Alex Rawls
Galactic, Carnivale Electricos (Anti- Records)
On Carnivale Electricos, Galactic delivers exactly what the title promises. The funk band turns its attention to Carnival music, and electricity is central to every track. Carnival in New Orleans, Rio and Cajun Country may rely on acoustic instruments, but like From the Corner to the Block and Ya-Ka-May, Carnivale Electricos is the product of [...]
Read moreStar and Dagger, In My Blood (Last Hurrah Records)
As much fun as Rock City Morgue is, there are times when I’ve wanted to hear former White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult play something with more sonic weight. Her new project, Star and Dagger, is that heavier band based on the three songs released on the limited edition vinyl EP, In My Blood. She teams [...]
Read moreVarious Artists, Live at Three Muses Vol. 1 (Three Muses Records)
In the early 1980s, prog rock guitarist Robert Fripp routinely railed against the evils of bootlegging, not for monetary or proprietary reasons but because in his mind, live recordings rarely do what they implicitly aspire to do. They document the band’s live performance but not the way it struck an audience. They don’t have the [...]
Read moreJan V. Ramsey
…And We All Had A Real Good Time!
The staff is just now coming down from the high we all get at the Best of The Beat Awards. All of us work like dogs preparing for the Business Awards and the Party/Music Awards. Really, we do. So it’s totally gratifying to know that we’ve accomplished what we set out to do—honor the musicians [...]
Read moreBranding, Eh?
News this morning: the Louisiana Seafood Board is thinking of taking its BP cash and investing it in naming rights for the New Orleans Arena. I believe the amount bandied about is some $30 million, most of which is the money that BP has pumped back into the seafood industry. Apparently they’ve got so much [...]
Read moreDeadsville
Just finished one of my weekly walks through the French Market Flea Market from a meeting, where I ran into my old friend and vendor Oscar. Oscar is the guy who makes the iridescent earrings, jewelry, fridge magnets and various handcrafted tchotchkes and sells them from his kiosk in the Market. I met Oscar when [...]
Read moreBen Berman
YouTube du Jour: Dash Rip Rock
Last Saturday, January 7, Dash Rip Rock was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in honor of their 27+ years of irreverent rock. While their 15+ albums and hundreds of live shows fell somewhere between country, punk, and rockabilly, the band is probably best known around the country for “Let’s Go Smoke Some [...]
Read moreStooges Brass Band Releases “This Christmas” Cover for Download
Yesterday, the Stooges Brass Band released a second line version of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”, a cover they street-tested at the Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade on Sunday afternoon. The Stooges are offering the track as a free download in exchange for an email address. “This Christmas” has been a holiday [...]
Read moreHappy Thanksgiving: A Big Freedia Animated GIF
Nothing says Thanksgiving like an animated GIF of Big Freedia and her dancers poppin in downtown New Orleans, taken from Freedia’s “Y’all Get Back Now” music video. Source: eatcasey.tumblr.com.
Read moreElsa Hahne
Truckstop Honeymoon: A Musician’s Life and Half a Cow
After six years in Lawrence, Kansas, former Lower Ninth Ward duo Mike West and Katie Euliss have expanded their family from four to six and added five albums to their discography as Truckstop Honeymoon. There are other things to brag about as well, such as chickens and hamsters and the daily triumph of sanity. They [...]
Read moreThe Gravy: In the Kitchen with Bill Summers
“I have a system, and I like to stick to it—it’s not having one. This is an expensive meal, this. It cost me $50 to buy all this stuff. I like to cook with palm oil, and it’s really not good for you. It’s saturated. So I cut it with olive oil, which is good [...]
Read moreRick Olivier of the Creole String Beans Hits the Spot at Pho Tau Bay
Pho Tau Bay 113 Westbank Expressway (504) 368-9846 I see you’re not scared of jalapeños. I like to put one in. And plenty of sriracha, the hot sauce, and some lime juice. It’s like a tonic; clears your head. What’s in your bowl? Pho tai, the noodle soup, with the beef medium rare. Why Pho [...]
Read moreTreme Blog
David Simon Talks Food with Anthony Bourdain
Yesterday, the tell-tale trucks were parked on Elysian Fields telling us that Treme is back and shooting on Frenchmen Street. Later in the morning, a Steve Zahn sighting confirmed that. The show starts shooting once hurricane season ends, so it started again this year on November Last year, Anthony Bourdain joined the writing staff to [...]
Read moreDoes Everything “Treme” Need Explication?
So it seems. Earlier in the week, The Times-Picayune‘s Dave Walker reported that the producers had worked out storylines for the characters that would ideally take four seasons to bring to their natural conclusions. That piece of information has circulated the web as an assertion that there will be two more seasons of Treme. Today, [...]
Read moreOozing Treme
An ongoing concern about Treme is how it plays to an audience that isn’t pre-sold on New Orleans. Season two has started in England, where the second episode recently aired. There as here, the show seems to inspire weekly recaps; What Culture finished its wrap-up: Treme is possibly the best-written show on TV at present [...]
Read moreChris Lee
Saints/Seahawks Preview: Things Get Wild
Wild Card Weekend Results: 6. New York Jets @ 3. Indianapolis Colts: Colts 31, Jets 30. 5. Baltimore Ravens @ 4. Kansas City Chiefs: Chiefs 24, Ravens 17. 6. Green Bay Packers @ 3. Philadelphia Eagles: Eagles 14, Packers 7. And the one we care about, according to Madden: 5. NOR @ 4. SEA 1/8/11, [...]
Read moreMadden on the Saints in the Playoffs
WILD CARD ROUND #6 Jacksonville @ #3 Indianapolis: Indy wins the rubber match at home. #5 Baltimore @ #4 Kansas City: Ravens win on “been here before”. #6 Philadelphia @ #3 Chicago: Philly has too many playmakers. #5 New Orleans @ #4 St. Louis: Rematch goes worse for Rams than the first bout. DIVISIONAL [...]
Read moreSaints/Buccaneers Preview: Tampa 2
Whoa. Duuuude. That was close. Really close. Waayyyy closer than it should have been. I really thought the Saints would march into Atlanta and burn the Georgia Dome down like General Sherman. But the men in black seem to find themselves in these supertight, last drive decides it, oh-my-God-how’s-it-gonna-end games a lot this year. Eight [...]
Read moreJenny Sklar
The Musical Old U.S. Mint
“We’re not a nightclub; it’s a museum,” says Greg Lambousy, Director of Collections at the Old U.S. Mint. He’s talking about the brand-new third floor performance space, which is part of the Mint’s new focus on New Orleans music. Though the gorgeous new multi-purpose performance space, gently lined with geometric wood paneling, may suggest otherwise, [...]
Read moreGood Deed on a Dime at Liberty’s Kitchen and Cafe Reconcile
For many of us, giving a donation to a charitable cause is a great idea in theory but a challenge in reality. If you’re not able to cough up that extra dough this month but want to do some good, look no further than Liberty’s Kitchen and Café Reconcile. These two philanthropic eateries are both [...]
Read moreThe Last Supper of The Man Who Ate New Orleans
[Updated] On October 21, Rev. Ray Cannata, star of the upcoming film The Man Who Ate New Orleans, will complete his goal of eating at every restaurant in New Orleans. The documentary follows this New Jersey minister’s ambitious quest to eat at more than 700 establishments in slightly more than six years. The last stop [...]
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