
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars this Thursday @ Hiro Ballroom
Voice of the Wetlands Allstars: Tab Benoit, Anders Osborne, Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux , Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Waylon Thibodeaux & more

VOICE OF THE WETLANDS ALL-STARS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THEIR FIRST WESTERN U.S. TOUR WITH RAVING REVIEWS AND SOLD OUT SHOWS FROM BOULDER, CO TO SAN DIEGO, CA, AND UP THROUGH SEATTLE, WA. TAB BENOIT, CYRIL NEVILLE, ANDERS OSBORNE, JOHNNY VIDACOVICH, BIG CHIEF MONK BOUDREAUX, JOHNNY SANSONE AND WAYLON THIBODEAUX EMBARKED ON A 16-DATE TOUR IN TWENTY-ONE DAYS TAKING THEIR MUSIC AND MESSAGE OUTSIDE OF LOUISIANA.
THE ALL-STARS' PHYSICAL, DEMANDING PERFORMANCE PRESENTED A POWERFUL BLEND OF SOULFUL BLUES, NEW ORLEANS FUNK, HOODOO RHYTHMS, CAJUN ZYDECO, AND GRITTY ROCK. AUDIENCES EXPERIENCED A SHOW ONLY PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL.
LEAD BY VOW FOUNDER, TAB BENOIT, THE VOW ALL-STARS ACHIEVED MUSICAL SUCCESS, AS WELL AS GAINED NATIONAL SUPPORT AND ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS OF LOUISIANA'S WETLANDS. BENOIT'S WORDS AND THE ALL-STARS' MUSIC INFLUENCED AUDIENCES IN ALL SIXTEEN MARKETS. PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF LOUISIANA WERE MOTIVATED TO CARE AND TAKE ACTION FOR A DOMESTIC CRISIS THAT ULTIMATELY AFFECTS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY - ENVIRONMENTALLY, ECONOMICALLY, AND CULTURALLY. WHILE THE VOW ALL-STARS ARE MUSICIANS BY TRADE, THEY HAVE BECOME THE AMBASSADROS OF LOUISIANA'S FIGHT TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE A NATIONAL TREASURE AND A VITAL PART OF THE U.S.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009
NolaFunk Lagniappe



Earlier this week The New Orleans Jazz Fest released its day-by-day detailed schedule dubbed "cubes" by many local attendees of the festival.I can't think. I can't work. I can't concentrate. My kids go unminded, my house uncleaned, my job is in the toilet and my dog goes unfed -- and I don't even have a dog.
But if I did, I'd ignore him, too, like I'm ignoring everything else because I can't think. I can't work. I can't concentrate. I've stopped shaving; what's the point? I'm not leaving the house again until April 24th.
I've got to study until then. Study the Cubes. The Jazz Fest Cubes.

Super Sunday: Mardi Gras Indians Photoblog
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Similar to the past, each neighborhood is represented by a tribe. Each tribe is represented by its Big Chief. Spy Boys are Mardi Gras Indians who walk ahead of their tribe and scout out rival tribes. Flag Boys are Mardi Gras Indians who relay information from the Spy Boys and wave their flag to signal the appearance of another tribe. Wild Men are Mardi Gras Indians who guard their tribe from rival tribes. Today, they often carry a decorated wooden gun. Also today, each tribe is represented by it’s own brass band or percussion outfit. This particular style of music is called Indian Funk. It was made popular by groups such as the Wild Magnolias (who still lead off the parade each year) and the Wild Tchoupitoulas and is characterized by droning rhythms and tribal, sing-song chants.

On Super Sunday, the Mardi Gras Indian tribes put on their suits and do their thing through the streets of their neighborhoods ("promenade" seems the wrong verb and so does "parade"), making their way first to the corner of Washington and LaSalle. This is a bow to an old tradition, since for generations the Indians gathered at Shakespeare Park (no, not that Shakespeare, but the one who was once New Orleans' mayor), which is now A.L. Davis Park and which is unusable for a fun purpose since post-Katrina days. (Immediately after the Storm, FEMA chose that location to park a group of trailers, and although the trailers have been removed, the park has not yet been restored as a park. Where are you, FEMA??) Nowadays, the Indians just stop at that corner for the tradition of it, and many people, black and white, are gathered there to watch the Indians arrive and leave.


THE REVOLUTION SOCIAL AID AND PLEASURE CLUB ANNUAL SECOND LINE PARADE Sunday, March 22nd


It’s 2 a.m. on an Uptown New Orleans street corner, and taxis are descending by the dozen to drop off passengers at the music club Tipitina’s. A sidewalk bartender pulls drafts, while a purple catering truck pedals grit fries, goat quesadillas and catfish po’boys. I’m here for the night’s hottest ticket: a sold-out performance by Galactic, a hometown funk band that in 2007 started collaborating with nationally known progressive rappers.

The video was created by NOLA Image Works, and funded by a grant from the John Merck Fund. Thanks to Clint Maedgen, Stanton Moore, Angelo Moore, the Voodoo Experience, Neutral Ground Films, Thunder Voltz, and our partners on the Louisiana Coastal Lines of Defense campaign, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation for helping make this project happen.

New Orleans Artist James Michalopoulos describes the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Poster |


Three generations of Batiste men sat behind long tables in a rehearsal space at Live Oak Elementary. Their ages ranged from 16 to 61.
Drummer Russell Batiste, 43, flicked his wrists and tapped on drums to show a hearing-impaired student how to carry a beat. Paul A. Batiste, founder of the Batiste Brothers Band, stopped two students in the middle of a lackluster duet. He told them to step out of the band room and return prepared to sing, this time with shirts tucked into their pants.


Presently on Daytrotter.com, there are four PHJB tracks available to stream or download: Dippermouth Blues, Sugar Blues, Complicated Life, and Over In The Gloryland. Each song features accompanying notes from Ben Jaffe detailing the song's relevance to the touring group and annecdotes from the road.


Currently available exclusively at the coolest record store in the world, the LOUISIANA MUSIC FACTORY, long time pals and New Orleans' treasures John Boutte and Paul Sanchez have released a record that is the pure embodiment of the great city it's named after. "Stew Called New Orleans" is a heartfelt, spontaneous, and jovial collection of original songs (as well as 2 choice covers by Paul Simon and Jelly Roll Morton) by two artists who have lived through the best and worst New Orleans has to offer. With the help of another frequent collaborator, the great Leroy Jones on trumpet, Boutte and Sanchez create an album that sounds like Sam Cooke, Dan Hicks, and Louis Armstrong sitting on a back porch, easing the day away. I love these guys!


Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra is a new act that has recently completed its first recording & in its short history has already been tapped to open for New Orleans greats such as Trombone Shorty and Eric Lindell. The band is a musical and visual spectacle of such ferocity that it leaves all in attendance shouting "Amen!" and dancing in the aisles. It's like a big ol' shot of love and adrenaline. It feels that good. BroJo blends together the perfect gumbo of New Orleans party music, soul in the style of Ray Charles and Al Green, a good helping of jam-bandy roots rock and a righteous splash of good, upbeat (non-religious) gospel.

When L'Angelus were playing and people were dancing, it felt like home. That's what the youthful Cajun and swamp pop group told promoter Laura Selikson at the end of their March 8 gig at Connolly's on West 45th Street. The Lafayette, Louisiana-based Rees family trio – two guitar-playing sisters and one fiddler-saxophone-lead singer brother – brought the house down, or rather had the house up and dancing to their high energy eclectic mix of Cajun swing and flowing waltzes.
"They told me that of all the events they've played all over the country, this most approximated what it felt like to be playing in Louisiana," said Selikson. "It was a very high compliment. They loved playing at Connolly's."

Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble

New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz, an honor the city prides itself in. From dim lit jazz clubs lining the city streets to its annual Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans is a great American music city. Jazz isn’t the only music being created in the Big Easy though. Many music clubs and venues offer an eclectic mix of blues, gospel, hip hop, rock and more.
Truly a musical city, New Orleans has clubs that cater to anyone’s musical cravings. Creative spaces and incredible talent make the city’s clubs attractive to locals and visitors alike. No trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to one the city’s fine music venues.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
NolaFunk Lagniappe

SC: I read where you called your music “Fish Head” music. Could you explain the concept behind this term?
EV: You know, we wanna be together for around 30,000 years and became a new geologic era on the planet and call it the “Era of the Fish Head Band” or the “The Radiocraphine Period” of life on the planet, but we’re gonna have to see. Trying to go for the geologic thing is kinda ambitious. Maybe that answer was a cock-eyed spirit of what Fish Head is all about. I’m the main writer, and I concocted something for you right there. That’s what Fish Head is all about: an imaginative play.

Is Mother Nature for or against Tab Benoit?
For years, the Houma guitarist's Voice of the Wetlands organization has advocated for the restoration of Louisiana's coast. To promote the cause, Benoit and his all-star band performed during the recent Democratic and Republican national conventions -- just as Hurricane Gustav slammed his hometown.
For an encore, the lingering effects of Hurricane Ike nearly scuttled this weekend's Voice of the Wetlands Festival, Benoit's annual party with a purpose in Houma.

Is this election different than past elections, why or why not?
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What is the relationship between music and politics - and how, if at all, has this relationship affected your music?
I for one see no relationship between my music and politics, and it has not affected my music in any way.
If you could speak directly to all American voters, what would you say?
I would say this is your right to vote, use it for the betterment of man, women & child.

"Hold On, Help Is On the Way" (Davis/Tyler/Parker)
G. Davis & R. Tyler, Parlo 102, 1966
"Hold On, Help Is On the Way" has long been on my short list of favorite instrumentals from New Orleans - not funk, just a classy, intensely hip mover and groover. I'd even venture to say it's one of the great R&B instrumentals, period. On it,George Davisgets a chance to let his guitar chops run free, at least for a little over two minutes of concentrated bliss. In the 1960s, his signature licks and solos graced a number of New Orleans records - the most well-known of which was Robert Parker's"Barefootin'". But, this virtuoso single is his only known solo outing from the old days. He shied away from being the front man, not even using his full name on the record, and giving his partner and friend, Red Tyler, co-billing on the A-side, though Red only had a supporting role on sax. Still, it was really George's show.Devin Phillips' ‘Water’ steeped in rich New Orleans tradition
At its most baeorge porter, home of the groove, irvin mayfield, quintron and miss pussycat, radiators, susan cowsill, tab benoit, theresa andersson, voice of the wetlandssic, the title is reinforced by the cover art, which shows the New Orleans-born saxophonist standing in a seemingly limitless expanse of water representative, perhaps, of the floodwaters that covered much of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Take it to another level - the song is actually a 19th-century spiritual, and although Phillips' version is instrumental, he said some versions of the lyrics directed escaping slaves to the stations of the Underground Railway.![]()
Take the historical connotations of the lyrics another step and there's a tie-in to Phillips' life after Katrina. Phillips didn't go north to escape slavery, but conditions in the flooded city caused him to leave New Orleans and rebuild his life in Portland, Ore. - thanks to the Portland Jazz Festival and Azumano Travel.
"That Jazz Life" documentary featuring Irvin Mayfield and Ronald Markham (CEO of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZtDAa2joE&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnALgLULxOM&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV8UrY8LM0o&feature=related
Theresa Andersson