In case you haven’t heard, next year’s Superbowl will be held in New Orleans, and the Convention Center board voted to donate $30-million to help spruce up (“improve the infrastructure” in these neighborhoods—which comprise most of the areas visitors will frequent during Superbowl.

Tell me we don't need infrastructure and more city service in the French Quarter...? Courtesy: www.nowpublic.com

But the proposed hospitality district would also be able to levy taxes within the district on hotel rooms (1.75%), restaurants and nightclub sales (.02495%) and parking (1% increase in hotel parking tax for overnight hotel guests). The proposed board could also direct additional tax revenues to additional infrastructure improvements, and to spend more money on attracting tourists to the city. At this writing, it’s proposed that about a third of revenues will go to a dedicated fund to enhance city services and to add to infrastructure improvements, and the other two-thirds to funding activities of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation. It’s also interesting to note that the CVB intends to spend some of its marketing dollars pursuing international visitors. I’m surely hoping they do it smartly and they use music to market New Orleans as an international music mecca. But at least they are committed to attracting people from outside the US.

I think this is a good idea. I’ve supported additional marketing and promotions to attract international visitors for many years, and this could help to contribute to these efforts. However, I do believe that the revenues should be split down the middle: 50% for infrastructure improvements and 50% for tourism marketing. We need better sanitation, nice sidewalks and streets, and  increased police presence in this city, especially on Frenchmen Street; it’s an important part of the infrastructure that makes visitors want to come to New Orleans and to return again.

It is important that every neighborhood involved in the district be given a voice on the new agency board. But I just don’t comprehend the protests from the residents in these districts to stop the legislation—primarily from the French Quarter and the Marigny residents. According to the Times-Picayune, in 2010, “French Quarter voters voted down a proposed security district that would have taken in about $1 million a year in property fees to spend on private security patrols in the roughly 100-block neighborhood. Although most of the money would have come from business owners, only residents registered to vote in the Quarter could cast ballots.”

This refers again to certain residents in the Quarter, most vocally represented by the Vieux Carre Property Owners & Residents Association, and French Quarter Citizens, not wanting more tourists in their neighborhoods. I find this attitude counterintuitive to the fact that these people chose to live in an urban tourist destination. The French Quarter is one of the most interesting tourist destinations in the world. We should not want more business because a few people with a lot of political clout—who have the money and determination to oppose more visitors in the Quarter—don’t like the traffic, noise and inconvenience of tourists? Huh?

I understand not wanting your neighborhood to become a tourist destination, but the Quarter and Marigny already are places people go out of their way to visit, and they have been for many years. How many people who live in these two districts and who are the vocal members of the dissenting organizations actually work in the hospitality industry in the city? Will their incomes be affected if tourism drops? I can guarantee you that the businesses on Frenchmen Street and in the Quarter would curl up and die without the support of visitors. When the hospitality industry flourishes in the city, you can tell. The city buzzes with vitality. The hospitality industry is the backbone of the city’s economic health and its success is crucial.

Without a safe, secure, clean place for visitors to patronize, we are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Without reaching out to market to attract more visitors to New Orleans, the French Quarter and Marigny will die.

June 6: Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians + Lagniappe Brass Band
June 13: Latin Night with Son Como Son + Ritmo Calypso
June 20: Big Daddy ‘O’ Revue + Blues4Sale
June 27: Sunpie Barnes & the Louisiana Sunspots + August Rush
July 4 (5-9 p.m.): Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes + Zena Moses & Rue Fiya All-Stars + the Brent Walsh Jazz Trio
July 11: George Porter Jr. & the Runnin’ Pardners + Sound Man Presents
July 18: Brass-A-Holics + Melomania
July 25: Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys + St. Cecilia’s Asylum Chorus

The Wednesdays on the Point concert series is presented by the Algiers Economic Development Foundation.

Tonight, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band headline Wednesday at the Square in Lafayette Square with the Breton Sound opening. The Dozen have a new album, Twenty Dozen, which includes “Dirty Old Man,” a song that has been a staple of the band’s live show for a few years now. Here they are performing the vehicle for baritone sax player Roger Lewis in Germany in 2008. The show starts at 5 p.m.

All photos were taken by Willow Haley.

Voodoo 2010. Photo by Aaron Lafont.

The 14th-annual festival will take place Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28. Three-day tickets are on sale for $175 for general admission or $500 for LOA Lounge VIP (with parking available for an additional $50).

Green Day’s Voodoo Experience show will be the band’s only performance in the United States in 2012. The trio last came to New Orleans for the Superdome’s post-Katrina reopening in 2006, and headlined Voodoo in 2004. Neil Young last played New Orleans at Jazz Fest in 2009, and Skrillex headlined the inaugural Buku Music & Art Project in March.

For the first time, Voodoo will offer overnight camping options to concert-goers. In addition to a basic bring-your-own-tent campsite, VIP offerings are available with luxury tents and bedding included with electrical outlets, plus breakfast, Artist Passes, and much more. Both options also require full weekend tickets. Camping packages range from $150-$215 for 2-3 people, or $1500 for VIP camping for two.

Russell Batiste playing at Lafayette Square in 2011. Photo by Kim Welsh.

Russell Batiste (drums), Ivan Neville (keyboards and vocals), George Porter, Jr. (bass), and Ian Neville (guitar), flawlessly played in rhythm, hitting the crowd with a sound that was all too familiar to the musicians, but rather foreign to a crowd far removed from the sounds heard regularly in New Orleans. The city’s close-knit and deep-rooted culture was perfectly exemplified in the quartet’s performance—it was as if when the band took the stage they introduced their sound to the crowd, adapted them to it, and left them begging for more.

It was clear that the dynamic between the band members is what makes them capable of successfully playing without rehearsal, for I would catch each member glancing at one another throughout the set and nodding and even laughing as they jammed and raised the crowd’s energy. It was as if the idea of a formal rehearsal was completely erroneous, for these musicians are constantly surrounded by one another and collaborating their talent to produce one melodious sound that is inescapably filled with funk and hints of history.

With Jazz Fest just a week before, each of the musicians were playing until the wee hours of the morning, often times joining one another on unplanned sit-ins. These musicians possess a talent that allows them to not only effortlessly play song after song like they have been playing as a band for years, but they also are able to transport the crowd to a place where nothing else matters but the sound of their instruments and the rhythm that makes everyone’s body dance with excitement.

The best part about this collaboration was that B.I.G.I. truly brought New Orleans with them to Florida, allowing the crowd to take part in what New Orleanians can enjoy almost every day.

As the band left the stage, they left the crowd with an enthusiasm that allowed them to dance their troubles away and fill their souls with the pure joy of hearing the quartet’s funky sound.

Photo by Kim Welsh.

Still, those who think Jazz Fest jumped the shark have a point. In a series of incremental steps, it has lost sight of what was once most meaningful to festgoers—the sense of community. When it was a much smaller and younger festival, there was a good chance that most of the attendees shared values, enthusiasms and cultural beliefs. Jazz Fest was a gathering of the tribe, but as it became bigger and brought in more commercial acts, that feeling of unity was fractured.

Many who love roots music do so because they see it as the antithesis of the acts that now define the biggest stages, and you can see that tension play out on message boards, comment streams and Twitter feeds between Jazz Fest traditionalists and those drawn by the big name acts. This year’s headliners were about as sympathetic to Jazz Fest’s core sensibility as could have been booked, but the feeling of audience unity is further splintered by the various VIP packages, which create a class system at a festival that once celebrated music at its most democratic.

If this process isn’t inevitable, it’s hard to fight. Saying no to growth, expansion and greater significance takes a remarkably strong sense of purpose. Add to that the way New Orleans relies on Jazz Fest as an economic engine, and it’s clear that wagging a finger at Festival Productions is a simplistic response to complicated issues. Besides, last summer, one of our interns lodged a similar complaint about Bonnaroo and how it had morphed from a jam-band retreat to a festival that includes rappers and electronica artists.

Jazz Fest has done its part to create much of the discontent that accompanied a generally strong festival, but people also need to reconsider their own expectations and desires. Which ones are realistic and missteps on the festival’s part, and which ones reflect a desire for days that are gone for good? We’re in uncharted territory here as the first generations not to put down their music when they became adults enter their rickety years.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band won two awards—Album of the Year for Revelator and Best Band—and Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks each won awards on their own. Here are the nominees and the winners.

Acoustic Album
Conversations in Blue – David Maxwell & Otis Spann
Brand New Eyes – Doug MacLeod
Misery Loves Company – Mary Flower
Shake ‘Em on Down – Rory Block

Acoustic Artist
Eric Bibb
David Maxwell
Doug MacLeod
Guy Davis
Mary Flower
Rory Block

Album of the Year
Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band
Chicago Blues A Living History The (R)evolution Continues – Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch, Lurrie Bell, Carlos Johnson
Rock and a Hard Place – Eugene Hideaway Bridges
The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too – Johnny Sansone
Evening – Sugar Ray & the Bluetones
Medicine – Tab Benoit

B.B. King Entertainer
Tab Benoit
Candye Kane
Lil’ Ed
Ruthie Foster
Tommy Castro

Band
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Bo-Keys
Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones
Tommy Castro Band
Trampled Under Foot

Best New Artist Debut
Runaway – Samantha Fish
Choice Cuts – Big Pete
Bad Girl – Demetria Taylor
Leave the Light On – Sena Ehrhardt
The Mighty Mojo Prophets – The Mighty Mojo Prophets

Contemporary Blues Album
Medicine – Tab Benoit
Unconditional – Ana Popovic
Don’t Explain – Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa
The Skinny – Ian Siegal & the Youngest Sons
The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too – Johnny Sansone
Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue–Live! – Various Artists

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Susan Tedeschi
Ana Popovic
Bettye LaVette
Candye Kane
Janiva Magness

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Tab Benoit
Joe Louis Walker
Johnny Sansone
JP Soars
Tommy Castro

DVD
Live At Antone’s – Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn)
An Evening at Trasimeno Lake – Ana Popovic (ArtisteXclusive)
Live at Montreux 2010 – Gary Moore (Eagle Rock)
The Emporium to the Orpheum – Trampled Under Foot (Redwood)
All Jams on Deck – Various Artists (Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise & Mug-Shot Productions)
Play the Blues – Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton (Rhino)

Gibson Guitar Award
Derek Trucks
Duke Robillard
Kirk Fletcher
Lurrie Bell
Michael Burks

Historical Album
Chess – Smokestack Lightning/The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960 (Howlin’ Wolf)
Bear Family – Texas Flyer 1974-76 (Freddie King)
Delmark – Hoodoo Man Blues (Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band with Buddy Guy)
Electro-Fi – Teardrops Are Falling – Live in 1983 (George “Harmonica” Smith)
Virgin – The Essential Modern Records Collection (Etta James)

Instrumentalist-Bass
Biscuit Miller
Danielle Schnebelen
Larry Taylor
Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Patrick Rynn

Instrumentalist-Drums
Chris Layton
Jimi Bott
Kenny Smith
Robb Stupka
Stanton Moore
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Charlie Musselwhite
Kim Wilson
Lazy Lester
Rick Estrin
Sugar Ray Norcia

Instrumentalist-Horn
Terry Hanck
Al Basile
Doug James
Keith Crossan
Sax Gordon

Instrumentalist-Other
Sonny Rhodes, lap steel guitar
Ben Prestage, diddley bow
Lionel Young, violin
Otis Taylor, banjo
Rich Del Grosso, mandolin

Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)
Ruthie Foster
Diunna Greenleaf
Maria Muldaur
Nora Jean
Tracy Nelson

Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Marcia Ball
David Maxwell
Eden Brent
Jon Cleary
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne
Victor Wainwright

Rock Blues Album
Dust Bowl – Joe Bonamassa
2120 South Michigan Avenue – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Greyhound – Mike Zito
Shiver – Too Slim and the Taildraggers
Man in Motion – Warren Haynes

Song
“The Lord is Waiting the Devil is Too” – Johnny Sansone (The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too – Johnny Sansone)
“Appreciate What You Got” – Terry Hanck (Look Out! – Terry Hanck)
“Back to the Blues” – Hadden Sayers (Hard Dollar- Hadden Sayers)
“Memphis Still Got Soul” – Bob Trenchard & Johnny Rawls (Memphis Still Got Soul – Johnny Rawls)
“Thank You for Giving Me the Blues” – Grady Champion, Zac Harmon & Chris Troy (Dreamin’ – Grady Champion)
“The Older I Get the Better I Was” – Joe Shelton (The Older I Get the Better I Was – Big Joe Shelton_

Soul Blues Album
Show You a Good Time – Bobby Rush
Rock and a Hard Place – Eugene Hideaway Bridges
Dreamin’ – Grady Champion
Memphis Still Got Soul – Johnny Rawls
Bo Keys

Soul Blues Female Artist
Denise LaSalle
Alexis P. Suter
Jackie Johnson
Sharrie Williams
Sista Monica Parker

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado
Bobby Rush
Eugene Hideaway Bridges
Johnny Rawls
Otis Clay

Traditional Blues Album
Chicago Blues A Living History The (R)evolution Continues – Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch, Lurrie Bell, Carlos Johnson
Trying To Hold On – Diunna Greenleaf
You Better Listen – Lazy Lester
Evening – Sugar Ray & the Bluetones
Victim of the Blues – Tracy Nelson

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Charlie Musselwhite
John Primer
Lazy Lester
Mac Arnold
Magic Slim

Christmas songs aren’t the only thing keeping Wennerstrom and her band feeling festive. The group’s new album Arrow, recorded in the spring of 2011, was released this past February and contains some of their heaviest and most dynamic music to date.

With the addition of guitarist Mark Nathan, the band has shed the melancholy folk-rock sound of their previous album, The Mountain, in favor of a more raucous, classic rock-centered collection of songs grounded in Wennerstrom’s powerful vocals. Under the guidance of producer Jim Eno (also the drummer for Spoon), Arrow has a grittier edge then their previous work, which attempts to capture the band’s live sound.

“We did a month-long tour before we went in the studio and opened for the Drive-By Truckers out on the West Coast,” Wennerstrom says. “Then we went in the studio two days later. On a lot of the takes on the album, we didn’t add a lot of extra instrumentation. A lot of that is what our live sound is, and even a lot of the lead guitar parts are totally live, like on ‘Simple Feeling.’ On ‘Low Low Low,’ we all stood in a room in a circle and did that live, vocals and everything.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wennestrom has pursued a career in music as far back as she can remember. “I’ve always wanted to play music since I was old enough to think about doing anything,” she says. “I’m not really sure what initially inspired me to want to do this because when I look back, I think I was somewhere between three and five years old.”

After leaving high school at 17, Wennerstrom decided to devote her life to becoming a musician. She was in the process of teaching herself how to write songs and play guitar when a friend asked if she’d be interested in learning to play bass for a band. She went for it, and after gaining the confidence to perform live, Wennerstrom formed the Heartless Bastards in 2003 in Cincinnati. They were eventually signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carney of the Black Keys passed along their demo.

Wennerstrom has spent the majority of time on the road since devoting herself to Heartless Bastards, and many of the songs on Arrow reflect these themes of travel and place. Prior to recording the album, she took a series of road trips that took her from Austin to Ohio, Arkansas, and the Catskill Mountains. “With each place I stopped I would take several days on my own and find somewhere and isolate myself. It was about a month-long trip, but I would stop somewhere and visit somebody and then take some days on my own.” She attributes a lot of the album’s imagery and feel to the time she spent on a friend’s borrowed ranch in West Texas, including “The Air that Killed the Beast” and the first single, “Parted Ways.”

While their tour includes stops at a number of major national festivals, including Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Wennestrom and the band are looking forward to spending some time in New Orleans. “We actually have a day off there afterwards and it’s not often that we do, so it’ll be great to go out and see more of the city.”

As live performers, Heartless Bastards have honed a style steeped in the traditions of classic rock and blues, which is expertly captured on their most recent record. “With The Mountain, there were session musicians because I had just moved to Austin and started over. With Arrow, we’ve all been touring together as a band for going on three-and-a-half, four years. I feel we’re a tight band as people and musically, and I feel like it really comes across on the album.”

Heartless Bastards play One Eyed Jacks Saturday at 10 p.m. with These United States. Doors open at 9; tickets are on sale now.

In our current May issue we report on the Stooges Brass Band recording with producer Mannie Fresh. The two were paired up after the Stooges won the Red Bull Street Kings Brass Band Blowout competition in fall 2010, for which Fresh served as a judge. The prize was to record an album at Red Bull’s private, state-of-the-art recording studio in Los Angeles.

Above is video of the Stooges performing “Why” live in studio (more in-studio videos here and here). The song is a tribute to Hot 8 Brass Band trombone player Joseph “Shotgun Joe” Williams, who was killed by NOPD officers in 2004. In this issue’s article, co-bandleader Andrew Baham says about the song, “Shotgun Joe was just one case in many that happen every year. We have to find a way to address not only police brutality but brutality in general.” Below is a humorous in-studio interview with fellow bandleader Walter “Whoadie” Ramsey and Mannie Fresh. You can see the Stooges Brass Band tonight and every Thursday at the Hi-Ho Lounge starting at 10 p.m. Friday night the Stooges play the Treme vs. The Wire Battle of the Bands concert at Tipitina’s.

Click here to view the embedded video.