February 2012
BackTalk
- Parading Club Bands
Playing music in a parade looks like fun, but while it is, it’s also hard, sometimes thankless work. OffBeat spoke with…
Cover Story
- O. Perry Walker's Marchers
The walls of the band director’s office at O. Perry Walker High School are plastered with newspaper clippings. One, from The…
Features
- Truckstop Honeymoon: A Musician's Life and Half a Cow
After six years in Lawrence, Kansas, former Lower Ninth Ward duo Mike West and Katie Euliss have expanded their family from… - 610 Stompers: Stomping to Manhattan
In a city where “parade” is a verb, noun and adjective, the Macy’s Parade seems quaint. Still, New Orleanians watched the… - Krewe of Muses' Mardi Gras Throws
Plush? "You can never have enough plush." Coozies? "You can never have enough coozies." It's a month from Mardi Gras… - New Orleans Musicians' Clinic Back to Health
When drummer August Jepson got sick in Los Angeles, she didn’t have health insurance or access to affordable health care. “I…
Fresh
- The Louisiana Music Factory at 20 Years
When it started, it was a long, rectangular room with a couple wooden racks for records and CDs on a section… - Louisiana's Rooting Interests in the Grammys
When the Grammys are awarded on February 12, Lil Wayne will be among the most nominated artists, being up for five… - 'tit Rex: A Regal Matter?
It's hard to imagine a more literal case of someone picking on the "little guy" than this: the powerful Krewe of… - Some Rhode Island Lagniappe for Mamou Playboy Kevin Dugas
Rhode Island celebrates Mardi Gras this month by coming to the rescue of a veteran Cajun musician. The Friends of Kevin… - Mardi Gras History on Parade
“We do not own it, society does.” Leon Cahill, head of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) at Tulane, is referring to…
Letters
- February 2012 Letters
JOHNNY AND SCOTT I first came across OffBeat back in the 1990s. I had discovered this new singer,
Mojo Mouth
- Mountains of Garbage
It’s Mardi Gras time again, the citywide festival that is the linchpin of everything New Orleans. Mardi Gras krewes create their…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Larry Hamilton (1951-2011)
Larry Hamilton, a singer/songwriter who might be best known for a self-titled 1997 NYNO CD produced by Allen Toussaint, died December… - Obituary: Michael Aaron (1962-2011)
Some guitarists like myself don’t have that fluid, natural style that some are born with, no matter how hard they practice.…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Rare Cuts
Food historians believe that the first iterations of civilization began thousands of years ago when meat met flame. As the story… - Chris Edmunds of the New Orleans Moonshiners Hits the Spot at Baru
Baru Bistro & Tapas 3700 Magazine Street (504) 895-2225 How often do you come here? I come here once every couple… - Andrew Zimmern and Bizarre Foods in Louisiana: Soy Sauce and Wildebeest
Andrew Zimmern has yet to encounter a culinary specialty in Louisiana that he didn’t fall in love with. The region is…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Rare Cuts
Food historians believe that the first iterations of civilization began thousands of years ago when meat met flame. As the story…
Photo Op
- Marching Band on Royal Street
Photographer: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee My first time at Mardi Gras was in 2009. Two marching bands were “battling” in the…
The Spot
- Chris Edmunds of the New Orleans Moonshiners Hits the Spot at Baru
Baru Bistro & Tapas 3700 Magazine Street (504) 895-2225 How often do you come here? I come here once every couple…
Reviews
- Glen David Andrews, Live at Three Muses (Independent)
Anyone who’s witnessed Glen David Andrews on a good night knows he is capable of being the most charismatic performer in… - Khris Royal and Dark Matter, Dark Matter (Hypersoul Records)
Over the past few years, saxophonist Khris Royal has emerged as one of the most exciting up-and-coming musicians on the New… - Galactic, Carnivale Electricos (Anti- Records)
On Carnivale Electricos, Galactic delivers exactly what the title promises. The funk band turns its attention to Carnival music, and electricity… - Various Artists, Meet Me at Mardi Gras (Rounder Records)
Outside of the original Mardi Gras in New Orleans that appeared in the mid-1970s and 2000’s Mardi Gras Essentials, this CD… - Star and Dagger, In My Blood (Last Hurrah Records)
As much fun as Rock City Morgue is, there are times when I’ve wanted to hear former White Zombie bassist Sean… - Gina Forsyth, Promised Land (Waterbug Records)
Attention musicians: For those thinking they need to rush their product out with sub-par material and inferior packaging for that nifty… - Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Devil on a String (Independent)
Despite the personnel changes over its eight-year existence, the Lafayette Rhythm Devils still manage to find new grooves to mount its… - Esperanza Spalding, Radio Music Society (Heads Up International Records)
Intended as the companion to 2010’s Chamber Music Society, Esperanza Spalding’s latest release explores pop and its power on radio. For… - Various Artists, Live at Three Muses Vol. 1 (Three Muses Records)
In the early 1980s, prog rock guitarist Robert Fripp routinely railed against the evils of bootlegging, not for monetary or proprietary… - John and Jane Vidrine, Recollections (Independent)
What most people don’t realize about Cajun music is that it was a family tradition long before it was played professionally.… - The Breton Sound, Eudaemonia (Independent)
You could accuse the Breton Sound of creating awfully high expectations for itself if you assume that the pop/rock music audience… - MarchFourth Marching Band, Magnificent Beast (Marchfourth Music)
If you’ve seen MarchFourth Marching Band live, perhaps at Voodoo or last year’s Halloween show at House of Blues, you know… - Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, Evening (Severn Records)
Other than reissues, true gutbucket blues CDs have been a rarity for more than a decade. Enter Exhibit A—Evening. One of… - Various Artists, The Rough Guide to Cajun and Zydeco (World Music Network)
Though there aren’t as many various artist Cajun-zydeco compilations being released these days, The Rough Guide to Cajun & Zydeco is…
