This year’s Gretna Heritage Festival prompted the question: When there’s only one original member, is Lynyrd Skynyrd still Lynyrd Skynyrd? A New Orleans version of this question arose when it was announced that drummer Bob French would be stepping down as bandleader of the Original Tuxedo Brass Band, to be replaced by his nephew, Gerald [...]
Step-N-Strut Trail Ride: Too Many Steps?
Trail rides were once the best-kept secrets in zydeco. Now, google “zydeco trail ride” and the first result comes from, ironically, The New York Times. Travel writer Shaila Dewan waxes poetically about her trip to the Pineywoods Trail Ride in Evangeline Parish. There are also links to an events calendar, YouTube videos and discussion forums. [...]
Punk Lived in New Orleans
UPDATED Local filmmaker Al Champagne is working on a documentary on the local punk scene during the ‘70s and ‘80s. “What I hope to accomplish with this is an awareness that a punk scene actually existed here in New Orleans,” Champagne says. “I think this will be interesting to not only locals, but also those [...]
The Joy Theater: A Time of Joy
Once there were four historic theaters operating in downtown New Orleans: the Saenger, Orpheum, Joy, and Loews State Palace. These establishments boasted gleaming facades and uniformed ushers directing droves of patrons to see the finest in American motion-picture entertainment, but this is 2011, and each is shuttered. Over the past five years, there have been [...]
Yo Gabba Gabba!: Time to Dance
Dave-1 of Chromeo on appearing on kids’ show Yo Gabba Gabba!: It’s crazy because we did that in ’08 and people still talk to us about it. It’s cool too. I grew up watching Sesame Street. I grew up watching all my favorite musicians on a kids’ show, so to do a modern version of [...]
Christmas Concerts
With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, the French Quarter is celebrating “Christmas New Orleans Style”. The annual program that encourages tourists to spend the holidays in the Crescent City has a new wrinkle this year: in addition to the Christmas Concerts in St. Louis Cathedral, there will be a series of shows at the St. [...]
Back to the Best of the Beat Awards
George Matters. Buttons and T-shirts proclaimed this simple truth years ago, and on Friday, January 27, 2012, OffBeat agrees when we recognize the great George Porter, Jr. with our Lifetime Achievement in Music at the Best of the Beat. Once again, OffBeat will recognize excellence in the South Louisiana music scene, and we will return [...]
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, [...]
The Lost Bayou Ramblers’ Bastille Day
The Lost Bayou Ramblers will perform with former Violent Femmes front man Gordon Gano at the Voodoo Experience on Saturday, October 29, and the night before they’ll throw a single release party at d.b.a. The evening’s festivities will celebrate the release of a 12-inch vinyl single “Bastille,” a track from the band’s upcoming Mammoth Waltz. [...]
Excello Reunion of All-Star Swamp Blues Legends
Most of the featured artists had to sit in a chair once they wobbled their way to the spotlight at center stage. Some talked about their strokes, a bad leg, or arthritis. But once the music began on this rainy September afternoon, all journeyed back to a time when, as Classie Ballou put it, they [...]
