There’s a lot to like about Chimes of Freedom – the Amnesty International benefit album with more than 70 covers of Bob Dylan songs. Its sprawl means that artists have to reach deep into his catalog, so Adele’s version of “Make You Feel My Love” is fresh because she reinvents it as a soulful piano [...]
Madonna: From Super Bowl to New Orleans
“It was curiously flat.” What halftime show was music industry critic Bob Lefsetz watching? For those who wanted to see guys stand there and churn away on guitars, there wasn’t much there for you, but it was so relentlessly over the top that it was hard not to be entertained. Gladiators? Check. Thor’s helmet? Check. [...]
Clearing the Desk: Spector, Smiths and Elvis
Yesterday, I wrote about a few books on my desk that slipped to the back burner. Here are a few albums that met the same undeserved, neglected fate: Phil Spector Presents the Philles Album Collection (Sony Legacy): Those who know Phil Spector-produced artists by their singles and hope to find pirate treasure in their album [...]
The Reading List: Oil and Water, Portishead and the Stooges
We’ve spent most of the last month dealing with Christmas, the February issue and the Best of the Beat. Here’s some of the stuff that landed on my desk that I really wanted to write about but couldn’t quite get to: Oil and Water by Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler: This graphic novel tells the [...]
Alabama Shakes Pack One Eyed Jacks
Even with an uncommonly early start time at One Eyed Jacks—9 p.m. for the headliner!—the Alabama Shakes packed the room to the point that those of us who arrived shortly before 9 p.m. bumped into an impenetrable wall of backs five or so feet inside the door. But the show was a reminder that soul [...]
A Cocktail Party in 1963
In honor of Martin Luther King Day: Writer, musician and OffBeat contributor Ned Sublette recently sent an email commenting on Harry Belafonte’s autobiography, My Song, and its focus on Belafonte’s activism. Sublette writes: For me, the book’s most compelling moment is Belafonte’s eyewitness account of the May 24, 1963 cocktail party arranged by James [...]
Trombone Shorty’s National Anthem
Yesterday, Trombone Shorty and his Orleans Avenue band members Tim McFatter and Dan Oestreicher performed the National Anthem for the Atlanta Falcons-New York Giants playoff game. Here’s the video: Shorty is nominated for numerous Best of the Beat awards this year including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. Voting closes Friday, so [...]
Uncle Lionel, Monk & More with Instrument Heads
NPR’s “A Blog Supreme” features a slideshow of photos by Michael Weintrob, who manipulated a number of photos of musicians to replace their heads with their instruments. Among Weintrob’s subjects are Uncle Lionel Batiste, Kirk Jospeph, Bill Summers and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. You can see his work here, and more at Weintrob’s site, where [...]
Back to the Playoffs and 504 Connect
Brian Boyles’ December story on the phenomenon of Saints songs in 2009 started before a game this season when he was DJ’ing at Handsome Willy’s (as he’ll be Saturday afternoon) and played “Saints Anthem” by 504 Connect. I’d never heard it before, and he explained that someone from the group brought in a home-burned CD [...]
People Say Project: Interview with George Porter, Jr. & Dee-1
OffBeat contributor Brian Boyles is one of the organizers of The People Say Project, which puts together artists in the same field to discuss issues associated with culture and money from different perspectives. On December 13, he brought together OffBeat Lifetime Achievement in Music honoree George Porter, Jr. with rapper Dee-1 to discuss lives in [...]
