The year 2012 has been tumultuous, for sure. About halfway through, our longtime editor left unexpectedly, as did another staff member who had been with us for a long time—to go to law school in New York. It’s always hard to lose staff people whom you trust, and who support the magazine. But life goes [...]
Tag Archives: Jan Ramsey
BackTalk: OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey Looks Back on 25 Years
December 1, 2012 – 12:20 am
In 1979 New Orleans native and young divorced mother Jan Ramsey was driving home from work when a drunk driver jumped the median on I-10 and crashed head-on into her car. Prompt EMS response saved her life, but when Ramsey left the hospital seven months later she was permanently disabled and confined to a wheelchair. [...]
Open the (Funky) Butt Already
November 1, 2012 – 12:39 am
I received some welcome news yesterday: the Funky Butt is reopening. But not on North Rampart Street. Long a staple of North Rampart, the Funky Butt at Congo Square — named after the club where Buddy “King” Bolden played — was operated by the quirky and music-loving Richard Rochester. Rochester, seeking more adventures, reportedly moved [...]
October 2012 Letters to OffBeat
October 1, 2012 – 12:05 am
MAKE IT HAPPEN I have the outsider’s perspective, but still consider myself to be a “New Orleanian-in-exile.” I am a “Threadhead.” I spend my vacations in New Orleans, its music dominates my listening pleasure, its food makes my mouth water just at the thought of it, and my appreciation for its culture, history and ability [...]
Nurturing the Music Community
September 1, 2012 – 12:31 am
Sometimes, you just don’t know what you’re getting into. Oft-times, it’s a good thing you don’t—because if you did, you’d run for the hills. Thus was the case when OffBeat started, some 25 years ago. Had I known how hard the magazine business was, I probably would never have ventured into creating a print publication [...]
Amanda Schurr joins OffBeat
August 30, 2012 – 6:30 am
Am wishing you, in advance, a happy Katrina Day. It’s been seven years to the day when we were almost wiped off the face of the earth by that lovely storm. As I write this, and prepare to go home, hunker down and wait for the latest storm, it’s Monday afternoon, and it’s beautiful outside. [...]
Hurricane Anxiety
August 26, 2012 – 1:06 pm
Am sitting in my (still) Katrina-damaged home thinking to myself: “Can we go through this again?” As of this writing, Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to strengthen and hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast east of New Orleans, which means our city will be be on the bad side of the storm, getting the most wind [...]
Oh, boo hoo.
August 22, 2012 – 6:08 pm
Here we go again: this morning’s Time-Pic had another letter protesting live music. Published right at the top of the Letters page, it’s the same old complainers, the moneyed classes in the French Quarter, who can afford to hire big-time plaintiff attorney Stuart Smith to file lawsuits against local bars that have music. As long [...]
How Ironic
August 15, 2012 – 6:18 pm
When the last mayoral race took place, OffBeat Magazine, the Loyola Music Business Studies program and MusicSwingsVotes.org and several concerned members of the music community, including Reid Wick of the Grammy organization, Sherri McConnell (who then worked as the head of the Louisiana Entertainment Office), Scott Aiges (Programs and Marketing Director for the New Orleans [...]
Killing the Goose
August 8, 2012 – 10:37 pm
Front page of the Times-Pic (counting down to semi-oblivion) today: “Live music permit crackdown unplugs two popular bars.” The Circle Bar on St. Charles Avenue and Siberia on St. Claude have been closed because live music permits hadn’t been obtained by their operators. This is old news by now, in cyber-world. Dave Clements and his [...]
