April 1999
BackTalk
- Sam Butera
He still wears the unmistakable accent of a New Orleans native, but Sam Butera can hardly be claimed as a New…
Bayou Beat
- CPS Records, Local Club News & the River Babys Controversy
Work continues apace on the long-awaited, and as-yet-untitled, Rod Bernard album on CSP Records. At press time, Bernard and his star-studded…
Bluesworthy
- It Don't Hurt No More: Shemekia Copeland Grows Up In Public
Playing the blues is not physically demanding, most would agree, but being your own man (or woman) and still ripping the…
Bookmark
- Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley
When Frank Sinatra hosted the Welcome Home Elvis television special in the Spring of 1960, he was trying to maintain a…
Chassez De Faim
- Dining in Da Quarters, at Da Festival, Da Quarter Scene Restaurant & Da Moon Wok
If the French Quarter is known world-wide for New Orleans' greatest concentration of fine architecture, then perhaps all history books should…
Cover Story
- Beau Jocque Cranks It Up!
1998 was a banner year for Beau Jocque. Last year's release for Rounder Records, Lock It In, Crank It Up, his…
Dis 'n' Dat
- Buckwheat Back on the Road, Essence Lineup, Jazz Fest Volunteers, Slim's Y-Ki-Ki & More
Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr., leader of the world renowned musical group, Buckwheat Zydeco, has been given the green light to sing…
Features
- Boozoo Chavis-Warning: For Mature Audiences Only
The directions to his house that Boozoo Chavis gives journalists who call to schedule interviews with him can be confusing. Sometimes… - 100: The 100 Essential Louisiana CDs, Part 7
In late 1997, the Offbeat staff began developing the list of the 100 Essential Louisiana CDs. Our goal was to pick… - 10th Anniversary of the Louisiana Hall of Fame
When her health began declining in the late nineteen-eighties, longtime musician Lou Gabus realized that performing was no longer an option.… - Happy Birthday, Gatemouth!
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown is a rarity: a roots musician who itches to move beyond the already known. His 50-plus year career… - Chris Ardoin: A Zydeco Family Affair
It's long way from the gumbo'd vistas of Southwest Louisiana to the chowder'd climes of Rhode Island. But if the subject… - Identity Crisis: Louisiana's Guitar Gable Defends His Legacy
On 1956, Gabriel Perrodin, a native Bellevue, Louisiana, musician, traveled to Lake Charles to make a recording at Eddie Shuler's Lake…
Feedback
- Blackula, the MacGillicuddys, the Continental Drifters & More
For Blackula vocalist Brooke Lamm, the return is especially gratifying. It was Lamm's illness that sidelined the band and almost took…
Film & Video Bits
- Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Forces of Nature, the Grand Canyon at the Entergy IMAX Theater
It's part spaghetti western, part film noir, add a dash of Trainspotting crossed with Good Fellas, with a bit of Reservoir…
Grapevine
- The Status of In-Store Performances & Easing Restrictions on Low-Power Radio Stations
Spring has sprung with a flourish, the sun is bright and the air is mild, moods are high, flowers are blooming…
Letters
- Letters April 1999
"Teedy's" Mama says Thanks As we all know, if we want it to be known, we should "put it in the…
Mojo Mouth
- Why Does This City Pick On Music Folk? Jimmy's Moves Up
Once upon a time there was a city that made its reputation and literally sold itself on the depth and interest…
Pass A Good Time
- French Quarter Festival, Festival International, Ponchatoula's Strawberry Festival & More
The festival ball is rolling and this month we're directly in its path. Not only is April one of the busiest…
Straight, No Chaser
- Kim Prevost & Bill Solley, Astral Project's "VooDooBop"
"I was shocked," says vocalist Kim Prevost, describing her reaction when her and her duo partner, guitarist Bill Solley, were recently…
Street
- Warren G's New Group Reel Tight, Too Short, Top Ten CDs, Da Rangaz & More
Reel Tight, a new group discovered by Wron G (Warren G's uncle), recently made a stop here in the Big Easy…
Talkin' 'bout New Orleans
- Edgar Blanchard & the Gondoliers: Let's Get It
One of the most talented, but sadly underrated rhythm and blues musicians in New Orleans was the late guitarist Edgar Blanchard.…
Reviews
- Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band, The Mountain (E-Squared)
In 1995, after serving a sixty day sentence for heroin possession in Nashville's Criminal Justice Center, Steve Earle walked out of… - Tab Benoit, Debbie Davies and Kenny Neal, Homesick for the Road (Telarc)
Cross the talents of two veterans of the Louisiana blues scene with a former featured guitarist for the late Albert Collins… - Sleater-Kinney, The Hot Rock (Kill Rock Stars)
Almost by definition, punk music takes risks, and when Carin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney sings, "Bless me with Athene/there's no meaner, she's… - Tim Hagans, Animation Imagination (Blue Note), Russell Gunn, Ethnomusicology Volume 1 (Atlantic)
"There's no point in making the same kind of record that Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton or Wallace Roney makes," says trumpeter… - Louis Jordan, The Anthology 1938-1953 (MCA/Decca)
It's not just the creation of the small-scale jump band or the development of jazz nuance married to a shuffle beat,… - Various Artists, Men Are Like Street Cars…Women Blues Singers 1928-1969 (MCA)
Women and the blues make "an odd coupling," says Mary Katherine Aldin, a well-established researcher who is the guiding force behind… - The Creole Zydeco Farmers, …On the Road (Maison de Soul)
If the snap bean is the essence of zydeco, then somebody's gotta grow it. At least that's been the creed of… - Mem Shannon, Spend Some Time with Me (Shanachie)
Those not in the tribal circle of blues enthusiasts tend to think of the genre as being all about pain: She… - Various Artists, The Best of Spinett (Night Train)
The Spinett label, which operated in New Orleans around 1959, was somewhat of a semi-serious hobby for Frankie Ford and his… - Earl Gaines, 24 Hours A Day (Black Magic), Al Garner and the Roadrunners, Leavin' Tennessee (Black Magic)
Nashville is not the first (or second, or third) place ordinary folks think about when you mention blues and R&B towns,… - Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, Deluxe Edition (Alligator)
Call it Treble In Mind. Hound Dog Taylor was all about making the blues screech: Japanese guitars with a wicked slide,… - Cassandra Wilson, Traveling Miles (Blue Note)
Just as he dominated every decade since World War II, Miles Davis has imposed himself on the 1990s with what seems…
