Learning of Alex Chilton’s death during the first night of South by Southwest made the whole enterprise seem a little empty – at least for the night. Almost every rock band here with pop leanings has Chilton or Big Star in its cellular structure whether it knows it or not. As a member of the [...]
Austin Calling
When the day is done, I’m off to Austin for South by Southwest. It’s a long drive, which I’ll likely spend speeding through a collection of songs by showcasing bands in search of someone new to see.
We’ve got as comprehensive a list of area bands playing SXSW – officially and unofficially, day time and night [...]
Le Triomphe Puts Auditorium Development on Hold
As Mayor Ray Nagin’s final term approaches its conclusion, he has talked about the city entering into personal services contracts and big ticket technology contracts, despite incoming Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s request that he not. One of those possible deals was taken off the table today when Stewart Juneau requested that the negotiations for a public service [...]
Harold Battiste Stomps Tonight
The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation once again brings New Orleans’ music legends to the masses, this time with Ponderosa Stomp Fridays at the Cabildo. The series starts tonight at 5:30 with drinks, DJs spinning vintage vinyl, and the great Harold Battiste in conversation with OffBeat contributor David Kunian. The event is free.
Can We Ever Change?
We learned an important lesson in the past few weeks in regards to the cover of our March issue.
As those of you who are old enough to remember, in 1972 George Carlin did a monologue on the “seven words you can never say on television.” Those were shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker [...]
More on OffBeat’s March Cover
In regards to OffBeat’s much-blogged and –talked about March cover:
We admit that we showed a terrible lack of judgment and insensitivity towards our readers who may have taken offense to a reference to the Billie Holiday song, which has become symbolic of racial injustice. Any reference—verbally or visually—to racial issues was never our intention, but [...]
Clever I Guess
Weird promo dept.: Pop duo the Bird and Bee have recorded Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1: Hall and Oates, and I’ve enjoyed it far more than I ever liked Hall and Oates. The ’80s pop period was a little soft for me, and there was always a division of labor issue that was oddly perplexing: What exactly did John [...]
The Other Side
In a blog post elsewhere on this site, Jan Ramsey writes about the need to memorialize the important sites in New Orleans’ musical history. I don’t mean to be contrarian, but I’m not sure why. It might just be me, but I remember in my youth visiting the homes of famous American authors in the [...]
Chicken
On our way up First Street the weekend before Mardi Gras, we ran into chickens promenading around a Garden District mansion. Today, I spotted chickens on Louisiana about a block from St. Charles. My good friend Jacqui has wanted chickens forever. She is supposedly a bit peeved now that another mutual friend of ours has [...]
Where Are The Memorials?
I wonder why there’s such an overall lack of appreciation for musical legends in New Orleans, which is the most musical city on earth. There’s such a deep love for our musical culture—not necessarily shared by the majority of the population of this city and state—that it seems a shame that we’re not honoring the [...]
