year they’ll be back with a suitable 30th anniversary buzz—SXSW is honoring them in its program book as “the first SXSW buzz band”—and will play four different venues, including a Saturday finale at the Continental Club, the roots-rock hotspot where they made their debut in 1986. “The first time we played, we weren’t even aware there was any kind of conference going on,” Davis recalls. “We just knew we’d be playing a Tail Gators gig, and we were looking forward to opening for them. Then our manager Kelly Keller told us, ‘This is some kind of industry thing, there may be some record labels there.’ At the time it was more low-key, the way they wanted it to be—they’d have a softball game and a barbecue, promote ten bands and do it in three clubs.” Dash has lived out a good part of its history with SXSW. They’ve shared bills and made friends with a long string of beloved bands— the LeRoi Brothers, the dB’s, Drivin’ N Cryin’, the True Believers. They’ve played fabled clubs that aren’t there anymore, like La Zona Rosa (owned for a time by Marcia Ball and her husband) and Liberty Lunch. And they’ve done plenty of business as well—even having a notable near-miss when an Island Records A&R man promised to sign them, only to pass away just afterward. “We just kept going back because we kept getting

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stuff out if it. We’ve got booking agents from there, labels, publicists. One year we met up with a European promoter who wanted to take us on tour. And it was always a good place to catch up with the bands we’d become friends with. Everybody was always on the road, but all roads lead to Austin in March.” This year Davis and the current Dash lineup, drummer Kyle Melancon and bassist Patrick Johnson, are coming in with a well-received album, Wrongheaded, which Davis released on his own Drag Snake label. His newly-formed second band, the Convergers, are about By Brett Milano

to release an EP of his less rowdy alt-country material. “So that’s what will be different for me this year, it’s the first time I’m coming in as a label head. And it will be interesting to see it from that angle: When you’re an artist you can play your show, get drunk and leave. But I’m enjoying the opportunity to do a little business, and what better way to do it than over Tex-Mex and barbecue?” Not every one of Dash’s trips has been quite so businesslike. Davis recalls an ’80s show at a brewpub, the Scholz Beer Garden, where the lineup was a roll-call of cowpunk hellraisers: Dash, Mojo Nixon, the Beat Farmers, Jason & the Scorchers

and the Long Ryders. All of whom were delighted to find that their dressing room doubled as a beer cooler. “The show started around six, so we were there all night; everyone started going in to the dressing room and taking out cases of beer. The club tried to complain, but the manager of SXSW wouldn’t have it. He just said, ‘You put those bands into a cooler and then complain that your beer is gone?’” While Davis admits that things aren’t exactly what they used to be, he’s not one of those who feel the festival’s lost its soul. “There used to be some great, secret late-night gigs; I remember [Austin journalist] Michael Corcoran taking me to some conjunto bar in South Austin where members of Los Lobos would be playing. That doesn’t happen so much anymore. And I’m sure there are things done in the suites of the Hyatt that I’ll never have any idea about. But the major labels still send their staff down, and Rolling Stone still sends their staff down. People still treat it as valid place to do business. “It’s gotten mega-big, the same way Jazz Fest has. So I’ve gotten to see people like Iggy and Devo play there, but maybe it’s less about the young bands. There are so many pop-up venues and things that are put in place before the conference that it’s tough for anybody to get any work done. But obviously, work still gets done, and there’s still A&R people there looking for talent. I hear it’s going more toward EDM and hip-hop this year, where it used to be all about roots-rock and rock ’n’ roll. But I still feel it’s useful and constructive, there’s always the chance that somebody’s going to walk into your showcase. That’s the promise of it, and if you don’t buy a lottery ticket you’re not going to win.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

PHOTO: reverend charley

Dash Rip Rock’s Bill Davis talks about South By Southwest.

JONATHON "BOOGIE" LONG

Keeping the Blues Legacy Going PHOTO: KIM WELSH

Jonathon “Boogie” Long at the T-Bois Blues Festival.

ver the last few years, Jonathon “Boogie” Long has shredded with enthusiastic fervor from the Acura Stage and the Blues Tent at Jazz Fest as well as the Bogalusa Blues Fest and the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest. But nothing beats spending some time with this personable and genuine young man on the front porch of a ramshackle shack in the swamp near his Baton Rouge home. At 27 years young, Long has earned many well-deserved accolades, including rising above thousands of competitors to be crowned Guitar Center’s “King of the Blues” in 2011, which gained him nationwide notoriety. Long was inspired by the late Michael Burks, who was dubbed

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“Iron Man” for his energetic and passionate performances on stage, and one can see his influence in the way Long plays: with intensity and fire, as if the riffs come directly from his soul. His vocal technique is his own unique sound, smooth and edgy at the same time. With music in his blood from the beginning, Boogie began playing gospel guitar at the age of 6 while growing up in Baton Rouge. “My grandfather played in the church,” Long said. “I grew up around people holding guitars. When I was 8, my dad bought me an acoustic guitar from a pawn shop and put me in lessons.” His natural abilities surfaced, and by age 12 he was on stage. Over a decade later, By Kim Welsh

he was touring and opening for B.B. King. He related, “Touring and opening for the King of the Blues, Mr. B.B. King, a soulful man full of joy and wisdom, was a life changing experience. But I also know how much work we still have to do. This was the first step toward the next step. It’s just a building block, laying another Lego down so we can build our fortress. We are ready to step up and really knock it out of the park.” As he rocked in his chair on the rickety front porch, Long took a sip of moonshine and expressed his excitement and anticipation to play with his band, the Blues Revolution, first at T-Bois Blues Fest and once again at Jazz Fest. He has also

performed at OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards, French Quarter Festival and many other festivals in the United States, Canada and Germany. Long has played with Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, ZZ Top, Robert Cray, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Ana Popovic, and 3 Doors Down, among many others. He leaned back and launched into some tasty licks using the moonshine jar as a slide. Long recently completed recording a new CD made up of 12 songs spanning the genres of blues, soul, rock and funk plus a bonus interlude. It should be coming out soon, hopefully before Jazz Fest. “I’m trying to keep the legacy of the blues going. The blues is my heart, soul and passion and I love writing with the challenge of www.OFFBEAT.com

NG LO E" I G BOO ON " ATH N JO

tackling various genres. I write blues, country, folk, R&B and Southern soul.” His evolution from gospel to blues to the whole spectrum of Southern-inspired music is a delight to experience. Catch this promising and ambitious young

man on stage and up close and personal in the crowd on Saturday, March 19 at T-Bois Blues Fest and circle him on your Jazz Fest “cubes” on Friday, April 29. You will be delighted and held spellbound with his energetic performance. O

T-Bois

-Bois (Cajun French for “lil’ woods”) is a two-day party with food and drinks, airboat rides, live music and a bonfire. The T-Bois Blues Festival takes place at 900 Hamilton Street in Larose, Louisiana. The two-day admission is $128.50 plus fees, Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19. The Festival is a camping festival. There is no electricity and many other amenities are not available—although a washing station (not a shower) with hot water is available each day. There are also limited RV/motorhome spaces available for rent. The festival advises to be prepared: Bring shrimp boots, a tarp, garbage bags, camping supplies, mosquito repellent, firewood and flashlights. Water and beer is allowed in plastic, no glass is permitted. Although food is served from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. bring breakfast and late night snacks. Dogs are allowed, but must be on leashes at all times. Most dogs will be allowed to run around during a “doggy social” scheduled each day from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

LINEUP The lineup in alphabetical order: Edward David Anderson, The Blue Label Trio, The Congress, Nigel Hall, Pecos Hank, Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory, Honey Island Swamp Band, Billy Iuso and the Restless Natives, Dave Jordan & the NIA, Colin Lake, Heath Ledet Band, Jonathon “Boogie” Long, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Ben Miller Band, Nick Moss Band, Nonc Nu and the Wild Matous, Anders Osborne, Jason Ricci, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Carolina Story, Eric Tessmer Band, Carolyn Wonderland, Mike Zito and the Wheel. www.OFFBEAT.com

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BUKU FEST: GIVERS

Modern and New Givers: Straight from the heart.

uring their relatively short life as a band, Lafayette’s Givers have played all sorts of festivals, from Bonnaroo (where they’ll appear this June) to Jazz Fest. But they seem an especially good fit for Buku, where all that’s eclectic is welcomed. “Every festival has a different energy in the air, a different crowd for what they’re coming there to experience,” says singer/guitarist Taylor Guarisco. He’s audibly fighting a cold when we talk by phone from Pittsburgh, but the band’s latest round of touring is just beginning. “I’ve been to Buku and was really excited to see Kendrick Lamar one year and DJ Flying Lotus the next. But each festival feels like a different party that you show up to. Buku is unique because it’s a modern type of festival in New Orleans—you walk around and see all the old traditions, but here’s something new and modern in the middle of it. And that suits our music: We wanted it to feel modern and new, but to have some connection to something classic and familiar from the past.” What’s classic about Givers’ recent sophomore album, New Kingdom, is the craft of pop songwriting, which is at the heart of everything they do. What’s new and modern is just about everything else: Their arrangements constantly surprise with their mix of groove and melody, familiar and exotic. Most impressively, they manage to weave electronics in with live-band elements, and to convince you sonically that the song they’re playing demands both. “That comes down to us focusing on what the core of a song is, and recreating that live knowing where a groove is going and wanting to make you dance with it,” Guarisco says. “When you get into the value of sound production, there’s a different level of artistry there. We wanted to develop the electronic element in the studio, and to combine that with

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the live energy. I don’t know if that comes from us all being dancemusic fans, or from being the kind of people who really like to analyze things—probably a little of both.” While making the new album, the approach seemed to be: Analyze first, groove later. Starting work on New Kingdom, they resolved that it wouldn’t sound much like their debut, 2011’s In Light—and indeed the new album is more eclectic and a bit moodier. “What we didn’t want was the same set of grooves that were on the first album—the Afrobeat groove, the Latin groove. We wanted to explore different rhythms, and we did that by starting out with maybe 50 song ideas and whittling those down to 15 songs, 13 of which made the album.” They also made a point of playing the songs live while the album was still in progress—the tracks had been recorded, but the mix was still being worked out. “We called that the purgatory tour. Playing the songs live showed us where the dynamics would By Brett Milano

shift, and that affected things once we got into the mixing world.” Not everything came out quite so exotic. “Record High, Record Low”—the most obvious followup to the first album’s hit, “Up Up Up”—has a few touches of Fleetwood Mac, specifically a guitar chug right out of “Second Hand News.” And of course, when you’ve got pop melodies and male/female vocals—with Tiffany Lamson sounding especially zesty on this one—it’s hard to avoid hitting Mac territory sooner or later. “It’s definitely got that feeling,” Guarisco says. “We like so many kinds of music, including classic rock—that honest, straightfrom-the-heart approach. The album’s really about embracing every side of the music, from the most honest to the most freaky.” Representing the freaky side is a cameo by Dr. John, who’s in voodoo-philosopher mode for his spoken-word bit on “Sleeper Hold.” Like everyone else in town, Guarisco grew up absorbing his Mac and his Meters. “I snuck into

the Maple Leaf a few times as a teenager, so I could see [drummer] Russell Batiste play with Papa Grows Funk. So yeah, people like Dr. John have always been an inspiration, and we’ve crossed paths before—I hung with him at the OffBeat awards one year when I was playing bass with Terrance Simien. But that’s not really why he’s on the album. It’s really because when we thought about the spoken-word portion in that sound, we couldn’t hear any other voice but Dr. John doing it.” Guarisco’s roots in zydeco, not to mention the other members’ Cajun and jazz backgrounds, may seem worlds apart from the music Givers makes, but Guarisco says it’s all there between the lines. “If you take a song like ‘Remember’ on the new album, that’s a straight double-clutch. My time in the zydeco world just pushes me toward making funky dance music with infectious grooves. In my world, that somehow pushes itself toward the weird, soulful and funky pop music that we end up making.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

BUKU FEST: MYSTIKAL

Feel Right Mystikal’s fresh chapter at Buku.

n June of 1995, Mystikal, whose self-titled debut for New Orleans’ Big Boy Records label was creeping its way up Billboard’s hip-hop and R&B albums chart (its re-release as Mind of Mystikal on Jive Records later that year hit number 14) made history as the first rapper to appear on the cover of OffBeat. During the Jazz Fest season that immediately preceded that issue, according to Soundscan reports, the album had been the top-selling local release, beating out veterans like Aaron Neville and Dr. John. A week after his first Fest appearance on the Congo Square stage, as the first local rapper to headline the brand-new New Orleans House of Blues, he sold the place out. 21 years later, the Gulf War veteran’s career has been a complicated rollercoaster of success and strife. He jumped between Jive Records and Louisiana’s No Limit label at the height of its power, earning two Grammy nominations and selling multiple millions. He lost his sister, Michelle, to violence. He served six years in prison on charges of sexual battery and extortion and concurrently, on a federal tax evasion charge. Released in early 2010, a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge saw him incarcerated again, for just under three months. In late 2011, he signed to Cash Money Records, a move the rapper said, in a recent phone call, “saved his life” (and indeed, to relaunch his career via the scrappy, street-level local label-turned-global powerhouse seemed sort of poetic at the time). But three years later, having released no new material beyond one single, Mystikal split from Cash Money. In a red-carpet interview at the 2014 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, he told RapUp TV, simply, “I don’t fit the mold of the situation I’m in.” As he hit his mid-forties and rebuilt his personal and creative life, things

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seemed uncertain for Mystikal. And then just months later, in early 2015, he was back. Mark Ronson’s throwback soul album UpTown Special, released in January of that year, gave the rapper a feature that seemed tailor-made for him: the firecracker single “Feel Right,” which is for all intents and purposes a Mystikal song. Without the gritty, urgent, livewire vocal style that has long prompted critics to compare the rapper to James Brown, the track would be an entirely different animal. The album made itself at home in Billboard’s top ten, and the song reminded the world that in New Orleans, a unique talent was turning a new page in his career. At Buku on Friday, March 11, he’ll share the stage with Juvenile, another veteran New Orleans rapper who’s working on a fresh chapter of his own. Now in its fifth year, Buku initially focused on electronic dance music. Buku’s bill usually includes a few legacy names—the Flaming Lips By Alison Fensterstock

and Public Enemy have headlined— but the space the fest has carved out is largely defined by buzzy, rising acts often making their first appearance in town. For better or worse, it’s also paid less tribute to the local music scene than comparable New Orleans festivals, such as Essence and Voodoo. (Certainly, it doesn’t ignore homegrown talent. Big Freedia, Boyfriend, Quickie Mart and Gravity A, among others, have all played Buku.) Still, Mystikal and Juvenile’s split set at Buku 2016 (also shared with next-generation bounce artist Fly Boi Keno) is a fairly special thing: locally rooted vets, representing basically a metric ton of New Orleans hip-hop history between them. In the early ’90s, before national distribution came into play, New Orleans’ hip-hop scene was a thriving network of small independent labels. At the top were Cash Money, the mostly Baton Rouge–based No Limit, and Big Boy Records, Mystikal’s initial home

base. A rivalry—for public relations purposes only, Mystikal said—sprang up between Big Boy and Cash Money. The early Cash Money group U.N.L.V. taunted Mystikal with “Drag ‘Em ‘N’ Tha River,” from 1996’s Mannie Fresh–produced Uptown 4 Life. On the Solja Rags album a year later, Juvenile declared himself the “Big Boy headache giver.” Two decades later, both stars are looking both forward and back. With “Feel Right,” Mystikal continued to mine the deep Southern soul flavor fans have heard in his work since the beginning. Juvenile, who reunited with the Cash Money supergroup the Hot Boys at Lil Wayne’s Lil Weezyana Fest in August 2015 (and quietly resigned to the label earlier that year) will, it’s been reported, be working with his former labelmates Wayne and Mannie Fresh on an album of new material. Will we see teasers of the new tracks at Buku, nostalgic classics, or both? Either way, it’s a sleeper don’t-miss set that grounds the festival solidly in its hometown. O www.OFFBEAT.com

PARTY STARTERS Dumpstaphunkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tony Hall led a tribute to the late Allen Toussaint in the main room, featuring Cyril Neville, Davell Crawford and David Torkanowsky and followed by a set from Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes, who paid tribute to Lifetime Achievement recipients The Radiators. Left: Walter "Wolfman" Washington brought the blues (and toothy smiles) to the front room at Generations Hall. Below: Matt Perrine's mother came to pick up his award for best tuba/sousaphonist of 2015. Right: Quickie Mart (and Monica Kelly, on the left) got the late-night dance party going.

Celebrating Louisiana Music Best of the Beat in photos. Photography by Willow Haley

he party celebrating the 21st Annual Best of the Beat Awards was memorable for the outstanding food and music. Some of the best eats in town (including Susan Spicer’s Mondo, Creole Cuisine, Dat Dog, Gumbo Shop, Fulton Alley and many more) were available for the price of the ticket, along with outstanding music: Tony Hall and company celebrating the music of Allen Toussaint, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes’ tribute to the Radiators, and performances by Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars, Young Fellaz Brass Band, Quickie Mart and Roar! A special thank you to our sponsors—Positive Vibrations Foundation, Voice of the Wetlands, Orpheum Theater, New Orleans Live, Generations Hall, WWOZ, WWNO, WYES and WWL-TV. —Ed.

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Above: Kristin Diable took home two Best of the Beat awards, for best artist and best album in the country/folk singer-songwriter category. Below: Dee-1 was named best Rap/Hip-Hop artist.

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ANGELA HEWITT

Looking In the Score Angela Hewitt finds what the composer has left us.

orld-renowned classical pianist Angela Hewitt was born in Canada. She began her piano studies at age 3 and went on to study at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. She has been hailed by The Guardian as “the preeminent Bach pianist of our time.” In 2005, she founded the annual Trasimeno Music Festival in Umbria, near Perugia, Italy, of which she is Artistic Director. This annual event features Hewitt as recitalist, chamber musician, song accompanist and conductor. Hewitt is also Ambassador for The Leading Note Foundation’s “OrKidstra,” a social development program in Ottawa that teaches children life-skills such as commitment, teamwork and tolerance by playing music together. Hewitt has recorded extensively. Her discography includes works of Bach, Beethoven, Chabrier, Messiaen, Ravel, Chopin, Couperin and the recent Hyperion release of Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas. Pianist Tom McDermott took this opportunity to ask Hewitt the following questions.—Ed. I’ve always thought of you as a Bach player with (exquisite) forays into Couperin. But you cover the Romantics as well as modernists like Messiaen. So how do you define yourself? I am more than anything else a musician. It’s not enough to be just a good pianist. You have to know every style and composer and enter their world. The older you get, the more you can discard those composers that you don’t feel much kinship with, but when you are young you need to study a wide range of repertoire. Of course I grew up with Bach from the very beginning, so he has remained and will always be there, and if you can play Bach well then you have www.OFFBEAT.com

means that when people see I am performing in concert, they are more likely to come. One helps the other. There is really no point in making recordings if you’re not going to be a concert artist as well. These days when recorded music is suffering, it’s very important to get out and be on stage. I also make a point of having CDs available at each concert, and then enjoy meeting people afterwards during a signing. Often I lug them around myself in my suitcase! Not many artists do that, but I try to help my record label in every way I can.

a great basis from which to learn everything else. I love playing all different periods of music and thus always enlarging my emotional and pianistic range.

no sense in imitating him. The most important thing is to look in the score and see what the composer has left you, rather than listening to how other people play things.

As somebody who grew up listening to Glenn Gould’s Bach, I must ask: How did his recordings affect you? Are your interpretations a reaction of some kind? Or did you perhaps ignore Gould? I didn’t ignore him, of course. He was frequently on (black and white!) television on Sunday nights when I was a kid. For the most part I thought he was pretty nuts—even then when I was 5 years old I understood that. But he was a genius and could do anything he wanted. I always knew, however, that we were completely different personalities and that there was

In the United States, and particularly in New Orleans with its strong vernacular music culture, classical music has a harder time making inroads than in Britain. I see you’ve made DVDs which go through the process of playing Bach. Has this work in other media helped attendance at concerts or record sales? Many people around the world have appreciated my lecture/ performance on Bach that is on that DVD, yes. It gives them insights into what I think of when studying his music, and they are always interested in that. The fact that I have recorded so much music (not just Bach) on CD

By Tom McDermott

Are there any composers whom you feel have been recorded to death and don’t see in your future discography? And what are you working on next? Rachmaninoff. I’m not that keen on his music, although there are some nice tunes! I’m completing my cycle of Beethoven sonatas on Hyperion, and will be doing a second album of Scarlatti sonatas at the end of this year. A new recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was done before Christmas and will be issued during 2016. Finally, as a world traveler, do you have any advice for musicians on how to handle the road? Keep calm and look after yourself. It’s tough. Get used to being alone. Be resourceful. Eat healthily. Get exercise when you can. Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep. Try to see friends when you can to stay sane. When things don’t go perfectly, it’s not the end of the world. Be disciplined but enjoy it! Otherwise don’t do it. O The Musical Arts Society of New Orleans and New Orleans Friends of Music present classical pianist Angela Hewitt performing at Tulane’s Dixon Hall on March 16 at 8 p.m. and at 2702 St. Charles Ave, March 15 at 6:30 p.m. MA RC H 2 016

d e s a B g n i l e Phe

here are no bigger shoes for a New Orleans jam band to fill than those of beloved swamp-rock outfit the Radiators. Yet that’s exactly what Earphunk did last month, when they helmed the stage before a dizzying sea of costumed bodies and altered minds at the annual debauch of MOMs Ball. The storied Mardi Gras party may have played host to some of the greatest shows in Rads history, but this year it was a new band’s turn to shine. The MOMs Ball gig qualified as a huge local honor. An achievement that both symbolized the respect they’d earned from carnival elders and validated the journey that brought them to that point. But how, exactly, did this group of twentysomethings end up laying down the groove for a world-famous party that started a full decade before they were even born? “This wasn’t something we’d always planned on,” recalls guitarist Paul Provosty. “We had no clue it would go this far.” And how could they have? It may sound narrow-minded, but kids from New Orleans’ elite private schools—collectively, the members of Earphunk graduated from Newman, Country Day and Jesuit—aren’t supposed to hop in

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d ng an wing. i w o r g o ir foll unk is e Earph g. So is the phy by Elsa Hahn a r n g i evolv cangelo Photo D'Ar By Sam

vans and grind it out on the road so they can rip through solos in front of sweaty, inebriated crowds. They’re supposed to become doctors and lawyers, engineers and investment bankers. They’re supposed to sell insurance or take over the family business. But while the first rule of life is that we’re all going to die, the best rule of life is that you never let a good thing slip away if you have the chance. Earphunk, it’s safe to say, has been following the best rule to a T. Fall, 2008: The saga began at Bogie’s, a run-of-the-mill college bar just a few blocks from LSU’s Baton Rouge campus. It was there, amidst the booze-encrusted floors and 19-plus crowd, that LSU students Mark Hempe (guitar, vocals), Paul Provosty (guitar), Michael Matthews (drums) and Michael Comeaux (bass) played their first gig as a unit. Expectations were low, to say the least. “Mark and I worked at Bogie’s, and we had this meeting one Sunday,” recalls Matthews. “The band for that Tuesday had cancelled, so they were looking for someone else to fill the spot. One of the bartenders said, ‘Oh Mark and Michael have a band’ and we were like, ‘No, no, shut up. We’re not doing the gig.’ But they made a Facebook MA RC H 2 016

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“All we had was New Orleans,” adds Provosty. “We could always say we were from New Orleans.”

event anyway and sent it out to everyone saying we were playing in two days, so we were stuck.” “We had only gotten together two or three times to mess around at that point. We didn’t know the songs we were playing, we didn’t have a name. I think we got paid in beer,” he adds. “Then they called us up to do a second show and the guys at the bar said, ‘We need a name now, we’re printing posters in thirty minutes.’ Mark just said ‘Earphunk. One word with a “ph”.’ And here we are now.” Fast forward to the spring of 2009: The group enlisted Provosty’s high school friend Christian Gallé (keys), and the band called Earphunk was born in earnest. As the gigs, primarily at local bars and frat houses, started to roll in, the boys began developing a repertoire of covers and working on their own tunes. Their early sound was a hodgepodge of classic rock and funk influences, sprinkled with explosive, unfocused moments of improvisation. It may not have been polished, but it was excellent party fare. Eventually the band scored a gig as part of Tipitina’s Homegrown Nights, a concert series that showcases up-and-coming local talent. The show was one of the group’s earliest outside the Baton Rouge bubble. More importantly, it was the first time that their little bar band seemed like the real deal. No one was more surprised than the guys in Earphunk when 200 people showed up to see them play. “We just thought, ‘Whoa,’” remembers Gallé. “I don’t know if we knew we would take it to a professional level at that point, but we did know there was something to work towards.” By the time the next school year rolled around, word of mouth had reached some of the bands’ friends in college towns across the Southeast, which led to frat house gigs in places like Sewanee, Tennessee; Oxford, Mississippi and Athens, Georgia. Those house parties turned into bar shows as the budding group made new contacts and won over new fans. The grassroots approach was starting to take shape. “We would do these little weekend runs. First it was a oncea-month thing, then it was a twice-a-month thing, and it kept growing,” Matthews explains. “I was just booking random gigs here and there, but it’s hard to convince someone to pay these twentyyear-olds that know no one in their town to play their venue.” “All we had was New Orleans,” adds Provosty. “We could always say we were from New Orleans.” When you don’t have much to sell yourself with, New Orleans is as good a talking point as any in the music world. After all, what band wouldn’t want to claim the legacy of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, of Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, the Meters and Dr. John? It’s an easy marketing ploy, and as Gallé notes, “It just immediately gives you credibility.” More than a few of Earphunk’s first out-of-town shows were booked on little more than the fact that these guys hailed from the Crescent City. And yet the thing is, that isn’t quite them. Sure, they played their fair share of “Cissy Strut” covers in the early days, but the band had no intention of getting mired in a pigeonhole. “People from out of town have various perceptions of New Orleans, but one of the standard, across-the-board perceptions is that it is a goddamn music town,” says Hempe. “That it’s full of the baddest musicians in the world. But we’ve broken away from that traditional New Orleans sound, though that’s definitely where we

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www.OFFBEAT.com

They may not be particularly big fans of the Grateful Dead, but their shows are filled with people who are.

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began. Learning Meters songs and playing them live influenced our writing style, but collectively we all decided we didn’t want to fall into that. It wasn’t really what we were passionate about.” If the band made a decision to stray from the traditional New Orleans “sound,” you wouldn’t know it after listening to Earphunk’s first record, 2011’s Comin’ Up. The primarily instrumental album sounds more like a collection of fleshed-out jams in the vein of a Meters live show than a cohesive album from a band with its own ideas. Still, there’s a confidence to the musicianship that, if anything, makes it perfectly clear that these guys know how to play. The sound that Earphunk was looking for would come together on their second full-length album, 2013’s No Nine to Five. Recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain studio, the release was a more mature offering full of carefully crafted tunes that showcased the band’s patient interplay, as well as Provosty’s ability to blast off on a dime. Replicating old school New Orleans funk may not have been their passion, but it was a solid foundation on which to create an edgier, often more danceable style that was distinctly their own. Laid back grooves could turn into uptempo grooves on a moment’s notice, and those uptempo grooves could turn into soaring hard rock guitar peaks even more quickly. And while singing has never been a priority for the band, the album did give Hempe a few more opportunities to show off his vocal chops on occasions when the track called for it. “I really like the term prog-funk, progressive funk,” says Comeaux. “It’s not funk, it’s rock. Danceable, jammable, heavy rock.” Regardless of the label, it’s a sound that lends itself perfectly to Earphunk’s onstage approach. Another fitting label is “jam band,” at least in the live arena. Their embrace of improvisation, sparse use of lyrics, emphasis on concerts over recorded music, and deep repertoire of reimagined classics make them worthy of the moniker. They may not be particularly big fans of the Grateful Dead, but their shows are filled with people who are. “We never really learned songs in the beginning, we just started jamming, we just started playing,” explains Provosty. “Everything is still very feeling-based at this point, because that’s what keeps us interested in doing this. We don’t want to just regurgitate the same thing every night. We want it to be an organic thing that becomes something different each time.” It’s the kind of approach that goes over well on the jam band scene, as well as the various festivals that have sprung from it. As the Grateful Dead would surely tell you, it’s also the kind of approach that helps you build a devoted following in the long run. By keeping their shows fresh from day to day, Earphunk have insured that their sound continues to grow and evolve. And with that growing and evolving sound comes a growing and evolving fanbase. “It’s that grass roots aspect of it,” Matthews says. “It’s not like we had some big song that put us on the map. We’re talking about years of cultivating fans, of them seeing the progression from you sucking to you not sucking as much. It’s that feeling people get watching a band grow. There’s a much stronger connection if you come up from the bottom with them.” www.OFFBEAT.com

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Before Earphunk could get down to the nitty gritty business of perfecting their sound and cultivating fans, they had to make a conscious decision to fully devote themselves to a project that had started as a handful of jam sessions and an unwanted Tuesday night bar show. In 2012, with most of its members now fresh out of college, the group was at a crossroads. Playing in a touring rock band was a far cry from the career path most of them assumed they’d take upon entering school. Hempe, for instance, had started out studying finance at LSU’s business school, while Matthews had initially majored in biological sciences with the intention of becoming an anesthesiologist (he later transferred to the music industry studies program at Loyola, where Gallé was already a student). But life had given them a good thing and they weren’t about to let it slip away. “We got together one night and asked ourselves, ‘Are we doing this 100 percent?’” Matthews recalls. “We all agreed that this was going to be our main thing and that we were going to be willing to put in the initial hard work, and continued hard work, that was needed to get where we wanted to be.” A few months later, the band embarked on their first full-length tour, a West Coast jaunt that was put together by a booking agent who had been an early fan. Spirits were high on the way out of New Orleans, but the “tour gods” wouldn’t let them off the hook that easily. Not long after arriving in Los Angeles, the transmission on Earphunk’s brand new (used) van gave out before they’d even played their first show, and the band got their first taste of the many nonmusical challenges that come with life on the road.

photo: Elsa Hahne

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“You originally think you’re just going to go on the road and play music for people,” explains Hempe. “But then it hits you that you have to be your own tour manager, you have to be your own mechanic, you have to be your own loader, you have to wear all these different hats at once.” “That tour was when we got out of our comfort zone,” adds Matthews. “It was the first big moment of, ‘Oh man is this really what we want to do?’” And yet they soldiered on—town after town, van breakdown after van breakdown—playing shows for crowds that probably weren’t big enough to justify the word. They crammed into tiny hotel rooms, feasted on Little Caesars whenever possible and just did the work that any band worth their salt knows has to be done. It was tough, but it was worth it. Little by little, show by show, people started to dig what Earphunk had to offer. A break finally came at Arkansas’ popular Wakarusa Music Festival in the summer of 2013. Months of touring and the recent release of No Nine to Five had them at the top of their game, and the festival was located in their home, the Southeast. The stars had aligned for this one, though, as the group was slated to revive its Daft Punk tribute show just a few months after the French electronic music superstars released their smash hit album Random Access Memories. That “Daft Phunk” show was a smash hit in its own right, drawing in a raucous late-night crowd that was unlike anything the band had ever dealt with. By the time Wakarusa was over, Earphunk had captured a whole new set of fans, including many in the jam band scene that has become their bread and butter. Booking offers started to roll in, and within a year the band had scored spots at various festivals throughout the country. www.OFFBEAT.com

The band’s friend and co-manager, who also worked for BitTorrent at the time, made sure that the record was featured on the site’s prominent “Staff Picks” page. Within one week, it had been downloaded by over half a million people all over the world. “Wakarusa 2013 was the biggest response, and the biggest boom we’ve ever received from a single play,” Provosty explains. “People still talk about it today. It was an unforgettable moment for a lot of people, and a far-reaching thing in terms of how people remember us as a band.” Little moments of validation are what get us through the day, but the big ones can be life-affirming. Some people go their whole lives waiting for one, but Earphunk—those guys are getting them pretty much once a year. Exhibit A: The release of Sweet Nasty. The recording industry has been dying a slow death ever since Napster hit the scene in 1999. Online streaming and ubiquitous piracy have made turning a real profit from album sales a Herculean task reserved for the Taylor Swifts and Adeles of the world. But if your live shows are what pays the bills, your only concern is getting your music into the ears of as many people as possible. As long as that gets their butts to as many gigs as possible. With that in mind, Earphunk released their third full-length via the online file-sharing platform BitTorrent in the summer of 2014. They didn’t just drop it on the site, either. The band’s friend and co-manager, who also worked for BitTorrent at the time, made sure that the record was featured on the site’s prominent “Staff Picks” page. Within one week, it had been downloaded by over half a million people all over the world. “We came to realize that we’re in the digital age,” Provosty says. “Physical albums, CDs—they don’t sell, so let’s just put it out there. The exposure is what’s going to help us more in the end.” “It made no sense to me at first,” Matthews admits. “But I’m all about it now. It changed my view. It allowed us to reach this audience that we normally wouldn’t be able to reach, and that we probably never would have reached.” The effects were felt almost instantly. Earphunk’s social media following spiked, tracks from Sweet Nasty appeared on Sirius XM radio and the band was quickly signed by Paradigm Talent Agency, a wellconnected firm that books tours for arena-filling acts like the Black Keys, Phish, the National, Toby Keith and Dave Matthews Band, as well as respected Louisiana favorites like Dr. John and Marc Broussard. “That was when we started seeing people that knew our songs, and knew the lyrics to our songs, when we went to towns for the first time,” notes Hempe. “That had happened to us in places that we’d played a few times before, but never somewhere random like Iowa that we’d never been to. We’d walk in not expecting much, but there’d be a handful of people that are already familiar with our music.” The Paradigm signing was particularly huge. Things that once seemed like monumental tasks suddenly became a cake walk. Little inconveniences disappeared. It was night and day. “They’re business people; they keep us on the road. We’re always busy and we know our schedule months in advance,” says Matthews. “To go from when I was doing the booking, when we might have three days’ notice, to having a Google calendar with all our dates filled six months in advance—it’s great.” “It’s the little things too,” adds Hempe. “Having someone with some power behind their agency gets a meal for everyone the night of the show, or a hotel room. That’s not something we had before.” Life isn’t all sunshine and roses after you get signed. Automobiles are still only as good as their parts, and as Hempe would say, “the tour gods will give you the business whenever they feel like it.” www.OFFBEAT.com

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“The first hour of our first tour this year, we had a blowout that broke two pieces on the back of our trailer,” Matthews notes. “There’s always something.” That’s not to say that all the hard work isn’t paying dividends, because it surely is. The shows are more packed than ever—“It takes five, six, seven times of playing somewhere before you start to see this exponential growth,” Provosty notes—and the Earphunk name keeps moving higher up festival bills with each passing summer. Unlike their first album, which featured vocal tracks recorded in an ad hoc soundproofed closet, the band’s newest effort has a decidedly professional touch. The tracks were laid down at Chicago’s Electrical Audio studio under the watchful eye of Steve Albini, the famed engineer responsible for alternative rock masterpieces like Nirvana’s In Utero and the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa. “He has this ‘tell you like it is’ mentality,” Provosty affectionately explains. “A lot of personalities don’t mesh well with that,” adds Hempe. “But us? That’s the kind of shit we love. It’s nice for someone to just be straight up with you and say, ‘You’re right, that did kind of suck. Let’s do better this time.’” Whereas No Nine to Five and Sweet Nasty found Earphunk polishing their sound with digital production techniques, the band chose to forgo a lot of those tricks on their new album in favor of a method that would create something more reminiscent of their live sound. It’s an approach that Albini has become known for, one that puts an emphasis on the band instead of the studio. “This was our first straight-to-tape process,” recalls Matthews. “Live takes. We didn’t use a click track. That was nerve-racking for me at first because, as a drummer doing an album, I want to sound on point. But the whole process was nothing but beneficial. Steve’s not worried about whether or not you had the best take of your life, he’s worried about whether or not everyone, collectively, feels like they got a good take.” “You lose that energy in a song if you’re just going to go and punch a solo in later, if you’re just going to the grid on Pro Tools and chopping and screwing parts together,” he adds. “It’s Frankenstein, it’s not human. That’s the thing you lose in the grid.” “The experience has forever altered how we’ll go about putting down recorded music,” says Hempe. “I think the best way to describe the album, without going into the musical aspects of it, is that it’s a really good snapshot of where we are right now.” There are no tickets to MOMs Ball, only invitations. There are no headliners either, only performers. So when Paul Provosty, Mark Hempe, Michael Matthews, Michael Comeaux and Christian Gallé turned command of this legendary party over to Leo Nocentelli it meant that, for one night at least, a group of dudes who cut their teeth on Meters covers were sharing the stage—as equals—with one of the men who breathed life into those tunes in the first place. The destination has never been clear, but give or take a few mechanical failures, the journey has been one hell of a ride. Perhaps that's why, when pressed to name their newest album, the band settled on a title that sums up their current place in the cosmos: Right Where We Belong. O MA RC H 2 016

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photos: Elsa Hahne

Ashley Danella/Coquette & Meriam Benezra/Avenue Pub

“T

he cool thing about James Booker is that he mixed lowbrow and highbrow so well," says Meriam Benezra (MB). "He was an amazingly talented piano genius, but he threw in his own funk and style. Just like Ray Charles and Dr. John. He had this flamboyant persona and he was all glitter and chandeliers and bombast. He was a talent that’s now this local treasure, a musician’s musician. There was this story, I might have read it in OffBeat, where he came out on stage in a golden diaper, took out a gun and held it to his head and told everyone he was going to shoot himself unless someone gave him cocaine. And then he would play like Beethoven, but with funk. Ashley Danella (AD): Typically for me, I’ll be inspired by an ingredient, or an idea, and build from there. I haven’t created cocktails in honor of musicians before. I’m also terrible

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at naming cocktails... So many people I know start with a name. But my brain, I’ve always done it the other way and usually just sit there, fumbled and frustrated over naming the drink. When Meriam introduced me to Booker, the Black Liberace, we sat and listened to his music and I immediately thought of dark spirits, heavy drinking, and high-proof bourbon. We went back and forth on digestifs; something to bring the black to the table. MB: I had the idea for the maple syrup because his last shows were at the Maple Leaf. I was set on James Booker because he’s a spirit that should be remembered, and he wasn’t appreciated enough in his time. He embodies New Orleans in this way that in so many other places in the world people think that if you play it straight and play by the rules, you’ll succeed, and he didn’t play by any rules. He didn’t

By Elsa Hahne

play straight at all, and he totally succeeded, even if he died young. AD: We are still tweaking the recipe, by the way. MB: Well, we have the general concept: grilled blood oranges, Booker’s and black strap [rum]. Do we add Averna? AD: No Averna in this one. MB: Hm... This is pretty damn tasty. I can taste the maple. I love the bitterness of this version [pointing to one of the shakers on the bar], but it’s almost too bitter and spicy, and I love the fruit of this one, but it’s almost too fruity. AD: Dash of Ango in there? MD: Yes! [Tastes again...] It brought out the lemon. Now I feel like it’s too lemony. AD: I still get the maple, though. MD: Yes, but the lemon is taking over. I feel like I’m being crushed in the face with a lemon! AD: More whiskey then...

The Black Liberace 1 ounce Cruzan Black Strap Rum 1 ounce Booker’s Bourbon 1/4 ounce maple syrup 1/4 ounce blood orange syrup (in a pot, simmer down 1 can San Pellegrino Blood Orange soda until syrupy) 3/4 ounce grilled blood orange juice 1/4 ounce lemon juice 1 dash Angostura bitters Stir everything together with ice. Strain over fresh ice and garnish with a slice of grilled blood orange sprinkled, ideally, with edible glitter. www.OFFBEAT.com

FRENCH Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670

GERMAN Jaeger Haus: 833 Conti, 525-9200

ICE CREAM/CAKE/CANDY Aunt Sally’s Praline Shop’s: 2831 Chartres St., 944-6090 Bittersweet Confections: 725 Magazine St., 523-2626 La Divina Gelateria: 3005 Magazine St., 3422634; 621 St. Peter St., 302-2692 Tee-Eva’s Praline Shop: 4430 Magazine St., 899-8350

INDIAN Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797

AFRICAN Bennachin: 1212 Royal St., 522-1230.

AMERICAN Barcadia: 601 Tchoupitoulas St., 335-1740 Brown Butter Southern Kitchen: 231 N Carrollton Ave., 609-3871 Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120 Primitivo: 1800 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 881-1775

IRISH The Irish House: 1432 Saint Charles Ave., 595-6755

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI

COFFEE HOUSE

LOUISIANA / SOUTHERN

Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Dr., (504) 300-1157, 3325 Severn Ave., Metairie, 885-4068

Fulton Alley: 600 Fulton St., 208-5593 Mondo: 900 Harrison Ave., 224-2633 Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

CREOLE/CAJUN

MEDITERRANEAN

DELI Stein’s Market and Deli: 2207 Magazine St., 527-0771

FINE DINING Bombay Club: 830 Conti St., 586-0972 Broussard’s: 819 Conti St., 581-3866 Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave.,

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Byblos: 3218 Magazine St., 894-1233 Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115

MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/SPANISH Barú Bistro & Tapas: 3700 Magazine St., 895-2225 Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000 El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846

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 Dmac’s Bar & Grill: 542 S Jefferson Davis Pkwy, 304-5757 Gattuso’s: 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, 368-1114 Hard Rock Café: 125 Bourbon St., 529-5617 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068

PIZZA Midway Pizza: 4725 Freret St., 322-2815 Pizza Delicious: 617 Piety St., 676-8482 Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525-7437 Theo’s Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554; 4024 Canal St., 302-1133; 1212 S Clearview, 733-3803

SEAFOOD Basin Seafood and Spirits: 3222 Magazine St., 302-7391 Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380 LeBayou Restaurant: 208 Bourbon St., 525-4755 Pier 424 Seafood Market: 424 Bourbon St., 309-1574 Royal House Oyster Bar: 441 Royal St., 528-2601

SOUL Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

STEAKHOUSE La Boca: 870 Tchoupitoulas St., 525-8205

VIETNAMESE Namese: 4077 Tulane Ave., 483-8899

WEE HOURS Buffa’s Restaurant & Lounge: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Clover Grill: 900 Bourbon St., 523-0904 Mimi’s in the Marigny: 2601 Royal St., 872-9868

James Singleton hits the

Adolfo’s: 611 Frenchmen St., 948-3800 Little Vic’s: 719 Toulouse St., 304-1238

The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232 Whoodoo BBQ: 2660 St Philip St., 230-2070

Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 Cornet: 700 Bourbon St., 523-1485 Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021 Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486 K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen: 416 Chartres St., 524-7394 Mulate’s: 201 Julia St., 522-1492 New Orleans Creole Cookery: 508 Toulouse St., 524-9632 Restaurant Rebirth: 857 Fulton St., 522-6863

Biscuits and Buns on Banks: 4337 Banks St., 273-4600 Cake Café: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010 City Diner: 3116 S I-10 Service Rd E, 8311030; 5708 Citrus Blvd., 309-7614 Cowbell: 8801 Oak St., 298-8689 Dat Dog: 601 Frenchmen St., 309-3362; 5030 Freret St., 899-6883; 3336 Magazine St., 324-2226 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047 Phil’s Grill: 3020 Severn Ave., Metairie, 324-9080; 1640 Hickory Ave., Harahan, 305-1705 Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361 Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413 Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683

ITALIAN

Chiba: 8312 Oak St., 826-9119 Mikimoto: 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., 488-1881 Seoul Shack: 435 Esplanade Ave., 417-6206 Sukho Thai: 4519 Magazine St., 373-6471; 1913 Royal St., 948-9309 Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433

BARBECUE

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS

Warehouse Grille: 869 Magazine St., 322-2188

Spot

Did you always like coffee? New Orleans has become quite the coffee town; the bar's been raised. Before Katrina, the coffee at Fair Grinds was good enough. Today, there is Cherry uptown, there's Arrow on Rampart Street, there's HiVolt, and a bunch of others I don't even know about. And don't forget French Truck and Pagoda. Solo is the downtown mecca, but for me, it's no coffee until Jazz Fest.

Why on earth? Because I become so habituated to it and I really need it to work during Jazz Fest. Sometimes I have four gigs a day. And I like changing patterns when I see them emerge. So I'm cutting out sugar and coffee for lent. What's the best cup of coffee you've ever had in your life, anywhere? Probably the espresso here. It's a trip Solo Espresso having it in your mouth; it's strong tasting 1301 Poland Ave. and has a lot of nuance that comes with (504) 408-1377 the length of the flavor, after you swallow. soloespressobar.com —Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

899-8221 Kingfish: 337 Chartres St., 598-5005 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078 Restaurant R’evolution: 777 Bienville St., 553-2277

Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844 Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117 Little Gem Saloon: 445 S. Rampart St., 267-4863 Maison: 508 Frenchmen St., 289-5648 Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 Palm Court: 1204 Decatur St., 525-0200 Rivershack Tavern: 3449 River Rd., 834-4938 Southport Hall: 200 Monticello Ave., 835-2903 Snug Harbor: 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 Three Muses: 536 Frenchmen St., 298-8746

DINING OUT

Seither’s Seafood Seither’s Seafood is located on an industrial thoroughfare dotted with trucking lots and contractor yards, but the oyster shells strewn about the parking lot portend just one of the reasons why it's worth taking the journey to Harahan. Urbanites may recognize the Seither name from proprietor Jason's stints as chief boiler on Sunday nights at the Maple Leaf Bar, where music lovers were treated to an unconventional crawfish feast in which pineapple and duck livers might be added to the boil. At his eponymous restaurant, the menu covers all bounties of our local waters in a more traditional manner, with a few detours along the way. Seither’s offers two different dining experiences, depending on which entrance customers choose. The door on the left leads to the oyster bar, where shucker Rodney “Doc” Jones holds court with equal parts banter and superior skill; high-quality bivalves are only $1 each. A half-dozen seats at the bar and even fewer high-top tables are

www.OFFBEAT.com

first come first served for those desiring a basic Lenten meal of cold, briny oysters on the half shell washed down with even colder beer, although platters of boiled seafood often migrate from the full menu next door. Beyond the door on the right lies the main dining room, where the sweet sound of crawfish head-sucking bounces under the low-slung ceilings. Seither’s boiling spice has a pronounced level of heat that enhances rather than overwhelms. In addition to crawfish, local shrimp, blue crabs and even snow crab legs are available. Asian influences run through the menu. Kung Fu Tuna is a riff on a sushi bar favorite, with generous slices of fresh tuna, barely seared around the edges, drizzled with spicy mayo and eel sauce. Coconut shrimp with sweet chili sauce is a popular appetizer, as is the sesamegrilled asparagus with soy reduction. In addition to neighborhood classics—a top-notch roast beef po-boy and fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade—the menu abounds with specials like a po-boy stuffed with crabmeat au gratin and the Rocky Balboa, a fried softshell crab topped with a fried egg and served with potatoes, corn and spinach. Minimal seating almost always ensures a wait for dinner, when patrons meander outside while waitresses ferry out cold beers to help pass the

Photo: renee bienvenu

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time. A brisk takeout business guarantees that diners are served seafood immediately pulled from the boiling pot, which is just another aspect of Seither’s that makes it a seafood destination worth both the drive and the wait. —Peter Thriffiley 279 Hickory Ave., Harahan; (504) 7381116; Tue–Thu 11a–8p, Fri 11a–9p, Sat 5–9p; seithersseafood.com

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REVIEWS

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

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

Imaginative Culprits

Nolatet Dogs (The Royal Potato Family) What is the result of four eclectic music masters combining their talents? The answer is Nolatet’s brilliant debut album, Dogs. The imaginative culprits—pianist Brian Haas, vibraphonist and percussionist Mike Dillon, bassist James Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich—take pens to hand for a disc full of original material. Through the years, the four have

worked together in diverse configurations—from Singleton’s and Vidacovich’s decades in Astral Project to Haas and Dillon teamed up in bands like Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Garage A Trois. They have also all joined up to perform gigs in the past. In an ensemble made up of all rhythmic instruments played by musicians with the capacity for powerful dynamics, it comes as a surprise that Dogs’ opening cut, “Pops,” displays such a gentle nature. Written by Dillon, his vibes are first to provide the melody that is taken up by Singleton’s bowed bass. Beneath its quietude lies great passion. The familiarity of Singleton’s “Bongo Joe,” a tune that was previously recorded by the bassist as well as Astral Project, offers a lively, rhythmic sense of happiness. It, of course, gets a new treatment here with Haas displaying his adeptness at wild, single-note runs and big, fat

A Tumultuous and Eccentric Life Peter Guralnick Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll (Little, Brown)

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Chris Ardoin & Nustep Zydeko Zydeko Fever (Maison de Soul Records) Since making his debut at Carnegie Hall at age four, Chris Ardoin has accomplished a lot. As

a teenager in the ’90s, he was one of the leading lights of the nouveau movement and later developed a new sound that incorporated elements of funk, R&B and gospel. Songs were composed in the verse-chorus, chorus-verse format with the B3 organ, Rhodes piano and synthesizer being a focal point in crafting melodies, instead of the accordion. Acquiring a home studio helped, as did rechristening his band from Double Clutchin’ to Nustep to complete the rebranding.

credit Phillips’ success with being in the right place at the right time, it was a result of guile, candor and a shrewd knack for speculation. A larger-than-life character, Phillips regularly went against the grain. Not only was he one of the first music men to embrace and promote black music, he discovered dirt-poor country singers whose records would transform pop culture. Phillips’ other business ventures included owning several radio stations, being an original investor in the Holiday Inn chain and partnering in several oil wells. Extraordinarily, he also owned a lead and zinc mine. Guralnick already recounted Elvis’s early involvement with Phillips in the brilliant read Last Train To Memphis, but he also details Phillips’ involvements with the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins—among others—here. Phillips led a tumultuous and eccentric life (especially in his later years) and was often vain beyond belief. But he very much was a transformational figure in American music. That he was one of the earliest inductees into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame underlines that fact. A comprehensive read that comes highly recommended. —Jeff Hannusch

bookmark

While this is a through and mostly enjoyable biography, some folks—especially in these parts—might take exception to the book’s title; Cosimo Matassa had a studio on Rampart Street up and running several years before Phillips made his initial mark in the music business. People with merely a passing interest in music are aware that Sam Phillips’ claim to fame was “discovering” Elvis Presley in Memphis in 1954. While some may

chords. Meantime, Vidacovich’s drums often mimic the sound of a bongo in memory of George “Bongo Joe” Coleman. The mood of the music becomes more serious on Dillon’s and Singleton’s “Morphine Drip/ Lento” with, again, the bowed bass setting the deep tone. Things start swinging on “Mellon Ball,” which finds the vibraphonist dancin’ and the pianist stompin’. With Vidacovich’s cymbals providing the splash, it’s a lot of fun. The disc ends with an explosion that seems to sum up all the excitement that came before. —Geraldine Wyckoff

www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS Now, on this prolific songwriter’s 15th album that spans a copious 17 originals, he states in the liner notes that it’s his duty to make sure zydeco’s roots aren’t forgotten. He skillfully mixes ’90s-sounding nouveau (“Zydeko Fever,” “Wolf Cochon”) and a squealy, first generation–style waltz with contemporary stuff like the truck envy “Big Toyz,” the risqué “My Chank-A-Chank” and the veritable stompin’ storm of “Find U Some Business.” “Old Tractor” offers clever lyrical twists. A guitar-strumming country-esque intro develops into a wholesome return-to-farm concept that blossoms into an amorous, sexy setting that’s almost a South Louisiana, hormone-flying version of a farmers’ matchmaking commercial. The studio whiz is a oneman wrecking crew, playing six instruments (including accordion) in addition to producing,

recording, mixing and mastering at his home studio. Additionally, Ardoin handles all vocals, which are occasionally stacked for a resounding, full-force effect. As the cover suggests, it’s a loaded jukebox that should never sit idle. —Dan Willging

Sweet Jones Home Vol: 1 (Independent) Couples Americana? Sure, why not? The husband-and-wife team of the DeOrazios, Melissa (vocals and guitar) and Matthew (guitar and everything else), wrote and recorded this 5-song EP at home, imbued their folk-country hybrid with a warm and inviting glow, and stuck to the theme of the title, turning all five tracks—even the jaunty closing instrumental rag “Homeward Bound”—into a brief song cycle about finding one’s way back to one’s strength. The gentle

Sophistication and Maturity Tonya Boyd-Cannon Muzic Is Life (TBC Muzic Group) Tonya Boyd-Cannon upped her recognition when she ranked in the top 20 of NBC’s popular singing competition program, The Voice. The Mississippi-born, New Orleans-raised vocalist brings a lot of passion to Muzic Is Life, offered with a myriad of musical backdrops. On “No Approval,” a tune that lyrically sends a positive message and on which Boyd-Cannon is joined by rapper Phat Word, programming is fully depended upon. Later in the album, on “Wish You Well,” she brings in an entire band, including trumpeter and co-writer Andrew Baham and pianist David Torkanowsky. In both cases, Boyd-Cannon displays a certain sophistication and maturity. Boyd-Cannon pens or co-pens all of the material on the album. The range of styles she chooses to present—contemporary rhythm and blues, rap, pop, jazz and even gospel—doesn’t necessarily make for a comprehensive album, though in this age of single cut downloading that may not be a problem. The vocalist’s strengths are obvious on Muzic Is Life. Her songwriting offers something to think about, as with the quiet “Call It Jazz.” It boasts some local references though not overtly as she slips in Louis Armstrong and second lining. And, as mentioned, positive messages also abound. A strong voice and an ear for good accompaniment take Boyd-Cannon where she wants to go. Just where that will be in the future is difficult to predict. —Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

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REVIEWS Mac thing… well, that’d be on you. The DeOrazios don’t seem boring, just comfortable. —Robert Fontenot

Julian Primeaux This Guilded, Swaying Heart (Independent)

nature of their traditionalism only helps to put an even softer focus on these intimate snapshots. You might very well feel like staying for dinner. Nope, none of that Richard and Linda Thompson domestic hell here: Though lyrically Sweet Jones’ songs describe a long-term relationship on the skids, Melissa’s nurturing take on them seems to make reconciliation a given, almost a rustic take on Homer’s Odyssey, minus the carnage but with happy ending intact (“Welcome Home”). Whether or not you’d rather watch a musical couple do the Fleetwood

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A veteran of the Lafayette music scene and something of a journeyman who has spent time in bands as far flung as Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, the Howdies (vintage hillybilly/ rockabilly/country) and Sanity’s Mask (1980s stylized metal), Julian Primeaux has spent a lot of time in the background of the stage and in the smaller typeface on gig posters. If there is anything right about rock these days, that should change dramatically with This Guilded, Swaying Heart, a stellar, retro-ish alt-rock album. Somehow, although pulling from multiple influences, This Guilded, Swaying Heart remains unique. Primeaux is influenced by

T. Rex and it shows throughout in a grand-scale rock format that is raw, crunchy, catchy and retro all at once. Opener “Like Lightning” is a shot across the bow, a distorted guitar-driven cut powered by gusty bravado. Primeaux conjures up something along the lines of a far less crazy Captain Beefheart covering a song similar to Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.” With a classic rough guitar crunch and a bongo beat, Primeaux boasts, “I could be your jagged edge, if you know what I mean” and compares himself to various forces of nature. Hearing it for the first time is akin to a close lightning strike. From there, Primeaux switches into and sticks with an alt-rock vibe that is a bit like a danceable indie pop version of the Replacements fused with early altrock guitar rhythms and aesthetics. The intro and recurring lick of “Bangs & Winter Boots” is a bit of the Pixies having a go at a Cure riff. A hip-shaking rocker, it will

never see the light of modern rock radio. And that is both a good and a terrible thing. “Fading Star” is a catchy and fun sing-along cut, employing a classic rock feel. Every rock album needs a rock ballad and “Mansion in My Heart” is it, with a weird (and perhaps unintentional or completely intentional) nod to “Mansion in the Sky.” A thumper, “Sell Me the Resurrection“ has an underlying rockabilly rhythm but takes off with an ’80s pop-rockcovering-classic-rockabilly feel. “And the Fall” and “Christmas Lights in June” explore moody rock and feature great classic rock solo work. On “To Move In The Night”—a rocker with old-school flair— Primeaux laments he’s not what he used to be. He’s getting old and unable to do the things he used to, he seems to think. Whether or not that is true, on This Guilded, Swaying Heart he is still tearing it up like a much younger man. —Nick Pittman

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REVIEWS

Michael Torregano Jr. The M. Teezy Project (Independent) The great New Orleans electric violin player Michael Ward preferred the term “contemporary instrumental music” to what has commonly been called smooth jazz. Ward’s description applies well to pianist/ keyboardist Michael Torregano Jr.’s album The M. Teezy Project. Michael Jr. hails from the talented Torregano musical family recognized for their work in the traditional jazz realm. His father is pianist Michael Sr. and his

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uncle the late clarinetist Joseph Torregano. Michael Jr., a graduate of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), certainly displays his straight-up jazz roots when he moves from the electric keys to the acoustic piano on swinging numbers like “I Have Arrived.” However, more prominent on the album is the funky-edged, dance music, such as the opener “Next Level.” Providing that rhythmic base for the first four tracks is none other than “Mean” Willie Green of Neville Brothers’ fame. The saxophonists, who are major players on the disc, include the versatile Alexander Geddes, who doubles on flute, and Gregory Agid, whose round tone enhances “Let’s Make Some Funk.” All the material on The M. Teezy Project comes from the pen of Michael Torregano Jr. Both the album and Torregano sound like New Orleans. They’ve got those jazz roots, they’ve got

that funk and they’ve got that contemporary instrumental style that gets people heading to the dance floor. —Geraldine Wyckoff

Junko Beat JamKronic (Indpendent) What to label this? The rhythm section was once known as Junko Partners, but they’ve since split from that nucleus and mutated into the kind of funk band that features a synthesized bass and a fair bit of electronic sweetening, all while occasionally employing an R&B diva of sorts, a worldbeat drummer from West Africa, a veteran pedal-steel sideman, and a cellist whose classical axe just happens to be plugged in. Yes, they’re that kind of funk outfit: the kind you’ve never heard before. If that mix kinda sounds like an aural marshmallow-peeps milkshake, your concerns are well noted. But Junko’s odd melange is

surprisingly well integrated: Their funk-by-committee approach is anchored by that same rhythm section of Chris Lacinak (drums, both “real” and not) and Vernon Rome (synth and bass). Most of these nine workouts follow the same formula anyway—a backbeat steeped in Crescent City funk, Middle Eastern music or both, a big fat squiggly bottom, some antiseptic synth atmospheres just to show they mean business, and then plenty of room on top to allow their guests to stretch out and do their thing. And as good as the groove gets, it’s really those guests who bring these songs home—Trea Martinez’ vocals give them a moral foundation, Seguenon Kone’s djembe propels “Fatima” around the world, and Will Snowden’s ominous electric cello rockets Junko into space. Too bad you can’t see the belly dancer. Did we mention the belly dancer? There’s also a belly dancer. —Robert Fontenot

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REVIEWS

Leader Bill Davis presses rewind on Dash Rip Rock’s classic live album from 1991.

Eric Bibb and JJ Milteau Lead Belly’s Gold, Live at the Sunset… And More (Stony Plain Records)

Dash Rip Rock Boiled Alive! (Mammoth)

“T

his was a pretty important record for us—we’d been a big college radio band and this one pushed us a little bit further. It was our last album for Mammoth— we’d been tearing up the road and getting a good reputation, and we wanted to make a great live album. It was our first album that only came out on CD, and the first we recorded digitally, which seemed pretty insane. Our engineer was Keith Keller, who ran Chez Flames studio on Annunciation—his nickname was Fred Flames. He came into Tip’s with a huge recorder that looked like a video player, and I’d say, ‘Man, that’s crazy, it looks super high tech.’ But that’s what we used, we recorded it all on Sony Betamax tape. We wound up recording four shows and taking the best from each one. It was one of those ‘feel the burn’ weekends where nobody sleeps for four days. The first was in town at Jimmy’s, an insane, sold-out show. Then we went to the Bayou, the original punk bar in Baton Rouge. The acoustics were always pretty strange there; you can hear it on ‘Hell’s Scared,’ which just sounds cavernous. From there we went to another legendary punk bar, Fitzgerald’s in Houston. That was Billy Gibbons’ favorite hang, the first place I ever met him. Finally we did Club Clearview in Deep Ellum—the big song from there is ‘Delta Dawn,’ the audience sang the shit out of that one. Mammoth was pushing us to capture all the live insanity. The first thing you hear is Hoaky [bassist Hoaky Hickel] letting out a resounding belch. Our drummer at the time was Chris Luckette, who’d been in the Cold and the Normals. He had this thing when a song got really fast and he got into it, he’d start fake-chewing and humming at the same time. So if you listen to ‘Leave Me Alone,’ you can hear him moaning into the mike—that’s

what he’d always do on the fast ones. That album had our first version of ‘Pussywhipped.’ We learned it from a Georgia band, the Primates, who’d taken it from the Boston band the Dogmatics. That song got us on a lot of morning DJ–type shows. But at the same time we had things like ‘Endeavor’ and ‘Mud Island’—the more serious side. Our soundman Mike Mayeux used to say to me, ‘Man, you’re an underappreciated songwriter—why the hell are you doing things like [jokey track] ‘Save the Whales’ when you have ‘Mud Island’ on the same record?’ But when you’re younger, it’s easy to take the bait—after you’ve had a few beers, you’d rather do something fun than play ‘Endeavor’ one more time. My defense in doing covers was always the Replacements’ live cassette, The Shit Hits the Fans. I’d say, ‘Look at Paul Westerberg who’s probably the best songwriter of the ’80s—if he can get away with this, why can’t I?’ There was one part we had to cut out: We start playing ‘Hot Legs’ and Hoaky shouts, ‘Hey, why are you playing that Rod Stewart song?’ and I say, ‘No, it’s the Black Crowes!’—totally making fun of them for sounding so much like Rod Stewart and the Faces. But Mammoth nixed that because the Black Crowes were friends of theirs, so we got censored on that one. We also had some trouble with the back cover, where we stole a Tabasco label and called it Dashbasco. Turned out one of the owners’ granddaughters was going to LSU, and her boyfriend was a big Dash fan. Then they broke up and she gets mad and tells the family, so we get a cease-and-desist order, which got us on MTV News. We changed it on the second pressing, but put it on a T-shirt instead. The front cover was not photoshopped, and I can tell you it really burns when you pour crawfish down your neck.” —Brett Milano

”The front cover was not photo-shopped, and I can tell you it really burns when you pour crawfish down your neck.”

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Lead Belly’s been gone for over 60 years, but his music still resonates throughout this fat nation on many different levels. Guitarist Eric Bibb and Mississippi saxophone player JJ Milteau do a great job of expressing the range of emotions and music that Lead Belly embodied and defined on this mostly live recording from France. Bibb and Milteau’s playing and singing has the defiance of Lead Belly’s social critiques and the playful whimsy of his more folk/children’s melodies. The arrangements are sparse: mainly vocals, harmonica, guitar, and occasional bass and percussion which allows the timeless nature of the songs and the musicians’ interpretation of them to be front and center. Performing in front of a live audience gives the music more of an edge than usual. This comes out in the hushed, rueful tone of “House of the Rising Sun” and the hopeful jaunt of “Midnight Special.” The musicians dig in on these standards, and it gives this record an added depth. But it’s not all doom and gloom here. The final two songs of the live set, “Good Night, Irene” and “Rock Island Line,” maintain the communal, participatory energy that has made them popular from coffee houses to stadiums the world over. The originals penned by Bibb and with Milteau fit right in on this set, especially the Lead Belly-reprimanding-John-Lomaxfrom-heaven fantasy “Chauffeur Blues.” As a primer for Lead Belly’s songs performed with respect and conviction, a listener can’t do much better than Bibb and Milteau’s record. —David Kunian www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Smoov Ras Son of Calypso (Independent)

to islands, smoke and Babylon. Smoov slows down and gives a Jamaican version of a love ballad, then throws out a heavy bass number called “Outer Spacin.” “Radio” has shades of the Roots and a chorus that might owe a little to the Notorious B.I.G., but sung like Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s bettersounding cousin. “Higher” has a slight rock edge, calling up some of the crossover sounds of Cypress Hill’s Skull & Bones.

Though some songs are scattered in their lyric structure, the album holds the listener’s attention. No matter your political leanings, “Gun From”—probably the most reggae track on the record—will get stuck in your head. And no matter which end—or right in the middle—of the hip-hop/reggae spectrum Smoov is in, there is always a modern edge and bounce. —Nick Pittman

Mid-City Aces Mid-City Aces (Mid-City Aces Records) Thanks to Dewey Balfa’s profound analogy, Cajun music is often viewed as roots and branches, where a branch later becomes a root of a future branch. The Mid-City Aces, a trio consisting of Gina Forsyth and the father-and-son tandem of Michael and Cameron Dupuy,

Reggae music is the product of a process that has been evolving— arguably a slow moving one— since the ’60s. Today’s reggae—or sub genres ragga or dancehall—is both a far throw from Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley and no stranger to electronic music. Though Smoov Ras bridges reggae, electronic sounds and hip-hop, he’s a rocket blast away from anything coming out of Jamaica today. Originally from New Roads but now residing in Lafayette, Smoov is a dynamic artist who has managed to make something new out of something borrowed on Son of Calypso. It doesn’t hurt that it has ultra-clean production. The record starts out with the incredible “Never Meant to Be.” With its beeps and blips, quick snares and lyrics scattering all over, it is definitely not something that Marley could have envisioned, yet it will get its hooks into any Tuff Gong fan. This record is more modern hip-hop—with a singsong style vocal performance and delivery somewhere between a slightly nasal KRS-One and Smokey Robinson. The track stands out not just because it is a rap song with a very small touch of reggae feel, but because it is interesting and fresh, bridging modern hiphop electro sounds with lyrics that are not written at a third grade vocabulary and reading level. In other words, it’s not “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” After the first track, Smoov starts to make his way back to the core of reggae. It’s a slow process that finds the two genres slowly becoming one, then drifting apart. Songs turn www.OFFBEAT.com

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REVIEWS could be viewed as a branch stemming from Bruce Daigrepont; both Forsyth and Mike have a long musical association with the New Orleans accordionist/vocalist. Yet stylistically, the trio forges its own path. Eighteen-year-old Cameron has no weaknesses on the loud little box, playing with precision, impeccable timing and finesse. Since Mike plays acoustic guitar “chunk style” (muting barre chords), his steady pulsing rhythms eliminate the

need for bass and drums. Forsyth’s sublime bowing is often lyrical and sometimes ferocious. Even though there’s an adherence to tradition, there’s also subtle innovation here. “Allons à Lafayette” is rendered in G as originally recorded by Joe Falcon, not the oft-heard key of C as popularized by Aldus Roger. Forsyth’s “Breaux Bridge Hot Step” contains a minor chord, a rarity for Cajun music.

“Sidney Brown Special” seamlessly melds Brown’s “Fond d’ Culotte Two-Step” and an enchanting, unnamed melody of Forsyth’s. Of the selections, Forsyth emotes on five while Mike Dupuy wraps his pipes around four more. His tender performance of “Pardon Waltz” is so moving, it leads to one of those “aha” realizations that this music is beautiful to the bone. —Dan Willging

Clarence “Frogman” Henry Baby Ain’t That Love (Ace) Unavoidably labeled by many listeners as merely a poor man’s Fats Domino, Clarence “Frogman” Henry was much more than that. While he could mimic the Fatman as well as anyone, these tracks— recorded in Houston and Nashville between 1964 and 1981— included superb and influential swamp pop, honky tonk, pop, rock and dare we say reggae. After a successful run of Domino-styled discs for Chess, that style fell off the charts and Frogman got his walking papers in 1963. (Ironically, Henry’s R&B style fell from favor with the advent of the Beatles, but it was the Frogman who served as an opening act for the Fab Four on their initial American tour.) Henry then signed on with Huey Meaux in Texas, who placed Frog in a slightly different groove. A nice reprise of “Ain’t Got No Home” opens this but Henry’s New Orleans style was eventually adapted to a relaxed Gulf Coast groove. Several tracks from this era are simply brilliant. The haunting ballads “Think It Over” and the country flavored “Cheatin’ Traces” were especially heartrending, while the jaunty title track included equal measures of Domino and fais do-do. But the real classic included in the early Houston sides was the Meaux-penned “Cajun Honey,” which was a Gulf Coast juke box favorite for decades. Unfortunately, Henry’s five singles (issued on Parrot) didn’t sell much and by the late 1960s, his sessions were assigned to Buddy Killen’s Dial label in Nashville. The country-styled “Hummin’ A

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REVIEWS Heartache” and “That’s When I Guessed” were especially catchy, while “This Time” was a fine embodiment of country/swamp pop. Again the Dial singles did little and Henry retreated to Bourbon Street where he could work live gigs when he pleased. Meaux came back into the picture in the mid-’70s with a new label, PlaBoy, and Henry was often served a diet of country—but it was damn good country. By the early 1980s, Henry’s tenure as a commercial recording artist came to an end, but thankfully the reissue market exploded. As previously stated, this one is worth more than one listen. Besides the old singles, there’s a plethora of unissued material and tracks from an out-of-print 1999 English import. I’d scoop this one up pdq as it’s a limited edition of 1,500 pressings and it won’t be around very long. —Jeff Hannusch

The Ed Frank Quartet The Ed Frank Quartet featuring Clarence Ford (504 Records) This record features a type of music that is rarely played or recorded in this day and age. It’s the music of mature but not elderly African-Americans that was played in bars and joints like the Joy Tavern and the Dew Drop Inn and Mason’s. It’s rhythm and blues in a jazz vein played by the unsung legends of New Orleans music who practically invented the form. Pianist Ed Frank leads the band. Frank played this music his whole life after starting in the J&M studio band backing up the hits that made New Orleans famous in the 1950s. Drummer June Gardner was Sam Cooke’s choice for the trap set in the 1960s and he

Style and Grace Christian Winther Refuge in Sound (Sound Perspective Music) How one is perceived is a funny thing. In New Orleans, reedman Christian Winther is thought of by many as residing in the traditional jazz setting. Indeed, he did pick up his abandoned clarinet when in 1997 he moved to the Crescent City from his native Denmark. And yes, it was the New Orleans classic style that lured him into jazz in the first place. However, he put aside his clarinet and switched to tenor saxophone and moved into the modern jazz mode after hearing artists like John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. On Refuge in Sound, Winther, with tenor in hand, teams with some of this generation’s finest and most sought-after modern jazz musicians. This able crew, with pianist Allyn Johnson, bassist Reuben Rogers, guitarist Mike Moreno and drummer Billy Williams Jr., work with intuition on an album rich with Winther’s fine originals. The material is entirely straight-up jazz in the best sense of the term. There’s a lot of swinging as heard on “Blues Life.” Winther’s tone remains pure whether he’s blowing hot lines or caressing a ballad like “One for Mulgrew,” dedicated to the late great pianist Mulgrew Miller. Naturally, pianist Johnson, who shines throughout the session, brings much emotion to this tribute that includes vocals by Christie Dashiell. Christian Winther is in good company and is good company among this group of ace players. As a musician and composer, he wears his modern jazz with style and grace. —Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

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REVIEWS

went on to have one of the best trad jazz bands in the city. Frank Fields on bass also was in the J&M band and had a long career with R&B bands and Preservation Hall. Clarence Ford played tenor with everyone but was most famous for his work with Fats Domino. All of the players here perform many standards, from “Stardust” to “High Heel Sneakers,” including New Orleans classics such as “Feels So Good,” I Hear You Knocking/I’m In Love Again,” and “You Are My Sunshine.” This was the music

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of Saturday night set-ups and dancing cheek to cheek before modern rhythm and blues and hip-hop supplanted this from most peoples’ weekend preferences. And if you venture into the neighborhoods this weekend, you would have to look hard, but you could find a band playing this music for an appreciative and discerning audience. If not, grab your pint of Crown Royal or Seagrams, a mixer, and a bowl of ice; turn this record up; and dance the night away like the days of yore. —David Kunian

Tortue Play It Loud (Latanier Music) Who says old dudes can’t rock? As evidenced by its ninetrack debut, Tortue certainly still can. The Lafayette roots rockers do so with a two-pronged attack, most saliently with the

interleaving, ’70s-influenced guitars of Blake Castille and Phil Kaelin. Though riffs, textures and tones are prominent throughout, Tortue’s sheer, raw guitar power is best felt on Kaelin’s “Undertow,” a powerchord surf instrumental of sorts. Songwriting is the second prong. Singing drummer Danny Kimball and Kaelin are Tortue’s chief songsmiths and, stylistically, are different as night and day. Kaelin’s songs are in your face and don’t back off, covering topics such as the evils of war and the shafting of our vets on “Dirty Business.” “TV Jive” is even denser with all the things we abhor: TV evangelists, wars staged in the name of religion and the glorifying of murders, which become our perverse entertainment. Kimball’s songs juxtapose life observations, ideologies and eloquent Southern imagery. “Sharecropper” is the most

vivid of these. Inspired by the early life of Castille’s legendary fiddling father Hadley, Kimball depicts a sharecropper’s hellish existence as an inescapable caste system. “Ghost Voices (Rise and Sing)” was inspired by a profound Tensas Parish gig and memories of the civil rights freedom fighters. “Fades to Gold” is about growing old with dignity. As Tortue masterfully demonstrates, you’re never too old to rock out again but doing so with fresh ideas is even better. —Dan Willging

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Listings

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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-new-listings 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 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

TUESDAY MARCH 1

Banks Street Bar: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 7p, the Most Infamous (HH) 9:30p BMC: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 6p, Soul Company (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Spaghetti Western Show (CW) 7p, Free Spirit Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid,TK Groove (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (RK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p UNO Performing Arts Center: Red Priest Baroque Ensemble (CL) 7:30p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2

Banks Street Bar: Vanessa Siberman (JV) 8p BMC: Mark Appleford (VR) 6p, Jason Neville Band (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Meschiya Lake and Tom McDermott (JV) 8p

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Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 6p Eiffel Society: Society Salsa (LT) 7p French Market: Patrick Cooper and Natasha Sanchez (FO) 3:15p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat. Royal Teeth, Naughty Professor (VR) 5p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Bayou Saints, Jazz Vipers, Willfunk (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Gravity A with Hipnosis (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Gregg Martinez (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

THURSDAY MARCH 3

Banks Street Bar: the Matchsellers (RK) 10p BMC: Justin Donovan (VR) 6p, Marcos and Crescent Citizen (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski Duo with Aleksi Glick (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Leslie Cooper (JV) 8p Chiba: Tom Worrell (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy and Emily Robertson (VR) 6p, Dr. Dick and Aden Paul Duo (VR) 8:30p, Naylor Stone CD-release party (VR) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Jon Cleary (VR) 7p, Mason Ruffner (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dave Easley (VR) 6p, the ILL Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Sufficients, Adam and Kizzie, Honey Savage, STEFAN feat. Cool Nasty (VR) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: call club (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher and Clarinet Road (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Sweet Substitute, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p Palm Court Jazz Club: Duke Heitger and Tim Laughlin with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p the Rat (Tulane University): Jazz at the Rat feat. Daniel Sadownick (JV) 7p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas (ZY) 8:30p

Saint Hotel: the Yat Pack (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Peter Martin Trio with Ruben Rogers (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Miss Maggie Trio (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: the Heart Attacks (JV) 10p

FRIDAY MARCH 4

Banks Street Bar: the Blindspots, the Last New Beginning (RK) 10p BMC: Jon Roniger Gypsyland (JV) 5p, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale (BL) 8p, Ashton Hines and the Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 11p Bombay Club: Aleksi Glick Trio (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Sneaky Pete and the Fens (VR) 5p, Davis Rogan (VR) 8p, Michael Liuzza (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Charlie Wooten Band (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, John “Papa” Gros (VR) 11p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 8p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Bobby Whitlock, Coco Carmel (BL) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Pancakes and Booze Art Show (VR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Rubin/Wilson Folk-Blues Explosion (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Eight Dice Cloth, Dinosaurchestra, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Zena Moses, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Mia Borders (VR) 10:30p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Jamie Lynn Vessels (RK) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarinand James Evans with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Sledgehammer (RK) 9:30p Roussel Hall (Loyola University): Loyola Faculty Jazz Ensemble (JV) 4:30p Snug Harbor: Peter Martin Trio with Ruben Rogers (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 4p, T’Canaille (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Ugly Dog Saloon: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Carolyn Broussard (CW) 7p

SATURDAY MARCH 5

Banks Street Bar: Stella! (RB) 10p BMC: Keith Stone (VR) 3p, Kristina Morales and the Bayou Shufflers (JV) 5p, Johnny Mastro (BL) 8p, New Creations Brass Band (BB) 11p

Bombay Club: New Orleans Ragtime Trio (TJ) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Fr. Ron and Friends (VR) 5p, Marc Stone (BL) 8p, Stuart McNair (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: WTUL Hootenanny Fundraiser (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Mark Weliky Trio (JV) 11a d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 8p, Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p, Black Laurel, the Quickening (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p, Sadder Days (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Close Me Out (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues: Departure: A Tribute To Journey (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Cha Wa Mardi Gras Indian Band (MG) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Lena Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (VR) 1p, TK Groove, the Business (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Boukou Groove (VR) 10:30p Old Point Bar: Hill Country Hounds (CW) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Club: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Frank Oxley (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Supercharger (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Christian Winther CD-release party (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p; David Rogan (JV) 10; Three Muses: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 5:30p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Ugly Dog Saloon: Honey Island Swamp Trio (RR) 7p

SUNDAY MARCH 6

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parson (RK) 9p Maison: the Slick Skillets, Nickel-A-Dance feat. Gregg Stafford and the Jazz Hounds (JV) 1p, Swinging Gypsies, Soul Project (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Battiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 8p Saenger Theatre: Experience Hendrix feat. Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd (CR) 8p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: CeeLo Green presents the Love Train Tour (RB) 9p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 4p, Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

MONDAY MARCH 7

Banks Street Bar: Lauren Sturm’s Piano Night Showcase (JV) 7p, South Jones (RK) 10p BMC: Lil’ Red and Big Bad (BL) 6p, BMC: Will Funk (FK) 10p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Alex Pianovich (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Luke Winslow King (JV) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dos Jefes: John Fohl (BL) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p House of Blues: Andra Day (RB) 7:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Claire Cannon and Kenna Mae (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Stoop Kids (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars with Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p the Saint: Motown Mondays with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Way Too Early (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5p, Whiskey Bar (RK) 9p

TUESDAY MARCH 8

Banks Street Bar: Casey Saba (SS) 9p BMC: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 6p, Soul Company (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Columns Hotel: Neoclassic Jazz Trio feat. John Rankin, Charlie Fardella and Clarence Johnson III (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Dos Jefes: Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Spaghetti Western Show (CW) 7p, Free Spirit Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p, Andy Frasco and the U.N. (VR) 10:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid (JV) 4p

MARCH 2016

Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (RK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Joe Lastie (TJ) 8p Smoothie King Center: Rihanna, Travis Scott (PO) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 9

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p BMC: Mark Appleford (VR) 6p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 6p, Meschiya Lake and Tom McDermott (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Eiffel Society: Society Salsa (LT) 7p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Freakwater, Jay Jayle, Morgan Geer’s Drunken Prayer (VR) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Jefferson Orleans North: Jerry Embree and the Heartbeats (SI) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat. Tab Benoit, N’awlins Johnnys (VR) 5p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Jazz Vipers, Mutiny Squad (VR) 6:30p Maple Leaf: Gravity A and special guests (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8p Roussel Hall (Loyola University): Patti Adams and friends (CL) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

THURSDAY MARCH 10

Banks Street Bar: the Bills, Kill Matilda, Anti-Queens (PK) 9p BMC: Justin Donovan (VR) 6p, Marcos and Crescent Citizen (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski Duo with Tim Laughlin (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p Chiba: Charlie Dennard (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy and Emily Robertson (VR) 6p, Bruskers Trio with Cary Hudson and the Piney Woods Players (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Jon Cleary (VR) 7p, Sam Price and the True Believers (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dave Easley (VR) 6p, the ILL Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Dance Yourself Clean (ID) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Writers Block (HH) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: Zoogma, Freddy Todd, Kaminanda, Daily Bread (VR) 1a Kerry Irish Pub: Foot and Friends (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher and Clarinet Road (JV) 7p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Dinosaurchestra, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p Nunemaker Auditorium (Loyola University): Kent Jordan (JV) 7:30p One Eyed Jacks: Dungen, Caddywhompus (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Club: Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p the Rat (Tulane University): Jazz at the Rat feat. Joe Lastie (JV) 7p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Chubby Carrier (ZY) 8:30p Saint Hotel: the Yat Pack (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Kyle Roussel Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funket (FK) 10p

Bombay Club: Scott Myers (LT) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Warren Battiste (VR) 5p, Arsene DeLay with Daniel Erker (VR) 8p, Keith Burnstein and Kettle Black (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Aretha Franklin Tribute with Erica Falls (VR) 9p Circle Bar: Heidijo (JV) 6p, Zulli, Annie Miller (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Mark Weliky Trio (JV) 11a d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 8p, Lost Bayou Ramblers (KJ) 11p Dragon’s Den: Kompression (EL) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p, Sadder Days (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Brown Improv (CO) 8p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): Bad Girls of Burlesque (BQ) 9p

House of Blues: John Pardi (CW) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Kenny Zimlinghaus, Taylor Strecker (CO) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Parsons (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Big Easy Brawlers, Street Legends (BB) 10p Maple Leaf: New Orleans Suspects (FK) 10:30p Mardi Gras World: Buku Music and Arts Festival Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a New Orleans Healing Center: Sacred Music Festival (VR) 10a Old U.S. Mint: Slow Fish New Orleans feat. Lost Bayou Ramblers (KJ) 4:30p Orpheum Theater: Joe Satriani (RK) 9p Palm Court Jazz Club: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p

Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Frank Oxley (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Magnificent 7 (FK) 9:30p Smoothie King Center: 311 (RK) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley CD-release party (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and Arsene DeLay (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5:30p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

SUNDAY MARCH 13

Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the Mid-City Drifters (CW) 7p

FRIDAY MARCH 11

Banks Street Bar: Honey Tangerine’s Variety and Burlesque Show (BQ) 9p BMC: the Bailsmen (VR) 3p, Ruth Marie and her Jazz Band (VR) 5p, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale (BL) 8p, Rue Fiya (VR) 11p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski Trio (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Jenna Guidry (VR) 5p, the Honeypots (SO) 8p, Cole Williams (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Paul Sanchez (RR) 8p Contemporary Arts Center: Regina Carter’s Southern Comfort (VR) 7:30p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 8p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Who’s Bad: the Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: ARAABmuzik and dvnk sinatrv, Wick-it the Instigator, Muzzy Bear, Daily Bread (VR) 1a Kerry Irish Pub: Van Hudson (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Steve DeTroy (PI) 7p Little Gem Saloon: Monty Banks (JV) 5:30p, Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p; Upstairs: Big B Records Showcase feat. Lili Lewis and Cole Williams (SO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Maddie and her Jazz Friends, Loose Marbles, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Los Po-boy-citos, Soul Company (BB) 10p Maple Leaf: New Orleans Suspects (FK) 10:30p Mardi Gras World: Buku Music and Arts Festival Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a New Orleans Museum of Art: Lynn Drury (SS) 5:30p Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit, Colin Lake (BL) 9p Smoothie King Center: 311 (RK) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Amina Figerova Sextet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson Trio (JV) 5:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (CW) 1p, Jay B. Elston Band (CW) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

SATURDAY MARCH 12

Banks Street Bar: Lynn Drury (SS) 9:30p BMC: Kristina Morales and the Bayou Shufflers (JV) 5p, Waterseed (VR) 11p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC BMC: True Blues (BL) 3p, Snake and the Charmers (VR) 6p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 9p Bombay Club: Tom Hook (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, St. Roch Syncopaters (JV) 4p, Kris Tokarski (JV) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Sweet Olive Duo (BL) 6p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns Quartet (JV) 8p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and Little Maker, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 6p, Plastic Pinks, Viva L’American Death Ray Music, the Roaring 420s, Shilpa Ray (ID) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Baits (VR) 11a, Poppy’s All-Stars (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: the Pentones (BL) 6p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 7p, Rareluth, Terror Pigeon (SO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Traditional Irish Session (IR) 5p, Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: Luneta Jazz Band, Nicket-A-Dance feat. Mark Brooks and the Jazz Friends, Too Darn Hot, Soul Company (VR) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Battiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Roussel Hall (Loyola University): Nadja SalernoSonnenberg with the Loyola Chamber Orchestra (JV) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Thomas van der Geld and Sanford Hinderlie (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY MARCH 14

Banks Street Bar: Lauren Sturm’s Piano Night Showcase (JV) 7p, South Jones (RK) 10p BMC: Lil’ Red and Big Bad (BL) 6p, Will Funk (FK) 10p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Alex Pianovich (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p d.b.a.: Luke Winslow King (JV) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Roz and the Rice Cakes (VR) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Luke Rathborne, Mass Gothic,Twin Limb (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Hinds, Goodbye Honolulu (ID) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p; Reed Lightfood (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Crooked Vines (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars with Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Saenger Theatre: Il Volo (PO) 7:30p the Saint: Motown Mondays with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Washboard Rodeo (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Way Too Early (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5p, Whiskey Bar (RK) 9p

TUESDAY MARCH 15

Banks Street Bar: Dentist Band, Melville Deweys (RK) 10p BMC: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 6p, Soul Company (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p

MARCH 2016

Circle Bar: Kia Cavallaro and friends (FO) 6p, Painted Zeros, Izzy True (ID) 10p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Spaghetti Western Show (CW) 7p, Free Spirit Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Joe Lastie (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (BL) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16

Banks Street Bar: Daniel Kushnir (BL) 7p, Major Bacon (BL) 10p BMC: Mark Appleford (VR) 6p, Jason Neville Band (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 6p, St. Cecelia’s Asylum Chorus (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RR) 6p, Low Volts, the Bullfighters, Stephen El Rey (RK) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Eiffel Society: Society Salsa (LT) 7p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: French Horn Rebellion, Mystery Skulls (PO) 9p House of Blues: Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam (RK) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat. Bonerama, Bucktown All-Stars (VR) 5p Little Gem Saloon: Lynn Drury (FO) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Eight Dice Cloth, Jazz Vipers, Willfunk (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Gravity A and special guests (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Schatzy (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

THURSDAY MARCH 17

Banks Street Bar: the Todd Day Wait’s Prigpen (RK) 10p BMC: Justin Donovan (VR) 6p, Marcos and Crescent Citizen (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Davy Mooney (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and friends (PI) 8p Chiba: Brint Anderson (BL) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy and Emily Robertson (VR) 6p, Cary Hudson and the Piney Woods Players (VR) 8p d.b.a.: Jon Cleary (VR) 7p, Rotary Downs (RK) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dave Easley (VR) 6p, the ILL Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Soundclash (HH) 9p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: the Whiskey Gentry, Sam Doores and friends (CW) 9p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Hi-Ho Lounge: Stripped into Submission (BQ) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Van Hudson (FO) 12p, Speed the Mule (FO) 3:30p, Roux the Day (FO) 7:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher and Clarinet Road (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Roamin’ Jasmine, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p Palm Court Jazz Club: Tim Laughlin and Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Saint Hotel: the Yat Pack (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Carl Allen Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Miss Maggie Trio (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: the Heart Attacks (JV) 10p

FRIDAY MARCH 18

Banks Street Bar: Wooden Wings (RK) 10p BMC: Jon Roniger Gypsyland (JV) 5p, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale (BL) 8p, Ashton Hines and the Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 11p Bombay Club: Los Tres Amigos (LT) 8:30p Buffa’s: Davis Rogan (VR) 5p, Chip Wilson (VR) 8p, Swamp Donkeys (JV) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Paul Sanchez (RR) 8p Circle Bar: Tuff Luvs, Liquor and Lies, Evil Engines (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Suplecs (RK) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 8p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 6p, Sexy Dex and the Fresh, Damn the Scene, KYPH (VR) 9p Historic New Orleans Collection: Concerts in the Courtyard feat. Colin Lake Band (BL) 6p House of Blues: NOFX, the Hepatitis Bathtub Tour (PK) 7p Howlin’ Wolf: Saosin, Anthony Green (VR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, One Tailed Three (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Tom Worrell (PI) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Ramblin’ Letters, Royal Street Winding Boys, Shotgun Jazz Band (VR) 1p, Soul Project, Fat Ballerina (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes (FK) 10:30p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (RK) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Mike Zito, Chuck Credo IV (RK) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p Trinity Episcopal Church: Bach Around the Clock 29Hour Festival of Music (VR) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons feat. Maggie Havens (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

SATURDAY MARCH 19

Banks Street Bar: New Orleans Cog Society (VR) 10p

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BMC: Keith Stone (VR) 3p, Kristina Morales and the Bayou Shufflers (JV) 5p, Johnny Mastro (BL) 8p, New Creations Brass Band (BB) 11p Bombay Club: Wayne Mareau (LT) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Freddie Blue and the Friendship Circle (VR) 5p, the Royal Rounders (VR) 8p, Stuart McNair (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Eric Bloom’s Ohio Player Tribute (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Mark Weliky Trio (JV) 11a d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 8p, Feufollet, Cedric Watson (KJ) 11p Dew Drop Social Benevolent Hall: Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6:30p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p, Sadder Days (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Drunktoons (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues: the Cured: Tribute to the Cure, Idolized: Tribute to Billy Idol (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Luneta Jazz Band, Swinging Gypsies (VR) 1p, Kumasi, Big Easy Brawlers (VR) 10p Maple Leaf: Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Trio (FK) 10:30p Marigny Opera House: Marigny Opera Ballet Program 3: Emerging Choreographers (DN) 8p Palm Court Jazz Club: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Frank Oxley (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Category 6 Anniversary Party (VR) 9:30p Smoothie King Center: Fallout Boy, AWOLNation (RK) 7p Spotted Cat: Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

SUNDAY MARCH 20

Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the Mid-City Drifters (CW) 7p BMC: True Blues (BL) 3p, Snake and the Charmers (VR) 6p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 9p Bombay Club: Tom Hook (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Panorama Jazz Band Family Concert Series (JV) 4p, the Salt Wives (GY) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Sweet Olive Duo (BL) 6p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and Little Maker, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 6p, Country Night with DJ Pasta (CW) 10p Civic Theater: Nightwish, Sonata Artica, Delain (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Baits (VR) 11a, Poppy’s AllStars (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Funk Monkey (FK) 10p Dos Jefes: Michael Liuzza and Co. (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: the Pentones (BL) 6p Hi-Ho Lounge: Le1f, Riot Boi, Bate Bunda, Kurikatura (VR) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): River Run North (ID) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Claire Cannon and Kenna Mae (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Cecile Savage Duo (JV) 10a Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parson (RK) 9p Maison: Rhythm Wizards, Nickel-A-Dance feat. the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Leah Rucker, the Business (VR) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Battiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Old Point Bar: Amanda Walker (PI) 3:30p, Jean Marie Harris (JV) 7p

MA RC H 2 016

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Jason Stewart Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: James Martin (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY MARCH 21

AllWays Lounge: Russell Welch Hot Quartet (GY) 8p Banks Street Bar: Lauren Sturm’s Piano Night Showcase (JV) 7p, South Jones (RK) 10p BMC: Lil’ Red and Big Bad (BL) 6p, Will Funk (FK) 10p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Alex Pianovich (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p d.b.a.: Luke Winslow King (JV) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars with Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p the Saint: Motown Mondays with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Way Too Early (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5p, Whiskey Bar (RK) 9p

TUESDAY MARCH 22

Banks Street Bar: Bastard Sons (RE) 10p BMC: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 6p, Soul Company (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Tom McDermott (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Kia Cavallaro and friends (FO) 6p, Good English, Jesse Tripp and the Nightbreed (RK) 10p Columns Hotel: New Orleans Guitar Masters feat. Jimmy Robinson, Cranston Clements and John Rankin (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Spaghetti Western Show (CW) 7p, Free Spirit Brass Band (BB) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Dreamers and Arkells (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p, Astronauts etc., Harriet Brown (VR) 10:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Joe Lastie (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Olivier Bou Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 23 Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p BMC: Mark Appleford (VR) 6p, Jason Neville Band (VR) 10p

MARCH 2016

Bombay Club: Tom McDermott (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 6p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RR) 6p, All the Colors of the Dark presents Beyond the Darkness (EL) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Eiffel Society: Society Salsa (LT) 7p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Euforquestra (VR) 10p Jefferson Orleans North: Jerry Embree and the Heartbeats (SI) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat. Anders Osborne, Colin Lake (VR) 5p Little Gem Saloon: Lynn Drury (FO) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Jazz Vipers, Mutiny Squad (VR) 6:30p Maple Leaf: Gravity A with Khris Royal (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Little Freddie One Eyed Jacks: Wild Feathers (VR) 10p King Palm Court Jazz Club: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: One Eyed Doll, Eyes Set to Kill (VR) 7p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

THURSDAY MARCH 24

Banks Street Bar: Mid-City Aces (KJ) 10p BMC: Justin Donovan (VR) 6p, Marcos and Crescent Citizen (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Matt Johnson (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and friends (JV) 8p Chiba: Monty Banks (PI) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy and Emily Robertson (VR) 6p, the Tipsy Chicks (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: Ben Hunter (RE) 9p, the ILL Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Evangeline Lounge II: the iLL Vibe feat. DJ Matt Scott and Otto (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Cirque Darling (BQ) 8p House of Blues: Tinashe (RB) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox with Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher and Clarinet Road (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Rhythm Wizards, Dysfunktional Bone (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p Old Point Bar: Paul Molinario Project (RK) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza (VR) 7p, Fast Times ‘80s and ‘90s Night (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Club: Charlie Fardella and Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Chris Ardoin and Nu Step (ZY) 8:30p Saint Hotel: the Yat Pack (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Andy Narell and friends (JV) 8 & 10p

Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: the Heart Attacks (JV) 10p

FRIDAY MARCH 25

Banks Street Bar: Dummy Dumpster’s CD-release party (PK) 10p BMC: the Bailsmen (VR) 3p, Ruth Marie and her Jazz Band (VR) 5p, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale (BL) 8p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (FK) 11p Bombay Club: Kitt Lough (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (VR) 5p, Lynn Drury (SS) 8p, Doyle Cooper (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, New Orleans Rock Bands with Greazy Alice (RK) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Marc Stone Band (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 8p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Maggie Belle Band, Marina Orchestra (FK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): DJQ Presents NOLA’s finest feat. NOLA Fam (HH) 10:30p House of Blues: Disturbed (ME) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Davis Rogan (PI) 7p Maison: Roamin’ Jasmine, Shotgun Jazz Band, the Essentials, Street Legends (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: June Yamagishi, Raymond Weber, Steve Malinowski (FK) 10:30p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Jamie Lynn Vessels (RK) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Air Sex Championship (CO) 10p Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Topcats (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson Trio (JV) 5:30p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p

SATURDAY MARCH 26

Banks Street Bar: Great Southern Railway, Baby Whisky (RK) 10p BMC: Keith Stone (VR) 3p, Kristina Morales and the Bayou Shufflers (JV) 5p, Johnny Mastro (BL) 8p, the Resident Alien (VR) 11p Bombay Club: Stephen Gordon (MJ) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, German Traditional Jazz Band (JV) 5p, Sherman Bernard and the Ole Man River Band (VR) 8p, Michael Liuzza (BL) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: call club (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Mark Weliky Trio (JV) 11a d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 8p, Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 11p Dragon’s Den: Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p, Sadder Days (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: the Smith Street Band, Hard Girls, Worriers (VR) 6p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Rip Off Show (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): Billsberry Flowboy (HH) 9p Irish House: New Orleans Celtic Festival feat. Four Shillings Short (IR) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Parsons (FO) 5p, Old Money (FO) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Sweet Jones (FO) 3p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Cajun/Zydeco Fais Do Do with T’Canaille, Smoking Time Jazz Club (VR) 1p, Cakewalk, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p

Maple Leaf: Khris Royal and Dark Matter (FK) 10:30p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a One Eyed Jacks: A New Orleans Musical Tribute to Joe Cocker (CR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Club: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Frank Oxley (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Karma (VR) 9:30p Saenger Theatre: Yanni (PO) 8p Snug Harbor: Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bohren (RR) 11a Tipitina’s: Darcy Malone and the Tangle CD-release party, Raw Oyster Cult (RR) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 1p, Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 4p, T’Canaille (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

SUNDAY MARCH 27

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 3p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the Mid-City Drifters (CW) 7p BMC: True Blues (BL) 3p, Snake and the Charmers (VR) 6p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 9p Bombay Club: Tom Hook (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Nattie Sanchez’s Songwriter Circle (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Sweet Olive Duo (BL) 6p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Baits (VR) 11a, Poppy’s All-Stars (VR) 4p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: the Pentones (BL) 6p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p House of Blues: Hip Hop Sunday (HH) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Cecile Savage Duo (JV) 10a Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parson (RK) 9p Maison: Royal Street Winding Boys, Nickel-A-Dance feat. Treme Brass Band, Brad Walker, Corporate America (VR) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Battiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lucien Barbarin and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sweetwater and Company (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 4p, Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY MARCH 28

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC d.b.a.: Luke Winslow King (JV) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Civil Youth, Shy Gemini, Elysian Feel (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Soul Company (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars with Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p the Saint: Motown Mondays with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5p, Whiskey Bar (RK) 9p

TUESDAY MARCH 29

BMC: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 6p, Soul Company (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Tom McDermott (PI) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Dos Jefes: Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Hippie Sabotage (HH) 8p House of Blues: Issues, Crown the Empire, One OK Rock, Night Versus (ME) 5:45p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: NOLA Dukes Band Showcase (VR) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Roussel Hall (Loyola University): James Carter String Quartet (CL) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Deanna Witkowski Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 30

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p BMC: Mark Appleford (VR) 6p, Jason Neville Band (VR) 10p Bombay Club: Tom McDermott (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 8p, Lightnin’ Malcolm (BL) 10p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RR) 6p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Eiffel Society: Society Salsa (LT) 7p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Jefferson Orleans North: Jerry Embree and the Heartbeats (SI) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat. Cyril Neville’s Royal Southern Brotherhood, Pat Casey and the New Sound (VR) 5p Little Gem Saloon: Lynn Drury (FO) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Bayou Saints, Jazz Vipers, Crooked Vines (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Gravity A and special guests (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Palm Court Jazz Club: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p

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Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Creole Stringbeans (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

THURSDAY MARCH 31

Banks Street Bar: Ted Hefko & the Thousandaires (SS) 10p BMC: Justin Donovan (VR) 6p, Marcos and Crescent Citizen (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Oscar Rossignoli (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p Chiba: Tom Worrell (PI) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy and Emily Robertson (VR) 6p, the Tipsy Chicks (VR) 8p d.b.a.: Lightnin’ Malcolm (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dos Jefes: the Iguanas (RR) 9p Dragon’s Den: Ben Hunter (RE) 9p, the ILL Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Painted Honey, Elizabeth McBride (FO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz and Heritage Center: Cyrus Chestnut (VR) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Loose Marbles, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p Palm Court Jazz Club: Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Leroy Thomas (ZY) 8:30p Saint Hotel: the Yat Pack (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Anson Funderburgh, Mark Hummel and Charlie Baty (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Miss Maggie Trio (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funket (FK) 10p

FESTIVALS MARCH 10-13 The Slow Fish conference and festival at the Old U.S. Mint and French Market includes live music, local seafood and a Lenten Fish Fry. SlowFish2016.com

MARCH 11-12 BUKU Music and Art Project takes place at Mardi Gras World. TheBukuProject.com

MARCH 17-19 The annual T-Bois Blues Festival in Larose features camping, blues legends and regional cuisine. TBoisBluesFestival.com

MARCH 18-19 Trinity Episcopal Church holds its annual Bach Around the Clock music festival featuring 29-hours of continuous music, plus dance, yoga, silent movies and more. TrinityNola.com/Music

MARCH 18-20 The first annual Festival Bonfouca in Slidell’s Heritage Park features live music, local cuisine, food trucks and an art market. FestivalBonfouca.com

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BACKTALK

talks back

photo: David katzenstein

Regina Carter

ore than a decade ago, jazz violinist Regina Carter became the first non-classical musician to play Niccolo Paganini’s highly guarded, handcrafted Guarneri violin, an instrument that dates back to 1743 and is counted among the most precious items in classical music history. She used it to record 2003’s Paganini: After a Dream, an homage to the musician who first owned it that incorporated bop and Latin-inspired arrangements reflecting the violin’s 260-year-old history. A few years after the album’s release, Carter was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship—or “Genius Grant”—and decided to use the money to fund a closer look at her own history.

MARCH 2016

Digging into the musical undercurrents in her family’s heritage, Carter has spent the past few years connecting the dots between herself and her mother (I’ll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey), her ancestors (Reverse Thread) and most recently, her grandfather, whose experience as a coal miner in Alabama inspired her 2014 release, Southern Comfort, which she brings to the CAC on March 11. Carter’s vision for the album began focused on coal mining songs, she says, but soon expanded to cover the blues, gospel, old-world country and folk music as she delved further into her research of the period during which her grandfather lived and the regions that surrounded his native Alabama. Studying field recordings By Jennifer Odell

from the Library of Congress, as well as whatever oral histories she could piece together from speaking to distant relatives and others, she developed a list of songs that she used as jumping off points for new arrangements. Like much of her work, the results are a seamless mix of multiple genres that lead with her lush, soulful tone and creative approach to arranging and improvising. In this interview, the violinist reflects on her research process, the emotional response she had to the music she discovered and more. What got you interested in this specific aspect of your family’s past? Did your grandfather share the music he’d heard www.OFFBEAT.com

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It’s not to negate my feelings, it’s just to remember that people have gone through much more just to have what I have. That gives me the extra push to get up and keep moving. when he was coal mining with you when you were a little girl? My grandfather died before I was even born so it made this process even more difficult. My whole life I’ve been very curious about my past, my family—my ancestors. So when I received the MacArthur award I decided to take some time and do some research. I joined ancestry.com and did the whole DNA test and the first record, Reverse Thread, was sort of about my findings. The results came back 70 percent West African, I think 15 percent Finnish and some other sprinklings here and there. So Reverse Thread was just kind of a mixture reflecting that. And then I decided to just really concentrate on my father’s side of the family. I didn’t know anything about my grandfather. And my only memories [of him] were from childhood, spending summers with my grandmother and a lot of my aunts and uncles down in Alabama in their home. I found it to be pretty difficult to get information about him, but I knew when he was born and I knew he was a coal miner. So I just started listening to the music and doing research as to what was happening historically during that time period. And the field recordings I found were so beautiful, amazing, raw, intriguing that I decided to try to piece a story together, to piece my family together, through music. Was it difficult to get people in your family or otherwise to open up about the more challenging aspects of that period in American history? Most of that information I got from reading historical books and knowing what was going on as far as being an African-American coal miner, being a coal miner period. The life that they were living back then. Because I wasn’t really getting information from my own family. No one seemed to recall or remember him. That made me more intrigued, because I thought, ‘Why don’t you want to remember him?’ I finally found the youngest family member who gave me some information. But most of that was coming from books. www.OFFBEAT.com

And people would say, ‘Oh, check out this book or this article,’ people that had maybe grandfathers that were born around the same time that were coal miners in the Appalachia region. So it came from just kind of sharing information with different kinds of people and knowing what life was like based on my findings. What keeps you coming back to this idea of looking to your heritage for musical inspiration? Can you describe the satisfaction it brings you? For me, it’s like I know that I belong to something. It’s like your faith if someone has a faith. But with faith it’s a blind faith depending on what you believe in. This helped me to say, ‘Who am I? Why do I play music? Why do I like the things I like? Why is my personality like this?’ And it’s like oh… My grandmother played piano and my great uncle played banjo, maybe that’s where I got it from. Or this person has this personality trait and I have it, or this person went through this and they were strong and if they could get through that then it helps me when I’m crying about something or thinking this is too difficult. It’s not to negate my feelings, it’s just to remember that people have gone through much more just to have what I have. That gives me the extra push to get up and keep moving. What’s something you found that helped you connect yourself to older family members? Music, that’s the biggest thing that I got directly from my mother’s mother and an uncle on my father’s side. And then just other personality traits I could see throughout my family. So it’s just kind of interesting, like sometimes my mother would say, ‘Oh, you’re just like your father.’ [laughs] And you always think they’re just saying that but it’s like yeah, she’s right. Or learning about my grandfather it’s like, ‘OK, we got that characteristic out of his personality traits.’ Another thing was they were hired workers. My grandparents have 14 children and my dad was the oldest. Seeing how their children had a very strong work ethic

and left home and most of them moved up to Detroit and got odd jobs and how they really helped each other, it was a very close family bond. They all believed in working hard. Whatever it was you have to work hard and succeed and go forward and they passed that on generation after generation. And on my mother’s side, my grandmother was the first person in their family to go to college and graduate. She graduated in 1915 with a degree in pedagogy so I have that degree on my wall. So that helps—all of those little things—looking at photographs, listening to this music. With the field recordings even though I know it’s not directly of them, the recordings are from people that lived during that time. It’s a connection for me and a source of strength. Was there anything you learned about the music, whether it was song form or instrumental technique or something else, that surprised you when you studied the field recordings? When I listened to the field recordings I didn’t go in with any preconceived ideas or theoretical or analytic point, I just listened for the sake of listening. I was just trying to capture that time period, trying to make that connection because the music was my way of connecting to the past. And just listening and having a gut, natural reaction and choosing the songs that I chose off of that reaction. The question I asked myself was just: Did I have some kind of emotional reaction to it? What choices did you make with the arrangements when it came to staying true to the period in which the originals were written? Because we were reimagining these tunes, if you will, we couldn’t sound like that time period because we aren’t of that [period]. And I didn’t want to do that and I knew people were going to hear this on the radio so it was my way of presenting the songs in a manner that people would maybe listen to them and be interested in hearing the original. At concerts I pick maybe two or three of the songs and play a snippet of the original. MA RC H 2 016

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photo: david katzenstein

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Just like Southern Comfort and Reverse Thread, it’s a long, kind of drawn-out process with me, but I enjoy it. It’s just hard to get started because I know it’s going to take a minute and sometimes I have no patience. And then play the arrangement we came up with. It was a long process because we’d come up with an idea and play through it and some of the tunes just didn’t work for me with my instrument and then some, we’d play through them and then I’d listen back and I’d say, ‘Okay this works, this doesn’t work, let’s try this.’ It was really just playing and seeing how does this feel and hoping the whole process would be a natural flow. How did you approach your instrument differently for this project? Were there certain cases where you tried to capture the feeling of a particular character from the past? There are certain tunes that I tried to do that with, like “Miner’s Child.” But that in itself is a whole technique. A group that does that so well is the Carolina Chocolate Drops, but they really studied that, so it’s not something I can just mimic. With some of the tunes, I made just a nod to that time period but [was] not really trying to present that sound.

again, trying to present them not just in a straightforward [way], but trying to do something creative with that process so that I have a voice within that as well and am not just rerecording a tune. Just like Southern Comfort and Reverse Thread, it’s a long, kind of drawn-out process with me, but I enjoy it. It’s just hard to get started because I know it’s going to take a minute and sometimes I have no patience. You started out with a list of about 50 songs you’d found in your research that you thought could work for this project. What made the tunes that landed on that list stand out for you? It really all is a very organic process for me, so it’s all based on a feeling. I don’t do anything from a technical standpoint. If it strikes me on some kind of emotional level then I would say, ‘Hey, let me try this.’ It was based on an immediate reaction I would have and then by myself start to mess around with it, then I would know this will work or won’t. And then also getting together with some of the other

musicians and playing, then that would also let us know whether it would work or not. Were there any songs that you knew immediately would be perfect for this project? Yes. “I’m Going Home On the Mornin’ Train” and “Cornbread Crumbled in Gravy.” When I heard that it was like a distant memory of hearing my mother rocking me on her lap, singing or humming something like that. And when we play it, so many people, whether they’re from the United States or not, feel the same way. I played a gig once and some people were in town from Finland and they were like, ‘We sing that song only we sing it like this.’ So it seemed like it was a universal piece. O Regina Carter performs at the CAC on March 11 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; a free, unticketed response to Southern Comfort from top New Orleans poets will follow the show. On March 3, the CAC hosts a free Southern Comfort album listening session.

What were the biggest challenges in maintaining the historic roots of a song while updating it in a way that made sense for you? I think trying to really respect the music because the melodies are so simple and sometimes things that are the most simple are the most difficult. So [I was] trying to really highlight or hold onto the beauty and rawness that I heard in those tracks but at the same time allow our own voice to come through. It’s a balancing act. What are you working on next? I’m starting on the next project which is a tribute to Ella [Fitzgerald] and taking some tunes that Ella recorded that weren’t so popular and

MARCH 2016