NolaFunk Lagniappe

Home of the Groove's "A Case Of Mysterious Musical Alter-Egos"

Using only my increasingly decrepit ears (and a decent set of headphones and studio monitors) as my guide, I'll do a limb-climb and declare that Marie Boubarere is Betty Taylor, or vice versa. Listen for yourself to both versions of “I’m Going Home”; and I'll think you'll agree. So, instead of two mystery singers who recorded for Nola, we now have one, who used two names for reasons unknown. And maybe neither is her actual name.

WWOZ Street Talk: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic is 10 years old!
For the last ten years, The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic has been providing ongoing medical and mental health care to some of our city's greatest assets: our musicians. With music by Jo Cool Davis, Astral Project, The Soul Rebels, Roselyn & David, and The Rebirth Brass Band.

For more information on the clinic, go HERE.

see also: Keeping the beat -Fresh funding gives lifeblood to musicians clinic


Tribal conflict: Mardi Gras Indians attempt to preserve their integrity while remaining marketable

With their colorful, intricately patterned and feather-adorned suits, the Mardi Gras Indians have been an integral part of Jazz Fest since they paraded at the very first festival in 1970. Their images are also seen on TV ads, beer bottles and other advertising.

But as likenesses of Mardi Gras Indians infuse the commercial sphere, new questions have surfaced of who exactly owns the cultural image. Montana and others say they aren’t in it for the money, but they are concerned about how their image is used.

Notes from New Orleans: Upholding Traditions


A New Dance Craze Sweeps the Nation



Turnaround & boogie down in New Orleans

"New Orleans music clubs? They’re the best part of the city. The music, all of it live and a lot of it free, wafts across the city like liquid sunshine, day and night." "There is no bad music in New Orleans."

see also: New Orleans Reclaims its Groove


Check out Food Music Justice's post on the Panorama Jazz Band!



Scene Scan: New Orleans' Heartbeat is a Band

New Orleans, music is for living: for dancing, for grieving, celebrating, eating, parading. It's in the streets just as much as on the stage. It's a music that reflects the history of the city and it's music that is growing (and shrinking) along side it. More than any place I've experienced, music is community—it's not about the virtuosity or perfection of a player, but about their intention and spirit, of which there is no shortage.

A Conversation with Donald Harrison




In pictures: New Orleans' brass bands



Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes: The Sound and the Furry

They've toured all corners of the country and manage to get by as full-time musicians. They are the latest in a long line of New Orleans bands that defy easy categorization beyond a synthesis of styles -- rock, funk, a Latin tinge courtesy of a horn section recruited from Loyola's jazz studies department -- and sufficient chops to chew up a stage.