DJ Soul Sister, 2009 Best of the Beat Award winner for Best DJ, is turning 35 on September 9, and to mark the milestone she’s throwing the funk party of the fall. Anyone who grew up in New Orleans remembers birthday parties at Airline Skate Center, but Soul Sister is doing one better. This Friday, September 3, she’s hosting “a virgo birthday adult adventure on wheels” at the Skate Center. Brice Nice will DJ the roller disco-themed party, and Soul Sister’s partners in crime, the Booty Patrol, will lead the skating in style.
The party starts at the Skate Center at 10 p.m. An $8 cover includes roller-skate rentals, or you can bring your own skates or blades. If you need liquid courage to get on roller skates again, there’s a pre-party at New Orleans Daiquiris (down the road at 6201 Airline Drive) at 9 p.m.
On her birthday, Soul Sister states, “It’s funny. It seems that the older I get, the sillier I become. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but I’m having much too much fun to stop and figure it out. And so, with this birthday, I’m throwing myself the wildest birthday of all—at a roller rink.
“I want my 35th birthday to be one that none of us will ever forget. And 35 seems like the year to declare that you’re (still) hell on wheels.”
To get in the spirit, we asked the birthday beauty to share some choices for all-time best roller rink funk records, and these were five of her favorite jams (in no particular order):
1. Vaughan Mason & Crew — Bounce Rock Skate Roll
2. Secret Weapon — Must Be the Music
3. The Graingers — Shine Your Light
4. James Brown — Body Heat
5. Sugarhill Gang — 8th Wonder
Jazz trumpeter Clyde Kerr, Jr. ,a renowned teacher at NOCCA, passed away at the beginning of August. In our September issue, some of his former students, including Troy Andrews and Irvin Mayfield, talk about how much they learned from Kerr, not just about playing jazz, but about art and life in general.
In this video by Leonard Smith III, Kerr shares some of these thoughts on jazz, art and life in an interview with Jinaki Flint, and then gives a solo performance on trumpet.
Rescue efforts are underway after another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. CNN is reporting that 13 workers involved in the explosion of Vermilion Rig 380 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay have been found; one is injured. The rig is owned by Houston’s Mariner Energy.
The rig is on fire, but according to WWL.com, the well wasn’t active.
Coast Choppers are on the way to the site 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay.
[Posted at 11:33 a.m.] An oil rig has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, with 12 people overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard said Thursday morning.
Rescue attempts are under way for at least 12 people, Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards told CNN. 13 people were on board the rig total, Edwards said, noting 12 have been accounted for, but one person was missing.
The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil rig 380, which is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy.
The Coast Guard has multiple helicopters, an airplane and several Coast Guard cutters en route. It’s unknown if there are any injuries.
Vinyl fans rejoice! Brand new Bywater music shop Euclid Records opened its doors for their first day of business yesterday, offering up thousands of used and new LPS, 45s, CDs (they still make those?) and other musical goodies. Rumors from the inaugural day (via Facebook) are that guitarist/singer King Louie bought a Billy Preston record and that Times-Picayune music writer Alison Fensterstock was stung by a bee.
The real fun kicks off this weekend though, with a Grand Opening party lasting all day Saturday and Sunday, September 4 and 5 (store hours: 11 a.m.-7, Sat., 6 p.m. Sun.). There are full lineups of live music each day, with Susan Cowsill performing both days along with Brian Henneman, lead singer and guitarist of the St. Louis-based Bottle Rockets. The Cowsill Band shows will be recorded for an upcoming 45 to be released next year on Euclid Records’ label. And although Euclid Records may hail from St. Louis, where their original store is located, they know that a good party in New Orleans needs food, and The Pearl’s kitchen will be serving up barbecue to oblige.
Euclid Records is located at 3401 Chartres Street, at the corner of Desire Street in the former Tavern on the Levee building, now painted James Booker-pink (story goes that Booker used to drink a pink cocktail at the Maple Leaf since it reminded him of pepto bismol—he said it was good for his stomach). Here’s the full lineup for the Grand Opening of Euclid on Saturday and Sunday:
Saturday, September 4
Tom McDermott
Blind Texas Marlin
Happy Talk Band
Meschiya Lake & The Little Big Horns
Susan Cowsill Band featuring Brian Henneman
Guitar Lightnin’ Lee
Sunday, September 5
Susan Cowsill Band featuring Brian Henneman
Kindest Lines
Felix
R. Scully & the Rough Seven
Mountain of Wizard
MC Trachiotomy
On Saturday September 4, the Zydeco Park in Plaisance, LA will host the 28th Annual Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Fest, with special events also occurring throughout the week in Opelousas. Festivities begin on Thursday, September 2 with a parade/jam session. The parade will line up at 5 p.m. at Opelousas South City Park and proceed at 6 p.m. up Market Street to North City Park. Immediately afterward, a jam session for local zydeco artists will take place at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki, complete with complimentary home-cooked Creole food.
On Friday, September 3, the festival will hold a kick-off dance at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki at 8 p.m. Performers include Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, Snuggles and the Zydeco Showstoppers, and Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers; there will also be an accordion-playing competition starting at 9 p.m. Admission is $10.
Saturday starts off early with a free-admission zydeco breakfast in the Opelousas Courthouse Square. The festival’s gates will open at 7 a.m.; admission is $10 at entrance, $3 for children 12 and under. The Zydeco Festival’s stages will feature Grammy award winners Buckwheat Zydeco, as well as the Pine Leaf Boys, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Nathan Williams & the Zydeco Cha-Cha’s, among others. A complete listing of artists, events and times is available at zydeco.org.
Hard facts of life: The tooth fairy isn’t real. We all die. Mardi Gras comes only once a year.
That third one’s the most difficult to reconcile, which is why the Krewe of OAK hosts the Mid-Summer Mardi Gras at the end of Summer every year. It might not be the real thing, but it does help ease the year-long wait. This year, Baby Boyz Brass Band led the costumed parade/second line from the Maple Leaf to Snake and Jake’s, Maple Street, and back to the Leaf.
Enjoy the photos of the crowd below, all taken by Kim Welsh.
Tonight, Joe Krown plays the Rock ‘n’ Bowl. Here he is at the Rochester Jazz Festival in Rochester, New York with Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste.
Big History has yet to play a gig—it makes its live debut September 18 at Carrollton Station opening for Big Rock Candy Mountain—but musically and visually, this animated video by drummer Bret Bohnet for “All at Once” reflects a distinctive, mature artistic personality.
Truth Universal has released a new 10-minute mixtape, Resistance Vol. 1, with DJ Waht on the turntables and production by Symbolyc One (S-1), who produced Kanye West’s single, “Power.”
To download a free mp3 of Resistance Vol. 1, click here.
Tom Waits is the spiritual godfather of the Bywater music underground, and here he is live in Paris in 1979 performing “Annie’s Back in Town” and “I Wish I Was in New Orleans.”
