For those live music diehards intrepid enough to venture off the beaten path for a one-of-a-kind show, this Saturday night’s Earl King Tribute at the Old Arabi Bar will definitely be one for the books.
The Old Arabi is a cozy neighborhood watering hole owned by Brook and Mike Kerrigan and located just outside the city limits in St. Bernard Parish.
Earl King at his Tastee Donuts Shop “office”. Photo by Owen Murphy.
Beginning at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, a diverse and high-profile contingent of New Orleans musicians will be gathering at the bar to pay homage to the great bluesman Earl King.
The list of performers includes Andre Bouvier, Jan Clements, Lynn Drury, Rod Hodges and Joe Cabral of The Iguanas, Irene Sage, Dick Deluxe, C.C Adcock of Lil’ Band O’ Gold, Papa Mali, Vic Papa, and Sam Price of the Honey Island Swamp Band.
They’ll take turns fronting Earl King songs while Frenchmen Street blues-rock favorites Michael Darby and his House of Cards provide the rhythm section.
Darby is a regular performer and dedicated barfly at the Old Arabi who’s been instrumental to the development of its recent little scene. Ecstatic about how Saturday is shaping up, he’s excited to perform material by “one of the most prolific songwriters of all time” and with so many fellow musicians he admires.
The Old Arabi is the kind of place where you’ll regularly find as much musical talent hunkered over beers at the bar as you will onstage, a place where “shows” will inevitably cross over into convivial jam sessions where musicians will goad their friends onstage, whether or not they were just in for a drink. Darby is certain Earl King night will be no different.
“I’m sure late at night it’s gonna turn into a free-for-all,” he says. “Blues, classic New Orleans songs, that’s what I envision.”
So get excited, and make the effort to come on out to Arabi! You’ll be in for an amazing show, and you’ll be supporting local musicians and family-owned neighborhood venues.
The Old Arabi Bar is located at 6701 North Peters St., Arabi, and can be reached at (504) 301-4335.
For those who don’t drive, the 88 bus down St. Claude has a stop just a few blocks away and runs well past midnight!
