The local hip-hop community celebrates a big milestone Saturday, when the Grassroots! concert series celebrates its 10-year anniversary at the Dragon’s Den. Lyrikill, Chels, Thaione Davis, Marcel P. Black will perform with resident DJ Def D and founding host Truth Universal. Grassroots! has been crucial to the underground hip-hop scene in New Orleans. It began [...]
In our current issue, Ryan Scully of R. Scully and the Rough 7 wrote an obituary of his friend Michael Aaron, former owner of the now-defunct record store Rock ‘n’ Roll Collectibles and guitarist in bands such as Charm City Brokers, Enoch Light Presents, and the R. Scully Band. Aaron passed away in late December [...]
One of the many events surrounding the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is the release each of the year of the official Jazz Fest poster and the accompanying Congo Square poster, both of which have become collectors items for Fest and art fans. This year’s Jazz Fest poster features Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, and [...]
There’s been a lot of Best of the Beat action in the Fox 8 TV studios today. Lifetime Achievement in Music Award honoree George Porter, Jr. (performing at 10:30 p.m. tonight) went on Fox 8 Morning News with OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey, followed by the Soul Rebels (performing at 7:15 tonight), who played their cover [...]
The Soul Rebels, who perform at the Best of the Beat tonight in the Back/Awards Room at 7:15, also went on Fox 8 Morning News this morning, following George Porter, Jr. and OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey. They talked about opening for Metallica in San Francisco, their CD release party for Unlock Your Mind at Tipitina’s [...]
Today, Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music Award recipient George Porter, Jr. went on Fox 8 Morning News with OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey to talk about Porter’s legacy in New Orleans music and the Best of the Beat Awards. Porter performs with a special Runnin’ Pardners lineup and some very special guests at [...]
Last night Big Freedia brought bounce to national television with a performance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night talk show. Freedia performed two recent songs, “Excuse” (above) and “Na Who Mad” (below). You can watch the full episode on JimmyKimmelLive.com. Tomorrow night Big Freedia performs at our Best of the Beat Awards at Generations Hall. [...]
You can’t ignore the sense of place in the music of the Alabama Shakes. It’s right there in the quartet’s name. Simply the Shakes at first, when forced to pick a new name to avoid copyrights they just added the name of their home. Lead singer Brittany Howard wears that home on her sleeve—literally. She [...]
Although it’s popular at birthday parties today, Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” was originally released in 1981 in support of the burgeoning movement to make Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a national holiday. That year he went on tour with Gil Scott-Heron on the heels of Hotter Than July, the album containing “Birthday”. The 4-month trek [...]
The 2012 Essence Music Festival lineup was announced this morning, and among the list of local artists is a name most people hadn’t heard before this past fall: Luke James. With the homepage WhoIsLukeJames.com and Twitter handle @WhoIsLukeJames, James knows fans are probably curious where he came from. But the St. Augustine grad (real name: [...]
