NolaFunk Lagniappe

Rebirth Brass Band celebrates 25 years of blowing its horns

Phil turned to his brother and flashed a precocious grin. "Ohhhh, I love getting new people!" he exclaimed.

Phil directed the couple to the front bar, telling them to say that "King Phil" had sent them. They looked at him skeptically, but smiled and disappeared toward the front.

"We call them Rebirth virgins, " Keith said. "They listen, and they're like, 'Oh my God, where has this music been my whole life?' "

The couple returned a few minutes later, drinks in hand. They laughed and said to Phil, "You really are the king!" and went into the courtyard.

Rebirth Brass Band's 25th Anniversary

An Evening with the Creole Wild West

The Creole Wild West is the oldest Mardi Gras Indian group, according to the late Allison “Tootie” Montana, a lion of the 7th Ward who led the Yellow Pocahontas gang across 50-plus years. He died of a heart attack while testifying on behalf of the Indians at a raucous city council meeting in June 2005. In 1980, he told me that his grand-uncle, a plasterer named Becate Batiste, founded the first Carnival tribe in the early 1880s, under the name Creole Wild West.

Dr John: pimp, gunman, pianist

"Once very plausibly described as "the blackest white man in the world", he has indefatigably upheld - and updated - the various sounds he heard while growing up amid that city's vibrant African-American culture."

see also: Dr. John and the Lower 911's City That Care Forgot

"He channels post-Katrina fury as capably as rappers like Juvenile have, and lays out relevant issues—local, national, and global—in ways that, say, Nancy Pelosi simply hasn't. If elected leaders lack Dr. John's political will, they also don't have his magnetic drawl or the bristling power of his Lower 911 band."

see also: The Fast-Passing Past -"So Long, It's Been Good to Know You"

Tom Morgan’s New Orleans Music Show #2
97 Quirky New Orleans Discoveries

New Orleans. Endlessly interesting. Mysterious. Offbeat. What can you say about a city that has been through so much, yet remains as vibrant and intriguing as any city in America? We New Orleanians know that we have something special in this low-lying plot of earth between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. But how many of us take the time to explore those unique little treasures that dot our landscape? How many of us take for granted those little gems that make us stop and think, give us a giggle or make us cock our heads and say, “Wow.”

Ace of the bass: The legendary pluck of Walter Payton

"He loves the sound of the bass -- warm and deep and mellow. He loves its role -- basic, vital, grounded. And he loves its shape. "Shaped just like a lady," he says, with an improbable, high-pitched giggle. "The hips, the waist. And the best thing is, she don't do nothing you don't tell her to. She don't talk back. If you press her in the right place, she says just what you want her to say. And no more."

see also: Preservation Hall celebrates time-honored traditions while embracing change

see also: Jazzfest - Preservation at Midnight

see also: Made in New Orleans



Henry Butler Audio Feature on All Things Considered

The Essential Ghoul's Record Shelf: "Fortune Teller"

Pass It On: Traditional jazz lives with Michael White

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews’ music ‘lessons’ came from some of best

I wouldn’t be who I am today, Trombone Shorty, if I didn’t come from New Orleans. It’s something about this place, the different cultures, different food. Things come together like a gumbo.”

New Orleans Musical Mentors: A NY Times Video Feature



Drummer Stanton Moore Puts Music in Parentheses

You were born and raised in New Orleans and still reside there when you’re not on the road. From your perspective as a musician, what has the impact of Hurricane Katrina been on the music community in New Orleans and how has the community responded?

Since there have been many schools that haven’t been able to get their music programs up, I’ve started with the Vidacovich family (my drum teacher/mentor and his wife) a workshop for young musicians at Tipitina’s every Sunday. All types of bands — brass bands, jazz bands, blues bands — play three or four songs and then get the kids up with them to play for about two or three hours. My Trio’s done it, and Galactic, and Down (a heavy metal band) to name a few. It’s great fun and exposes the kids to different genres and styles. In the aftermath of the storm we’re just all trying to do what we can to continue the tradition of New Orleans music, all types of New Orleans music, and do the best that we can.

Crawfish fest off with a bang

Hundreds of music fans set up ckamp at the Sussex county fairgrounds in western New Jersey Friday and gathered in the Delta Music Experience Pavilion for the festival's firt Friday night show. The Radiators closed it out with a spectacular two-hour plus set that had the band firing on all sparkplugs.