Issue Articles
NOLA Funk Fest is Back, Baby
After last year’s successful debut launched NOLA Funk Fest to the elite tier of the fall festival circuit, it’s returning even bigger in 2024 with a dynamic lineup. Taking place over three days from October 18–20 at the New Orleans Jazz Museum complete with food trucks, face painting, drinks, a special exhibition, symposia, and VIP show alongside the live music. NOLA Funk Fest is intended to showcase the potential of the Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience: a large-scale, immersive museum conceived by music philanthropist and activist Chris Beary to showcase the full story of Louisiana’s music.
The Blues Tells a Story: NOLA Funk Fest amplifies Louisiana blues—past, present, and future
The second annual NOLA Funk Fest returns to the New Orleans Jazz Museum while also heralding support and awareness for the Louisiana Music and Heritage Experience—an upcoming large-scale museum project devoted to comprehensively telling the history of Louisiana’s music.
Nickel A Dance: A Million Dollars’ Worth of Music
The free, popular Nickel-A-Dance series, which started in 1994, is an annual fall event. The series, now presented by the New Orleans Jazz Celebration, runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Sunday through October 27, 2024.
White Noise & Lightning: Author Sean Kelly’s tribute to The Continental Drifters
In 2005, Susan Cowsill met 13-year-old Sean Kelly at a Hootie and the Blowfish concert in Buffalo, New York. As an opening act that night, Cowsill was setting up her merchandise table when Kelly introduced himself.
Vintage vinyl treasures (Episode 43)
This month’s installment features five debut albums of 1969 that, you guessed it, just so happen to be favorites of mine. Like a kid in a candy store, I am always amazed at how good music, like fine wine of which I know little, seems to age so well.
The OnBeat Sessions Return
Fall has arrived and that means The OnBeat Sessions are back on the menu. OffBeat Magazine’s premiere music series returns for its sixth season of exclusive, intimate live performances by a wide-ranging selection of current New Orleans music.
Frankie Beverly (1946-2024)
R&B singer Frankie Beverly has died at the age of 77, according to an announcement from his family on social media pages. “He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family and friends,” the family wrote.
Bringing Baton Rouge Blues to the Crescent City: Kenny Neal at the Blues & BBQ Festival
Those who missed Kenny Neal’s killer Jazz Fest performance this year get another chance to catch the multi-talented, Grammy-winning bluesman at his set at the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival.
Rollicking and Playful: Marcia Ball featured at Blues and Barbecue and Funk Fests
As Hurricane Francine approached Louisiana in September 2024, Marcia Ball was at home on a sunny day in Austin, Texas. A resident of the Texas’ capital since 1970, the singer, piano player and songwriter lives on a street lined with old houses and oak trees in a neighborhood that could be in New Orleans, the source of her musical inspiration, or Baton Rouge, the city where her music career began.
Big Easy Boogie: Singer-pianist Mitch Woods Rendezvous in New Orleans
Mitch Woods fell in love with New Orleans music during his first visit to the city in 1981. A native of New York City and longtime West Coast resident, Woods has periodically lived in New Orleans. A boogie-woogie and rhythm-and-blues singer-pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, his next trip to the city will see him performing October 13 at the Crescent City Blues and Barbecue Festival and October 17 at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro.
