November 2007
BackTalk
- Almost Everybody…
OffBeat started “Backtalk,” its monthly Q&A in January 1996, when Michael Tisserand interviewed BeauSoleil’s Michael Doucet with brothers Sid and Nathan…
Cover Story
- 20 in 20: Who Were the Artists Who Mattered Most in the Years OffBeat Has Been Published?
An anniversary is an occasion for reflection. As OffBeat celebrates 20 years of publishing, it’s natural to look back and think…
Features
- Classic Songs of Louisiana: "Blueberry Hill"
- The Best of the Beat
In 1996, OffBeat’s very first Best of the Beat Awards recognized the best in Louisiana music for 1995. The awards show,… - Anders Osborne: Not Quite Down
By general consensus, Bruce Springsteen’s first-Sunday performance of “My City of Ruins” was remembered as the great healing moment of the… - Our First Steps
Fresh
- With Strings Attached
Saturday, November 3, Terence Blanchard will perform his new album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) with the… - Behind the Brass
Putumayo World Music is known for its world music compilations that are dressed in colorful packaging and found in museum gift… - A Cause for Hope
The second annual Hip-Hop for Hope benefit concert series will take place in several locations around New Orleans on November 1,… - Mark Your Calendars
The 24th International Blues Challenge (IBC) is right around the corner. The competition presented by The Blues Foundation starts January 31… - Rubboards Never Looked So Good
“Tee” Don Landry is now a hero to his teenage nieces in New York. Landry scored major points when he secured… - Making the News
Texan Doyle Bramhall remembers his first trip to New Orleans well. It was 1966 or 1967, he was playing in a… - At Sea for a Night
Guano and Nitrates by the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus is one of the best party records of the year, and an unlikely… - Cajuns Under the Stars
Out on the road some 200 days a year, the Red Stick Ramblers—based out of Baton Rouge and Lafayette—noticed a component… - Betty Harris Returns
Of all the remarkable comebacks engineered at the Ponderosa Stomp, Betty Harris’ 2005 performance stands out as one for the ages.…
Letters
- November 2007 Letters
GREAT CD BUT NO BOOTH Thank you for the 2006 OffBeat CD sampler. You compiled a great CD with a nice…
Mojo Mouth
- All in a Generation's Work
I never thought I’d still be cranking out OffBeat after an entire generation. I thought that I would have completed my…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Kerwin James (1972 - 2007)
With the death of New Birth Brass Band tuba player Kerwin James last month, New Orleans lost another of its trademark…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: La Vita
In New Orleans, a neighborhood restaurant is often worth a trip across town. It’s the funky joint that gets glossy press… - The Go-Between
Mischa Byruck melts butter in a pan as he slices eggplant and oyster mushrooms for lunch. The butter comes from Smith…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: La Vita
In New Orleans, a neighborhood restaurant is often worth a trip across town. It’s the funky joint that gets glossy press… - Almost Everybody…
OffBeat started “Backtalk,” its monthly Q&A in January 1996, when Michael Tisserand interviewed BeauSoleil’s Michael Doucet with brothers Sid and Nathan…
Reviews
- Ed Sanders, Poems for New Orleans (Paris)
Each of us who lived through Katrina has a story. There are a million possible narratives of personal loss, anger, and… - Spank Rock and Benny Blanco, Bangers & Cash (Downtown)
The cover art identifies this five-song EP as a tribute to 2 Live Crew and the bass-heavy Miami hip-hop sound,… - Merle Haggard, The Bluegrass Sessions (McCoury)
The acoustic lineup with a mandolin, banjo and fiddle seem to mark this as bluegrass enough to give the album… - Taken by Trees, Open Field (Rough Trade)
Victoria Bergsman’s voice will be familiar, even if her or her current band’s name isn’t. As a member of the Concretes,… - John Fogerty, Revival (Fantasy)
On Centerfield, John Fogerty wrote about baseball’s place in Americana; on Revival, he writes about his own. The album is… - Bruce Springsteen, Magic (Columbia)
I worry that I’ve become a reformed smoker where Bruce Springsteen is concerned. There was a time before Born in… - Lil' Brian and the Travelers, Worldwide (High Rollers Entertainment)
Lil’ Brian has always been an enigma in zydeco with his too funky-for-zydeco and too-zydeco-for-funk approach. On his fourth album (first… - Bernie Alan Band, As I Ride (Sound Ventures)
After saying good-bye to Bayeaux and jumping off Knight Train, Bernie Alan landed in his best band yet with a moniker… - Charlie Hunter Trio, Mistico (Fantasy)
Bay area guitarist Charlie Hunter is well acquainted with New Orleans and its abundant crop of musical talent. He has been… - Cupid, Time for a Change (Atlantic/Asylum)
Cupid’s “Cupid Shuffle” has filled dance floors around southern Louisiana since it was first released earlier this year. With a… - Noah Howard, The Black Ark (Bo'Weavil Recordings)
Though he’s rarely mentioned by the promoters and guardians of New Orleans culture, free-jazz saxophonist Noah Howard was born and raised… - Invisible Cowboy, Wranglers Everywhere! (Nocturnal)
Pat Catania of Hammond’s Invisible Cowboy has always made songs seem effortless. The band has quietly been around for more… - John Coltrane, Interplay (Prestige)
The first thing that absolutely must be clear in any review of this box set is that it is not a… - Slang Angus, Slang Angus (Independent)
They bill themselves as a combination of reggae, funk, hip-hop and progressive rock, and on their self-titled, debut release, Slang Angus… - Gary Hirstius, Waterline (Radionic)
As one of the original musical satellites orbiting around the Continental Drifters—later to become the subdudes—Gary Hirstius knows his roots music.… - The Fantastic Ooze, Razzle Dazzle (Independent)
You can tell a lot about a band from its official bio. Sometimes more than you might have wished. “The Fantastic… - Nappy Brown, Long Time Coming (Blind Pig)
Nappy’s back, baby, and this is very much a mixed bag. Brown started his career in the 1950s as a big… - Down, Over the Under (Down)
Whenever music critics write about metal, they typically end up using words such as “bludgeoning,” “thrashing,” or “bone-crushing.” I won’t use… - Various Artists, New Orleans Brass
Putumayo Records is a marketing outfit of singular genius. They could sell refrigerators to Eskimos, and with the way the world’s… - Guyland Ledet and Zydeco Family and Friends, Be My Girlfriend (Shrimpo)
Who knows? Maybe Lil’ Guyland Leday will own it all before it’s all over. Already the 10-year-old accordion genius has accomplished… - Vavavoom, Swingphonicity (Independent)
Hot Club acts often feel like they exist to give the members a reason to wear retro finery, but that’s… - Sons of William, What Hides Inside (Red Lick)
The Sons of William are heavily into tradition—yes, they really are two brothers fathered by a Bill who taught them music,… - Shamarr Allen, Meet Me on Frenchmen Street (Independent)
Is it possible to be too New Orleans? To be such a product of New Orleans that it becomes a detriment?… - Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Le Cowboy Creole (Times Square)
Geno Delafose became one of the most beloved zydeco icons by noticing what works with his dance crowds. “If it ain’t… - James Andrews and the Crescent City Allstars, People Get Ready Now (Independent)
At OffBeat’s 2006 Best of the Beat show—the first after Katrina—James Andrews brought what seemed like most of the Treme…
