Playing music in a parade looks like fun, but while it is, it’s also hard, sometimes thankless work. OffBeat spoke with members of four nightclub bands who, during Mardi Gras, transform into street bands. Sue Ford fronts Mardi Gras’ first rock band, Pink Slip, once an all-woman group that now includes her husband, drummer Jimmy [...]
The Soul Rebels
When The Village Voice described New Orleans’ Soul Rebels as “the missing link between Louis Armstrong and Public Enemy,” they got it only half right. The Soul Rebels were deeply influenced by hip-hop, but Armstrong? Not so much. The Voice overlooked a more relevant phenomenon: Marching bands. The marching show bands represent and animate the [...]
Ani DiFranco
Folk singer Ani DiFranco moved to New Orleans approximately eight years ago, but she has entered the city’s musical community discreetly, playing the occasional show such as last year’s Gulf Aid benefit for those affected by the BP Oil Disaster. She has done so, she says, because “that is my style. I like to do [...]
Robin Zander of Cheap Trick
“Thank you so much for this interview because normally, I get pushed out of the way for interviews,” Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander says. “It’s usually that freaky white motherfucker with a baseball cap,” he says, referring to guitarist Rick Neilsen. Sean Yseult—formerly of White Zombie, now working on a new project, Star and Dagger—has [...]
Arthur Roger
The walls of Arthur Roger Gallery on Julia Street are uncharacteristically bare. On Art for Art’s Sake (Saturday, October 1), the gallery will host a show by filmmaker/writer/artist John Waters titled “Catholic Sin,” but this afternoon, they’re just broad expanses of white. In the back rooms of the gallery, meticulous paintings that depict paperback book [...]
Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos
The Ponderosa Stomp is a record collector’s library come to life. The classic—and occasionally obscure— R&B, rockabilly, blues, garage and swamp pop songs that shaped pop music history are performed by the artists who made them. It’s not an oldies show, though. Producer Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos pairs the artists with bands that love the [...]
Treme Bloggers
The second season of Treme ended last month, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you really should set this story aside until you have. The series is unusual in many ways, not the least of which is its relationship to a specific city and a specific time. The intricacies of that relationship have prompted [...]
Mavis Staples
“Stand flat-footed, and sing from your heart.” These were the words Roebuck “Pops” Staples used to motivate a young Mavis Staples. Together with her father and siblings, the Staple Singers did just that, creating a unique legacy in the history of popular music. Their songs, which became known as “message songs,” blended elements of gospel [...]
Wendell Pierce
“Work always gets you work, man,” Wendell Pierce says while driving. He’s in the last week of shooting for the second season of HBO’s Treme, but he has been splitting time between shooting the show and a new Bruce Willis film, Play the Favorite. “We’re finished shooting in Vegas and now we’re shooting in New [...]
Mayor Mitch Landrieu
During his tenure as the state’s Lieutenant Governor, Mitch Landrieu made “cultural economy” his calling card. He worked to show how cultural products aren’t simply valuable in an aesthetic, intellectual or social way, but that they are good business. He has maintained this interest as mayor, and the recent 2010 Cultural Economy Report shows that [...]
