May 2008
BackTalk
- Terrance Simien
In February, OffBeat covered the controversy surrounding the first Grammy to be awarded for Best Cajun or Zydeco Album. The nominees…
Bookmark
- David King Dunaway, How Can I Keep From Singing? The Ballad of Pete Seeger (Random House)
Among the many anecdotes from David King Dunaway’s anecdote-rich biography of folk music legend Pete Seeger is this one: in the…
Cover Story
- We Are Family: The Neville Brothers
How do you explain the post-Katrina hostility toward the Neville Brothers? When Quint Davis announced that they would return to Jazz…
Features
- Ponderosa Stomp Focus: James “Blood” Ulmer
So what is a Harmolodics? The new food processor that OxyWhiteMan sez Oxycauterizes your beets? Or the brand of keys we… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: The Collins Kids
Hailed by Ranch Party TV show host Tex Ritter (John’s father) as “those two little bundles of bouncin’ T-double-N-T,” the Collins… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: The Mighty Hannibal
The Mighty Hannibal is the secret identity of Atlanta’s James T. Shaw, who began recording under his given name in 1959… - Music for Your Mouth: What Do Musicians Eat During Jazz Fest?
Music may feed the soul, but you still have to feed the stomach. OffBeat asked Jazz Fest musicians what they eat… - Ponderosa Stomp Focus: Ronnie Spector
When Ronnie Spector plays New Orleans this month at the Ponderosa Stomp, the “original bad girl of rock ’n’ roll” will… - Astral Project: Let's Stay Together
Perhaps it’s no surprise that when people in a band called Astral Project talk about the band, they get, well, spacey.… - Brass Bands: Off the Record
Late last year when committees began to consider who was eligible for New Orleans music awards nominators were faced with a… - Rob Wagner: Time and Place
- J&M Studio: House of Rock
A young Mac Rebennack, still in short trousers, was tagging along with his father who was visiting his friend, studio owner… - St. James Infirmary: The Song Remains the Same…Or Does It?
Fresh
- Hearts Full of Soul
“I’d hear him backstage warming up, and that’s when I heard his voice as a solo artist,” Ben Jaffe says of… - Back to Mid-City
The third annual Bayou Boogaloo will take place May 23 from 5-9 p.m. and May 24 from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on… - The Littlest Media Star
Guyland Leday, the 10-year-old zydeco prodigy from Opelousas, will appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It just hasn’t happened yet. Leday… - Do the Math
Talk to anyone old enough to remember the first Jazz Fest in 1970, and they probably have a story about a… - Back in Business
Basin Street Records will celebrate its 10th anniversary and the release of four new albums Saturday, May 3 at Le Chat… - Better Living Through Science
When two long-time contributors, accordionist Ade Huval and bassist Cal Stevenson decided they couldn’t tour anymore due to budding families, the… - Antenna Inn: Influenced by Bums
“We’re a rock band when it comes down to it,” says Antenna Inn drummer Eric Rogers, “but we like to have… - The Vision Thing
“Doublewide” brings to mind images of those annoying “Oversize Load” trucks carrying what appears to be half of a pre-fab house… - Memphis in Blues
It’s spring, and a young man’s fancy turns to music, not love, in the south. Jazz Fest is here, Festival International… - The Last Record Man
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way,” I stammered to the tall, robust-looking gentleman I was waiting on at…
Letters
- May 2008 Letters
JOHNNY SKETCH I hope you don't mind an honest critique of a CD review from last month. I couldn't be more…
Mojo Mouth
- Mo' Bettah
OffBeat, when it started, was my vision of being able to use a medium to improve the music industry in New…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: New Orleans Cake Café and Bakery
I was having a hard morning in the Marigny, and I blame it all on New Orleans Cake Café and Bakery.… - There's No Taste Like Home
Sixty years ago, crawfish was cheap food for poor people. "My father would say, we're so poor we're going to have…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: New Orleans Cake Café and Bakery
I was having a hard morning in the Marigny, and I blame it all on New Orleans Cake Café and Bakery.…
Reviews
- Stanton Moore Trio, Emphasis (on the Parenthesis) (Telarc)
The flattest moment on Emphasis (on Parenthesis) is the moment right up the Stanton Moore Trio’s alley. “(Late Night at the)… - Jason Miles and DJ Logic, Global Noize (Shanachie)
World electronica jazz sounds like a natural to me, and world electronica jazz made by Jason Miles, DJ Logic, Karl Denson,… - Various Artists, Honeydripper Soundtrack (Rhino)
Perhaps the most curious disappointment of John Sayles’ latest film, Honeydripper is its woeful unemployment of the music it is supposed… - Kathleen Edwards, Asking for Flowers (Zoe/Rounder)
Anyone who can work hockey player Marty McSorley into a chorus has admirable songwriting chops. The mystery on the album is… - Joe Ely and Joel Guzman, Live Cactus! (Rack 'em)
Joe Ely’s a more of rock ’n’ roll singer than a folkie, but when he has tried to be an outlaw… - T-Bone Burnett, Tooth of Crime (Nonesuch)
You’ve got to go back to 1980’s Truth Decay or maybe 1986’s self-titled country album to find anything resembling a lighthearted… - Big Sam's Funky Nation, Peace, Love and Understanding (Independent)
Whenever someone tries to fuse brass-band music with anything else, the brass band sound usually overwhelms, as if it’s just too… - Waylon Thibodeaux, Who's Yo Cher Be Be (Rabadash)
Bourbon Street fiddle player Waylon Thibodeaux hits what he aims at on Who’s Yo’ Cher Be Be, an album of crowd-pleasing,… - Smoky Greenwell and the Blues Gnus, Between Iraq and a Hard Place (Southland)
The latest from Frenchmen Street warriors Smoky Greenwell and the Blue Gnus will likely appeal on several levels. On one level,… - Roy Young, Memphis (Tommy Boy)
Long-time Al Green producer Willie Mitchell is behind the board for Roy Young’s Memphis, which updates his Memphis soul sound without… - Al Green, Lay it Down (Blue Note)
With the help of the Roots’ Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and musical fans Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend, Al… - Bobby Lounge, Bobby's Back in Town LIVE (Abitian)
I’m a fan of the Bobby Lounge but I’m not a fan of live albums, and Bobby’s hasn’t changed my mind.… - Cousin Joe, I Never Harmed an Onion (Night Train)
Pianist Cousin Joe was a New Orleans fixture with his street performances and club gigs at establishments such as the Famous… - Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, Live at Knucklehead's, Kansas City (Swampadellic)
There’s a lot to live up to when you proclaim your humble self as “yo father of fun” but as this… - Joe Bonsall and His Orange Playboys, Cajun Jamboree (Swallow)
Comprised of tracks from the mid-1960s to early 1970s, this is definitely loud bon ton stuff. An accordionist from Lake Arthur,… - John Boutte, Good Neighbor (Independent)
New Orleans native Paul Sanchez wanted to write and perform his own songs, so he went to New York City, where… - Paul Sanchez, Exit to Mystery Street (Independent)
New Orleans native Paul Sanchez wanted to write and perform his own songs, so he went to New York City, where… - Dianne Reeves, When You Know (Blue Note)
Multiple Grammy winner Dianne Reeves’ new record is yet another excellent showcase for her voice. Whether wistful on her cover of… - Campbell Brothers, Rallytime! (Tulip)
For Jazz Fest 2006, blues guitarist and OffBeat contributor Marc Stone arranged a “Sacred Funk’ show with sacred steel masters the… - Feufollet, Low Island Hop (Valcour)
Cow Island Hop finds Feufollet all grown up with somewhere to go. Formed in 1995 by accordionist and fiddler Chris Stafford… - Frederick "Shep" Sheppard, Tradition: The Habari Gani Sessions (Drumparade)
The late Frederic Sheppard was best known for his rhythm and blues work in Fats Domino’s horn section, but he could… - Cedric Watson, Cedric Watson (Valcour)
Only a few years after moving to Lafayette from Sealy, Texas, Cedric Watson has become one of the most prolific contributors… - Tom Scott, Cannon Re-Loaded: A Celebration of Cannonball Adderley (Concord Records)
The year 2007 was an incredibly busy year for the seemingly always-busy New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Along with earning… - Various Artists, Monterey Jazz Festival: 50th Anniversary All-Stars (Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival) (Monterey Jazz Fest)
The year 2007 was an incredibly busy year for the seemingly always-busy New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Along with earning… - The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely (Warner Bros.)
The Raconteurs caught everybody by surprise when they released their second album, Consolers of the Lonely, with only a week’s notice.… - Lost Bayou Ramblers, Vermilionaire (Independent)
By most objective measures, it would be wrong to call Grammy-nominated Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers punk rock, but everything… - Tab Benoit with Louisiana's LeRoux, Night Train to Nashville (Telarc)
On paper, this live set has all the makings of a supremely excessive blooze-rock rave-up. Always a mean guitar-slinger, Tab Benoit… - Marcia Ball, Peace, Love & BBQ (Alligator)
Is there anything more to a perfect, fulfilled life than Peace, Love, & BBQ? It’s a rhetorical question, and Marcia Ball… - Tom McDermott and Connie Jones, Creole Nocturne (Arbors)
There’s a generally accepted piece of so-called wisdom going around town that would have all traditional New Orleans jazz musicians playing… - Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Doin' the Funky Thing (Independent)
The post-Katrina record has become its own genre by now, but what of the post-Katrina party record? Not as crowded a… - Ellis Marsalis Quartet, An Open Letter to Thelonious (ELM)
Thelonious Monk compositions are like Egyptian tombs, each with its own unique curse for those unworthy to open them. Monk himself…
