February 2014
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Jon Batiste, Living in the Moment (Interview)
At 27, Jon Batiste is already something of a visionary. Since leaving New Orleans 10 years ago to study at Juilliard,…
Bookmark
- Traditional Music in Coastal Louisiana by Joshua Clegg Caffery
Although the 1934 field recordings of father-and-son folklorists John and Alan Lomax helped preserve various forms of Southwest Louisiana’s traditional music,…
Cover Story
- Radio Zeitgeist: Hurray for the Riff Raff's Alynda Lee Segarra
They call themselves travelers. Teenagers on the run from a dead-end life in Orwellian America, they hop freight trains searching for…
En Route
- En Route: Christin Bradford at the Empanada Intifada Food Truck
What do you like about Empanada Intifada? All of the empanada options are super yummy. I would have had…
Features
- Coming Home: New Orleans Trumpeter Christian Scott's Roots Run Deep
Christian Scott, now also known as Christian aTunde Adjuah, left New Orleans as a teenager eager to experience the world and… - Truth Universal: Grinding and Rhyming
If you had the time and the patience, you could find everything you need to know about life inside Jim Russell… - Indie Rockers Caddywhompus' Two Man Army
Fierce punk. Skittish math rock. 1960s pop. Dreamy New Wave. This is a typical journey through a song from local indie… - Paul McCartney Goes to Mardi Gras
It’s Mardi Gras 1975 as Paul and Linda McCartney arrive in New Orleans to celebrate the New Year and record a… - Best of the Beat 2013 Award Winners
Fresh
- Jazz Journeys: Jazz Supergroup the Spring Quartet Comes to New Orleans
“Connecting and playing with the magical and mystical aspects of the season.” That’s how pianist Leo Genovese describes the connection between… - It's Five Somewhere with Restore Louisiana Now's John Barry
How is the lawsuit going? I think it’s going well. The problem, of course, isn’t in the courts. It’s that the… - My Music: The UpStarts' Ian Cunningham
"That Last Waltz [The Band tribute show in December at One Eyed Jacks] was such a cool ensemble piece where all… - Phil's Grill Dedicates Craft Cocktails to Iconic New Orleans Musicians
Phil's Grill is a burger joint—one of the best in the city—as anyone who's been to their "stores" (as they call… - Revenant and Jack White's Third Man Records Involved in Local Copyright Dispute
The Paramount Wonder Cabinet, a massive collection of seminal jazz and blues recordings from the Paramount catalogue reissued jointly by Revenant…
In The Spirit
- In the Spirit: Big Chief Brumble by Superior Seafood's Thomas Houston
"I know we talked about doing a deconstructed rum and coke—because of Professor Longhair’s song “Rum and Coke,” which is this…
Letters
- February 2014 Letters to OffBeat Magazine
GEORGE BUCK I appreciated the remembrance of George Buck [In Memoriam, January 2014]. I remember when Palm Court opened. I was…
Mojo Mouth
- Mojo Mouth: Selfies Galore
I saw a piece on morning television today that was promoting the sale of charm necklaces that you could mix and…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Tabby Thomas (1929 - 2014)
Ernest Joseph “Tabby” Thomas—the “Godfather of Baton Rouge Blues”—died peacefully at home January 1 after a long illness. A prolific recording…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: La Boca (Restaurant Review)
The prototypical American steakhouse is defined by masculine affluence—leather banquettes, California cult cabernets and mammoth-sized portions of the most expensive cuts… - En Route: Christin Bradford at the Empanada Intifada Food Truck
What do you like about Empanada Intifada? All of the empanada options are super yummy. I would have had… - In the Spirit: Big Chief Brumble by Superior Seafood's Thomas Houston
"I know we talked about doing a deconstructed rum and coke—because of Professor Longhair’s song “Rum and Coke,” which is this…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: La Boca (Restaurant Review)
The prototypical American steakhouse is defined by masculine affluence—leather banquettes, California cult cabernets and mammoth-sized portions of the most expensive cuts…
Photo Op
- Caitlyn Ridenour Snaps Southern Decadence in the French Quarter
Every Labor Day weekend, thousands of people gather in the French Quarter to celebrate LGBTQ culture at the annual Southern Decadence…
Reviews
- Tuba Skinny, Pyramid Strut (Independent)
Tuba Skinny just keep getting better—and better at capturing their lively early jazz, blues, and ragtime sound in the studio. On… - Calvin Johnson Jr., Native Son (Alma Records)
On Calvin Johnson’s 2012 debut, Jewel’s Lullaby, the then-27-year-old New Orleanian blew tenor saxophone on modern-jazz material backed by a band… - Truth Universal, Invent the Future (Independent)
It can’t be easy, putting in work for black positivism and righteous hip-hop activism in what is arguably the dirtiest city… - Royal Southern Brotherhood, Songs from the Road: Live in Germany (Ruf Records)
How much you need to own a copy of Royal Southern Brotherhood’s latest disc, recorded live during a recent date in… - Damon Fowler, Sounds of Home (Blind Pig Records)
Guitarist Damon Fowler has taken a break from his group Southern Hospitality to record the understated-yet-energetic blues record Sounds of Home.… - Horace Trahan & the Ossun Express, …By Special Request (Maison de Soul)
After two thought-provoking, full-length albums and a Christmas EP, Horace Trahan does an about face with a baker’s dozen worth of… - Jenna McSwain, Wax and Wane: Songs Without Seasons (Independent)
The thing with music fans is that our favorite records often trigger specific memories, providing a biographical soundtrack for our lives.… - Tandem, Bright Nights EP (Independent)
This fresh-faced Lafayette quartet proudly announces on their CD cover that the disc was “recorded entirely on analogue tape.” And the… - Russell Welch Hot Quartet, …Pour Vous (Russell Welch Jazz)
Russell Welch’s Hot Quartet takes its sound from the gypsy guitar sound of Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France… - Ryan Foret & the Foret Tradition, Someone Special (CSP Records)
It’s no mystery what Ryan Foret does. Instead of constantly crafting batches of new tunes and reinventing his sonic artistry, the… - Viper Mad Trio, Buddy Bolden’s Blues (Sound of New Orleans)
This is music made with energy and a smile. Loose in attitude but tight in music and swinging all the way… - One Love Brass Band, Skatober in New Orleans (Independent)
New Orleans is one of those rare places where ska and reggae never fell out of favor, due in part to… - Lena Prima, Starting Something (Independent)
The youngest daughter of Louis Prima, Lena is local royalty of sorts, one who lived here with her famous dad before… - Cortland Burke and Associates, Passport (Independent)
Short of blues, there is no more prominent influence on rock music than folk. As such, it can sometimes be difficult… - Spyanage & Yohnnie, #JFTFOI (Rexless Records)
Something about this town makes hip-hop crews straight-up honest about their finances in ways other places don’t. The duo of Spyanage… - Bas Clas, Love, Food, Sex, Peace (Serfdom Records)
Bas Clas sound like a lot of things on this seven-song mini-album—punk, Celtic, alt-rock and Cajun. What they don’t sound like… - Moon Honey, Hand-Painted Dream Photographs
It can be argued that a great deal of rock music is influenced by other genres. Jazz, funk, folk, hip-hop, and… - Charlie Musselwhite, Juke Joint Chapel (Henrietta Records)
There’s always a fear among purists that the banal blues rockers of the world will dilute the sanctity of blues until…
