OffBeat Magazine November 2009

CYRIL NEVILLE N ROOTS OF MUSIC N DOWN N SEAN YSEULT N EMINEM N FLAMING LIPS LOUISIANA MUSIC AND CULTURE

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SURROUND SOUND Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 1.95

The Noisician Coalition brightens up Voodoo

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Features 16 Girls on Film

Alex Rawls talks to Rock City Morgue’s Sean Yseult about “Pretty Babies,” her upcoming art show with partner Louis St. Lewis.

18 The Drummer’s Roots

Lauren Noel stays late at Derrick Tabb’s Roots of Music after-school music program.

22 A Post-K Education

In an excerpt from the new edition of Up From the Cradle of Jazz, Jason Berry documents a moment when two traditions meet.

24 You Can Never Go Home Anymore

Cyril Neville tells John Swenson about the challenge of living in Austin while thinking of New Orleans.

30 Bring the Noise

OffBeat’s staff previews the Voodoo Music Festival, including the Noisician Coalition, Eminem, Ryan Scully and the Rough 7, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Down and more.

42 In the Kitchen with Rick

The Creole String Beans’ Rick Olivier weighs in on the parsley/cilantro debate with Elsa Hahne.

Departments 6 Letters 8 Mojo Mouth 10 Fresh 44 OffBeat Eats

Peter Thriffiley & Rene Louapre review Stanley, and Mark Braud is in The Spot at Dooky Chase’s.

46 Reviews 52 Club Listings 61 Backtalk with the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne

Alex Rawls talks to the leader of the Flaming Lips about playing Voodoo 2006 and the band’s stage show, including the space bubble. “Mostly when I’m on top of the audience, I’m worried that I’m standing on your head,” he says. “I’m more in control than it looks.”

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Letters WETLANDS Excellent article on Tab Benoit and the Voice of the Wetlands, in fact, the best I’ve seen—thanks for “getting” it, and helping to tell a story that needs to be spread and re-told. I was fortunate to be at the recording session [John Swenson] so ably described. It was an awesome experience watching that group put together what is truly an overlooked masterpiece, though I am somewhat prejudiced in that opinion.

—Tommy Lyons, Secretary for Voice of the Wetlands, Houma, LA Thank you to John Swenson for his great article and coverage of Louisiana’s wetlands and one of our nation’s biggest environmental disasters known to very few!

—Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn, Mill Valley, CA Hats off for a fine cover story on Tab Benoit! Tab is a great ambassador for not only Houma, but all of Louisiana. Hopefully, this story will touch your readership and spark a few fires across the country.

—Kelly Kraemer Gustafson, Houma, LA

MUSICIANS CLINIC Thank you so much for featuring the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. It means so much to us, but certainly means even more to the musicians and their families who depend on our services. Although times are tough, we are still determined to continue the mission we set over 10 years ago to “keep the music alive.” And with the support of everyone at OffBeat, we have little doubt the New Orleans Musicians Clinic will endure for many years to come.

—Bethany Bultman, Program Director for New Orleans Musicians Clinic, New Orleans, LA

FOUNTAIN & HIRT I’ve been a subscriber to OffBeat for many years and love/depend on it. Growing up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi with family in New Orleans, we spent a great deal of time there.

“Hopefully, this story will touch your readership and spark a few fires across the country.”

—Kelly Kraemer Gustafson, Houma, LA

We still make at least two trips a year for the music, food, culture and the occasional Saints game. As a child, I have great memories of my parents sitting around sipping cocktails and listening to their Pete Fountain and Al Hirt records (which I now have). Now being 44 years old and a lover of their music myself, my question is other than their statues on Bourbon Street, why does it seem like they both are ignored in the context of the musical heritage of the city? I listen to WWOZ every day all day at work and have never heard them mentioned or their music played. I read a great deal from New Orleans and never hear them mentioned. Is there a back-story of why they seem to be ignored?

I was fortunate enough to hear Pete Fountain in Bay Saint Louis the summer of Katrina with my mother—one of my greatest memories. I’ll also say that I had the honor of meeting and talking with Irvin Mayfield just a few weeks ago when we were there—another one of my best moments.

—Kevan Kirkpatrick, Tupelo, MS

POTLUCK I really enjoyed getting the back issues of OffBeat. It was fun to see some of the old stuff that is gone and some of the old stuff that is still around. I love zydeco and enjoy everything about it. Anything about the Rock ’n’ Bowl just sends me. I have had some of the best nights of my life there. I also like to read about the festivals. I am luck enough to have two cousins who are New Orleans natives and I get down there for a visit whenever I can, which can be twice a year or every couple of years. I came down and helped my cousin in Saint Bernard rebuild her house after Katrina. I have subscribed to OffBeat for years, have kept all my copies and am always happy to add to my collection.

—Virginia Windle, Quincy, CA

APPRECIATION Thank y’all for all the work you do. I had to relocate out of the area nearly seven years ago, and I really appreciate OffBeat and the link it gives me back to New Orleans and Louisiana.

—David Cooper, Romeoville, IL

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

November 2009 Volume 22, Number 11 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 Jason Berry, Alex V. Cook, DJ Soul Sister, Greg Duhe, Elsa Hahnem Andrew Hamlin, Jeff Hannusch, Bobby Hilliard, Aaron LaFont, Clifton Lee, Lauren Loeb, Rene Louapre, Kathleen McCann, Cree McCree, Lauren Noel, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Dan Willging Cover Elsa Hahne Design/Art Direction Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Ben Berman, benberman@offbeat.com Lori Di Giovanni, lorid@offbeat.com Margaret Walker, margaretwalker@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Ayah Elsegeiny, Bobby Hilliard, Clifton Lee, Kathleen McCann, Lauren Noel, Kyle Shepherd Distribution Patti Carrigan, 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.

MOJO MOUTH

We Are the World

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ieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu’s World Cultural Economic Forum once again takes place in New Orleans, with panels and showcases of our local music and culture. I’m thrilled to announce that OffBeat will receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to Cultural Tourism. It’s gratifying to know that almost 25 years of work yields recognition. But the real deal for me is that music and culture may finally be recognized as a major contributor to the state economy. I am hoping that the next mayoral regime recognizes this and capitalizes on it. In fact, we are planning to create a platform for New Orleans mayoral candidates to live up to if they want our vote. It’s time we take action, on a political level, to ensure that our most precious and unique resource—our culture—takes top priority in planning the city’s future.

Last week alone, OffBeat has interacted with people from Japan, Greece, England, Russia and Scandinavia who love New Orleans and its music and culture. New Orleans has not adequately positioned itself to capitalize on relationships with

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these countries on a cultural level. Yes, we’ve discussed shipping and manufacturing and the oil and gas business. But, we’ve not promoted the fact that New Orleans has a totally unique culture that is of intense interest to people outside the U.S. It’s about time we got dead serious about that. I think our survival as a city depends on it.

I’ve always thought that we are definitely the Live Music Capital of the World, but unfortunately, that tagline was co-opted by Austin, Texas, which obviously has more savvy marketers than New Orleans does. The Society of American Travel Writers definitely thinks so, and voted New Orleans as Number 1, with New York and Austin following. An Austin blogger was freaked out by Austin’s Number 3 rank, and the comments following his post all compared Austin to New York. No one even mentioned New Orleans, which I think is great, because it suggests that these guys know our music scene is the best. In this column, I’ve asked our readers what slogan we need to use to promote our music scene. I’ve got a big list, and I’ve forwarded it to

our CVB. I’m waiting for the marketing campaign kickoff….and waiting….and waiting!

The Voodoo Music Experience is a great example of how broad our music scene is.

Where else can you find Uncle Lionel, the Noisician Coalition, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Allen Toussaint, Quintron, Irma Thomas, Germaine Bazzle, Rotary Downs, Little Freddie King, Lenny Kravitz, the Indie Rock Collective, Frenchmen Street, WWOZ, and OffBeat? The answer is nowhere else. It’s here, baby, and we’re lovin’ it.

It wouldn’t be November without a plug for an OffBeat subscription. Keep up to date with our music, food and culture by purchasing a subscription, if not for yourself, then for friends who may not be able to experience New Orleans every day. Go to OffBeat.com to get your subscription, and be sure to stop by our booth at Voodoo Fest for chances to win a guitar from International Vintage Guitars, a three-foot hookah from the Ra Shop, or a cell phone from Boost Mobile. See you at Voodoo, and have a great, happy, safe Halloween.­—Jan Ramsey

www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

The District Model A

ny journey outside of Louisiana will reveal not only the uniqueness and vibrancy of our culture, but also our uncommonly strong grasp on it. Thankfully that stubborn refusal to let go of boudin, zydeco, and blue dogs has made its way into the lieutenant-governor’s office.

Mitch Landrieu’s pet project, bolstering our “cultural economy,” as he has dubbed it, has led to the fourth annual Louisiana Cultural Economy Summit. Taking place Oct. 29-30, it has been combined with the World Cultural Economic Forum to bring together creative forces in Louisiana and the international community.

The cultural economy concept has brought Louisiana to the forefront of the international creative community, starting with the recently implemented culture districts. In them, tax breaks are given to people who choose to restore buildings within the district, and locally created artwork is sold tax-free.

Scott Hutcheson, Assistant Secretary for Cultural Development at the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, was a guest at a United Nations creative economy summit recently because of these culture districts.

“What differentiated Louisiana is the depth with which we are investing in and growing our cultural economy,” Hutcheson says. “For example, Nigeria has a huge film industry, and that’s what they are concentrating on. In Louisiana, we have a great music industry, a culinary industry, and a visual arts industry, so we are creating an infrastructure that goes beyond a particular part of the cultural economy.”

The concept hinges on clustering visitors in cultureoriented areas; the surrounding restaurants, clubs, and retail venues will benefit from the increased traffic.

This year’s summit will include a discussion of “When Art Makes the Grade,” a pilot program that will be launched in six schools next year. “You have to grow the next generation of the cultural workforce,” Hutcheson says. “There is no better place to do that than in Louisiana, where it’s not foreign for a kid to hear music, to enjoy reading literature, to consume the culture in all its different forms.”

For Hutcheson, this is what makes Louisiana an economic force despite disaster or recession. The cultural economy was already present; we just have to make it viable.

“That’s the unique thing about Louisiana,” he says. “Our culture runs so deep, it naturally rebounds.”

—Lauren Noel

Color Our World C

onsidering the harsh political spotlight and the importance of an official’s image, one would think Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s words would have been well thought-out. But in the tradition of many politicians before him, Nagin has left behind a body of quotes that might bring laughter to many and infuriate others. Many of these can now be found in Karin Ocker’s new The Ray Nagin Coloring Book, a book of political commentary disguised as a children’s book.

For Ocker, some of the book is personal. While discussing the city’s struggles with crime in an interview, Nagin said, “It’s not good for us, but it keeps the New Orleans brand out there.”

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“I find that really offensive because I have a friend whose son was murdered and they never found (out) who did it,” Ocker says.

“There’re a lot of wonderful, beautiful things we can be branded for, and the city is branded for those things.”

In addition to his statements, the book also focuses on allegations of corruption within the Nagin administration. These include a lack of public access to government records and the mishandling of relief organizations like N.O.A.H. Although Ocker believes Nagin is to blame for these problems, she doesn’t think he is alone. “I don’t think that you can point the finger only at the mayor,” she says. “So I want to make sure I’m clear about that. But I don’t think somebody would buy a safety and permits or a code enforcement or city hall coloring book.”

The Ray Nagin Coloring Book is more than a couple of reasons to laugh and poke fun at another goofy politician.

It’s a wake-up call for more transparency, accountability and thought in American government. “If we can’t hold our officials accountable and we can’t see what’s going on, then how can we trust them?” asks Ocker. “As long as they prevent us from doing so, they can do whatever they want.”

—Clifton Lee www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

he King of Oak Street may be the most famous documentary you’ve never seen. But neither has anyone else, really.

The film’s story begins with Randy Frechette (the painter Frenchy to you) and George Hamilton and Andrew Scott, the latter a couple of those Yankee New Orleanians who’ve made it to just about every Jazz Fest to date. They just don’t live here.

Hamilton was a long-time fan and collector of Frenchy’s work.

“He took the Bob Ross idea to another level, painting music and sports,” Hamilton says. “Bob Ross will paint an entire painting during the course of a show, and Frenchy does that with bands and sporting events.” Hamilton had seen the crowds Frenchy drew at Jazz Fest and Saints games, and musicians including Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler and George Porter, Jr. would play his gallery on Royal Street. As filmmakers, Hamilton and Scott knew a story when they saw one.

After six months of “calling and cajoling” Frenchy, he agreed to a documentary; he’d been named King of Oak Street in the MidSummer Mardi Gras Parade.

“We scrambled,” Scott says.

“The movie was just going to be the parade, with Frenchy as the centerpiece as king of the neighborhood.” Filming started August 24, 2005. The threat of what would be Hurricane Katrina kept the floats from running, but “the locals soldiered on. It was the last parade before the flood.”

Hamilton and Scott crisscrossed the country with Frenchy afterward, visiting Katrina benefits. “The film became a labor of love,” Scott says.

“We ran out of money several times during the course of filming.”

And for the next two years, “the story began to tell itself. More than Frenchy’s story, it was the story of Oak Street and New Orleans’ story postKatrina,” Scott says. “It became the story of New Orleans’ rebirth.”

The film has yet to be shown to the public, but its trailer has had thousands of hits online. A cast and crew screening at the Maple Leaf last year was nearly derailed by Hurricane Gustav, but, Scott says, “there’s still a demand for the film to screen, and it spurred us on. As a film maker, what you really want is an audience.”

The King of Oak Street will be screened Saturday, November 14 at Canal Place Theater, 333 Canal St. at 10 p.m. as part of the Big Easy Film Festival.

—Kathleen McCann

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Exhorder Returns E

xhorder, New Orleans’ thrash metal pioneers, have officially reunited.

The group pioneered the power groove style, and Lamb of God and Slipknot both cite it as a main influence. After years of reunion rumors, local reunion concerts at Zeppelin’s in Metairie, an official permanent disbanding and a resurgent interest in heavy metal, Exhorder decided to reunite. Exhorder formed in the mid-1980s and rejected the glam metal of the time, focusing instead on darker issues with a brutal sonic attack.

The current lineup of Kyle Thomas, Vinnie LaBella, Jay Ceravolo, Chris Nail, and Andy Villafarra fused jazz, blues, heavy metal, punk, and funk into thrash metal with a trademark groove. Thomas’ writing addressed humanist themes with violent, antiCatholic lyrics convicting the church for hypocrisy.

Exhorder began as a “metal band with punk influence,” Thomas says. After opening a handful of punk shows, Exhorder’s popularity exploded since the band appealed to metal and punk fans. The band soon headlined its own local shows, then signed a major label record deal and recorded Slaughter in the Vatican in 1990 and The Law in 1992 and toured America and Europe twice. Unfortunately, as quickly and decisively as Exhorder exploded onto the music scene, it disintegrated when interest in thrash metal was consumed by death metal, then grunge.

Thomas promises that Exhorder will retain the dark themes that made it famous and continue writing aggressive, unapologetic songs with contemporary themes. The band hopes to achieve a balance between its angry, aggressive past and more traditional song structures. Once the chemistry returns, Exhorder plans to play live shows in New Orleans to prove to the fans that the reunion is legitimate, then tour, re-record some old songs, and then release new material in three song increments as digital downloads. To avoid an unrepresentative sound, the band will retain total control over production.

“The 20-year layoff will give the band that much more to say,” Thomas says. He hopes that there will be less internal drama this time around, and that they become a stronger songwriting unit so that Exhorder can, in his words, “convey our feelings through our music very well, which is what we best offer the fan base.”

Exhorder returns Saturday, November 14 at Southport Hall.

—Greg Duhe www.OFFBEAT.com

art: William Valle

Frenchy’s Film, Finally T

FRESH

n Thanksgiving night, the Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra will return to the site of its memorable debut at the Hi Ho Lounge this past Fat Tuesday.

Anyone who witnessed that spectacular show, or its sequel at Chickie Wah Wah during Jazz Fest, knows that this is not just another case of Mardi Gras Indians chanting in front of jams by local funk bands.

The orchestra brings some of the city’s greatest players together to create new arrangements— including a string section—for traditional Mardi Gras Indian songs.

David Montana, Second Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indians, and Sunpie Barnes in his Skeleton regalia, will return to preside over the Thursday and Friday night shows, along with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Big Chief Yeti Boudreaux and Big Chief Roddy Lewis, who will also play bass drum. Organizer John Driver hopes there will be a couple of very special guests as well.

The band will feature most of the same musicians from earlier this year, including Papa Mali, Camile Baudoin and Sam Hotchkiss on guitars, Reggie Scanlan on bass, Kevin O’Day on drums, Harry Hardin on violin, and Helen Gillet on cello. Tim Green will join the ensemble on woodwinds.

The event will be dedicated to Tootie Montana and his brother Edward Montana, David’s father. David will compose new verses in their honor.

“My father was Edward Alfred Montana,” says David, “the elder brother of Tootie. Actually he was the first to mask out of the brothers. Tootie come out the year after. They gave him the suit my daddy wore, but Tootie didn’t like that suit. He started doing his own suits and he ended up being a master because of that.

“I can remember when I was a little kid and everybody in the house was sewing. They had a big table in the middle of the floor and I would get in the beads and make such a mess. My daddy had a long stick, and he would tap me with it to get me away from the table.”

Even the players in the Orchestra who have no history backing Indians know this music as part of their lives.

“I grew up on Barrone and 7th,” says Camile Baudoin. “Back then, they said you had to watch ’cause the Indians were still callin’ each other out. But we were kids and we just were amazed at how scary they were and how good the music sounded. When we got older and started playing, we all played the Professor Longhair and

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Photo: Erika Goldring

Indians with Strings Attached O

David Montana Indian music. I’ve played ‘Iko Iko’ as long as I can remember, going back to the apartment complex lounges that were popular back then.

“When John Driver first suggested this, it threw me, then I started thinking, ‘This sounds like fun.’ When he told me Reggie would be involved, I knew we would solidify the rhythm section together, keep it down and it stays down. We know what it is to play to the roots of a song. It’s always about the song first. The jam comes later.”

The Hi-Ho, on the corner of St. Claude and Marigny, is an appropriate spot for a tribute to the Montanas because it was a local stop for the Yellow Pocahontas during their Mardi Gras day revels.

Driver hopes to build on the event, but the all-star nature of the band makes it difficult.

“We can only do it two or three times a year when everybody is home at the same time,” he says. “Eventually I would like to involve more Indians. The only way to do that is to invite them down to see for themselves and let things happen naturally.”

—John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

SEAN YSEULT

Girls on Film

ik Slave moves like a marionette. The lead singer for Rock City Morgue is onstage at One Eyed Jacks dancing like his arms and legs are on separate strings from his torso. To his right is guitarist Johnny Brashear, muscling out riffs from a few generations of metal, hard rock and punk, but it’s hard to look away from Sean Yseult on the other side of the stage. It’s not that she’s crazy rocking; it’s that she’s not. Sitting behind her piano with her blonde mane and black pinstriped vest, she’s relatively still in the midst of all the sound, her face implacable. When she leaves the piano and picks up her coffin-shaped bass, she moves precisely, holding her bass in a way that would make her music teacher proud as the tuning head points to 2 o’clock.

Yseult’s been in New Orleans since 1996 and has had two bands here—Famous Monsters and Rock City Morgue—but most of the world knew her first as the bass player for White Zombie. What only those who followed White Zombie since its inception know is that the band started in art school. Because “art school band” evokes images of wealth and Talking Heads more than a heavy band, “White Zombie didn’t want people to know, but we definitely were,” she says. “We met at Parsons (School of Design in New York City). Rob and I met and started the band. Our first drummer, Peter Landau, was a Parsons design student. Our first guitarist was Ena Kostabi, who was the little brother of Mark Kostabi, a famous artist. When Ena left, we got Tim Jeffs, who was an illustration major at Parsons, and when he left we got Tom Guay who was also at Parsons.” Yseult was there for photography and graphic design, and has remained active as a visual artist. She has shown a number of times in galleries on Julia Street, and she opens a new show with

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fellow Raleigh, North Carolina native Louis St. Lewis Saturday, November 7, at Canary Gallery on Julia Street.

During White Zombie days, she did silk-screened posters and album art, and she has done the artwork for Rock City Morgue, including their Some Ghouls EP, with a cover that mimicked the Rolling Stones’ Some Girls, but with famous monsters’ faces instead of starlets. “I enjoy working with typography and photos,” Yseult says. “I started as a photo major, but the tediousness of the darkroom drove me mental.” On the cover of the band’s new album, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, she gives a Warhol treatment to a black and white still of a werewolf, and she shot photos of

By Alex Rawls

band members Slave, Brashear and John Gray in black and white poses that suggest they’re inhabitants of the house from Dark Shadows.

Much of her art today is based on photos. One Eyed Jacks has portraits that she shot and St. Lewis manipulated that were then transferred to vinyl albums. The front dining room in La Crepe Nanou features three light boxes that she made—black and white photos on Plexiglas of women shot seemingly without their knowledge, then lit from behind and bordered with heavy red curtains, giving each piece a theatrical quality. The “play” motif makes sense because Yseult cast her friends as the damsels in the photos; Jennifer

Kirtland of Hazard County Girls and Katie Campbell of Famous Monsters are two of the women in La Crepe Nanou, and one from that series featuring Hazard County Girls’ vocalist Christy Kane hangs in Yseult’s house.

For the new series, Yseult returns to a similarly detached aesthetic, photographing burlesque dancers on the One Eyed Jacks stage, letting its more worn elements take the glamour out of the photos. Her inspiration was the famed Storyville photographer E.J. Bellocq.

“When I moved to New Orleans, there was a huge Bellocq exhibit at NOMA, so I rode my bike up Esplanade, went to that show and was blown away,” Yseult says.

“I’d known of them before, but I’d never seen the prints like that.

There’s a creepy timelessness to them, and especially the ones with the scratched-out eyes.”

The control in Yseult’s stage movements extends to her art, and only her history with Louis St. Lewis dating back to Raleigh makes it possible for her to hand over her photos. “He was the bad boy of art school at the time, he and Dave LaChapelle.”

When she shows jpegs of the pieces on her computer, she shows the photos she shot and St. Lewis’ treatments, which range from a woman seemingly stuck in an endless wave dissolve, to women with new parts and decorations attached to them. Some of her photos will be affixed to the backs of mirrors with only some of the silvering scraped away, leaving the largely nude women defined by the reflective material around them.

“We’re going to have a number of large pieces in this collection, along with the mirrors that are going to be around 16 by 20,” she says. “I was trying to restrain Lewis by some format. As a graphic designer, I like a little rigidity.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

Art by Sean Yseult & louis St. Lewis

R

Rock City Morgue’s Sean Yseult’s new art show takes inspiration from Storyville photographer E.J. Bellocq.

ROOTS OF MUSIC

The Drummer’s Roots Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Rebirth’s Derrick Tabb could become a national hero for his after-school music program.

Tyler Foley

T

ragedies have a way of highlighting the heroes in our midst, and if ever there was a tragedy, Katrina was it.

Ever since the levees broke, people have been stepping up all over the Gulf Coast region to help rebuild and renew. Derrick Tabb, snare drummer for Rebirth Brass Band, is the latest local hero to be recognized on the national level for his commitment to our community. As the founder of the Roots of Music program, Tabb has been named by CNN’s panel of humanitarians as a top10 candidate for the 3rd annual CNN Hero award. Roots of Music

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is a 3-hour, after-school program that provides more than 100 local students free music classes, in addition to academic tutoring before and dinner after. During Voodoo, the Roots of Music Marching Band will perform daily.

“I tell everyone I’m competing with the drug dealers,” Tabb told CNN. At the same time, he’s doing his part to ensure that the next generation of Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfields, and Andrews brothers is on their way.

Like many musicians in New Orleans, Tabb credits music as his saving grace. For him, it took one person taking an interest in his life to

By Lauren Noel

keep him on track—his junior-high music teacher Donald Richardson.

After losing his grandmother who raised him, Tabb fell into a rough patch during 7th grade.

“I became really rebellious, I didn’t want to do anything, I stopped playing my drum,” Tabb says. “I just wanted to be by myself, and it seemed like nobody in the world understood that I just wanted to be by myself. I ended up getting in a lot of trouble.”

Richardson didn’t give up on Tabb and pushed him to be better. “[Mr. Richardson] saw something else in me. He said, ‘All that stuff is BS, you don’t need to be doing

any of that. I’m going to put you in this band and you’re going to do right.’ That was really the changing point in my life.”

Following in Richardson’s footsteps, Tabb follows his students’ every academic and behavioral move. Progress reports are required to continue playing in the band, and students are temporarily suspended from the program if found not taking school seriously. “I do the same thing football coaches and basketball coaches do, which is getting on their players,” Tabb says. “And when they recruit, they check out the report cards and the teachers.” www.OFFBEAT.com

MU SIC

The one thing he refuses to do, however, is permanently throw out any student. Tabb knows a punishment like that could lead down a worse path for young, impressionable kids.

“I am not going to kick them out on the street. I don’t want any kid on the street selling drugs or getting killed. I can’t handle that. So I give them all the support that they need.”

The storm has forced budget cuts in all of the school districts affected, but in none so much as Orleans Parish. Many music programs have been axed to curb the tide of debt that always threatens to overwhelm this cash-strapped school district.

Without these music programs,

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many of the kids have lost their chance to pick up an instrument.

This is where Tabb and his fellow volunteers have stepped in.

With donated and purchased instruments, each of the 106 students gets to pick an instrument and receive lessons on it from Lawrence Rawlins, Shoan Ruffin, Ed Lee, or Allen Dejan.

The students also get a chance to play shows and perform in parades, experiencing what it’s like to be a part of a band, prepping them for involvement in high school bands. All 15 of last year’s graduates are in high school bands now, continuing their extra-curricular participation, a proven factor in encouraging academic performance.

For most of the new students, it’s the first time they’ve picked up an instrument, but after watching them play, you know it has become a life-long passion.

When I arrived at 4 p.m. to visit the classes, things seemed surprisingly quiet. Eight kids were working on homework. The noise began to swell as more and more kids spilled into the room. Most of the arriving students had to be herded away from the rooms with the instruments because the rules make clear that there’s no playing until after homework and tutoring.

It’s easy to see it’s one of the hardest rules to enforce. Most of the kids are chomping at the bit to get back at their chosen instrument, and program director Allison Reinhardt is ready with her own assignment if some of them come with no homework—an essay on who they are and what they want to be when they grow up.

The tutoring session still has some kinks to work out. It isn’t guaranteed that the same tutors can be there every day, and only education director Laura Taishoff is there the day I visit, but they make the best of it. She jumps between students while older kids assist the younger ones.

Reinhardt and Keisha Carmouche, director of student affairs, assist when they can, but they also have to guard the door against kids trying to slip out to the instrument rooms.

Once homework is finished, the students separate into their different classes—percussion, beginners, and the performance class, where students work on material for upcoming shows.

After the noise of the tutoring session, I assume the kids will be just as rowdy and difficult to quiet down in the classes. But the opposite effect happens. Once they have instrument in hand, all of their attention is diverted to the teacher.

Only the percussion class gets a little hectic, but that’s because the boys can’t decide which instrument and song they want to play.

These classes aren’t just about learning to play, though. The adults that work with the program act as part-time parents, doling out life lessons and enforcing

structure. According to Reinhardt, 85 percent of the kids come from single-parent households, and the men of the program become father figures or big brothers for many of the students.

They pay attention to the details of the students’ behavior, teaching them to respect their authority as adults and to respect themselves. Dejan makes sure the kids pay attention to the placement of their instrument cases in the beginners class, while Rawlins spends time focusing on posture and correct seating positions in the performance class. The fundamentals of music and performance are never lost in the excitement of the program.

Throughout the classes, each teacher is pushing the students to be better—to hit more notes, to play louder or softer as the song dictates, to pay attention to the details. Music means more to them than money for gigs or fame—it’s a passion, and they want to make sure that any kid who might share that passion gets a chance to explore it.

For Tabb, the Roots of Music program has come with a price.

He’s had to become more of a politician than he ever expected, trying to find funding to keep the program going. He’s also, of course, a member of a successful band, and that is time consuming. “My band is like my brothers and they are very understanding, even though they get a little frustrated with me not being there,” he says. Because of Roots of Music he’s missed “a thousand gigs, especially out of town. I missed the Quincy Jones audition, and I needed to be there.”

The storm might have hindered the usual routes to music for students in Orleans Parish, but with heroes like Tabb among us, new routes can be found.

Voting continues until Thursday, November 19, 2009 (6 a.m. ET). To vote for Derrick Tabb as CNN Hero of the year, visit www.cnn.com/ heroes. There is no limit on the number of times you may vote.

The winner will be announced Thanksgiving night.

O www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

RO OTS OF

JASON BERRY

A Post-K Education In this excerpt from the new edition of Up From the Cradle of Jazz, one jazz tradition speaks to another.

“T

he history of New Orleans in the wrenching aftermath of Hurricane Katrina can be telegraphed in one sentence. Politics failed, culture prevailed.”

Jason Berry uses this thought to start “Memory of the Flood,” a new chapter added to the reprinted Up From the Cradle of Jazz, the history of New Orleans’ R&B generation written with Jonathan Foose and the late Tad Jones and first published in 1986. For this edition, he has added a new introduction, a chapter that moves swiftly through the ’80s and ’90s, and “Memory of the Flood,” which underscores the lesson New Orleans always knew but remembered after Katrina— that communities can only count on themselves.

On the night of May 13, 2008, Dr. Michael White unfurled a lyrical clarinet solo on “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” backed by the Hot 8 Brass Band, in the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s reception hall on North Rampart Street. Wearing dark slacks and a blue button down shirt with white stripes, White cut a professorial image in sharp contrast to the guys seated behind him in T-shirts emblazoned with insignia of the Hot 8. Three young players wore dreadlocks. Another sat in a wheelchair.

The irony of appearances was not lost on the three dozen people drawn to a rare evening of performance, laced with commentary about music and state of the culture. White had just released a new CD, Blue Crescent.

Most of the songs were original compositions to push the threshold of an idiom many people consider static, its boundaries set and closed by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong.

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The Hot 8 had been steeped in funk, and a hard-charging street style long on rhythm and short on melodic polish, a groove popular with hip-hop fans. Since Baty Landis and Lee Arnold had gotten them to work with White, the Hot 8 was developing a stronger sense of melody, a reach back in time to a style that all but bypassed them in the 1980s as they moved through public schools and street gigs in a milieu where brass bands competed with rap as the soundtrack of street life. “Jazz is a way of life and there are many lessons that apply,” White began. “The blues and hymn styles played by the early brass bands came about originally when jazz was dance music.”

White stood at a podium behind a photograph of the late Tom Dent, the poet and historian who served as Jazz & Heritage Foundation president in the 1990s.

“New Orleans jazz was functional,” he continued. “They played it

By Jason Berry

for picnics and parades of the social and pleasure clubs. Jazz was a voice of the African-American community seeking freedom.”

The musicians seated behind White had taken traumatic hits that held a mirror to the city’s jagged social divide. A large oak-shouldered tuba player named Bennie Pete founded the Hot 8 in 1995.

In 1996 the band’s trumpeter Jacob Johnson was murdered in a home robbery that netted his killers $40. Trombonist Joe Williams was shot dead by police in 2004 when he failed to heed orders to stop the car he was driving, unarmed. NOPD claimed it was stolen, a charge disputed

by Williams’ friends. The band was still recovering from the murder of Dinerral Shavers, in early 2006, when trumpeter Terrell Batiste (not directly related to Alvin) was struck by a car in an accident near Atlanta, which led to the amputation of his legs above the knee.

Batiste sat in a wheelchair wearing shorts, holding a trumpet. Seated around him were Henry Cook on bass drum, Samuel Cyrus on snare, Bennie Pete gripping a large sousaphone, trumpeter Greg Williams, trombonist Gregory Veals, and tenor sax man Wendell Stuart.

“Today we have problems in education,” said White.

Heads nodded at the oblique reference to turf wars in high schools.

“Jazz can have uplifting effects on young people,” White said soothingly. “There’s a positive influence that comes with participating in school bands, learning the value of teamwork.

It’s a lot easier to become a member of a band than make it to the Hornets.”

Few public schools had solid band programs before Katrina, and apart from NOCCA there was scant instruction on the fundamentals or history of jazz in the combined Recovery, Charter, and Orleans Parish school districts. The environment for at-risk youth in New Orleans was better in 1913, when Louis Armstrong was sent to the Colored Waif’s Home, than in 2008.

White introduced “Bye and Bye,” one of the church hymns popularized by the brass band musicians in the parades of early jazz. If you’d conducted a blindfold test on identifying who was playing the song that night, White’s swirling clarinet lines might have registered with people familiar with his sound.

Who would have recognized his accompanists? In that post-Katrina funeral parade for chef Austin Leslie, the band sent out smoking section riffs, repetitive rhythms as they swaggered along in a dead city. What a contrast with the sweet rolling harmonies of a church groove as they played with White in a medium tempo melody, Bennie Pete’s sousaphone purring like a bullfrog in swamp bottom.

The Hot 8 sounded downright beautiful.

O This excerpt of Up From the Cradle of Jazz is from the new edition, published earlier this year by University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. www.OFFBEAT.com

CYRIL NEVILLE

You Can Never Go Home Anymore ore than four years after the federal flood, Cyril Neville still can’t shake the nightmares. The ordinary ones are bad enough—images of his home and neighborhood before Katrina, happy memories lost over and over again in the recurrent dreams. But it’s the other nightmares that really give him the creeps, images not reflecting his own experience but based on stories others have told him about being trapped in New Orleans for a week, then herded like animals and sent to faraway destinations.

“I have nightmares about shit that people told me about,” he says. “We had a couple of young brothers that got trapped in New Orleans and they had to swim, walk, wade through all of this foul water, pushing dead bodies out of the way, all the way to the Superdome. They told me harrowing stories about the three nights that they stayed in the Superdome and the night they decided to break out because they’d rather take their chances out on the street than stay another night in the dome.

“Then they put a gun in your face and told you to put your ass on that bus. That ain’t no rescue.

That’s an armed roundup. Basically, the scattering of the people of New Orleans after Katrina was the cleanup of a crime scene, getting rid of all the witnesses. They scattered people from New Orleans to 49 states. I ain’t heard no stories about people being moved to Hawaii. But I did hear about brothers getting forced to get on a bus, then got off a plane in Alaska wearing nothing but shorts, tank top and flip-flops with a plastic bag containing all of their possessions. We played in Oklahoma not that long ago.

I didn’t know they had that many black people in Oklahoma.

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Waylon Thibodeaux, is among the tens of thousands of New Orleans residents who were displaced by the flood and have been unable to make it back. Neville had some harsh words for the way people were treated after Hurricane Katrina. His charge that New Orleans was trying to systematically eliminate its black population (as well as his praise for Neville, who will play Voodoo in how well he was accepted when he a “Swampland Jam” along with landed in Austin, Texas) led to some his partners from the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, Tab Benoit, Monk bad feelings back in New Orleans.

Neville was shocked at the reaction Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone and Everywhere we go, we can identify the enclaves of people exiled from New Orleans at our shows, standing on their chairs, waving their handkerchiefs at us. It brings tears to your eyes, even though they’re out there dancing. This is the only taste of New Orleans they can get.”

By John Swenson

to his charges because he’d been saying most of the same things before the flood. The difference was that nobody paid attention to him back then, but once the city was depopulated, Neville’s words were amplified by the national media.

Ironically, Neville’s career has blossomed in Austin as he’s worked to rally other displaced New Orleanians to keep their culture alive.

He has been a charismatic front man in a variety of New Orleans all-star projects and supplements his Neville Brothers work with his own band, Tribe 13. His recently released Brand New Blues documents contemporary blues themes from post-Katrina stress to people losing their retirement savings.

Everywhere he goes around the country with the Neville Brothers, Cyril runs into pockets of New Orleans natives who have about as much chance of returning to the communities they one lived in as their ancestors who were brought to America as slaves did.

“I didn’t just wake up one morning and say I’m moving to Austin,” says Neville. “I got there the same way a lot of other people wound up in places that they never thought they would be in. It just so happened. I landed somewhere with people like Marcia Ball and Eddie Wilson from Threadgill’s and Papa Mali, people who reached out and helped.”

Neville is trying to maintain his identity as a New Orleans native in a new environment. Generations of intricate family ties are gone forever.

Neville knows he’s not alone in this new diaspora—it’s a theme running through Brand New Blues.

“This is an ongoing agony for a lot of us,” he says. “In Austin, me and Big Chief Kevin Goodman have put together something called Project Chumbo. It’s what happens after the gumbo spills into the chili. It’s what happens when Austin musicians and www.OFFBEAT.com

PHOTO: JERRY MORAN

M

Cyril Neville struggles to deal with the fading of the New Orleans he once knew.

CYRIL NEVILLE

In fact, the tradition-bearing conduits for African-American culture were in jeopardy years before the storm.

New Orleans musicians start playing together. Now there’s a brass band called Austin Nights that didn’t exist before we got there. My band, Tribe 13, is made up of a combination of musicians from New Orleans and cats from Austin. Project Chumbo is an outgrowth of the culture that we brought to Austin and the thing that continues to develop between people from Austin and people from New Orleans. We even got people trying to figure out how to make chumbo. You’ve got to be able to taste both things. Some people you could never get to eat that.”

Neville envisions Project Chumbo as a way to transport New Orleans culture to new environments.

“We’ve got a social aid and pleasure club in Austin and we’re going to have second lines. We’ve already had a couple of Mardi Gras there,” he says. “One in particular I’ll never forget. We were sitting outside playing drums and the cats were dancing and these Mexican brothers passed, two carloads of them. About 20 minutes later, those same two cars came back and the brothers got out of the car with their instruments and we jammed. It was a beautiful thing.”

Neville kept running into people who had been trapped in the Convention Center or the Superdome and found themselves now living in Texas.

He organized a concert for them.

“Even though I wasn’t trapped in the dome or the Convention Center, I felt the collective feeling of all of those people who had been in there who realized, ‘We have really been screwed over.’

That’s where I hooked up with Big Chief Kevin from the Flaming Arrows; he wound up coming up onstage and we played New Orleans music to a New Orleans crowd and I saw people in there in wheelchairs spinning around on the floor, happy for that moment

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to be back in New Orleans. Kevin wrote this song, ‘Boy We Come Out That Water.’ Like most Mardi Gras Indian songs, it’s about something that actually happened.

He put a Mardi Gras Indian groove to a story about the agony that these people went through.”

Neville grew up during the 1960s when the civil rights and antiwar movements were intertwined and skepticism about the country’s political leadership was rampant.

Groups ranging from Students for a Democratic Society to the Black Panthers offered alternatives to the traditional pathways of social organization, and Neville was clearly influenced by the times.

The youngest member of the Neville Brothers wrote a number of politically-charged songs for the band—some of which were used, some of which weren’t—and his work always reflects his concerns about the way the poorest and most helpless people in New Orleans were treated. His thoughts in the wake of the flood are consistent with the message he’s been preaching his whole career. In fact, Neville had been arguing that the tradition-bearing conduits for African-American culture were in jeopardy years before the storm.

Neville has become a lightning rod for criticism from some who believe that his time away from the city has exacerbated his apocalyptic visions, and others who don’t want any negative information about New Orleans to find its way to potential tourists. Many well-meaning civic boosters argue that the city’s cultural traditions are no longer in danger of disappearing, an observation that is underscored by the city’s highest profile cultural organization, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The festival claimed that www.OFFBEAT.com

CYRIL NEVILLE

If he can no longer live here, Neville is certain that his New Orleans will always live in him. its 2009 programming featured more Mardi Gras Indians and brass bands than ever before, but Sweet Home New Orleans notes that many Indians have to commute from other cities to participate in the masking rituals, and those that are here live, on average, below the poverty line.

Whether you believe he’s right or wrong, or maybe even a little of both, Neville’s argument carries irrefutable anecdotal weight when you look at the still devastated blocks all over the city and wonder where the recovery went off the rails. Despite pockets of development in the Upper Ninth Ward (the Musician’s Village), the Lower Ninth (Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation) and Gentilly (Barnes and Noble founder Lennie Riggio’s Project Home Again), many of the city’s legendary African American communities are nothing like what they were before the flood.

Neville is trying to rebuild his home in Gentilly but has been frustrated by what he calls “The Roadblock to Recovery” program.

“My neighborhood, Gentilly, it looks basically the same, some people have tried to come back and fix their houses,” Neville says.

“But it’s not a neighborhood any more, and it probably never will be again. Somebody might live there, but what was there is gone. You can go into several different parts of the city and get that same feeling. In some places where I used to go visit people, now it’s just flat ground. Not just the Lower Ninth. I had friends in the Lafitte Project, in the St. Bernard Project, in the Magnolia Project. I was born and raised in the Calliope Project. A lot of it really could have been fixed.”

Neville frequently returns to New Orleans and visits his friend James Andrews. On a recent trip

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they visited Kermit Ruffins’ place, Sidney’s, in the Seventh Ward then took a walk through Treme.

“It was good to see that Kermit had something going in what was left of that neighborhood,” says Neville. “Then we took a walk to the Candlelight, and we walked the same route that we used to walk but it was all dark, all the places that used to be there are gone. It wasn’t just an idle stroll. We got to the Candlelight and the Treme Brass Band was playing. James told me, ‘This is what’s left of what we used to call Treme.’ It ain’t enough that it’s four years after the storm and a lot of people I knew and places I knew I’ll never see again. To know that one of the most beloved areas of the city, where I got a lot of who I am from—once that last place goes, that whole area of the city is lost forever, like Rampart Street, like a whole lot of other things that make up the culture of New Orleans that people come from all over the world to see.”

Cyril Neville knows he can never return to the New Orleans he knew and loved, but really, neither can anyone who lived here before the storm. And like any city, it was changing before Katrina, losing people and places that were once essential parts of the culture. That’s not going to stop Neville from talking about what we’re in danger of losing, though, and he’s likely to keep finding opposing points of view.

But if he can no longer live here, Neville is certain that his New Orleans will always live in him.

“It’s beautiful to be from New Orleans,” he says. “Nothing like it on the planet. And whatever people say I say or don’t say, they can’t take that from me. I’m part of New Orleans history. I’m part of New Orleans culture. They can’t take that from me.”

O www.OFFBEAT.com

Bring the Noise

For the Noisician Coalition and other Voodoo participants, a little sonic confrontation is good for the soul.

By Alex V. Cook, Bobby Hilliard, Clifton Lee, Cree McCree, Alex Rawls and DJ Soul Sister

M

attvaughan Black is fiddling around.

He’s sitting outside of Cafe Rose Nicaud, and while telling stories of his adventures as Mr. the Turk in the New Orleans Bingo!

Show, he starts pulling things out of a gym bag. He recalls meeting Bill Cosby backstage at the Playboy Jazz Festival as he gets out an old Speak and Spell that he has repainted so that the letters resemble alien characters. He remembers running from the front of the stage to the back of the Hollywood Bowl through the middle of the crowd while the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed, and at the same time connects a length of plastic tubing to a metal donut—not the scientific term, I recognize—and he connects that to the Speak and Spell. He laughs when he remembers seeing security coming for him and panicking, while he pulls out one cable that he runs from the Speak and Spell to a foot pedal, and he sticks another in the pedal and the jack of a small, practice amp. Security explained that had come to help him make his way back to the stage, and as the story ends, he switches on the Speak and Spell, puts the tubing in his

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mouth, and makes a noise—a sonic squiggle, perhaps the sound that corresponds to the alien alphabet’s character. He blows in the tube and fiddles with the Speak and Spell’s toggle switches to create the semblance of a melody out of the bleeps and blorps.

“This is one I’m working on,” Black says of the pile of electronics on the table. On the ground behind him is the first instrument he Frankensteined together, one he dubbed “The Jazz Blaster.” It’s a megaphone with some electronic stuff—again, not the scientific term— attached to it, and that exists to modify the sound generated by the kazoo that serves as the instrument’s mouthpiece. In a touch of whimsy, there’s also a superfluous tuning peg attached.

“A lot of these look like they do more than they do,” gesturing to the toys around him.

Black is the inventor and driving force behind the Noisician Coalition, a loosely knit marching band dressed in red, black and white that plays his homemade wind and percussion instruments, some of which are elaborate and some of which are Kentwood water cooler jugs made into shakers. And by “play,” I www.OFFBEAT.com

mean “make noise” because his instruments are imprecise pitch-wise, as are most of their players. Black has tried unsuccessfully to learn a number of conventional instruments, so he emulates a musician, or maybe he is one, depending on your definition of “musician.”

When the Coalition marches, as it will daily during Voodoo, it makes a beautiful racket.

Black is the face of the Noisician Coalition, but he shares credit for the idea with Clint Maedgen.

One day they were talking and Maedgen said they ought to start a megaphone parade. He didn’t do anything with the thought, but Black remembered it. “The next year, about a month or so before Mardi Gras, I show up with a horn and go, ‘We’re going to have a bullhorn parade!’

I pretty much bullied and suckered half of Bingo! and Liquidrone to be the band. It started with seven of us; we left the bar we were stationed out of and walked around for about an hour and a half, and by the time we got back we had about 80 or 100 people.” The idea has evolved past its simple first thought, and he has more than 40 megaphones. “People give them to me,” Black says. Black has made or remade between 75 and 100 instruments. “It evolved from hanging out with Clint Maedgen and all of his weird crap,” Black says. “I’d try to top him, and he’d be like, ‘I never even thought of that.’” He still has his entrée into the world of rebuilding—a souped-up toy turntable—but he claims no special knowledge or skill. “If I was trying to do this in late www.OFFBEAT.com

’80s/early ’90s, I wouldn’t have known were to go with it. Now you just need a couple of days to spend on the Internet and you can find it. You get to see what other people are doing, or what other people have done, and then you get some other crazy idea and you have to figure it out.

“I just look at myself as a thief. I go out and find other people’s good ideas and I take them. I made this, but I didn’t invent it. I might’ve invented putting this piece and this piece and this piece together, but all those things already existed. All I’m doing is putting little puzzle pieces together.”

Essentially, Black has created a marching band dominated by synthesizers, and it’s no surprise that they require regular maintenance. He says that the users of the electronic instruments tend to baby them—unlike the percussion instruments—but at the photo shoot for this issue’s cover, many noisicians brought their instruments back to him in need of repair. When he works on them, he rarely simply fixes them. At coffee, he points to the Jazz Blaster. “This has been changed a thousand times,” he says, pointing out additions, refinements and modifications that took place in the repair process. “This is not what it used to be.”

When Black talks about the Noisician Coalition and his instruments, he does so with a mix of pride and self-deprecation. He knows he has started something cool, something that’s more than just a good art prank. As chaotic as the sound can be, it also has the same charms as drones, where

the unplanned interplay of tones and overtones become hypnotic and seductive. There’s an avantgarde dimension, and the Coalition is democratic as it lets the skilled and unskilled alike take part in music-making. Like the Bingo! Show, the group is good theater as each member makes his or her own costume based on the colors black, red and white—“My wife says they’re the only colors I react to,” Black explains—resulting in something with a coherently incoherent look as road warriors and mad professors and gothic dolls play Rube Goldberg instruments side by side with a punk air of confrontation. You can trace the proud, historical lineage for the ideas that validate the Noisician Coalition as well, but Black still ends many thoughts with statements like, “It just keeps on getting dumber every year.”

But dumb and stupid aren’t the same thing, and he knows it. He may not name drop the group’s intellectual forefathers, but he understands what he’s doing. “My favorite instrument is the giant mob of people,” Black says. “I’m looking at them while I’m building all this stuff, but it’s almost looking at it in a Raymond Scott way, without being as controlling as he was. These people, you can just put something in their hands and say figure it out, and they figure it out. You tell them it’s okay to suck, and everyone knows it’s okay to suck, and then they let it all go. After about half an hour of everybody sucking, the chaos theory falls into place and it starts to work.”

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Photo: elsa hahne

VOODOO

Photo: elsa hahne

VOO DOO

Not surprisingly, Mattvaughan Black loves Mardi Gras. He dresses up in both of his professional gigs—in a fez and eye patch with the Bingo! Show, and in his black and red bandleader’s outfit, complete with a stuffed crow with an X’ed out eye on top of his hat.

Out of costume, he has a theatrical streak as well, including a blond stripe of hair in the front of his otherwise black hair. Fat Tuesday is an occasion for temporary self-reinvention, and Black reinvented himself in a sense when he decided to turn his first and last name—

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Matt Vaughan—into one word and take his wife’s name as his last name when they married. “Everybody called me Mattvaughan anyway,” he reasons.

He remembers well the bullhorn parade on Bacchus Sunday that was the genesis of the Noisician Coalition because the memory is tied to one of his worst Mardi Gras experiences.

He became so sick after it that he missed Lundi Gras and Fat Tuesday. “That was actually the first Mardi Gras I missed in over 18 to 20 years,” he says. “I lived over in the Bywater,

and I opened up the doors to my bedroom and I could hear the screams. I just cried.”

The group’s first few parades during Mardi Gras season were easy. When you’re only seven strong, the cops don’t notice you, even when you attract a crowd. The year after Katrina, almost anything went. This year, the Noisician Coalition had a banner and published its route on the Web including its official starting place at the R Bar. “The actual band started at the base of Frenchmen,” he says. “So we’re going around the bend on Royal Street, and right as I turn around the bend, I can see the R Bar. I see a mob of people filling up the entire intersection, all dressed in red, black and white, waiting for us. When we finally left the R Bar, we made it pretty much to Esplanade before 14 cop cars showed up and followed us. We were being quiet. We stopped playing. We started whispering. We’re going down two blocks, whispering, ‘Shh, don’t talk. Nobody talk.’”

At the cover shoot, one photo Black insisted on was of the band chasing him, and since the Noisician Coalition has been an outlaw parade, the members have always known they might have to run. One year, he and his lieutenants handed out a photocopied page to everyone that said simply, “If we’re sicced, be prepared to run” And while the noisicians have rarely had to flee, they haven’t been popular with the cops, either.

One Fat Tuesday the Coalition was 200 strong outside One Eyed Jacks when a state trooper rolled up. When he went inside to tell the bar to make them disperse, everyone including Black’s parents took a few stealthy steps away from the club, then took off running. When the trooper finished yelling that those people had to go, the bartender asked, “What people?” and the officer turned to find an empty street behind him. “I think it was Ryan from One Eyed Jacks who said he had this look like Yosemite Sam, like, ‘Oooooh, that damn rabbit!’” Black says.

These days, the Noisician Coalition’s official Mardi Gras activities include marching in the St. Ann’s Parade on Fat Tuesday and with the Krewe of Box of Wine on Bacchus Sunday.

Like any self-respecting independent parading organization, though, the Coalition entertains thoughts of a bigger stage and trying to be in an official parade. “I toy with trying to either do Muses or Krewe D’Etat,” Black says.

Voodoo remains his favorite time to parade simply because it’s the most hassle-free. Still, one of the most memorable parades took place www.OFFBEAT.com

VOO DOO

“They’re actually learning songs,” he says with a mix of pride and amazement.

when some of the noisicians went to Bonnaroo.

“Fifteen to 20 of us, and at one in the morning, we stormed the festival grounds,” he says.

“We’re going through dark zones, trying not to screw up anybody else’s gig and get too close to their tent when they’re in the middle of their heartfelt ballads. Then I realize I keep tripping over stuff and wondered why people left out these big, giant backpacks. They were kids who’d passed out; they’re gone. When we saw them, we’d surround these people, and when they woke up, they were like, ‘Ohmigod!’ This one guy opens his eyes and he has a half-terror, half-confusion look on his face, and he gets up and runs away. You know he’s pretty sure he’s hallucinating. Of course, everyone followed him, then he gets in a fight-or-flight mode, and I get everyone to stop. I walked up to him and hugged the guy and he hugged me back, and that made everything alright. The band starts up and he dances with his blanket as a cape. He starts leading the parade!”

So far, the Noisician Coalition has been a rogue presence wherever it goes. But as beautiful as an off-the-grid existence can be, the desire to share your cool thing with the world is hard to shake. Mattvaughan Black hopes to join the festival circuit next year in some limited way, and he’d like to record the Coalition. “They’re actually learning songs,” he says with a mix of pride and amazement.

“Some of the people I’ve been working with, maybe 90-95 percent of the people that are in our thing, before they came into my crew, had never played an instrument before for real.”

The question is how to do these things without losing the guerilla element of the Noisician Coalition, without losing the freedom that accompanies not worrying about consequences. It’s something Black is trying to deal with. He has made an effort to reduce his place as the center of the group, letting people hang on to their own instruments and making them responsible for them. The upside of that has been that many have become more proficient in their chosen gizmos, but he still finds himself doing repairs. But the Noisician Coalition has grown into an entity all its own.

“I’ll have people I don’t even know show up in full colors with some crazy thing they built, and I have no idea who they are,” he says. “It’s gotten out of my control in some ways, but I

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feel lucky I still ringmaster it just enough without killing the magic of what it is. I’ve had people trying to convince me to make it have structure since the beginning, but then it would just be a band with weird instruments and it loses this thing where people can go, ‘Hey, I want to be a part of that.’ Where else is it okay for you to just show up and freak the fuck out, and not worry about it? That’s pretty much what it is—it’s like dancing when no one’s watching. That’s exactly the whole concept.”

The Noisician Coalition marches on the Voodoo grounds when the mood strikes Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and it will appear with the Bingo! Show in the Bingo!

Parlour Friday, October 30 at 6:45 p.m. and Saturday, October 31 at 2:45 p.m.

—Alex Rawls

Eminem and the Art of the Beef Eminem’s latest single, “Beautiful,” sounds more like the theme song for a mid-life crisis than his usual attack on pop culture. The track left some fans wondering if the brutal Eminem of yesteryear has left along with his prescription drug addiction, but the recent “Warning” suggests otherwise.

The song is his response to Mariah Carey’s “Obsessed,” in which she denies she and the person she’s singing to ever had a relationship. In her video, that person is Carey dressed as Eminem, who gets hit by a bus during its finale. Her song and video prompted him to give his side of his current feud, saying, “How many times you fly to my house? Just tryin’ to count / better shut your lying mouth if you don’t want Nick findin’ out!”

He then gets graphic and intense in a way that he never does on his new album Relapse: “Listen girlie, surely you don’t want me to tell the public how I nutted early / and bust all over your belly and you almost started hurling.”

It’s not uncommon that beefs bring out the best performances in hip-hop. Since the prehistoric days of the culture, some of the greatest lyrics ever composed were made during times of lyrical warfare. The art of the battle can be traced back to inter-borough competitions between New York City’s hip-hoppers. As the art form spread across the city, so did the need for its artists to be respected. One of the most famous beefs was the Roxanne Wars, which pitted Marley Marl, the late DJ Mr. Magic, and Roxanne Shanté against U.F.T.O. after U.F.T.O. failed to appear at a concert.

Their hit at the time was “Roxanne, Roxanne,”

and Marley Marl and Mr. Magic crafted a plan to get retribution—”Roxanne’s Revenge.” In it, the woman U.F.T.O. said in song was stuck-up calls them out, voiced by a 14-year-old MC taking on the name Roxanne Shanté. She dissed U.F.T.O. members with rhymes like, “He wears a Kangol and that is cute / but he ain’t got the money and he ain’t got the loot.” The song spread through the city like wildfire and is believed to have sold over 250,000 units. Marley Marl and Queens native MC Shan would also feud with B.D.P. and a young KRS-One over the birthplace of hip-hop in the Bridge Wars. KRS-One’s career continues, but he was never more dynamic and inspired than he was during that period.

As hip-hop went national, beefs went nationwide. West Coast artists such Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Tupac Shakur crafted their best work while attacking their arch-enemies. The East Coast-West Coast dispute in the mid-’90s created tension that may have caused Tupac and B.I.G.’s untimely deaths. Their deaths slowed beefs, but in 2001 Jay-Z took on Nas to wear the title of King of New York. On Jay’s second response track, “Super Ugly,” he even mentioned an affair with the mother of his rival’s child with the lines: “I came in your Bentley backseat / skeeted in your jeep / left condoms on your baby seat.” The last several years have seen the emergence of even more intense beefs with 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule, 50 Cent vs. Rick Ross, and T.I. vs. Shawty Lo, all grabbing the national spotlight.

So what is it about beefs that energizes an MC? Perhaps the fact that no matter how famous rappers become, they are still human.

After selling millions of records, can one really expect artists to be as passionate as they were when they were starving for success? But when artists are presented with a challenge that calls their heart and creativity into question, it gives them a deeper reason to take their craft seriously.

In times of beef, all fans are concerned with is who lands the hardest punch. Past record sales, awards and accolades almost become obsolete.

The soul of an MC is exposed for better or for worse. Some, such as KRS-One, step up while the Ja Rules of the world become distant memories.

This is clearly the case in the Eminem and Mariah dispute. After having his manhood and credibility attacked by the diva, Marshall Mathers left his mature, celebrity persona and attacked in an effort to expose and annihilate. Slim Shady was reborn, the man who rapped, “Christina www.OFFBEAT.com

Aguilera better switch me chairs / so I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst / and hear ’em argue over who she gave head to first.” This is what great hip-hop is all about; making music to express your feelings instead of just getting money—even when the feelings are vengeful.

Who’s telling the truth? Did anything actually happen? Who knows, but people are talking about both Eminem and Carey more than they have in a long time. And history shows that beefs pay.

Eminem performs Friday, October 30 at 9:30 p.m. on the Voodoo Stage.

—Clifton Lee

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning with Ryan Scully Ryan Scully’s got the cure for what ails you.

But he’s also part of the disease that afflicts your “sin-sick soul.” On Halloween night, he closes out Voodoo’s Bingo! Parlour with a one-nightonly reunion of the Morning 40 Federation, the sin-sickest bunch of miscreants ever to emerge from the Lower Ninth Ward. Come Sunday at noon, Scully’s back and testifying to the higher power with his new band, the Rough 7.

“The hangover-weary brave enough to show up at that hour will definitely get that headache pummeled,” promises lead guitarist Rob Cambre. “And what’s more Catholic than a bingo tent?”

Formed during the tail end of the 40s’ demise last spring, Rough 7 draws equal inspiration from the Holy Trinity and the Detroit Big Three (Funkadelic, Stooges, MC5), throwing down covers of both “Kick Out the Jams” and the Rev. Charlie Jackson’s “God’s Got It” amid their own growing canon of songs.

“When it first started out, I had a psychedelic thing in mind, with swirling guitars,” says Scully. Enter improvised-music shredder Cambre. Recommended for the job by original guitarist Michael Aaron, who was moving out of town, Cambre sealed the deal at a Rough 7 Saturn Bar gig. “‘Meltdown’ was the first tune they played, which I totally loved,” recalls Cambre, who joined bassist C.J. Floyd and 40s’ drummer Mike Andrepont on the Rough 7 team. “I felt like I could live in this house.”

Soon that house started to grow. Inspired by an old Rev. Charlie Jackson gospel record Cambre brought in to “church up” the band, Scully put out a call for singers. “All my life

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I’ve wanted soulful women backup singers,” he admits. “And the ones I got are great.”

The Rough 7 had three singers on board when the band debuted at Café Negril during French Quarter Fest. Only two remain: Meschiya Lake and Altercation, whose calland-response harmonies add a rich R&B texture. But the Rough 7 is still a septet. To amp up the noisy psychedelic element, Scully recruited keyboardist Ratty Scurvics, the Ninth Ward force of nature, to put his spell on the band.

“As the foundation gets really solid, the colors get wilder,” says Cambre. And

by Voodoo, it should be rock-hard. In late October, the band started laying down tracks for a debut album produced by Dr. Fred for his new label, Rookery Records, on Independence Avenue in Bywater. They’ll also be fresh off a Friday Hi Ho gig, where they’ll back the Ratty Scurvics Big Band the night before Scully joins his fellow 40s at Voodoo.

So what can fans expect when they stagger into the Bingo! Parlour at high noon on Day of the Dead?

“A lot of sin-sick soul, baby,” says Scully.

“Good Sunday morning stuff.”

Morning 40 Federation plays Saturday, October 31 at 9:45 p.m. in the Bingo!

Parlour. R. Scully & the Rough 7 play Sunday, November 1, at 12 p.m. in the Bingo! Parlour.

—Cree McCree

The Power of P-Funk I saw George Clinton for the first time in 1986—on TV. It was “Late Night with David Letterman” and Clinton, sporting his rainbow-colored hair extensions, a shiny pajama-like suit and no shoes at all, showed the world what the funk is all about. He transformed his live performance of “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” into a party, running into the audience, jumping on chairs, screaming

and challenging the seated crowd to “get up off your ass.” He turned that NBC studio inside out, and the crowd ate up every minute.

GC and P-Funk are still the real deal in 2009. It may be 33 years after ParliamentFunkadelic landed its first Mothership (October 27, 1976, at the Municipal Auditorium, to be exact), and 39 years after the first Funkadelic album was released, but P-Funk’s lasting relevancy is the truth, and its live show is the proof. More than any other band whose success was born out of the 1970s (including former labelmates Kiss), P-Funk continues to thrive in spite of its age. The group honors its tradition by continuing to feature smoking musicians and talented vocalists (including New Orleans-born Mary Griffin) without looking like a nostalgia act with a cheap costume budget. Let’s face it; the group could probably afford to make a healthy living touring off its Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fameinductee status, playing hour-long, greatest hits medleys on the casino circuit. Instead, it constantly turns the audience’s notion of what P-Funk is upside-down, the same way Clinton changed the notion of what a talk show musical guest should do at that ’86 Letterman visit. They interject hip-hop, jazz, blues, even electronic elements in a show that still boasts the same energetic funk ’n’ roll anarchy that has been its trademark since 1970. Some may argue that P-Funk doesn’t sound the same way they used to back in 1976. As well they shouldn’t. It’s a new day, so let a man come in and do the Cosmic Slop.

With that said, when you see P-Funk, you’re going to see P-Funk. The group’s live sound is consistently funky and always evolving, but the lineup is more classic than you’d think. Nine of the band’s current cavalcade of 26 (count ’em) band members have been in the group since 1979. Add an additional seven to that total for members who have been in the group for at least a decade. This sure beats Kool & the Gang, whose recent Gretna www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: Heidi Lenert

Ryan Scully and the Rough 7

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Fest performance, awesome as it was, boasted only two veteran members, with the rest looking younger than Lady Gaga.

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic today, no matter how long each band member has been in the band, still stands toe to toe with all the great rock bands (yeah, I said rock). One never gets the sense that they’re on a nostalgia trip but, rather, on one of the most interesting, loudest, sometimes strangest and most danceable marathons you’ll ever witness—both on and off the stage. It’s like going to a Mardi Gras parade, but without the throws. Just in the audience alone you’ll find everyone from hardcore first-, second- and now third-generation P-Funk fans, leftover Grateful Deadheads who’ve adopted George as their post-Jerry leader, hip-hop heads who are looking for the source, hard rock ’n rollers and funk freaks, Atomic Dog-ettes, and the band’s growing legion of college kids who have christened P-Funk (with the “P” standing for “party”) as their favorite band. Perhaps it’s the irreverent spirit of playful, funky disobedience— the subversive quality from Funkadelic’s earliest days to its dance-in-the-face-of-the-apocalypse spirit that still attracts soldiers today.

And laying it down on stage is a parade of funk led by Gary Shider, a veteran powerhouse guitarist whose sanctified soul vocals will make you forget he’s wearing a diaper. There’s Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton, another veteran, with lead guitar workouts that should be required viewing for anyone who thinks they know something about rock guitar. Then there’s Clinton, the leader of and reason behind

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Phil Anselmo of Down

this whole thang. In today’s musical landscape where “everybody’s funkin’ and don’t know how,” it is his irreverent, still fun and forever funkin’ approach to music and lyrics that make his and the band’s show as relevant today as 30 years ago, when they claimed to “rescue dance music from the blahs.”

P-Funk has always been more than a concert; it’s an experience. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll hear your favorite song, and it’s not guaranteed that the band is going to sound like what you might expect. In 2009, nothing about the P-Funk show is guaranteed, and that tradition of surprise, suspense and funky good times is what the best rock ’n’ roll is all about. It’s what Parliament-Funkadelic is all about, keeping true to its promise to “do you no harm,” like George running around the Letterman show, shouting, jumping and barefoot.

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic play the SoCo/WWOZ Stage Halloween night at 8:30 p.m. DJ Soul Sister spins nightly with the Booty Patrol at 8:15 p.m. on the Preservation Hall Stage. She’ll also bring back her WWOZ P-Funk Marathon Saturday, October 31, from 12 a.m.-5a.m. on WWOZ 90.7 FM and wwoz.org.

Down Home “The closest who need you (and) the closest surrounding you will walk away and when we walk away there will be no coming home.”

Down has seen the world. It has been to Russia (three times) Israel, the Middle East and

places that most of us will never experience outside of the Travel Channel, but there is nowhere like home, and Down is ready to be back in New Orleans. Featuring former members of Corrosion of Conformity, Pantera, Crowbar and Eyehategod, Down has become the elder statesmen of metal and still remain relevant almost 20 years down the road.

Though they’ve toured the world countless times, they do it waving the proverbial flag of New Orleans. With titles such as “Ghosts Along the Mississippi” or “On March the Saints” and the crushing “New Orleans is a Dying Whore” (released in 2002), Down captures the sides of the city many are trying to gloss over since Katrina. Singer Phil Anselmo gives voice to the desperate, the dispossessed, the junkies and gutter punks the tourist bureau would like to ignore when he sings, “L.S.D. ain’t what it used to be / for me / inside of dead weight standing.”

Hometown pride takes many forms, obviously, but it’s a big deal when you realize how easily that place your can be washed away.

Because of it, Down’s Jimmy Bower and Pepper Keenan are more excited than you might expect to be playing Voodoo. The last time they played New Orleans was opening for Metallica earlier this year, and they last played Voodoo in 2002 right before ska-punk lovables, No Doubt. “I think it’s going to be awesome,” Bower says.

“I really don’t know why we don’t get to play home as much as we’d like on tours. We just played for 80,000 people in Europe but barely ever get to play in New Orleans.”

According to Keenan, “We’ve been wanting to play every year, but we’re always www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: Erika Goldring

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so busy, it just never happens. It’s nice to be appreciated in your hometown.”

Down has made it through the hurricane that destroyed singer Phil Anselmo’s home and recording studio, the death of their friend Dimebag Darrell, a member change and constant taste shifts of the record buying public.

Like the city they came from, the world changes around them but Down remains constant, wearing punk, metal and blues influences on their sleeves, listening to Black Sabbath records, smoking a lot and honing the sound they’ve been working on for almost two decades. What they’re doing isn’t rocket science, but it works.

On their classic NOLA and its subsequent follow ups Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow and Down III: Over the Under, the band has achieved a sound that even the members of the band can’t quite name.

Bower says, “I think we’re a blues band. Blues with a tinge of metal in it, I guess.” Keenan disagrees. “F—k it, we’re a metal band,” he says. “I think so at least.” No matter, the lyrics are still as Southern gothic as they get.

“Good lord, the south is blind, but she will never let me go back to being sane.

But please let me die there.”

Down plays the Bingo! Parlour Saturday, October 31 at 6:15 p.m.

—Bobby Hilliard

TAKE FIVE The Pogues, Sunday 2:15 p.m.

PlayStation/Billboard.com Stage Things seemed dire there for Shane MacGowan when in 1991 he was deemed too drunk and was drummed out of the

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Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Saturday 8 p.m.

Bingo! Parlour Jello Biafra has worn a lot of hats over the years: iconic punk front-man, free-speech pariah, incendiary spoken-word artist, wild-card collaborator and torchbearer for the waning rebelliousness of punk. As a 50th birthday present to himself, he formed his latest group, the Guantanamo School of Medicine, coming back to the adrenalized surf punk of his glory years with the Dead Kennedys. Jello’s bark is still as dangerous as his lyrical bite; on the album the Audacity of Hype, set to be released the weekend of Voodoo, his vibrato sneer still cuts through the din of frenetic guitars and double-speaking politicians like it was still the Reagan era.

Mates of State, Saturday 2:50 p.m.

PlayStation/Billboard.com Stage

George Clinton the Pogues, but the band is back with their ragged, toothless captain back at the helm.

Unlike the neo Celtic-punk bands that followed in their wake, there is no shtick to the Pogues; they rage and weep and cackle with absolute authority, embodying traditional Irish music while transcending it.

In the possible event the reunited Pogues are a holy mess of a train wreck, they will be the grandest train wreck you are likely to see this year. If I may make a suggestion, get Susan Cowsill up there to belt out the female part on “Fairytale of New York.”

K’naan, Saturday 1:50 p.m.

Voodoo Stage There is no paucity of hardship tales in hip-hop, but few mean street stories are going to stack up to K’naan’s childhood in Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War, a point he has no problem making on his recent album Troubadour. On the single “If Rap Gets Jealous”, K’naan features an epic guitar solo from Metallica’s Kirk Hammett to underscore the fact that he’s about something bigger than hip-hop; he’s about illuminating the world’s direst situations that get lost in the media spectacle of modern America. The thing that separates his story from becoming a cloying Amnesty International handout is his frank humor and flares of rage that pop out of his whip-smart production.

Sometimes I think the image of hipster marriage that occupies the design and ecoconsciousness of scrubbed, mildly tattooed couples in advertisements are modeled after Mates of State. Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel make immediately loveable music together, music with complex craft and a sly intensity behind it. Their songs give off an interlocked sense of purpose that seems almost a Platonic manifestation of the word “marriage.” If I may make a dinner party analogy, indie rock decided to hold an ironic pot luck and these two showed up with the most amazing paella.

Kiss, Saturday 9 p.m.

Voodoo Stage Here is how I really think Voodoo is going to play out: an evil City Park scientist in charge of wedding planning is going to use mind control to shut down the festival because park officials are instead funneling the money that normally goes to elaborate Halloween nuptials into staging Kiss at Voodoo. The scientist implants a mind control device in the neck of Lenny Kravitz who then helps the scientist build an evil robot Gene Simmons that wreaks havoc by melting all the mango ice in the park with his fire-breathing powers. They lock the actual Kiss in their tour bus and a fullband evil robot Kiss is sent onstage to whip the crowd into a riotous frenzy which the scientist hopes will scare park officials into never hosting another Voodoo again. Just as all hell is about to break loose, actual Kiss escapes and vanquishes the robot doppelgangers in an epic super-power battle on the festival grounds—there is no word at press time as to whether Tommy Thayer will be fitted with Ace Frehley’s “laser eyes.” Actual Kiss continues to rock ‘n’ roll all night, reveals the scientist’s plan to the authorities, frees Lenny Kravitz from his spell, and Halloween is saved!

—Alex V. Cook www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: earl perry

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Y AV GR

In the Kitchen with Rick was kind of an afterthought in my family. My parents were both 43 when I was born and I have three older sisters.

Consequently, my mom spoiled me.

Did not have to cook for myself at all. Then I went to college and ended up getting really hungry.

‘Wow, I have got to learn this,’ and it didn’t take long. Food is such a big deal here and my mom was just an amazing cook, but very classical Cajun country cooking the way it always has been done. I grew up in a little town called White Castle, which is an hour north of here, on the river.

My dad would go hunting and get squirrels or rabbits or whatever, bring them home. My mom would cook them and we always had great food around the house. Not the healthiest food, because the Cajuns are into their fat, but I grew up eating some really good food.

We eat jambalaya all year round, a lot of gumbo in winter, and we eat a little lighter; I’m 52 now and I can’t digest the roux like I used to. I’ll make a little bit to put in the gumbo because you have to have it, but I do my gumbo more with okra and file now. I love me some gumbo, but it’s a cold weather thing for me. I’m big on the okra; I like okra.

Culturally, south Louisiana is just a goldmine. You grow up eating great food; you grow up hearing great music. It’s all mixed up. The local music used to be played on AM radio all the time. The Irma Thomas, the Ernie K-Doe, you grew up hearing it. To me, it seems like a cool thing to play these songs, I just love these songs. All of the R&B stuff and the swamp pop. The guys in my band, we all realize that we really cannot write songs as good as Allen Toussaint and as good as Earl King and we don’t have time to learn and study that. Fortunately, the songs are already written. We just have to dig them up. Mix in the really well known numbers with some obscure numbers. If people really haven’t

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with shrimp and she jokingly says that, well, that pretty much sealed the deal for her. They were good.

Our love for sweets in South Louisiana; you’re in sugarcane country.

And so, sugar is a big deal here. In my own hometown it was considered treasonous to not eat sugar. You ate sugar because you were surrounded by sugarcane fields. It was good for the economy. I love sweets. I have a terrible sweet tooth. This is the most traditional Cajun dessert ever. Steen’s is the brand that I like, Steen’s cane syrup, and you don’t clean the plate off or anything. You put some of this on your plate and then you take your sliced white bread—this was my dad’s favorite dessert, he ate it every night— and there you have it. It’s called syrup and bread. It’s good too.”

Rick’s Creole String Beans “These are not your five-dollar bag of pretty beans. Real snap beans.”

heard the obscurities before, then I don’t think it matters that much whether you’re playing original songs. I want to do the great songs, and I don’t think we’re going to run out of material any time soon.

Now, I want to make sure I don’t cook something other than the recipe. Left to my own devices, I’ll be throwing other stuff in. Who knows? I’d be putting some bay leaf or something.

My mom did not cook with cilantro—parsley only. You never saw cilantro in the supermarket prior to 1985, or 1979 maybe. I just happen to love the taste, but it also relates to this idea of creolization. If something is Creole, it means that it’s been

By Elsa Hahne

adapted to the province. The way I see Creole is that you’re free to improvise. It means that you can be in touch with the tradition, but put your own thing on it right now, which is cool. Anything that had parsley in it before, I feel totally free to use cilantro now.

To a lot of people, the idea of making shrimp-stuffed mirlitons is real exotic. But not to me. I grew up watching my mom make them.

Stuffed artichokes, or whatever.

They’d sit there, stuff the damn artichokes. It was just an everyday thing. But that is just very exotic to some people. My wife, the first date we ever had, I invited her over to eat with me and I made stuffed mirlitons

1 pack (14 oz.) smoked beef sausage 1 yellow onion, chopped 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced 1 stalk celery, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped ½ cup fresh chopped cilantro 1 large Creole tomato 1/2 jalapeño pepper 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper juice of 1 lime 1 tablespoon Steen’s cane syrup ½ cup Chimay ale 1 ½ pounds fresh string beans Slice and brown sausage; remove from skillet. Add seasonings (onion through jalapeño) and sauté for 10 minutes. Add sausage back in along with Worchestershire, salt, pepper, lime juice, cane syrup and ale. Simmer for 15 minutes and stir to prevent sticking. Add string beans. Stir, cover and simmer to your preferred “doneness.” If mixture begins to dry out, add a splash more of the Chimay.

Serve over rice.

O www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

“I

Photographer Rick Olivier eats cane syrup to help the economy.

EATS

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

AMERICAN Hard Rock Café: 418 N. Peters St., 529-5617.

O’Henry’s Food & Spirits: 634 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-9741; 8859 Veterans Blvd., 461-9840; 710 Terry Pkwy., 433-4111.

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.

Walker’s Barbecue: 10828 Hayne Blvd., 241-8227.

BREAKFAST Daisy Dukes: 121 Chartres St., 561-5171.

Mena’s Place: 200 Chartres St., 525-0217.

New Orleans Cake Cafe & Bakery: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010.

COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544.

Café Rose Nicaud: 634 Frenchmen St., 949-2292.

Dee’s Coffee, Cake and Copy: 401 Baronne St., 596-2012.

CREOLE/CAJUN Atchafalaya Restaurant: 901 Louisiana Ave., 891-9626.

Clancy’s: 6100 Annunciation, 895-1111.

Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123.

Dick & Jenny’s: 4501 Tchoupitoulas, 894-9880.

Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021.

Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486.

K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen: 416 Chartres St., 524-7394.

Mulate’s: 201 Julia St., 522-1492.

DELI Mardi Gras Zone: 2706 Royal St., 947-8787.

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.

Maison Dupuy Hotel: 1001 Toulouse St., 586-8000.

Mat and Naddie’s: 937 Leonidas St., 861-9600.

Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078.

Pelican Club: 312 Exchange Place, 523-1504.

Restaurant Cuvée: 322 Magazine St., 587-9001.

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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; 621 St. Peter St., 302-2692.

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., 529-8811.

John Besh’s Domenica: 123 Baronne St., 648-1200.

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.

MEDITERRANEAN Byblos: 3218 Magazine St., 894-1233.

Café Lazziza: 2106 Chartres St., 943-0416.

Jamila’s Café: 7808 Maple St., 866-4366.

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., 9459997.

MUSIC ON THE MENU Carrollton Station Bar and Grill: 140 Willow St., 865-9190.

Chickie Wah Wah: 2828 Canal St., 304-4714.

House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068.

Prejean’s Restaurant: 3480 Hwy 167 N, Lafayette (337) 896-3247.

Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117.

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS Amy’s Vietnamese Café: French Market Flea Market, 352-9345.

Café Reconcile: 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 568-1157.

Camellia Grill: 626 S. Carrollton Ave., 309-2676.

Crabby Jacks: 428 Jefferson Hwy., 833-2722.

Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361.

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.

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.

Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar: 739 Iberville St. 522-4440.

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.

Mark Braud hits the Why Dooky Chase?

I remember the first time I came here.

I was in my early teens and came with my parents. My grandfather was a trumpet player but he also played piano and arranged for several big bands and for Dooky Chase’s band.

Dooky Chase knows my whole family. My grandfather probably played that piano right over there.

Who do you bring here?

Last time I came, I came with my wife. We met in highschool.

Married 16 years. Our youngest is 10 and now we have a junior and a senior in high school.

As a family, we don’t go to restaurants very often because we’re basically five adults. It gets expensive.

Dooky Chase 2301 Orleans Ave (504) 821-0600

OffBeat

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.

What do you eat here?

I love the cabbage and the stuffed shrimp. How do they make it?

Well, if I knew that [laughs]... The iced tea is also really good. You have to sweeten it yourself. I put Splenda in it. I’m supposed to be on a diet, but it’s just a thought now.—Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com

DINING OUT Stanley When we first visited the reopened and relocated Stanley back in January, we sadly left very disappointed. The lowlights: burned gumbo, raw steak masking as Korean barbecue, and dishes that seemed more theoretical than practical. What a difference a few months make.

If you have eaten at Stella! you know that Scott Boswell’s creativity can be wildly addictive.

At Stanley, that imagination is shelved in favor of a homage to the classic diner, with a few twists of course. Sometimes though that suppressed ingenuity peeks out, as in this case with the po-boy sliders. The trifecta of mini poboys caused outright debate at our table about which one was best. Ultimately, the chicken club with its tangy Caesar pesto dressing and smoked bacon emerged as the winner, but the fried oyster with cole slaw and kimchee with Korean barbecue beef (this time cooked medium) were close behind.

Traditional dishes are treated with reverence.

Mahogany-colored gumbo provides a deep

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and spicy background for perfectly poached oysters, shrimp, andouille and chicken.

The reuben benefits from a last minute walk across a well-buttered flat top griddle, while the softshell crab po-boy is spiced up with both spicy remoulade and Creole cocktail sauces. The burger claims to be “world famous,” but your taste buds are best tantalized elsewhere.

Breakfast/brunch dishes comprise half the menu and offer both a sampling of Creole favorites and a handful of originals. The best of the latter is the Breaux Bridge Benedict.

Thick rounds of French bread are layered with boudin and American cheese, crowned with a poached egg, and finally bathed in

Photo: elsa hahne

EATS

a Creole hollandaise. It is rich, it is hearty, and it is wonderful whether you are taking a lunch break or recovering from a long night.

If instead your sweet tooth needs satisfying, look no further than the Bananas Foster French toast with house-1made Tahitian vanilla ice cream. Just another stellar dish from a restaurant which continues to improve over time. 547 St Ann St., 587-0093. Daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

—Rene Louapre and Peter Thriffiley

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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

Rock City Morgue Meets the Real World

Rock City Morgue The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (Castle Gray Skull) Rock City Morgue has generally traded on a version of New Yorkbased, B-movie-oriented punk rock for much of its career, and done so well. Building songs around ghosts, ghouls and creepy things seems a little quaint in the age of Hostel and after a generation of darker gothic bands, but post-New York Dolls rock ’n’ roll is durable stuff.

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is an across-the-board step forward.

Punk and ’70s hard rock and current metal all show up in the sound, and guitarist Johnny Brashear makes it all seem obvious. Bassist Sean Yseult plays more piano than ever before, but instead of signaling a change to a more Nick Cave-ish mode, her piano’s better integrated into the songs, often pounding out high notes in the rockers. In “Creepin’ in the Dark,” un-punk-like bongos add a percolating chug.

The success, though, is Rik Slave’s. Slave’s always had one of those great punk voices—not pretty, a little snotty, and loaded with personality. He’s in fine form here, and while the gothic vocabulary remains, his lyrics are rarely gothic. “Grave” in the title “Grave Mistake” gives the song a thematic link to what’s gone

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before, but the song’s not about graves. And the song that most loans itself to a horror movie reading—“Creepin’ in the Dark”— brings fear to the world most of us live in, suggesting that the creeper is a thug or robber instead of something with an atom brain.

The realm Rock City Morgue has inhabited is a fun one, but by making old horror movies the center of the band’s musical world, it has limited how much any song speaks to listeners. With The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, the whole project became slightly less conceptual.

—Alex Rawls

Irma Thomas The Soul Queen of New Orleans: 50th Anniversary Celebration (Rounder) On which we celebrate the Queen’s 49th anniversary in show business, actually, counting from her first single, 1960’s “Don’t Mess with My Man.” But given the Queen, who wants to count? This celebration only counts material from the last quarter-century, too, finding Thomas’ voice huskier and just a touch more mannered than over her first half.

Still, she is who she is. And she wouldn’t be if she couldn’t bring it.

“Got to Bring It with You,” one of three newly-minted tracks, preaches self-reliance and preaches it assuredly. Oddly enough though, it sets the album off out of step.

Thomas’ domain resides mainly within soul. Soul, blurred slightly from gospel’s template of lacking God and desperate to close that gap, focuses usually on the lack of Another (human, usually). Hence “Let It Be Me,” a confident command deftly undercut with a vein of anxiety that its command might go unheeded. Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham’s “I’m

Your Puppet” finds her in wholeand warm-hearted submission, unlike the jarring one-two of James & Bobby Purify’s original. Only prostration before Another will close up the lack (showing soul hasn’t fallen so far from gospel after all).

New Orleans’ finest come around to play and write for the Queen, and she adapts older material to suit her, like a testifying take on “There Must Be a Better World,” from Dr. John and Doc Pomus. The scariest 3:48 comes from Thomas’ new lyrics (co-written with producer Scott Billington) for “Another Man Done Gone.”

John Fogerty’s “River Is Waiting” returns us to safe ground with surefooted gospel, unless you count how the flood changed the notion of “river” to something you can’t count on for comfort. But the Queen insists, and that’s how she goes about being who she is.

—Andrew Hamlin

Jeremy Davenport We’ll Dance ‘Til Dawn (Basin Street) Jeremy Davenport has lived much of his career in quotation marks, a living homage to another day and style. Onstage, he’s a throwback to the heyday of the great lounge vocalists—sharpdressed, quick-witted and smooth. His patter is often selfdeprecating or off the wall, as if he knows a joke that only the cool cats get, and the songs are a vehicle for his persona. He sings a little, plays a little, and treats everything like it’s no big deal, just something to do until the all-night card game starts at midnight.

The fact that the Rat Pack trademarked that persona 45 years ago and everybody knows

it makes Davenport seem almost post-modern as he emulates it.

We’ll Dance ‘til Dawn isn’t postmodern, though. He’s not riffing on the past; he’s sharing values with them, and he does so effectively.

He surrounds himself with a killer band—David Torkanowsky, Roland Guerin and Troy Davis—and though they get their moments with Torkanowsky brilliant throughout, their role is to swing and frame Davenport. On the surface, he’s not quite up to his support. His voice is not particularly emotional, nor is it distinctive. But he wisely works to his own strengths, sticking to songs that play to his sense of swing. His taste in songs leans toward ones with the sort of clever, intricate lines and rhymes that simulate a dance in their light, rhythmic movement.

And to his immense credit, he writes songs that stand comfortably next to one by Rogers and Hart and Arlen and Mercer. The lead track, “Almost Never,” is a swift, smart, bouncy number that inventively tags the title phrase to the end of lines and verses, providing a simultaneous lyrical and musical hook as it reverses the thought. He follows the song with “When I Take My Sugar to Tea,” taking obvious pleasure in singing lines such as “I’m a rowdy dowdy, that’s me” and “I never take her where the gang goes,” stepping firmly but www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS elegantly on the “G”s in the final phrase.

Davenport’s attention to the musical aspects of his performance evokes that golden era of the lounge singer, and it’s the reason that We’ll Dance ‘til Dawn stays with you. He may be a living reference to another time, but by embracing their musicality as much as their style, his album stands comfortably in their company.

—Alex Rawls

Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble Zydeco Heart and Soul (Louisiana Soul) Ever since he stepped out from behind the traps and emerged as a frontman, Curley Taylor has been a zydeco modernist. Despite his envelope-pushing strategies and progressive recordings, his fourth CD is his most groundbreaking yet. He’s part of the movement ushering in a new era of zydeco that, in essence, nudges it closer to the music of mainstream America and today’s R&B/hip-hop stable of artists. Unlike previous recordings where the accordion dominates loud and clear, on many tracks it’s not obvious that it’s present amidst

the synthesized keyboards, digitized vocals and heavy backbeats. There’s also more emphasis on melody and lyrics, resulting in songs that express sentiments of love, hope and desire rather than slogans to party by.

And instead of each song being sung by a sole, single voice, Taylor supplements his vocals with lushly layered background vocals that, along with the prettier melodies, emanate mild feelings of euphoria.

There’s a lot of creativity here. Two hip-hop versions of “Take It 2 the Club” find alternating rappers Taylor, Antonio Jackson and Sir Polo taking it over the top, crunk-style. The original is built upon an unfaltering zydeco beat; the remix sequel is slower with earthquaking house beats.

Though Taylor sees himself as a hipster in today’s contemporary music scene, another part of him is a soul throwback more akin to Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack. On the infectious “Baby Dontcha Go,” his vocals abound with a Pentecostallike charisma while resounding background vocals hit the last word of every line in fervent fashion.

Yet, even with all this, he never forgets where he came from. Some tracks (“Zydeco Cutie,” “Curley’s 2 Step”) are more zydeco-oriented with Taylor’s single-row accordion

prominent in the mix. It’s not even close to your father’s zydeco, but Taylor aims to be your zydeco daddy.

—Dan Willging

Mike Hood Hocus Pocus (STR Digital) Pianist Mike Hood knows how to please a crowd during his regular gigs at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, as long as the patrons are blues fans. “I take requests, but I don’t play Elton John and I don’t play Billy Joel,” Hood notes.

Hocus Pocus, Hood’s solid debut, sticks to that script. He opens with “Black Cat Bone,” a twist on a traditional blues that rocks out with the outstanding horn section of Rick Trolsen on trombone, Eric Traub on tenor sax, Jason Mingledorff on baritone sax and Barney Floyd on trumpet. The horn charts, all written by Trolsen, are spectacular throughout. The title song, a Hood original, is a worthy addition to the New Orleans R&B canon with a hot saxophone solo from Traub. Other originals offer fresh variations on blues themes, from the hard rocking “Mississippi Dope Trap” to the rumbling “Get Down Tonight”

and the “Cool Jerk”-inspired “Down in the Water,” which features a really good piano solo.

Hood is adept at taking familiar blues songs and personalizing them. Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Asked for Water” is delivered in a soft, sleepy voice with piano fills that creep down the song’s dusty corridors as guitarist Jimmy Dreams plays an ingenious variation on Hubert Sumlin’s spooky figure. Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues” is done as a slow grind with a great horn chart and Hood tippling a solo out of the Memphis Slim bag. Hood also pays tribute to founding NRBQ guitarist Steve Ferguson with a catchy rendition of the second line strut “Hi Di Ho.” —John Swenson

Cliff Hines Quintet Like Mystics of Old (Independent) The simple phrase, “This album is dedicated to all of my teachers: past, present, and future,” lines the inside cover of the Cliff Hines Quintet’s debut album, Like Mystics of Old. It’s a rather bold statement considering Hines has yet to reach 21. But after one listen, it’s clear that the young

A Fine Arrangement Harry Connick, Jr. Your Songs (Columbia) I assume that the title—Your Songs—is a reference to standards, songs that belong to all of us. On his new album, Harry Connick, Jr. visits the classic songbook, reaching as far forward as the 1970s for tunes by Billy Joel, Roberta Flack and Elton John, often constructed with hints of bossa nova and Tijuana horns. Add songs by the Beatles, Elvis and Burt Bacharach and you have an album that could be easily mistaken for a SinatraMartinDavisEtCetera album from the mid-’70s recorded to prove the singer’s relevance in the rock ’n’ roll era.

That anachronistic element aside, Your Songs is impressive. Connick www.OFFBEAT.com

has become a singer whose voice does more than echo days gone by with a slight southern drawl. Time and again, he plays with the melody in subtle, smart ways, freshening lines and giving familiar phrases new sparkle. If I’m ever going to listen to “Just the Way You Are” on purpose, it’s going to be Connick’s version, which he sings with tenderness, good humor and with the awareness that it’s a lounge song—three characteristics that eluded Billy Joel the first time around.

For me, Connick’s arrangements are the star of any album he makes.

Here, he works with horns and strings and walks a fine line, evoking the tradition he comes from— almost quoting it at times—but the arrangements are never retro or stock. The strings on “The Way You Look Tonight” animate the opening

with busy little flourishes that draw attention to their presence before they settle into the background, laying down a textural bed for the happy-go-lucky horns. He knows how to leave room for his voice, and he knows when to add elements to enliven a moment.

Not surprisingly, Your Songs doesn’t provide much of a showcase for his piano. It takes over on Elton John’s “Your Song,” though, which Connick remakes in a gentle barrelhouse mode.

It grounds the sentiment in an emotional context—the bar, late at night—and replaces Elton John’s too-sincere piano with offhandedly deft, Bookeresque fills and runs that give the track dimension.

He creates the sense of someone thinking aloud at the keyboard— the song’s central conceit—but

Connick makes it credible, witty and endearing.

It’s tempting to wonder if those charms are enough to interest listeners in an album of standards, but it’s likely that Connick’s core audience will be thrilled by the standards, making the question moot. A better final thought is the realization is that Connick is investing more than his voice and charm in his vocal music; there are solid musical reasons to pay attention as well.

—Alex Rawls N O VEMBER 2 009

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REVIEWS student (Hines studies jazz guitar at the University of New Orleans) chose his words wisely and with careful consideration as a deep sense of optimism and reverence permeate this imaginative and ebullient affair.

Hines’ lyrical six-string flourishes color Like Mystics of Old’s canvas, enticing vocalist Sasha Masakowski’s playful coos one moment (“What Choice Do I Have”) while inciting her cries the next (“Nova”). The rhythm section of drummer Paul Thibodeaux and bassist Martin Masakowski (Sasha’s brother) provide the album’s contrasts, propelling the hypnotic fugue of “Insomniatic” and eliciting the sonorous euphoria of “The Pacifier.” Khris Royal on saxophone and EWI serves as Hines’ melodic counterpoint, drifting gorgeously through the vivid dreamscape, “Pastel,” and whirling dizzily around the post-rock fantasy, “Dance of the Cleyrans.”

Not all of the album’s tunes work as well. The confusing “Tippy Toes,” the only lyric-driven number, withers a bit as Masakowski muses about the fate of a bizarre, shapeshifting creature. At other points, the album digresses into fusionland.

But the sublime texture of “As in Blindness,” and the stirring beauty of “Mystic” capture Hines’ depth as a composer. The album’s title track, also its only cover, pays tribute to the late, avant-garde clarinetist Alvin Batiste, Jr. Here, over spare percussion, Martin Masakowski— playing bass recorder—and Hines weave a multi-hued tapestry rich in East Asian mystique. Lush and eloquent, never brash nor naïve, the Cliff Hines Quintet molds jazz that is at the same time exuberant and expressive, subtle and supple.

—Aaron LaFont

Mutemath Armistice (Warner Bros.)

“Do you believe this world lacks the common courtesy to thank us all for this love?” track one, “The Nerve,” asks the brotherhood of man, whose members demand to know the answers to universal questions of why. Why do we give so much without receiving? Why do we continue to fail in our daily lives?

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Why can’t I reach my dreams?

The name Armistice promises to reconcile these issues, but instead it stirs the pot, bringing up old questions and posing new ones. The new questions are formed from beyond Mutemath’s lyrical puzzle; the guys take every musical instrument they know how to play and add them to the mix, creating the only true reconciliation of the album— musical harmony. The use of the violin, piano, cello, sax, trombone, and electric guitar simultaneously heighten the emotional nature of each individual track.

If you didn’t know the band began as Christian rockers, you might miss the possible spiritual meanings where genres collide, and of the lyrics where “One life ties to another” and assuring us “It’s all in how you cope in spite of knowing.” You can miss the Christian dimension without missing something crucial, though, because those concerns are human, not just spiritual.

We may never know the answers to the big questions, yet Mutemath try to bring us some satisfaction of assurance—we are in it together—and Armistice strives to create a peace treaty through sound.

—Lauren Loeb

Jivin’ Gene It’s Never Too Late (Jin) Jivin’ Gene was one of the original swamp poppers, having made a regional splash on his very first single, “Going Out with the Tide,” in 1958.

A year later, he cracked the Top 100 nationally with “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” (not to be confused with Neil Sedaka’s song of the same name)

which enjoyed a four-week run at number 69. He never equaled that feat, instead recording for a slew of labels—Chess, Mercury, Capital, Hall and Hallway—before hanging it up in 1966.

Forty-three years later, the 69-yearold Southeast Texas crooner still has the pipes, probably as a result of not having to strain his vocal chords nightin and night-out. These proceedings won’t spawn any national hits, nonetheless It’s Never Too Late is a splendid swamp pop album chock full of tripletting laments, twisty rock ’n’ rollers and slow, bluesy groovers.

A number of Gene’s early songs are reprised here with wrinkle-free botox treatment including “Up, Up and Away,” the flip side of his first single, and the delightful rhythmic tongue twister “Genie Bom Beanie.”

The crack studio band that includes drummer Warren Storm and saxman Rick Folse makes the arrangements sound classic. It’s your papa’s swamp pop all over again, and this time it feels so darned comfy.

—Dan Willging

soul of “Unfulfilled Love” flickers with promise until creaky metaphors like “I am wrestling like an addict / fighting hard to kick this habit” poke holes in the plush melody.

Not before the stirring, Staxflavored gem “Standing on Old Ground” does the album really establish a strong, revealing tone.

Organist Mike Burkhart’s B3 swells sweep up the fervent chorus, “Standing on old ground looking through new eyes” as a looselimbed groove simmers in the background. The poignant acoustic showcase “It’s Only You Tonight” captures a bit of Bucaro’s nuanced singer-songwriter magic, and the sizzling blues rocker “The Other End” rivals John Mayer’s catchy crossover appeal. There’s absolutely no touching the smoldering passion of “Let Me Let Go of You,” New Orleans’ strongest composition, and the simple, spirited beauty of the piano-flecked love song “Abandoned Mind” makes for a compelling listen.

—Aaron LaFont

Clarence Bucaro

Swamp Dogg

New Orleans (Hyena)

Give ’em as Little as You Can... As Often as You Have to...or a Tribute to Rock ’n’ Roll (S-Curve)

On his latest album, New Orleans, Clarence Bucaro revisits a project he shelved prior to releasing 2008’s ’Til Spring.

Backed by an all-star ensemble, including sousaphonist Kirk Joseph and guitarist Anders Osborne, with whom Bucaro also shares production credits, this ten-song suite depicts the journeyman’s love affair with the Crescent City.

Steeped in blue-eyed soul, New Orleans finds Bucaro peeling away the singer-songwriter sheen of his earlier records, foregoing rootstempered wonderment in favor of lovesick balladry. It’s a sound that the 29 year-old singer struggles with throughout. While there’s no denying that Bucaro possesses a clever way with words and a powerful set of pipes, more often than not, he fails to shine as much as he could. Early on, lengthy lyrics and somewhat lumbered phrasing leave the fetching “Light in Your Eyes” hanging on an over-sweetened hook. The slinky, stripped-down

Considering Swamp Dogg, a.k.a. Jerry Williams, is one of the most brilliant songwriters of his generation—this man wrote “If I Could Do It All Over Again (I’d Do It All Over You)”—an album of covers by him is quite a change of pace. Swamp Dogg recycles material from a wide range of artists including Fats Domino, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Reed, Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and even himself. While the concept might seem questionable, this is quite an entertaining outing as he really throws himself into the proceedings.

The Dogg’s got a big sound behind him with a heavy-handed— but good— guitarist on board and lots of electronic effects in the mix, too. This pairing reaches its apex on “Johnny B. Goode,” which sounds like Chuck Berry on acid. His version of Jimmy Reed’s blues classic “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” really swings, even with the busy guitar. www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

bookmark

As always, humor is present on a Swamp Dogg album. His Pointer Sisters vamp at the end of “Great Balls of Fire” is especially brilliant.

Swamp Dogg does pause to go old school on “My Girl” and “I Never Loved a Woman” before going ballistic on “Satisfaction.”

I’ve yet to encounter an inferior Swamp Dogg recording or production, and this one is no exception.

—Jeff Hannusch

Jenny Brooks Down in the Bayou (Independent) Jenny Brooks breaks my heart.

She makes a form of country that the marketplace doesn’t seem to have any place for these days, and it’s worse for it. She’s so gung-ho and committed to it that it’s hard not to worry that this will all end in frustration for her. She’s not making honky-tonk; there’s a market for

The Price of Fame Lloyd Price and William Waller The True King of the 50’s: The Lloyd Price Story (Lloyd Price)

Unless you’ve read several vanity/self-published books, I doubt you’ve ever encountered a publication quite like this one. Lloyd Price is definitely a most important figure in the pantheon of New Orleans music, sharing the same pedestal with Longhair, Domino, Bartholomew and Toussaint.

However, he often gets overlooked because he left New Orleans more than 50 years ago. Bear Family’s recent 34-track tribute, Lloyd Price Rocks, underlines the man’s talent and importance.

The majority of The True King of the 50’s: The Lloyd Price Story comes from a short interview Price did with Waller. Despite the book’s coffeetable size, the average reader can finish this inside 60 minutes, even if the phone rings a couple times.

Granted, there’s some important information here and some fascinating stories—particularly Price’s recollections of Kenner when it was a rural community, and the genesis of the landmark hit, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”—but there’s so much missing and irrelevant information vis a vis Price. Surely, Price and Waller had to realize anyone picking up a book about Lloyd Price doesn’t want to read sections about the Everly Brothers and the Beatles.

While Waller is obviously a business associate of Price’s—there’s nothing wrong with that—his journalistic skills leave a lot to be www.OFFBEAT.com

desired. His favorite, and most annoying, response to a Price tale is, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

While it’s noted that Price was the first African-American to sell his pizza kit to Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven, there’s no mention that in the mid-1950s he was one of the first blacks, and first recording artists, to start their own label. There’s also no mention of his association with ABCParamount, which released the bulk of his hits, nor any mention of his role as a prize fight promoter who once was a partner with Don King.

One interesting part of the book though is where Price touts the local deejays of the day and the role they played in creating hit records. There are some great photographs found here, but honestly, the book is laid out like a picture Bible.

If your public library picks up this book, it’s worth checking out.

If you’re going to shell out hard earned money on a Lloyd Price project, Lloyd Price Rocks is a better testament to his talent.

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REVIEWS also the sort that will find fans when she plays, and they’ll rightly wonder why she’s not a bigger star. But in Nashville, the countryto-rock ratio changes hourly, and if your ratio’s a fragment off, it and country radio pass you by.

—Alex Rawls

Betty Davis Is It Love or Desire (Light in the Attic) that, though it’s called Americana.

She’s making a modern, poporiented country, but like all pop, what’s considered contemporary changes quarterly, and anything even five minutes behind the moment is dismissed by Nashville, while the honky-tonk blow it off as too modern and shiny.

The irony is that Down on the Bayou is spirited fun with songs that work every time. Titles that promise too much cleverness (“Cadillaction,” “Dixie for the Chicks”) don’t lean too hard on the gimmick and make it on solid song craft. Clichés turn up more often than you’d like, but there’s no pretense to profundity here, and Brooks sings with such spunk and energy that at least a third of them are forgiven. Her songs are

It’s desire. On the album Betty Davis recorded in 1976 at Studio in the Woods in Bogalusa, the title may ask if it’s love or desire, but she makes it clear. The only time love appears is “When Romance Says Goodbye,” and the song is the end of all softness and tenderness. Here as on her other albums, she owns her sexuality and sings about it in terms that sound cataclysmic. Listen to the title track, “Whorey Angel” and “Crashin’ from Passion” and tell me anyone walks away from sex with Davis without sustaining serious internal injuries.

The cult of Betty Davis—onetime wife of Miles Davis— resurfaced in 2007 when Light in the Attic Records reissued Betty Davis and They Say I’m Different,

and the recently reissued Nasty Gal and Is It Love or Desire are more of the same—glam, guitarheavy funk-rock supporting her extreme vocals. She’s as much an actress as a singer, and she specializes in portraying the woman who’ll wake the neighboring town during sex or the post-coital shouting match.

The album was recorded for Island Records but went unreleased for reasons no one is certain of.

For sure, her musical vision is an extreme one, but no more so than her previous albums. Her music is admirable for that extremeness, and it still sounds vibrant today.

It’s not musical, either. The songs work, and the groove for “Crashin’ from Passion” was ahead of its time and sounds contemporary now. In the liner notes, Davis attributes the shelving of the album to a disagreement she had with label owner Chris Blackwell, and that’s as likely as anything. If the passion she brings to her performance is rooted in anything real, it’s easy to imagine that she could have falling outs.

The intensity means she can be a little exhausting to listen to, but the ride is worth it.

—Alex Rawls

Conceptual Petals the subdudes Flower Petals (429) After the straightforward verisimilitude of its CD/DVD release Live at the Ram’s Head, the new subdudes album, Flower Petals, is a mannered, carefully wrought set piece that takes a dramatic step away from the grim reality of life in the new millennium. In fact it’s a rock band version of a historical novel, with the ’dudes costumed in 19th Century garb and writing about simpler times in the Old West.

Themes of courtly love and the kind of war where the combatants looked each other in the eye are matched to nature imagery and agrarian landscapes where work is done by hand, morality is

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administered by the Bible and the gallows, and riches are measured by a field of corn. The album even presents a story line—a soldier is killed, leaving behind a lover who refuses to accept his passing. The townspeople execute a drifter for the crime and the narrator has a Saul/St. Paul moment of realization that they hung the wrong man.

The songs are beautifully crafted, built around Tommy Malone and John Magnie’s strong lead vocals and superb harmony arrangements for their band partners. Acoustic strings and accordion provide the instrumental accompaniment, with no solos except on the instrumental coda, and only the bass amplified throughout. The most revved up moment on the

album comes in “Redemption Dance,” a rollicking hoedown with Jimmy Messa calling the square dance.

Flower Petals is indeed that dreaded pop beast, the concept album, and as such is a radical departure from the band’s past recordings. But unlike the contents of most concept albums, these songs are not weakened by dependence on a story line. Each is an imaginative entity unto itself.

—John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band

post-bop fare suffused with tight, interlocking melodies and cool, nimble grooves.

The disc begins with a mysterious, darting bass line shadowed by a creeping unison melody which splits into a stealthy, twisting solo section. Throughout, the musicians expand on this theme, chasing each other around corners, dipping, diving, and dashing from one spot to the next.

Without a drummer, Singleton sets the tone, creating tension

with his jaunts and deepening the mood with his cavernous swells and deft countermelodies.

McGrain, the ringleader, delivers a stellar performance, scampering, scaling, and surging across the sonic terrain. His haunting squeals and electronic explorations also spur the albums most intense and exciting forays. Green shades the landscape, coloring its contours with his soaring solos, stiff, angular volleys, luminescent tones, and rich, reverberant flourishes.

It doesn’t get any cooler than the smooth, spacious rumble of “Life of a Cipher,” nor will you ever come across anything more sinister than McGrain’s eerie solo endeavor, “One Man Machine.” The exquisite “Missing Mozambique” glistens with a somber, silvery motif, but the sweeping, carefree stroll “The Praise Singer” seals the set with a sunlit swing. Consider Dancing on Thin Ice a plunge worth taking.

—Aaron LaFont

Devaloka (Notone) A yoga soundtrack is a very specialized thing, but that’s what Devaloka is. And as far as I—a non-yoga person—can tell, it’s a good one. It drones in the hypnotic way you’d expect, but Johnson or someone in the Wild Lotus Band has some rock or pop in their backgrounds as rock textures and hooks show up to give the pieces shape. “Calling Ganesha” even includes a familiar sound as it quotes a moment from Dr. John’s “Walk on Gilded Splinters.” Devoloka isn’t an every day thing—unless you do yoga every day—but it’s more immediate and satisfying than its use would suggest.

—Alex Rawls

Plunge Dancing on Thin Ice (Immersion) For the first time in 13 years, trombonist Marc McGrain has convened a group of musicians to record an album under the moniker Plunge. In the mid-‘90s, McGrain, then a Boston resident, helmed Plunge’s 1996 release Falling with Grace, a heady, groove-heavy expedition that garnered significant acclaim in the jazz world. This time around, McGrain, now a New Orleans denizen, recruited saxophonist Tim Green and bassist James Singleton to participate in a unique session, one rooted in improvisation and recorded live at McGrain’s home studio with little to no prior rehearsal. Titled Dancing on Thin Ice, the album is exhilarating, www.OFFBEAT.com

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When you’re out, text the word ‘offbeat’ to 33669 for daily listings.

For complete listings, go to www.offbeat.com

Listings EXPRESS

FRIDAY OCT 30

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay and Rick Westin 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: the Parishoners (OR) 7, Meadowflow (RR) 10p Blue Nile: Eric Lindell, Mia Borders, Brother Joscephus, the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra (VR) 10p BMC: Sasha Masakowski (JV) 7p, Fredy Omar con su Banda (LT) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Threadhead Fridays feat. Paul Sanchez & Friends (JV) 8p d.b.a.: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 6p, New Orleans Klezmer All-stars (JV) 10p, WOLFF (VR) 2a Donna’s: Meshiya Lake and the Little Big Horn Band (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Endless Night Dark Party (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Chuck Brackman and Barry Foulon (TJ) 9p House of Blues: Hanson (RR) 7:30p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Flashback (RR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Voodoo at Night feat. Rebirth Brass Band and Big Sam’s Funky Nation (BB FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Damien Louviere (BL) 5p, Foot & Friends (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Dertybird (RR) 11p, Mike Dillon’s Go-go Jungle (FK) 1a Maple Leaf: Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p Prytania Music & Spirits: Groovesect, Easy Company (JV) 12a Rivershack Tavern: Ghost Town (CW) 9:30p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Bucktown All-stars (PP) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (MJ) 8p, 10p Justin Peake Trio (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Jens Ex (RR) 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Porter, Batiste, Stoltz feat.

Bonerama (FK) 10p Tipitina’s: Galactic, Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle (FK) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SATURDAY OCT 31

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: Mid-City Monsters Ball Halloween Party feat. Juice (FK) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p, Gravity A, Dr. Gonzeaux (downstairs) (RR) 10p, Mike Dillon’s Go-go Jungle (FK) 2a BMC: Pat Casey & the New Sound (JV) 7p, Louisiana Hellbenders (BL) 10:30p, Franklin IV & the Unknown Artists! (JV) 1:30a d.b.a.: Rotary Downs (JV) 11p Donna’s: Leroy Jones Quintet (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Endless Night Dark Party (RR) 10p Fritzel’s: Ben Polcer and Richard Scott (TJ) 9p House of Blues: Endless Night Vampire Ball (RR) 12a Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): DJ Scrim (PP) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Krewe of MOM’s Halloween Ball feat. Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Derrick Freeman’s Smokers World (FK VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Halloween Celebration feat. Purple Disrespect (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: call club for early show Rites of Passage (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Jon Cleary’s Piano, Bass & Drums with Donald Harrison (FK) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Quintron, the Buttons, Super Nice Brothers (RR) 9p Parkway Bakery & Tavern: Cullen Landry & the Midnight Streetcar feat. Al “Carnival Time” Johnson (RB) 7p Republic: Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) DJ Set, King Britt, Swiss Chriss (VR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: Halloween Party feat. Soul Revival (BL RR) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit’s Swampland Jam (BL RR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: The Iguanas 8p, 10p Tipitina’s French Quarter: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra (FK) 10p

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. For up-to-the-minute, complete music listings, check OffBeat’s web page at www.offbeat.com. For more details on a show, call the club directly. Phone numbers of clubs are shown in this section and/or at www.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 BL BU BB SH KJ KS CL CO CW DN

A Cappella Acoustic Blues Bluegrass Brass Band Cabaret/Show Cajun Christian Classical Comedy Country Dance

FE FK GS IR IN MJ TJ JV LT ME PK PP

Folk Funk Gospel Indie Rock International/World Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Trad Jazz, Variety Latin Metal Piano/Keyboards Pop/Top 40/Covers

RG RH RB RR SI SW TC

VO ZY

Reggae Rap/Hip Hop Rhythm & Blues Rock Swing/Gypsy Spoken Word Techno/Dance/ Electronica Vocals Zydeco

SMOKE-FREE SHOW

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Tipitina’s: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. (MJ) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SUNDAY NOV 1

Apple Barrel: Kenny Claiborne (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, I Tell You What (BL) 10:30p BMC: Lantana Combo (JV) 6p, Gal Holiday (CW) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: DJ T-Roy (RG) 8:30p, Zoogma (RR) 10:30p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Corey Henry feat. Good Enough for Good Times (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Attrition, Floopy Head (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 10a Howlin’ Wolf: John “JoJo” Hermann, Ivan Neville, George Porter, Jr. and more (FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): David Torkanowsky pres. Mason’s VIP Lounge Revisited feat. Germaine Bazzle and guests (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Steve Keith (FR) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Walter “Wolfman” Washington & Russell Batiste, Jr. (FK) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: After Voodoo Party feat. Trombone Shorty and Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott and Meschiya Lake (MJ) 3p, Betty Shirley (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: JJ Grey & Mofro, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger Band (FK) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

MONDAY NOV 2

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (BL) 10:30p BMC: Franklin Avenue Underpass Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Mario Abney (JV) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Les Getrex and the Blues All-stars (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Punk and Metal Night, Saints vs.

Falcons Hip-Hop Afterparty (ME RH) 10p Get Laid, Muhammad Ali (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Ryan & Friends (OR) 9p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: open blues jam feat. Chuck Credo (BL) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (MJ) 8p, 10p

TUESDAY NOV 3

Apple Barrel: Luke (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: experimental sax duo, Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (VR) 10p BMC: Ed Dowling’s New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Marc Penton and Smoky Greenwell (BL) 10p, Domenic (BL) 1a Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Red Elvises, DeBauche (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: the Used, the Almost, Drive A (RR) 7p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Jason Marsalis (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Honky Tonk Open Mic feat. Jason Bishop (CW) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10p Preservation Hall: Carl LeBlanc & the Essential New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Ernie Vincent (RB) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 8p, 10p

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WEDNESDAY NOV 4

Apple Barrel: Wendy Darling (BL) 8p, Eve’s Lucky Planet (BL) 10:30p Big Top: Off With Their Heads, Smalltown, Caddywhompus, the Rooks (RR) 7p Blue Nile: The Groovecats and Kris Royal (FK) 9p BMC: Domenic (BL) 6p, Jeremy Phipps and Monday’s Date (JV) 8p, Eric Gordon and the Lazy Boys Music Group (OR) 11p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Opposable Thumbs (RR) 10p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Peaches, MEN (RR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam Session (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Andre Williams, R. Scully & the Rough Seven (RR) 9p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Serenaders feat. Clive Wilson (JV) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: Ben Deignan (OR) 9p Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Moonshiners (SI) 8:30p Sandbar (UNO): Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Orange Kellin with New Old Music Ensemble and Hot Club Ensemble (MJ) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Steve Masakowski & Nova Nola (TJ) 8p, 10p

sborne nders O ” n “Papa h and Jo eir th e u ntin Gros co iving g s k n a Th y-aftert Saturda laying a p f o r n traditio this yea , n o ti ta S n to ll Carro hn Fohl. itarist Jo with gu

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THURSDAY NOV 5

Apple Barrel: call for early show, Andy J. Forest (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Bayou International featuring DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p BMC: Some Like it Hot (JV) 6p, the Live Oaks (JV) 9:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: the Pfister Sisters (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Lynn Drury (JV) 7p, Jimmy Carpenter & Friends (JV) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: DJ Proppa Bear’s Bassbin Safari (DN) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Jessie James, Push Play (RR) 7:30p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Black Magnolia Live Band Karaoke (PP) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Johnaye Kendrick (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Gram Parsons Tribute feat.

Balsawood Flyers (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 10p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. John Mooney (OR) 6p Palm Court: Tommy Sancton Quintet (JV) 7p Prytania Music & Spirits: Lagniappe Thursday feat the Blue Party (OR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: John Lisi (BL RR) 7p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Chris Ardoin (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Lady Fest jazz show feat. Leah Chase, Cindy Scott and more (MJ) 8p, 10p Spotted Cat: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Vaughan’s: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 8:30p

FRIDAY NOV 6

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay and Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: the Parishoners (RR) 7p O CTO BER 2 009

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SATURDAY NOV 7

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p; Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (TJ) 10:30p BMC: Pat Casey & the New Sound (JV) 7p, Chegadao (JV) 10:30p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (JV) 1:30a Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Little Freddie King (JV) 11p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Pretty Lights, Alex B 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Neal Cane (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Denise Marie (BL) 5p, Invisible Cowboy (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Jason Party (FK) 4p, Outformation (FK) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Marc Broussard (RR) 9p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Serenaders (JV) 8p

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Prytania Music & Spirits: Autumn Electric with King Cecil (RR) 9p Rivershack Tavern:Austin Sicard & the Medics (BL) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sonny Landreth, John Lee Hooker, Jr. (BL) 9p Snug Harbor: Astral Project (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: the Silent Game, Gamma Ringo (RR) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SUNDAY NOV 8

Apple Barrel: Kenny Claiborne (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Andre Bouvier & the Royal Bohemians (BL) 10:30p BMC: Lantana Combo (JV) 6p, Gal Holiday (CW) 9p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 10p Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Attrition, Aiua (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p

PLAN A: Camera Obscura “I spent a week in a dusty library” is how “French Navy,” the opening single from Scottish group Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career, starts.

It sounds like the perfect place for this band, a celebrated practitioner of the misnamed “twee” style characterized by Prufrockgrade longing and a Phil Spector sense of insular pop majesty. Something different happens on this record, however. It’s as if the wallflower that narrates previous, understated efforts Let’s Get out of This Country and Underachievers Please Try Harder—titles that underscore the Smithsstyle self-esteem issue—is taking the plunge and joining the party.

Photo: donald milne

Blue Nile: Soul Rebels (BB) 10:30p; Upstairs: My Graveyard Jaw and Enharmonic Souls (BL) 10p BMC: Sasha Masakowski (JV) 7p, Fredy Omar con su Banda (LT) 10:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Threadhead Fridays feat. Paul Sanchez & Friends (OR) 8p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Lost Bayou Ramblers (JV) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: Mayumi Shara Jazz Letters feat.

Swanson (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Uniquity, DJ Mike Fadusia (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Harrah’s: the Manhattans feat. Gerald Alston and Blue Lovett (PP) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Afro Punk presents Saul Williams 9p House of Blues: Rakim - the Seventh Seal Tour feat. Rhymefest (RR) 8p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Abra Kadaver, Faith in Flames, Pheonix River, Medias Res (RR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Dirty Bourbon River Show, New Grass Country Club, 27 Lights (RR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Steve Keith (BL) 5p, Foot & Friends (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, J. Monque’D Blues Band (BL) 11p Maple Leaf: 101 Runners, the Mad Tea Party (FK) 10p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (JV) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: Jesse Moore Band (RR) 9p Republic: Throwback feat. Know Your Enemy (RR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: Big Al & the Heavyweights (BL RR) 9p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sonny Landreth, Michael Juan Nunez (BL) 9p Snug Harbor: Pianist Roberto Carcasses, Direct from Cuba, (MJ) 8p, 10p; David Mahoney & the Gathering (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Band Camp (RR) 10p Tipitina’s: Big Rock Candy Mountain, the Gills (RR) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

House of Blues: Mavericks Live 2009 feat.

Matisyahu (RG) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): David Torkanowsky pres. Mason’s VIP Lounge Revisited feat. Germaine Bazzle and guests (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin and Leon Brown (JV) 7p Republic: Marcy Playground (RR) 8p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott (MJ) 3p, Tyronne Jackson (MJ) 8p, 10p Spotted Cat: Pfister Sisters (JV) 3p Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais do do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

MONDAY NOV 9

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Johnny J. & Benny Maygarden (BL) 10:30p BMC: Franklin Avenue Underpass Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Mario Abney (JV) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p Circle Bar: Missy Meatlocker (RR) 5p, Gregory Alan Isakov, Steve Eck (RR) 10p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Les Getrex and the Blues All-stars (BL) 9p Dos Jefes: John Fohl (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Punk and Metal Night (ME RR) 10p, High in One Eye, Many Arms, Schnaak (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (BL) 9p

“I think when we made Let’s Get Out of This Country, it changed me as a person,” says singer Traceyanne Campbell on a phone call from Poland. “There was a longing to be better or to be braver or bolder, to live life and not be scared, and making that record pushed me toward that.” With that push, Camera Obscura embodies that beautiful pop music moment of taking the plunge, complete with orchestra swell (arranged by Björn Yttling, of Peter Bjorn and John). “I think everyone is on a journey to become that person they want to be and to do those things they want to do, and I’m the same. I just want to share that.”

Camera Obscura and the Papercuts play Tipitina’s November 18.

—Alex V. Cook Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Mimi’s: Mike Mangione (RR) 9p Mother in Law Lounge: Mad Tea Party (RR) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: open blues jam feat. Chuck Credo (BL) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (MJ) 8p, 10p

TUESDAY NOV 10

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Cliff Hines and Simon Lott (VR) 10p BMC: Ed Dowling’s New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Marc Penton and Smoky Greenwell (BL) 10p, Domenic (BL) 1a

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Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Phobia, 27 Lights (RR VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Son Volt, Peter Bruntnell (RR) 8:30p House of Blues: Cross Canadian Ragweed (RR) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Jason Marsalis (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Honky Tonk Open Mic feat. Jason Bishop (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Republic: Melt-Banana (RR) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: James “The Sleeping Giant” Winfield (RB) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 8p, 10p

WEDNESDAY NOV 11

Apple Barrel: Wendy Darling (BL) 8p, Mike Hood (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Kris Royal and Dark Matter (FK) 10p BMC: Domenic (BL) 6p, Jeremy Phipps and Monday’s Date (JV) 8p, Eric Gordon and the Lazy Boys Music Group (JV) 11p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: John Boutte (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Elvis Perkins, AA Bondy (RR) 8:30p, Deadmau5, Burns (RR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Off the Dome EmCee Competition feat. Truth Universal, Snuff Sugar, Mr. Wayne, the ICU (RH) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam Session (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: call club Republic: Infected Mushroom (RR) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8:30p Sandbar (UNO): Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Wess Anderson with the _EXT Generation and Young Hot Shot (MJ) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis (MJ) 8p, 10p

THURSDAY NOV 12

Apple Barrel: call for early show, Washboard Chaz (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Bayou International featuring DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p BMC: Some Like it Hot (JV) 6p, Jamey St. Pierre (JV) 9:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: the Pfister Sisters (JV) 7p Circle Bar: Sam and Boone (RR) 6p, Willie Heath Neal, Country Fried (RR) 10p Columns: Fredy Omar (LT) 8p d.b.a.: Andrew Duhon (JV) 7p, Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes (JV) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: DJ Proppa Bear’s Bassbin Safari (DN) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): the Hidden Cameras, Gentleman Reg (RR) 9p House of Blues: Oscar Award Winners, the Swell Season (RR) 8p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Black Magnolia Live Band Karaoke (PP) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Perpetual Groove, the Revivalists (RR) 10p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC PLAN A: Neko Case Neko Case sings as if she has a secret. Whether on record or live, she’s beguilingly enigmatic, whether she’s onstage laughing at private jokes with backing vocalist/foil Kelly Hogan or singing, “My love, I am the speed of sound / I left them motherless, fatherless / Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths.”

Case is also the indie rock dream: a cool, beautiful woman who’s game enough to throw in with the New Pornographers, hip enough to cover Harry Nilsson and the Shangri-Las, and enough of a singer to validate her not just as a star but as a talent.

Snug Harbor: Jackie Naylor (MJ) 8p, 10p Southport Hall: Exhorder (RR) 10p Tipitina’s: Hip-Hop for Hope feat. Mia X, Mannie Fresh, the Show, Raw Dizzy, Dee-1, Truth Universal, Impulss, Lyrikill and more (RH) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SUNDAY NOV 15

Apple Barrel: Kenny Claiborne (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, I Tell You What (BL) 10:30p BMC: Lantana Combo (JV) 6p, Gal Holiday (CW) 9p Circle Bar: Rik Slave & the Phantoms CD-release party (RR) 4p, Micah McKee & Friends (RR) 6p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Mem Shannon & the Membership (JV) 10p Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Attrition, Noisefest (RR) 10p Photo: Jason Creps

Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Johnaye Kendrick (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson & Jimmy Robinson (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 10p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours, call for more info Palm Court: Crescent City Joymakers feat. Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola-Jones (JV) 7p Prytania Music & Spirits: Lagniappe Thursday feat.

The Blue Party (OR) 9p Republic: Breaking the Band Winner Concert (RR) 8:30p Rivershack Tavern: Home Grown (BL RR) 7p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Jeffrey Broussard (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Wess Anderson (MJ) 8p, 10p Spotted Cat: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 10p Tipitina’s: Homegrown Night feat. Icky Holly, Chevy Earnhard, 27 Lights and more (RR) 8:30p, Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Vaughan’s: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 8:30p

FRIDAY NOV 13

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay and Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: the Parishoners (RR) 7p Big Top: Friday Night Music Camp feat. Mein 66 (FK) 5p Blue Nile: Honey Island Swamp Band (FK) 10p BMC: Sasha Masakowski (JV) 7p, Fredy Omar con su Banda (LT) 10:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Threadhead Fridays feat. Paul Sanchez & Friends (OR) 8p d.b.a.: Ingrid Lucia (JV) 7p, Brian Coogan Band (JV) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: the Brotherhood Brass Band (BB) 9p Dragon’s Den: Noisefest (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Know Your Enemy, Syllable 7 (RR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Ryan & Friends (BL) 5p, Foot & Friends (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Big Sam’s Funky Nation (FK) 10p One Eyed Jacks: the Devil Makes Three, Death by Arrow, Hurray for the Riff Raff (RR) 9p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lucien Barbarin and Clive Wilson (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (JV) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: Soul Rebels, Booty Trove (BB) 9p Republic: Throwback feat. Flow Tribe (RR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: Mustard Brothers (BL RR) 9p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: call club Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SATURDAY NOV 14

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Closed for private party BMC: Pat Casey & the New Sound (FK) 7p, Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 10:30p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (JV) 1:30a Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Otra (JV) 11p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p

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This year’s Middle Cyclone is light years from the alt-country she started off singing, and takes her further down a more idiosyncratic path that’s emotional without being overly forthcoming and precise without being nailed down. Her lyrics have drifted toward fellow New Pornographer A.C. Newman’s in their elliptical quality, but a thread of natural imagery ties the songs together. Of course, she undercuts that thought by covering Sparks’ “Don’t Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,” leaving only her clear, rich voice to be trusted.

Neko Case and Deer Tick play the Republic November 21.

—Alex Rawls Donna’s: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Noisefest (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): CunninLynguists, Grieves, Budo, Looptroop (RR) 9p House of Blues: the Wailers 9p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Rhymes to Riots, Learn to Love It (RR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Battle of the Bands Finals (RR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Shannon Powell (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Balsawood Flyers (BL) 5p, Rites of Passage (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Groovesect (FK) 10p Prytania Music & Spirits: Ignacio Volunteer Benefit feat.

The Medians, the Dirty Bourbon River Show (OR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Tiki & the Rhythm Rockers (BL RR) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Anders Osborne (RR) 9:30p

Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Captured by Robots (RR) 9p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 10a, Queen Latifah (RH) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): David Torkanowsky pres. Mason’s VIP Lounge Revisited feat. Germaine Bazzle and guests (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Denise Marie (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Republic: Say Anything, Eisley, Moneen, Miniature Tigers (PP) 7p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott (MJ) 3p, Jim Markway Quartet (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais do do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

MONDAY NOV 16

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Andre Bouvier & the Royal Bohemians (BL) 10:30p BMC: Franklin Avenue Underpass Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Mario Abney (FK) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Les Getrex and the Blues All-stars (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Punk and Metal Night (ME RR) 10p, Asian Hip-hop Summit feat. Slangston Hughes & Fo on the Flo (RH) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Band feat.

Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: open blues jam feat. Chuck Credo (BL) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (MJ) 8p, 10p

TUESDAY NOV 17

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 8p, Kenny Swartz & the Palace of Sin (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Jacob Wick, Dave Cappello, Jesse Morrow, Dan Oestreicher, Jeff Albert (VR) 10p BMC: Ed Dowling’s New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Marc Penton and Smoky Greenwell (BL) 10p, Domenic (BL) 1a Checkpoint Charlie: Wendy Darling (AU) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Dillon Skerik and Singleton (FK) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): El “Sweetbread” Petersen (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Kelcy Mae (KR) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10p Republic: Pete Yorn (OR) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Sweet Home New Orleans pres. James “The Sleeping Giant” Winfield (RB) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 8p, 10p

WEDNESDAY NOV 18

Apple Barrel: Wendy Darling (BL) 8p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Kris Royal and Dark Matter (FK) 10p BMC: Domenic (BL) 6p, Jeremy Phipps and Monday’s Date (JV) 8p, Eric Gordon and the Lazy Boys Music Group (JV) 11p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: John Boutte (JV) 7p, James Black Tribute feat. Stanton Moore (JV) 10p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Dan Auerbach, Justin Townes Earle, Jessica Lea Mayfield (RR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam Session (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: J the Savage (FK) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat.

Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Johnny Angel (SI) 8:30p Sandbar (UNO): Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Leah Chase with UNO Jazz Voices and Now Hear This Ensemble (MJ) 7:30p Snug Harbor: James Singleton (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: Camera Obscura, the Papercuts (RR) 10p

THURSDAY NOV 19

Apple Barrel: call club for early show the Louisiana Hellbenders (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Bayou International featuring DJ T-ROY (RG) 10p BMC: Some Like it Hot (JV) 6p, Schatzy’s Honky Squonk Trio (FK RR) 9:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: the Pfister Sisters (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p, Garage a Trois (RR) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: DJ Proppa Bear’s Bassbin Safari (DN) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Black Magnolia Live Band Karaoke (RR) 10p

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Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Johnaye Kendrick (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Steve Keith (BL) 5p, the TobinSpecht Trio (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 10p Ogden Museum: Ogden After Hours feat. The Other Planets (RR) 6p Preservation Hall: Brass Band Thursday feat. New Birth Brass Band (BB) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: Lagniappe Thursday feat.

The Revivalists (OR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Corey Perrilloux (BL RR) 7p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Nathan & Zydeco Cha-Chas (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Jumpin Johnny Sansone & Friends (BL) 8p, 10p Spotted Cat: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 10p The Box Office: Billy Iuso (FK) 7p, Ovis (OR) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p Vaughan’s: Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 8:30p

FRIDAY NOV 20

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay and Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: the Parishoners (RR) 7p Blue Nile: Backbeat Foundation presents 10p BMC: Jesse Moore Band (JV) 7p, Fredy Omar con su Banda (LT) 10:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Threadhead Fridays feat. Paul Sanchez & Friends (OR) 8p Columns: Sweet Home New Orleans (JV) 5p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Anders Osborne & Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (FK) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: the Original Royal Players (BB) 9p Dragon’s Den: DJ Soul Sister (FK) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Historic New Orleans Collection: Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 6p House of Blues: Train (RR) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Glen David Andrews (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Hurricane Refugees (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Los Poboy-citos (LT) 11p Maple Leaf: Gravy, Good Enough for Good Times, Robert Mercurio, Jeff Raines, Simon Lott (FK) 10p One Eyed Jacks: NOLA Indie Rock Fest III feat.

Gamma Ringo, Glasgow, One Man Machine and Vox the Hound (RR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. David Torkanowsky (JV) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: DJ G-Cue Party (OR) 9p Republic: Throwback feat. Jealous Monk (RR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: Paula & the Pontiacs (BL) 9p Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Radiators (RR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (MJ) 8p, 10p Southport Hall: the Molly Ringwalds (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: Lusher School Benefit (VR) 8p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SATURDAY NOV 21

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Big Top: 35 Rotations and the Lucky 13 feat. One Night in Bahia, Rasputin Love Child and the Oneironauts (VR) 8p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) New Orleans Indie Rock Fest (OR) 9:30p BMC: Pat Casey & the New Sound (JV) 7p, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 10:30p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (BL) 1:30a O CTO BER 2 009

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Good Enough for Good Times (FK) 11p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: Meshiya Lake and the Little Big Horn Band (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: the Water Seed, DJ Maxmillion and DJ Rick Ducci (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Switchfoot (RR) 9p House of Blues: Julian Marley feat. Stephen Marley (RG) 9p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): DJ Scrim (RR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Frontiers: the Ultimate Tribute to Journey (RR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Shannon Powell (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Schatzy & Associates (BL) 5p, Rites of Passage (BL) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Cliff Hines Quartet, Lindsay Mendez, Sophie Lee (VR) 2p Maple Leaf: Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p Ogden Museum: Southern Storytellers feat. Rick Bragg and Tom Franklin (SW) 2p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat.

Mark Braud (JV) 8p Prytania Music & Spirits: M@ People’s Birthday Bash (OR) 9p Republic: Neko Case (RR) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Dash Rip Rock (BL RR) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. (ZY) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Chris Thomas King (BL) 8p, 10p; free midnight show with Jeff Albert Quartet (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: Know Your Enemy (PP) 10p Tipitina’s: call club Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Les Getrex and the Blues All-stars (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Punk and Metal Night, Goddamn Gallows (ME RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Bob French & Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat.

Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: open blues jam feat. Chuck Credo (BL) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (MJ) 8p, 10p

SUNDAY NOV 22

Apple Barrel:Wendy Darling (BL) 8p, Bill Van (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Tobias Delius, James Singleton, George Graewe, Mike Dillon and more (MJ) 10p BMC: Domenic (JV) 6p, Jeremy Phipps and Monday’s Date (JV) 8p, Eric Gordon and the Lazy Boys Music Group (JV) 11p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: John Boutte (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (JV) 7p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics feat. DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam Session (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: call club (FK) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Dax Riggs (RR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Band feat.

Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rivershack Tavern: Blackened Blues Band (BL RR) 7p Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Creole String Beans (SI) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis (MJ) 8p, 10p Southport Hall: Chee-weez (PP) 10p

Apple Barrel: Kenny Claiborne (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Mike Hood (BL) 10:30p BMC: Lantana Combo (JV) 6p, Gal Holiday (CW) 9p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, the Louisiana Hellbenders (RR) 10p Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Eyedea & Abilities, Themselves (RR) 8p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 10a Emilie Autumn (VF) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: David Torkanowsky presents Mason’s VIP Lounge Revisited feat.

Germaine Bazzle and guests (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Irish Session (BL) 5p, Danny Burns (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Palm Court: Sunday Night Swingsters feat. Lucien Barbarin and Mark Braud (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: 726 Jazz Band feat. Lars Edegran (JV) 8p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott (MJ) 3p, Jason Stewart Quintet (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais do do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

MONDAY NOV 23

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Johnny J. & Benny Maygarden (BL) 10:30p BMC: Franklin Avenue Underpass Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Mario Abney (JV) 10p

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TUESDAY NOV 24

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 8p, call club for late show (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Michael Jenner, Simon Lott, John Gros (FK) 10p BMC: Ed Dowling’s New Orleans Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Marc Penton and Smoky Greenwell (BL) 10p, Domenic (BL) 1a Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl, Johnny Sansone (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans (JV) 9p Donna’s: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (TJ) 9:30p Funky Pirate: Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Glen David Andrews (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: the Tom Paines feat. Alex McMurray and Jonathan Freilich (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10p Preservation Hall: Shannon Powell & the Preservation Hall-stars (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: call club Snug Harbor: Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble (MJ) 8p, 10p

WEDNESDAY NOV 25

THURSDAY NOV 26

Apple Barrel: call club for early show Andy J. Forest (BL) 10:30p Blue Nile: Bayou International featuring DJ T-Roy (RG) 10p BMC: Some Like it Hot (JV) 6p, Jeff “Snake” Greenberg (PK) 9:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: the Pfister Sisters (JV) 7p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Dragon’s Den: DJ Proppa Bear’s Bassbin Safari (DN) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Hi Ho Lounge: Papa Mali’s Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra Live Recording Gig (FK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Black Magnolia Live Band Karaoke (PP) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band, Papa Grows Funk (BB FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Johnaye Kendrick (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels Brass Band (BB) 11p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Closed Southport Hall: Metal Rose reunion show (RR) 10p Spotted Cat: New Orleans Moonshiners (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: Mayumi Shara Jazz Letters feat.

Swanson (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Drum N Bass (DN) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Harrah’s: Cameo (PP) 7:30p Howlin’ Wolf NorthShore (Mandeville): Bag of Donuts (PP) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Shannon Powell (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Denise Marie (BL) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (BL) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Dosius and guests (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Swamp Grease w Terence Higgins (FK) 10p Palm Court: Palm Court Jazz Band feat. Lionel Ferbos (JV) 7p

PLAN A: Dan Auerbach

The Black Keys’ Attack & Release suggests that the blues-rock duo was finding its guitar-and-drums lineup constraining as they and producer Danger Mouse gave their songs a full-band treatment. The Keys’ Dan Auerbach further explored a broader musical palate on Keep it Hid, his solo album from earlier this year. From the dust-bowl troubadour treatment of “Trouble Ways a Ton” to the garage-rock “Whispered Words (Pretty Words)” to the string-sweetened “When the Night Comes,” Auerbach finds the sounds each song needs, unconstrained by any formal

FRIDAY NOV 27

Apple Barrel: Kenny Holladay and Rick Westin (BL) 8p, the Hip Shakers (BL) 11p Banks Street Bar: the Parishoners (RR) 7p Big Top: Friday Night Music Camp feat.

Washboard Chaz (BL) 5p Blue Nile: Kermit Ruffins CD-release party (TJ) 10p BMC: Sasha Masakowski (JV) 7p, Fredy Omar con su Banda (LT) 10:30p Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Threadhead Fridays feat. Paul Sanchez & Friends (OR) 8p d.b.a.: Ingrid Lucia (JV) 6p, Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr. (FK) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Donna’s: call club Dragon’s Den: M@ People’s Collective, 5-4-3-2-FUN!, Jean-Eric, Nari Tomassetti, Street Gumbo (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Harrah’s: Con Funk Shun feat. Michael Cooper and Felton Pila (PP) 9p Hi Ho Lounge: Papa Mali’s Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra Live Recording Gig (FK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Misfits (RR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (BL) 5p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PK) 7p, Rotary Downs (RR) 11p Maple Leaf: call club Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (JV) 8p Republic: Throwback feat. The Generationals (RR) 10p Rivershack Tavern: the Space Heaters (BL RR) 9p Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Bucktown All-stars (PP) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Mose Allison (MJ) 8p, 10p, Jeff Albert Quartet (MJ) 12a Southport Hall: 5 Finger Discount (RR) 10p Tipitina’s: call club Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SATURDAY NOV 28

Apple Barrel: Maxwell (BL) 4p, Sneaky Pete (BL) 8p, Andre Bouvier & the Royal Bohemians (BL) 11p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p; Soul Rebels (BB) 10:30p BMC: Pat Casey & the New Sound (JV) 7p, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers (MJ) 10:30p, Mike Darby & the House of Cards (BL) 1:30a Carousel Bar (Hotel Monteleone): John Autin (PK) 9p Circle Bar: James Hall (RR) 10p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Zydepunks (RR) 11p

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LOUISIANA MUSIC ON TOUR

Go to offbeat.com for complete listings.

FESTIVALS OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 1 Voodoo Music Experience: The annual rock music festival features performances by Eminem, Jane’s Addiction, Kiss, Ween, Lenny Kravitz, Wolfmother, Meat Puppets, Down and more. www.thevoodooexperience.com.

NOVEMBER 4-8 Ladyfest: Enjoy a music, spoken word and arts festival organized by local women of all identities. Participants include: Charmaine Neville, Marva Wright, Rosie Ledet and more. St. Anna’s Episcopal Church, 1313 Esplanade Ave. www.ladyfestneworleans.org.

NOVEMBER 5-8 Scandinavian Festival: Norwegian Seamen’s Church, known as the “Jazz Church,” hosts the first Annual Scandinavian Festival as an addition to the Annual Christmas Sale. Smorgasbord of traditional openfaced sandwiches, cakes and cookies. Music by Kermit Ruffins, Jeremy Davenport, Uncle Lionel, Tom McDermott, Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, Onward Brass Band, Lars Edegran Trio and more.

1772 Prytania St . (504) 525 3602.

NOVEMBER 7 Mirliton Festival: Stroll out to Markey Park in the Bywater for a fun festival celebrating this unique vegetable. Food and drink along with music by Alex McMurray, DJ Jubilee, Happy Talk Band and Ratty Scurvics. 12-7p. www.bywaterneighbors.com.

Preservation Hall: Preseravation Hall Jazz Band feat. Mark Braud (JV) 8p Rock ’n’ Bowl: Deacon John & the Ivories (RB) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Mose Allison (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: New Orleans Bingo! Show (RR) 10p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p, Willie Locket (PP) 9p

SUNDAY NOV 29

Apple Barrel: Kenny Claiborne (BL) 4p, Rollin’ Hills (BL) 8p, Ready Teddy (BL) 10:30p BMC: Lantana Combo (JV) 6p, Gal Holiday (CW) 9p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers (JV) 6p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 10p Donna’s: Jesse McBride & the Next Generation (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Attrition (RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Sunday Gospel Brunch (GS) 10a, Skinny Puppy, Vverevvolf Grehv (RR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): David Torkanowsky pres. Mason’s VIP Lounge Revisited feat. Germaine Bazzle and guests (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Lynn Drury (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (FK) 10p Palm Court: Sunday Night Swingsters feat. Lucien Barbarin and Mark Braud (JV) 7p Rock ’n’ Bowl: the Nobles (OR) 6p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott (MJ) 3p, Graewe, Delius, Singleton and Vidacovich (MJ) 8p, 10p Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais do do w. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Tropical Isle Beach Club: Waylon Thibodeaux (PP) 5p

MONDAY NOV 30

Apple Barrel: Sam Cammarata and Dominick Grillo (BL) 8p, Butch Trivette (BL) 10:30p

constraints such as band lineup, image, or members’ preferences. Black Keys fans will make the connection between Keep it Hid and the band; Auerbach’s guitar is still front and center, and he’s still exploring the blues, but it’s a broader range of blues, some of which are all energy and rhythm, while other recall the Band in their haunted melodies. All major blues cities are represented, but the album never feels like there’s a checklist behind the scenes driving each decision. Instead, Keep it Hid says Auerbach has enough good ideas and good taste to make each song stand up in its own way.

Dan Auerbach, Justin Townes Earle and Jessica Lea Mayfield play the House of Blues November 18.

—Alex Rawls BMC: Franklin Avenue Underpass Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Mario Abney (JV) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p Circle Bar: Missy Meatlocker (RR) 5p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Donna’s: Les Getrex and the Blues All-stars (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Punk and Metal Night (ME RR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark Penton (BL) 4p Hi Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse (Royal Sonesta): Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (MJ) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (BL) 9p Maple Leaf: Papa Grows Funk (FK) 10p Rock ’n’ Bowl: open blues jam feat. Chuck Credo (BL) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (MJ) 8p, 10p

NOVEMBER 7-8 Louisiana Swamp Festival: Enjoy live music, hands-on exhibits, great food and more at this annual festival.

(504) 581-4629, www.auduboninstitute.org.

NOVEMBER 21 North RampART Festival: The second annual event showcases the work of more than 20 local artists, musicians and food vendors. 11a-4p. (504) 256-4848, www.northrampartmainstreet.org.

NOVEMBER 22 New Orleans Po-boy Festival: Head to Riverbend and celebrate the almighty po-boy with music, an auction and of course—plenty of po-boys. (504) 228-3349, www.poboyfest.com.

SPECIAL EVENTS NOVEMBER 14 King of Oak Street: One film of particular interest to music lovers at the Big Easy Film Festivals is the long awaited documentary on New Orleans painter Frenchy. See the last parade before Katrina, watch Frenchy deal with the tragedies and triumphs, and come away with an even greater love of America’s most unique city. Canal Place Theatre, 10p.

NOVEMBER 21 Bywater Art Market: The fun art market features paintings, pottery, glass, furniture and more. 9a-4p. www.bywaterartmarket.com.

NOVEMBER 27-JANUARY 3 Miracle on Fulton Street: This fun event features a Winterland walkway of fun with periodic “snowfalls,” dazzling lights and decorations along with live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays.

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BACKTALK

The Flaming Lips’

t takes a rare talent to make a hit out of a song that tells the listener “everyone you know / will die,” but “Do You Realize” changed the Flaming Lips’ profile in 2002.

Really though, it and the album it came from, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, were the natural follow-ups to 1999’s The Soft Bulletin, which AllMusicGuide.com describes as “a plaintively emotional, lushly symphonic pop masterpiece eons removed from the mindwarping noise of their past efforts…. The Soft Bulletin might be the best record of the entire decade.” It certainly changed the shape of indie rock with long coattails that brought into existence a host of expansive, soundoriented bands with an affinity for melody.

That lush, beautiful, melancholy phase of the Flaming Lips was a radical shift for a band that once almost asphyxiated an audience by adding a revving motorcycle engine to their early pre-college rock roar, and the sweet strings were a long way from front man Wayne Coyne’s “Parking Lot Experiment” during one SXSW. In a parking lot, he had 40 cars parked in a circle and the drivers, on cue, all started their assigned tapes of specially composed music at the same time with the windows of their cars rolled down. During that period, they recorded Zaireeka, a four-disc set with each disc designed to be played at the same time to hear the piece in its entirety.

The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots are best thought of as experiments in beauty, and it’s no more surprising that the band’s unpredictable muse led them away from it with 2006’s At War with the Mystics and last year’s movie-and-soundtrack Christmas from Mars than it was that it took them to beauty in the first place. On the new Embryonic, strings and sweeters are replaced by hard, distorted sounds of indeterminate origins, and soaring songs are replaced by meditations that might or might not have choruses. It, like their live show and every phase of the Flaming Lips’ career, offers an intense experience—maybe or maybe not more, and certainly not less.

The Flaming Lips play the Voodoo Music Experience Sunday, November 1 at 5:45 p.m. on the PlayStation/Billboard.com Stage.

Photo: skip bolen

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Wayne Coynetalks back

What do you remember about coming to New Orleans to play Voodoo in 2006?

When we were there, people were still asking, “Will New Orleans come back? What do you

think?” And I said, “I don’t think a rock festival is any gauge of that,” but it didn’t stop that festival from happening, and here we are, so it seems like it’s working. We expected there to be more despair, but the worst thing I saw was watching a 14-yearold girl get her teeth knocked out during My Chemical Romance. But she was very happy because she was in the front row.

It was the first time we had been down there since the Katrina stuff, and you brace yourself to think, “How much of this is going to be ruined? How much of the thing that you remember about it will be non-existent anymore?” We were kind of surprised that a lot of it seemed—especially in the areas that we would have gone—there was some relief. But there were things that we saw that were disheartening, not just because of the hurricane. I’m always leery of having too many casinos downtown, and I saw that and went, “Oh boy.” We first came to New Orleans in the early ‘80s and we already felt as though it was at times sadly overrun with

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By Alex Rawls

mindless drunks who just came down there to pee on the sidewalk. But all cities change, and all cities have things that are prosperous in one decade and are useless in the next; New Orleans like Oklahoma City, the city I live in, goes through the same things.

I’d imagine coming in to town for a show like that could be insulating as well.

It can be. You’re at a hotel where people who have money are having a good time, and everything they do is based in, “We’re having a good time here.” But I know people who were working in relief efforts, and it’s weird when you get a can of sterilized water. They gave me this can, and I went, “What is that?”

You’re only doing a handful of shows to accompany the release of Embryonic; why so few?

We play all the time. In a sense, the crucial time has become right now, this time before the record comes out. In the ‘80s when we put out a record, no one would have it for N O VEMBER 2 009

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Mostly when I’m on top of the audience, I’m worried that I’m standing on your head. “I hope you don’t mind”—that’s mostly what I’m thinking, and I’m more in control than it looks.

two months. That didn’t seem long back then; it seemed normal. Now, you can make something in the morning and people have it by lunch. There’s no waiting for things anymore, and people don’t want to wait. The way our Web site and the Internet works, the record coming out is the last thing that happens because you build up. You talk about it, you play shows. When the record comes out, it’s like Christmas. Christmas isn’t like a day, then we party for a week. Christmas is the thing; then we go back to normal.

But it’s a coincidence that we’re playing England in November. We’ll be playing all over America next year, and really, for the next couple of years.

Is it hard to work songs from the new album into the show?

People would think that because our show, overall, evokes this euphoria with confetti and people in costumes, and it’s big and it’s bright, and you’d think, “These songs are weird, and they’re dark.” But we’ve always had things in our set that go back even to 1990—we have songs sprinkled in there from all times of the group—and they’re not all happy, upbeat songs. I think that’s precisely why it works; in a way.

Some of these new songs, as weird as they are, are very dynamic, and that’s what you want from a song in concert. I remember seeing footage of Fleetwood Mac in their heyday, and as great as their songs are, they’re not dynamic, crazy rock songs. They’re just well-played, well-sung songs. The stuff on Embryonic, as weird as it sounds, is dynamic.

When we put them in the middle of the set, they work great. They’re a great, other thing we get to do, and why we wanted to make this kind of music. We could go in this other, strange direction and still be us.

Has the success of the show and elements like the space ball, balloons and confetti cannons become confining at all?

No. Artists sometimes say—like Bob Dylan—”I’m not what you think I am!” The Flaming Lips wouldn’t do those things if we weren’t ready to embrace it if it worked. All those things, especially something as dumb as the space bubble, I had no idea it would work.

I had no idea it would define an element of what we’re about so well.

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Is it hot in there?

We do a Halloween parade in Oklahoma City, and I walk down one of the main streets there for about 40 minutes in the space bubble, and yeah, it’s hot, but it’s not overbearing. Mostly when I’m on top of the audience, I’m worried that I’m standing on your head. “I hope you don’t mind”—that’s mostly what I’m thinking, and I’m more in control than it looks. It’s a panic, but it’s a controlled panic.

I was thinking as I was asking about the show elements, who wouldn’t want to play with those toys? After the age of 5 or 6, who wouldn’t want to fire off confetti cannons?

Exactly. I’m not thinking these things and wondering if they’re great. We all know they’re great. A lot of these things are just dumb, obvious, cool things. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to one of the shows where we give the audience laser beams, but they shoot them at us. That’s exactly what a 10-year-old would say: “Wouldn’t it be great if you gave the audience lasers and they shot them at you? And you brought out a mirror and shot it back at them.” I go and do it.

One of the things I’ve admired is the amount of spectacle you generate in a fairly low-tech way. Is that an aesthetic decision?

I want the audience to know that the money they’re giving us is well-spent. I’ve been to shows where you see a crew of a hundred people doing the job of one person; with the Flaming Lips, we do so much of it ourselves, we do it efficiently. We have this giant video wall that we bought a couple of years ago, and in the beginning we used this very elaborate pulley system to raise it up.

That took a lot of effort and it was dangerous, and it took a lot of time and money, but it was professional. One day at my house, I didn’t want to set up the costly thing, so I used a rope to pulley it up. I thought, “I just did that with a fuckin’ rope by myself. Why do have to build this thing that takes 10 guys and is dangerous and costs all this money?” It’s not that we’re smart or think of things other people don’t think of; we just fuck everything up 10 times before we get it right.

Do all those amps onstage do something?

If you’ve ever been in the front row or onstage with us, you know that’s no fake cabinet. Not only do they work; they have

Flaming Lips-sized speaker cabinets so they don’t blow up during the show.

Is it really loud onstage?

It’s insanely loud, but we want it to be. [The show’s] a spectacle, but it is about presenting these songs. We’re just making an atmosphere by which we get to sing and perform these songs. To me, it’s all about intensity. When music’s played at a certain volume, it takes over. It blurts out some of your other sensory perceptions and you must pay attention because you have no choice. We want the volume to be, a little more would kill you, but any less wouldn’t be as much fun. For the dynamics of the music we want to play, sometimes we want it to be extremely loud, and sometimes we want it to be quiet. Sometimes we want to hear the crowd; sometimes we don’t want to hear the crowd. You can’t have that dynamic unless you have crazy equipment.

When did you decide to wear a suit onstage?

There’s a picture of Miles Davis that has to be early-’60s. He’s standing outside of a nightclub in New York, and it’s a black and white photo. He’s been hit in the head by a police officer with a nightstick, and he’s wearing a pale suit—I don’t know if it’s yellow or white—but you can see his blood all over this jacket. I’d been pouring blood on my head while I was wearing a pea coat—this was 1998, 1999—and when you play small places, everyone can tell you have blood on your head. My blood’s not real, unlike Miles Davis’. As audiences started to get bigger, they simply couldn’t tell that I was pouring blood on my head. I remembered this picture, so I got a tan suit one day and sure enough, when the blood got on the suit, it wasn’t just that you could see it. Here was a guy in suit and he’s bloody, which is different from being in the Hell’s Angels and being bloody.

Here’s a guy who seems to be on the edge of sophistication, and he’s all bloody, so it had a bigger dynamic to it. Then I started to find suits that fit me well, and they fit the kinds of songs and the types of personality I could be while singing these songs. Then it got to where I’m not sure people would recognize me if I’m not in a suit. It’s like Santa Claus; if he doesn’t show up in that suit, he’s just a weird old guy with a beard.

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