Issue Articles
Journey to Funkstar: Water Seed – Anticipating The Future
You can always expect the new and unexpected from Water Seed and bandleader Lou Hill. They’re about to unveil Journey To Funkstar: An Immersive Concert and take you on a ride. It promises to be quite the experience and one not to be missed.
504icygrl & PoppyH: Rollin’ With The Krewe (EP) (Krewe Records)
Rollin’ With The Krewe is dropping just in time for Carnival season. The new EP from rap power couple 504icygrl & PoppyH brings New Orleans hip-hop in the context of Mardi Gras music. The cover by artist Hantwan Louis Alexander pops, same as the beats throughout, and makes it clear this is music for cutting up and strutting.
Zulu Coconuts: Jon Cleary Goes to the Mardi Gras
On Twelfth Night, Grammy-winning Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen released “Zulu Coconuts,” a new Mardi Gras song. We sat down in Bywater to talk about the tune, Carnival perennials, and how the ultimate connection between Mardi Gras music & Afro-Caribbean roots mirrors Cleary’s own musical passions.
Mamie Desdunes: The teenage girl who helped create the New Orleans sound
Mamie Desdunes: The teenage girl who helped make the New Orleans sound.
The great pianist Jelly Roll Morton who popularized jazz, claimed to have been the inventor of it. He would have been a little too young for that, being born in 1890. Storyville, the notorious red-light district where he eventually played as a piano “professor,” was already in full swing with this music when he was still a kid.
The Box That Rocks: The Cigar Box Guitar Festival is coming!
In a city of festivals, the eighth annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival is one of the most unique, while being quintessentially New Orleans. It offers great music, unique instruments, and special guests in an ideal location, the New Orleans Jazz Museum. From veteran Lil’ Jimmy Reed to young Erin Coburn, this is a fest for the best in the field.
Ricky Sebastian: Best Of The Beat Lifetime Achievement In Music Education
Ricky Sebastian, this year’s Lifetime Achievement in Music Education Award honoree is a drummer extraordinaire who has played with the best, in New Orleans and around the world, and is an educator as high quality as it gets. We sat down to talk about how a kid from Opelousas became one of the most versatile drummers anywhere and where sheer talent, consistent dedication, and ongoing curiosity can lead you.
David Russell Batiste, Sr.: Best Of The Beat Lifetime Achievement In Music
David Russell Batiste Sr., this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Music honoree, has a strong legacy of family, music, and education. As his son Jamal put it, “My father has a continuing fire to share his music and touch people.
Not Bourbon or Frenchmen: Couches is both a physical and mind space
Couches too is chill and idiosyncratic. If it’s not for you, that’s cool. Both a physical space and a way of mind. Michael Wilson is the visionary behind Couches.
On Her Way: Sierra Green’s powerful spirit is preparing her for the future
Sierra Green is quietly taking necessary steps to come out strong in 2024. She’s actively in the studio with a new sound, her management team is handling business, and she’s keeping her head down to do the work. This is a singer whose name you’re about to hear much more of. She gave me the scoop at PJ’s Coffee near the lakefront shortly before she and her band The Giants performed at the New Orleans Pelicans game.
From Adonis Rose & NOJO: Taking New Orleans to the World
Adonis Rose seems to operate on a different clock than the rest of us, one with extra hours. As both the managing and artistic director of the award-winning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), he’s making things happen with a strong drive of service to the New Orleans community and the world-at-large. We had a good talk about what’s been going on the past few years and what the future holds.
