December 2012
BackTalk
- BackTalk: OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey Looks Back on 25 Years
In 1979 New Orleans native and young divorced mother Jan Ramsey was driving home from work when a drunk driver jumped…
Bookmark
- Matt Miller, Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans
The bounce music misnomer has been around for decades: DJs with little access to live instruments just shouted obscenities over simple…
Cover Story
- The BEAT Goes On: A 25 Year Retrospective of OffBeat Magazine
OffBeat Magazine, the foremost authority on Louisiana music and one of the world’s longest-running jazz and roots music publications, celebrates its…
Features
- For the Record: Spinning Through a Quarter Century of Album Reviews
These are not selected as the best records of each year but as a record that represented the year in New… - The Dew Drop Inn:
Past, Present and Future?
Staring out his window onto the reconstructed Magnolia housing development, Roosevelt Randolph can’t help but wonder why he’s the only one…
Fresh
- Sound Investments: Gifts for Music Lovers on Your Holiday List
Vanity Fair Children’s Record Player w/children’s orange record, “Git Along Little Doggies” $125 at Gamache Designs, judydigeorge.weebly.com Judy Gamache DiGeorge fashions… - Floyd's Record Shop Closes
After 56 years in business, Louisiana’s longest tenured “record shop” will shutter its doors at the end of the year. Located… - Christmas New Orleans Style Returns
There’s nothing quite like the holidays in New Orleans, but to tip the hat to Satchmo, a Dixieland Santa Claus leading… - Gospel Ron, Radio Angel
Baby Boomers were raised on AM radio. Back in the day, AM radio had personality largely via the colorful DJs that spun… - Streamlines: Basin Street Records, Never Records, Soundclash Podcasts
Now Streaming on OffBeat's Look-Ka Py Py Podcast... BASIN STREET RECORDS, SWINGING STRONG Label founder Mark Samuels’ part-time hobby-turned-full-time endeavor swings… - Jimmy's Heats Up Again
Jimmy’s Music Club was the hottest bar in New Orleans in the ’80s. I’m not talking about its popularity. I’m talking temperature.…
Letters
- December 2012 Letters to OffBeat
“ONE TOO MANY” It was a delightful surprise to read your [Joseph Irrera] article, “Treigle Plaza,” in OffBeat, especially since I…
Mojo Mouth
- A Long Happy 25 Years
Happy holidays to all. This issue is a momentous one for OffBeat, because it’s a celebration and a retrospective of our…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Hadley Castille (1933-2012)
Cajun swing fiddler Hadley J. Castille passed away on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at an Opelousas nursing home due to an inoperable brain… - Obituary: Bob French (1938-2012)
Drummer Bob French was such a forceful personality that his reputation as a controversial WWOZ disc jockey actually overshadows his most…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Keife & Company
The proliferation of specialty food merchants has altered the home cook’s preparation of the traditional holiday meal. Instead of the familiar… - DJ Quickie Mart Hits the Spot at Jacques-Imo's
How did you first start coming here? When I was coming up in New Orleans around 2002 or 2003, we had…
Dining Out
- BackTalk: OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey Looks Back on 25 Years
In 1979 New Orleans native and young divorced mother Jan Ramsey was driving home from work when a drunk driver jumped… - Dining Out: Keife & Company
The proliferation of specialty food merchants has altered the home cook’s preparation of the traditional holiday meal. Instead of the familiar…
The Spot
- DJ Quickie Mart Hits the Spot at Jacques-Imo's
How did you first start coming here? When I was coming up in New Orleans around 2002 or 2003, we had…
Reviews
- New Birth Brass Band, On My Way (Threadhead Records)
The New Birth Brass Band, which was formed in the mid-1980s, comes deeply from the tradition having benefited from the watchful… - Dee-1, The Focus Tape (Independent)
Want a testimony as to how Dee-1 has managed to be so successful? Despite his meteoric rise over the last couple… - Caleb Elliott, Where You Wanna Be (Freetown Songs)
On his debut album, Lafayette’s Caleb Elliott takes us back to a sweeter pop era—the early ’90s, when artists Toad the… - Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Rockin With Roy (Swampadellic Records)
On Rockin With Roy, Chubby Carrier pays homage to the man responsible for his very zydeco existence, pops Roy Carrier (1947-2010)… - Fessor and His Jazz Kings, For Bunchy (Olufsen Records)
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that most people reading this aren’t familiar with Ole “Fessor” Lindgreen. That… - Chris Ardoin, Unleashed (Maison de Soul)
Chris Ardoin’s past few discs were released independently; then months, even years later, Maison de Soul Records would reissue the same,… - Vox and the Hound, Courage (Independent)
Following the disbandment of the City Life four years ago, frontman Leo DeJesus spent his days as a hired gun who… - Norco Lapalco, Norco Lapalco (Independent)
Back in the day audiences and listeners were enthralled and informed by the caustic lyrical and guitar stylings of one Mr.… - Dirty Bourbon River Show, Volume Three (Independent)
The persistence of New Orleans R&B in the work of today’s younger artists is reassuring, even when it’s but one hue… - Gravy Flavored Kisses, The Mail (EP) (Independent)
You want a meaty storyline, Gravy Flavored Kisses got one: “The Ballad of Edgar Valdez,” the six-minute finale of their four-song… - Ernie Vincent, Louisiana Magic (KOLAB Records)
Often lost in the debate over live music venues is the essential role they play in the gestation and sustenance of… - Diablo’s Horns, Burnin’! (Word of Mouth)
This funky album has a lot going for it, but the best thing about it is… the lyrics? Not something you’d…
