November 2011
BackTalk
- Robin Zander of Cheap Trick
“Thank you so much for this interview because normally, I get pushed out of the way for interviews,” Cheap Trick singer…
Cover Story
- GIVERS Remain in Light
I’m going for the drugged-out look because we’re a pop band.” Tiffany Lamson is leaning against a door frame in Dockside…
Features
- Voodoo Experience Highlight: Bonerama featuring Dave Malone
New Orleans is full of musicians who epitomize the genre-busting goal of turning old school New Orleans music into an egalitarian… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: High Ground Drifters
The High Ground Drifters have made a name for themselves as one of the only bluegrass bands in a jazz town.… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Los Angeles Bands
She had to leave Los Angeles / sippin’ on gin and juice / it’s the story of my life / just… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: DJ Tony Skratchere
DJ Tony Skratchere began as a breakdancing B-boy in the late 1980s, progressed to skating and graffiti in the 1990s, and… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Jeremy Lyons and Members of Morphine
Jeremy Lyons, guitarist and leader of the greatly missed Deltabilly Boys, never thought he would end up playing with two of… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Bobby Rush
Consider the booty jam. A booty jam holds no allegiance to style, propriety or length. A booty jam will go wherever… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Red Baraat
When Sunny Jain found inspiration to create Red Baraat, a funky bhangra brass band led by his dhol’s high-energy Punjab rhythms,… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Fleur de Tease
“You can call it ‘fear-driven creativity,’” says Fleur de Tease host Chris Lane. “It’s a work ethic thing. We have to… - Voodoo Experience Highlight: Fitz and the Tantrums
In an era defined by piecemeal pop, snazzy Los Angeles sextet Fitz and the Tantrums have stirred up crowds the world… - Soundgarden After the Break-Up: Interview with Kim Thayil
Soundgarden defined grunge. It’s not the band that made it huge, but it’s the band whose sound comes to mind when… - Freddie Mercury and Queen: A Night at the Fairmont
By the time Freddie Mercury arrived in his favorite American city for a sold-out 1978 Halloween night concert at Municipal Auditorium,… - Out-of-Town Brass Bands
Jazz funerals work a little differently in Minneapolis. Just ask the Jack Brass Band. “It wasn’t like a second line. We…
Fresh
- The Musical Old U.S. Mint
“We’re not a nightclub; it’s a museum,” says Greg Lambousy, Director of Collections at the Old U.S. Mint. He’s talking about… - The Lost Bayou Ramblers' Bastille Day
The Lost Bayou Ramblers will perform with former Violent Femmes front man Gordon Gano at the Voodoo Experience on Saturday, October… - Excello Reunion of All-Star Swamp Blues Legends
Most of the featured artists had to sit in a chair once they wobbled their way to the spotlight at center… - MOMs Minus Rads
[Updated] A mermaid in a dazzling, fringed bikini strutting across the stage with a pearl-bearing oyster above her flowing locks of… - The Bearded Oysters Coast to Coast
Seven years ago, the irreverent parade group The Bearded Oysters formed “as a social club for women who wanted to share… - The 504 Rock Art Circus Comes to the Circus
On November 12, L. Steve Williams, Jr. will "bring a circus to the circus of Frenchmen.” Williams is a graphic artist…
Letters
- November 2011 Letters
REMOVE THE FENCE We enjoyed the free concert in Lafayette Square and went to Rock ’n’ Bowl, Blue Nile, Funky Pirate…
Mojo Mouth
- What's in a Name?
Everyone in New Orleans is aware of the rechristening of the Louisiana Superdome as the “Mercedes-Benz Superdome.” The naming rights for…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Velvet Cactus
Initial Impressions Peter: The crowds are out in full force, and there is not an empty parking spot to be found… - Rick Olivier of the Creole String Beans Hits the Spot at Pho Tau Bay
Pho Tau Bay 113 Westbank Expressway (504) 368-9846 I see you’re not scared of jalapeños. I like to put one in.… - The Overstuffed Oak Street Po-Boy Festival Menu
The po-boy is our signature comfort food for good reason. There's nothing like flaky bread stuffed with proteins as recognizable as…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Velvet Cactus
Initial Impressions Peter: The crowds are out in full force, and there is not an empty parking spot to be found… - The Overstuffed Oak Street Po-Boy Festival Menu
The po-boy is our signature comfort food for good reason. There's nothing like flaky bread stuffed with proteins as recognizable as…
Photo Op
- Perle Noire
Photographer: Kaylin Idora This photo of Perle Noire, a burlesque performer, was taken one muggy Friday night in the…
The Spot
- Rick Olivier of the Creole String Beans Hits the Spot at Pho Tau Bay
Pho Tau Bay 113 Westbank Expressway (504) 368-9846 I see you’re not scared of jalapeños. I like to put one in.…
Reviews
- George Porter, Jr. and his Runnin' Pardners, Can't Beat the Funk! (Independent)
The Meters are in the DNA of all New Orleans funk, but it’s only natural that with time it becomes less… - Wayne Toups, Steve Riley, Wilson Savoy, The Band Courtbouillon (Valcour Records)
There’s never been a recording quite like this one. Three highly accomplished Cajun revivalists—each representing a successive generation, each a musical… - Jesse Moore, Live at the Old Point (Threadhead Records)
Accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, a singer-songwriter places the onus on his songs, his voice, and his picking to separate… - C.J. Chenier, Can't Sit Down (World Village Records)
C.J. Chenier’s last album, The Desperate Kingdom of Love, went about as far outside the zydeco mainstream as you can get—ominous… - Johnnie Allan, Shine On (Jin Records)
This 15-track collection commemorates Johnnie Allan’s 60th anniversary in professional music with mostly previously released material (1979-1999) now appearing on CD… - Supagroup, Hail! Hail! (Foodchain Records)
People like their rock ‘n’ roll serious—Springsteen, U2, Coldplay. The more humorless, the better. I assume this has something to do… - Various Artists, En Français: Cajun 'n' Creole Rock 'n' Roll (Bayou Teche Records)
UPDATED What happens when producer Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers translates rock classics into contemporary Cajun/Creole music? Alchemy, pure… - Peter Novelli, Peter Novelli (Chalet Music)
How does a little-known if perfectly-capable blues guitarist get heavyweights Dr. John, Texas Tornado Augie Meyers, Baton Rouge blues great Raful… - Bob Andrews, Chills and Fever (Independent)
Former Brinsley Schwarz/Rumour keyboardist Bob Andrews has immersed himself in New Orleans piano since moving to the city. On this self-produced… - The Mumbles, Annunciation St. (Independent)
The Mumbles can be forgiven for accidentally borrowing their album’s title and cover concept from the subdudes, whose own Annunciation was… - Suplecs, Mad Oak Redoux (Small Stone Recordings)
Rather than the band’s usual wrestling cartoon cover art, Suplecs has this time chosen a leafless tree dying in the desert.… - King Rey, Street Friends EP (Independent)
How do you like your indie rock? Does the recent trend toward lo-fi garage psychedelics led by Deerhunter, Ty Segall, Kurt… - Gregg Martinez, South of the Parish Line (Magnolia Records)
Equipped with one of the best blue-eyed soul voices around, Gregg Martinez flirted with stardom in the ‘80s when Philly soul… - Jimbo Mathus, Confederate Buddha (Memphis International Records)
At first this is a far cry from Mathus’ recordings with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. There was a tight stateliness to… - The Funky Butt Brass Band, You Can Trust the Funky Butt Brass Band (Independent)
I once saw Henry Butler judge a big butt contest at the Funky Butt on Rampart Street and have been searching… - Maria Muldaur, Steady Love (Stony Plain Records)
Maria Muldaur intuitively knows what a song needs to suit her vocal style. From “I’m a Woman” and the Memphis Jug… - Poncho Sanchez & Terence Blanchard, Chano y Dizzy (Concord Jazz Records)
The meeting on record of Poncho Sanchez and Terence Blanchard risks a collapse under the weight of names. Not just their… - Various Artists, This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45 RPM 1957-1982 (Tompkins Square Records)
Behold, Mike McGonigal’s curated a second set of obscure, raw, raving, and maybe even revenant gospel sides. This one lacks the… - Kenny Brown, Can't Stay Long (Devil Down Records)
Blues music can generally be divided into two categories. There are the rock-informed blues with polished, clichéd solos, going- through-the-motions vocals,…
