May 1999
BackTalk
- BackTalk: George Wein
If you're lucky enough to be at the Fair Grounds this year on the first Friday, you can see and hear…
Bluesworthy
- Blues Bests at The Fest
Ernie K-Doe may have only been half-serious when he uttered his now-famous remark, ''I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive that…
Bookmark
- Forest's Own Brand of "Hell"
The blues imply a story. Every "hurts so bad" lyric is a moment caused by something that happened in the past;…
Chassez De Faim
- Eating Between Event Days
The only thing Worse than waiting in line for food at Jazz Fest remains waiting in line at a local restaurant…
Dis 'n' Dat
- Miss Hadda Does New Orleans
In order to pepper your Jazz Fest experience with a dab of culture, some old time torch songs, some misty mountain…
Features
- 100: The 100 Essential Louisiana CDs, Part 8
In late 1997, the Offbeat staff began developing the list of the 100 Essential Louisiana CDs. Our goal was to pick… - BackBeat: The Earl Palmer Story
Although New Orleans has produced more excellent musicians than it’s size warrants. it simply hasn't been able to support more than… - Groovy! Dude! New Orleans Musical Nicknames
Slim, Red, La La, Tee Tee, Foots, Nose, String Bean, Snowflake, Half A Head, June, Daddy, Pipes, Buck, Pee Wee, Queenie,… - Zydeco!
A new collaboration by photographer Rick Olivier and journalist/musician Ben Sandmel, Published by the University Press of Mississippi covers the musical… - Pah-Rade!
Sitting one hot afternoon for an interview at the former Lu and Charlie's jazz club in August of 1974, James Black,… - Branford Marsalis: Musician as Iconoclast
On Friday, April 30th, The Jazz & Heritage Festival welcomes home saxophonist Branford Marsalis, a New Orleans son who is undoubtedly… - They Play. You Dance. That's It. The World According to ReBirth
There are a lot of things about New Orleans that outsiders find odd-that St. Patrick's Day is a de facto postal… - New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Shrines: A Guided Tour
Ernie K-Doe once declared, ''I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive, that all music came from New Orleans." While some might… - Jazz Fest: A Decade of Delights
New Orleans lives for its music, never more dramatically than the two weekends of sustained merrymaking that constitute the New OrIeans… - Whither Jazzfest? A Look Back at the Origins of the World's Most Successful Music Festival and Its Impact on New Orleans' Culture
Every spring for nearly one third of the 20th century, New Orleans has celebrated the music and culture of this region.… - Best of the Rest: The Top 11 Acts Not Booked at This Year's Jazz Fest
Despite the over 400 acts booked at the Jazz Fest this year, you might be interested to know that this is… - Jazz Fest, from "A" to "Z"
A Acoustic Swiftness, SAT 4/24, LAGN, 3:10, largely acoustic guitar group that plays snazzy Latino riffs with style. Adelia, Adelia…
Feedback
- Underwhelmed? Look No Further…
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but are you as underwhelmed with this year's Jazz Fest lineup as I…
Grapevine
- LMNOP Continues to Improve The City's Music Biz
Sandwiched between the two weekends of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is the Louisiana Music-New Orleans Pride LMNOP conference,…
Jazz Fest Focus
- Fest Focus: Jon Cleary
Jon Cleary has clearly arrived, and now he has a new recording to follow suit. Moonburn, his long-awaited major label debut… - Fest Focus: Willie Nelson
While most folks pine away at their humdrum jobs, saving for the day when they can escape, Nelson's famed tour bus,… - Fest Focus: Marva Wright
The Blues may be "nothing but a woman cryin' for her man" I as the great Georgia White once observed. Unfortunately… - Fest Focus: Jon Cleary
Jon Cleary has clearly arrived, and now he has a new recording to follow suit. Mooburn his long-awaited major label debut… - Fest Focus: Bobby "Blue" Bland
Fame and notoriety have hovered close to Bobby "Blue" Bland for over four decades. It's always been close, but it's never… - Fest Focus: Rosie Ledet
Don’t be surprised if you catch Rosie Ledet stifling a yawn or two between songs during her Jazz Fest set. With… - Fest Focus: Davell Crawford
New Orleans is probably the only city that might accurately be described as a musical conservatory unto itself. To paraphrase the… - Fest Focus: Los Lobos
Uncertainty can paralyze, but in the case of Los Lobos, it produced a Kiss-like outpouring of solo projects and a Grammy.… - Fest Focus: Kim Carson
Since she just lost her job, and her RV did in fact break down on a trip back from Nashville, it… - Fest Focus: Tab Benoit
Some men are born into greatness, others have it thrust upon them; then there are people like Tab Benoit, who have… - Fest Focus: Li'l Queenie
Arriving at her house late on a Tuesday evening, a torrential spring storm rendering visibility on the streets almost impenetrable. Lee… - Fest Focus: Fredy Omar
"Parrandeando ": Parading, seeing and being seen. There's no place for parading like New Orleans, and there's no better place to… - Fest Focus: Irma Thomas
The Lion’s Den could only exist in New Orleans. It's an unassuming neighborhood bar complete with a television tuned to Judge… - Fest Focus: Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater
Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater likes to think of himself as a performance artist. His exciting shows usually include him playing his… - Fest Focus: Carol Fran & Clarence Hollimon
The current "sweethearts of the blues," Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon are making their first "official" appearance at the New Orleans… - Fest Focus: Widespread Panic
Last March, Widespread Panic was .. ih the tail end of a two-week run at Paris' Chesterfield Cafe. As the band… - Fest Focus: Ironing Board Sam
Though an active and unique blues artist for nearly four decades, Ironing Board Sam Moore has a rather short resume. He's… - Fest Focus: Mamou Prairie Band
"This band has never been this, tight," says Randy Vidtine, guitarist with the rising Mamou Prairie Band. A Cajun music veteran… - Fest Focus: Theresa Andersson
Her soft speaking voice is extremely deceptive, for Theresa Andersson uses words that express confidence about music and her future in,… - Fest Focus: Duke Robillard
The accolades of his fellow musicians serve as a testament that guitar legend Duke Robillard is perhaps one of the most…
Letters
- Letters May 1999
New Orleans Ignorant Of Music's Value I read the Mojo Mouth in this month's OffBeat [4/99], and to put it mildly…
Mojo Mouth
- Reflections on Jazz Fest, LMNOP and Eddie Bo
Welcome to the last-and best-Jazz Fest of this century. I think the lineup this year is one of the best we've…
OffBeat Eats
- Fest Focus: Fest Food
The 30th Anniversary of Jazz Fest celebrates not only its most diverse food offerings ever, but a few welcome additions and…
Pass A Good Time
- The Ultimate Month for Festivals
Rightfully so, for many people the end of April in New Orleans means it is once again time for that glorious…
Straight, No Chaser
- Indie-Jazz Labels Blossom & The "Can't Miss" List
As we enter into the last Jazz Fest of the twentieth century, it is impossible not to think of New Orleans…
Swamp Gas
- The Fest, The Best and More
An official announcement is forthcoming, but Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys are set to name Roddie Romero as their guitarist,…
Talkin' 'bout New Orleans
- Thibodaux's Sugar Bowl
Hosea's Place, sixty-five miles southwest of New Orleans, lies in the peaceful country town of Thibodaux, Louisiana. Nestled on Bayou Lafourche,…
Reviews
- Stavin' Chain, Stavin' Chain (PGD/Ruf)
This quote's been attributed to Michaelangelo: "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle." Well, Stavin' Chain aren't exactly painting the… - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Blackjack (Sugar Hill)
"Gates" gets upset when you refer to his music as blues, partly because the genre can sometimes carry a connotation of… - The Black Crowes, By Your Side (American/Columbia)
The Robinson brothers (AKA The Black Crowes) have returned with their newest release, the raucous Southern rock joy-ride, By Your Side.… - Selwyn Cooper & The Hurricane Blues Band, Louisiana Swamp Blues (Sound of New Orleans)
When you cue up the first song on this CD, ''The Cat Is Back," you're not liable to be much impressed.… - Charles Lloyd, Voices in the Night (ECM)/Charles Lloyd, Just Before Sunrise (32 Jazz)
Not many musicians are as willing to stretch their aesthetic boundaries as Charles Lloyd. Coming up in Memphis R&B, Lloyd also… - Lynn August, Creole People (Aim Records)
"Creole people, they don't want to be nobody else," sings the gritty voice of zydeco's Lynn August on Creole People, the… - Irvin Mayfield, Irvin Mayfield (Basin Street Records)
In the last three years, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has become an important force in New Orleans music. The 21-year-old is a… - Corey Harris, Greens from the Garden (Alligator)
Joy— pure joy — that's what you're dealing with here. Look at Corey on the cover: gravity-defying dreadlocks bound up in… - Various Artists, The Orleans Record Story (Orleans Records)
Even if you've only got a small assortment of contemporary New Orleans music, in all probably you've got at least one… - Astral Project, VoodooBop (Compass)
In their twenty year history as a band, these five New Orleans jazzmen have developed a sound completely their own, embodying… - Kermit Ruffins, Swing This! (Basin Street Records)
Swing this? Well, bam!, like that celebrity chef from the Crescent City likes to say, let's kick it up a notch,…
