When it started, it was a long, rectangular room with a couple wooden racks for records and CDs on a section of North Peters street that had very little going on. Twenty years later it’s a must-visit store for the legions of New Orleans music lovers around the world, but Barry Smith, owner of the [...]
Louisiana’s Rooting Interests in the Grammys
When the Grammys are awarded on February 12, Lil Wayne will be among the most nominated artists, being up for five Grammys. New Orleans-born Oakland resident Ledisi was nominated in all the major R&B categories for her album Pieces of Me, and the Rebirth Brass Band will contend for its first Grammy. Rebirth is a [...]
‘tit Rex: A Regal Matter?
It’s hard to imagine a more literal case of someone picking on the “little guy” than this: the powerful Krewe of Rex has pushed the satirical Krewe of ‘tit Rex (‘tit being a common Cajun shortening of “petit”) into altering its name due to perceived copyright issues. ‘tit Rex parades through the Bywater with shoebox-based [...]
Some Rhode Island Lagniappe for Mamou Playboy Kevin Dugas
Rhode Island celebrates Mardi Gras this month by coming to the rescue of a veteran Cajun musician. The Friends of Kevin Dugas Krewe, a new Carnival group based in Cranston, Rhode Island, carries the name of the drummer for Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys for the past 21 years. In late October 2011, Dugas [...]
Mardi Gras History on Parade
“We do not own it, society does.” Leon Cahill, head of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) at Tulane, is referring to its Carnival collection, which it finished digitizing in time for Mardi Gras 2012. Now, float and costume design sketches by legendary designers, including Jennie Wilde, B.A. Wikstrom and Charles Briton are online and viewable [...]
Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Hornets Put the “i” in Hive
This season, the New Orleans Hornets and Irvin Mayfield’s I Club are working together to bring the city’s music to the game. A live band will play throughout home games on the Irvin Mayfield’s I Club Stage, and Mayfield was part of it on opening night, kicking off player introductions with an original Hornets theme [...]
The Blues Music Awards: Who’s the Bluest?
[Updated] Tab Benoit and Johnny Sansone received four nominations each by the Blues Foundation for their annual Blues Music Awards. The winners will be announced on May 10 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, where Benoit and his Medicine album face off against Sansone and The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is [...]
The Grammy Awards: Everything vs. Everything Else
“And the Grammy in the Category of Contradiction and Confusion goes to ….” That announcement would be made at next month’s Grammys if zydeco music veteran Terrance Simien had his way. Simien is still steaming that the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album was one of 31 categories the Recording Academy cut last year in [...]
Wizard World Comic Con: When Titans Clash
What happens when the high lords of fandom meet? Star Trek/T.J. Hooker/Boston Legal/Sh*! My Dad Says star William Shatner famously told fans to “Get a life” on a Saturday Night Live sketch, and Marvel Comics’ creator Stan Lee called the cops on Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. Nonetheless, both are both scheduled to appear [...]
New Orleans in New York
The Backbeat Foundation is taking a host of New Orleans artists to New York City January 6-8. For the fourth year, Export NOLA is an official showcase series at the Association of Performing Arts and Presenters Conference, with Big Sam’s Funky Nation, the Iguanas, Amanda Shaw, Stooges Brass Band, Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs and [...]
