Yesterday, I wrote about a few books on my desk that slipped to the back burner. Here are a few albums that met the same undeserved, neglected fate: Phil Spector Presents the Philles Album Collection (Sony Legacy): Those who know Phil Spector-produced artists by their singles and hope to find pirate treasure in their album [...]
We’ve spent most of the last month dealing with Christmas, the February issue and the Best of the Beat. Here’s some of the stuff that landed on my desk that I really wanted to write about but couldn’t quite get to: Oil and Water by Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler: This graphic novel tells the [...]
Bob and Ray, SCTV and The Simpsons all echo a comedic world view, that people are fundamentally good-natured but inept. The world won’t die by evil design but because someone had an oopsy. These thoughts come to mind while watching the Barry Richards TV Collection Vol. 1, a DVD/CD collection of segments from disc jockey [...]
Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Wrecking Ball, is due out March 6, and he’ll perform at this year’s Jazz Fest on Sunday, April 29. Springsteen was last at Jazz Fest in 2006 when he played with his Seeger Sessions Band; this time, he’ll play with the E Street Band as part of a tour that starts [...]
Even with an uncommonly early start time at One Eyed Jacks—9 p.m. for the headliner!—the Alabama Shakes packed the room to the point that those of us who arrived shortly before 9 p.m. bumped into an impenetrable wall of backs five or so feet inside the door. But the show was a reminder that soul [...]
In honor of Martin Luther King Day: Writer, musician and OffBeat contributor Ned Sublette recently sent an email commenting on Harry Belafonte’s autobiography, My Song, and its focus on Belafonte’s activism. Sublette writes: For me, the book’s most compelling moment is Belafonte’s eyewitness account of the May 24, 1963 cocktail party arranged by James [...]
Yesterday, Trombone Shorty and his Orleans Avenue band members Tim McFatter and Dan Oestreicher performed the National Anthem for the Atlanta Falcons-New York Giants playoff game. Here’s the video: Shorty is nominated for numerous Best of the Beat awards this year including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. Voting closes Friday, so [...]
Hosting an NFL Wild Card Weekend football game and the BCS Championship Game in the same weekend has many advantages, one of which is the quality of music around town. Saturday afternoon, Cowboy Mouth will perform at Champions Square starting at 3 p.m. before the Saints-Lions game. They’ll be followed at 4:45 by Karma, and [...]
OffBeat contributor Brian Boyles is one of the organizers of The People Say Project, which puts together artists in the same field to discuss issues associated with culture and money from different perspectives. On December 13, he brought together OffBeat Lifetime Achievement in Music honoree George Porter, Jr. with rapper Dee-1 to discuss lives in [...]
Tonight, the Dirty Dozen play the Maple Leaf Bar. The Dirty Dozen have evolved into more than simply a brass band, as this live version of “John the Revelator” from a German jazz festival in 2008 demonstrates. The show starts at 10:30 p.m. Here are a few bonus videos, other versions of “John the Revelator.” [...]
