tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35744921540797676392024-03-13T04:11:38.535-07:00Music on my mindJohn Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-76735179941776092982012-07-31T08:36:00.004-07:002012-07-31T08:38:49.657-07:00OffBeat's special Satchmo Summerfest issueOffBeat's August issue is dedicated to Louis Armstrong, whose birthday will be celebrated in New Orleans this weekend at the free-to-all Satchmo Summerfest, my favorite local music featival. I'm serving as the interim editor at OffBeat while we search for a permanent editorial steward for the magazine, and this issue is one of the proudest achievements of my career. In addition to my cover story about Armstrong there are several other stories about the trumpet genius, an essay about one of his greatest albums, the legendary Chicago Concert, written be Stereophile music editor Robert Baird, and a top ten list of Armstrong's greatest post-World War II recordings.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-87828939073466867122012-07-28T09:59:00.001-07:002012-07-28T09:59:36.972-07:00From Gemini Ink to Lincoln CenterGreat week. Just returned from Texas where I gave a writing class at Gemini Ink that included a wonderful group interview with jazz singer and storyteller Bett Butler. Tomorrow I'm reading from New Atlantis on a program that includes my hero William Kennedy as part of Joe Hurley's OurLand Festival at Lincoln Center. And the special Satchmo Summerfest issue of OffBeat dedicated to Louis Armstrong, which I edited and wrote the cover story for, is just out. Check it out at <a href="http://www.offbeat.com/">www.offbeat.com</a>.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-87977110386719166672012-06-14T13:33:00.001-07:002012-06-14T13:33:06.046-07:00Jazz and Heritage Foundation holds Community Partnership Grants WorkshopJazz and Heritage Foundation holds Community Partnership Grants Workshop
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation will hold a workshop on Monday, June 25, at 4 p.m. about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's Community Partnership Grants application process. Grants are available in four categories: two for education programs (in-school and after-school); one for documenting Louisiana's indigenous culture or creating new works; and one for cultural events presented by nonprofit organizations. For details, see www.CommunityPartnershipGrants.org.
The deadline to apply is July 16, 2012. Activities funded by these grants must occur between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2013. The workshop will take place at the Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gallery (1205 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, LA 70116).
The four categories now open are:
Jazz & Heritage After-School and Summer Education Programs in Music, Arts and Cultural Traditions: This category supports after-school and summer arts education programs offered by nonprofits and educational institutions. Organizations may apply for funding to pay the fees of the artists or educators who do the instruction.
Jazz & Heritage In-School Education Programs in Music, Arts and Cultural Traditions: This category supports in-school music and arts education at Louisiana public K-12 schools. Schools may apply for funding to purchase or repair instruments and other supplies, or to cover part of an arts teacher’s salary.
Jazz Journey Presenting: Festivals and Concerts in Music and Performing Arts. This category supports new employment for Louisiana performing artists by providing funding to nonprofit organizations that hire them for cultural events.
Jazz & Heritage Archive: Documentation and Preservation. This category supports the creation or exhibition of art works that document or interpret the indigenous culture of Louisiana.
Applicants may submit only one application, and in only one category, per grant cycle. Those who have received Community Partnership Grants in the 2011-12 grant cycle but have not yet submitted a final report are eligible to apply. But funds for new grants will not be distributed until final reports for outstanding grants have been submitted and approved.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-83751047437439304492012-06-05T12:18:00.002-07:002012-06-05T12:18:50.209-07:00Nonna Mia yum yumCame across this item in Gambit and wanted to pass it on. Brendan, Eddie and myself eat here all the time. Features the Dolly Parton of Chicken Parmagiana. Tuesdays are the best time to go for the half price wine special!
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/nonna-mia/Content?oid=2016836John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-71053960319916247802012-06-04T16:20:00.001-07:002012-06-04T16:20:13.255-07:00OffBeat blog: Lost What They HadI will be serving as interim editor at OffBeat magazine while we search for someone to fill the position vacated last week by Alex Rawls, who left to pursue his writing career. Watch for updates at http://www.offbeat.com/author/john-swenson-blog/ including today's entry on what the Radiators have been up to since their farewell gigd last June at Tipitinas.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-36968741536811139792012-05-31T07:35:00.000-07:002012-05-31T12:55:01.291-07:00Jazz Fest ReduxHaven't posted since Jazz Fest because I was waiting to see what OffBeat would use. About half of what I sent in found its way into the magazine, so here's the rest. By the way, I saw the Suspects opening for Galactic at Brooklyn Bowl last night and they blew the place apart. Bassist Reggie Scanlan is out there in the middle of it driving the groove alongside the incredible Willie Green on drums. Music truly is a healing force. Suspects, Malone Brothers, Dr. John etc. all play Saturday at the Crawfish Fest.
There was obviously a lot more going on at Jazz Fest but here's a synopsis:
State of the Reunion
The Beach Boys are my guilty pleasure. I enjoyed listening to them as a kid without taking them too seriously until I started reading Paul Williams write about them in the early issues of Crawdaddy. Williams and his fellow writers demonstrated that pop music could be more important than a poster on somebody's wall, that it was the poetry of the time, the spirit of the era. I began trying to apply those ideas to my own listening habits, which ran more to the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Young Rascals and the jazz, folk and blues musicians I heard in Greenwich Village. My first published work was a review of the Beach Boys Smiley Smile, which I still consider their greatest artistic achievement. I've seen the group dozens of times over the years and was able to become friends with two of the band members, the late brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson.
It's good to hear that music played to an appreciative crowd on a beautiful sunny afternoon in New Orleans. But calling this a 50th annual reunion is outright fraud. Watching the surviving members made me think of those Futurama episodes where people are kept "alive" by putting their heads in tanks of liquid. The production is sustained by a very capable army of singers and musicians who create beautiful facsimiles of the songs, although you might as well be listening to well crafted tape recordings of Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately none of the surviving members of the group are capable of making any significant contributions to this music. Oh well, what can you expect from a group that got its start by outright theft of Chuck Berry arrangements?
Long Time Comin'
"This is my Jazz Fest debut," said a wide-eyed Dayna Kurtz. "I've been coming to this festival for 20 years and I've wanted to play it for so long." The sassy, big-voiced belter took command of the Lagniappe stage like a JF veteran with a larger-than-life delivery that was a grab bag of nods to local heros, shrewd selections from the American songbook and her own contemporary blues, ballads and R&B songs. The versatile singer augmented her New York band with locals -- guitarist Robert Mache, John Gros on B3, Matt Perrine on bass and tuba and a three piece horn section featuring Craig Klein on trombone and Jason Mingledorff on saxophones. Though her style is so impossible to pin down that she is heartily embraced by both country and blues fans and has a considerable jazz following in New York, Kurtz played the New Orleans R&B diva for the most part at JF, culling material from the two albums she recently released simultaneously. From Secret Canon Vol.1, a crate digger's delight of obscure 20th century pop songs, she chose "Do I Love You," "Don't Fuck Around With Love" (changed to "Mess Around" for the family crowd) and "Not the Only Fool In Town." American Standard, her album of originals recorded in part with the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, yielded "Lou Lou Knows," "Hanging Around My Boy," "Are You Dancing With Her Tonight," her rocking tribute to the Ponderosa Stomp "Good in '62" and her celebration of Obama's 2008 victory, "Election Day." The wildest moment came near the end of the set when Kurtz, fairly bursting out of her tight black dress, pushed the band into high gear for an electric rendition of Eddie Bo's "So Glad." Nice to know that Jazz Fest can still summon up such pleasant surprises.
The parts can be greater than the whole
The Radiators didn't play their usual Fest-closing set at the Gentilly stage but the final Sunday did feature Rads keyboardist Ed Volker leading a trio with Joe Cabral on baritone sax and Michael Skinkus on percussion. In what could be seen as an ironic comment on his own retirement, Volker began his set with a line from one of his new songs, "Monkey Ain't Going Back in the Box." Volker was a revelation in this new context during his hour-long set, playing slow, dark melodies on the grand piano and cutting a sultry Caribbean groove with his responsive bandmates. The space and dynamics this approach created enabled Volker to use a wide range of vocal techniques, often growling and smearing his lines, as opposed to having to shout over the band at Radiators gigs. Volker also revealed some of the structural ideas he brings to arrangements by performing songs in groups, not just medleys but actual mashups where lines and verses from different songs are fitted into a larger whole. So the dirge-like version of Professor Longhair's "Tipitina" became part of Volker's Longhair tribute "Long Hard Journey Home." Volker then sang "Money" as if it were a Ray Charles ballad, brilliantly capped with a baritone solo that played off the melody of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" before Volker raised the temperature with "Every Dog Has Its Day." A mournful "Party Till the Money Runs Out" was braced by the tonic of an uptempo "Blackjack." "Turtle Beach" morphed into "Alabama Song," then a triumphant "Run Red Run." Volker visited Kurt Weill again with an amazing construct of "Mack the Knife" interspersed with "Dirty People," "(Screw) Em if They Can't Take A Joke" and "Can't Take It With You." "I Did My Part" became a larger construct with "When This Battle Is Over," "Africa" and "All Meat." By the time this remarkable set ended with Jelly Roll Morton's "Whinin Boy" combined with "Let the Red Wine Flow" and "Fingerpoppin Time" the crowd at the Langiappe stage was out of the seats and dancing.
Most of the other Rads spinoffs performed at the Fest or in clubs during the two weekends of music -- Camile Baudoin's soulful acoustic Cajun band; Dave Malone with his brother Tommy and with Bonerama, who also paid tribute to the Rads during their JF set with a joyful version of "Soul On Fire"; and Reggie Scanlan's excellent band The New Orleans Suspects, who just released a very good album of mostly new material. The Radiators even reunited for a brief one set teaser during a benefit for Scanlan, who is recovering from pancreatic cancer. It was a miracle to see Scanlan back in action only weeks after enduring 16 hours of surgery. The Suspects closed the benefit show with an outstanding set that featured Malone and Baudoin, along with surprise guest Bill Kreutzmann on drums, playing a killer version of "Turn On Your Love Light." The two Radiators guitarists have never sounded better together. They have a magic rapport, a mind meld of a connection so rhythmically fierce and harmonically adventurous they seem more like the great tenor duo of Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons than any other rock guitar tandem.
Kreutzmann also played a memorable set with 7 Walkers at Republic with George Porter Jr. on bass. The crowd of Deadheads delighted to opening act Royal Southern Brotherhood's version of "Fire On the Mountain," sung to perfection by Cyril Neville. Kreutzmann was at his levitational best with his talented band as Porter matched guitarist Papa Mali for creative jamming, scorching the jazz changes of "Eyes of the World" with a solo that began referencing Sonny Rollins with a "St. Thomas" quote and ended with a Hendrix flourish touching on "Third Stone From the Sun." Porter even sang on "Sugaree." A great night turned even more amazing when Warren Haynes took the stage to duel with Mali on a lengthy "Snow and Rain" and a showstopping performance of "New Minglewood Blues." Gotta say 7 Walkers is a better band than the Dead itself at this juncture.
Bo Knows
Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux were scheduled to perform in another Wild Magnolias reunion just before Jazz Fest, but on the day of the show Bo had to be rushed to the hosital to be treated for pneumonia. Monk and Gerard (Bo Jr.) did a great job that night, but Bo's followers were once again wondering if they'd seen him for the last time. When the Wild Magnolias hit the Fest trail for an unannounced parade the last Saturday of JF Bo was still in the hospital but Gerard did an outstanding job of calling the chants and songs as his Indians sashayed to the syncopated drummers, all following Big Queen Rita, resplendant in a gorgeous green and white feathered suit. On the final Sunday of JF the Magnolias played the Heritage stage and Bo was there, fresh out of the hospital, looking wan in his motorized chair but smiling broadly as well-wishers (including Monk) thronged around him backstage. After Gerard and Rita led the band through a couple of pieces Bo was gently brought to the stage and propped on a high stool. Miraculously he began to sing in a strong, hearty voice: "One More... one more time!" over and over and the crowd chanted along with him as Gerard urged them on, Rita danced ecstatically next to Bo, and Billy Iuso came up alongside of him as he played a guitar solo, one more offering to the Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias. Earlier in the festival, the 101 Runners also celebrated Dollis by performing Chris Jones' tribute to Bo, "We Love Big Chief," based on the John Coltrane classic "A Love Supreme."
Occupy Jazz Fest
One of the more interesting complaints about JF is the pushback against the "Big Chief" syndrome that allows some festgoers to "buy" prime frontstage real estate. It seems an odd place to begin a socio-political critique of what's going on in the musician/audience world, especially in light of the fact that two of the biggest draws -- Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty -- have made audience rights such a big issue over the course of their careers. The Eagles were always one percenters, of course, the first band to charge more than $100 for every seat in the house. But Springsteen and Petty could easily have made an issue of this. I think they probably thought it wasn't the spot to pick a fight. For my part I have adjusted to the fact that the national big money pop acts draw the ridiculous crowds. Just stay away from the Acura stage and every other spot on the grounds is a more comfortable hang. You wouldn't have been able to get into the Blues Tent to hear the great tribute to Wardell Quezergue if it weren't for Petty drawing everyone to Acura. I much prefer hearing a crack R&B band play "Mr. Big Stuff" than "Free Falling" anyway. Petty might even agree with me on that. I'm sure Springsteen would.
Right before Petty took the stage the Voice of the Wetlands All Stars warmed up the crowd with a terrific set. But when Tab Benoit stepped up to urge the crowd to become political activists suddenly his mic went dead. His voice was literally silenced, another aspect of JF "presented by Shell." Tab kept talking anyway. He won't shut up and that's one of the aspects of his personality that adds an edge to his music. Amazingly, his mic came back on about two lines before the end of his pitch, just as he had to sing the first lines of "We Make a Good Gumbo." So maybe the issue isn't the lack of space between the swells and the not-so-swells in front of the stage but about the culture wide silencing of political dissent and negative shout downs from the Super PACS that want you to believe corporations are people too.
Papa Grows Funk always deals aces at Jazz Fest. The band is adept at big gestures, like when guitarist June Yamagishi, wearing a shirt sporting the cover of Hendrix's Axis: Bold As Love album, played "Hear My Train A'Comin'" as the intro to the Beatles' "Come Together." The Needle in the Groove tracks have added another dimension to the band's presence, moving the group away from the jam band direction into traditional New Orleans songsmithing. The jam band stuff works better in clubs anyway when they can stretch for hours -- sets at the Maple Leaf and d.b.a. (with Monk Boudreaux) during JF gave ample evidence of the band's jamming prowess -- but at JF the band played songs that resonated with meaning. "Get Back Home" is one of my favorites, a great "everyman" song that sums up the celebration of the common person that lies at the heart of the New Orleans spirit. The one per-centers and what Tab Benoit calls "spillionaires" that run everything can't buy better enjoyment than what's available to (and created by) the poor and working class people of New Orleans. This is the kind of dissent that can't be silenced or shouted down. In this context the peace sign John Gros always asks the crowd to flash toward the end of the set seems neither cliched nor inappropriate.
Tornado Watch
Flaco Jimenez walked out onto the Fais Do Do stage and heard people shouting his name. The great accordion player for the Texas Tornados grinned and sipped his beer, then proceeded to animate the infectious Tex Mex rhythms of his band. Jimenez looked right at home standing next to the portrait of another squeezebox master, Clifton Chenier. Jimenez and Farfisa master Augie Meyers keep the Tornados authentic, along with original bassist Speedy Sparks, even after the passing of group founder Doug Sahm and chicano superstar Freddy Fender. The band makes up for those losses by employing Doug's son Shawn as a frontman singer/guitarist and good natured MC. Shawn looks and sounds the part, projecting the boundless enthusiasm and good cheer that his father always radiated. When he sings Sir Douglas Quintet staples like "Mendocino" and "She's About a Mover" Shawn seems to be channeling his dad and the band , driven by Meyers' rollicking organ sound, does the rest. The Tornados cover Fender's contributions with a section of his best known songs ("Wasted Days and Wasted Nights," "Until the Next Teardrop Falls"). Shawn repeatedly paid tribute to the band's departed members, invoking their spirit with the music itself. Meyers is the band's secret weapon, with his laconic demeanor, wicked sense of humor and full throated baritone singing carrying the day just as much as his playing. His delightful song "Dinero" was a high point of the set.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-3217037206549999912012-04-15T09:50:00.003-07:002012-04-15T09:59:09.612-07:00Dr. John finishes run at BAMDr. John's nine-show run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music ended last night with a rousing send off. High points of the show included spectacular turns from singers Irma Thomas and Tami Lynn, a version of "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" by Nicholas Payton that was better than anything in week one's Louis Armstrong tribute and a mind boggling version of "Hey Pocky Way" in which Donald Harrison was transported into Mardi Gras Indian spiritland. This seemed almost like a response to the gauntlet Dan Auerbach threw at Mac's feet a week ago in his audacious bid to reconfigure the Dr. John persona via the Locked Down sessions. Good as Locked Down was, and it was damn good, when Mac summons the power of New Orleans music nothing can come close.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-49804662071484864942012-03-21T09:41:00.002-07:002012-03-21T09:45:37.551-07:00Report on New Atlantis panel at SXSWHad a great SXSW experience checking out lots of new music, the great Joe King Carrasco reunited with his original group, Dr. John, a terrific panel on New Atlantis and a finale of Davis Rogan burning it up at Uncle Billy's. Here's a well reported account of the panel by John T. Davis:<br /><br />SXSW panel: New Atlantis—New Orleans Music Rebuilds<br /><br />By John T. Davis | Saturday, March 17, 2012, 01:57 PM<br /><br />New Atlantis—New Orleans Music Rebuilds<br /><br />ACC<br /><br />12:30 p.m. Saturday<br /><br />Community and music are inextricably bound in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina not only destroyed neighborhoods, it sundered a historical tradition of organically-created music that arose from the streets and kindred spirits. Now, New Orleans musicans are rebuilding that community, one street and one band at a time.<br /><br />Moderator—John Swenson/Journalist and Author<br /><br />Davis Rogan/Songwriter and Actor<br /><br />Don B/Musician & Actor<br /><br />Chris Magee/Artist and Producer<br /><br />Alison Fensterstock/Journalist<br /><br />Supa Dezzy/Producer<br /><br />Two threads bound together the panelists on “New Atlantis—New Orleans Rebuilds.” The first is the HBO series, Treme, which recounts the struggle of a community to rebuild and reconnect in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Several of the panelists also serve as advisors, crew or music coordinators on the program. The second link is Dave Bartholomew, the legendary songwriter and producer of New Orleans artists like Fats Domino, Shirley & Lee and Lloyd Price.<br /><br />Bartholomew’s son, Don B, as well as his grandsons, Chris Magee and Supa Dezzy were all on the panel. Moderator John Swenson wrote the book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle For the Survival of New Orleans.<br /><br />“When I returned there in 2005, the city was inundated. I became obsessed with finding everybody’s story. It wasn’t clear that any of the music was going to happen again; Everybody was gone. Every time a club would reopen and people would play music, it was like magic.”<br /><br />Hip-hop and its New Orleans derivative, bounce, as several artists pointed out, is filling same unifying function as earlier organic musical forms like Second Line, brass bands and the Mardi Gras Indians.<br /><br />“New Orleans is not just the birthplace of jazz,” said Davis Rogan, who is the inspiration for “Davis McAlary,” the character Steve Zahn plays on Treme. “It’s also got vibrant hip-hop, brass band and rock scenes…There’s a perception among some that the Neville Brothers and Rebirth Brass Band are ‘real’ New Orleans music, but a rapper like Juvenile isn’t.”<br /><br />That perception is changing, as hip-hop artists and producers are embracing older influences and tapping into the same neighborhood interconnections as musicians before them.<br /><br />“I always called (the older artists) the ‘Jazzfest Canon’,” said journalist Alison Fensterstock. “But since the storm, there’s been a lot more amalgamating.”<br /><br />“Bounce seems to be the version of New Orleans hip-hop that’s most connected to vernacular street music—the Second Line, the Mardi Gras Indians, the brass bands…what you’d hear at a party or walking down the street. It demands mutual participation.”<br /><br />“The Second Line comes to us” said hip-hop producer Don B. “It rolls right through our neighborhood, we just stand outside the door and watch thousands of people march by.”<br /><br />“It’s the bearers of the culture, the brass bands, the Indians, and hip-hop musicians that made it possible for music in New Orleans to come back,” said Davis. “We made so sure that 110% of the music came back, but we still only have 70% of the audience—everybody is still so busy trying to rebuild their lives.”<br /><br />“New Orleans musicians said they were taken good care of in Austin, Houston, Atlanta, but even though well cared for, they couldn’t do what they did in NOLA because the music is specific to the community there,” said Swenson. “That’s what these musicians are trying to reestablish there, and it’s creating some new alliances among people who hadn’t worked together before the flood.”John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-32385099135637765132012-03-06T10:57:00.001-08:002012-03-06T10:58:11.318-08:00New Atlantis Wins Jazz Times Critics PollNEW ATLANTIS WINS JAZZ TIMES CRITICS POLL<br /><br /><br />The 2011 Expanded Critics' Poll<br /><br />JT's critics choose their favorite musicians, books, DVDs and more<br /><br />03/05/12 <br /><br />JazzTimes <br /><br />After the encouraging response we received to last year’s inaugural full-length Critics’ Poll, we decided to make it an annual tradition. Our regular contributors were asked to vote in the same categories that make up our yearly Readers' Poll, ranking their top five choices in each. The poll focuses on artists’ achievements during 2011, as opposed to their careers in whole.<br /><br />Winners below are bolded; runners-up are listed in order of number of points. THE EDITORS<br /><br />BEST OF MEDIA<br /><br />Book <br /><strong>∙ New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans by John Swenson (Oxford University Press) </strong>∙ Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice by Tad Hershorn (University of California Press) <br />∙ What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years by Ricky Riccardi (Pantheon Books) <br />∙ All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennettby David Evanier (Wiley) <br />∙ Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz by Benjamin Cawthra (University of Chicago Press)John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-28632681385995121292012-03-01T08:23:00.004-08:002012-03-02T08:23:03.119-08:00Ed Volker's "Snag"Some of you have read the article on Ed Volker just published in OffBeat. It was cut and shaped (and slightly rewritten) to reflect the editor’s desire to make it a news story, but it was written as a review/essay. I think some important nuances were lost in the process, enough that I think concerned readers who have no other access to information about Volker’s activities since the breakup of the Radiators deserve to see the original. Here is the piece as written:<br /><br /> <br /><br />Headline: Where's My Monkey?<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Members of the Radiators wasted no time forming new bands since the group announced it was calling it quits last year after a 33-year run that defined an era of New Orleans rock. We now have Camile Baudoin's Living Rumors (acoustic and electric versions); Reggie Scanlan's New Orleans Suspects; Dave Malone's group with his brother Tommy, the Malone Brothers; and all of them along with Frank Bua in the ever evolving Raw Oyster Cult. The only Radiators member who has stayed underground since the band performed its "Last Watusi" back in June is Ed Volker, who organized the group at an infamous jam session in his garage on Waldo Avenue back in 1978 and wrote most of their songs.<br /><br /> The reclusive Volker has not been inactive, though. He's just released his latest solo project, Snag, the seventh album's worth of songs recorded in his home studio under his nom de plume Zeke Fishhead and distributed as downloads on livedownloads.com (hard copies are available on order and from the Louisiana Music Factory) since 2007. These recordings cover a lot of ground but it's easy to read the material as the ruminations of a man who was sensing that his life's project was nearing its end. It's also a personal biography of Volker's own journey through the trials of Katrina (I reviewed Prodigal, which covers this timeline, in a previous OffBeat piece.) <br /><br /> When you're dealing with poetry as dense and imagistic as Volker's it's always dangerous to apply strict interpretations to the lyrics. Most of the songs travel along multiple paths. But it's impossible not to see the outlines of a story emerge from these albums. <br /><br /> Radiators fans tend to view these songs in terms of how they would sound if the band played them. It's an understandable point of view given that Radiators songs were always worked up from Volker's demos. Volker would record his ideas on a home system with bare bones arrangements. He'd give tapes to Malone, who would add guitar parts to the songs he liked.<br /><br /> But the songs on these seven Volker releases are not demos, even the few that made an appearance in Radiators shows. These are all fully realized pieces that stand on their own. Without the big arrangements, rock production values and dueling guitars of the Rads versions, these concentrated, low-fi recordings are meant to tell stories. Zeke Fishhead's vocals articulating the lyrics provide the magic in these sonic imaginings; the accompanying music is often incantatory. The resultant outside-of-time feeling these recordings evoke sounds oddly contemporary.<br /><br /> Volker does bring a wealth of musical influences into the mix, evoking ancient folk themes, blues, rock and the dancing clave rhythm at the heart of all New Orleans music from Jelly Roll Morton to Dr. John (and Volker himself). He writes of love both carnal and platonic in an almost religious reverie that makes those themes evocative of the Felliniesque circus/church of the rock 'n' roll concert.<br /><br /> Snag begins with "Let's Get Shiney (Zeke’s spelling) Tonight," a glorious celebration of that communion, a kind of description of what it feels like on a perfect night in New Orleans back at the 501 Club when Professor Longhair was holding court:<br /><br /> "... oh professor, strike up your band <br /><br /> oh roberta, dance me to the promised land<br /><br /> <br /><br />let's get shiney tonight<br /><br />like the stars over Tipitina's<br /><br />let's get shiney tonight<br /><br />like a cricus full of dreamers<br /><br />set your wild heart free<br /><br />let's let tomorrow be<br /><br />m m mm let's get shiney tonight"<br /><br /> The sense of pagan abandon Volker conjures here recurs in various ways throughout the album, from the sultry slow burn of "Don't You Come Down Here" to the apocalyptic desperation of "The Six White Horses." Elsewhere we hear his ruminations on the mythic runes of his own history, "1978 I can't think straight," he sings in "Last Lick," one of the songs written over the years for Mom's Ball themes. "Sometimes it seems it was all a mirage/ did I ever leave that garage/ but I lived to tell the tale that we know." At the song's coda Volker offers an anthemic lament that seems to echo the joy and sorrow of a lifetime: "where is my monkey? Where is my monkey girl?" <br /><br /> You can get glimpses of Volker's reasons for getting off the rock and rolllercoaster in several songs on Snag. "Just a Little Snag," a catalog of contemporary white noise events, references the indignities of travel in post 9-11 America. "Dead Man's Hand" is a travelogue of places where Volker and his bandmates brought the noise over the years, "shakin in chicago in shakopee in skinny Minny in Memphis Tennessee..." But Volker calls for mercy: "I can't shake it I ain't gonna make it... let me loose come on dead man you gotta let me loose." This sense of futility spills over to the commentary on current events "Nothing Works": "Nothing works well, maybe for a while/ sooner or later it all ends up on the pile/ the dungheap of history the scrapyard of time just ask Captain Kirk nothing works."<br /><br /> There's a lot more going on in these songs than I'm alluding to and Volker also ventures into narrative territory that the Radiators seldom visited. A perfect example is the version of the traditional folk tale "Delia's Gone," much more fully realized here as a story in "The Ballad of Delia Green." Volker's version of this story, based on Blind Blake's sheet music chord sequence with an original melody of Volker's own design, is the most detailed account of the murder of Delia Green ever put to song. From the moment the dancer captures the gambler's fancy through the impulsive possession of murder, the remonstrances of the judge and the curse of being haunted by his lover forevermore, Volker delivers this tale of human obsession and folly with cool, mournful precision. Elsewhere Volker ventures into completely new territory on "The Fatal Dose," a film noir script set to song about a mysterious beauty who arrives in New Orleans, wends her way into the nexus of power and corruption of the city's elite and ends up getting the fatal dose.<br /><br /> Anyone who thinks Volker is kidding about leaving the Radiators behind should check out "Kryptonite," an almost giddy renunciation of his superhero powers: "I used to be a man of steel... now I'm just like and Clark Kent without a phone booth in sight... this speeding bullet ain't coming back."<br /><br /> The exultant chorus indicates how happy Volker is with his decision:<br /><br /> ka-boom lordy lordy lordy lordy<br /><br /> ka-boom lordy lordy lordy lordy<br /><br /> looking for a little taste of kryptonite<br /><br /> Volker goes on to acknowledge that others haven't given up the chase:<br /><br /> "saw Bruce Wayne speeding up Rampart St.<br /><br /> faithful Alfred at the wheel<br /><br /> he's a hundred if he's a day<br /><br /> and he's still looking fit to kill"<br /><br /> Volker is obviously very pleased with the opportunity to sit at home with his musical amusements. That satisfaction allows him to look back without bitterness as the elegiac "Save the Last Watusi for Me" indicates. But the final song, "Honeysuckle Still Hanging On the Vine," depicts Volker in his own private Avalon: <br /><br /> "I try not to keep up<br /><br /> So I can fall way behind<br /><br /> and stay right back here<br /><br /> where the honeysuckle's still hanging sweet on the vine<br /><br /> <br /><br /> I was a raver and a rover<br /><br /> in a whole 'nother time sone<br /><br /> when New Orleans was New Orleans<br /><br /> and everything wasn't just a secret code"<br /><br />--John SwensonJohn Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-82729042119488259722012-01-30T14:51:00.001-08:002012-01-30T14:52:00.895-08:00Trombone Shorty wins big at Best of the BeatOffbeat Magazine's annual "Best of the Beat" Awards honored Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with six top awards: Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for 'For True,' Best R&B/Funk Artist and Album, Best Trombonist for Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, and Best Music Video for For True single "Do To Me." This is Trombone Shorty's first win for Best Music Video, but the second year in a row winning in each of the other categories, and he's now won Artist of the Year and Best R&B/Funk Artist 4 times each.<br /><br />Andrews will continue to relentlessly tour in 2012 with his new album For True (Verve Forecast) having just tallied an 11th week atop Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart. This past weekend Andrews left for two shows in Japan, which will be immediately followed by his debut in Ecuador, and later in February, his first shows in Moscow along with additional tour dates in France, the U.K. and Spain. Andrews recently added upcoming U.S. tour dates with Lenny Kravitz in Minneapolis on Feb. 7 as well as shows with the Zac Brown Band March 10, 11 and 23. <br /><br />Andrews appeared with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu this past Friday to donate specially designed Trombone Shorty trumpets and trombones to students at Andrews' alma mater, New Orleans' Warren Easton High School, as part of Andrews' ongoing "Horns for Schools" project. Andrews performed for the students, joined by the Mayor on trumpet.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-16282554080426179342012-01-24T09:43:00.000-08:002012-01-24T09:45:31.447-08:00Full Jazz Fest 2012 lineup announcedHere's the day-to-day lineup for Jazz Fest. Watch the Texas Tornados steal the opening day show.<br /><br />FRIDAY, APRIL 27<br /><br />The Beach Boys reunion feat. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks, Bon Iver, Steel Pulse, Buckwheat Zydeco, Givers, Zebra, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Gomez, The Texas Tornados feat. Flaco Jimenez, Augie Myers, and Shawn Sahm, The Dixie Cups, Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Band feat. Terence Blanchard, Chuck Leavell & Friends with special guest Bonnie Bramblett, Irma Thomas' Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, Eric Lindell, New Orleans Classic R&B Revue feat. Frankie Ford, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Robert "Barefootin" Parker, and Blue Eyed Soul, James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Butch Thompson, Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Leyla McCalla, Sasha Masakowski, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Slavic Soul Party!, Jamil Sharif, Stephanie Jordan Big Band, Leah Chase, The Revivalists, Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, Shades of Praise: New Orleans Interracial Gospel Choir, Tim Laughlin, Dukes of Dixieland, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, Young Pinstripe Brass Band, Dee-1, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Kim Carson & the Enablers, Sammy Rimington International Band, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, Guitar Lightnin' Lee & the Thunder Band, Ivoire Spectacle feat. Seguenon Kone, Wimberly Family Gospel Singers, Henry Gray & the Cats, Real Untouchables Brass Band, James Rivers Movement, Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys, Louis Ford & His Dixie Flairs, Comanche Hunters and Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians, Cindy Scott, Golden Voices Community Choir, Zulu and Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Traditional Dance by Asociacion de Peruanos en Louisana, Northwestern University Jazz Ensemble, Black Foot Hunters and Black Mohawk Mardi Gras Indians, Beth Patterson & Potent Bathers, Miss Claudia & her Biergartners, Alana Villavaso, Reverend Jermaine Landrum & the Abundant Praise Revival Choir, Brass Band Throwdown with Martin Behrman, W.J. Fischer, and Kate Middleton Elementary Schools, The Bester Singers, Dynamic Smooth Family Gospel Singers, GrayHawk presents Native American Lore and Tales, New Orleans School of Circus Arts & I.S.L., Geronimo Hunters and Creole Osceolas Mardi Gras Indians, Keep N It Real and We Are One Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs...<br /><br />SATURDAY, APRIL 28<br /><br />Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jill Scott, Feist, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Bobby Rush, Dave Koz, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Soul Rebels, Israel Houghton and New Breed, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, Cheikh Lô of Senegal, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars feat. Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidocovich, Waylon Thibodeaux, and Johnny Sansone, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Tribute to Wardell Quezergue feat. Jean Knight, The Dixie Cups, Robert "Barefootin" Parker, and Tony Owens, Pine Leaf Boys, Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns, Khris Royal & Dark Matter, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band feat. Thais Clark, Luther Kent, Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars, Evan Christopher, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Midnite Disturbers, Savoy Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Heritage Hall Jazz Band feat. Jewel Brown, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries, The Gospel According to Jazz feat. BJ Crosby, Judy Davis, Danon Smith, and Yolanda Windsay, Jeremy Lyons with members of Morphine, Peter Martin, Empress Hotel, Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, Kristin Diable & the City, D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces, The Courtyard Kings, Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, City of Love Music & Worship Arts, Brother Tyrone & the Mindbenders, High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band, Tom McDermott, Kevin Bryan, DJ Soul Sister, Bamboula 2000, Pastor Jai Reed, Marc Stone, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Tonia Powell & the Left Field Band, SUBR Jazzy Jags, Cameron Dupuy & the Cajun Troubadours, 101 Runners, Tonia Scott & the Anointed Voices, Loyola University Jazz Band, Javier Tobar & Elegant Gypsy, The Jones Sisters, Young Band Nation Blues Project, RRAAMS Drum and Dance, Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir, Josh Kagler & Harmonistic Praise Crusade, New Wave Brass Band, Nine Times Men, Single Ladies, and Single Men Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Ashe Cultural Arts Center Kuumba Institute, Delgado Community College Jazz Band, The Heavenly Melodies Gospel Singers, Wild Mohicans and Red, White & Blue Mardi Gras Indians, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Muggivan School of Irish Dance, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, Family Ties, and Men of Class Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Puppet Arts Theater...<br /><br />SUNDAY, APRIL 29<br /><br />Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Al Green, John Mayer, Dr. John & the Lower 911, Janelle Monae, Pete Fountain, Yolanda Adams, Iron & Wine, Cowboy Mouth, Dianne Reeves, Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Gary Clark, Jr., Papa Grows Funk, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Nicholas Payton SeXXXtet, Ellis Marsalis, Lindigo of Reunion Island feat. Fixi of France, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Ironin' Board Sam, Evelyn Turrentine Agee, Debo Band: Ethiopian Groove Collective, Corey Harris & Phil Wiggins, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots' International Accordian Summit, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Treme Brass Band, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Tribute to Alex Chilton feat. Dave Pirner, Alex McMurray, Susan Cowsill, and Rene Coman, Los Po-Boy-Citos, Batiste Brothers, Victor Goines, Washboard Rodeo, Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds, Bill Summers & Jazalsa, Brice Miller & Mahogany Brass Band, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes, Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band, Kirk Joseph's Tuba Tuba, Gospel Soul Children, Panorama Jazz Band, Hadley J. Castille Family & the Sharecroppers Family Band, Pat Casey & the New Sound, Erika Flowers, Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders with guest Butch Thompson, Morning Star Baptist Church Mass Choir, Spencer Bohren, Chris Clifton, Gospel Diva Lois Dejean, Carrollton Hunters, Big Chief Goodman & the Flaming Arrows, and Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Johnette Downing, Tornado Brass Band, Big Steppers, Untouchables, and Furious Five Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, E'Dana & Company, N'Fungola Sibo West African Dance Company, Ayla Miller Band, Adella Adella the Storyteller, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Mass Choir, Heritage School of Music Band, Kai Knight's Silhouette Dance Ensemble, Olympia Aid, New Look, First Division, and Secondline Jammers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, Sunpie Barnes presents Louisiana Creole Music, Ninth Ward Navajo, Black Eagles and Shawee Mardi Gras Indians, The Boyz Singers and Dancers, Bishop Sean Elder & the Mount Hermon Baptist Church Mass Choir...<br /><br />THURSDAY, MAY 3<br /><br />Eddie Vedder, Florence + the Machine, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Ani DiFranco, Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, James Cotton "Superharp" Band, Regina Carter's "Reverse Thread", George Porter, Jr. & Runnin' Pardners, Henry Butler, Honey Island Swamp Band, Glen Hansard, Little Freddie King, Astral Project, Mia Borders, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Banu Gibson, Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, Chico Trujillo of Chile, Bill Miller, Marlon Jordan Quartet, Iguanas, Free Agents Brass Band, Cheick Hamala Diabate of Mali, Raymond A. Myles Singers 30th Anniversary Reunion, Joint's Jumpin', Alto Saxophone Woodshed feat. Aaron Fletcher, Kid Chocolate, The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, Native Nations Intertribal, Yvette Landry, Palmetto Bug Stompers, Magnolia Jazz Band of Norway feat. Topsy Chapman, The Stooges Brass Band, Silky Sol, Michael Ward, Flow Tribe, Otra, J. Monque'D Blues Band, Kipori "Baby Wolf" Woods, Amina Figarova, Hot Club of New Orleans, Dayna Kurtz, Kristi Guillory & the Midtown Project, Robert Jardell & Pure Cajun, Original Pinettes Brass Band, Forever Jones, Lyle Henderson & Emanu-El, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, Black Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Kourtney Heart, The Mighty Supremes, Seva Venet & the Storyville String Band, Kelcy Mae, Julio y Cesar, Culu Children's Traditional African Dance Company & Stilt Walkers, Judy Stock, Young Fellaz Brass Band, VIP Ladies, Revolution, and Ladies of Unity Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, 7th Ward Creole Hunters and Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indians, McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir, Gospel Inspirations of Boutte, Eleanor McMain Singing Mustangs, O. Perry Walker Charter High School Gospel Choir, Tulane University Jazz Ensemble, Jazztories Puppets, Opera a la Carte, Recovery School District Talented in Theater Performers, Young Audiences Performing Arts Showcase feat Ballet, Tap and West African Dance...<br /><br />FRIDAY, MAY 4<br /><br />Zac Brown Band, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A., Bunny Wailer, Mystikal, Mavis Staples, Marcia Ball, Bonerama, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Bruce Hornsby, Donald Harrison, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Theresa Andersson, Sarah Jarosz, Deacon John, Terri Lyne Carrington's Mosaic, Wayne Toups & ZyDeCajun, Wycliffe Gordon Quintet: Hello Pops Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Germaine Bazzle, Wanda Rouzan, Delfeayo Marsalis' Uptown Orchestra, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Lil' Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Mark Braud's New Orleans Jazz Giants, Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, Hot 8 Brass Band, Ingrid Lucia, Jim McCormick Band, The Revealers, Yvette Landry Band, Baritone Bliss, The Bucktown Allstars, Phillip Manuel, Reggie Hall & the Twilighters feat. Lady Bee, Vivaz!, Nayo Jones, Big Al Carson & the Blues Masters, Courtney Bryan, Feufollet, Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters, Doreen Ketchen's Jazz New Orleans, Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band, Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band, Kumbuka African Dance & Drum Collective, Ted Winn, St. Joseph the Worker Choir, Forgotten Souls, Brass Bed, Zazou City, Kid Simmons' Local International Allstars, Smitty Dee's Brass Band, John Lawrence & Ven Pa' Ca Flamenco Dancers, Lesa Cormier & the Sundown Playboys, Zulu Male Ensemble, Connie & Dwight with the St. Raymond / St. Leo the Great Gospel Choir, Erica Falls, Gal Holiday presented by Young Audiences, Native Nations Intertribal, Young Magnolias, Golden Sioux and Young Cherokee Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Hispano America Dance Group, Kenneth Terry Brass Band, Scene Boosters and Old N Nu Fellaz Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Red Hawk and Golden Blade Mardi Gras Indians, Pastor Tyrone Jefferson, Donnie Bolden & the Spirit of Elijah, Original Big Seven and Original Four Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Lake Forest Charter Jazz Ensemble, New Orleans Indian Rhythm Section, Eulenspiegel Puppets, Pastor Terry Gullage & the Greater Mount Calvary Voices of Redemption Choir, Fannie C. Williams Charter Choir, KIDsmART Showcase feat. Arise Academy, Martin Behrman Charter School, Langston Hughes Academy, and McDonogh City Park Academy...<br /><br />SATURDAY, MAY 5<br /><br />Eagles, My Morning Jacket, Ne-Yo, Irma Thomas, Herbie Hancock, Paulina Rubio, Allen Toussaint, The Levon Helm Band with special guest Mavis Staples, Better Than Ezra, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Steve Earle and the Dukes (and Duchesses), Aaron Neville's Gospel Experience, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Jon Cleary, Bombino of Niger, Anders Osborne, John Boutté, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Jeremy Davenport, John Mooney & Bluesiana, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Malone Brothers, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, New Birth Brass Band, Mariachi Jalisco, Leroy Jones & New Orleans' Finest, Red Stick Ramblers, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Mac Arnold & Plate Full o' Blues, Young Tuxedo Jazz Band, The Johnson Extension, Guitar Masters feat. Jimmy Robinson, John Rankin, Phil DeGruy, and Cranston Clements, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Rumba Buena, Mas Mamones, Roland Guerin, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Pinstripe Brass Band, Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians, Sam Doores & the Tumbleweeds, Patrice Fisher & Arpa & the Garifuna Connection, Jeffery Broussard & Creole Cowboys, Guitar Slim, Jr., Cha Wa, Tarriona "Tank" Ball & the BlackStar Bangas, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Belton Richard & the Musical Aces, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Tommy Sancton's New Orleans Legacy Band, Stephen Foster's Foster Family Program, Big Chief Trouble & Trouble Nation and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Grupo Sensacion, Baby Boyz Brass Band, Riccardo Crespo & Sol Brasil, Kora Konnection feat. Morikeba Kouyate of Senegal & Thierno Dioubate of Guinea, Westbank Steppers, Valley of Silent Men, and Pigeon Town Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Curtis Pierre with Samba Kids, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Voices of Peter Claver, Cynthia Girtley, Wild Red Flame and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Native Nations Intertribal, Matthew Davidson Band, Versailles Lion Dance Team, Kinfolk Brass Band, Young Guardians of the Flame, Double Dutch Jumpers, New Generation, Undefeated Divas, and Lady Jetsetters Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, First Emanuel Baptist Church Mass Choir...<br /><br />SUNDAY, MAY 6<br /><br />Foo Fighters, The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, Galactic, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Preservation Hall 50th Anniversary Jam, David Sanborn and Joey DeFrancesco, funky Meters, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Asleep at the Wheel, Rebirth Brass Band, The Bounce Shake Down feat. Big Freedia, Katey Red, Keedy Black, and DJ Poppa, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, Los Hombres Calientes feat. Bill Summers and Irvin Mayfield, Charmaine Neville Band, Glen David Andrews, Supagroup, Boutté Family Sunday Praise feat. John, Lillian, Tricia, Lorna, Tanya, and Arséne, Ruby Wilson's Tribute to Bessie Smith & Ma Rainey, DJ Captain Charles, The Joe Krown Trio with Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., Zion Harmonizers, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Creole String Beans, Bobby Lounge, Living Tribute to Harold Batiste feat. Jesse McBride, Ellis Marsalis, and Germaine Bazzle, ELS, TBC Brass Band, Higher Heights, Rocks of Harmony, Jo "Cool" Davis with special guest Sugarboy Crawford, George French & the New Orleans Storyville Jazz Band, Blodie's Jazz Jam, Gregg Stafford's Jazz Hounds, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Rotary Downs, Jambalaya Cajun Band, The Stars of Heaven, Andrew Duhon, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Wendell Brunious & the Music Masters, Pfister Sisters, Lynn Drury, Tanya & Dorise, AsheSon, Kim Che'ré, Caesar Elloie, Brother Dege, Gregory Agid, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Orange Kellin & the New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra, Jockimo's Groove feat. War Chief Juan, Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, High Steppers Brass Band, Lady Rollers, Original C.T.C. Steppers, and Nine Times Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Native Nations Intertribal, David & Roselyn, UNO Jazz Allstars, N'Kafu Traditional African Dance Company, New Orleans Young Traditional Brass Band with the Heel to Toe Steppers, Wild Tchoupitoulas and Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians, Ninevah Baptist Church Mass Choir, 14 and Under Cajun Band, NORD/Crescent City Lights Youth Theater, Buffalo Hunters and Apache Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Hobgoblin Hill Puppets, Original Prince of Wales and Original Lady Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs...John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-51318477648269381732012-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:002012-01-03T08:55:10.795-08:00Six Degrees of Coco RobicheauxHere's the text of my story about Coco Robicheaux in the current OffBeat<br /><br /><em>Check out Andy J. Forest's video of the song he wrote for Kenny Holladay and Coco<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12yRweV6Ko</em><br /><br />Debbie Davis stood just inside the doorway of Three Muses, singing “When I’m 64.” It was Friday night on Frenchmen Street, the day after Thanksgiving, and she held the festive crowd’s attention. “I saw the ambulance go by but I didn’t think anything of it,” she says. “Someone came into the club and told me Coco Robicheaux had just been taken in an ambulance from the Apple Barrel. His heart had stopped, and they couldn’t revive him.”<br /><br />Davis told her audience what had happened. A pall came over the room, a sense of sudden, irreversible loss that overwhelmed the normally carefree Frenchmen Street revelers.<br /><br />Davis said she was surprised at how much the news upset her. “I wasn’t really close, but I got to know him after the flood,” she says. “Those of us who got back first got the gigs, and he was there right away.”<br /><br />The final chapter in the legend of Coco Robicheaux is the impact his loss has had on the closely-knit downtown community. His garrulous spirit led him to converse with anyone he came into contact with. As a result he leaves a much deeper mark on New Orleans than the music he left behind might suggest.<br /><br />“He was a social conduit,” says Davis. “Everyone you met knew Coco as well so you always had a starting point for a conversation. He was the Kevin Bacon of Frenchmen Street—Six Degrees of Coco Robicheaux.”<br /><br /> <br /><br />It seemed like almost every time I walked down Frenchmen Street, I saw Coco Robicheaux. He liked to sit on the bench in front of the Apple Barrel, smoking a cigar and talking to passersby, or inside the bar drinking tequila. He would converse with great detail on any subject that might come up, or start in on one of his own shaggy-dog-story life experiences. He presided over a number of eccentric and unique marriage ceremonies, and even performed some hands-on faith healing exercises that his patients swore by.<br /><br /><br />Photo by Do Verdier.<br />I guess I must have seen him play at 15 different bars around the Marigny-Bywater area. Like so many New Orleans musicians of legend, he spent a lot more of his creative energy on live performance than studio work. He wanted to see the looks on the faces of the audiences. The last time I spoke to him at length, he talked about how much he enjoyed playing for prison inmates and how he wrote a song called “Sittin’ On Death Row”. Though he worked the clubs, he was the apotheosis of the New Orleans street musician—a man with a guitar and a tale to tell. Like all good storytellers, he was not afraid of adding embellishments, exaggerations or alternative interpretations of the events he described, a habit that led some to question his veracity. But even those who were skeptical of Coco’s rambles through history liked him. His friendliness and loving, giving spirit was irresistible.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Such skepticism has led some to question details of his biography, but like any American legend, the spirit he leaves behind is more important than the details. American legends are frontier characters, explorers on an uncertain journey of discovery, and Coco had that restless mystery about him.<br /><br />Born Curtis Arceneaux into a Cajun/Choctaw Indian family, he gave out a number of different accounts of his biography over the years, introducing a lot of different elements without truly contradicting himself. He moved around so much, in fact, he might well have been excused for offering some confusing scenarios. Though his family was from Ascension Parish, he says he was born outside of Merced, California while his parents were vacationing. He told of a childhood working in the cane fields with migrant workers from Haiti who taught him to make reed flutes. He spent time in France traveling with his father, who was in the Air Force. He assisted his great grandmother, a hoodoo woman, in her ceremonies, an influence that runs through his music. Cousins Van and Grace Broussard were in the music business, and Curtis followed suit, playing trombone and singing in soul bands. He was playing guitar on Bourbon Street in the early ‘60s and tells of recording an album’s worth of material at Cosimo Matassa’s studio that mysteriously disappeared. After wandering out west as a migrant worker, he landed in San Francisco in time for the Summer of Love, but by ’69 he left the West Coast under something of a cloud, claiming someone had committed “terrible crimes” using his name.<br /><br />From that point on he identified himself as Coco Robicheaux, a childhood nickname taken from a Louisiana folk tale about naughty children. If you did something bad, a kid’s parents likened you to the wicked Coco Robicheaux, who fell victim to the wolf monster Loup Garou. His name is a legend of its own, then, the identity of everybody’s bad self. It’s unlikely that Dr. John was referencing Curtis Arceneaux when he called out “Coco Robicheaux” during “Walk On Gilded Splinters”, but it’s possible they could have crossed paths before Mac went into involuntary exile from New Orleans himself in the mid-1960s. Calling yourself “Coco Robicheaux” is hoisting a heavy load of karmic baggage any way you look at it, but by the time he returned to New Orleans once and for all in 1992 after another legendary stay in Key West, Coco had completed his transformation into a hoodoo spiritualist. The 1994 classic Spiritland featured dense swamp rundowns like the title track, “Walking With the Spirit” and “St. John’s Eve,” which incorporated field recordings from Do Verdier Bogue Falaye. Frenchmen Street denizens populated the album credits, which included Irene Sage, Lenny McDaniel, Allison Miner, Nancy Buchan, Smokey Greenwell, Hart McNee, Kenny Holladay, Tommy Malone, Sonny Schneidau and Coco’s perennial sidekick Michael Sklar.<br /><br /> <br /><br />A follow-up album, Louisiana Medicine Man, plowed much of the same musical turf with some of the same musicians. The title track got considerable airplay and appeared on the benefit album for the Musicians Clinic, Get You A Healin’. Louisiana Medicine Man got the award for Best Blues Album at the 1998 Best of the Beat Awards. Hoodoo Party (2002) further codified Coco’s swamp mystic identity with tracks such as “Burn My Bones,” “Li’l Black Hen,” “Thrift Store Suit” and the title track. In the last few years, Coco put out several albums with overlapping material. Yeah, U Rite! attempts to expand his style, most successfully with the witty “Ten Commandments of the Blues.” For some reason he decided to remix most of the tracks for another version of the same record, Like I Said, Yeah, U Rite, which dropped a couple of tracks and included what would become the title tune of his final album, the covers-heavy Revelator.<br /><br /> <br /><br />For those who didn’t know him, Coco will probably be best remembered for sacrificing a chicken while on air at WWOZ on the HBO series Treme, and for his astonishingly well-attended second line on December 12. What began as a small crowd assembled in front of the Apple Barrel swelled to a throng of thousands parading down Royal Street through the French Quarter, following a brass band led by James Andrews and Uncle Lionel Batiste. The crowd sang and chanted as they marched, shouting, “Coco. Coco. Coco.”<br /><br />If you didn’t know Robicheaux, well, there’s no amount of storytelling that can make up the difference. Like New Orleans itself, if you haven’t been there, you’ll never really know what people are talking about.<br /><br />Coco’s second line was sandwiched in between two musical tributes to Frenchmen Street heroes which featured many of the same musicians. On Sunday night there was a benefit for Kenny Holladay’s family at Check Point Charlie. Monday after the second line revelers gathered at House of Blues for a free concert. Before he played, John Mooney said, “He got both feet in Spiritland now!” Lynn Drury went to the House of Blues just to be there, “out of love for him,” she says. “He was beautiful. He touched a lot of people. When I was coming up he was always a fixture, hanging out in the street, talking in front of the Apple Barrel. He connected everybody. He had time for everybody. I wasn’t invited to play, but when I showed up backstage, they said ‘You’re on next!’ It was a beautiful surprise. I hope we don’t have to wait until someone else dies to feel that spirit again. I learned something from that. I’m going to try to live up to that from now on. I felt I was in touch with something bigger than all of us.”<br /><br />Anders Osborne was at both tributes, playing with Billy Iuso and with Andy J. Forest, who’d written a new song for Kenny Holladay and Coco:<br /><br />Sometimes I imagine them both walking down the street<br />Nowhere left to go, no one left to meet<br />Blues in other rooms filter down from other dreams<br />Their spirits are on every corner down here in New Orleans<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12yRweV6KoJohn Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-59401479073813276442011-12-28T14:17:00.000-08:002011-12-28T14:18:27.794-08:00New Atlantis Recommended by NPRStaff Picks: The Best Music Books Of 2011<br />by NPR Staff<br /> <br />Best Music Of 2011<br />December 28, 2011 <br />How does the saying go? "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Overquoted, tossed off and attributed to the likes of Elvis Costello, Steve Martin and Frank Zappa, there might be some truth to those damning words, whose author remains unknown. After all, what makes music so powerful? It's the music, of course, not necessarily words about it. <br /><br />But sometimes dancing about architecture is the best way to make sense of something that doesn't inherently make sense. Words can provide context and illuminate the unknown, and in 2011, our favorite books about music were mostly revealing biographies and wide-spanning analyses. Chosen by the NPR Music staff (and one of NPR's music librarians), these books are interpretations of a rich history written by the people who made the music and those who it affected.<br /><br />Honorable Mentions:<br /><br />New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans by John Swenson <br />Keystone Korner: Portrait of Jazz Club by Kathy Sloane <br />Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz For Justice by Tad Hershorn <br />I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs 1880-1955 by Steve RodenJohn Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-53885571213904061852011-12-22T06:16:00.001-08:002011-12-22T06:20:42.420-08:00Glen David Andrews drops a dime on crimeThis extraordinary story is not an exaggeration. New Orleans criminals routinely assassinate witnesses to crimes. The city's musicians have corageously stood up to these criminals and spoken out repeatedly against them. I wrote about this in my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. Glen David Andrews is one of the central characters in the book. Here's the story from today's New Orleans Times-Picayune:<br /><br />New Orleans musician saved from robbers by barking dog<br />Published: Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 9:31 PM <br /> By Naomi Martin The Times-Picayune <br /><br /> Had it not been for the presence of his cousin's pit bull, local musician Glen David Andrews would have been one of the victims robbed at gunpoint outside a Capital One, one of three such armed robberies Monday morning, outside banks in Mid-City, Broadmoor and Gentilly. <br /><br /><br />View full sizeTimes-Picayune archiveLocal musician Glen David Andrews called 911 when he realized a robbery was in progress. 'I saw them rob hard-working people of everything but they won't get away with this...STAND UP PEOPLE,' he wrote later on his Facebook page. <br />It was 8:45 a.m. Monday when Andrews, his cousin and Blue, a large and rambunctious pit bull, piled into an SUV to go to the Capital One at Canal Street and South Carrollton Avenue.<br /><br />Andrews, a trombone player, said he was planning to deposit $3,500 from the weekend's work to divide among his six band members. <br /><br />Around 8:50 a.m., they pulled up to the bank's entrance on the corner where about six people, some with deposit slips in their hands, were waiting for the bank to open. Andrews said two people in the group were young men -- maybe 20 or 21 -- wearing black hooded sweatshirts, standing apart from each other. <br /><br />As Andrews got out of the passenger side to join the group, Blue began to bark, loudly and incessantly. <br /><br />A man, walking up to join the bank customers, joked to Andrews: "Hey man, you can't shut your dog up?" <br /><br />Suddenly, one of the hooded men turned over his shoulder, looked Andrews in the eye and nodded toward the SUV. <br /><br />The man's voice was calm: "You better leave right now with that dog. We 'bout to rob the bank." <br /><br />Andrews turned immediately and got back in the SUV's passenger seat, telling his cousin, whose name is also Glen Andrews and is a musician as well, what he just heard. His cousin drove away, calmly. <br /><br />"Man, I've lived in the hood all my life. When he told me that, I looked at his outfit and I look at the other guy's outfit, I looked at his gestures and by the grace of God I was able to internalize all that in a second to get out of there," Andrews said Wednesday.<br /><br />While driving away from the bank, Andrews and his cousin saw the hooded men pull bandanas over their faces and force the crowd into a huddle to rob them at gunpoint. It took only seconds. Andrews dialed 911 from his cell phone. <br /><br /><br />View full sizeNew Orleans Police DepartmentA sketch of a suspect wanted by New Orleans police for armed robbery in connection with an incident outside the Capital One branch at 4141 Canal St. on Monday.<br />A detective later told Andrews that one of the robbery victims was an Iraqi war veteran. Andrews' anger boiled as he recalled recent acts of violence in the city including the killing of a toddler in the B.W. Cooper housing complex. First a 2-year-old girl shot to death, then this? he said. <br /><br />The bank robberies on Monday occurred in the span of about an hour. New Orleans police believe all three incidents are related, said 3rd District Commander Henry Dean, whose territory includes Mid-City and Gentilly. On Wednesday police released a composite sketch of one of the suspects.<br /><br />Tuesday night, Andrews vented his frustrations on his Facebook page. <br /><br />"I saw them rob hard-working people of everything but they won't get away with this...STAND UP PEOPLE," he wrote. <br /><br />As a well-known musician, Andrews wanted to reach a broad audience with his message that speaking up about crime can help authorities quell it. <br /><br />But, he acknowledged, he now fears being targeted in retaliation for speaking up about what happened. <br /><br />"There's a good chance I might get killed now walking down the street," Andrews said. Many of his family members warned him against speaking publicly about the incident. <br /><br />"The right thing to do,'' he said, "might cost me my life."John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-9687895153456595202011-12-03T15:20:00.000-08:002011-12-19T11:05:58.185-08:00Nicholas Peyton on the death of JazzThis isn't the first time anyone has ever come up with this idea but Peyton does a good job of expressing it. I would take one issue with his many premises, however. Louis Armstrong did not bow and scrape so Miles Davis could turn his back. That's buying into the very mythology Peyton is attacking. Louis Armstrong created American popular music as we know it in all its aspects. If he loved his audience that was show biz just as much as what Lady Gaga does today. Armstrong was in fact a powerful force in the Civil Rights movement who used that power brilliantly and judiciously. Davis, by comparison, sold out, not that I think anything less of him because the music speaks for itself and he was truly great in his own right. I say BY COMPARISON. Armstrong did far more for African Americans than Miles Davis did, not that it's a contest or anything, it just pisses me off to see Armstrong still used as a straw man to illustrate how cool Miles was. You didn't hear that shit from Miles, although he did say a bunch of things to confound people who thought they knew who he was. By the end of his life, when he finally started explaining himself, Miles claimed he wasn't turning his back on his audience anyway. He said he was facing his band members. I will proudly continue to listen to Armstrong, Miles Davis and Nicholas Peyton and I don't care what they call it, it's all cool to me. <br /><br />On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore . . . .<br />Posted on November 27, 2011 by Nicholas Peyton<br /> <br /><br />Jazz died in 1959. <br /><br /> <br /><br />There maybe cool individuals who say they play Jazz, but ain’t shit cool about Jazz as a whole. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Jazz died when cool stopped being hip. <br /><br />Jazz was a limited idea to begin with. <br /><br />Jazz is a label that was forced upon the musicians. <br /><br />The musicians should’ve never accepted that idea. <br /><br />Jazz ain’t shit. <br /><br />Jazz is incestuous. <br /><br />Jazz separated itself from American popular music. <br /><br />Big mistake. <br /><br />The music never recovered. <br /><br />Ornette tried to save Jazz from itself by taking the music back to its New Orleanian roots, but his efforts were too esoteric. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Jazz died in 1959, that’s why Ornette tried to “Free Jazz” in 1960. <br /><br />Jazz is only cool if you don’t actually play it for a living. <br /><br />Jazz musicians have accepted the idea that it’s OK to be poor. <br /><br />John Coltrane is a bad cat, but Jazz stopped being cool in 1959. <br /><br />The very fact that so many people are holding on to this idea of what Jazz is supposed to be is exactly what makes it not cool. <br /><br /> <br /><br />People are holding on to an idea that died long ago. <br /><br />Jazz, like the Buddha, is dead. <br /><br />Let it go, people, let it go. <br /><br />Paul Whiteman was the King of Jazz and someday all kings must fall. <br /><br />Jazz ain’t cool, it’s cold, like necrophilia. <br /><br />Stop fucking the dead and embrace the living. <br /><br />Jazz worries way too much about itself for it to be cool. <br /><br />Jazz died in 1959. <br /><br /> <br /><br />The number one Jazz record is Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue. <br /><br />Dave Brubeck’s Time Out was released in 1959. <br /><br />1959 was the coolest year in Jazz. <br /><br />Jazz is haunted by its own hungry ghosts. <br /><br />Let it die. <br /><br /> <br /><br />You can be martyrs for an idea that died over a half a century if y’all want. <br /><br />Jazz has proven itself to be limited, and therefore, not cool. <br /><br />Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt from looking back. <br /><br />Jazz is dead. <br /><br />Miles ahead. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Some may say that I’m no longer the same dude who recorded the album with Doc Cheatham. <br /><br />Correct: I’m not the same dude I was 14 years ago. <br /><br />Isn’t that the point? <br /><br />Our whole purpose on this planet is to evolve. <br /><br />The Golden Age of Jazz is gone. <br /><br />Let it go. <br /><br />Too many necrophiliacs in Jazz. <br /><br />You’re making my case for me. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Some people may say we are defined by our limitations. <br /><br />I don’t believe in limitations, but yes, if you believe you are limited that will define you. <br /><br />Definitions are retrospective. <br /><br />And if you find yourself getting mad, it’s probably because you know Jazz is dead. <br /><br />Why get upset if what I’m saying doesn’t ring true? <br /><br />I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t play Jazz. <br /><br />I play Postmodern New Orleans music. <br /><br />Louis Armstrong and Danny Barker play Traditional New Orleans Music. <br /><br />Ellis Marsalis and James Black play Modern New Orleans music. <br /><br />Kidd Jordan and Clyde Kerr play Avant-garde New Orleans music. <br /><br />Donald Harrison plays Neoclassical New Orleans music. <br /><br /> <br /><br />I play Postmodern New Orleans music. <br /><br />I am a part of a lineage. <br /><br />I am a part of a blood line. <br /><br />My ancestors didn’t play Jazz, they played Traditional, Modern and Avant-garde New Orleans Music. <br /><br /> <br /><br />I don’t play Jazz. <br /><br />I don’t let others define who I am. <br /><br />I am a Postmodern New Orleans musician. <br /><br />I create music for the heart and the head, for the beauty and the booty. <br /><br />The man who lets others define him is a dead man. <br /><br />With all due respect to the masters, they were victims of a colonialist mentality. <br /><br />Blacks have been conditioned for centuries to be grateful for whatever crumbs thrown to them. <br /><br /> <br /><br />As a postmodern musician, it’s my duty to do better than my predecessors. <br /><br />To question, reexamine and redefine what it is that we do. <br /><br />They accepted it because they had to. <br /><br />Because my ancestors opened the door for me, I don’t have to accept it. <br /><br />Louis bowed and scraped so Miles could turn his back. <br /><br />It’s called evolution. <br /><br /> <br /><br />It’s the colonialist mentality that glorifies being treated like a slave. <br /><br />There is nothing romantic about poor, scuffling Jazz musicians. <br /><br />Fuck that idea. <br /><br />It’s not cool. <br /><br />Jazz is a lie. <br /><br />America is a lie. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Playing Jazz is like running on a treadmill: you may break a sweat, but ultimately you ain’t going nowhere. <br /><br />Some people may say we are limited. <br /><br />I say, we are as limited as we think. <br /><br />I am not limited. <br /><br />Jazz is a marketing ploy that serves an elite few. <br /><br />The elite make all the money while they tell the true artists it’s cool to be broke. <br /><br />Occupy Jazz! <br /><br /> <br /><br />I am not speaking of so-called Jazz’s improvisational aspects. <br /><br />Improvisation by its very nature can never be passé, but mindsets are invariably deadly. <br /><br />Not knowing is the most you can ever know. <br /><br />It’s only when you don’t know that “everything” is possible. <br /><br />Jazz has nothing to do with music or being cool. <br /><br />It’s a marketing idea. <br /><br /> <br /><br />A glaring example of what’s wrong with Jazz is how people fight over it. <br /><br />People are too afraid to let go of a name that is killing the spirit of the music. <br /><br />Life is bigger than music, unless you love and/or play Jazz. <br /><br />The art, or lack thereof, is just a reflection. <br /><br />Miles Davis personified cool and he hated Jazz. <br /><br />What is Jazz anyway? <br /><br />Life isn’t linear, it’s concentric. <br /><br /> <br /><br />When you’re truly creating you don’t have time to think about what to call it. <br /><br />Who thinks of what they’ll name the baby while they’re fucking? <br /><br />Playing Jazz is like using the rear-view mirror to drive your car on the freeway. <br /><br />If you think Jazz is a style of music, you’ll never begin to understand. <br /><br />It’s ultimately on the musicians. <br /><br />People are fickle and follow the pack. <br /><br />Not enough artists willing to soldier for their shit. <br /><br />People follow trends and brands. <br /><br />So do musicians, sadly. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Jazz is a brand. <br /><br />Jazz ain’t music, it’s marketing, and bad marketing at that. <br /><br />It has never been, nor will it ever be, music. <br /><br />Here lies Jazz (1916 – 1959). <br /><br />Too many musicians and not enough artists. <br /><br />I believe music to be more of a medium than a brand. <br /><br />Silence is music, too. <br /><br /> <br /><br />You can’t practice art. <br /><br />In order for it to be true, one must live it. <br /><br />Existence is not contingent upon thought. <br /><br />It’s where you choose to put silence that makes sound music. <br /><br />Sound and silence equals music. <br /><br />Sometimes when I’m soloing, I don’t play shit. <br /><br />I just move blocks of silence around. <br /><br />The notes are an afterthought. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Silence is what makes music sexy. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Silence is cool. <br /><br />- Nicholas PaytonJohn Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-76216989886901909242011-11-25T18:19:00.000-08:002011-11-26T10:31:19.513-08:00Coco Robicheaux passes awayCoco Robicheaux the "mayor of Frenchmen Street" died Friday night after suffering a heart attack at the Apple Barrel bar. He epitomized the spirit of Frenchmen Street.<br /><br />Here's Keith Spera's report in the Times-Picayune:<br /><br />Hoodoo bluesman Coco Robicheaux apparently suffered a medical emergency while at the Apple Barrel bar on Frenchmen Street early Friday evening. He was taken away by ambulance.<br /><br />Robicheaux was not performing at the time; he frequents the Apple Barrel on his off-nights.<br /><br />Known for an especially gravelly voice, a swamp-blues guitar style and a fascination with subjects of a spiritual and/or mystical nature, the 64-year-old Robicheaux, an Ascension Parish native, has released several albums over the past two decades. He is a mainstay of the Frenchmen Street entertainment district, a familiar figure both on- and off-stage. He is also a regular on the schedule of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. <br /><br />Robicheaux made a memorable appearance during the opening scene of the second episode of the first-season of the HBO series “Treme.” In a fictionalized incident, he sacrifices a rooster in the studio of community radio station WWOZ-FM.<br /><br />He is also a visual artist, sculptor and painter. He created the bronze bust of Professor Longhair that stands near the entrance of Tipitina's.<br /><br />According to a bartender at the Apple Barrel, Robicheaux was rushed to Tulane Medical Center after collapsing Friday evening. His condition is unknown.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-46605302557104153952011-11-25T08:18:00.000-08:002011-11-25T08:26:22.512-08:00New Atlantis reviewed in Jazz TimesThe outstanding jazz writer Bill Milkowski wrote a wonderful review of my book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans and Keith Spera's book in the new Jazz Times. Just for the record, though much of the book is based on material originally researched for OffBeat pieces it is a complete rewrite of that information with a lot of new material.<br /><br />Here's a link, followed by the text of the review.<br /><br /> http://jazztimes.com/articles/28987-groove-interrupted-loss-renewal-and-the-music-of-new-orleans-keith-spera<br /><br />11/23/11 <br />Keith Spera<br />Groove Interrupted: Loss, Renewal And The Music Of New Orleans<br />John Swenson<br />New Atlantis: Musicians Battle For The Survival Of New Orleans<br />Bill Milkowski reviews two new books about music in post-Katrina New Orleans<br />By Bill Milkowski <br /><br />Those who have spent any significant amount of time in New Orleans can attest to the fact that the real musical treasures are found off the beaten path. Keith Spera and John Swenson are both savvy writers who have infiltrated the inner circle of the Crescent City’s musical culture. Each has assembled a collection of intriguing essays that reveal secrets that exist well beyond Bourbon Street. <br /><br />New Orleans native Spera, a longstanding music writer for The Times-Picayune who was also part of the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina coverage team, focuses on tales of musicians confronting the challenges of trying to continue to make music in a post-Katrina environment. He covers those displaced New Orleanians forced to seek refuge in Houston, Austin, Nashville and other points around the country in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (known around New Orleans as “the Federal flood”). His profile of the cantankerous, Slidell-based blues guitarist-singer-fiddler Gatemouth Brown, who succumbed to lung cancer shortly after Katrina hit, is particularly moving, as is his eloquent recounting of Aaron Neville’s escape from his beloved hometown in the face of Katrina, his subsequent mourning over the loss of his wife to lung cancer in 2006 and triumphant return to New Orleans in 2008. <br /><br />A hilarious chapter titled “Fats Domino’s Excellent Adventure” reveals the eccentricities of a bona fide hometown hero on his first trip to New York in decades to perform at a post-Katrina benefit concert. A chapter on trumpeter Terence Blanchard recounts the realization of his magnum opus, A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Other post-Katrina profiles on two New Orleans legends (clarinetist Pete Fountain and legendary songwriter-pianist Allen Toussaint), New Orleans Jazz & Heritage producer/director Quint Davis and the reclusive former Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton (who rode out Katrina in his Treme home) are all rendered with uncanny empathy and an eye for N’awlins detail that only a local could summon up.<br /><br />While Swenson is a native New Yorker, he has for the past 20 years split his time between residences in Brooklyn and the Bywater. A former editor at Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy and currently a contributing editor to New Orleans’ Offbeat magazine, he has chronicled the lives and music of Crescent City legends as well as up-and-coming young talents. New Atlantis compiles some of his best post-Katrina essays that appeared in Offbeat. <br /><br />Like Spera, he has a deep reverence for the New Orleans music tradition as well as an insider’s understanding of the local music scene. His pieces cover an astonishingly eclectic range, from insightful treatises on the brass band tradition, the legacy of Louis Armstrong and the mysterious culture of the Mardi Gras Indians to illuminating profiles on Voice of the Wetlands activist and blues guitarist Tab Benoit, New Orleans legend Mac (Dr. John) Rebennack, 400-pound bluesman Big Al Carson (a mainstay at the Funky Pirate on Bourbon Street), trad jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White, ragtime piano specialist and James Booker interpreter Tom McDermott, and renegade-genius record producer Mark Bingham. <br /><br />Swenson also writes with passion and clarity about the passing of legendary guitarist Snooks Eaglin, about his own return to the Crescent City after evacuating prior to Katrina, and about the return of the spirit of laissez le bon ton roulet with the first post-Katrina Mardi Gras in 2006. He ends the collection with a thoughtful piece that neatly segues from how the Saints’ Super Bowl victory in 2010 uplifted New Orleanians to how the enormity of the BP oil spill in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy just six weeks later provided yet another challenge to the long-suffering but resilient residents of that troubled metropolis. He gives the final word on this troubling matter to his New Orleans mentor, Dr. John: “This is my home. This is my roots. This is sacred land, and when y’all start playing around with some sacred land, somethin’ bad gonna happen.”John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-51282686613670126902011-11-20T10:45:00.000-08:002011-11-29T10:41:24.659-08:00Notes from New Atlantis Book tour 2011The 2011 book tour in support of <em>New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans</em>, is over for now. Something may come up over the next month but the major events wrapped up with our participation in the National Press Club's Book Fair in Washington D.C. last week. It was a really good way to finish up because the Book Fair really offers hope to those of us us who are still interested in communicating via real paragraphs made up of real sentences containing real words that strive to actually tell a story rather than provide simple social imperatives or instant narcissistic gratification. Of course Twitter, Facebook and Text world (TFT) are incredibly powerful political tools in the right hands, but they can be just as powerful in the wrong hands, especially if content is reduced to simple dog-like commands. I don't wish for their demise, just for a balancing of technological advance with content, and the concentration necessary to keep a reader's attention in place long enough to follow a narrative.<br /><br />It was great to see some 90 authors signing books for hundreds of readers at the Book Fair. Even better was the chance to interact personally with so many of those readers and potential readers, telling them the story of all the heroic musicians from New Orleans who returned to their stricken city and, against all odds, not only restored their culture but helped with the rebuilding process and created a viable economic engine to drive the city's recovery. It's an ongoing story which I hope to be able to continue to tell. Strangely, some of the biggest resistance I've met along the way is from the editorial hierarchy in New Orleans itself, which seems to be less interested in drawing attention to the small victories of local musicians than basking in the star power of visiting celebrity dignitaries.<br /><br />I learned a lot in the course of promoting the book. Though it came out in June, we had pre-release copies available at Jazz Fest and the response from that audience was almost astonishing. The New Orleans story resonates profoundly outside of the city. The kind of identification fans of this music have with the hardy souls who continue to play it taps an emotional well that is almost nonexistent elsewhere in millennial America. I was more than a little surprised when people bought the book the first weekend then returned to the signing during the second weekend with tears in their eyes. <br /><br />The actual release was less stirring but Jesse Paige at the Blue Nile was extremely generous in allowing us to use the upstairs room for our release party and we had a terrific time. Wings from McHardy's, red beans from Captain Sal's and 100 pounds of crawfish prepared by chef Eddie with the assistance of Mr. Massachusetts Mac and Mr. Bronx Brendan provided ample eats for our own party and for a weekend of musicians and staff at the BN. I chose the weekend of the final Radiators shows for the event which was probably a miscalculation because of the disconnect between Frenchmen Street and Uptown. Rads fans, it turned out, had their own crawfish boil, although a few of them did show up at both events (many thanks). The New York book release party was more successful. Many, many friends and colleagues showed up for a Brooklyn barbecue that preceded a terrific free performance from Dr. John at Prospect Park. The great Ned Sublette was on hand to help us celebrate. <br /><br />Even better was the help we got in Brooklyn from Gerry and Joanna from the Observatory at Proteus Gowanus. They allowed me to present a series of readings/lectures/performances showcasing themes from the book and featuring a great night with Blake Leyh, musical supervisor for the HBO series Treme. This program, New Atlantis 2020, allowed us to highlight some of the most important messages contained in the book and project the narrative forward. As I say this is an ongoing story and we will revive the New Atlantis 2020 series in our 2012 campaign.<br /><br />By far the most gratifying episodes of the book tour were our collaborations with the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars. Tab Benoit, Rueben Williams and Cyril Neville in particular really come through in the book with an important message about how the ongoing eco-catastophe occuring along the Gulf Coast is threatening not just southern Louisiana and New Orleans but the whole country. Readings before VOW performances in Fairfield, Connecticut and New York City provided a great platform for the book's message. But the greatest moments were at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival in Houma. You don't have to look far from the site of the festival to see the Gulf waters encroaching on the land. This kind of disaster politicizes everyone involved and it was incredibly heartening to see people of all political affiliations, and the many families at the festival all uniting against the despoilers who would ruin their homes for short term profit.<br /><br />Against the backdrop of Occupy Wall Street and the growing paradigm shift away from blaming American workers for the country's economic problems and focusing attention on the wealth disparity between the greedy profiteers who would sacrifice Houma, New Orleans and whatever else stands in their way and the 99 per cent it feels like <em>New Atlantis </em>is part of a broad movement to take America back from the oligarchs. We plan to continue to focus on these ideas in 2012.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-38304034385313285242011-11-13T10:26:00.000-08:002011-11-13T10:32:49.566-08:00New Atlantis signing Tuesday at National Press Club Book FairI will be wrapping up my 2011 book tour in support of <em>New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans</em> this Tuesday with an appearance at the National Press Club Book Fair & Authors’ Night in Washington D.C. This time promoting the book has been one of the most gratifying episodes in my career. I will post my impressions of the experience later this week and offer a preview of what's in store for 2012.<br /><br />Lauded as a philanthropic event, the Book Fair is a fundraiser for the National Press Club’s Journalism Institute, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to providing research and training to journalists in a rapidly changing industry, and scholarships to minority journalism students.<br /><br />On the literary front, the Book Fair is a unique forum for authors to gain national exposure and personal contact with book buyers, fans, pundits, and journalists. One of the capital’s premier literary events, the annual fair draws more than 90 of the nation’s top authors to the historic Press Club, and attracts substantial media coverage. Authors who have participated in the past include: Rep. Barbara Lee, Eugene Robinson, Annie Proulx, Justice Antonin Scalia, Larry King, Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill, David Pogue, Richard Wolffe, Kinky Friedman, Pamela Newkirk, C. David Heymann, Jeff Sharlet, Tom Ridge, Leslie Sanchez, James Reston, Jr., and Deborah Tannen. <br /><br /> <br /><br />We are excited to announce that our Book Fair committee will be working once again with The SEED Foundation, which helps prepare underserved students for college success at high-performing public boarding schools in the District and Maryland. The Book Fair is helping to develop the school library at the Foundation’s new Maryland Campus. <br /><br /> <br /><br />The event is scheduled to begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and will end at 8:30 p.m. There will be a private reception for National Press Club board members and authors and their guests from 4:15 - 5:15 p.m.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-36545017550091608052011-10-18T18:43:00.001-07:002011-10-18T18:52:25.505-07:00Kidd Jordan and Hamid Drake to record at Piety StreetTerrific news about two of our greatest improvisors, drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist Kidd Jordan, as they plan to record at Piety Street in New Orleans. Drake is also in town to perform Nov. 19 at the art installation at 1027 Piety Street, "The Music Box," put together by local artists under the auspices of New Orleans Airlift. Here's a release about the recording I received from a great supporter of improvisors and innovators in the music world, Benjamin Lyons:<br /><br /> NEW ORLEANS, LA (October 18, 2011) – Valid Records announces today it will record an historic duet concert by saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan and drummer Hamid Drake at Piety Street Recording Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 8 pm. Jordan, one of the least recorded jazz musicians of his global stature, has not made a studio recording in New Orleans since the mid 1980’s. This recording will reunite him with his frequent collaborator Hamid Drake for their first recording since 2005’s award-winning trio recording PALM OF SOUL (Aum Fidelity.)<br /><br />Edward “Kidd” Jordan's multi-faceted legacy is among of the most influential and enduring in the history of improvised music. An integral part of the seminal musical tapestry of New Orleans, he is the patriarch of one of the city's most respected musical families and his parallel careers as a performer and educator span the past six decades. Now 76, he has worked most of his life outside the mainstream spotlight, tirelessly sustaining the jazz continuum through both his teaching and his cutting edge performances all around the globe with like-minded improvisers.<br />Hamid Drake is widely regarded as the leading drummer in improvised music. His musical education began in Chicago under the tutelage of saxophonist Fred Anderson and extended well beyond the world of jazz through associations with the Mandingo Griot Society, Alan Rudolph, Don Cherry, and many of the major figures in reggae. Drake brings North and West African, Caribbean, and funk impulses to the creation of freely improvised music with a wide range of world jazz figures such as David Murray, Peter Brötzmann, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, William Parker, and Ken Vandermark. He has been recorded on close to 200 cds and is in constant worldwide demand as a concert performer.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-60583571274607597122011-10-13T08:36:00.001-07:002011-10-13T08:41:15.407-07:00New Orleans-Havana connection rekindledA potentially vibrant new economic opportunity for New Orleans and the U.S. surfaced today with news that ravel restrictions between New Orleans and Havana have been cleared by the Cuban government. New Orleans and Havana have a long tradition of interaction that has had a profound impact on American culture. Reviving that link could be the beginning of a new era for the Gulf-Caribbean connection. Here is the story from today's New Orleans Times-Picayune:<br /><br /><br />Cuba clears New Orleans airport for takeoffs<br />Published: Thursday, October 13, 2011, 10:00 AM <br /> By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune <br /> <br />The Cuban government has agreed to receive direct flights from New Orleans for the first time in more than 50 years, opening the door for travel companies from anywhere in the country to apply for permits to make flight plans originating from New Orleans. <br /><br />In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection approved an application from Louis Armstrong International Airport and seven other air fields to serve as a gateway to Cuba. <br /><br />But after the door was opened on the U.S. side, efforts to gain permission from the Cuban side for flights seemed to be moving slowly. In August, two officials from the airport and two from Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration -- Aimee Quirk, adviser to the mayor for economic development, and Richard Cortizas, then executive counsel to the mayor, now acting city attorney -- traveled to Cuba to make the case for why the Caribbean island nation should receive flights from New Orleans. <br /><br />Airport officials just received a letter from Cuban officials approving New Orleans as one of a handful of U.S. cities able to offer flights.<br /><br />"The administration and airport management worked hard on creating an opportunity for private sector (companies) to provide flights from Armstrong International Airport to Cuba, " Armstrong Airport's director of aviation, Iftikhar Ahmad, said in a news release. "We hope that private sector will benefit from this opportunity." <br /><br />Quirk said the delegation emphasized during the one-day trip the Cuban population in New Orleans, the cultural ties between New Orleans and Cuba, and academic ties through the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University. They also promoted the idea that New Orleans, as a leisure travel destination, has lower airfares than other business-oriented airports vying for certification. <br /><br />Quirk said the approval for flights not only creates the opportunity for New Orleanians to travel to Cuba, but also for people elsewhere in the country to fly to Cuba through New Orleans. Armstrong International could increase its passenger counts because of the certification for a limited number of U.S. airports, and local tourism companies could make a pitch for travelers to spend a few days enjoying music in New Orleans before departing for Havana. Tour companies from elsewhere in the country could also build itineraries through New Orleans.<br /><br />"That's one of the allures here, " she said. <br /><br />The city administration has targeted efforts to rebuild international air service from New Orleans.<br /><br />Before the Cuban Revolution, New Orleans was Cuba's largest trading partner in the United States. It has long been believed that if the Cuba were to open to U.S. tourism, Louisiana would stand to benefit because cruise companies would likely plan itineraries from New Orleans to Havana and local companies would find new export markets in Cuba. <br /><br />In January, the Obama administration relaxed restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba, but it left the long-standing embargo in place. The new rules allow travel for cultural, academic or religious purposes; allow Americans to send money to ordinary citizens in Cuba; and allow for charter flights from more American cities. <br /><br />In the past, only Los Angeles, Miami and New York were allowed to offer flights to Cuba. But in March, the Obama administration said New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico, could also offer flights, bringing the total to 11 cities from which flights to Cuba could depart.<br /><br />Airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said airport and city officials made the application to try to open doors for local companies. Any U.S. company seeking to operate flights now must obtain permission from the Department of Permits and Flight Planning Institute Civil Aeronautics of Cuba. <br /><br />It's just a matter of "a service provider stepping forward and providing that service, whether it's a charter or tour operator or airline, " Wilcut said. Major airlines frequently have charter operations on the side.<br /><br />At least two local companies could be poised to jump in. <br /><br />The Metairie company Super Saver Travel Agency Inc., which does business as Cuba Travel-USA, is already on the U.S. government's list of approved Cuba service providers, and it requested that the airport pursue certification for flights. Super Saver could not be reached for comment. <br /><br />The New Orleans tour company Destination Management Inc. is also approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury as Cuba service provider. <br /><br />"It's a new and emerging market, " Wilcut said.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-16954403220401221062011-09-29T09:59:00.001-07:002011-09-29T10:00:03.938-07:00Osborne, Denson get Sticky FingersAnders Osborne, named the best guitarist in New Orleans by Offbeat magazine, will team up with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe to perform The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album in its entirety on tour this fall. The New Orleans-based Osborne, whose Alligator debut CD American Patchwork has been hailed as the best of his career, will play guitar and share the Sticky Fingers vocals. Denson is a genre-bending saxophone player and singer who first came t o prominence playing in Lenny Kravitz's band. The performances on this tour -- a song by song interpretation of the classic Stones album -- promise to be a tour-de-force of masterful musicianship and mind-blowing showmanship. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The tour will begin in Los Angeles on October 13 and stretch through the beginning of November. In addition to playing with Denson's Tiny Universe, Osborne and his band will open many of the dates on the tour, performing songs from American Patchwork. The album, released in 2010, was celebrated by fans and critics alike. Paste said the CD was "mind-bogglingly great." Offbeat called it, "The living definition of great art."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Live, Osborne is a force to behold. His wildly energetic, physical live performances find him ripping notes out of his guitar, forcing out riveting steel-on-steel slide solos, pouring his entire soul into his vocals. His ability to ignite an audience is legendary. Past gigs include repeated appearances at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, stops at Bonnaroo, The High Sierra Festival, The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, The Hollowbaloo Music & Arts Festival in Honolulu, and even an appearance at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He has toured North America and Europe extensively, and has performed with moe., Galactic, The Meters, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and Little Feat, among many others.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Osborne is revered for his jaw-dropping guitar playing. His piercing slide-work and fluid finger picking (oftentimes happening simultaneously) are simply unmatched. His use of Open D tuning (a rare choice for a guitar virtuoso) gives his fretwork a signature sound and feel. His influences range from Ry Cooder and Robert Johnson to the great horn players like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Always an in-demand guitarist, Osborne has appeared on a host of recordings by Keb Mo, Tab Benoit, Mike Zito and others. Recently, Anders lent his guitar talents to Dark Water, Galactic's first single from their new Ya-Ka-May CD.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Since his recording debut in 1989, he has written virtually all of his own material and contributed memorable songs to a wide variety of artists. Two tunes co-written by Osborne appear on blues great Keb Mo's Grammy-winning 1999 release Slow Down. Country superstar Tim McGraw scored a #1 hit with Anders' song Watch The Wind Blow By. Osborne's compositions have been covered by artists as diverse as Brad Paisley, Tab Benoit, Edwin McCain, Jonny Lang and Kim Carnes. His song What's Going On Here appeared in the 1996 feature film Fled, and Osborne, along with Ivan Neville, wrote and recorded the title track for the Kate Hudson film Earthbound.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leading the Tiny Universe, Denson brings new sounds and styles to everything he touches. NPR Music called him, "a drop-dead talent who can howl with the best jazzbos and even groove with the jam-band crowd. There's a spiritual center to it all that finds some surprising links to Bob Marley." While developing a following overseas, Denson joined Fred Wesley's band, touring and recording with him on multiple releases. This led to five straight-ahead jazz albums by Denson on Minor Music. In 1993, Denson joined DJ Greyboy in creating Greyboy Records and released the legendary acid jazz staple Freestylin'. Out of that collaboration, Denson formed The Greyboy Allstars. Denson next put more emphasis on vocals and added some funk, R&B and hip hop elements. It turned out to be a winning combination, which set his new group Karl Denson's Tiny Univers e on their current path.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />TOUR DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:<br /><br />10/13 - House Of Blues - Los Angeles, CA<br /><br />10/14 - Belly Up - Solana Beach, CA<br /><br />10/19 - Humboldt Brews - Arcata, CA (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/20 - Moe's Alley - Santa Cruz, CA (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/21-22 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/23 - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/28 - Boulder Theater - Boulder, CO (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/29 - Town Park - Telluride, CO (Anders opening)<br /><br />10/31 - Fillmore Auditorium - Denver, CO (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/02 - Emerson Theatre - Bozeman, MT (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/03 - Wilma Theatre - Missoula, MT (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/04 - Neumos - Seattle, WA (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/05 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/09 - The Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA (Anders opening)<br /><br />11/12 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC (Anders opening)John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-24685775181120614082011-09-17T22:09:00.000-07:002011-09-17T22:10:23.603-07:00Beatles wouldn't play for Tea Party supporters1965 Contract Disclosed That Beatles Refused to Play in Front of Segregated Audience<br />September 15, 2011 – LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A historic 1965 Beatles contract divulged that the Beatles were staunch civil rights supporters. The Beatles requested in the contract that they would not perform in front of a segregated audience at the Cow Theater in Daly City, California. The signed contract by Beatles manager Brian Epstein will be auctioned at Nate D. Sanders’ Tuesday September 20, 2011 auction. <br /><br />In 1964, the Beatles made headlines when they initially refused to perform at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida because the concert was slated to be segregated. The Beatles performed only after city officials allowed the stadium to be integrated. <br /><br />The contract between the Beatles management company Nems Enterprises, Inc. and legendary Bay Area concert promoter Paul Catalana was signed on March 24, 1965. It called for at least 150 uniformed police officers for protection and for “$40,000 guaranteed against 65% of the gross box office receipts over $77,000.” The August 31, 1965 concert at the Cow Theater was part of the Beatles’ third major United States tour.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3574492154079767639.post-34501100664305953742011-09-17T20:56:00.000-07:002011-09-17T20:58:24.940-07:00Thank you, WardellWhen people ask me when I became interested in the music of New Orleans I always go back to my teenage years in Brooklyn when I listened to AM radio and bought the 45rpm singles that appealed to me the most as cutouts at a three for a dollar store on 42nd street in Times Square. The litany is familiar -- the Dixie Cups, Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner; an irrisistible single called "Barefootin" by Robert Parker. I had no idea and didn't find out until years later that what all my favorite records had in common is that they were recorded in New Orleans. Oddly, it was only after I had written several articles about New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue that I realized all the songs that grabbed my teenage attention so forcefully were arranged by him. Sadly I never got a chance to thank Wardell for that influence on my life. But it's a big part of the reason I was at Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic church in New Orleans last Monday for Wardell's funeral mass and second line. The crowd outside the church was not especially large but it was made up almost completely of prominent figures in the New Orleans music industry -- musicians, writers, promoters, all people who marveled at Wardell's singular genius. The gathering was somber but joyous, a collection of people whose faith in each other was something like a family. I talked with some of the people there over the past week and wrote a story about the day which will appear in the next issue of OffBeat. There's no way I can fully express what it means to share such an experience. I only know I am profoundly grateful to all the people who were there for sharing the moment togther and making me feel included in it. Wardell's greatness was occluded during his life but hopefully will be accorded its rightful place in history.John Swensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836974395625132873noreply@blogger.com0