We’ll be heading to the vast cultural wasteland—but a shopper’s and politician’s paradise—of Baton Rouge on Turkey Day to spend time with my siblings, their families and my mother. I’m the appointed “macaroni and cheese” maker. It’s my favorite holiday food, next to the turkey and sweet potatoes, and I make it like my mama [...]
Tag Archives: Baton Rouge
Quiet Time at the Red Dragon Listening Room in Baton Rouge
September 1, 2011 – 12:08 am
Baton Rouge is the musical no man’s land between funky New Orleans and canaille Lafayette. It has one thing neither city has—the Red Dragon Listening Room—a venue concept that will never make it in Uptown New Orleans or in the Hub City because it’s a club that is not designed to make a profit, ever. [...]
Chesney, McGraw, Adkins, Sugarland to Play Bayou Country Superfest
October 27, 2010 – 11:54 am
Kenny Chesney will return to Baton Rouge for the second Bayou Country Superfest. The Memorial Day weekend country music festival will be back at Tiger Stadium May 28 and 29, 2011, and this year’s talent lineup includes Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins (pictured), Sugarland, Zac Brown Band, Billy Currington, Luke Bryan, Jason Michael Carroll, Josh Thompson and [...]
Kenny Neal, Hooked On Your Love (Blind Pig Records)
September 1, 2010 – 12:49 am
Like the jazz tradition in New Orleans and zydeco music’s in South Louisiana, many of the current blues artists that from Baton Rouge are second, and even third generation musicians. Not only is Kenny Neal the oldest son of blues harp legend Raful Neal, but also each of his siblings has pursued careers as a [...]
Troy Turner, Whole Lotta Blues (Evidence Records)
September 1, 2010 – 12:47 am
The title of this one is somewhat misleading. A better one might well be A Little Bit of Blues and Let’s Rock a While. The former Baton Rouge guitarist recorded this in Nashville with the multi-tasking Jon Tiven producing. Former Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin co-wrote several of the songs here. In fact, he helps [...]
Weekend Superfest Schedule Announced
May 25, 2010 – 2:04 pm
When floodwaters rose in Nashville, musicians were among the hardest hit—Kenny Chesney among them. His house may be condemned because of extensive damage, but he’ll be in Baton Rouge this weekend for the inaugural Bayou Country Superfest, the festival to take place in Tiger Stadium. On Saturday, Taylor Swift will headline a day that also [...]
Riding Shotgun with Kenny Neal
November 1, 1994 – 12:01 am
The aroma of freshly-cut October grass hangs in the air of a quiet neighborhood in Baton Rouge, but the mid-week tranquility is about to receive a friendly jolt. After running some morning errands and shaking off the residue of a 22-hour flight from Argentina two nights ago, one of the state capital’s local heroes is [...]
Jimmy’s Celebrates Its First 15 Years; Harold Battiste Recuperating
July 1, 1993 – 12:01 am
It’s been 15 years since Jimmy Anselmo purchased the pool hall at 8200 Willow Street, booted out the regular clientele—which mostly consisted of patients from a methadone clinic up the street—and opened Jimmy’s Music Club. Originally, Anselmo intended for the joint to focus on jazz, but he quickly decided he’d do better with more popular [...]
Guns N’ Roses, LSU Assembly Center, January 3, 1992; Mississippi Coast Coliseum, January 4, 1992
February 1, 1992 – 12:01 am
On a good night, Guns N’ Roses is arguably the best rock band in the world. GNR’s Stonesian hard rock is delivered by a cast of very distinct characters prone to equal parts comedy and tragedy. First-rate musicianship, ambitious songwriting, emotion to spare, high drama…it’s all there. Everything, that is, except guarantees. On any given [...]
Baton Rouge Blues: A Chemical City Shakedown
November 1, 1991 – 12:01 am
For Steven Coleridge, what originally began as a trip to do research on the late bluesman Slim Harpo has evolved into the founding of the most comprehensive recording project of South Louisiana blues in over twenty years. After coming to Baton Rouge three years ago in the continuation of an ongoing thesis on the life [...]
