OffBeat Magazine April 2009 by OffBeat Magazine

LOUISIANA FESTIVALS N IKO IKO N FEUFOLLET N JEFF ALBERT N CHARLIE LOUVIN LOUISIANA MUSIC AND CULTURE

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200

CARNIVAL ISSUE!

Pieces of Paul Paul Sanchez reconstructs his life in New Orleans

Inside: Official French Quarter Fest Schedule & Map!

square biz p. 14

Free In Metro New Orleans US $3.95 CAN $4.30 £UK 1.95

Features

Departments

16 In Search of Jockomo

18 No More Kid Stuff

Dan Willging talks to Feufollet about being all grown up.

20 The Company You Keep

Alex Rawls talks to Jeff Albert about how the unlikeliest gigs shape his music.

22 Further on Up the Road

Rory Callais looks ahead to a busy late spring of festivals.

24 F.Q.F. IQ

David Kunian and Alex Rawls track who is playing where during the French Quarter Festival.

38 Musician, Heal Thyself

6 Letters

Drew Hinshaw’s ears perked up when he heard “Iko Iko” in Ghana.

Alex Rawls recounts the role New Orleans played as Paul Sanchez re-found himself.

8 Mojo Mouth 10 Fresh 44 OffBeat Eats

Rene Louapre and Peter Thriffiley review Antoine’s, and Albinas Prizgintas “Hits the Spot” at Hoshun.

48 Reviews 56 Club Listings 69 Backtalk with Charlie Louvin

Michael Hurtt interviews half of one the most influential duos in country music, the Louivin Brothers. “Ira was a born songwriter and I was the idea man,” Charlie says. “I’d hear somebody say something on the street or in a cafe and if I thought it sounded like a song title, I’d write it down, give it to Ira and ten minutes later he’d have a song.”

42 The Gravy: In the Kitchen with Lars

Lars Edegran, the Swedish piano player and long time New Orleans resident, speaks Indian with Elsa Hahne.

Online Exclusive The Mother-in-Law’s Mother Ben Sandmel and other friends and acquaintances remember Antoinette K-Doe.

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Letters EARLY & SMOKE FREE I took particular interest in Jim Markway’s letter to the editor in March’s issue discussing the lack of venues in the city and the low pay musicians receive playing at many of them. Jim is a fine bassist and his example of he and three other excellent musicians splitting $72 for four hours work surely is a sad example of their plight in New Orleans. And while Jim does a good job citing several factors that would improve the situation, I’d like to mention a couple of others he doesn’t include. Two quick ones: Gigs starting too late and venues that allow smoking. Club owners and musicians: Don’t take my word for it—go ask Tom, Dick and Harry on the street, not at your gig that starts at 11 p.m. in a smoke-filled club. Also, The Times-Picayune has stopped publishing club listings a couple days every week. Although everyone knows newspapers everywhere are losing money and cutting back in many ways, I think this cutback is particularly harmful here. New Orleans is a tourist destination. How are tourists supposed to discover easily where the clubs are and who is playing at them? The answer most certainly is not what The Times-Picayune would suggest—that is, their Web site. I challenge you to go to your computer now and find the listings on their site. Besides, not many tourists bring their computers with them. —Dusk Lipton, New Orleans, LA

RISKY BUSINESS In response to the letter from Jim Markway, I was left speechless. Are you kidding me? While some of the problems written about are unfortunately a reality, to call many musicians working in town today “poseurs, incompetents, and beginning students,” is a ridiculous statement, not to mention classless. The same goes for his comments about the Old Point Bar. Why use the name of the venue? I’m sure that

“Believe me when I say that ‘the trickle down effect’ has a lot more meaning in the arts scene than it seems to in the general economy.” —James Singleton, New Orleans, LA

for every slow night over there they have 10 busy ones. Bad nights are going to happen, and sometimes musicians (and bartenders, and club owners) don’t make the money they want, I don’t care what city you’re in. Let’s talk about something that never seems to get mentioned in these rants about the poor state of affairs of the live music industry. Firstly, most letters and articles I read come from a point of view which assumes that everyone out there wants to hear live music and that we need more venues. Guess what? It ain’t. People who want live music comprise a small part of that already small segment of the population. A smaller part of that small part wants to hear original music, or as many refer to it, “Music I don’t know.” More music venues? That’s just splitting up the pie even further. The only way musicians can get paid what they’re worth and the club can actually stay in business is for there to be a cover charge, the dirty word of the music business. I can only speak about my place when I say that there’s no way I could afford the substantial upkeep and upgrading of PA and bar equipment among other things if I didn’t cover or at least defray the cost of bands at the door. And yes, sometimes people walk away and that’s tough to see, but at the end of the day, we come out ahead. I guess somewhere along the line people figured that the drinks they buy generate enough money to cover the entertainment. I don’t think people realize that the money at the door goes to the band, and I don’t think it’s the money per se. I’ve seen people who balked at a $5 cover spend $100 at the bar. Perhaps if they were better informed about where their money is going they would be more willing to pay. With that said, I reiterate, musicians cannot get paid what they’re worth unless clubs charge at least a small cover. Operating a music venue is just as risky as playing in one. I wish us all the best. —Eric Orlando, Owner, Carrollton Station, New Orleans, LA

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

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Louisiana Music & Culture

April 2009 Volume 22, Number 4 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Associate Editor Alex Rawls, alexrawls@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson Listings Editor Craig Guillot, craigguillot@offbeat.com Contributors Rory Callais, Carrie Chappell, Rob Fontentot, Jr., Herman Fuselier, Elsa Hahne, Andrew Hamlin, Jeff Hannusch, Drew Hinshaw, Michael Hurtt, David Kunian, Rene Louapre, Tom McDermott, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Dan Willging Cover Elsa Hahne Design/Art Direction Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Ben Berman, benberman@offbeat.com Margaret Walker, margaretwalker@offbeat.com James Martin, jamesmartin@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Jennifer Flato, Jennifer Taurel Distribution Bruce Goodrich, Doug Jackson, Shea MacKinnon 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 Copyright © 2009, 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 at $39 per year ($45 Canada, $90 foreign airmail). Back issues available for $6, except the May issue for $10 (for foreign delivery add $2). Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcome, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

LETTERS

RAG HAS VIBE Great clear-headed reality check from Jim Markway. The journeyman phases of our careers have changed a lot and the music has been affected profoundly and not always for the better. When I moved to town I saw a list of tunes one should know to play Preservation Hall. It contained 500plus titles. I dare say that number is smaller now. The hotels don’t really have many bands; the clubs are less influenced by the cost of living or union rates in determining pay. The good news is the blossoming of an entrepreneurial spirit in our community, and a slow but steady realization in the larger sphere of the importance of tourism and therefore music. Great editorial Jan Ramsey! So refreshing to see those twin elephants in the room mentioned in print. Keep saying it! This has been so obvious to many of us for many years. This ain’t Peoria. In any art, sport, business, or life it is very important to know one’s strengths and exploit them. Alex’s writing is stellar throughout. I especially dug the peripheral comments about Fest programming (or should I say strange lack thereof) and the new new scene. Hey, it’s a start. Now we need more

coverage of the exploding visual art and theater scenes as well. The cross-genre inspiration is palpable from here. It’s soothing to see these things in print from time to time, clears the palate from the steady stream of fawning tributes to the time-tested. The cover is great. Irvin is intense. I think it is so cool that he is bringing it back to the street. Believe me when I say that “the trickle down effect” has a lot more meaning in the arts scene than it seems to in the general economy. Wynton’s converts have been showing up at gigs for 20 years now. He and Irvin are living proof that as the art trickles up, the dough begins to flow. They seem to have a great knack for positioning themselves to make a difference. Truly from front to back your rag had a bit of a vibe this month. —James Singleton, New Orleans, LA

THRILLED WITH IRVIN We have had the good fortune to know and work with Irvin [Mayfield]. What a passionate man. Sure wish all the 31-yearold men in the City of New Orleans did just 1/10th of the good he does. We are thrilled with all he has done and will continue to do

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for the city, and especially the library system. All the best on your new club! —Raymond and MaryEllin Santiago, Miami, FL

MORE THAN JAZZ I like Irvin Mayfield and his music. I also appreciate the historical influence of jazz on the City of New Orleans. However, our “city’s” music is not limited to one genre. Whether it’s the zany genius of the SelfRighteous Brothers, the soulful renditions of R&B covers by street musician Stoney B, or the rockabilly/pop creations of Johnny J., New Orleans music runs the gamut. One of the great things about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (which isn’t a festival of jazz) is that audience members can hear a gospel group this hour, a zydeco band from Lafayette the next, and the intimacy of a singer/songwriter after that. Speaking of which, why hasn’t Britney Spears headlined the Jazz Fest? After all, isn’t she one of Louisiana’s most popular music artists worldwide? It doesn’t make sense. Anyway, I hope as a Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans, Irvin doesn’t forget that our city has many cultures with various musical genres that all make the city special. —Lenny Jorns, Amite, LA

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MOJO MOUTH

Festival Month is Here

ne wonders what the lousy economy is going to do to the festival season in Louisiana. Hoteliers have told me that French Quarter Festival weekend is very full, so that’s a good sign. Although F.Q.F. has been touted (over and over again) by our redoubtable mayor that it’s his “parents’ favorite festival,” it’s also becoming a local and an international favorite. Last year, F.Q.F. organizers are quoted as saying the Fest attracted 435,000 to their oneweekend festival. Music at the French Quarter Fest is all Louisiana-based, well, almost all local. Typically there are several trad jazz bands that come into New Orleans from all over the world just to play at French Quarter Fest. It’s a model that would work extremely well for the Satchmo SummerFest in August—focus on Louis Armstrong and trad jazz and you’d have internationals flocking to the city to hear and play jazz in the city of its birth. But a concerted effort has to be made by F.Q.F. people and the city to get those international visitors here. There are a few changes at French Quarter Fest this year: the Old Mint stages are reconfigured; the kids’ area by the aquarium is much larger and

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improved. There’s been a real effort to diminish some of the traffic in Woldenberg Park, and a lot more merchandise and beverage booths. OffBeat contains the official French Quarter Festival schedule this year as an insert, and we included an “F.Q.F. IQ” that gives you a bit more information on the musicians playing at this year’s French Quarter Fest (starting on page 24 of this issue). The magazine will also be available at all the official F.Q.F. information booths around the festival. I’d love to hear your likes and dislikes about French Quarter Fest. Email them to me at janramsey@offbeat.com. Of course, there’s the Big Poppa of them all that whets the appetites of music lovers worldwide: the Jazz Fest. There’s no denying that the Jazz Fest has had an enormous impact on New Orleans’ reputation as a music city. It’s second only to Mardi Gras in its economic impact, with French Quarter Fest not far behind. It’s made the careers and put money in the pockets of all local musicians because it’s exposed them to a new audience that’s purchased CDs,

booked bands, and created a following for Louisiana music internationally. It gets the music community (including this publication) through the long, hot summers when visitors are usually thin and money is hard to come by. Personally, I believe the Jazz Fest has had the most important impact ever on New Orleans’ music community. I don’t think anyone would argue with that assertion. But the French Quarter Festival—while a different kind of experience—is also in the top tier of New Orleans music events. I’m surprised that the two festivals don’t work more closely together to combine the whole damn month of April and make it “Festival Month” in New Orleans! They’re both great. By the way, the Rock ‘N’ Bowl is on the move! Owner John Blancher is relocating to the old Helm Paint Warehouse at Earhart and Carrollton, next to Ye Olde College Inn. Blancher says the new facility will maintain its funky feel, with more modern lanes and more space for music, as well as more parking. Hopefully, it will be open come Jazz Fest. I, for one, sure won’t miss those stairs. —Jan Ramsey

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FRESH

Another Troubled Street F or the better part of a decade, Frenchmen Street has become the hot spot for locals and music savvy tourists tired of the gauntlet of identical strip clubs, T-shirt stores and frozen daiquiri joints on Bourbon Street. But this past Mardi Gras, the usual street choking crowds of revelers were thinner and while some clubs flourished, others did not do as well as they have in past years. Frenchmen Street is going through changes. Café Brasil no longer operates on a regular basis. The Spotted Cat will go out of business during Jazz Fest, although building owner James Gibeault plans to reopen under a new name, Jimbeaux’s on Frenchmen, and use the same musicians that play at the Spotted Cat. And Lazziza’s, a mixed music and food nightspot on Chartres just off of Frenchmen, has been cited by both the state and the city and was unable to obtain a zoning variation necessary to guarantee its survival. The Hookah Café closed its doors after hosting its final Mardi Gras celebration. In January, club owner Gil Birman was cited with a series of violations including an order to enforce the ban on smoking in restaurants. For a club whose trademark was tobacco-filled hookahs, the writing was on the wall. “We tried operating for a week without smoking and our sales dropped 50 percent,” says Birman. “Smoking was part of the concept and in the service industry, concept is everything. Just because you do everything well doesn’t mean you can chop off a leg and continue as if nothing happened.” Birman decided to close the club, partly because he believed the local community had targeted the Hookah Café and other clubs on Frenchmen Street. “The President (Chris Costello) of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association (FMIA) has basically singled out establishments on Frenchmen Street that he wants closed down,” says Birman. Costello says the FMIA was trying to help the Hookah Café. “To allow smoking in a restaurant to avoid the Smoke Free Law, a business would need to apply for a conditional use license to become a bar where smoking with food is allowed under the Smoke Free Law,” Costello wrote in an email to OffBeat. “The Frenchmen Street Arts and Cultural Overlay (FSACO) limits the number of these conditional use permits as the intent of the FSACO overlay was not to create another ‘Bourbon Street’. “The FMIA board voted not to support the conditional use permit at that time and asked Gil Birman to withdraw it so that Gil and Chris Costello, president of the FMIA, could pursue an exemption to the law. Chris Costello contacted Rep. Juan LaFonta to enlist his help on this matter.” After the January raid, Costello set up a meeting with the local councilman James Carter’s office, which met with representatives

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from the City Attorney’s Office, City Planning, Hookah Café and FMIA. With no resolution forthcoming, Birman decided to shut down. “They don’t want Frenchmen Street to look too much like Bourbon Street,” says Birman. “I don’t think it’s like Bourbon Street. I don’t see any strip clubs or T-shirt shops here. FMIA is a great organization; we were a member. Their main purpose is to get people involved and they do a good job of that. On one hand, they do all these good things for the neighborhood but on the other hand, a few people have the ultimate say about what can happen here.” Jesse Paige, manager of the Blue Nile, laments the absence of a Frenchmen Street business association. “We don’t have a business association to protect the clubs, which is why we have so little power,” argues Paige. “But after the storm, we need everything we can get. We took so much physical damage without the insurance company taking care of us, we’ve been paying out of our pockets. We were waiting for Mardi Gras, which was absolutely necessary for us.” The ongoing battle between residents who don’t want live music in Jackson Square, the French Quarter, Treme or Faubourg Marigny and the musicians and fans who do goes to the heart of the city’s future identity. You can’t use live music as a selling point and then only allow it to be played in festivals and museums. The fact is that New Orleans doesn’t support its indigenous music. “They treat it as a product, but they don’t nurture that product,” says Paige. “It’s really the private sector that nurtures music in New Orleans. The struggling businesses aren’t getting rich, but we’ll survive. I think in 10 years people will appreciate what these little clubs did to sustain the real spirit of this city. “These mysterious people that always want to shut Frenchmen Street down, I don’t know who they are and they obviously don’t invite us to their meetings,” Paige says. “It’s like the residents that wanted to shut down all the music on North Rampart Street and turn it into a place for high end retail and antique shops. That’s not going to fly in this economy. But no matter how bad the economy gets, people are going to want music and good times. People need that interaction so they can say, ‘Hey, things aren’t so bad. I’m sitting here at the Blue Nile watching Kermit Ruffins on a Friday night’.” —John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

FRESH

radio station in Switzerland features Donna Angelle’s music. A promoter in Brazil is anxious to work with her. Angelle’s travel log includes tours of Africa and France last year and upcoming gigs in Florida, California, Oregon and Washington. But gigs in her native southwest Louisiana are few and far between for this rare female voice in the male-dominated world of zydeco. But Angelle’s new CD, Guaranteed Lover, is starting to open some doors. “Finally, people are starting to see me at home,” says Angelle, who lives in St. Martinville. “Before, you couldn’t buy a job at home and that’s sad. There’s so many musicians from here that people don’t come out and see. They’re good musicians and people just don’t give us the opportunity. So we have to leave home. But I’m enjoying the road.” Local fans have taken notice of Angelle’s latest CD. The 13song CD features Angelle’s lively zydeco dance tunes as well as blues and R&B tunes on accordion and keyboards. Local zydeco radio shows have picked up on the bluesy title song as well as “Just My Imagination,” a version of the Temptations classic. The CD is even bringing Angelle to New Orleans. She plays at 3:15 p.m. April 18 at the French Quarter Festival. An R&B performer for almost 30 years, Angelle released her first zydeco recording in 1995. By 2001, she was on her fourth CD and touring extensively. Fans around her hometown remember Angelle for the title song of her 1997 CD, Old Man’s Sweetheart, a tongue-in-cheek wish for a romantic rendezvous with zydeco pioneer Boozoo Chavis. In this racy shuffle, Angelle sings, “He might be too old to cut the mustard / but he can still lick the jar.” Chavis and his wife Leona took notice. They demanded to see her backstage at a festival in Humble, Texas. “Somebody came to me and said, ‘Boozoo Chavis wants to see you’,” says Angelle. “I was so nervous. When I walked in the room, he said ‘You the lady who wrote that song?’ “I said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘I just want to thank you.’ All day long, he and his wife praised me. He gave me ideas, showed me the ropes and told me stuff about the road. I took that to heart.” —Herman Fuselier

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Photo: Erika Goldring

Zydeco Everywhere but Here A

It Takes Two N

ew Orleans Duets, Tom McDermott’s new album, was over five years in the making. The album is a collection of duets with people you might expect—Evan Christopher, Matt Perrine, Tim Laughlin—some that make sense—Helen Gillet, Michael Skinkus, Anders Osborne—and some you didn’t see coming, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton included. “I wanted to do this album since before Katrina, but I got distracted,” McDermott says. “I really wanted to do the Brazil album [Choro do Norte], and that took a year. And there were so many people I wanted to have on it, it took a long time.” Casting the album was more of a challenge than you might think. “It was typically, ‘I want to do something with this person, what can I do?’” McDermott says, but there were a number of artists he wanted to work with for whom he couldn’t find the right song. Then again, there were times when a composition suggested the collaborator. “‘Opulence’ was a piece that I liked that I wanted on the album, then I thought of Aurora [Nealand, saxophone player for Panorama Jazz Band].” The most divisive songs, by McDermott’s admission, are the more unusual pieces. He and African drummer Seguenon Kone remade “Blueberry Hill” in a way that is “rhythmically kind of odd,” he says. “Some Satchmo Sampling” presents McDermott sampling Armstrong, creating a percussion bed, then scratching the sample for just over two minutes. In his other posthumous collaboration, McDermott teamed with Jelly Roll Morton to play behind an a cappella version of “Tricks Ain’t Walkin’ No More,” a song Morton sang for the Library of Congress tapes after being stabbed and rendered unable to accompany himself. The song was on the closing of Storyville, and, McDermott says, “If I’m going to do a duet with Morton, there it is.” —Alex Rawls www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

FRESH

lthough not originally sprung from the swamp of Louisiane nor any true rose of Spanish Harlem, Los Po-Boy-Citos are stirring up dance parties all over our fair city with the boogaloo, a short-lived but widely spread phenomenon of the mid-1960s built on strong Cuban rhythms, featuring congas and brass. Their debut album, New Orleans Latin Soul, includes obscure boogaloo covers such as “Danzon Boogaloo” and “Wobble Cha” as well as Latinized versions of “Big Chief” and “Mother-in-Law.” Born instead in many a Garden District living room jam session, these seven NOLA transplants—Jason Brettel, drums; Dan Cutler, bass; David Greengold, vocals/congas/percussion; Luke Huddleston, trombone; Jacob Leland, saxophone; Jack Pritchett, trumpet; Matt Sakakeeny, guitar—crawled to the city, each for various reasons. However, it was just a matter of time until they found their home in its music. “It’s a good fit with the New Orleans music scene and ethos; New Orleans music is known for its strong Latin influence,” says saxophonist Jacob Leland. But what are a bunch of white boys doing playing 1960s Latin soul, anyway? According to Leland it’s simple: “First of all, it’s great music, second of all it’s fun to dance to.” Recently voted as the Best Emerging Artist in OffBeat’s “Best of the Beat,” the little po-boys didn’t just morph from heaven. “Between us, we’ve been in jazz, rock, reggae, funk, Brazilian, traditional Cuban, and classical ensembles,” says Leland. “At some point, the question is not whether the tradition is your birthright but whether you can play it,” says Leland. —Carrie Chappell

A Decade in the Square T his spring, the Young Leadership Council celebrates 10 years of Wednesday at the Square. April 1 kicks off the new season of free after-work concerts in Lafayette Square in the CBD with the Bucktown Allstars and the Soul Rebels. This year, the series has a new title sponsor, the New Orleans Saints, and to ease drink and food ticket lines, those tickets will be for sale online at WednesdayAtTheSquare.com. The schedule... Apr. 1: Bucktown All-Stars + The Soul Rebels Apr. 8: Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk + Shades of Praise Apr. 15: Jeremy Davenport + The Preservation Hall-Stars Apr. 22: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers + Jake Smith Apr. 29: Marcia Ball + Marva Wright & the BMW’s May 6: Big Sam’s Funky Nation + The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker May 13: Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys + Honey Island Swamp Band May 20: Letters to Cleo + MaryAnne Marino May 27: Bag of Donuts + The Figs June 3: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue + John Boutté & Paul Sanchez June 10: The Boogie Men + Dr. Gonzeaux June 17: Galactic + Hot 8 Brass Band —Alex Rawls

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Photo: Alexis Annis

Little Po-Boys A

Good News I

t was nice to see former OffBeat contributor and WWOZ DJ John Sinclair back in town for the funerals of Snooks Eaglin and Antoinette K-Doe. Sinclair is back in another sense with the publication of It’s All Good: A John Sinclair Reader (Headpress Press). The book collects his prose and poetry dating back as far as 1965, and it is packaged with a CD of Sinclair recordings with Detroit and New Orleans incarnations of the Blues Scholars. It’s All Good presents an intriguing alternative to the vision of Sinclair as a hipster from another time—one that his voice conjures up. As he essays on his own legal problems or the jazz and blues artists that speak to him, he creates the image of an auto-didact who has developed his own governing theories about the art and ideas that move him. The pieces here reveal a combination of history, musicology, theory and faith as Sun Ra, Willie King, Iggy Pop and Mardi Gras Indians are presented not just as musical, social or historical figures, but as totems he believes in. It’s a personal relationship to our culture that is commonly experienced and rarely written about. —Alex Rawls www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

IKO IKO

In Search of Jockomo

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The Dixie Cups in the ‘80s. the same melodious patterns, and there are oodles of them. 500-plus share the coastline between Senegal and Nigeria. With so many dots to connect, it’s no surprise that historians have been able to trace Americanisms as quintessential as “okay” and the cola-in-coke back to West African words, with mixed convincingness—which is why a word of caution is due. “I don’t know how much of a line to the Mardi Gras Indians we can draw from Ghana,” musicologist Ned Sublette writes. “I’d look in Haiti first. The Mardi Gras Indians bear so many of the marks of Haiti—like their almost invariant rhythms of what Haitians call kata and Cubans call cinquillo. “I don’t think we’ll ever know what their esoteric language is,” he continues, “but on the other hand, they deciphered the hieroglyphics.” Yet one woman claims to have already unlocked the code: Dr. Sybil Kein, a playwright-poet who in a 1991 lecture to New Orleans’ Social Science History Association, proposed the following translation from a sort of loose and flexible Yoruba-Creole mix.

By Drew Hinshaw

Enòn, Enòn! Code Language! Aiku, Aiku nde. God is watching. Jacouman Fi na Jacouman causes it ida-n-de We will be emancipated. Jacouman Fi na Jacouman urges it; dé we will wait. Of course, her interpretation invites immediate questions. For starters, who the heck is Jacouman? With his index finger on the lyrics page, West African translator Daniel Alluah Anguah underlines the exotic syllables— Jah? Coo? Moe?—and mutters his discouraging verdict: “This must be a kind of name.” “I have my own hobby horse about jackomo,” Sublette writes. “Jacmel, the southern port of St. Dominigue/Haiti where many people escaped from is a Frenchification of the Taíno name Yáquimo. There’s a town called Yáquimo in Eastern Cuba as well.” And then, just when we had a consensus on capitalization, we find other historians ready to rob Jacouman of his nounhood. “In Ga,” says Fancy Mensah, a dance teacher referencing Africa’s vexingly migratory, sea-faring

people “when we want someone to dance, we say dza-ko-mo.” Which, by “Sugar Boy” Crawford’s insistence, is all beside the point. “If you listen to the song, I’m singing C-H-O-C-K as in Chockamo,” the singer told OffBeat in 2002. And yet, none of this would remain a mystery if Dr. Kein could retrace her steps—but she can’t. After “decades of research including examination of 56 language groups from Africa to the West Indies to South America,” she says she lost it all in Katrina—thousands of books, notes and transcripts. For now, it appears that the secrets of “Iko, Iko” are ocean litter, clinging to various oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. If there’s hope for Iko—hope that time hasn’t already skewed the words beyond recognition—then he or she is roughly four feet tall, doe-eyed and preliterate, not yet programmed to discriminate between English and gibberish. The willingness of youngsters to tolerate and artfully preserve nonsense in nursery rhymes is well-documented, and explains why, in their frequent live performances, the closed minds in the Grateful Dead insisted on normalizing “iko, iko an dey” to the glaringly incorrect “iko, iko all day.” (Evidence that all the hallucinogens you got can’t achieve the expansivemindedness of childhood.) “You often find very archaic lyrics retained in children’s songs,” says Afro-musicologist John Collins. “They are like fossils.” But until that afternoon when our children’s play songs end up on the right etymologist’s desk, we of contracting adult minds, versed only in the language of history’s victors, are left to appreciate this lingering riddle from a gone and cryptic past. And to relish the taunting conclusion that, as for now, what “ja-koo-moefee-na-nay” really means is “ja-koomoe-fee-na-nay.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: KEN KEENE

ne afternoon in 1965, the three Louisiana sisters/cousins who gave you “Chapel of Love,” unaware that the studio’s tapes were still rolling, recorded for posterity two minutes of delightful historical intrigue that had been circulating in oral obscurity for generations unknowable. “Iko, Iko,” the Dixie Cups called that tune. The English chunks of the record came from an all-too-obvious source—R&B singer “Sugar Boy” Crawford who claimed he never saw “just dues” from the top 40 hit—but the cryptic refrain of the Carnival standard is of a lost language, entirely mysterious: “Eh na, Iko, Iko-ahn-dé, jaco-mo-fi-nané.” You know these words. “Sugar Boy” said he remembered them from the Mardi Gras Indian tribes of his salad days, while the girl group said they heard it from their grandma, which is where the song begins: “My grandmaw and yo’ grandmaw....” I was sitting by the shore in Ghana, watching an extravagant parade, when I heard a chant that rung my eardrums like a bell. “Iko, Iko!” To which the nation’s Ewe speakers would say “aayé!” It belongs to no particular language, Iko—and the Ashanti, Fante and Ewe spell it “ayekoo”—but that swallowed ‘I’ and soft, clucking ‘ko’ sound uncannily the same. “It means well done or congratulations,” says Dr. Evershed Amuzu, a social linguistics lecturer at the University of Ghana, who proceeds to pull a phenomenal stunt. Having professed no prior knowledge of the song, he takes hold of the lyrics sheet and sings the chorus—flubbing the rhythm, but more or less nailing the melody. “It’s definitely West African,” he concludes. “I can tell from the sound of each word what tone comes next.” About West Africa’s languages: They are tonal, most following

Some songs test even the sturdiest of musicologists.

FEUFOLLET

No More Kid Stuff T

Feufollet’s grown up, and people are starting to take notice.

hough the Grammy infrastructure may have overlooked one of the deepest Cajun music releases of 2008—Feufollet’s Cow Island Hop—the sextet of collegeage young adults aren’t losing any sleep over it. And for good reason. In the last six months, no Cajun band has garnered more national exposure than Feufollet, thanks to appearances on NPR’s All Things Considered and American Routes’ 10th anniversary celebration at the House of Blues. While it’s too soon to ascertain the impact of American Routes, that of All Things Considered was huge. CD sales skyrocketed overnight, causing Cow Island Hop to be among the top downloads on Amazon.com, alongside Alison Kraus and Robert Plant’s Raising Sand. At one point, the album’s surprise hit, “Femme L’a Dit,” ranked No. 8 in downloads on iTunes. “It definitely brought us to a larger audience than we’ve had before,” says Feufollet’s accordionist/ multi-instrumentalist Chris Stafford, regarding the NPR feature. So why, after all this time, is the whole world finally taking notice of Feufollet? Is it because the band of child prodigies, formed a decade ago when Stafford was 11, Stafford’s younger brother Michael (drums) was 9 and Chris Segura (fiddle) was 14, has been viewed primarily as a kids’ band? “We have been fighting that for a long time,” Segura admits. “But if you consider our average age (23), we’re not that much younger than the Pine Leaf Boys or the Lost Bayou Ramblers, and we’ve been around longer. But because we have, people had this thing that we’re a kids’ band. With this CD, people are finally forgetting about that.”

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“Sometimes publicity in the music business is too successful,” says Feufollet’s guitarist Josh Caffery. “The image of them as child stars was imprinted on everyone’s brain. But now they are all in college or getting out, they are beginning to create more original music, which has allowed the band to come back into its own.” Their fourth and best release yet, Cow Island Hop, finds the band with one foot firmly in tradition and the other in tasteful experimentation. Along with studio engineer Ivan Klisanin, they operated as a team of co-producers, making this the first time that Feufollet used a producer other than Steve Riley or Dirk Powell. Klisanin was just what they needed—an idea man with no previous history with the band. Interestingly, keyboards played a significant role in shaping the uniqueness of Cow Island Hop. “Chère BéBé Créole” was already dense with the SeguraStafford twin fiddling, but Stafford thickened it even more with layers of Mellotron strings,

By Dan Willging

flutes and mandolin. Other tracks feature a Vox Continental, a Wurlitzer electric piano, an airpowered reed organ and even a conventional piano—hardly the typical Cajun fare. “Femme L’a Dit,” a brilliant mix of Creole music, gypsy jazz and Dixieland horns, may be the most unusual tune ever heard on a Cajun album. Originally, Dr. Harry Oster recorded the tune first sung by Gilbert Martin, a Creole from New Roads, Louisiana, as part of his fieldwork in the 1950s. Decades later, Caffery discovered it as part of his work at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Archives. “To me, it had a jazzy, swingy feel to it and it also had a different harmony. It was using a different scale than you hear in most Cajun music.” Caffery put some chords to it and soon the group had developed an arrangement. Somewhere along the line, someone proposed adding horns, tying in an additional cultural aspect since historically Creoles played trad jazz in the Crescent City.

Feufollet with horns in tow boldly debuted “Femme L’a Dit” at the 2007 Festival Acadiens. While most attendees were enthralled, one backstage volunteer was so upset that he accosted Dr. Barry Ancelet, the festival’s music organizer. “‘What do they think they are doing? Don’t they know the rules?’” Stafford says, recalling the animated conversation. “But Barry just blew it off and told him, ‘They can do it if they want to.’” But they do know the rules and that’s the point; Feufollet playfully innovates within cultural boundaries. “Most people wouldn’t have a problem with something like Belton Richard, but do you really consider that to be traditional Cajun music?,” Stafford asks rhetorically, referring to the popular Cajun hit maker who pushed the envelope in his day. “There has always been innovation. I don’t think people should be worried about that at all. It has to be there.” “We certainly believe that tradition evolves,” says vocalist/ guitarist Anna Laura Edmiston. “We just go with whatever we feel and we don’t apologize for it.” The biggest problem Feufollet has these days is finding time to play music together because school and side projects continually get in the way. Once school lets out, Feufollet will have a full schedule of folk and world music festivals. At the same time, Stafford and Segura couldn’t be happier with their present line-up and the direction the band is now taking. “The way it’s going, it’s going to be pretty solid for awhile, you know?” Stafford says. “Everybody is on the same page and into what we are doing. This feels like it is really going to stick. I certainly hope it does. I’m optimistic about it.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

JEFF ALBERT

The Company You Keep I

n 1986, jazz critic Stanley Crouch wrote, “the vast majority of those who were considered avant-garde twenty years ago represented the first generation in the history of the art who were incapable of meeting the technical standards set by their predecessors.” Perhaps that was the case in New York, perhaps it was the case 20 or 40 years ago, or perhaps the quote represents Crouch’s myopia where the avant-garde is concerned. In New Orleans, some of the leading players in improvised music are often equally present in more traditional scenes. Astral Project’s James Singleton played bass in trad jazz bands and behind James Booker. Rob Wagner was also a Klezmer All-Star, and Steve Masakowski and members of the Monk Institute Jazz Ensemble have participated in Sunday night improv gigs at the Hi Ho Lounge. The line defining what is and isn’t worthy jazz may exist in the minds of fans and critics, but it’s not nearly so clear to musicians. “Free improv with really great musicians is a great way to grow,” Masakowski says, and Jeff Albert found the opposite is also true. “I don’t think we can deny the other aspects of what we do,” he says. “Having spent some time playing in the LPO and with Ronnie Kole, in cover bands in Chicago and salsa on Frenchmen Street—it all goes into it.” The Jeff Albert Quartet recently released the excellent Similar in the Opposite Way, but you may recognize him as the big trombone player for a number of horn sections around town. He’ll play behind pianist Ronnie Kole during the French Quarter Festival Saturday, April 18 at 3 p.m. in Jackson Square. Each gig, no matter how different, affects his music. His background in free jazz goes back to growing up in Lafayette, also the hometown of fellow quartet member Ray Moore. “The first time

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I sat down and really listened to Ornette Coleman was with Ray,” he says, and he played a Coleman piece as part of his senior recital at Loyola. “On the record, Ornette stays around E flat and stays in time,” Albert says. “We played that head then went totally free. It became a waltz at one point.” His decision to play free jazz came after Tony Dagradi ended an improvisation class by turning out the lights and telling the students to listen and play. “That was a real turning point for me.” On Similar in the Opposite Way, there is a composed element for each piece, something that

By Alex Rawls

establishes a rhythmic, textural or melodic reference point, the most extreme being “Could Have Been a Napkin.” The title comes from a brief melodic line small enough to be written on a bar napkin; Albert told band members they could use it but didn’t have to. “We all reference it at points,” he says. “And Ray and I even end up playing a lick together, which adds a level of cohesion.” Such devices, he says, “put you in a different level of attentiveness. It hedges the bets in our favor a little bit—and for the audience. These structural elements allow me to put the record together in a way that get

you whacked out, crazy stuff, but a little bit later you get a groove. And a little bit later, there’s a melody so you have something to hang on to.” But free jazz doesn’t pay the bills easily, so he has played with a variety of musicians and found something valuable in the experiences. He talks a lot about “honesty” in conversation, something he associates with George Porter, Jr. At a wedding reception, Porter was asked to sing “What a Wonderful World” and was so concerned about it that he asked keyboard player Mike Lemmler to cover the bass so he could focus on the vocal. “He did this really deep, soulful, honest presentation of those words. Everything that he does is really honest musically, and there’s a depth to George that if you get into booty shaking, it’s easy to gloss over. George is a genius.” Kole is a very different gig, but it has been rewarding as well. “Ronnie is such an incredible piano player,” Albert says. “My first impression of him when I was 18 was that his shoes match his pocket square, which matches the inside of his coat, and this is really frightening. But he’s a beautiful cat, he treats us well.” His dedication to getting reactions from his audience inspired Albert. “It’s fun to watch how that will happen, and then I’ll think, ‘What can I do to keep people’s attention? “My goal for the reaction might be different. George’s band, the goal might be to make them dance and have a good time. In Ronnie’s band, the goal is to make them laugh and buy CDs. We might be trying to make them think or cry or maybe test their will to not run out screaming—for brief periods of time. But the exchange of energy is part of what makes it rewarding, and there’s no law that says it has to be easy to listen to music. It’s okay if the audience works a little bit, too.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ZACK SMITH

For Jeff Albert, gigs make the man.

LA FESTIVALS

Further On Up the Road Louisiana is a festival state almost everywhere you go.

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Photo: PHILIP GoUld

or those seeking Louisianacentric and roots-oriented music in addition to the French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest, salvation lies a short road trip away to Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Shreveport. From April 18-26, Baton Rouge will host its 14th Baton Rouge Blues Week. The week-long celebration, which claims to be “in the middle of the most musical 125 miles on Earth,” showcases blues artists performing in clubs and on outdoor stages throughout the city. Also featured during the week is Earth Day (with a performance by Tab Benoit), Sunday in the Park, and the Slim Harpo Awards, which will honor Dr. John this year. For 2009, Blues Week will partner with the Red Stick Animation Festival to present Sita Sings the Blues, an Indian animated film set to Louisiana blues music. Baton Rouge Blues Week culminates on April 25 with the Baton Rouge Blues Festival. The festival, which started in 1981 and returned last year after a 13-year recess, will feature performances by national and local blues musicians including Bobby “Blue” Bland, Percy Sledge and the Aces, Charlie Musselwhite, Lil Ray Neal, Bonnie Bramlett and Mr. Groove, and Kenny Acosta. A staple of Jazz Fest is its incorporation of the African, Caribbean, Hispanic and European roots of Louisiana heritage. Lafayette’s Festival International de Louisiane connects Cajun heritage with its French roots and also seeks to enhance appreciation of world cultures. The festival is said to be the largest French-speaking festival in the United States and it will be held April 22-26 in downtown Lafayette, the event’s location since its inception in 1986. Streets shut down as vendors sell art and cuisine from all over the world, and multiple stages are erected to showcase the festival’s eclectic

March Fourth Marching Band at Festival International, 2008 music by performers from France, Canada, Brazil, Manitoba, Ireland, Malawi, Belgium, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria and, of course, Louisiana. Acadiana wouldn’t be Acadiana without celebrating its own unique heritage. Aside from October’s Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette, Cajun culture thrives at the annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival from May 1-3. Located in the “Crawfish Capital of the World,” the Breaux Bridge festival has been a hub for authentic Cajun food and music since 1960. The festival has since become a landmark for zydeco and swamp pop artists, with 2009’s performers including Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Pine Leaf Boys, Balfa Toujours, Corey Ledet, and Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie. Not to be outdone by its southern neighbors, Shreveport holds a crawfish festival of its own, Mudbug Madness, from May

By Rory Callais

21-24. Mudbug Madness began in 1984 when a small group of North Louisianans retaliated against being more closely associated with Texas culture by having the state’s largest crawfish boil. Since then, the festival that is held every Memorial Day weekend in downtown Shreveport has swelled in size, drawing tens of thousands in attendance and featuring premier Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop acts. This year’s line up includes Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters, Cajun Nation, Red River Playboys, Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, and Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble. Shreveport also hosts festivals honoring native music legends. The first annual Lead Belly Blues Festival takes place on May 9 on the banks of the Red River in Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport. The event features not only musical tributes to

the blues icon from Bobby Rush and Kenny Neal, but also a Lead Belly museum and a small tour following landmarks in Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter’s life. Also, the James Burton International Guitar Festival will take place at Shreveport’s Municipal Auditorium August 2122. Burton famously played with Elvis Presley for his comeback in the late 1960s, and for his 2009 festival, he pays tribute to his former boss along side blues, rock, country and rockabilly guitar greats. Just as “Louisiana music” means more than what comes out of New Orleans, the entire Pelican State has much to offer in the way of music and heritage festivals. As Johnny Palazzotto, President of the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation, says of his Baton Rouge Blues Week, “We’re not trying to take anything away from New Orleans or Lafayette. We are only trying to bring more people to Louisiana.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z

Autin, John 4/18, R400, 12:452:15 p.m.: Pianist and Rabadash Records’ head John Autin has had a long-running gig at the Hotel Monteleone in its piano bar, but he is far from the schmaltzy cocktail pianist.

here’s a lot going on during the French Quarter Festival, and it takes a big brain to keep track of it all. OffBeat wants you to be that big brain, so here’s our guide to all the jazz, blues, Cajun, zydeco, funk, soul and rock ’n’ roll that takes place on 17 stages arranged in the French Quarter between Bourbon Street and the Mississippi River. Pay attention—there will be a quiz. These listings were accurate at press time; stages and schedules are subject to change. Stage Abbreviations B300: Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Stage in the 300 block of Bourbon Street B400: Whitney Bank Stage in the 400 block of Bourbon Street B600: Jazz Ascona 25th Anniversary Stage in the 600 block of Bourbon Street B700: Renaissance Publishing Stage in the 700 block of Bourbon Street BBS: OffBeat Magazine’s Brass Band Stage at Woldenberg Riverfront Park’s Kohlmeyer Lawn CZS: Nola.com’s Cajun/Zydeco Showcase at the Old U.S. Mint IS: Continental Airlines’ Intl. Stage ESS: Southern Comfort’s “Esplanade in the Shade” Stage FMS: French Market Stage HNOC: Historic New Orleans Collection Classical Stage at 410 Chartres St. JSQ: WWL-TV Stage in Jackson Square LPB: Legends Park, 333 Bourbon St. PH: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St. R400: Courthouse Stage in the 400 block of Royal Street R700: Rouse’s Stage in the 700 block of Royal Street WPS: Harrah’s “Louis Louis” Pavilion Stage at Woldenberg Riverfront Park’s Pavilion WRS: Abita Beer Stage at Woldenberg Riverfront Park

# 101 Runners 4/18, WRS, 7:45-9 p.m.: The 101 Runners combine New Orleans funk with Mardi Gras Indian music and multiple

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B Baby Boyz Brass Band 4/19, BBS, 5 -7 p.m.: The Baby Boyz are the next generation of players from the Treme neighborhood and beyond.

Here’s a higher education in who’s playing where during the French Quarter Festival. percussionists. When they hit the stage, the feathers fly.

A Abney, Mario, Quintet 4/19, B300, 1-4 p.m.: Trumpeter Abney has played with everyone from Erykah Badu to Wynton Marsalis and his quintet’s music takes from those artists and everyone in between. Albinas 4/19, HNOC, 1:30-2:45 p.m.: Albinas Prizgintas possesses eclectic taste, and brings it out on his keyboards both onstage and as main conspirator for music at Trinity Church where he plays everything from organ to Bach to music to walk mazes. Anderson, Theresa 4/12, WRS, 4:45-6 p.m.: The Swedish-born singer and violinist is a fixture of New Orleans’ music scene for her soulful rock. Her new album, Hummingbird Go! has had her touring across the country as a solo artist, and its single, “Na Na Na,” was a YouTube smash.

Andrews, Glen David 4/19, FMS, 1:15-3:15 p.m.: Trombonist Andrews is one of the most charismatic and dynamic performers in New Orleans. His new Walking Through Heaven’s Gate CD shows his gospel roots. Angelle, Donna, and the Zydeco Posse 4/18, CZS, 3:20-5 p.m.: Angelle is one of the newer female performers coming up in the zydeco world. Astral Project 4/18, ESS, 5:45-7 p.m.: New Orleans’ and one of America’s preeminent modern jazz bands featuring saxophonist Tony Dagradi, drummer Johnny Vidacovich, bassist James Singleton and guitarist Steve Masakowski. Their recent CD, Blue Streak, shows that after 31 years they are tighter and more creative than ever. Audacity Brass Band 4/17, BBS, 2:45-4:15 p.m.: Another fine example of the city’s brass band tradition.

By David Kunian and Alex Rawls

Bamboula 2000 4/18, R400, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Bamboula 2000 fuses rhythmic music from around the planet, from the ancient Mali Empire to the Space Age. Leader Luther Gray was one of the cultural activists who secured Congo Square’s place on the National Register of Historic Places. Barnes, Bruce “Sunpie” 4/19, WRS, 2-3:30 p.m.: Park ranger Bruce Barnes plays blues, zydeco, and Caribbean music. When he gets on the harmonica, everything heats up. Battle of the Bands feat. David Hansen’s New Orleans Spice versus Canal Creepers 4/18, R400, 5:30-7 p.m.: That says it all. Bayard, Eddie, and the New Orleans Classic Jazz Orchestra 4/18, B700, 11:15 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.: Bayard is a talented cornet player who has years of experience. Big Blue Marble 4/17, ESS, 5:45-7 p.m.: Big Blue Marble’s rock/pop shows the band to be one of the best groups in the strong indie rock movement in New Orleans. Big Daddy ‘O’ 4/18, R700, 3:30-5 p.m.: Big Daddy ‘O’ started playing on the streets of the French Quarter when he was 19. Now he’s one of the Gulf Coast’s most prominent bluesmen whose sound works on festival stages and in boozy roadhouses. www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z Big Sam’s Funky Nation 4/17, WRS, 6:15-7:30 p.m.: Trombone player Big Sam Williams merges the brass band sound with electric funk, and he does it with style and volume. His newest disc is Peace, Love and Understanding. Bonerama 4/19, WPS, 5:30-7 p.m.: Mark Mullins and Craig Klein lead this trombone-heavy jazz/funk/rock combo, which is as comfortable with James Brown’s funk as Black Sabbath’s metal. Bone Tone Brass Band 4/17, BBS, 11:15-12:45 p.m. The Bone Tone Brass Band is a solid, old-time brass band famous for its martial rhythms and stamina during parades. Boutté, Lillian’s, Two Louies Show 4/18, WPS, 3:45-5:15 p.m.: The second artist in New Orleans history to be named “New Orleans Musical Ambassador” pays tribute to the first—Louis Armstrong—as well as Louis Prima, with Don Vappie on hand for musical support. Braud, Mark 4/19, B600, 1:153:15 p.m.: Trumpeter Mark Braud grew up playing New Orleans jazz and has made his rounds in many of the best bands in the city. Broussard, Van 4/18, WRS, 12:151:30 p.m.: Broussard helped create the swamp pop sound and is considered a legend in the bayou areas of Louisiana. Brother Tyrone and the Mindbenders 4/17, WRS, 11 a.m.-noon: Brother Tyrone is a soulful shouter from the West Bank. His band is tighter than your grandmother’s girdle as their latest eponymous CD exhibits. Bucktown Allstars, the 4/19, WRS, 12:15-1:45 p.m.: This ninepiece rhythm and blues band from Metairie covers the soul classics, adding their own funky grooves.

C Casa Samba Extravaganza 4/18, WRS, 1:45-3 p.m.: This

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dance and rhythm group is New Orleans’ most popular Brazilian entertainment. Christopher, Evan’s, Clarinet Road 4/18, LPB, 1-3 p.m.: Virtuoso clarinet player Evan Christopher frequently plays with Tom McDermott and/or the Danza Quartet. For this set, he leads the band. Cowsill, Susan 4/19, WPS, 3:45-5:15 p.m.: Susan Cowsill was thrust into the limelight at age eight with pop group, the Cowsills, who served as the inspiration for the Partridge Family. All grown up now, Susan’s latest Just Believe It is vintage roots rock. Creole String Beans 4/19, ESS, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: The Creole String Beans do the best straight up swamp pop in New Orleans. They’ve got feel, soul and humor.

D Daigrepont, Bruce, Cajun Band 4/17, CZS, 5:20-7 p.m.: A New Orleans-reared Cajun, the self-taught accordion player has hosted the Sunday Cajun session at Tipitina’s for decades. Davenport, Jeremy 4/19, JSQ, 1-2:40 p.m.: Davenport is not merely the face of the RitzCarlton, but a fine swing and modern trumpet player who toured with Harry Connick, Jr. before striking out on his own. He recently recorded his debut album for Basin Street Records. Doc Houlind Revival Jazz Band 4/17, PH, 4:30-5:30 p.m.; 4/18, PH, 1:30-2:30 p.m.; 4/19, IS, 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m.; 4/19, PH, 4:30-5:30 p.m.: This Danish traditional jazz band plays New Orleans jazz across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Dopsie, Dwayne, and the Zydeco Hellraisers 4/19, CZS, 1:20 - 3 p.m.: The late Rockin’ Dopsie’s son Dwayne is Bourbon Street’s King of Zydeco. www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z Dopsie, Rockin’, Jr., and the Zydeco Twisters 4/19, CZS, 5:20-7 p.m.: The son of Rockin’ Dopsie is known for his acrobatic antics and for being one of the only washboard players to front a band. Dukes of Dixieland 4/19, JSQ, 11 a.m.-12:40 p.m.: Founded in 1948 by the Assunto brothers (Frank, who died in 1974, and Fred, who died in 1966), the Dukes hold the distinction of being the first jazz band to record a stereophonic album. Pete Fountain was an early member of the band and the Dukes recorded with Louis Armstrong during the late ’50s. The present group is related to the Assuntos’ band by name only.

E Edegran, Lars, Tribute to Danny and Blue Lu Barker 4/17, FMS, 3:30-5:30 p.m.: The Swedish pianist and longtime New Orleans resident

plays a tribute to the influential musical couple. Go and get your leg felt. E.O.E. 4/19, ESS, 4- 5:30 p.m.: E.O.E. mixes hip-hop, world, and rock into a high energy live show. Excelsior Brass Band 4/18, BBS, 11:15-12:45 p.m.: The Excelsior Brass Band is one of the great names in New Orleans jazz history, with incarnations existing before the 20th Century.

Ferbos, Lionel, and the Louisiana Shakers 4/17, FMS, 1:15-3:15 p.m.: Lionel Ferbos, who is nearing his 100th birthday, has played trumpet in New Orleans for over 70 years. “I stick close to the melody; I’m a melody man,” Ferbos says. Feufollet 4/17, CZS, 3:20-5 p.m.: Another addition to the great trend of young folks throwing down Acadiana waltzes and bayou two-steps with a more modern sound and twist. It’s not your grandfather’s Cajun, but he can still dance to it.

Fatien 4/18, WRS, 3:15-4:30 p.m.: This project with African drummer Seguenon Kone connects New Orleans music to the world. The band includes Dr. Michael White, Matt Perrine, Rex Gregory and Jason Marsalis.

Floyd, Barney 4/19, FMS, 3:305:30 p.m.: Floyd has played trumpet for everyone from Nicholas Payton’s Big Band to Gatemouth Brown to Ruth Brown. Here, he leads his own band.

Faubourg Quartet 4/18, HNOC, 4:30-5:45 p.m.: This quartet is led by NOCCA classical string instructor and cellist Jee Yeoun.

Fritzel’s Allstars 4/19, B700, 1:303:30 p.m.: Fritzel’s Allstars keep the flame of traditional jazz on Bourbon Street all year long.

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Forgotten Souls Brass Band 4/17, BBS, 4:30-6 p.m.: The Forgotten Souls Brass Band consists of some of the top players in the brass band scene. Their standards and funky new tunes get the crowd shaking. Ford, Louis, and his New Orleans Dixieland Flairs 4/18, B600, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Clarinetist and saxophone player Ford is a disciple of traditional New Orleans jazz. Friendly Travelers 4/19, WPS, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: The gospel sounds of the Friendly Travelers used to grace the ears of coffee drinkers in the late Kaldi’s coffeehouse. Their shimmering harmonies of praise just get better.

G Gibson, Banu, and New Orleans Hot Jazz 4/17, JSQ, 1-2:40 p.m.: Vocalist/banjoist Banu Gibson leads her own talented

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FQF A-Z band, formed in 1981, on swinging jazz of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra 4/19, HNOC, 12:30-1:15 p.m.: This program, educating young people between 7 and 16, is in its 15th year. Green, Tony, and Gypsy Jazz 4/19, ESS, 1-2:15 p.m.: Green is not only a popular gypsy jazz guitarist but one of New Orleans’ best known painters.

H Heritage School of Music 4/18, R700, 12-1:30 p.m.; 4/19, R400, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Legendary educator and musician Kidd Jordan directs this high school-aged jazz band that plays better than most college bands. Higher Heights 4/17, WPS, 3:45-5:15 p.m.: Higher Heights combines reggae, dancehall, and rocksteady into a heady mix of Jamaican sounds. Holiday, Gal, and the Honky Tonk Revue 4/17, WPS, 12:45-2 p.m.: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue formed in the summer of 2004 to revive that classic honky tonk, rockabilly and country sound with a touch of swing. Honey Island Swamp Band 4/17, ESS, 2:30-3:45 p.m.: The Honey Island Swamp Band built their roots rock barroom sound by backing up Eric Lindell for years. Hot Club of New Orleans 4/18, R400, 2:30-4 p.m.: A quintet of two guitars, a clarinet, string bass and violin playing the sophisticated sounds of turn-ofthe-century Parisian jazz. Hot Rod Lincoln 4/18, WRP, 2:15-3:30 p.m.: This band of New Orleans CEOs, big wigs and Captains of Industry plays their favorite oldies, and they’re not afraid to put on a show.

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Iuso, Billy, and the Restless Natives 4/17, WRS, 12:15-1:30 p.m.: A rockin’ jam band that keeps that nasty New Orleans funk alive.

J Jack Brass Band 4/17, IS, 121:45 p.m.: This Minnesotabased brass band is heavily inspired by the New Orleans brass tradition. Jeremy and the Zydeco Hot Boyz 4/18, CZS, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Jeremy began playing music with his cousin, popular Louisiana zydeco player Geno Delafose, at the age of 13. Shortly afterward, Jeremy formed the Zydeco Hot Boyz and started playing all over Louisiana. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes 4/18, WPS, 7:30- 9 p.m.: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes have evolved into a band that gleefully blurs the lines between jazz, funk, jam and rock. Their recent album The Big Awesome shows they can, and will, play it all. Jones, Connie, and the FQF All-stars 4/17, JSQ, 11 a.m.12:40 p.m.: New Orleans native trumpeter Conrad “Connie” Jones III joined the Basin Street Six with Pete Fountain in 1952. In 1967, he became a full-fledged member of Pete Fountain’s band, departing seven years later to reorganize and lead the Dukes of Dixieland. Jones, Leroy, and New Orleans’ Finest 4/19, B600, 3:30-5:30 p.m.: The trumpeter moves easily from his roots in traditional jazz to modern styling. A protégé of the legendary Danny Barker, the New Orleans trumpeter is a veteran of Harry Connick, Jr.’s band. Jonno and Bayou Deville 4/17, CZS, 1:20-3 p.m.: This fiddler blends Americana and blues with a classic Cajun feel for a fresh sound.

Kellin, Orange 4/19, B300, 3:15-5:15 p.m.: Originally from Sweden, Kellin fell under the spell of New Orleans traditional jazz and moved here decades ago to learn it from the source. King, Little Freddie 4/18, WRS, 4:45-6 p.m.: Little Freddie King’s new Messin’ Around tha House shows this Mississippi-born blues guitarist at his best—loose, funky and having fun, with lyrics that hint at an underlying darkness. Kole, Ronnie, Show 4/18, JSQ, 3-4:40 p.m.: Kole is a renowned New Orleans piano player, and his set harkens back to the Bourbon Street of yore. Krown, Joe, with Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington 4/18, WPS, 5:307 p.m.: The hardest working keyboard and organ player in the Big Easy, Krown does classic organ trio with a New Orleans twist with drummer Batiste and guitarist/ singer Washington.

L Lafourche Cajun Band 4/11, CZS, 3:15-5 p.m.: They’ve been playing traditional Cajun music and zydeco for the past 18 years. LaRocca, Jimmy’s, Original Dixieland Jazz Band 4/18, LPB, 3:15-5:15 p.m.: This group of local musicians has performed in Brazil, Japan, Sweden and Finland. Last Straws, the 4/18, FMS, 1:153:15 p.m.: This traditional New Orleans jazz band has been playing together for nearly half a century. Laughlin, Tim 4/18, JSQ, 11-12:40 p.m.: Tim Laughlin is a follower of Pete Fountain, but he adds a contemporary, intelligent edge to his traditional jazz clarinet work. Le Jeune, Trent 4/19, CZS, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m.: Le Jeune is a third generation accordionist, so he comes by it honestly. There’s a little Cajun, a little zydeco, a little www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z rock ’n’ roll and some country in his sound. Lemmler, Matt 4/18, R400, 4:155:30 p.m.: Matt Lemmler’s quartet plays modern jazz with precision and passion. Loose Marbles 4/17, PH, 12-1 p.m.: Street musicians with an interest in trad jazz, or trad jazz musicians who love the Great Outdoors? Whatever, they’re a great band with a killer singer, Sarah Quintana.

vocalizing daughter of saxophonist Charles Neville. She performs the full spectrum of New Orleans music from jazz to Mardi Gras music with a little diva sass. New Bumpers Revival Brass Band 4/17, PH, 6-7 p.m.; 4/18, PH, 6-7 p.m., 4/19, IS, 1-2:45 P.M., PH, 6-7 p.m.: France’s best trad jazz band makes the pilgrimage here to Preservation Hall. They specialize in the classic Hot 5s and 7s repertoire.

New Era Brass Band 4/18, BBS, 6:15-8 p.m.: The New Era Brass Band is one of the younger brass bands on the scene. They mix it up with standards, originals, and top 40 hits done in the brass style. New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Allstars featuring Irvin Mayfield 4/19, JSP, 5-6:30 p.m.: Mayfield formed the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra in 2002 as the only major jazz performance

institution in the city. The group is influenced by all aspects of New Orleans and blends many of the city’s traditional styles. New Orleans Jazz Vipers 4/19, R400, 2:30-4 p.m.: This Frenchmen Street group proves you can swing without the aid of drums. The repertoire for these OffBeat Best of the Beat winners includes classic jazz tunes and standards.

Lost Bayou Ramblers 4/18, CZS, 1:20-3 p.m.: Broussard, Louisiana’s native Lost Bayou Ramblers play Cajun music with youthful energy and enthusiasm. Lucia, Ingrid 4/18, ESS, 4-5:30 p.m.: Vocalist Ingrid Lucia offers a stylish and stylized take on the jazz diva, and she invests it with enough heart, fun, and craft to keep it real, not a caricature. Lynn, Lisa 4/18, B700, 3:455:45 p.m.: Lisa Lynn has a smoky, sultry voice as she sings smoldering jazz songs.

M Magnolia Brass Band 4/17, IS, 2-3:45 p.m.: Started in 1972, this Canadian brass band plays a style known as “Revival Jazz,” which blends classic jazz music with rhythm and blues. Maxwell, Jimmy’s, Dancin’ at Dusk 4/13, R400, 6-7:15 p.m.: Guaranteed to get you dancing, Maxwell’s group features great musicians and performs a variety of songs ranging from Cole Porter and Glenn Miller to show tunes. McDermott, Tom, and his Jazz Hellions 4/19, B600, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: McDermott plays piano with humor and mad skills. His take on traditional jazz is provocative, yet still well in the tradition.

N Neville, Charmaine 4/18, JSQ, 5-6:30 p.m.: Charmaine is the www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

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FQF A-Z New Orleans Moonshiners 4/18, B600, 1:15-3:15 p.m: The New Orleans Moonshiners play both New Orleans traditional standards and some “hot” French jazz. New Orleans Nightcrawlers 4/19, BBS, 1-2:45 p.m.: This ambitious contemporary brass band can shift from modern jazz to a classic big band style. Nobles, the 4/17, JSQ, 5-6:30 p.m.: Almost 50 years old, Louisiana Hall of Famers the Nobles are one of New Orleans’ premier cover bands. Norwegian Seamen’s Church All Stars 4/19, B700, 3:45-5:45 p.m.: This Prytania Street church has integrated jazz into its services. This group is led by traditional jazz mainstay Lars Edegran.

O Old Man River Band 4/18, ESS, 2:30-3:45 p.m.: Renowned for their long-time participation in many Mardi Gras parades, Old Man River Band plays faithful renditions of the local standards. Old Wine in New Bottles 4/18, HNOC, 1:30-2:45 p.m.: Loyola instructor John Reeks’ group re-invents the works of Haydn, Mozart and Brahms for the clarinet. Omar, Fredy, con su Banda 4/17, WRS, 1:45-3 p.m.: New Orleans’ leading Latin heartthrob fronts an exemplary Latin orchestra. Opera a la Carte, 4/18, HNOC, 12:30-1:15 p.m.: Two singeractors take the audience on a lively journey through the “greatest hits” of opera, including The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, II Trovatore, and The Magic Flute. Original Hurricane Brass Band 4/18, BBS, 2:45-4:15 p.m.: Traditional New Orleans brass band led by trumpet player Leroy Jones. Original Royal Players Brass Band 4/17, BBS, 1-2:30 p.m.: The brass band concept has gone through

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serious evolution, but the Royal Players are committed to tradition.

P Panorama Jazz Band 4/19, R400, 12 -2:15 p.m.: Led by clarinetist Ben Schenck, the Panorama performs jazz, as well as klezmer music, Caribbean biguines and Balkan rhapsodies. Pederson, Leif, and his 1944 Big Band 4/19, JSQ, 3-4:30 p.m.: Pederson leads this big band through hits when swing was king. Perez, Margie 4/17, ESS, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: The Creole Nightingale of Frenchmen Street is one of the hardest working musicians in New Orleans. Pfister Sisters, the 4/18, JSQ, 3-4:40 p.m.: The Pfister Sisters carry on the tradition the Boswell Sisters created in New Orleans in the ’20s and ’30s. They have sass and class and a great sense of humor. Pistorius, Steve, and his Southern Syncopators 4/18, B600, 3:30-5:30 p.m.: Pistorius is a traditional jazz pianist who plays regularly around the Quarter. Po-Boy-Citos, Los 4/19, ESS, 2:30-3:45 p.m.: Los Po-BoyCitos bring the Latin soul to New Orleans, playing groove classics by Tito Puente and Willie Bobo as well as Latinizing Earl King and Ernie K-Doe. Poché, Renard 4/18, WRS, 6:15-7:30 p.m.: Renard Poché plays many instruments, but he is known for his dirty, dirty, dirty funk while playing guitar for Dr. John, Zigaboo Modeliste, and the Original Uptown All Stars. Posse featuring Kevin O’Day, Reggie Scanlan, and Dave Malone 4/17, ESS, 4-5:30 p.m.: Posse features two of the Radiators with powerhouse drummer Kevin O’Day. They www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z play swampy New Orleans funk combined with raspy blues.

R Radiators, the 4/19, WRS, 5:307 p.m.: The Radiators jammed well before there were jam bands, and these road warriors remain as musically adventurous as ever. Rankin, John 4/19, HNOC, 3-4:15 p.m.: Guitarist John Rankin can play the breadth of music that is played in New Orleans and can make jazz, classical, folk, blues, and New Orleans music sound related. Revealers, the 4/18, ESS, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: The Revealers’ raspy vocals and deep skank rhythms keep the sounds of reggae alive in New Orleans. These regulars on the Frenchmen Street scene have been playing since before the Blue Nile was Cafe Istanbul. Robicheaux, Coco 4/17, WRS, 4:45-6 p.m.: Legendary New Orleans blues guitarist is native to the Louisiana swamps, and his music pulls together the city’s soul and mystery. Robinson, Jimmy 4/19, R700, 12-1:30 p.m.: Longtime leader of fusion band Woodenhead, guitarist Robinson’s recent release Vibrating Strings shows off his excellent guitar chops. Rouzan, Wanda, and a Taste of New Orleans 4/19, WPS, 2:15-3:30 p.m.: Talented ambassador of New Orleans R&B who covers all the bases.

S Sage, Irene 4/17, WRS, 3:154:30 p.m.: Irene Sage has a raging, powerful voice to go with her passionate original songs. Sage is a veteran of French Quarter stages, and her live performances show that. St. Martin, Armand 4/18, R700, 3:30-5 p.m.: Pianist St. Martin

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plays both obscure New Orleans songs and originals that are firmly in the New Orleans tradition. Sanchez, Paul, featuring John Boutté and A Stew Called New Orleans 4/19, WPS, 12:45-2 p.m.: Sanchez is a founding member of New Orleans rock act Cowboy Mouth and John Boutté is a legendary New Orleans vocalist. They’ve been long-time friends and collaborated on Boutté’s 2008 album Good Neighbor and Sanchez’s solo record Exit to Mystery Street. Serpas, Christian, and Ghost Town 4/18, WPS, 11 a.m.12:30 p.m.: A revved up version of country and rockabilly, the band has been described as Led Zeppelin playing Johnny Cash. Shaw, Amanda, and the Cute Guys 4/19, CZS, 3:20-5 p.m.: Amanda Shaw has grown up in public, having cut her first album at age 10. Her recent release, Pretty Runs Out, presents a more mature, roots music-oriented Shaw, but one that remains steeped in the Louisiana fiddle tradition. Simmons, Kid, New Orleans Brass Band 4/19, FMS, 11-1 p.m.: Simmons keeps New Orleans music alive with his traditional brass band. Society Brass Band 4/19, BBS, 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: A brass band show with the little ones in mind. Some Like It Hot 4/18, FMS, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: This upbeat trad jazz combo is led by trumpeter Kaye Caldwell. Soul Project 4/17, ESS, 1-2:15 p.m.: Leader Cristian Duque takes the lessons he learned from playing with Walter “Wolfman” Washington and combines it with Meters-esque funk to make one of the more authentic New Orleans sounding bands around. www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z Soul Rebels, the 4/17, BBS, 6:15-8 p.m.: While most brass bands seem to be cut from the same piece of cotton, the Soul Rebels are tailor-made from the finest silk and sometimes come equipped with turntablists, rappers and dancers. Spirit of New Orleans Choir 4/18, WRS, 11-12 p.m.: The Spirit of New Orleans Choir is an energetic singing group guaranteed to give you inspiration to dance the day away. Spirit of New Orleans Brass Band 4/19, BBS, 3-4:45 p.m.: Their name sums up what this brass band is all about. Spedale, Rhodes, Trio 4/19, R700, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.: This trio is lead by Spedale on piano and covers classic Dixieland standards. St. John, Anais, featuring the Harry Mayronne Trio 4/19, R400, 4:15-5:45 p.m.: Queen of the Box of Wine, St. John performed regularly at the Royal Sonesta’s Mystick Den. Her cabaret show with Mayronne has won awards at the Yale Cabaret conference. Stone, Marc, Band 4/17, WPS, 11-12:30 p.m.: Blues guitarist Marc Stone and his sizzling slide have made the Old Point Bar his home away from home, playing and presenting special events there. This is a rare East Bank performance for him. Storyville Stompers Brass Band 4/18, BBS, 1-2:30 p.m.: The Stompers, founded in 1981, are staples for celebrations of all kinds especially in the French Quarter. Tuba man Woody Penouilh leads the parade. Swingaroux 4/18, JSS, 1-2:40 p.m.: Swingaroux is a local big band that specializes in traditional jazz and swing, occasionally giving the 1930s treatment to songs by Norah Jones and Aretha Franklin.

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T Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble 4/19, WRS, 11 a.m-12 p.m.: In 2007, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz moved to the campus of Loyola University New Orleans where the program has been flourishing ever since. Its graduate students now perform regularly as a jazz ensemble. Thibodeaux, Jimmy, Band 4/12, CZS, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m.: Jimmy began playing accordion at the age of 8 and now performs with his rockin’ zydeco band all across Louisiana. Thibodeaux, Waylon, and the Bourbon Street Cajuns 4/17, CZS, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m.: Waylon is a highly energetic fiddler who specializes in zydeco and Cajun music. Tin Men, the 4/17, WPS, 2:153:30 p.m.: The Tin Men is a trio featuring Alex McMurray on guitar, Washboard Chaz Leary on washboard and vocals, and Matt Perrine on sousaphone. The group is quite eclectic, performing everything from jazz standards to modern funk covers. Tornado Brass Band 4/17, PH, 1:30-2:30 p.m., 3-4 p.m.; 4/18 PH, 3-4 p.m.; 4:30-5:30 p.m.; 4/19, PH, 1:30-2:30 p.m., 3-4 p.m.: The Tornado Brass Band emerged from the famed Hurricane Brass Band under Darryl Adams’ leadership. Members of the Tornado Brass Band went on to start the Dirty Dozen. Treme Brass Band 4/18, BBS, 4:30-6 p.m.: Led by snareman Benny Jones and sparkling with the rhythm, wit and charm of the beloved bass man Uncle Lionel Batiste, the Treme Brass Band hits on both the traditional and modern styles. Trolsen, Rick, and the New Orleans Po-Boys 4/18, FMS, 3:30-5:30 p.m.: New Orleans www.OFFBEAT.com

FQF A-Z jazz trombonist who plays a traditional repertoire with a twist. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave. 4/19, WRS, 3:45-5:15 p.m.: Trombone Shorty is the most popular trombone player in New Orleans, but to say he is traditional would be a misnomer. His performances are so high-energy that they feel more like arena rock shows than your typical night in the French Quarter.

U University of New Orleans Chorale 4/19, HNOC, 4:305:45 p.m.: This vocal ensemble is made up of students from the renowned music program at UNO. University of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra 4/18, B300, 1-4 p.m.: The University of New Orleans Jazz Studies department is one of the best in the country. Graduates range from Nicholas Payton to Jessie McBride to Joshua Paxton, so if you want to see the jazz hitmakers of tomorrow, this is the place to see them before they break out.

V VanVoorhees, Rachel 4/18, HNOC, 3-4:15 p.m.: This flexible classical harpist is well known for her French Quarter hotel dates. Venet, Seva, and the Storyville String Band featuring Tom Sancton 4/19, B300, 1-3 p.m.: Venet is the go-to trad jazz guitarist and banjoist in New Orleans right now. Special guest Sancton is not only an accomplished journalist, but he learned to play clarinet from George Lewis.

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Washington, Walter “Wolfman” 4/17, WRS, 7:45-9 p.m.: Washington is one of the city’s premier blues guitarists. Honed from years at dens of iniquity like the Dew Drop Inn, Dorothy’s Medallion, and the Maple Leaf Bar, the Wolfman’s act is old school soul. He is the real deal. Wazozo 4/19, R700, 1:45-3:15 p.m.: Cellist Helen Gillet’s group plays French and Martinique songs that are gypsy, jazzy, and classical at the same time. Wild Magnolias with Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr. 4/19, ESS, 5:45-7 p.m.: The Wild Magnolias are one of the originators of Mardi Gras Indian funk, and they haven’t lost a step with Bo Dollis, Jr. taking over for the Big Chief Bo Dollis. Wilson, Clive, and the Original Camellia Jazz Band 4/18, B700, 3:45-5:45 p.m.: Originally from London, Wilson moved to New Orleans in the early ’70s and studied music at Loyola during the day and played in a jazz band on Bourbon Street at night. Now he is one of the city’s most wellknown trumpet players. Wolfgang and His New Orleans Band 4/17, IS, 4-5:45 p.m.: This Austrian jazz band was inspired by New Orleans traditional jazz. Woodson, Kayla, and Louisiana Lightning 4/18, ESS, 1-2:15 p.m.: This country vocalist is only age 14, but she is already playing gigs with her backing band Louisiana Lightning. Wright, Marva, and the BMWs 4/18, WPS, 12:45-2 p.m.: Born and raised in New Orleans, bigvoiced blues belter Marva Wright is a perpetual crowd-pleaser.

Washboard Chaz Blues Trio 4/19, R700, 3:30-5 p.m.: Washboard Chaz is one of the busiest players in New Orleans, and his take on Mississippi blues is always lively and entertaining.

Zydepunks, the 4/17, WPS, 5:30-7 p.m.: The Zydepunks play traditional and European folk tunes at whirlwind speed with a punk rock backbeat. One of the best live bands in the city. www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: elsa hahne

Musician, Heal Thyself

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COVER STORY

Paul Sanchez found himself in the company of others.

“I

hadn’t tuned a guitar in years.” For over a decade, someone handed Paul Sanchez a tuned guitar when he walked onstage with Cowboy Mouth. If it went out of tune, there was someone there with another ready to go, and when he left the stage he handed it to that someone. That sort of treatment spoils a man. “The first time I played d.b.a. on my own I wasn’t even sure where to plug my amp in.” Paul Sanchez traveled in some variation of that style for most of his 16 years in Cowboy Mouth. It was rarely easy; his relationship with singer/frontman Fred LeBlanc was complicated, and once they hit some variation of the big time, things got harder. “We got signed to MCA,” he says. “Hootie and the Blowfish were hot, and they wanted us to make a record that sounded like Hootie. For Mercyland, Sister Hazel was hot and they wanted us to make a record with a slide guitar that sounded like Sister Hazel.” Still, it was tour buses, roadies and a lot of things done for them. The band was in the studio in Atlanta finishing Voodoo Shoppe when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. That prompted them to write and record two more songs—Sanchez’ “Home” and LeBlanc’s “The Avenue”—then they set out touring again, this time to remind the world that New Orleans was still there and needed their help. Never mind that Sanchez’ house was catastrophically flooded when the London Avenue Canal was breached; it was time for the road. Still, the sense of purpose brought the band together, Sanchez says. “I got to be friends with them and feel like a family again. We hadn’t for a long time.” In November 2006, the band’s lawyer asked him to lunch. Sanchez joked, “This is kind of funny. Last time I got taken to a private lunch like this, I was told I was being let go from the band. Is [former manager Jon] Birge coming back?” He was, it turns out, and the lawyer was there to tell him that. Sanchez’ displeasure with Birge’s return combined with seizures he started having since he was hit by a taxi in Boston led him to quit the band he had been with more-or-less since its inception in 1990. He was a free agent and could stop trying to cheerlead America and deal with his own loss. “Like everybody in New Orleans, it seemed like my life had piled up on me and I had to make a break.” He did so first by avoiding it, moving to Belize. Then the son of a working class family from the Irish Channel started the process of immersing himself in New Orleans. “You’ve got to go back to www.OFFBEAT.com

your roots to reinvent yourself,” Sanchez says. Like so many New Orleanians after the storm, Sanchez was in denial about his own status, something he now realizes. “I didn’t know how in shock I was,” he says. “In my mind, I was too busy helping other people. ‘I don’t need help; other people need help.’” He wouldn’t deal with his flooded house. He knew it was totaled, but it took Craig Klein of Bonerama and the Arabi Wrecking Krewe pestering him before he agreed. When the gutting happened, Sanchez wasn’t involved. He couldn’t face it and didn’t want anything from the house, though he was touched when Klein saved an undamaged ceramic milagro with the word “Rejoice”. Things started to change for Sanchez when he came home to play with Cowboy Mouth at Jazz Fest 2006. “I was rudderless, more than I was aware of at the time,” he admits. While home, he and friend John Boutté played a party for Threadheads—Jazz Fest fans who met through the Jazz Fest message board—and people enjoyed their set so much they suggested the two record together. Sanchez said he’d love to if they only had the money. Before he knew it, Threadhead Chris Joseph had spearheaded an effort to raise the money he needed; he and Threadhead Records were in business. The result wasn’t a Boutté/ Sanchez album, though. Instead, they made Good Neighbor, the Boutté album that Sanchez shepherded from conception to completion. “I had to pay some dues; I had to find my own feet,” he says. “I knew that making the record together probably wasn’t the right time for either of us.” Despite their friendship, it wasn’t easy. Boutté was in a dark place himself, and the album became Sanchez’ obsession. Though the process of making Good Neighbor and his own Exit to Mystery Street was exhausting and challenging, the effort started moving him in the direction he wanted to go. “It was [producer] Dave Pirner’s idea to hire Raymond Weber and Matt Perrine, and that made a huge difference in the fact that I was able to pull off a very New Orleans-sounding record with a rhythm guitar player—me—finding places to play rock rhythms in a New Orleans feel.” It also connected Sanchez to a battalion of New Orleans musicians including James Andrews, Big Sam, Fredy Omar and David Torkanowsky. Sanchez started to rebuild a community of musicians around himself, and when he began to play d.b.a. regularly, he invited people to perform with him—not just professional musicians but amateurs and poets. Consciously

By Alex Rawls

or not, he seemed to want to surround himself with people, and he sat in with others including Susan Cowsill. Slowly but surely, he accumulated a new musical circle, one that involved old friends such as former Cowboy Mouth bassists Mary LaSang and Sonia Tetlow, along with Alex McMurray, Shamarr Allen, Craig Klein, Russ Broussard and Glen David Andrews. They became part of a loose collection that played with him, and from the start, he made sure that the band members got time in the spotlight to showcase their songs. “I just wanted to heal me, and their songs charge me,” he says. “Then people started coming back, ‘That’s what I always expected New Orleans would be like—a real community.’ People shouldn’t walk away from the Rolling Road Show saying, ‘Man, that Paul Sanchez is great.’ They should walk away saying, ‘Man, New Orleans is great.’” As he found a new musical circle, another challenge arose—how to fit in. He had lived much of his musical life in Powerchordville, where a minor chord is as exotic as fugu. He didn’t have the chops to accompany Boutté, Allen or Leroy Jones in the manner to which they were accustomed, an awareness Torkanowsky reinforced when he told him in a friendly way, “You know, you hear a lot more complicated than you’re able to play. You should think about that.” The musical language the players spoke— jazz—was one he realized he needed to acquire for his musical and social ambitions. When John Rankin approached him intrigued by Sanchez’ thoughts on songwriting during a Tennessee Williams festival session, Sanchez said, “’I’ve wanted to take lessons from you for 20 years but thought I innately sucked.’ We started trading lessons. I learned how to make the chords follow the melody like you do in traditional jazz.” Boutté admires him for taking that step. “How many musicians will get guitar lessons so they can change their style?” he asks. One byproduct of the lessons is “Two-FiveOne,” a song from A Stew Called New Orleans, Sanchez’ new album with John Boutté. The song draws its name from the bedrock chord progression that is to jazz musicians what 1-4-5 is to rock ’n’ roll musicians. He makes it a song about a phone number that starts 2-5-1, a number that seems to be the key to a mystery. “She kept slipping me her digits / but I left them on the bar. / Now the band wants me to remember / but I can only get this far. / I got 2-5-1 “. Sanchez deftly merges the song’s narrative and its creation’s context, writing the amusement jazz musicians A PRI L 2009

had with him into the song without signaling the significance with a big, theatrical wink. “I could hear the fellas laughing. / I said that’s fine by me / And if you get to the last part, remember / that the first part is safe with me.” The Threadhead experience was resonant for Sanchez, one he celebrates in the new song, “Be a Threadhead.” “There are people who are unemployed and donated $5, some donated five thousand,” he says. “These are people who can’t swing a hammer, and suddenly, they made this record just for the sake of helping. That’s real community.” He in turn tried to help Threadhead put out albums with other musicians in need. “Through Paul, we got to Susan Cowsill, and Craig Klein and the New Orleans Nightcrawlers,” Threadhead Records’ Chris Joseph says. “Through Paul, we

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critical acclaim. Still, it’s hard not to think of his music as a combination of art and therapy. “I felt desperately a need to reinvent myself,” Sanchez says. “I felt desperately a need to make a big band-sounding record that was a New Orleans record to authenticate myself.” A Stew Called New Orleans continues that effort, though in a smaller, breezier way. Instead of making the album a big production, he recorded it live in one day with Boutté, Leroy Jones, Todd Duke and Peter Harris. The results are intimate and swinging, so the album feels like a conversation between friends. Slyly, Sanchez assigned most of the pop songs to Boutté and tackled the jazz tunes himself. The two most political statements, “Hey God” and Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” are sung by Boutté. “I’m glad Paul introduced that tune to me because even yet, it still has a lot of significance,” Boutté says. Sanchez points to the numerous shout-outs on the album—references to Threadheads, to Glen David Andrews, even to Peyton and Cooper Manning. The title track is self-consciously in the tradition of celebrating New Orleans in song along the lines of “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?” and Shamarr Allen’s “Meet Me on Frenchmen Street,” a song Sanchez played live after hearing it. That blend of the artistic and the social makes the album feel slightly therapeutic and personal, but not in an oversharing way. The album stands alone as a smart, engaged songwriter’s album, but it’s also easy to hear it as another step in his journey and wonder if he’d make the same album a year from now.

got to Alex McMurray. Paul’s very generous with other performers. He wants other people to shine and he wants other people to succeed.” From Sanchez’ perspective, it was just a matter of passing on a little wisdom. “Having been on three major labels and had seven different managers, I had a lot of different kinds of insights into the music business. I could tell them how to treat folks, how to spend money that makes sense and where you’re just spinning your wheels.” Sanchez is earnest when he talks, though he doesn’t sound like he has to hang on as tightly to keep things together as he did when he first returned. He now has a house in the Treme and has received the sort of reassurance that has steadied him. The Eli Young Band had a Top 40 hit on the country charts with his 1992 song, “Jet Black and Jealous,” and Good Neighbor and Exit to Mystery Street found audiences and

“I was sitting with somebody and laughing about old road times, and after I walked away, I said, ‘Wow, it felt good to laugh about Cowboy Mouth again,’” Sanchez remembers. That was a milestone of sorts because he says he hasn’t received a writing or publishing royalty check in 16 years. When he approached a lawyer about this, the advice he got was, “Let’s work on getting you over your anger so you can deal with this”—advice Sanchez later thanked him for. That doesn’t mean he’s over it, though. “It would be nice if I could just remember the fun parts and have it not be so dirty by business, but sadly, I don’t have that control.” Still, separation from Cowboy Mouth has allowed him to rediscover his identity as a songwriter and explore opportunities he likely would never have had with the band. He worked with Boutté on a song for the next Galactic album. He has mentored and written with Shamarr Allen and Glen David Andrews, and he talks like someone excited by the possibilities the next day may offer. “I’m so grateful that I didn’t end up doing the same thing for the rest of my life. I get a chance to evolve and create different kinds of music with other kinds of people. It’s exhilarating. I haven’t been this exhilarated about being a songwriter since I was 19.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

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In the Kitchen with Lars

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hen I came to New Orleans in the ’60s, I didn’t know how to cook anything. I actually learned to cook while I was living in New York, that’s when I got into this Asian cooking. How I got interested, that goes further back to when I used to go to England, before I came to America. I really liked the Indian food there, and then I met my wife who is from England, and we were going out to a lot of curry restaurants. I’ve been cooking Asian food for over 20 years. The technique is very important when you cook Asian food. Everything has to be in the right order; you have to cook onions to a certain degree that I did not know about before. Also, certain ingredients like fresh curry leaves. Fortunately, I have a next-door neighbor who has a curry plant in his yard! I had a curry plant too before Katrina, but the plant died and the guy next door said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to plant one.’ And they are much better gardeners than I am anyway. He got the plant going and it’s becoming like a tree. So any time I need a few curry leaves, I just go over there and snap a branch off. You use the curry leaves when you first put your oil in the pan. Heat the oil up and throw the curry leaves in there and this incredible aroma comes out of the pot. The curry leaves flavor the oil. You don’t actually eat the curry leaves; they’re like bay leaves. It’s the same with the whole spices, cumin seeds or whatever you use; you fry them in oil also and they flavor the oil, which then flavors everything else in the dish. Those are the things that I’ve learned. And it’s made a big difference in my curries. Most Indian chefs don’t use curry powders. They mix their own because each recipe has a different mixture. Most of the things I cook, I don’t use curry powder. I just mix cumin, coriander, turmeric, whole cinnamon and cardamom.

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what you do in some European type of food, where you add spices at the end. You can’t do that in curries. That’s a total flop, then. Dried spices have to be fried in the early process. Otherwise, the dish doesn’t taste right. Also, you don’t want too much liquid, that can become a flop, too. And don’t worry about using too much oil because you can always take it off at the end. But if you don’t use enough, then the food doesn’t come out right. Because it’s the oil that flavors all the food.”

Madras Chicken à la Lars

Lars Edegran gets his fresh curry leaves out of his neighbor’s yard. I cook some Burmese and Thai dishes. I make my own green curry paste with cilantro, and dried shrimp paste, and my own red curry paste— but I’m not really an expert on that. It takes a long time to make, but then you can keep it in your fridge forever. You make sure there’s no air in it; you knock it down and pour oil on top. That seals it. And each time you use it you reseal it again with more oil. I don’t cook Vietnamese food, because we have such good Vietnamese restaurants here and they’re so cheap, I don’t see any reason to cook it. That’s some of my favorite food in New Orleans. When you’re cooking Indian food, chopping and cooking the onions takes up the most time. Once it gets cooking, then you don’t have to watch it so much, but the early preparation takes a lot of time. You have to watch it so you’ll be standing there. But it’s fun. I just put some music on. I enjoy it. I started cooking New Orleans food when I was up in New York. I got some of Paul Prudhomme’s cookbooks. I lived in New Orleans in the French Quarter from 1965 to 1979 and then I moved to New York. I started cooking jambalaya. The

By Elsa Hahne

reason I cooked it in New York was because I wasn’t in New Orleans—I could not get it, you know. But since I moved back here, I have not cooked gumbo because that’s an elaborate thing to cook. I guess Indian food is elaborate too, it’s true, it is, but I’d rather learn more about the Asian cooking. I’m going to try some other Asian things now, I’ve decided. I’m going to go with that, because that’s a lot of fun. I’d like to try some different lentil dishes, black-eyed peas with mushrooms, vegetable dishes I haven’t tried, and I’d like to try a korma, I’ve never cooked a korma, it’s a cream-based curry dish. Shrimps in coconut milk with chilies and curry leaves—that sounds great, too. Sesame seed lamb chops, I tried that the other day. It came out really good. You make a marinade with yoghurt and lemon rind and the meat becomes very tender, you tenderize meat with yoghurt. I was amazed. And here’s a recipe for lamb kabobs. I can’t wait to try that. Meatballs! In creamy cashew nut sauce. I would rather do those than the Swedish meatballs because I like a little more spice. Learning about Indian cooking, I’ve had a few flops. You can’t do

Edegran finds his dried spices at International Market in Metairie. 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (or more) 2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds 10-15 fresh curry leaves 2 big onions, finely diced ½ head fresh garlic, minced 1 thumb-size piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced 6 tablespoons madras hot curry powder (Rajah brand) 1 teaspoon hot chili powder or cayenne (optional) 6 lb chicken drumsticks 2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce Pour oil into a deep frying pan. Add cumin seeds. Heat until seeds start to pop. Add curry leaves. Cover immediately and lower heat. After 30 seconds, uncover and add onion. Cook onion down until brown (not black) over low heat for about 30 minutes, adding garlic and ginger about halfway. Then, add curry (and chili) powder, adding a little hot water if food sticks to the pan. Add chicken and brown on both sides. Transfer chicken to a large casserole dish. Add tomato sauce to what is left in pan. Bring to a simmer. Pour sauce over chicken and bake in the oven, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and then at 300 degrees for 90 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over at some point. Serve with basmati rice. www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

What else would we expect from Swedish piano player Lars Edegran but Indian food?

EATS

OffBeat AFRICAN Bennachin: 1212 Royal St., 522-1230. AMERICAN Hard Rock Café: 418 N. Peters St., 529-5617. Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120. St. Charles Tavern: 1433 St. Charles Ave., 523-9823. BARBECUE The Joint: 801 Poland Ave., 949-3232. BREAKFAST Bluebird Café: 3625 Prytania St., 895-7166. Elizabeth’s: 601 Gallier St. 944-9272. CHINESE/VIETNAMESE Amy’s Vietnamese Café: Red Cart in the French Market, 352-9345 August Moon: 3635 Prytania St., 899-5129. COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544. Café Rose Nicaud: 634 Frenchmen St., 949-2292. CREOLE/CAJUN Atchafalaya Restaurant: 901 Louisiana Ave., 891-9626. Bon Ton Café: 401 Magazine St. 524-3386. Clancy’s: 6100 Annunciation, 895-1111. Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123. Dick & Jenny’s: 4501 Tchoupitoulas, 8949880. Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021. Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486. Hookah Bar & Lounge: 502 Frenchmen St., 943-1101. K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen: 416 Chartres St., 524-7394. Montrel’s Bistro: 1000 N Peters St., 524-4747. Mulate’s: 201 Julia St., 522-1492. DELI Mardi Gras Zone: 2706 Royal St., 947-8787. Martin Wine Cellar: 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie 896-7350. Stein’s Market and Deli: 2207 Magazine St., 527-0771. Verti Marte: 1201 Royal St., 525-4767. FINE DINING Antoine’s: 701 St. Louis St., 581-4422. Bombay Club: 830 Conti St., 586-0972. Broussard’s: 819 Conti St., 581-3866. Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221. Emeril’s: 800 Tchoupitoulas, 528-9393. Iris Restaurant: 321 N Peters St., 299-3944. Lüke: 333 St. Charles Ave., 378-2840. Martinique Bistro: 5908 Magazine St., 891-8495. Mat and Naddie’s: 937 Leonidas St., 861-9600.

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Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078. Pelican Club: 312 Exchange Place, 523-1504. Restaurant Cuvée: 322 Magazine St., 587-9001. 7 on Fulton: 701 Convention Center Blvd., 525-7555. Stella!: 1032 Chartres St., 587-0091. Tujague’s: 823 Decatur St., 525-8676. FRENCH Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635. Delachaise: 3442 St. Charles Ave., 895-0858. Flaming Torch Restaurant: 737 Octavia St., 895-0900. La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670. Crepes à la Cart: 1039 Broadway St., 866-2362. Restaurant August: 301 Tchoupitoulas St., 299-9777 ICE CREAM/GELATO Creole Creamery: 4924 Prytania St., 894-8680. La Divina Gelateria: 3005 Magazine St., 342-2634. Sucré: 3025 Magazine St., 520-8311. INDIAN Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797. ITALIAN Eleven 79: 1179 Annunciation St., 299-1179. Irene’s Cuisine: 539 St. Philip St., 5298811. Maximo’s: 1117 Decatur St., 586-8883. Tommy’s: 746 Tchoupitoulas St., 581-1103. JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI Gimchi: 3322 Turnbull Dr., Metairie 454-6426. Kyoto: 4920 Prytania St., 891-3644. Mikimoto: 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., 488-1881. Miyako Japanese Seafood & Steak House: 1403 St. Charles Ave., 410-9997. Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433. Yuki Izakaya: 525 Frenchmen St. MEDITERRANEAN Byblos: 3218 Magazine St., 894-1233. Café Lazziza: 2106 Chartres St., 943-0416. Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115. MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/SPANISH Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000. El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846. Nacho Mama’s: 3240 Magazine St. 899-0031. RioMar: 800 S. Peters St., 525-3474. Tomatillo’s: 437 Esplanade Ave., 945-9997. MUSIC ON THE MENU Carrollton Station Bar and Grill: 140 Willow St., 865-9190. Hookah Café: 500 Frenchmen St., 943-1101. House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068. www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS Prejean’s Restaurant: 3480 Hwy 167 N, Lafayette (337) 896-3247. Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117. Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133. Palm Court Jazz Café: 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. NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS 13 Bar & Restaurant: 517 Frenchmen St., 942-1345. Café Reconcile: 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 568-1157. Camellia Grill: 626 S. Carrollton Ave., 309-2676. Slim Goodies: 3322 Magazine St., 891-3447. Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683. PIZZA Fresco Café & Pizzeria: 7625 Maple St., 862-6363. Garage Pizza: 220 S Robertson St., 569-1599. French Quarter Pizzeria: 201 Decatur St., 948-3287. Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525-7437. Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554. Turtle Bay: 1119 Decatur St., 586-0563.

PO-BOYS / SANDWICHES Mahony’s Po-Boy Shop: 3454 Magazine St., 899-3374 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047. SEAFOOD Acme Oyster & Seafood House: 724 Iberville, 522-5973. Bourbon House: 144 Bourbon St., 274-1831. Casamento’s Restaurant: 4330 Magazine St. 895-9761. Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380. Drago’s Restaurant: 2 Poydras St. (Hilton Hotel), 584-3911; 3232 N. Arnoult St., Metairie, 888-9254. SOUL Dunbar’s: 501 Pine St., 861-5451. Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934. Willie Mae’s Scotch House: 2401 St. Ann St., 822-9503. THAI Sukho Thai: 1913 Royal St., 948-9309. WEE HOURS Clover Grill: 900 Bourbon St., 523-0904. Mimi’s in the Marigny: 2601 Royal St., 872-9868. Molly’s At The Market: 1107 Decatur St., 525-5169. St. Charles Tavern: 1433 St. Charles Ave., 523-9823.

Albinas Prizgintas hits the How did you discover Hoshun? I was walking by, and it was new and shiny.

Hoshun 1601 St. Charles Ave. (504) 302-9716

What do you like about the place? It is open late and I am really busy. I can come here at midnight and have lo mein. It’s peasant food—my suspicion— but it’s delicious. And heated up in oil for breakfast? Wonderful. I also like the shrimp in lobster sauce, and the Chinese eggrolls—they have two kinds. I never had the other kind, but when you find a good thing, there is no need to go anywhere else. I like to sit at the bar because I love television.

You’ve always been skinny. Are you eating enough? I eat when I no longer can hold out. Once, I did not eat for two days and had a funny feeling I was dying, so I ordered a cheeseburger. The waiter called out, “Cheeseburger for a dying man!” And I thought, “Oh, even he knows!” Since then, I’ve tried not to get to that stage. —Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

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DINING OUT Antoine’s A white plate ringed in blue with the words “Antoine’s since 1840” placed in front of the diner by a tuxedoed waiter. A Germanic dining room, red walls, wood beams and stars of yore staring down at that plate as they have for decades. Flames dance out of brandy-fueled coffee as the lights dim and a Baked Alaska is wheeled around. This is Antoine’s and this is still fine dining. Pommes soufflées, an Antoine’s original, with their cavernous interior and crisp exterior, help get the vibrant colored house béarnaise into the mouth in record time. While Antoine’s is known for creating the aptly named Oysters Rockefeller, we like the Oysters Foch better. Crispy fried oysters sit on top of toast smeared with pate de foie gras topped with a rich hollandaisebased Colbert Sauce. Escargot,

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crabmeat au gratin, shrimp remoulade, and crabmeat ravigote, all standards in this Francophilic city, make a delightful group of appetizers to pass around the table. The bisque d’ecrevisses takes the lowly mudbug to the heights with a mahogany crawfish stock so thick in texture it could be spread on bread. When was the last time you saw lemon in a hairnet? Antoine’s still serves all of its fish with the accompanying citrus food safety device, but that adorable relic aside, the fish when cooked simply and adorned with lump crabmeat makes any Lenten feast. Or try the trout amandine, or the filet

Photo: elsa hahne

EATS

Tuesday lunch for three at Antoine’s. with Marchand de Vin sauce. Even though we have had problems with overcooked proteins, when the juice from a medium-rare filet mixes with the lusty, sensual blend of marrow, wine, and butter, it’s hard not to smile. Change does not come quickly at Antoine’s, although the addition

of a bar downstairs is a welcome surprise. You will not find foams, “deconstructions”, or isotopes. What you will find is a restaurant that more than 150 years ago brought fine dining to New Orleans and still does. 713 St. Louis; 581-4422. Lunch and Dinner, Mon.-Sat., Brunch Sun. —Peter Thriffiley and Rene Louapre

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REVIEWS

Reviews

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

CDs reviewed are available now at In the French Quarter 210 Decatur Street 504-586-1094 or online at LouisianaMusicFactory.com

Two by Two

Tom McDermott New Orleans Duets (Rabadash) At this year’s James Booker tribute during the Best of the Beat awards, Tom McDermott turned in what I thought was the most convincing performance of all the talented pianists. Rather than stress his mastery of Booker’s prodigious technique, McDermott personalized his section of the tribute, offering listeners a sense of what drew him to New Orleans music in the first place.

McDermott’s performance was an act of modest love, not an attention grabbing device. His self-effacing nature is striking in a town of noted musical extroverts, and that diffident approach is exactly the reason why his latest album, New Orleans Duets, is so effective. In 21 exchanges with New Orleans musicians from Louis Armstrong to John Boutté, McDermott covers the waterfront and then some in an orgy of styles, an act that would seem gluttonous in the hands of a more boastful musical personality. But through it all, McDermott refuses to call attention to himself, using his encyclopedic talents in service of the myriad of musical genres presented, a waiter at his own banquet. And while several of McDermott’s partners on this project are obvious choices, most of them aren’t, creating an atmosphere of constant surprise as the record spins along with the pace of a theatrical revue. Most of

the compositions are McDermott’s, ranging from the Brazilian choro of “Irresistival,” with clarinetist Evan Christopher, to the stately classical pieces “Opulence” with Aurora Nealand and “Leyla’s Lullaby” with cellist Helen Gillet. McDermott can write an adept piece of social criticism, a quality represented by both the sports-is-war song “Sportsman’s Paradise,” delivered perfectly by Anders Osborne, and the deceptively simple “I Don’t Want Nuthin’ for Christmas,” with John Fohl. McDermott is a great accompanist to vocalists, a talent much in evidence on the beautifully straightforward reading of “These Foolish Things” with Judith Owen, “Our Love Rolls On” with Topsy Chapman, and his own compositions “That’s What I Saw at the Mardi Gras” with Debbie Davis and “To Kill Our Brothers Now” with Cindy Scott. The greatest of these moments, though, is the duet with John Boutté on Sam Cooke’s

“Cupid.” I’ve often felt Cooke’s spirit in the room while listening to Boutté, and here McDermott captures that genie in a bottle. McDermott has explored the connections between different branches of the African diaspora, work that is reflected in the amazing reconfiguration of Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “Manchega” with percussionist Michael Skinkus and another experiment in Brazilian music, “Conversa De Botequim,” with drummer/vocalist Eduardo Tozzatto. There seems to be no limits to McDermott’s musical imagination. His duet with sousaphonist Matt Perrine on “The Stars and Stripes Forever” adds qualities of humor and variation to revive a composition that has been wrung dry over the years. Similarly, his deconstruction of “Blueberry Hill” with African percussionist Seguenon Kone transforms a familiar tune into something novel, but still essentially New Orleans. Accompanying Jelly

album’s flow, balanced hypnotically against the rocking chair pulse of Todd Duke’s guitar, Mitchell Player’s bass and Jones’ magnificent string orchestrations, played superbly by Matt Rhody and Helen Gillet. The powerful opening passage continues through “I Remember Clifford” and “In a Sentimental Mood” before climaxing in one of the most heartfelt renditions of “My Funny Valentine” I’ve ever heard. Jones’ “Melancholy Serenade” is an elegaic moment that sets up his epic reading of “My One and Only Love,” which turns the wistful smile of a melody directly against the swells of the string arrangement in a wonderfully sensuous exchange. The romantic reverie moves like a scene change

into the almost jaunty string intro to “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Jones finishes off with the title track, an original composition that showcases another siren-like melody. Jones follows through on every single note of this outstanding performance, phrasing everything perfectly against the strings in a narcotic reverie without ever allowing the emotion to curdle into tritely sentimental or saccharine territory. —John Swenson

The Sweetest Thing Leroy Jones Sweeter Than a Summer Breeze (Spirit of New Orleans) In 2005 during an interview with Kermit Ruffins and Maurice Brown, Irvin Mayfield noted that the best trumpet cutting session he’d ever heard was between Wynton Marsalis and Leroy Jones. That anecdote reflects the esteem Jones is held in by local musicians, notoriety that hasn’t entirely filtered through to the general public. This may be in part due to the fact that Jones worked for many years as the featured soloist in Harry Connick, Jr.’s band, work that allowed him to play in front of large concert audiences yet kept him in a relatively anonymous setting.

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Jones also doesn’t fit neatly into the New Orleans jazz aesthetic. Though he plays traditional jazz and has a brass band pedigree, Jones has developed a sonorous, mellow tone over the years on trumpet and flugelhorn—a style seemingly at odds with the Bourbon Street histrionics often associated with New Orleans trumpeters. But nobody in town is more expressive. On Sweeter Than a Summer Breeze, Jones has finally found the perfect medium for that tone: a lush and languorous collection of classic ballads with a conceptual coherence which lends it the ambience of a suite. From the moment Jones plunges into the theme of “Yesterdays,” his horn is in total control of the

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REVIEWS Roll Morton’s a cappella track from the Library of Congress sessions, “Tricks Ain’t Walkin’ No More,” is a clever idea, but the mash-up of trumpet and vocal riffs from Louis Armstrong’s 1920s recordings, “Some Satchmo Sampling,” is the kind of discovery that wins Nobel prizes. Armstrong in this setting is completely contemporary; after hearing this track, it’s easy to imagine him featured on a future Lil Wayne release. —John Swenson

greener financial and musical pastures of New York, he’s been overlooked in the pantheon of New Orleans music. To underscore that point, when Price was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, our local newspaper initially had no idea he hailed from Kenner. This outstanding Bear Family retrospective should draw welldeserved attention to his impressive career, starting with tracks he recorded at Cosimo’s for Specialty,

including the landmark hit from 1952, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” Price’s Specialty tracks were obviously enhanced by Cosimo’s regular studio group which included Earl Palmer’s crackling drumming and Lee Allen’s booting tenor. But just as Price’s career was gaining momentum, Uncle Sam came calling and he spent the mid1950s dressed in khakis. He returned to Specialty, but found he and owner Art Rupe weren’t on the same page

anymore. As a result, Price started his own label in 1957, KRC, which means Price’s venture predated Motown and AFO. There were no hits on the Washington, D.C.based label, but he did cut several nuggets, including the pulsating “Such a Mess” and “Georgianna.” Wearing the hat of record label boss, recording artist and performer proved too much, so Price folded KRC and signed with the mighty ABC label, It was at ABC where he

Cyril Neville Brand New Blues (M.C.) You might expect Cyril Neville’s first post-Katrina album to comment on his trials since then, but the only lines that could be heard as a reference are from the spiritual “Don’t Move My Mountain”: “Every time I turn my back / they scandalize my name.” Instead, Cyril sings the blues, and they suit him well. The power and passion in his voice bring everything to life, even when the lyrics are little more than genre exercises. When he gets something to chew on such as the working man’s plight that he lays out in “Mean Boss Blues,” the results are riveting. Brand New Blues is a bit of a catalog, with a shuffle here, a ballad there (he handles Brook Benton’s “I’ll Take Care of You” with style), but his voice and rhythmic sense pull everything together. He finds a new, cool groove for Jimmy Reed’s “I Found Joy,” and his title cut sounds like a lost track from There’s a Riot Goin’ On. The closest things to missteps are “Shake Your Gumbo” and “Cream Them Beans,” and it’s possible that I just don’t value what they do. Both are dance tracks, and maybe the world does need some New Orleansbased double entendre songs; certainly there is a blues tradition for them. Still, they seem a little easy, and Cyril Neville has rarely done anything the easy way, so I expect a little more. —Alex Rawls

Lloyd Price Lloyd Rocks (Bear Family) Because Lloyd Price left New Orleans early in his career for the www.OFFBEAT.com Sign up for the FREE Weekly Beat at offbeat.com

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REVIEWS had his greatest successes, including “Just Because,” “Personality” and “Stagger Lee,” songs that need no introduction. Included here are some ABC sleepers, the best perhaps being the self-penned “Have You Ever Had the Blues” and the cover of Hank Ballard’s “The Hoochie Coochie Coo.” Thirty-four rocking tracks and typically brilliant Bear Family packaging guarantees that this Price is right. —Jeff Hannusch

Sasha Masakowski Musical Playground (Independent) Jazz female vocalist albums send up all kinds of red flags. Too many seem to be about persona, or revisit standards that have been attended to a time or 20 too often. Sasha Masakowski’s Musical Playground is none of the above. She sings not as a character in a musical, someone whose inner life is revealed as she

sings. Instead, she approaches the songs as a musician, and her stylized warmth in “Afro Blue” is as much a decision as her deliberate, gliding take on “All or Nothing at All”—one that makes sense next to Nathan Lambertson’s scurrying bass and Paul Thibodeaux’s hip-hop drums. Masakowski’s father Steve plays guitar on all but two tracks, but there’s no sense that he has any special standing in the uniformly

excellent band. Her multi-tracked “Gentle Peace” (co-written with Kenny Wheeler) evokes the more ethereal, spiritual side of Pharoah Sanders, but the band’s just as assured in its spacey quality as it is in the bossa novas “Tierra Humeda” and “E Preciso Perdoar.” I’m not sure the world needs another “Summertime,” but at least she and the band resist the temptation to make the languid, languid-er. —Alex Rawls

Monk Hazel and his New Orleans Jazz Kings Monk Hazel and his New Orleans Jazz Kings (GHB) Drummer Monk Hazel gazes forlornly from the cover of this reissue, pants hiked up to his dadderies, with a luscious silk tie. The sepia-toned photo emphasizes the long-ago vibe. In 2009 New Orleans, the steadily-working seven-piece Dixieland band such as Monk’s is extinct. No place can afford it, and trad jazz lovers are scratching their heads wondering how this was allowed to happen. Even if the gig was available, it would take some work to field a band as good as this one. Hazel is the leader, but the lead voice is Al Hirt, in his first traditional jazz recording, from 1955. Hirt waited until his 30s to wax some trad, but when the time arrived, he was ready. He roars like a bull moose here. Pete Fountain and trombonist Jack Delaney sound terrific, too. What a treat to hear this group with niceties like key changes, dynamics and carefully worked-out ensemble playing. How bittersweet to think you could have seen many such groups on Bourbon Street at one time. —Tom McDermott

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REVIEWS

Ben Hunter Traveler (Awareness) Traveler evokes a less ambitious Wyclef Jean, but that’s a good thing. Ben Hunter’s modest, acoustic guitardriven songs with gentle Island rhythms don’t represent anything more or less than a collection of heartfelt songs. Javier Tobar’s Spanish guitar and Suki Kuehn’s cello tastefully embellish the songs, and they serve Hunter well as he toys at length with standard tropes—home, traveling, crossroads, among them— wringing a little additional meaning and resonance out of them. His

understated approach works, as if he has accurately gauged that there’s little revolutionary or new in these songs, but there remains a gentle power in their invocation, particularly when they’re revisited with peace and warmth. —Alex Rawls

Clint Maedgen + 9 Open Restraints (Independent) Clint Maedgen can play sax, clarinet, piano and sing. He has conceived of numerous intelligent, provocative musical acts including (but not limited to) the New Orleans

Friends and Family Plan Guyland Leday Family And Friends Zydeco Band Welcome to My World (Shrimpo)

Briggs Brown and the Bayou Cajuns Vieille memoires - Bon temps (Independent) As promised, bassist Robbie Robertson continues to document the progress of 11-year-old Guyland Leday. The zydeco phenom’s third overall disc and second under his own name finds him to be a steadier, smoother accordionist, one that’s still honing his signature with stronger lead lines. Leday has grown in other areas as well, such as vocals where he sings with better control. Three tracks feature him handling the triple note accordion with the same aplomb as the smaller, diatonic variety, while “Jambalaya” showcases his unexpected boogieing accompaniment on keys. On “Hold That Gator” and “Work Out,” Robinson challenges his mighty mite to improvise something on the spot, which Leday happily obliges without breaking a sweat. But more so than his predecessor Be My Girlfriend disc, this 16-track affair is a full band effort. Robinson and Clifton Broussard (rubboard) also sing, and often there is goodnatured banter among all. Overall, it’s extremely fun, especially with “Momma Don’t Like,” which resembles the old jazz and western

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swing standard “Mama Don’t Allow.” Best of all, Leday and crew’s brand of zydeco is not only compelling, it provides no reason to remain seated. This is hardly the first rodeo for 16-year-old Briggs Brown. He made his recording debut at age 11 and on his sophomore effort, he leads a fairly tight Cajun dancehall band with older sister Megan, 18-yearold fiddler Travis Benoit and a few adult members who handle the singing duties. Briggs has a buoyant, spirited ambience about his playing, which bodes well with the rest of the Bayou Cajuns, who seem slightly airborne with their gravitydefying beat. While most of this is splendid trad fare, on the second track, listeners may be pleasantly surprised by the haunting rendition of David Greely’s “Marie mouri” that’s sung by Megan. Several tracks later, she melts hearts on “Chere Amis,” which pays homage to her native Cajun country with beautiful harmonies. Solid stuff. —Dan Willging www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

bookmark

Bingo! Show. On Open Restraints, he presents his least conceptual project—Clint Maedgen, rock ‘n’ roll guy. The strength of it: Maedgen’s enough of a songwriter to write six good songs, and he’s obviously enjoying mixing it up with the big guitars. The downside: the world’s full of rock ‘n’ roll guys. Heard as part of the Clint Maedgen oeuvre—which I think is how we’re to think of it—it’s a cool detour, more pop and straightforward than Liquidrone but more muscular than Bingo! or his strings project. We’ve known that he can dress up a song with theatrical devices;

Open Restraints shows that he can also simplify them and let a strong melody emerge from conventional instrumentation. As a stand-alone project, it’s good rock ’n’ roll, but there’s also a lot of good rock ‘n’ roll in the world. —Alex Rawls

Andrew Duhon Songs I Wrote Before I Knew You (Independent) I’m not sure I believe in Andrew Duhon the songwriter, whose imagery, tropes and sentiments will feel familiar to anyone who has a

High Times Jeff Kaliss I Want To Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone (Backbeat)

Eddie Santiago Sly: The Lives of Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone (Lulu.com) For those who tuned in late, Sly and the Family Stone released seven essential albums, from 1967’s A Whole New Thing to 1974’s Small Talk. Go out and get them. I’ll wait. The seven-strong, five-black/twowhite, five-male/two-female lineup hardly erased the Negro Problem, but it had a hell of a time, and a heaven too, playing through that wall. Their joy—”Dance To The Music”—pulsed as unrestrained as the Beach Boys’, but their sobering visions—”Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey (Don’t Call Me Whitey, Nigger)”—applied haiku harshness to steadfast impasses. Commonly clucked over as a train wreck, Sylvester Stewart, who was and is Sly Stone, deserves a better look at his good page. This he receives from both books, for a portrait of the artist as a young man elliptical, wryly humorous, and blessed with a mojo squeezing cultural commentary out of even his most ingrown Family obsessions. The turning point came with 1971’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On. Sly played most parts himself after the other six went home, and emerged

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with a terrifying, heartbreaking vibe that sliced the listener’s throat on the way to sticking in it. “He was saying, ‘I was lying before’,” said critic Greil Marcus once on Stone’s motives. “`I’m sorry I lied, but now I’m telling the truth. The world is a horrible place.’” And he was, and it is. But that didn’t keep Sly from enjoying a carefree fuck-you coked-out romp as a “Spaced Cowboy.” The Santiago book pushes the Stewart/Stone-as-Jekyll/Hyde dichotomy, which makes bad psychiatry but some sense in terms of how Sly wanted to sculpt and exculpate himself. The Kaliss book lands some rare face time with the man himself, proving, if nothing else, that Sly could make sense to you, but more often wants you to make sense out of him. —Andrew Hamlin www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Kenny Cornett and Killin’ Time Flat Feet (CSP)

passable collection of Americana singer/songwriters. But, I’m engaged by the good sense in the construction of his songs and I definitely believe in his voice. Trina Shoemaker’s production wisely puts his warm, gently soulful voice up front, so much so that much of the backing band is only noticeable after a few listens. When you hear it, someone is gently nudging the song forward, but everything serves Duhon’s voice and acoustic guitar. I look forward to the day when his songs reflect his age, though. He’s too young to be an old soul. —Alex Rawls

Like a lot of swamp poppers, Kenny Cornett and Killin’ Time hardly do any original material—only one in their entire 19-year-existence. As with a lot of swamp poppers, much of this material will be second nature to ardent listeners of South Louisiana music and Southern soul/R&B. But unlike a lot of swamp poppers who claim to be dance bands, these guys genuinely fire up their groove thing faster than you can say Warren Storm. The two-man horn section rolls, swings, swoons and pours on the ba-ba-ba-bops. The three Fats Domino and two Jivin’ Gene songs are just glorious, and it’s evident they take pride in covering this material. When they do slow it down, as on Percy Sledge’s “Take Time to Know Her,” they manage to sustain interest in the gripping story line. They even pull off Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride and Joy” but not with that telltale

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intro line that every bar band guitarist in town knows so well. Instead, they remake it as a flat out boogie that makes it practically unrecognizable until the chorus. Cornett may call his band Killin’ Time, but with this as sonic proof, they’re anything but. —Dan Willging

Greenlight Caravan Mother Earth Revival (Atomic Groove Tunes) Though they seem to claim every rock-funk group in history as influences, this jam band from Lafayette actually come down philosophically and musically squarely between the snide, earthmama misogyny of the Black Crowes and the sexy-yet-sociallyaware street lamentations of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, both circa Bill Clinton’s first administration. The world is in peril, this album seems to say, but it’s oh so funky. Nothing new here, then. But sincerity, like personality, goes a long way, and in this crumbling century,

so does hard work. Greenlight Caravan, like all good jam bands, gets most of its point across in the groove, and the clockwork combo of Eric McClanahan (bass) and Mark Anthony Guilbeau (drums) is a breath of fresh air in a genre where sloppiness has become an unfortunate badge of authenticity. Other good news: John David Fontenot’s psych-drenched guitar leads are rich with history (the best cut here, “Paracletos’ Umbrella,” sounds like Ernie Isley attacking “American Woman”). The worst thing about Mother Earth Revival, then, is its embryonic state. God knows, there are worse things to aspire to than a hybrid of Southern Harmony and Musical Companion and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but too often leader and vocalist Mark Clark simply chooses between the former (“Lay Down Low”) or the latter (“Evolver”). If they ever do find or synthesize an identity, this quintet has the raw talent to make it work. —Rob Fontenot, Jr.

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 1

Apple Barrel: Sista Otis (BL) 8p, I Tell You What (BL) 10:30p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Lafayette Square: Bucktown Allstars, Soul Rebels (RR PP BB) 5p Maple Leaf: Good Enough for Good Times (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Joe Krown (SI) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: open mic nite (BL) 8p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Carl LeBlanc & the Essential New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 8p Sandbar (UNO Lakefront Campus): Peter Sprague (JV) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott Quartet CDrelease party (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

THURSDAY APRIL 2

Apple Barrel: Dave Gregg & the Odd Man Band (BL) 8p,Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Reggae House Party feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Iguanas (LT RR) 7p Copeland’s Social City: Topcats (PP) 9p d.b.a.: Andrew Duhon (JV) 7p, Mayhem String Band (OR) 10p Donna’s: Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Bassbin Safari feat. DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p, Mad Mike the Hippie Bum, I, Octopus (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tom Fischer & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Darby’s House of Cards (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Zydeco Night feat. Leon Chavis (ZY) 8:30p

Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm (OR) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola-Jones (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. Treme Brass Band (BB) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Jesse Moore (RR BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Peter Sprague Trio (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

FRIDAY APRIL 3

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay & Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 11p Carrollton Station: the Tanglers Bluegrass Band (BU) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone (BL) 7p Copeland’s Social City: Wiseguys (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, the Dead Kenny G’s (OR) 10p Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 8:30p Dragon’s Den: Big John Bates & the Voodoo Dolls, Fleur de Tease Burlesque (RR) 10p, Charles Brewer, Los Po-boy-Citos (RR) 8p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Richard Scott (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: 3Now4, James Singleton (MJ) 10p House of Blues: Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution (RR) 8p Howlin Wolf: Greyskull, Touching the Absolute, and Pack of Wolves (RR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Radiators (RR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Slewfoot Blues Band (BL) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, John Lisi & Delta Funk (BL) 11p Maple Leaf: Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Soul Rebels (BB) 9:30p

Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: the City Life farewell show, Caddywhompus (RR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (JV) 8p Republic New Orleans: Deuce G (OR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: Wattusi Radio (RR BL) 9p Saturn Bar: the Balboas, the Unnaturals, the Bills (RR) 10p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis (MJ) 8 & 10p, Ashlin Parker (MJ) 12a Tipitina’s: Good Enough for Good Times feat. Robert Mercurio, Jeff Raines, Simon Lott and more (FK RR) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SATURDAY APRIL 4

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Big Top: art opening feat. Ingrid Lucia (JV) 9p Blue Nile: Silent Cinema and guests (MJ) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Voodoo Funk & Soul (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Donna’s: Myumi Shera’s CD-release party (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Grass Roots, Truth Universal, DJ Frenzi, DJ Monk (RH) 10p Fritzel’s: Lee Floyd and Richard Scott (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: 11 Blade CD-release party feat. Toxic Ratt, Concrete Shoes (RR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Copeland, the Providence, Paper Route, Brooke Waggoner (RR) 8p House of Blues: Who’s Bad, the World’s No. 1 Michael Jackson Tribute Band (PP) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Balsawood Flyers (BL) 5p, call club for late show Howlin’ Wolf: Meriwether, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Pandemic (RR) 10p Le Bon Temps Roule: Dead Kenny G’s feat. Mike Dillon and Skerik (RR) 11p

Maple Leaf: 101 Runners (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Wild Magnolias Reunion feat. Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux, Tyrin Benoit (FK) 9:30p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Delfeayo Marsalis Jazz Jam (JV) 5p, Westbank Mike & the Fisher Projects (BL) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Charlie Louvin, Mike Hurtt & his Haunted Hearts (CW) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-stars (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Blackened Blues Band (RR BL) 10p Snug Harbor: Mose Allison feat. Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton (MJ) 8 & 10p, Charles Brewer Quartet (MJ) 12a Tipitina’s: Groovesect, Swampgrease and more (FK) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 1p, Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SUNDAY APRIL 5

Apple Barrel: Sebastian (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, call club Chickie Wah Wah: John Mooney (BL) 6p Copeland’s Social City: Wiseguys (PP) 6:30p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 10p Donna’s: Shannon Powell Jazz Quartet (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Corrosion (RR) 10p Poetry Slam (SW) 8p Fritzel’s: the Loose Marbles (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Locket (BL) 8p Handle Bar (Harvey): Under Review (RR) 7p Hi Ho Lounge: the Public, We Landed on the Moon, Birdfight, Elsinore (RR) 8p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 9:30a, B.B. King, Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real (BL) 8p, Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Catania & Steve Rhodus (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (BL) 10p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p

GUIDE

Here are OffBeat’s highlights of music and entertainment in New Orleans and the surrounding area for the current month. Each day’s events are listed in alphabetical order by club or venue. Listings are compiled based on information provided by clubs, bands and promoters up to our deadlines. Unfortunately, some information was not available at press time and listings are subject to change.

Special events, concerts, festivals and theater listings follow the daily listings. Other events may be included at offbeat.com. For up-tothe-minute music listings, check OffBeat’s web page at www.offbeat. com. Also, check out www.louisianatravel.com for the OffBeat Music Calendar. For more details on a show, call the club directly. Phone numbers of clubs are shown in this section and/or at offbeat.com.

To include your date or event, please email information to our listings editor, Craig Guillot at craigguillot@offbeat.com or call 504-944-4300. Mr. Guillot can also provide listing deadlines for upcoming issues.

AC AU BG BL BU BB SH KJ

FE FR FK FS GG GS MJ TJ

RG RH RB RC RR SI SKA SS

A Cappella Acoustic Big Band Blues Bluegrass Brass Band Cabaret/Show Cajun

KS CL CR KR CO CW DN DG

Christian Classical Classic Rock College Rock Comedy Country Dance Dance Group

Folk/Ethnic Folk Rock Funk Fusion Girl Group Gospel Jazz. Contemp. Jazz, Traditional

JV LT ME OL OR PK PP PR

Jazz, Variety Latin Metal Oldies Originals Piano/Keyboards Pop/Top 40/Covers Modern Rock

Reggae/World Beat Rap/Hip Hop Rhythm & Blues Rockabilly Rock Swing Ska Singer/Songwriter

SW TC TG VR VF VM ZY

Spoken Word Techno/ Electronica Thrash/Grunge Variety Vocal, Female Vocal, Male Zydeco

When you’re out, text the word ‘offbeat’ to 33669 for daily updates & statewide listings, or log onto offbeat.com 56

APRIL 2009

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Bo Community Choir feat. Steven Ackles (GS) 11a Old Point Bar: Jesse Moore (BL) 3p One Eyed Jacks: Fleur de Tease Burlesque Show (SH) 8 & 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin and Evan Christopher (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: St. Peter All-stars feat. Dwayne Burns (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Mose Allison feat. Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Sunday Music Workshop feat. Johnny V. Trio (VR) 12:30p, Cajun Fais Do Do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club:Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 9p

Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Vivian Girls (RR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Lafayette Square: Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Shades of Praise (FK GS) 5p Maple Leaf: call club Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Snug Harbor: Michael Skinkus Quintet (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

MONDAY APRIL 6

THURSDAY APRIL 9

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Luke (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road (JV) 7p Columns Hotel: David Doucet (KJ) 8p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Mark Braud Jazz Jam (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Justin Peake (JV) 8p, Green Mantles, Bass Line Bums, Russian Mafia Band (VR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tim Laughlin and John Royen (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: call club Maple Leaf: Posse feat. Dave Malone, Reggie Scanlan, CR Gruver and Kevin O’Day (BL) 10p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Beans & Blues feat. Amanda Walker (BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville & Friends (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Bruce Bono (PP) 9p

TUESDAY APRIL 7

Apple Barrel: Mike Sklar (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Open Ears Music Series feat. Justin Peake ?tet (JV) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (VR) 7p, CCB (OR) 10p d.b.a.: New Orleans Jazz Vipers (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: acoustic open mic (AU) 8p, White Bitch, the Way, Lollipop Factory (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Fritzel’s Jazz Band (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: call club Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Eddie Zip (RB) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-stars feat. Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 8

Apple Barrel: Sista Otis (BL) 8p, call club for late show d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Deckbar & Grille: Open Blues Jam feat. John Lisi & Delta Funk (BL) 8p

Apple Barrel: Dave Gregg & the Odd Man Band (BL) 8p, Sweet Jones (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Reggae House Party feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Iguanas (LT RR) 7p Copeland’s Social City: Gashouse Gorillaz (PP) 9p d.b.a.: Paul Sanchez feat. Shamarr Allen and Alex McMurray (JV) 7p, New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 10p Donna’s: Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Bassbin Safari feat. DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p, Enharmonic Souls, Smiley with a Knife (RR) 7p Fritzel’s: Tom Fishcher & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: LoveHog, Green Genes, Burning Castles (RR) 10p House of Blues: Ratatat (TC) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Ryan (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter, Jr. and guests (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Zydeco Night feat. Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. John Mooney (OR) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Crescent City Joymakers and Duke Heitger (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. New Birth Brass Band (BB) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 7p Snug Harbor: James Singleton Quartet (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Homegrown Night (VR) 8:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

FRIDAY APRIL 10

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay & Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 11p Carrollton Station: Cousin It, Shag and Slack Adjustor (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone (BL) 7p Clever Wine Bar: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, Self Explanatory (JV) 8p

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A PRI L 2009

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Columns Hotel: Sweet Home New Orleans (JV) 5p Copeland’s Social City: Vieux Carre (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: Ingrid Lucia (VF) 6p, CC Adcock feat. Lil’ Buck Sinegal (BL) 10p Donna’s: Mark Braud Jazz Jam (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Dangerous Sea Monsters, Magic Legs, Aiua, Sway feat. DJ Finger Prince, Dub Insurgent, DJ Tall Jamal (VR) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Goodchildren Carnival Club Jesus Christ Superstar Karaoke (RR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Keeping Crescent, CD Release Party 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Luke Winslow-King (BL) 5p, Jesse Moore Band (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Juice (FK RR) 11p Maple Leaf: Bonerama (FK) 10p Mimi’s: Zazou City (JV) 10p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Tom McDermott (PK) 11a Old Point Bar: Shotgun Wedding Band (BL) 6:30p One Eyed Jacks: Dancing Angel’s Revue (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: David Torkanowsky, Johnny Vidacovich & Friends (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Paula & the Pontiacs (RR BL) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis feat. Jason Marsalis and Roland Guerin (MJ) 8 & 10p, Ashlin Parker (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Band Camp, 5 Finger Discount (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: call club Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SATURDAY APRIL 11

Apple Barrel: Luke (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Big Top: Block Party feat. 2 stages of ska, punk and rock (RR) 12p Blue Nile: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Carrollton Station: Kiley Michael and more (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Iguanas (LT RR) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Local Option 2 (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Otra (LT) 11p Donna’s: Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: DJ Resin, DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p Fritzel’s: Charlie Fardella (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Zydepunks, Crack Box, Los Skarnales (RR) 10p House of Blues: Mastodon, Kylesa, Intronaut (ME) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Buddy Francioni & Johnny Price (BL) 5p, Rites of Passage (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 11p Maple Leaf: Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Boogie Men (PP) 9:30p

APRIL 2009

Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Delfeayo Marsalis Jazz Jam (JV) 5p, Johnny J. & the Hitmen (BL) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: St. Vitus, Hawgjaw, a Hanging (RR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat. Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Bryan Lee (RR BL) 10p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (MJ) 8 & 10p, Mario Abney Quartet (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Boogie Kings (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: Tommy Talton Band feat. Jimmy Hall (RR BL) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 1p, Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SUNDAY APRIL 12

Apple Barrel: Sebastian (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Eve’s Lucky Planet (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: John Mooney (BL) 6p Copeland’s Social City: Topcats (PP) 6:30p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Andy J. Forest (BL) 10p Donna’s: Shannon Powell Jazz Quartet (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Corrosion (RR) 10p, Sour Mash Hug Band, Invisible Man Corporation (VR) 10p Fritzel’s: Banu Gibson (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Wonderfarm Cabaret Variety Show (RR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Stereo Total, Leslie & the Lys (RR) 9p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 9:30a Kerry Irish Pub: Irish Session (FE) 5p, Marc Gunn (BL) 8:30p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Doc Houlind Band (TJ) 11a Old Point Bar: Jesse Moore (BL) 3p One Eyed Jacks: Vagina Monlogues (SW) 9p Preservation Hall: St. Peter All-stars feat. Tom Sancton (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais Do Do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club:Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 9p

MONDAY APRIL 13

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Luke (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road (JV) 7p Columns Hotel: David Doucet (KJ) 8p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: New Orleans Moonshiners (TJ) 9p Dragon’s Den: Justin Peake (JV) 8p, Simon Lott (JV) 10p Fritzel’s: Tim Laughlin and John Royen (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FE) 9p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p

Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: the Brent Walsh Jazz Trio (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Beans & Blues feat. Amanda Walker (BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville & Friends (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Bruce Bono (PP) 9p

TUESDAY APRIL 14

Apple Barrel: Mike Sklar (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Big Top: 2009 Sound-Circus Concert Series feat. Ab Baars Trio and Ken Vandermark (RR) 8p Blue Nile: David Mahoney’s Gathering (MJ) 10p Carrollton Station: acoustic open mic (AU) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (VR) 7p, CCB (OR) 10p Columns Hotel: John Rankin (JV) 8p d.b.a.: New Orleans Jazz Vipers (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: acoustic open mic (AU) 8p, Dough Stackin’ Up All-stars (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tom Fischer & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Voltaire, the Public, DJ Vendetta, DJ Tot Kuhunge (RR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Ryan (FE) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Eddie Zip (RB) 8:30p Mimi’s: Linnzi Zaorski (SI) 7:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar:Westbank Mike & Friends (BL) 6:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-stars feat. Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: New Orleans Jazz All-stars (JV) 6p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 15

Apple Barrel: Sista Otis (BL) 8p, Andy J. Forest (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Jolly House (OR) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Deckbar & Grille: Open Blues Jam feat. John Lisi & Delta Funk (BL) 8p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Surf Night feat. Spring Break Shark Attack (RR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FE) 9p Lafayette Square: Jeremy Davenport, the Preservation Hall-stars (JV) 5p Maple Leaf: J the Savage (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Johnny J. & the Hitmen (SI) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Doc Houlind Band (TJ) 11a Old Point Bar: open mic nite (BL) 8p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Topsy Chapman (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Essential New Orleans Jazz Band feat. Carl LeBlanc (JV) 8p Sandbar (UNO Lakefront Campus): Marcus Roberts feat. The New Orleans PostApocalyptic Music Ensemble (JV) 7:30p Snug Harbor: call club

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

THURSDAY APRIL 16

Apple Barrel: Dave Gregg & the Odd Man Band (BL) 8p, Bottoms Up Blues Gang (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Reggae House Party feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Iguanas (LT RR) 7p Copeland’s Social City: Wiseguys (PP) 9p d.b.a.: Evan Christopher feat. Sebastian Giradot and Guillaume Nouvaux (JV) 7p, Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove (FK) 10p Donna’s: Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Bassbin Safari feat. DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p, Mojo Method, Gamma Ringo (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tom Fischer & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Freedom Fest II (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Curren$y, Cory Gunz, Raw Dizzy, G-Eazy, Famous Stranger and Dj Raj Smoove 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Les Poissons Rouges (FE) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Zydeco Night feat. Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas (ZY) 8:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. Michael Pellera NOCCA Quintet (OR) 6p Old Point Bar: Marc Stone & Westbank Mike (BL) 6:30p, I Tell You What (JV) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Crescent City Joymakers feat. Rick Trolsen and Jon-Erik Kellso (TJ) 7p

Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. Tornado Brass Band (BB) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Soul House (RR BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Marcus Roberts (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

FRIDAY APRIL 17

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay & Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Otra (LT) 11p Carrollton Station: am540 (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone (BL) 7p, Brother Tyrone (BL) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Vieux Carre (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Tin Men (JV) 10p Donna’s: Banu Gibson (JV) 8:30p Dragon’s Den: DJ Soul Sister’s Over/Under Party (DN) 10p Fritzel’s: Fritzel’s Jazz Band (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Freedom Fest II (VR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Electric Six, Living Things (RR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf:Vedas featuring Alias Orion, People On The Side, Moonwhore Burlesque Troop (RR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 4p, Foot & Friends (BL) 8p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste (FK) 11p

Maple Leaf: Big Sam’s Funky Nation (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Topcats (PP) 9:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Shotgun Wedding Band (BL) 6:30p, Andre Bouvier & the Royal Bohemians (BL) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Tom Sancton, Dan Vernhette and Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: traditional New Orleans jazz (TJ) 12p, Preservation Picture Show feat. ’Til the Butcher Cuts Him Down and King Creole (VR) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Space Heaters (RR BL) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis feat. Jason Marsalis and Roland Guerin (MJ) 8 & 10p, Ashlin Parker (MJ) 12a Tipitina’s: Raw Dizzy, Dee-1, Kourtney Heart, Soul Capital, Team Robot, Dappa and more (RH) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SATURDAY APRIL 18

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Friendly Travelers, Chrystal Tucker and Joyful (GS) 7p, the Iguanas (LT RR) 11p Carrollton Station: ReFried Confuzion (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Radiators (acoustic show) (RR AU) 11p Clever Wine Bar: BoFoNewNo (JV) 8p

APRIL 2009

NEW!

Copeland’s Social City: Vieux Carre (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Rotary Downs (RR) 11p Donna’s: Leroy Jones Jazz Quartet (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Glasgow, GreenLeaf’s B-Day Party (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Charlie Fardella (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Freedom Fest II feat. Rev. Spooky LeStrange & the Billion Dollar Baby Dolls (SH) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Hurricane Refugees (BL) 4p, Rites of Passage (BL) 8p Le Bon Temps Roule: Irene Sage & Friends (VF) 11p Maple Leaf: Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Louisiana LeRoux (RR) 9:30p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Delfeayo Marsalis Jazz Jam (JV) 5p, Jesse Moore Band (BL) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos and Butch Thompson (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: traditional New Orleans jazz (TJ) 12p, Preservation Picture Show feat. ’Til the Butcher Cuts Him Down and Cincinnati Kid (VR) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Austin Sicard & the Medics (RR BL) 10p Snug Harbor: Astral Project (MJ) 8 & 10p, Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: the Rockenbraughs (PP) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 1p, Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SUNDAY APRIL 19

Apple Barrel: Sebastian (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Ready Teddy (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: John Mooney (BL) 6p Copeland’s Social City: Gashouse Gorillaz (PP) 6:30p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Jeremy Lyons & the Deltabilly Boys (BL) 10p Donna’s: Dr. Michael White Jazz Quartet (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Corrosion (RR) 10p, Poetry Slam, Jettison Never, Box 100s (VR) 8p Fritzel’s: Fritzel’s Jazz Band (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Debauche, River City Rebels (RR) 10p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 9:30a Kerry Irish Pub: Paul Tobin Trio (BL) 4p, Jesse Moore Band (BL) 8p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Swing Dance feat. Paul Varisco (SI) 8p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters feat. Tim Laughlin and Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: traditional New Orleans jazz (TJ) 12p, Preservation Picture Show feat. ’Til the Butcher Cuts Him Down and Walk on the Wild Side (VR) 8p Snug Harbor: Evan Christopher & the 2nd Annual String Summit (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Sunday Music Workshop feat. Johnny V. Trio (VR) 12:30p, Cajun Fais Do Do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 9p

MONDAY APRIL 20

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, I Tell You What (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Mark Braud Jazz Jam (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Justin Peake (JV) 8p, Ratty Scurvics, the Pharmacy, New Thrill Parade (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tim Laughlin and John Royen (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p House of Blues: Blue October (PP RR) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Blizzibbadibba Band, Mr. Wayne and ICU, The Acropolions, Skipp Coon and Mr. Nick, Uma Zuma, The Foot 10p Kerry Irish Pub: call club Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Beans & Blues feat. Amanda Walker (BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville & Friends (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Bruce Bono (PP) 9p

TUESDAY APRIL 21

Apple Barrel: Mike Sklar (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Diesel Combustion Orchestra (MJ) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (VR) 7p, CCB (OR) 10p

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d.b.a.: New Orleans Jazz Vipers (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: acoustic open mic (AU) 8p, Brigham Hall (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tom Fischer & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Slewfoot Blues Band (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Benny Maygarden (BL) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar:Westbank Mike & Friends (BL) 6:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-stars feat. Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Republic New Orleans: Mogwai feat. The Twilight Sad (OR) 9p Snug Harbor: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Girl Talk, Big Rock Candy Mountain, the Peekers (RR) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 22

Apple Barrel: Sista Otis (BL) 8p, Johnny J. & Benny Maygarden (BL) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Jolly House (OR) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Deckbar & Grille: Open Blues Jam feat. John Lisi & Delta Funk (BL) 8p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Blackbelt (RR) 10p House of Blues: Sevendust, Dope (ME RR) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Lafayette Square: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Jake Smith (MJ) 5p Maple Leaf: Gravy (RR) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Joe Krown (SI) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Kim Carson & Friends (BL) 8p Palm Court Jazz Café: New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra feat. Lionel Ferbos (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Essential New Orleans Jazz Band feat. Carl LeBlanc (JV) 8p Sandbar (UNO Lakefront Campus): Victor Goines feat. The No Jive Ensemble and the Young Hot Shot Ensemble (JV) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Butch Thompson Trio feat. Tom Sancton (MJ) 8 & 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

THURSDAY APRIL 23

Apple Barrel: Dave Gregg & the Odd Man Band (BL) 8p, call club for late show (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Stanton Moore Trio featuring Will Bernard and Robert Walter (FK) 9p, Gravity A (FK) 2a Copeland’s Social City: Wiseguys (PP) 9p d.b.a.: Good Enough for Good Times (JV) 11p Donna’s: Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Bassbin Safari feat. DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p, Other Planets, a Living Soundtrack (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Loose Marbles (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Naked Orchestra (RR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Kevin Rudolf, Hyper Crush, Cash Cash, the Audition, Go Crash Audio (RR) 8p A PRI L 2009

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Howlin’ Wolf: Brass Band Blowout: Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson & Friends (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Zydeco Night feat. Geno Delafose and Terrance Simien (ZY) 8:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. Ponderosa Stomp Preview (OR) 6p Old Point Bar: Marc Stone & Westbank Mike (BL) 6:30p, Chris Klein & the Boulevards (JV) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Alverflaten Jazz Band (TJ) 7p, New Orleans Serenaders feat. Clive Wilson and Butch Thompson (TJ) 8:15p Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. Paulin Brothers Band (BB) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Mark Carson (RR BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Henry Butler All-stars (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: George Porter, Jr. & his Runnin’ Pardners (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: Papa Mali’s 5th Anniversary Stoned Soul Picnic feat. Papa Mali & Friends (FK BL) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

Old Point Bar: Shotgun Wedding Band (BL) 6:30p, the Marc Stone Band (BL) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Dengue Fever, Chicha Libre (RR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p, Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Band (JV) 8p, Zigaboo & Friends feat. Marva Wright (BL JV) 12a Republic New Orleans: Dirty Dozen Brass Band feat. Booker T. & Hill Country Review (BB) 10p Riverboat Creole Queen: Garage a Trois feat. Kirk Joseph’s 504 Brass Band (BB) 7:30p Rivershack Tavern: Gal Holiday & the HonkyTonk Revue (CW) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis feat. Jason Marsalis and Roland Guerin (MJ) 8 & 10p, Robertinho Silva (LT MJ) 12a Southport Hall: the Radiators (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: Eric Lindell plus the Reunion of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Big Chief Bo Dollis, Rebirth Brass Band (BB FK VR) 9p, Galactic (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

FRIDAY APRIL 24

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Big Top: William St. Paul Music Showcase (RR) 9:30p Blue Nile: Papa Mali band with Corey Henry plus special brass band, Frequinox (FK) 9p, Robert Walter, Donald Harrison, Stanton Moore, Will Bernard, Robert Mercurio plus more 2a, Sexy Jesus & the Rollers 5:30a Carrollton Station: Susan Cowsill Band, Courtland Burke (RR) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Voodoo Funk & Soul (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 8p Donna’s: Mama Digdown Brass Band (JV) 8:30p, Henry Butler (JV) 11:30p Dragon’s Den: Boo Williams (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Charlie Fardella (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Anal Cunt, Outlaw Order, Strong Intention (RR) 10p House of Blues: Sharon Jones & the DapKings (FK) 9p, Funky Meters feat. Cyril Neville (MJ) 2a Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Marcia Ball (BL) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: call club, Christian Serpas & Ghost Town (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Anders Osborne feat. Monk Boudreaux (RR) 11p Maple Leaf: Tony Hall, Dirty Dozen Brass Band (FK BB) 10p, Sunrise Show feat. Johnny V. & Friends (FK) 2a Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Bonerama, Kermit Ruffins, John Mooney (VR) 7p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Delfeayo Marsalis Jazz Jam (JV) 5p, the Bourbon Cowboys (BL) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Terry Reid, Dax Riggs (RR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Band (JV) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Zigaboo &

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay & Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Big Top: Friday Night Music Camp feat. Jeremy Lyons and the Deltabilly Boys (BL) 5p,; Dubla feat. The Guerilla Publishing Company, Private Pile, Twen Bumbs, d.o.n. and more (VR) 9:30p Blue Nile: The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker plus Special Guests 9p, Late night surprise show 2a Carrollton Station: Dash Rip Rock, the Kinky Tuscaderos (RR) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Vieux Carre (PP) 9:30p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Zydepunks & Lost Bayou Ramblers (RR) 10p Donna’s: Marlon Jordan Jazz (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Justin Peake ?tet (JV) 8p, DJ Phassusia’s B-Day Party (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Clockwork Elvis, Honey Island Swamp Band (RR) 10p House of Blues: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave., Rebirth Brass Band (MJ BB) 9p Funky Meters feat. Skerik (FK RR) 2a Howlin’ Wolf: Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Robert Walter and Friends (FK) 10p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Benji Davis Project (RR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Ryan (BL) 5p, Foot & Friends (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Kenny Bill Stinson & the Ark-La-Mystics feat. CC Adcock (RR) 11p Maple Leaf: Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (FK) 10p, Sunrise Show feat. Karl Denson and Spyboy (FK) 2a Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sonny Landreth, Anders Osborne, David Egan & 20 Years of Trouble (RR) 7p Mimi’s: Zazou City (JV) 10p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p

APRIL 2009

SATURDAY APRIL 25

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Friends and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (BL JV) 12a Rivershack Tavern: Mo Jelly (RR BL) 10p Snug Harbor: Terence Blanchard (MJ) 8 & 10p, Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Casa Samba (LT) 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Tab Benoit’s Swampland Jam (BL) 10p Tipitina’s: Radiators (RR) 10p, call club for late show Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 1p, Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SUNDAY APRIL 26

Apple Barrel: Sebastian (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Andre Bouvier & the Royal Bohemians (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Greyhounds, Topaz Mudphonic, Brian Jordan plus special guests 9p Carrollton Station: Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Jim McCormick Band (RR) 10p Copeland’s Social City: Orleans (PP) 6:30p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 5p, Papa Grows Funk feat. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (FK) 12a Donna’s: Shannon Powell feat. Don Vappie, Evan Christopher, Leon Brown and Roland Guerin (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Corrosion (RR) 10p, James Singleton, Helen Gillet, Justin Peake, DJ Rusty Lazer (DN JV VR) 8p Dragon’s Den: Dan Godston, Helen Gillet, Jeff Albert, James Singleton (JV) 8p Fritzel’s: Banu Gibson (TJ) 9p

Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: 007 (MJ) 10p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 9:30a Kerry Irish Pub: Earl Can Bird (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Karl Denson’s All-stars, Groovesect, Bonerama (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sonny Landreth, Tab Benoit (BL) 7p Mulate’s: Jonno & Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Gunhild Carling Trio (TJ) 11a One Eyed Jacks: Eric Lindell (RB) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters feat. Lucien Barbarin and Mark Braud (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat. The Del McCoury Band (JV) 8:30 & 11p Snug Harbor: Allen Toussaint Project (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Tim Reynolds and TR3, One the One (RR) 9p Tipitina’s: Blind Boys of Alabama feat. Charlie Musselwhite, Henry Butler and Dirty Dozen Brass Band (FK) 8:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 9p

MONDAY APRIL 27

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Butch Trivette (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Groovescet plus Topaz and special guests (FK) 9p, Skerik & McTuff with special guests 2a Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher, Clarinet Road (JV) 7p

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d.b.a.: Sound Advice Showcase feat. Glen David Andrews and the New Orleans Jazz Vipers (JV) 6p, “007” (MJ) 11p Donna’s: John Ellis and DoubleWide (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Justin Peake (JV) 8p, Hip Drop, NoJack, Simon Lott, Mike Gamble (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tim Laughlin and John Royen (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Willie Locket (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p House of Blues: Piano Night, benefit for WWOZ (JV) 7:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Gill’s Birthday Bash feat. Foot & Friends (BL) 4p, Kim Carson & Friends (BL) 8p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Snooks Eaglin Tribute Show feat. George Porter, Jr.,Anders Osborne,Tab Benoit, Monk Boudreaux and more (VR) 7p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: South Memphis String Band (RR) 9p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Beans & Blues feat. Amanda Walker (BL) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville & Friends (MJ) 8 & 10p Tipitina’s: Instruments a Comin’ feat Galactic, Rebirth Brass Band, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter, Jr. and many, many more (VR) 6p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Bruce Bono (PP) 9p

TUESDAY APRIL 28

Apple Barrel: Mike Sklar (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Dr. Lonnie Smith, Donald Harrison, Will Bernard, Simon Lott plus guests 9p, Justin

Peake Late Night Jazz Fest Throwdown feat. Beautiful Bells and NoJack (JV) 12a, Eric McFadden, Rob Mercurio, Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, Corey Henry 2a Carrollton Station: Twangorama (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (VR) 7p, CCB (OR) 10p d.b.a.: Lynn Drury (VF) 4p, Joe Krown Organ Combo (JV) 8p, Johnny Vidacovich Trio feat. Robert Walter and June Yamagishi (FK) 11p Dragon’s Den: acoustic open mic (AU) 8p, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Tom Fisher & Friends (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Saucefest II feat. Skerik and others (FK RR) 8p House of Blues: Ponderosa Stomp (VR) 6:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Rosie Ledet (ZY) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Palmetto Bug Stompers and Gunhild Carling (TJ) 8p Old Point Bar:Westbank Mike & Friends (BL) 6:30p One Eyed Jacks: Dragon Smoke featuring Stanton Moore, Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell & Robert Mercurio (MJ) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-stars feat. Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: call club Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29

Apple Barrel: Sista Otis (BL) 8p, Andy J. Forest (BL) 10:30p

A PRI L 2009

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Carrollton Station: Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show (RR) 10p Columns Hotel: Ricardo Crespo (LT) 8p d.b.a.: Iguanas (LT RR) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters (BL) 11p Deckbar & Grille: Open Blues Jam feat. John Lisi & Delta Funk (BL) 8p Donna’s: LeRoy Jones and the Helsinki Connection (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Murder Junkies, Pallbearers (RR) 10p House of Blues: Ponderosa Stomp (VR) 6:30p Howlin’ Wolf: Megalomaniacs Ball featuring Garage A Trios, the Stanton Moore Trio, the Dead Kenny G’s, Marco Benevento solo (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Lafayette Square: Marcia Ball, Marva Wright & the BMWs (BL) 5p Maple Leaf: Robert Walter’s 20th Congress plus John Gros, Brian Stoltz, Tony Hall and Terence Higgins (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Zydeco Night feat. Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas (ZY) 8:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: open mic nite (BL) 8p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Strut Tribute to Danny & Blue Lu Barker feat. Lucien Barbarin and Topsy Chapman (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Essential New Orleans Jazz Band feat. Carl LeBlanc (JV) 8p Sandbar (UNO Lakefront Campus): Paris Café Society Hot Club Ensumble (JV) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Piano Summit feat. Marcia Ball, Tom McDermott and Joe Krown (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Radiators (acoustic show) (AU RR) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Partytime Band (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 9p

THURSDAY APRIL 30

Apple Barrel: Dave Gregg & the Odd Man Band (BL) 8p, the Louisiana Hellbenders (BL) 10:30p Carrollton Station: John “Papa” Gros, Anders Osborne and more (RR) 10p Columns Hotel: Fredy Omar (LT) 8p Contemporary Arts Center: the Black Keyes (RR) 8p Copeland’s Social City: Gashouse Gorillaz (PP) 9p Donna’s: Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Bassbin Safari feat. DJ Proppa Bear (DN) 10p, DJ Rootz (RH) 10p Fritzel’s: Mark Braud (TJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, Spoonfed Tribe (RR) 10p House of Blues: Marcia Ball (BL) 9p, Umphrey’s McGee (RR) 2a Howlin’ Wolf: The Royal Family Ball featuring Soulive, Lettuce, Dr. Claw with special guests Ivan Neville and Nigel Hall, Russell Batiste and friends (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: call club Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p

APRIL 2009

Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter, Jr. and guests (FK) 10p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Legends of Zydeco feat. Buckwheat Zydeco, Leon Sam, Sunpie Barnes, Rockin’ Dopsie, Lil’ Buck Sinegal and CJ Chenier (ZY) 7p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Norwegian Seaman’s Church: Triolan String Band (TJ) 8p Old Point Bar: Marc Stone & Westbank Mike (BL) 6:30p, Honey Island Swamp Band (BL) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Eddie Bayard’s New Orleans Classic Jazz Orchestra (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. New Birth Brass Band (BB) 8p, call club for midnight show Republic New Orleans: Ghostland Observatory (RR) 10p Riverboat Cajun Queen: Galactic feat. Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Trombone Shorty and Big Sam with Kirk Joseph’s 504 Brass Band (FK) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Christian Scott Quintet (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Radiators’ SNAFU (RR) 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Cyril Neville, Tab Benoit, Kirk Joseph (VR) 10p Tipitina’s: New Orleans Bingo! Show feat. Fleur de Tease Burlesque (FK RR) 9p, Steve Kimock Crazy Engine (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

FRIDAY MAY 1

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay & Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Tarace Boulba (MJ) 10p, Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 2a Carrollton Station: Continental Drifters (RR) 10p Columns Hotel: Sweet Home New Orleans (JV) 5p Contemporary Arts Center: Funky Meters feat. Cyril Neville and Robert Randolph & the Family Band (FK) 8p d.b.a.: Ingrid Lucia (VF) 5p, Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste (FK) 8p, Anders Osborne (RR) 12a Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: A Living Soundtrack, MyNameisJohnMichael, Caddywhompus, JSAO (RR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (RB RR) 9p Umphrey’s McGee (RR) 2a House of Blues: Dr. John & the Lower 911, John Fohl (FK BL) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: 7th Annual Bayou Rendezvous featuring the New Orleans All-Stars, Papa Grows Funk, Zigaboo’s Funk Revue, Vinyl, Eric McFadden Trio and special guests (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: call club for early show, Jesse Moore Band (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Thousand $ Car (RR) 11p Maple Leaf: 101 Runners, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p, Sunrise Show feat. Never Was Brothers (FK) 2a

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Amanda Shaw (BL ZY) 7p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Garage a Trois (RR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (JV) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Dirty Dozen Brass Band (BB) 12a Republic New Orleans: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic (OR) 9p Riverboat Creole Queen: Michael Franti Trio feat. Kirk Joseph’s 504 Brass Band (BB) 8:15p Rivershack Tavern: Mustard (BL) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Trio (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: subdudes (acoustic show) (AU RR) 10p Studio at Colton Theater: Soulive feat. Shady Horns, Nigel Hall and the Benevento Russo Duo and more (VR) 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Steve Kimock Crazy Engine feat. Melvin Seals (RR) 10p, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. (MJ) 2a Tipitina’s: Radiators (RR) 9p, the Greyboy All-stars (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SATURDAY MAY 2

Apple Barrel: Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Toubab Krewe (VR) 10p, U-Melt, Orchard Lounge (VR) 2a, Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons (VR) 10p Blue Nile: Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons (RR) 10p, Toubab Krewe (RR VR) 10p, U-Melt, Orchard Lounge (VR) 2a Carrollton Station: Susan Cowsill Band “Covered in Vinyl” Series (RR) 10p Contemporary Arts Center: Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Costa and Ra Ra Riot (OR)7p d.b.a.: the Ramblers (RR) 5p, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias (FK) 8p, Little Freddie King (BL) 12a Donna’s: Delfeayo Marsalis (MJ) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (RR) 8p Hi Ho Lounge: Illuminasty Trio feat. Skerik, James Singleton and Mike Dillon (FK) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Lez Zeppelin (RR) 2a House of Blues: an evening of the classics feat. Aaron Neville and his Quintet feat. Charles Neville (RB RR) 9p, the New Mastersounds (FK) 2a Howlin’ Wolf: Galactic, the Greyboy Allstars, Rebirth Brass Band (FK) (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): BeauSoleil (KJ) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Balsawood Flyers (BL) 5p, Rites of Passage (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Mike Dillon’s Go Go Jungle, Hairy Apes BMX (RR) 11p Maple Leaf: Fatien, Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (FK) 10p, Sunrise Show feat. Johnny V. & Friends (FK) 2a Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Eric Lindell, Bonerama, Kermit Ruffins (RB MJ) 7p Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (TJ) 7p

Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (JV) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Eric McFadden, Leo Nocentelli & Friends (JV) 12a Rivershack Tavern: Soul House (BL) 10p Snug Harbor: Nicholas Payton and trio My Yorka (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: subdudes feat. John Gros (RR) 10p Studio at Colton Theater: Medeski, Martin and Wood (VR) 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Dirty Dozen Brass Band (BB) 10p, Bustle in Your Hedgerow feat. Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Dave Driewitz, Scott Metzger and more (VR) 2a Tipitina’s: Porter, Batiste, Stoltz feat. Page McConnell (FK) 9p, Michael Franti Trio (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 1p, Dwight Breland (PP) 5p, Late as Usual (PP) 9p

SUNDAY MAY 3

Apple Barrel: Sebastian (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Rockin Jake (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Benevento/Russo Duo feat. Bustle in your Hedgerow: Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Dave Driewitz and more (FK RR) 10p Columns Hotel: Chip Wilson (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 5p, Tin Men (BL) 8p, Cedric Burnside & Lightning Malcolm feat. Special guests (FK) 12a Donna’s: Shannon Powell Jazz Quartet (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark & the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Locket (BL) 8p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 9:30a Howlin’ Wolf: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, “The Drummer Cometh” with Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter, Jr., Stanton Moore, Russell Batiste and very special guests (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Invisible Cowboy (BL) 9p Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sonny Landreth and Tab Benoit (BL) 7p Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Eric Lindell (RB) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 7p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Astral Project (MJ) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Iguanas (LT) 10p Tipitina’s: Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Lee Boys (FK) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Corey Michael (VR) 5p, Debi & the Deacons (PP) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Al Hebert (PP) 9p

LOUISIANA MUSIC ON TOUR TAB BENOIT Apr 10 Kalamazoo MI Kalamazoo State Theater Apr 11-12 Auburn Hills MI Callahan’s Apr 15 Columbia MO The Blue Note Apr 16 Kansas City MO Knuckleheads Saloon Apr 17 Wichita KS The Cotillion Apr 18 Topeka KS Uncle Bo’s BIG AL & THE HEAVYWEIGHTS Apr 25-26 Biloxi MS Crawfish Fest

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A PRI L 2009

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC BIG SAM’S FUNKY NATION Apr 3 Memphis TN Center for Southern Folklore Apr 18 San Antonio TX Taste of New Orleans Apr 19 Houston TX Houston International Festival BONERAMA Apr 2 Dallas TX Pearl at Commerce Apr 4 Austin TX Swamp Thing GALACTIC Apr 4 Austin TX Festival Grounds Apr 11 Gulfport MS The Dock Bar & Grill Apr 15 Oxford MS The Lyric Oxford Apr 16 Starkville MS Rick’s Café Apr 17 Tuscaloosa AL Jupiter Bar & Grill

ERIC LINDELL Apr 1 Phoenix AZ The Rhythm Room Apr 2 Los Angeles CA The Mint Apr 3-4 Hermosa Beach CA Cafe Boogaloo Apr 5 San Diego CA Winston’s Beach Club Apr 9 Santa Cruz CA Moe’s Alley Apr 10 San Francisco CA Pier 23 Cafe Apr 11 Santa Rosa CA The Last Day Saloon LOST BAYOU RAMBLERS Apr 19 Chauvin LA Blessing of the Fleet Apr 22 Lafayette LA Blue Moon Apr 25 Houston TX International Festival ALEX MCMURRAY Mar 20 New York NY Sullivan Hall

Mar 21 New York NY Rodeo Bar Mar 22 Tivoli NY Black Swan CYRIL NEVILLE Apr 10 Charleston SC The Poor House Apr 11 Black Mountain NC White Horse Apr 14 Annapolis MD The Rams Head Apr 16 Woonsocket RI Chans Apr 17 Bridgeport CT The Field Apr 18 New York NY Sullivan Hall Apr 19 Baltimore MD 8 X 10 Apr 20 Harrisonburg VA Memorial Hall Apr 21 Falls Church VA State Theater Apr 23 Willmington DE Crosby Hill Apr 24 Sulfolk VA Arts Center

IVAN NEVILLE’S DUMPSTAPHUNK Apr 3 Asheville NC The Orange Peel Apr 4 Atlanta GA Smith’s Olde Bar Apr 5 Jacksonville FL Freebird Live Apr 6 Tallahassee FL The Engine Room PINE LEAF BOYS Apr 25 Lancaster CA Poppy Festival Apr 25 Santa Monica CA Santa Monica College QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT Apr 3 Dallas TX The Prophet Bar Apr 4 Kansas City MO The Records Bar Apr 6 Omaha NE The Waiting Room Apr 7 Fargo ND The Aquarium Apr 8 Minneapolis MN 7th Street Entry Apr 9 Madison WI High Noon Saloon Apr 10 Chicago IL Empty Bottle Apr 16 Columbus OH The Summit Apr 17 Williamsville NY Club Infinity Apr 18 Toronto ON Legendary Horseshoe Tavern Apr 19 Montreal QC Club Lambi Apr 23 Cambridge MA Middle East Upstairs Apr 24 Brooklyn NY Market Hotel Apr 26 Philadelphia PA Johnny Brenda’s Apr 29 Chapel Hill NC Local 506 Apr 30 Birmingham AL Bottle Tree JON SCOFIELD’S PIETY STREET BAND FEATURING JON CLEARY & GEORGE PORTER, JR. Apr 2 Portland ME Port City Music Hall Apr 3-4 Boston MA Regattabar Apr 5 New York NY B.B. King Blues Club Apr 10 Santa Cruz CA Kuumbwa Jazz Center Apr 11 San Francisco CA Palace of Fine Arts Theater Apr 12 Minneapolis MN Dakota jazz Club Apr 13 Madison WI Majestic Theater Apr 14 Milwaukee WI Shank Hall Apr 16 Charleston SC The Pour House Apr 17 Greenville SC The Handlebar Apr 18 Carrboro NC The ArtsCenter Apr 19 Charlotte NC Neighborhood Theater Apr 21 Atlanta GA Variety Playhouse Apr 23 Baltimore MD The 8X10 Apr 24 Princeton NJ McCarter Theater Apr 25 Cleveland OH Allen Theater Apr 27 Salt Lake City UT Jazz @ the Sheraton Apr 28 Fort Collins CO Hodi’s Half Note Apr 29 Boulder CO Boulder Theater IRMA THOMAS Apr 8 New York NY B.B. King Blues Club Apr 9-11 Cambridge MA Regattabar TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE Apr 16 Wilmington DE Crosby Hill Apr 17 New York NY Highline Ballroom Apr 18 Baltimore MD The Eight by Ten

CONCERTS APRIL 5 Music as a Weapon 4: The heavy metal national tour comes to the UNO Lakefront Arena and features performances by Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaria. 2p. APRIL 12 Easter Jam 2009: A big night of hip-hop at the UNO Lakefront Arena features Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Jim Jones, Shawty Low and Partners N Crime. 8p.

APRIL 2009

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC APRIL 17 Nickelback: The popular hard rock band plays the New Orleans Arena with Seether and Saving Abel. 7p. APRIL 19 Fall Out Boy: The popular rock group plays the UNO Lakefront Arena at 6:30p.

FESTIVALS APRIL 1-JUNE 17 Wednesday at the Square: The weekly workday concert series brings Louisiana artists to Lafayette Square every Wednesday from 5-7:30p. Check the OffBeat daily listings or www.wednesdayatthesquare.com for a schedule of performers. APRIL 3-5 Louisiana Strawberry Festival: Celebrate Pontchatoula’s sweet fruit with great food, live music, a parade and plenty of fun. Pontchatoula. (800) 917-7045, www.lastrawberryfestival.com. APRIL 4-5 Old Algiers Riverfest: This free, fun festival will feature live music by the Algiers Brass Band, Dr. Michael White, George French, Irvin Mayfield and more. (504) 362-8813, www.oldalgiersmainstreet.com. APRIL 17-19 French Quarter Festival: Enjoy one of the largest free music festivals in the South with performances by more than 100 acts on stages throughout the French Quarter. www.fqfi.org. APRIL 17-24 Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week: Head to Chicot State Park outside of Ville Platte for a week of Cajun concerts, dances, seminars and workshops. (337) 234-8360, www.lafolkroots.org. APRIL 18-19 Angola Spring Rodeo: Come watch hardened convicts battle beasts at this notorious—and dangerous—rodeo. And for the softies, there’s also a fine arts and crafts market outside the stadium. (225) 655-2030, www.angolarodeo.com. APRIL 22-26 Festival International: 6 stages, 15 countries and more than 200 artists. Skip the first weekend of Jazz Fest and head to Lafayette for a festival that truly lives up to its name. Enjoy live entertainment and street performances from around the world for free! (337) 2328086, www.festivalinternational.com. APRIL 24-26, APRIL 30-MAY 3 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival: Six exciting days of music, food, culture and fun at the Fairgrounds! Look for OffBeat’s Jazz Fest Bible near the end of April. www.nojazzfest.com. APRIL 29 Chaz Fest: Spend a day at the Truck Farm, 3020 St. Claude Ave., with Washboard Chaz for his own festival. 12-10p. Check www.chazfestival.com for more information.

MAY 1-3 Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival: Head to the small Cajun town of Breaux Bridge for a weekend of crawfish, live music and family fun. (337) 332-6655, www.bbcrawfest.com.

SPECIAL EVENTS APRIL 2-30 Ogden After Hours: Visit the Ogden Museum every Thursday evening for live entertainment by a variety of local musicians. Check the OffBeat daily listings for a schedule of performances. 6p. www.ogdenmuseum.org. APRIL 4 Jammin’ on Julia: The New Orleans Art District present the fun annual event with art gallery openings, live music, food, drink and more. 6p. APRIL 4 & 18 Jazz’n the Vines: Head to Pontchartrain Vineyards in Covington for an outdoor concert featuring the Pfister Sisters (4/04) and Tim Laughlin (4/18). 6:30p. (985) 8929742, www.pontchartrainvineyards.com. APRIL 4-MAY 2 Gretna Farmer’s Market: Head to Gretna every Saturday for a farmer’s market featuring food and wine vendors and cooking demonstrations. 8:30a-12:30p. www.gretnala.com. APRIL 11 Sankofa Marketplace: Held every second Saturday of the month in the Lower 9th Ward, this market features fresh produce, arts and crafts, live music, health screenings, children’s activities and more. www.sankofamarketplace.org. APRIL 12-MAY 17 Sunset Sundays: The biweekly concert series in the City Park Botanical Garden features music by Billy Iuso & the Restless Natives and Theresa Andersson (4/12); Julio y Cesar and RumbaBuena (4/19); Ingrid Lucia and Pfister Sisters (5/10); Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue and Sunpie Barnes & the Louisiana Sunspots (5/17). 5:30p APRIL 14 UNO Musical Excursions Concert Series: Head to the UNO Performing Arts Center Recital Hall for a performance by Jonita Lattimore. 7:30p. (504) 280-6789. APRIL 16 Concerts in the Courtyard: The Historic New Orleans Collection on Royal Street hosts an evening concert featuring Linnzi Zaorski. 6p. (504) 523-4662, www.hnoc.org. APRIL 17-JUNE 5 Free Music Fridays: Venture to the Mandeville Trailhead in Old Mandeville every Friday this spring for a free concert series. Check the www.mandevilletrailhead. com for scheduled performances. 5:30p. APRIL 18 Bywater Art Market: Head to this art market for paintings, pottery, glass, furniture and more. 9a-4p. www.bywaterartmarket.com.

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A PRI L 2009

BACKTALK

Charlie Louvin A

s one half of the most successful duo in country music history—the Louvin Brothers—Charlie Louvin began performing on the Grand Ole Opry in 1955; and, alongside his brother Ira, quickly became a country music superstar. It had been a long, winding and often rocky road from their origins in musically fertile Sand Mountain, Alabama, where the brothers had gleaned their vocal style from close harmony duos such as the Delmore Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys, as well as the local tradition of Sacred Harp (also known as Shape Note) gospel singing. By the time they made their first recording in 1946, the Louvins’ style seemed almost oldfashioned. Many duos like the Blue Sky Boys, though still relatively young, were nearly retired. But the brothers were too fiercely determined and too talented to be held back. “Although they did not make the big time until the tail end of the (duet) tradition,” wrote Charles Wolfe in Close Harmony: The Story of the Louvin Brothers, “they were to take it to new heights and forge for it a permanent place in modern country music.” Despite a fine run with MGM that produced unforgettable classics like “The Great Atomic Power,” it was at Capitol Records where the brothers’ creativity truly flourished. Their debut LP, 1956’s Tragic Songs of Life, nodded to the past with ancient murder ballads such as “Knoxville Girl” and “Katie Dear” but its use of electric guitars, drums and modern arrangements were firmly entrenched in the present. Encased in a murky, mysterious sleeve that drew the listener in before the first note was played, Tragic Songs was perhaps the first concept album and led the way to the even more graphic My Baby’s Gone and Satan is Real, pioneering a practice that wouldn’t come into wide use for another 15 years. Parting ways in 1963, Ira and Charlie pursued solo careers. In the summer of 1965, Ira was tragically killed in a head-on collision on the way back from a show in Missouri. Certainly it was a blow that could have broken a lesser man, but Charlie soldiered on, scoring with “See the Big Man Cry,” and even establishing a Louvin Brothers Museum in 1969. Always adored by country fans, the Louvins’ music has been continually rediscovered and championed by subsequent generations of rock fans beginning with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and running through to Elvis Costello and Cake, who Charlie has toured and www.OFFBEAT.com

Charlie Louvin with Lucinda Williams recorded with, respectively. [Louvin plays One Eyed Jacks April 4 with interviewer Michael Hurtt and his Haunted Hearts.—ED.] Your latest albums, Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs and Steps to Heaven hearken back to the Louvin Brothers days in their dueling subject matter. When you started out in 1941 with Ira, were you thinking that you were going to do both gospel and secular music? No, we weren’t, Michael. Actually, we were a variety show. Fred Rose, probably the greatest human who ever lived, was trying to get us on Capitol. Capitol said, “Now, we’ve already got a country duet. But if they want to sing gospel music we’ll sign them.” Believe me, we needed a contract. So we cut straight gospel for four years. But then we wanted to do something else because the gospel people didn’t cotton to us.

By Michael Hurtt

Because you were a string band and these were the days of the gospel quartet? Right. They referred to us as a carnival act because we played stringed instruments. They only used a piano back then. Martha Carson was one of the greatest female gospel singers that ever lived. But her husband, X. Cosse, wanted her to do something other than gospel. He figured if they dropped her neckline a little and sang something else, he could make a lot more money. So they propositioned Capitol and (producer) Ken Nelson told her: “If this doesn’t go and your (gospel) fans don’t like it and they drop you, you’ll be off the label.” And sure enough she was. So when we started wanting to mix our music, he said, “You want to pull a Martha Carson.” No, it’s just that we’re kind of outcast here. We can’t play clubs because we shut the bar down. We just—we want to do this. “Well, if it A PRI L 2009

Photo: Erika Goldring

talks back

BAC

KTA

When we were trying to take the picture, rocks the size of your fist were blowing up and flying eight and ten feet in the air. don’t go, you know you’ll be off the label.” We said, okay, we have to take that gamble. So we recorded “When I Stop Dreaming.” And thank God it caught on. So from then on, we didn’t drop gospel. We did as many gospel albums as we did secular, but it put us in a different world. Did you play in many churches? We hardly ever played a church. We played a few and if the plate came back with very little money in it, the local preacher would say, “These guys could be out in a beer joint making great big money, but here they’re singing for the Lord and you didn’t even give them enough to fill their gas tank up. So I’m going to pass this one more time. I want to see some folding money in it.” And that’s just too close to begging for me. I’m glad that we finally got to do some secular music; it gives you a better chance to express yourself. How would you go about writing your songs? Ira was a born songwriter and I was the idea man. I’d hear somebody say something on the street or in a cafe and if I thought it sounded like a song title, I’d write it down, give it to Ira and 10 minutes later he’d have a song. Did you ever hear our song “The Price of the Bottle?” That was a true song. In North Carolina, they’ve got state stores. I went in the store with Ira and he went to buy a bottle and got it, and got in line to pay for it. The guy in front of him was trying to give the cashier a check. Well, the guy didn’t want a check. Then he named his dad and that rang a bell with the cashier and he accepted his check. Well, you heard what happened the next morning. He got in a car wreck. That guy actually did have the wreck and Ira remembered his name. He had a wreck that killed his wife and kids on the way home. The song ended, “So I ask you friend, what is the price of the bottle?” So, there’s some truth in all of those songs. If you listen to the song you can almost hear the tires squeal. Ira was very particular about his songs, right? Right. Fred Rose, who corrected words of Hank Williams songs, wound say, “Ira, don’t you think if you said this instead of that..?” Ira would say, “Fred, if you don’t like it just say so, I’ll throw it away and write another one. But if you publish it, I want it the way I wrote it.” He was hardcore on that. You couldn’t convince him that you could

O APRIL 2009

do something to his song and that it would sell more. He’d say, “I didn’t write it to sell.” So consequently, the Louvin Brothers songs were recorded exactly as they were written, undiluted, so to speak. That’s very true. And that’s what made them different. If someone would have slicked them up, they probably wouldn’t be alive today. When I listen to the recitation in “Satan is Real,” I think Ira would have made a great preacher. Ira got into the gospel songs almost like he was preaching. He could have been a preacher because he knew the book. Now knowing and doing, there’s a great gulf between the two. Just because you know something isn’t right doesn’t mean you’ll avoid it. But somebody wrote the other day, and I read it, that the Louvin Brothers music didn’t tell you how good it was going to be in Heaven; it explained how bad it was gonna be in Hell! That’s the way he put it, although I’d never thought of it that way. But it’s hard to believe in heaven and exclude hell. Tell me about creating the album cover for Satan is Real. My oldest boy had a Lionel train on a four-byeight piece of plywood. We didn’t have the money to buy a new sheet of plywood, so we removed the train, split that plywood right down the middle and made a sixteen-foot booger man. Ira did the woodwork with the pitchfork and the horns, we painted it red, and we got a bunch of car tires and soaked them in kerosene and diesel fuel. When the time came, we lit the fires. After we got the fires going good it started sprinkling rain. The rocks laying around were a certain kind that blow up when they’re hot and water hits them. So when we were trying to take the picture, rocks the size of your fist were blowing up and flying eight and ten feet in the air. The photographer wanted to wait ’til later. We said, “There is no later. If we can stand out here with our instruments in the rain, certainly you should be able to take the picture!” So he did. As it’s turned out, it’s one of the most famous covers in any genre of music. It’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ken Nelson, your producer at Capitol, is one of my favorites. I think what made him famous was that he let the artist determine how the song should

be done, whether it was Buck Owens, Faron Young, Jean Shephard or the Louvin Brothers. We pretty much knew what we wanted the song to sound like, and Ken would actually ask us, “What instrumentation do you want on this?” And Ken never pushed a song on us in the studio. He’d say, “What’s the first song?” we’d give him the title, we’d do the song, “What’s the next song?” He didn’t go through the songs and say, “We don’t want to record this” or “This isn’t a good enough song.” Now, he did bring a few, like Hazel Houser’s “My Baby’s Gone,” “River of Jordan” and “Praying.” And then the Smith Brothers wrote “Pitfall.” But all in all, he wouldn’t bring a song if he didn’t think you’d freak out over it. There is a song on Steps to Heaven called “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” written by Thomas A. Dorsey. That was written by a black minister whose wife was pregnant, and he had to go to St. Louis to preach a revival. The doctor told him, “You go ahead and do your revival. This child ain’t gonna come ’til at least two weeks after you get back.” So he went to St. Louis and when he was fixing to preach the first night, someone handed him a note that said, “We lost the mother but we saved the child.” On his way home, he wrote that song. I got to meet him in 1979. I said, “You thought seriously about just joining your wife, didn’t you, preacher?” “Oh no, I wouldn’t do that. I’m a man of the cloth.” I said, “Well, you wrote it in your song.” He said, “I did?” “Yeah, in the third verse where you said, ‘At the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand.’ What were you doing down by the river?” And he said, “I did think about it, but I didn’t do it.” I would have probably went ahead and did it. I would have went swimming. Yet you’ve faced insurmountable tragedy in your life with the death of Ira. The fact that you’ve been able to go on like you have is heroic. Well, it’s the only thing I knew how to do, Michael. So I thought, well, I’ll give it my best shot. Of course there’s still a few old people that come to see how I made it this long, but we’re playing to a world of young people. I think they might be the great, great grandchildren of the people that came to see the Louvin Brothers. They know what they like and if I can be a part of that, then I’m very lucky. O www.OFFBEAT.com