Issue Articles
Dining Out: BABs
Chef Nina Compton, the Saint Lucian-born chef behind Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro, has reworked the latter into BABs, an Italian-inspired restaurant that captures the same spirit as Bywater American Bistro but boasts a new menu and updated décor.
Women in Music: Chanteuse Series features Margie Perez
The Chanteuse concert series celebrating New Orleans women in music is returning for March with a strong line-up. Included with these top-notch vocalists and performers is a well-known person around town, Margie Perez. We sat down to catch up and chat about it at Bywater Bakery.
Guitar Gumbo: The New Orleans International Guitar Festival
With the theme “Guitar Gumbo,” the 2024 New Orleans International Guitar Festival takes place March 5 through March 8. This year’s eclectic array of international artists includes Cuarteto de Guitarras de la Ciudad de Mexico, Jose Angel Perez Puentes, Geovane Santos, Alexis “Papo” Guevarra, Rafael Padron and the NOLA String Kings. The festival includes the Elias Barreiro Young Artists Competition, named in honor of the 93-year-old founder of Tulane’s guitar department.
2024 Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival: A conversation with featured artist Corey Harris
Corey Harris, the blues and beyond singer-guitarist who lived in New Orleans in the 1990s, is returning to the city for an appearance at the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival. A Virginia resident since 1997, Harris and his band will also perform March 8 at Snug Harbor.
From the Street to the Stage: Big Chief Juan Pardo at the Congo Square Rhythms Festival
Golden Comanche Big Chief Juan Pardo is also a key part of the group Tribal Gold, the union with the New Orleans Suspects, who will be playing the Congo Square Rhythms Festival. The dust had barely settled on Mardi Gras when we sat down at Rue de la Course to discuss how everything is organically coming together for him in the right way.
Vintage Vinyl Treasures (Episode 36)
Another installment of Vintage Vinyl highlighting five artists who gave us a hit song about the rain is at hand. Release dates span a period of 20 years, so I am covering a fair amount of territory from a musical style standpoint. Each brings back fond memories from the golden age of rock ’n’ roll in the ’60s and the ’70s to one new wave and two rock classics of the ’80s. My how time passes quickly these days.
Kerry “Fatman” Hunter (1970-2024)
The devastating news of the tragic death of the beloved snare drummer Kerry “Fatman” Hunter profoundly impacted those in the New Orleans music and Black cultural communities, family, friends and all of those who loved and respected him as an artist and a beautiful person. A New Orleans native, Kerry “Fatman” Hunter, died on February 13, 2024, at the age of 53.
Gina Brown (1965-2024)
Singer and entertainer Gina Brown passed away on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at Touro Hospital.
Barbara Hawkins & The Dixie Cups Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of “Chapel of Love”
New Orleans’ own The Dixie Cups are celebrating a big anniversary, not only for the 60th anniversary of timeless “Chapel of Love,” but all the other hits that followed. They are also the feature of this year’s radiant Jazz & Heritage Festival poster. Founding member Barbara Hawkins looked back on a time in which three teenagers were the premier girl group in the country, knocked the Beatles off the number one pedestal, and took Mardi Gras Indian music to the airwaves. Founding members Rosa Hawkins and Joan Johnson are no longer with us physically, but their spirit and legacy flourishes.
Teacher, Musician and Thinker: Branford Marsalis is coming home
In late January the Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer, Branford Marsalis, announced he was returning to his native New Orleans where he will serve as artistic director of The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music (EMCM) in the upper Ninth Ward. The center is named after the patriarch of the Marsalis family who held the artistic director position until his death in 2020 from complications of the Covid-19 virus.